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The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

Summary

When fifteen year old twins Sophie and Josh Newman witness a magical battle in a bookshop, they enter a world of magic, legends and myth. Nick and Perenelle Fleming own the bookshop where Josh had taken a summer job, but they are actually Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel, whom records show died in 1418. For seven hundred years the greatest alchemist of all time has been brewing a formula for immortality each month to keep himself and his wife alive and they have studied and mastered many types of alchemical and magical arts. Nicholas Flamel gets his formula for immortality from an ancient text called the Codex, which he is protecting from the Dark Elders and their minion Dr. John Dee. In the hands of the Dark Elders, the Codex could destroy the world. During the battle in the bookstore, Dr. John Dee seizes the Codex and kidnaps Perenelle. However, Josh has ripped out the last two pages of the Codex, the most critical pages for the Dark Elders. Josh, Sophie and Nick Flamel meet up with Scathach, a two thousand year old warrior with the body and face of a seventeen year old girl, and escape the city to the Shadowrealm of Hekate, the godess with three faces. There they discover that the twins have the potential for incredible magical power. Nick insists that the magical potential of the twins must be awakened to win the upcoming battle with the Dark Elders, even though Hekate thinks it’s likely to kill the twins. Meanwhile, Dr. John Dee and the Morrigan, the Dark Elder he works for, discover that the Codex is missing the critical two pages and they plot to get them back, gathering other ancient and terrible forces. An epic battle ensues, involving many creatures from myth and legend.

Booktalk

Twins Josh and Sophie are having a fairly normal summer, Josh working at a bookshop and Sophie at a coffee shop across the street, when their world is suddenly turned upside down. The bookshop is attacked by Dr. John Dee, a powerful magician, using mud men called golems as henchmen. Perrenelle and Nick Fleming, the couple Josh thought were just laid back bookstore owners, are actually powerful magicians as well. By the end of the battle, the book shop is destroyed, Perrenelle’s been kidnapped, the Codex has been stolen, and Sophie and Josh are in grave danger. Turns out Nick Fleming is actually Nicholas Flamel, an alchemist who was thought to have died in 1418. (An alchemist is like a chemist, only searching for magical formulas to turn lead into gold and such.) He discovered the formula for immortality and he and his wife have been taking it monthly for seven hundred years. He was guarding the Codex, an ancient book containing secrets that could destroy the world in the wrong hands, hands like those of Dr. John Dee. Nick, Sophie, and Josh have to get out of the city, so Nick turns to his friend Scatty, a two-thousand-year-old warrior who trained all of the great warriors of history and mythology and kept the face and body of a seventeen-year-old-girl. Josh and Sophie are going to start discovering that a lot of the stories they thought were myth and legend actually took place and legendary figures still exist and act in our world. Furthermore, the twins are about to find themselves at the center of the greatest legend of all.

375 pages, 6 grade and up

Discussion questions

Warning! Some of the questions contain key elements of the plot. Do not read if you don't want to know what happens!

  1. Would you become immortal if you had the chance?
  2. If you had to make the decision about whether or not to Awaken the twins, what would you do?
  3. If you had the chance to be Awakened, would you take it?
  4. One important task for fantasy writers is to build a believable world while still moving the story forward. How did Michael Scott do this? Was he successful?
  5. Who is your favorite character? Which characters from myth would you like to see in the story?
  6. Josh and Sophie both have doubts about Nicholas. Why don’t they trust him sometimes? Do you think he’s trustworthy?
  7. Think about the alliances in the book. Why does Dr. John Dee work for the Dark Elders? Why do Scathach, Hekate, and the Witch of Endor help Nicholas and the twins?
  8. Nicholas and Perrenelle Flamel were real people. There are streets and hospitals in Paris named after them. Dr. John Dee was also a real person, the most famous alchemist and astrologer of his age. How does the factual basis affect how you read this story?
  9. What are your predictions for the next book in the series? Now go find out in Book 2 of the Secrets of Nicholas Flamel, The Magician!

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