Professor Popkin's Prodigious Polish: A Tale of Coven Tree

Coven Tree

by Bill Brittain, Andrew Glass (Illustrator)

Bored with the drudgery of farming, fifteen-year-old Luther Gilpin takes up a career as a traveling salesman, taking orders for a mail-order polish that brings old objects to life

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Fantasy

152 pages, Library Binding

First published October 1, 1990

About the author

William E. Brittain was an American writer. He is best known for work set in the fictional New England village of Coven Tree, including The Wish Giver, a Newbery Honor Book.
Brittain was born in Rochester, New York. He decided he wanted to be a 5th-grade teacher, and in addition to teaching, used to read stories in mystery magazines. After some time, he decided he could do as good a job at writing as some of the authors he read; he got coaching on writing from Frederic Dannay of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (in which, along with Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, most of his mystery stories were published). He wrote two serials from 1964 to 1983, as well as other stories, before moving on to the children's books for which he is better known.
Brittain is also the author of the popular book All the Money in the World, which was adapted as a 1983 movie.

Reviews

[Aaron Mays · Rating 4 out of 5]

The grand finale of The Coven Tree series. It was predictable but very enjoyable with great storytelling and funny characters. I would have enjoyed more from Professor Popkin but it was still fun. This is a beloved series to me and one I will always try and revisit from time to time. Bill Brittain R.I.P

[Rodolfo D · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last of the Coven Tree books. Not exactly the best, but still there's a lot of sense of "town" unity found among the pages, and as always a tale of morality to finish with the story's conflict. I felt there was less closure in this novel than in the other Coven Tree stories, as well as less adventure despite the "black magic", and it was a little predictable given it's for children, but overall seeing people's instant desires or problems getting resolved with team effort for example was refreshing in its simple logic.

[Leeann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just like "The Wish Giver" this book is great fun. Still, there are things about the book that I would like to see differently. First, as the objects came to life they would each act too predictably. Second, I never quite understood Professor Popkin's motive. Was it just mysterious mischief or something more sinister? In the end, Luther learned his lesson and Coven Tree returned to normal, or as normal as that particular town could be.

[Catherine Mustread · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Luther Gilpin sells Professor Popkins Magical polish to the people of Coven Tree, strange and mysterious things begin to happen.