Witch & Wizard

Witch & Wizard

Cover Art
Author James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet
Illustrator Kyle Schyma
Cover artist Larry Rostant
Country United States
Language English
Series Witch & Wizard
Genre Fiction, Children's literature, Fantasy
Publisher Little Brown and Company
Publication date
December 14, 2009[1]
Media type Hardback
Pages 307[1]
ISBN 0316036242
Followed by Witch & Wizard: The Gift

Witch & Wizard is the first novel of the Witch & Wizard series, written by James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet. It chronicles a dystopian future in which Whit and Wisty Allgood are arrested, imprisoned, and sentenced to execution during the uprising of a new totalitarian government, for unknowingly possessing outlawed magical abilities. The novel was published on December 14, 2009.

Summary

Two siblings named Whit and Wisty are being accused of being a witch and a wizard. The two kids are shocked and appalled when Byron Swain, a horribly stuck up kid from their school, appears and conducts their arrest. They protest against these claims, but to no profit. During the arrest, their parents are permitted to give Whit and Wisty one item each. They are given a seemingly worthless book and a drum stick respectively before being led away. A mysterious figure known as The One Who Is The One shows up and it is revealed that he somehow knows their parents and he is the leader of the new political party, called the New Order. The pair are then taken to a prison which appears to be occupied solely by children, and are interrogated by Byron. They are then put on trial by the One who Judges and are sentenced to execution, to be carried out when they turn eighteen.

Celia, Whit's girlfriend who had mysteriously disappeared, then emerges, informing the pair that she is a Half-light - a spirit which exists on an alternate dimension called the Shadowland. She tells them how to enter and exit into the Shadowland, and in the attempt they are joined by a hoar which Wisty names Feffer. In the Shadowland, Celia introduces them to Sasha, a boy who takes them out of the Shadowland to Freeland - a store called Garfunkle's which has become a haven for persecuted children, currently run by a girl named Janine, although leadership changes hands weekly.

The siblings' magical powers are welcomed in Freeland, but Celia soon has to return to Shadowland, as she cannot stay in the real world for too long at one time otherwise she will cease to exist. The other children share horrific stories of the regime - particularly of The One Who Is The One, who seems to possess magical abilities of his own. They visit the City of Progress, where they quickly discover that magic is harshly persecuted. However, Whit and Wisty wish to search for their parents, and refuse to stay in Freeland; even when, upon revealing the extent of their magical abilities, they are told that they are the Liberators spoken of in a prophecy about the end of the New Order.

When Whit and Wisty begin to plan their new mission to take down the regime, Byron, in weasel form, says he wants to go with them. Wisty initially refuses, calling him a "hateful, traitorous, black-hearted naysayer". Byron-weasel insists that he has changed, and even apologizes for his terrible behavior while Whit and Wisty were in jail. Whit finally allows Byron to come along with them.

While starting on their next mission, they feel an area they are passing looks familiar and set off to explore it. The pair come across the site of their old house, which has now been demolished. It is now only open countryside. Their parents use magic to communicate with them, and help them to transform the drumstick and book into a magic wand and spellbook. Wisty's mother then changes Byron back to human form and orders him to look after them. The novel ends with her urging the reader to go out and live and promising they'll hear from her again. "I promise. And I'm a scary witch who keeps her promises."

Characters

Reception

Daniel Kraus of Booklist said “It's got an enticing prologue”.[2] however “The meandering plot seems to make up the rules as it goes along.”.[2] publishers weekly also criticized the novel as being “The authors rely on coincidence and plot holes.”.[3] Lisa praised witch and wizard as “New readers will be able to easily grasp the situation and characters”.[4] Danny complimented the author's use of “And Patterson's trademark bite-size chapters at least keep things zippy.”[2]

“Plenty of introductory text sneaks into the dialogue and the premise itself is simple even simplistic.” Book review, Brief article, Young adult review.[4]

“Which suffers from some questionable storytelling choices.” Book review, Brief article, Young adult review.[4]

“The story is further undercut by frequent recapping and short chapters, alternately narrated by the siblings, which break up the narrative for no perceivable reason.” Book review, Brief article, Children's review.[3]

“There's some fun world-building, including a stream of thinly disguised pop culture references in Wisty and Whit's alternate world (from the books of Gary Blotter to the artist Margie O'Greeffe), but even these are inconsistent (their world also includes Red Bull and the adjective Dickensian) and come across as groaners.” Book review, Brief article, Children's review.[3]

Sequels

Year Subtitle Letter on Cover Color of Letter
2010 The Gift G Blue
2011 The Fire F Red
2013 The Kiss K Purple
2014 The Lost L Teal

Book 2 of the Witch & Wizard series has a blue G on the cover and is titled Witch & Wizard: The Gift, and concludes with "to be continued", as did the first novel. It was released December 15, 2010. The third book, Witch & Wizard: The Fire, was released on December 5, 2011. It has a large F on the front cover on fire the same way the letter on the first book's cover is shown to be on fire. The fourth book, Witch & Wizard: The Kiss, was released on February 4, 2013. Although there are other short graphic novels that include the witch and wizard "W" in a multitude of colors, they are not to be with the others in the series. The fifth and final book in the series, titled The Lost, was released on December 15, 2014.

References

  1. 1 2 Witch and Wizard on amazon.com
  2. 1 2 3 Kraus, Daniel. "Witch & Wizard". Booklist. Retrieved Dec 15, 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 "Witch &Wizard". Retrieved Nov 16, 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 Martincik, Lisa. "Patterson, James and Dara Naraghi. Witch & Wizard: Battle for Shadowland". Retrieved March 14, 2011.
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