Boy Apprenticed to an Enchanter

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps Colum's best, and a grand tale!
Review: This is an original tale by the wonderful Padraic Colum, poet. It recounts the adventures of a boy, taken from his home to learn from a rather sinister enchanter, and his attempts to escape from his apprenticeship. Babylon and its fall, Hermes Tristemagus and Merlin and the Western Isles are just some of the people and places he visits on his way.

I am pleased to see that Colum's lovely "King of Ireland's Son" is still in print and attracting young fans. It is a pity that this book is not so widely available. Darker in tone and simpler in structure than "King of Ireland's Son" this book draws on the traditions of many lands to weave its spell. If you or your child enjoyed Colum's other books, then I can recommend this one without reservation. It is, in its own odd way, a kind of "Harry Potter" of an earlier generation, with its theme of a lad learning magic. Similarities end there, of course: the wizard is a malign figure, and the "boy" is nearly full grown. But when I was 10, I thought this book one of the best there was, and I think it can provide others with fun and excitement. And what other purpose does a tale have?