The Alchemyst - Michael Scott

Not to be confused with AN alchemist, this is the story of THE alchemYst. This novel is a 2010 Oregon Battle of the Books novel.

This novel takes place in modern day, but involves a lot of characters who are somewhat older. As in hundreds or even thousands of years old! Yes, it's true. Nicholas Flamel, his wife, his enemy Dee, his cohort Scathach and many others who appear in this story are immortals.

The story is non-stop action beginning with the theft of the Codex from Nicholas Falmel's (not the name he is known to present day people by) book shop. The Codex has fallen into the hands of some pretty evil people, but teenage employee Josh happened to rip the last two pages out of the book as it was being stolen, and without it, the book is nearly worthless. The evildoers will stop at nothing to get the book back, including killing and murder of a witch who's lived for centuries.

Human boy Josh and his sister Sophie seem to be involved in this story by accident, but it turns out there's much more to it than that. Flamel believes that Josh and Sophie are the "two" spoken about in a long ago prophecy, and that they are destined for magical greatness.

I think middle school students will love this story, especially those who enjoy fantasy. I'm not the biggest fantasy fan, so I didn't LOVE this book, but darned if I'm not interested enough in what's going to happen next to have put the sequel on hold at the library. And guess what, I just got a notice it's in! Gotta go pick it up. See you later!