The Apprentices
by Maile Meloy, Ian Schoenherr
Buy on AmazonTwo years have passed since Janie Scott last saw Benjamin Burrows, the mysterious apothecary’s defiant son who stole her heart. On the other side of the world, Benjamin and his father are treating the sick and wounded in the war-torn jungles of Vietnam. But Benjamin has also been experimenting with a magical new formula that allows him to communicate with Janie across the globe. When Benjamin discovers that she's in trouble, he calls on their friend Pip for help. The three friends are thrown into a desperate chase around the world to find one another, while unraveling the mystery of what threatens them all.
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"Maile Meloy is one of my favorite adult writers, so I was thrilled in 2011 when she published The Apothecary, a book I could read with my daughters. Fourteen-year-old Janie and her friend Benjamin, the son of an apothecary, have to save the world from a nuclear bomb. It sounds far-fetched, but the story feels realistic in Meloy’s able hands. We couldn’t wait to see what would happen next to Janie and Benjamin in The Apprentices, published this year. The beginning is a little clunky, as Meloy tries to catch you up on what happened in the first book, but once again she gives us great characters, action, intrigue and history. (For ages 10 and up)"
NPR Books We Love — 2013 · apps.npr.org