Children's Picture Book about a boy who is hired then held captive by a man who can transform himself into objects, the boy then escapes by learning the man's powers. Read late 1990's.

[Samuel]

A boy is looking for work and knocks on the door of a man who is hiring. The man sees the boy's clothes and turns him away. The boy turns his jacket inside out and again approaches the man's house and is hired. The boy is made to do house tasks while the man locks himself in his study. Curious, the boy sneaks into the study and finds that the man is magical and can transform himself into different objects. The boy tries to leave but finds he is held captive in the house. The man turns himself into a tall gate to prevent the boy from leaving. The boy studies the man's magic books and learns to turn himself into water. The boy meets a girl and tells the girl to collect the water which has gotten through the gate. The girl carries the jug of water to the outskirts of town and cries over having lost the boy. When she turns back around, the boy is sat on a stone wall eating an apple.

Book was read to me as a child in the late 1990's outside Boston, MA. The setting (vaguely remember) being Victorian era Europe, maybe a small town in France or England.

[Capn]

Ooh, I'd like to read this.

Can you tell us anything about the style of the illustrations? General impressions, colours, how detailed it was? (Don't suppose you remember what the cover looked like?)

[SBC]

There's a list for Objectshifting that may be worth a check. https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...