Miss Ackers' Recommended Read - May

This month Humanities and AR teacher, Miss Ackers, has sent in her 'pick'...

The Spooks Apprentice – Joseph Delaney  

Thomas Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son and has been apprenticed to the local Spook. The job is hard, the Spook is distant, and many apprentices have failed before Thomas. Somehow Thomas must learn how to exorcise ghosts, contain witches, and bind boggarts. But when he is tricked into freeing Mother Malkin, the evilest witch in the County, the horror begins... 

This is one of the first books that got me into reading when I was at high school. Joseph Delaney came into my school to do a talk and we were able to buy one of his books (which he signed for me!). I immediately loved the witchy and ghostly atmosphere and was even more engrossed when I found out that the folklore that the books are based on are all real stories about Preston and the surrounding areas that have been passed down from generation to generation.  

Delaney continues to draw upon the folklore of Lancashire in all his books and has acquired much local knowledge over the years which he tweaks and modifies to create his fictional world. Another source of inspiration has been Lancashire's varied and atmospheric landscape. Many of the locations in the County are based on actual places in Lancashire. I quickly read the whole series and I’m due a reread soon.  

Miss Ackers
Humanities and AR Teacher

AR Book Level - Purple