Matthew Kirby - The Clockwork Three - One To Watch - Scholastic 2010





About the Book
An enchanted green violin, an automaton that comes to life, and a hidden treasure. . . . THE CLOCKMAKER'S GRIMORE is a richly woven adventure story that is sure to become a classic! 
Three ordinary children are brought together in their struggles by extraordinary circumstances. . .

Giuseppe is an orphaned street musician from Italy, who was sold by his uncle to work as a slave for an evil padrone in the US. But when a mysterious green violin enters his life he begins to imagine a life of freedom.
 

Hannah is a soft-hearted, strong-willed girl from the tenements, who supports her family as a hotel maid when tragedy strikes and her father can no longer work. There she learns about a hidden treasure, which she knows will save her family.


Book Published By Scholastic Press U.S - Oct 2010 - Age 10-14
Synopsis:
Giuseppe is a busker, wrenched from his brother and sister in Italy and brought to America to play his fiddle on the streets for the ruthless Stephano.  He sees no way to escape, until the day he finds a green violin that plays magical music.  Frederick is an apprentice clockmaker, with a past he chooses not to remember, but which has left him unable to trust anyone.  His need for independence fuels a secret ambition, the drive to create a clockwork like none ever seen.  Hannah is a maid in a grand hotel, working to pay the rent for her family’s shabby tenement and keep them off the street.  Her life is one of sacrifice and endless drudgery, until a mysterious guest moves into the topmost suite of the hotel, and Hannah overhears a rumor of hidden treasure.
The lives of the three children soon interlock, like the turning gears in a clock, and they all come to realize that each one holds a key to the mysteries and dangers faced by the others.  Their adventures sweep them across their city, from the shipyards to the opera house, from the depths of the Archer Museum to the opulence of the Gilbert Hotel, from the city’s old cemeteries to the darkness of McCauley Park.  Along the way they must learn to trust each other, and in themselves.  For they risk losing those things they hold most dear, and the dangers they face soon become all too real.








Comments

prophecygirl said…
That sounds pretty cool. Never heard of it before!