Avi. Murder at Midnight. Scholastic, 2009. ISBN 9780545080903. $17.99. 254 p.
Reviewer: Tessa McMillan
Reading Level: Intermediate, Young adult
Rating: Outstanding
Genre: Fiction; Mystery and detective stories;
Subject: Magicians--Juvenile fiction; Orphans--Juvenile fiction; Renaissance--Italy--Juvenile fiction; Books--Reviews;
Fabrizio has lived most of his life as an orphaned beggar in the kingdom of Pergamontio, Italy. He is given a second chance at life by becoming a servant to the famed Mangus the Magician. But news has reached Fabrizio that someone is plotting against the king, and Mangus is the main suspect. Soon after this news, Mangus is imprisoned and the man who accused Mangus is found murdered. It is up to Fabrizio to find the killer and save his master's life.
A prequel to Avi's Midnight Magic, this story explains what brought Mangus and Fabrizio together and how Mangus stopped practicing magic. This can be a great book to use in the classroom to show what life was like before the printing press and how people must have viewed it when it was introduced into society.
Volume 30, no. 3 (January/February 2010)
