The Water Castle
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Blurring the lines between magic and science, award-winning author Megan Frazer Blakemore invites readers to search for the elusive Fountain of Youth.
Ephraim Appledore-Smith is an ordinary boy living an ordinary life. But everything changes when his father has a stroke and his family moves back to their ancestral home, the Water Castle. There Ephraim meets Mallory Green and Will Wylie, whose families are tied to the Water Castle's powerful secrets . . . including the legend that the Fountain of Youth is hidden on the estate grounds.
When Ephraim learns of the Fountain, he's sure it can cure his dad. With Mallory and Will's help, he embarks on a quest that will reveal ancient secrets, resurrect old feuds, and leave readers wondering: Do you believe in the unbelievable?
Pick up The Water Castle if you are looking for:
- Classic adventure stories
- Stories that spark wonder
- Characters with big questions about the world
- Fun science ideas in fiction
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Blakemore (Secrets of Truth and Beauty) skillfully explores the intersection of science and magic in this multifaceted story. When 11-year-old Ephraim Appledore-Smith's father suffers a stroke, the family leaves Cambridge, Mass., for his mother's ancestral home in Crystal Springs, Maine. Known as the Water Castle, it's where her family bottled water, long disappeared, that was believed to have healing powers some claimed it came from a Fountain of Youth. Interspersed with chapters taking place in the Water Castle in 1908, the plot grows increasingly sophisticated as Ephraim becomes obsessed with finding the water he believes will cure his father. He and two classmates whose families have been linked to his for generations not always positively come together on a research project about explorer Robert Peary, but are soon, along with Ephraim's siblings, discovering secret rooms and staircases in the intricately built house, in search of the water. While strongly suggesting that the water has magical, scientifically based powers, Blakemore refuses to provide a neat explanatory ending (which may frustrate some readers); instead, a sense of skeptical wonder pervades the book and lingers. Ages 10 14.
