Janie and Ben are both very likeable without being perfect, and exhibit a great deal of bravery without being crazy. None of this is delivered didactically however it all just comes out in the heat of the chase.Įvaluation: I love the way the author managed to turn a civics lesson into a very fun, fast-paced adventure that also touches on important issues to kids, like the fear of fitting in at a new school, the value of going beyond first impressions, and the sweetness of a first love. Moreover, they learn a bit about atomic weapons and containment theory, and readers get a good look at what attitudes and behaviors prevailed toward the Communists and their sympathizers after World War II. Soon, the two children are chasing and being chased by Russians, Germans, double agents, and chemists, and discovering that the art of being an apothecary is not nearly so pedestrian as Ben had assumed. Soon afterwards, Ben’s dad disappears, but not before entrusting to Ben and Janie an ancient book called the “Pharmacopoeia” containing secret recipes for magic herbal elixirs.

He enlists Janie to help him follow Leonid Shiskin, a man who works for the Soviet embassy, and to their astonishment, they discover Shishkin passing a secret message to Ben’s dad. Ben doesn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps he thinks being an apothecary is all about dispensing hot water bottles and ointments for diaper rash.

Beden’s until she meets Benjamin Burrows, whose father is the local apothecary. until her screenwriter parents get blacklisted, and then they all move to London. This is a delightful middle grade/young adult book replete with magic and young romance and set in 1952, so there are also history lessons about the Cold War and its impact in the West.

The apothecary by maile meloy