Being able to detect black magic isnt all tea and crumpetsand for Theodosia Throckmorton, it can be a decidedly tricky business! When Sticky Will drags Theo to a magic show featuring the Great Awi Bubu, she quickly senses there is more to the magician than he lets on, setting in motion a chain of events she never could have bargained for. Meanwhile, back at the Museum of Legends and Antiquities, Henry is home for the spring holidays and makes an accidental discovery of an artifact that alchemists have been hunting for centuries. Soon, every black-cloaked occultist in London is trying to get their hands on it . . . Grade 4-6 Theodosia Throckmorton wears gloves all the time. It's a good thing, because they often protect her from the cursed Egyptian artifacts that her parents keep bringing into their Museum of Legends and Antiquities. In this book, 11-year-old Theo once again gets herself mixed up with the Serpents of Chaos and the Arcane Order of the Black Sun as she and her brother try to steal the Emerald Tablet that they accidentally found in the museum basement. She is curious about the Egyptian magician, Awi Bubu, who seems to know quite a bit about the Tablet and about Theodosia herself, in the end revealing a secret about her birth that might explain her powers of detecting and eliminating curses. In a final standoff, Theodosia discovers her stiff-upper-lipped grandmother might be more interesting than she suspects and that she might be able to call a truce with a hated curator. Though this series involves a great deal of magic, its setting in Victorian England with colorful characters from all walks of life makes it seem like a realistic story. A few full-page graphite drawings dispersed throughout add to the descriptions of scenes. This is a book to recommend enthusiastically to any reader who likes Egyptian history, a good mystery, or fast-paced action. The ending also promises another exciting installment, leaving readers wanting more. Since past adventures and relationships are mentioned without explanation, this is a series best read in order. Clare A. Dombrowski, Amesbury Public Library, MA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Theodosia Throckmorton, first appearing in Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos (2007), returns in another fantastical romp, steeped in ancient Egyptian lore and set in Edwardian England. With villains from previous series installments still at large, a new threat is added to the mix: the Arcane Order of the Black Sun, a secret society focused on the occult. Once again, supernaturally talented Theodosia navigates around her etiquette-obsessed grandmother and absentminded parents in a suspenseful, satisfying fantasy that’s filled with the specifics of magical ritual sure to delight readers who miss the goings-on at Hogwarts. Grades 5-8. --Gillian Engberg R.L. LaFevers lives in Southern California. Learn more at her website: http://www.rllafevers.com/ Yoko Tanaka lives in Los Angeles and Bangkok with her husband and three cats. In addition to illustrating the Theodosia books, she has also illustrated The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo and a picture book, Sparrow Girl by Sara Pennypacker. Her artwork can be found at yokotanaka.com Chapter One: The Great Awi Bubu March 23, 1907 I hate being followed. I especially hate being followed by a bunch of lunatic adults playing at being occultists. Unfortunately, the Black Sunners were out in full force today. I’d spotted the first one on High Street, and by the time I’d reached the Alcazar Theater, there were two more on my tail. I glanced at the sparse crowd waiting outside the rundown theater, my heart sinking when I saw that Sticky Will wasn’t there yet. Not knowing what else to do, I got in line for the ticket window, then checked to see if the men would follow. One leaned against the building across the street, and another one lounged against a lamppost, pretending to read the paper. "If you aren’t going to purchase a ticket, get out of the way," a coarse voice said. I pulled my gaze away from my pursuers to find the woman in the ticket booth glaring at me. While my attention had been focused elsewhere, the line had moved forward, and it was now my turn. "Sorry," I muttered, setting my coin on the counter. She snatched it up and shoved a green paper ticket at me. "Next?" she called out. As I left the ticket booth, Will was still nowhere in sight. Keeping a close eye on the Black Sunners for any sudden moves, I ventured over to the playbill pasted to the crumbling brick wall. INTRODUCING THE GREAT AWI BUBU! PERFORMING REAL EGYPTIAN MAGIC! The lurid picture showed a man in traditional Egyptian garb raising a mummy. I was relatively sure that whatever the Great Awi Bubu did, it was not Egyptian magic. He was most likely some charlatan taking advantage of London’s heightened interest in all things Egyptian. Not that I’d had anything to do with that—well, not