Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
128th out of 185 books
—
193 voters
Magic Below Stairs
Young Frederick is plucked from an orphanage to be a footboy for a wizard named Lord Schofield in Victorian England. Is his uncanny ability to tie perfect knots and render boots spotless a sign of his own magical talent, or the work of Billy Bly, the brownie who has been secretly watching over him since he was little? No matter, for the wizard has banished all magical crea...more
Hardcover, 208 pages
Published
June 10th 2010
by Dial
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
792)
Oddly similar to another series I read recently (Rose by Holly Webb) where an orphan gets a job as a servant in the household of a magician. Stevermer's style is stronger, but the story weaker, and "Magic Below Stairs" does suffer from being a 'companion story' to a series for adults (beginning with Sorcery and Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot). This particular magician is one of the characters of that series, and there's a strong sense of "you should know and care about these people and...more
this book takes place in the same universe as the three books that caroline wrote with patricia wrede that begin with Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot but is pitched towards a younger audience. having read those three books, i can't gauge how much extra delight i brought to this book once i realized that we were in that world and were going to spend some time with those characters. but they are not the focus. as the title implies, we spend most of this book with the servants in...more
My goal for reading this book was to prepare to introduce it to my students this fall. As an entry on a state book award list which my students will vote on next spring, I think it has a good chance to pick up a few votes. Both the main character, Frederick Lincoln and his closest friend and supporting character Bes are very likable. I actually hope there is a way for Bes to appear in future stories although I am not sure that is the intent.
I am assuming that this is to be the first of a few st...more
I am assuming that this is to be the first of a few st...more
Okay, this review has some spoilers and will likely make a lot more sense if you have read this book. If you actually liked it, then don't get mad at me for bashing it. This is only my personal opinion.
Well...I picked up this book because it looked similar to the Chrestomanci Chronicles, which I like quite a bit. And yes, there were similarities, but it kind of seemed like it was copying the Chrestomanci books a bit. It irritates me when people copy other authors' work... and this just wasn't al...more
Well...I picked up this book because it looked similar to the Chrestomanci Chronicles, which I like quite a bit. And yes, there were similarities, but it kind of seemed like it was copying the Chrestomanci books a bit. It irritates me when people copy other authors' work... and this just wasn't al...more
Magic Below Stairs is a spinoff-esque little book by one of the authors of the delightful Sorcery and Cecelia series. Patricia Wrede's solo books, I'm sorry to say, are much more entertaining than her writing partner Caroline Stevermer's latest effort, which had only the brief appearances of Kate and her husband, the mysterious marquis, to recommend it. The story follows the adventures of a little orphan boy named Frederick, who has stereotypical little orphan adventures, and eventually becomes...more
Originally posted here.
Magic Below Stairs by Caroline Stervermer is another one of those delightful books that exists in an alternate version of Regency history where there is magic, wizards and the like.
Frederick is a very likable character and the world he inhabits is interesting. Just enough details are given of day to day life without being overly descriptive. It is a short read and will definitely appeal to children who enjoy historical fiction or stories with magic. It is the perfect mix o...more
Magic Below Stairs by Caroline Stervermer is another one of those delightful books that exists in an alternate version of Regency history where there is magic, wizards and the like.
Frederick is a very likable character and the world he inhabits is interesting. Just enough details are given of day to day life without being overly descriptive. It is a short read and will definitely appeal to children who enjoy historical fiction or stories with magic. It is the perfect mix o...more
view 2 comments
Picking up threads of her adult fantasy series featuring Kate and Thomas, the author now offers an extremely well-written fantasy for upper elementary school children. Frederick has a rough life in the orphanage, but on the day he must pick up and sort a 5-pound bag of peas and beans AND clean the kitchen floor by morning, he receives some mysterious and unexpected help from a brownie called Billy Bly. Frederick is a smart, capable boy who eventually gets a position in Lord Schofield's household...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Frederick Lincoln seems to be living a life very common to young orphans in Victorian London. He helps out in the kitchen to earn extra tables scraps and to avoid contact with the orphanage director as well as the resident bullies. Frederick soon discovers he has an unusual companion, Billy Bly, a queer little brownie that no one else can see or hear. Billy aids Frederick in being chosen to leave the orphanage to work for Lord Schofield, a mysterious wizard. Frederick is soon immersed in the ast...more
Half of the duo that created the Sorcery & Cecelia series returns with this story of a young man working in wizard Thomas Schofield’s household. Frederick was selected from the orphanage he lived in when he fit the last boy’s livery perfectly. That alone is odd, since the boy was much larger than Frederick. Frederick had also completed an impossible task, despite falling asleep during it, thanks to a strange little man who Frederick thought may have just been a dream. Frederick is a very har...more
This is a much better book than I thought it would be from the cover. I hadn't realized when I picked it out, but the author is one of the co-authors of Sorcery & Cecilia, and this book takes place in that world. I liked all of the little explanations of day-to-day life of servants in the Victorian era (since they seem to be everpresent in most books of this type, but rarely mentioned in detail), and the story was more gripping than it usually is in middle reader books.
I docked a star...I'm...more
I docked a star...I'm...more
This book was recommended to me and I picked it up from the library without even realizing it was a companion novel to the Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot Cecelia and Kate 1 books, which of course, only made it better. This book is for a younger audience. I was a little uncertain about how Frederick and Lord Schofield were able to finally get rid of the curse, since it seemed like there was still residue of it and they didn't exactly try anything new ... but maybe I was readin...more
Another book I really wanted to love, since I adored 'Sorcery and Cecilia.' I tried to figure out why I didn't love this book, which is the story of a young orphan who ends up working for the Schofields, and finally decided it was due to lack of focus. I was never really sure where the author was going, and after a while I wasn't sure if she'd gotten there. The protagonist's motivation waffled a lot, and his relationships with the other characters seemed sort of stiff--they didn't really develop...more
I'm a huge fan of Sorcery & Cecelia, etc, and this book is set in the same world (with appearances by Thomas and Kate). But to me, it didn't feel like the same world. There are magical beings in this world, which there was no hint of in the trilogy with Patricia Wrede. They didn't seem to fit. Also, since the book is written for a much younger audience, it is a simpler story, and doesn't have much in the way of character development. I think someone reading it without having read the Kate an...more
This is a great read if you liked the characters in The Grand Tour. They are back home and going to an ancestral estate. Ten-year-old Frederick, who is surreptitiously watched over by a household elf, is plucked from a London orphanage to be a servant to a wealthy wizard. The new servant thinks there is something wrong at the beautiful old estate where something terrible happened in the past. The estate has been purged of the evil magic but something does not feel right to Frederick. His uncann...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This was a nice light read. I was pleased to find an orphan hero who doesn't have a Tremendous Destiny and isn't the True Heir to anything. Frederick has the old fairy tale virtues of hard work and kindness, and is duly rewarded. (I also did a bit of happy hopping to see the Belly Blind featured in a novel.) The characterisation is light, as one might expect from a middle-grade novel of 200 pages, but Frederick does have some convincing conflict, misery, and jealousy to get through, and some goo...more
I'm not convinced that Stevermer by herself can be as spellbinding as when she collaborates with Patricia Wrede. Wrede is a stronger writer. I enjoyed "Magic Below Stairs," but it didn't have as much allure as the series it's based off (starting with Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot). In its defense, it's is indisputably a piece of junior fiction, but the simplification robbed some of its joy.
Aug 14, 2012
Elevetha Houre
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Lovers of Regency set books and shows
Recommended to Elevetha by:
Miss Clark
Set in the world that Patrica C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer created for their Sorcery and Cecilia books. This book is about Frederick working for Thomas Schofield, training to be a footman. Love Thomas! Anyway, there is a lingering curse set on the Schofield house and Frederick and the brownie, Billy Bly, must save the Schofield family before it's too late. Events in this book take place after "The Grand Tour" but before "The Mislaid Magician." Lovely short book expanding on the Sorcery and Ce...more
This is a fun story which I think I enjoyed more because I have read and loved Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot and the other two books in the series. I was already familiar with some of the characters, and it was like visiting old friends. I would be interested to see if this book is as fun for someone who wasn't familiar with Lord and Lady Schofield and the rest.
If you loved the Sorcery and Cecelia series you will be delighted to see the Lord Schofield and his wife Kate in this junior companion novel told from the perspective of a young servant boy. The story is okay, but because I loved the other book, I thought this one was just blood-sucking from a good idea. I would have liked it better if all the characters had been new. Also, if you have read the third book in the Sorcery and Cecelia series you would know that one of the most "worries" in this boo...more
by Caroline Stevermer
Opening line--"The first time he met Billy Bly, Frederick thought he must be dreaming. Billy Bly looked like a little old man dressed all in green, and came just to Frederick's knee."
This is a hard book for me to review. Essentially the problem is that I'm too old for it (*tear*) and I've read the other Kate and Cecy books. Because of that I felt impatient with the Frederick person, who kept hogging up the space and keeping Kate and Thomas away. The writing, while definitely...more
Opening line--"The first time he met Billy Bly, Frederick thought he must be dreaming. Billy Bly looked like a little old man dressed all in green, and came just to Frederick's knee."
This is a hard book for me to review. Essentially the problem is that I'm too old for it (*tear*) and I've read the other Kate and Cecy books. Because of that I felt impatient with the Frederick person, who kept hogging up the space and keeping Kate and Thomas away. The writing, while definitely...more
As a bridge between The Grand Tour and The Mislaid Magician, I liked this book quite a bit. It partly answered a question I wondered about, i.e. why Kate has fewer children than Cecy. (I now have a theory about it. My old New Testament history prof would probably say that that it's eisegetical. But anyway.)
Anyway, as itself, it is an interesting book too. But it reads like it might be the start of a series. I suspect it depends on the cooperation of the publisher, which will depend on the sales...more
Anyway, as itself, it is an interesting book too. But it reads like it might be the start of a series. I suspect it depends on the cooperation of the publisher, which will depend on the sales...more
3 1/2 stars. A middle grade novel, companion to Sorcery and Cecelia. I loved that series so I was interested to see what was happening in Kate and Thomas' house a few years later. This book is from a new servant, Fredrick's perspective. He's resourceful and has just enough spunk to keep you on your toes. He's also instrumental in breaking a curse. Interested in a short middle grade magic read or loyal to Socery and Cecelia, then give it a try.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Even though the author is part of a duo who made a more popular series (sorcery and cecilia?) I didn't much care for this book. I liked the main character, but I felt many of the plot elements were formulaic. I agree with another reviewer that the story lacked focus. Too bad because I really liked Billy Bly. Fans of the other series might appreciate seeing some of their favorite characters make cameo appearances.
I really enjoyed this one, and quite liked all of the characters. I did feel, though, that the magical curse itself was never explained as well as why it came to be there and how wise men failed to notice it. The dust cover mentions that many of these characters appear in the Cecelia & Kate series by Stevermer and Wrede. Perhaps I will need to read those books to get some background and a better understanding?
I was disappointed it took Thomas Schofield so long to recognize that Frederick could do magic. I thought he had earlier in the book, but he hadn't. I also was disappointed that Frederick couldn't hear Billy Bly anymore. I really liked Billy. Thomas Schofield seemed a little dense for a great magician to me. Cecelia and Sorcery, or the Magic Chocolate Pot is a much better book.
I was not aware that the characters in this book were a part of another series by this author. Maybe if I read the others I would have liked this book more, but I just wasn't sold on it. I felt as if there was no true plot and it kind of just lingered around. The characters were likeable enough, and I think most young readers of fantasy will find it an enjoyable read none the less.
A companion novel to the Sorcery and Cecelia books. I really enjoyed this one--especially once Thomas and Kate arrived, even though they didn't get much time in the novel. My only wish is that it could have been longer so as to deepen the story and the characters. I liked the bittersweet feeling Fredrick has toward the end of what it means to grow up.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
(from website)
Caroline Stevermer grew up miles from anywhere on a dairy farm in southeastern Minnesota. She has a sister and two brothers. After high school, she attended Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, where she earned a B.A. degree in the history of art. She knew she wanted to be a writer when she was eight years old. She began by writing stories in her school notebooks. (They were not good....more
More about Caroline Stevermer...
Caroline Stevermer grew up miles from anywhere on a dairy farm in southeastern Minnesota. She has a sister and two brothers. After high school, she attended Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, where she earned a B.A. degree in the history of art. She knew she wanted to be a writer when she was eight years old. She began by writing stories in her school notebooks. (They were not good....more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
