The Wizards and the Monster

Mr. Merlin

by Bill Brittain, James Warhola (Illustrator)

Becky and Simon's substitute teacher, Mr. Merlin, claims to be a wizard, then transports them to a medieval feast where they must win a dangerous game--or suffer disastrous consequences

80 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1994

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

[Melanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having read and loved The Wish Giver years ago, I decided to track down more of Bill Brittain's work. I'm glad I'm reading through it, but it's hard to beat the tales from Coven Tree.

[Rodolfo D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another edition of Brittain's version of Merlin the wizard with fast narratives into the combination of a lot of folktales and fairy tale stories. Not as didactic as the first time around, but just as short and simple, and geared towards kids barely learning how to read, with an interest in really tall tales.