Fish & Sphinx

by Rae St Clair Bridgman

Overview

Wil and Sophie are back in their battle against the Serpent's Chain!

Cousins Wil Wychwood and Sophie Isidor unearth yet another dastardly scheme from this dangerous secret society. Now the Serpent's Chain plans to seize the Manitoba Legislative Building - or The Palace of the Blazing Star, as it is known in MiddleGate.

Catfysh, Spirit of the River, comes to help Sophie and Wil as they struggle to unlock the Palace's hidden code and thwart its destruction. Tyndall stone sphinxes, cow skulls, lions, bison, and even Medusa herself spring to life, but will their magic be enough to help defeat the Serpent's Chain once and for all?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781525585807
Publisher:	FriesenPress
Publication date:	07/05/2021
Series:	Middlegate
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.52(d)
Age Range:	7 - 11 Years

About the Author

Rae St. Clair Bridgman is an award-winning Winnipeg author and illustrator of children's books, including the acclaimed MIDDLEGATE BOOKS. She has a knack for finding the magical and extraordinary in the ordinary, in between the cracks of reality. Rae is a university professor, anthropologist, urban planner, co-director of an architectural design firm, mother of six. Favourite things to do in her spare time: watching ants, chasing crayfish, reading the dictionary, playing tuba, watching clouds, and inventing toys. Favourite sayings: "Often, secrets do not remain secrets for long." "Things that disappear by themselves can come back by themselves." "Problems can multiply like flies." "The story certainly changes depending on the storyteller."

Editorial Reviews

2022-11-24
In this third installment of a middle-grade series, two cousins want to protect the balance between their magical realm and the ordinary world.

Young Wil Wychwood and his cousin Sophie Isidor are starting their second year at an academy for magic. The tweens are used to witnessing amazing abilities in their “magical city” of MiddleGate and have even confronted a formidable villain. But lately, they’re seeing fish everywhere, from stone fish to a smelly book about fish that Peeping Peerslie, the library’s resident ghost, saved for Wil over the summer. This takes on a deeper meaning when a strange woman calling herself Catfysh appears before the cousins with a cryptic warning—the Serpent’s Chain somehow threatens the magical and nonmagical worlds alike. That’s an ancient secret society that Wil knows all too well, as the group, for whatever reason, craves the black medallion his grandmother left him. Wil and Sophie want to help even if they aren’t sure what exactly Catfysh wishes them to do. Solving a riddle may lead them to the subaqueous “Fyshly Realm,” where they hope to find answers. Bridgman’s measured tale puts vibrant and relatable characters in a supernatural city. For example, Wil’s Aunt Violet excitedly works toward opening her fortunetelling store, and conversation at a friends’ home that the cousins visit revolves around magic and what time dinner starts. These interactions take precedence over a discernible baddie and the young heroes’ feelings of urgency. Fish-related elements, meanwhile, are deliberately murky along with largely mysterious carry-overs from earlier books, including the Serpent’s Chain, the black medallion, and Wil’s inherited gold ring. While clarification is minimal, the final act spins off into Wil and Sophie’s otherworldly experience with the Fysh. Throughout the novel, Bridgman describes aquatic creatures in beautiful detail, from multihued bodies and spiny fins to a bevy of “whiskers” (barbels). This engaging volume ends with an unmistakable setup for the next installment.

A sublime cast headlines this leisurely but engrossing supernatural tale.

Kirkus Reviews