Name of Book:  The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Author: Mary Jane Begin

Illustrator: Mary Jane Begin

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Audience: Ages 4-10

Summary: The sorcerer’s apprentice can’t help but wonder why she must spend her days cleaning and sweeping instead of practicing magic.  While her master is away, the apprentice takes matters into her own hands and beckons a broom to come to life and do her chores.  But the broom’s power is more than she can handle and chaos ensues.

Literary elements at work in the story: A beautifully illustrated fairy tale set “many years ago, when the moon was still young, and everyone still believed in magic.”

Perspective on gender/race/culture/economic/ability: There is no distinction of merit between genders in this story.  The apprentice is a young girl (not Mickey Mouse) and her master a male, but she herself grows up to be a sorcerer (not sorceress).  The role of apprentice and sorcerer, then, are gender neutral.

Scripture: Galatians 5:22-23

Theology: This age old tale shows that passion and hard work, tempered by patience and discipline, can help make dreams come true.

Faith Talk Questions:

1. The sorcerer was described as someone who could “guide away evil spirits and heal those that were broken or lost.”  What do you think that means?
2. The sorcerer was very generous with others.  Do you know what the word generous means?  What were some ways he was willing to give and share with others?  How did he show kindness to the mother and daughter who traveled a great distance to see him?
3. What happened when the apprentice disobeyed the sorcerer and worked magic?  When the sorcerer returned and found the mess, what did he do?
4. The apprentice learned a lesson about patience which means to be able to go the distance calmly.  How would being patient help her to become a sorcerer one day?

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.