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Gr 4-8–Victorian London could be a magical place: horse-drawn carriages, puppet shows, elaborate upper-class houses. Of course it could also be miserable: fog, filthy streets, shabby hovels where too many people live in too few rooms. Schlitz conjures both the magic and the mundane here. For Clara’s 12th birthday, her parents hire a street performer to give a puppet show in their home. The puppeteer, Grisini, is so talented that he appears to be magical. His two orphan assistants, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall, are envio...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Lizzie Rose and Parsefall, two Victorian waifs living under the guardianship of Grisini, a Fagin-like crook, magician, and puppeteer, cross paths with Clara, the cosseted only child of a London doctor. This meeting results in a kidnapping, the magical imprisonment of Clara in puppet form, and encounters with an aging witch, Cassandra; the whole plot of the book hinges on the curse of a fire opal. ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More