Written by Allan Stratton
A wooden chest baring a foreign royal crest with a babe baring an eagle birthmark on his shoulder are found washed ashore and the baby is adopted by a greedy grave robber. Raised as his apprentice, Han cannot help but despise the life he has and longs to find friendship with the young countess he watches from outside her grounds. Angela Gabriela von Schwanenberg is not your typical spoiled countess, though. Raised mostly by her nurse, she dreams of adventures and loves the call of the theater, where she plays every part in the devilish dilemmas she dreams up with puppets she creates. “The boy,” as she calls him, is featured in them all. Not that she has actually met him, but she has often seen him from out her balcony window. Never would the two normally meet but after a horrifying turn of events where Angela and her parents are kidnapped, and she is forced into an engagement with the terrible Archduke, and then reduced to faking death to avoid such measures, she comes face to face with Han. Together they flee the Archduke and then embark on an adventure to save Angela’s parents and maybe the entire kingdom. The story has influence from Shakespeare. The author Allan Stratton weaves the cleaver tale of heroes and villains and of things that aren’t always what they appear, that will delight. A fairly easy read, but hard to put down. I really enjoyed characters and loved that the story was anything but predictable.
Review by Shannon Bishop, Wilson Elem. Media Center
Rating: ★★★★★ (5 stars)
Interest Level: Grades 5 and Up
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www.allanstratton.com
The Grave Robber’s Apprentice
Written by Allan Stratton
HarperCollins
277 pages
Release Date: March 6, 2012
ISBN: 9780061976087 (hardcover)
