The Midnight Horse - Softcover

Fleischman, Sid

3.58

125 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0440406145 ISBN 13: 9780440406143

Publisher: Yearling, 1992

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It all began during a stormy coach ride, when Touch, an orphan boy, was traveling to meet his evil great-uncle, Judge Wigglesforth. That's when Touch first sees The Great Chaffalo, a magician's ghost.
From the moment Touch meets his nasty great-uncle he has troubles. Not only is the judge trying to cheat Touch out of his inheritance, he's also trying to force Sally Hoskins to sell him her Red Raven Inn. Is Touch all alone against the powerful judge? How can he get what belongs to him in the first place?
Where is The Great Chaffalo now?

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About the Author:

Sid Fleischman wrote more than sixty books for children, adults, and magicians. Among his many awards was the Newbery Medal for his novel The Whipping Boy. The author described his wasted youth as a magician and newspaperman in his autobiography The Abracadabra Kid. His other titles include The Entertainer and the Dybbuk, a novel, and three biographies, Sir Charlie: Chaplin, The Funniest Man in the World; The Trouble Begins at 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West; and Escape! The Story of The Great Houdini.

From School Library Journal:

It's "raining bullfrogs" when readers first meet the skinny and bareheaded orphan boy Touch with his hair "as curly as wood shavings." Touch is en route--by horse-drawn coach--to Cricklewood, New Hampshire, where he will meet his great-uncle and only surviving relative, Judge Henry Wigglesforth. The boy's traveling companions are an honest blacksmith, a mysterious thief, and a shadowy figure on the coach's roof. " 'Merciful powers!' " the blacksmith exclaims, " 'It's The Great Chaffalo!' " It seems that since the magician became a ghost, he has developed the disconcerting habit of turning up in odd and unexpected places. How he becomes Touch's ally against the conniving Judge Wigglesforth readers will delight in discovering for themselves. The process is pure pleasure. Fleischman--who has always had a fondness for magicians--has himself become a master magician with words, producing dazzling and seemingly effortless rhectorical effects from his writer's sleeve. How he does it is his secret, but it surely has something to do with inspired plotting, masterful timing, and a wonderful ear for comic language, lively dialogue, and the best similes and metaphors this side of Leon Garfield. The illustrations by the talented Sis perfectly capture the spirit of the text while complementing its substance. The book is part ghost story, part tall tale, part picaresque, and totally enjoyable, for it is that old enchanter Sid Fleischman at his magical best. --Michael Cart, Beverly Hills Public Library
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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