The Wizardology Handbook

The Wizardology Handbook
Authors: Dugald Steer
Illustrator: Anne Yvonne Gilbert/Helen Ward /John Howe/Tomislav Tomic
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN-10: 0763634018
ISBN-13: 978-0763634018

The Wizardology Handbook is a companion book to Wizardology and belongs to that wonderful series of Ology books by Candlewick Press. Like all the Ology books, it’s packed with information and illustrations. It even has a section in the back where young wizard apprentices can write their own spells and results as well as some colorful stickers.

The book is set up as a lesson book divided by the seasons. It includes lessons on Western Wizards, A Wizard’s Robes, Wizard Familiars and many more. The book also includes a glossary of magical terms.


I always am amazed by the quality of Candlewick’s books, especially the Ologies. There’s so much attention to detail, paper quality, the little embellishments that make turning the pages a joy. I’m as big a fan as are my grandkids and children. Each of my four children as the whole library of Ologies and unashamedly say they belong to them, not their children. The kids have their own copies. Wizardology in particular is a favorite of my middle son Phillip, a big strapping 24 year old with a brown belt in karate and he loved this companion book. I bought Egyptology for his daughter Isis when she was born (how could I not with a name like Isis?) and it is Phillip that reads it to her every night even long after she’s fast asleep.

I found the book to be completely fun and a perfect addition to the rest of the series. These books are so much fun for kids! A perfect gift for any child who loves fanciful things.

Pirateology: The Pirate Hunters Companion

Pirateology: The Pirate Hunters Companion
Author: William Captain Lubber
Editor: Dugald A. Steer
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN-10: 0763631434
ISBN-13: 978-0763631437

For ages 9-12

The fourth in the Ology series and purported to be written by Captain William Lubber, a pirate hunter, Pirateology is an information-packed early18th century log of the Captain’s hunt for the pirate Arabella Drummond.

The book documents Captain Lubber’s travels and is filled to the brim with letters, codes, maps, charts and much more. There are both color and black and white illustrations and the drawings are detailed and informational. Pirateology, like the other Ologies is very tactile and fun for young children. There are envelopes to open, gold dust to examine, a compass on the front cover. The book offers instruction on how pirates dressed and the weapons they used as well as tons of pirate facts and stories.





I loved the little nautical dictionary that is set into one of the pages, a booklet within a book as well as the nautical knots instructions complete with leather to knot. The story is fun and readers will eagerly follow Captain Lubber on his hunt for the dangerous and vicious Arabella. My grandson loved the drawing of a pirate ship with the flap that lifts up to show what the inside of the ship would look. My granddaughter loves the gold dust.

Pirateology has something for everyone in the family and it’s an education in history and lore. The book will definitely fascinate even adult readers and will be sure to send both young and older readers hunting more books on pirates.

I always love when books lead to other books and ignite that passion to read. Pirateology does this in a fun and exciting way. My grandchildren’s shining eyes as they pore over the pages and their excitement as they find yet another treasure say it all.

I love the Ology books for so many reasons, the ones listed above as well as many more and this one on pirates is a worthy addition to the series.

Book Description from the publisher
Aar! Hoist the sails for a lavish new discovery filled with treasures — a magnificent resource for pirate lovers everywhere. The eagerly awaited new title in the best-selling ’Ology series — more than 5 million sold worldwide!

Step lively, pirate foes and fanciers! Mysterious booty found inside a long-lost sea chest, hidden for hundreds of years off the coast of Newfoundland, has just been uncovered for your enjoyment. Within these covers is the fascinating eighteenth-century journal of Captain William Lubber, an earnest soul who sailed the seas in search of the vicious female pirate Arabella Drummond. Prepare for a mesmerizing tale of the golden age of piracy — from storm-tossed sailing ships to tantalizing treasure islands, from pirates’ flags and fashions to their wily weapons and wicked ways. An extraordinary find for pirateologists, here is a true and complete companion for the dedicated pirate hunter.

Pirateology’s special treasures include:
— a stunning cover bearing a working compass and glittering gems—treasure map with a missing piece — for the canny reader to find
— multiple flaps, maps, charts, and booklets harboring codes and clues
— intricate drawings of ships’ interiors
— a packet of gold dust — a pocket sundial
— a cache of pirate letters, pieces of eight— and a jewel as a final reward


PIRATEOLOGY offers adventurers and treasure hunters, landlubbers and sailors alike heretofore hidden knowledge of the exploits of one wickedly daring woman pirate and the lore of pirate ships, weapons, dress, customs, codes, and pirate routes..

The People of Paper

Wow! This has to have been the most weird, wild and wonderful book I’ve read in the longest time. The book begins with a boy who creates paper organs to save his butchered cat and becomes the world’s first origami surgeon. The book goes on to tell of monks in secret factories, a woman of paper, a little girl named Merced and her father who cures himself of sadness by burning his flesh.

Merced and her father Fernando de la Fe leave Mexico and wind up in El Monte, California picking carnations. They encounter gangs, the woman of paper, and a whole assortment of strange and unusual characters. An unlikely war begins against the planet Saturn and the gang members from Monte Flores, led by Fernando.

The People of Paper is violent and bloody, haunting and strangely beautiful. A man’s tongue bleeds and bleeds from paper cuts received while giving a woman of paper cunnilingus, a wife leaves her husband because she is fed up with sleeping in pools of piss, turtles become armored tanks. It is unreal and real, fantastic and sublime.

The book is allegorical, beautifully written and most surprising. There are paper tricks throughout the book as well that normally would annoy me but in this, they just fit so well with the story that I found myself enjoying them hugely. What really surprises me is that this is a debut novel.

Salvador Plascencia was born in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1976.