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The Black Book of Secrets by F.E. Higgins
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The Black Book of Secrets (original 2007; edition 2007)

by F.E. Higgins

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8564025,074 (3.82)26
When Ludlow Fitch runs away from his thieving parents in the City, he meets up with the mysterious Joe Zabbidou, who calls himself a secret pawnbroker, and who takes Ludlow as an apprentice to record the confessions of the townspeople of Pagus Parvus, where resentments are many and trust is scarce.
Member:Serenula
Title:The Black Book of Secrets
Authors:F.E. Higgins
Info:Feiwel & Friends (2007), Hardcover, 288 pages
Collections:Your library
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Work Information

The Black Book of Secrets by F. E. Higgins (2007)

  1. 00
    The Last Apprentice: Curse of the Bane by Joseph Delaney (lefty33)
  2. 00
    The Safe-Keeper's Secret by Sharon Shinn (infiniteletters)
  3. 00
    The Last Apprentice (Revenge of the Witch) by Joseph Delaney (LongDogMom)
    LongDogMom: Young boy is apprenticed to a strange old man who is a Spook, someone who deals with things that go bump in the night.
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» See also 26 mentions

English (37)  Dutch (1)  Danish (1)  German (1)  All languages (40)
Showing 1-5 of 37 (next | show all)
Ludlow Fitch, a young boy (somewhere around 11-14) lives a hard life in the City, where his parents have taught him to pick-pocket for his and their livelihoods. When his parents and the dentist, Barton Gumbroot, try to pull his teeth out, one by one, for a small profit to his parents, Ludlow escapes his parents and the City and finds himself in the small town of Pagus Parvus.

There, he meets local tyrant Jeremiah Ratchet and the new secret pawnbroker, Joe Zabbidou. Zabbidou takes on Ludlow as his assistant and Ludlow begins to learn what a secret pawnbroker really does, why, and how the people of the world are impacted by it.

Zabbidou and his Black Book of Secrets, of which Ludlow becomes secretary and keeper, infuriate Ratchet, who sees his power slipping from him in an intolerable manner. Ratchet and his efforts to undermine and undo all the work that Zabbidou has done with his secret pawnbroking ultimately culminate in a town-wide confrontation, from which all the involved players will learn something.

Higgins creates a fast-paced, interesting, original, and fun tale. The story is subtly dark and subtly fantastic. This would be a great book (reading level) for older elementary school kids and younger middle schoolers. Of course Higgins' story can appeal to all levels, and I quite enjoyed my read! ( )
  avanders | Nov 23, 2020 |
Couldn't really keep me reading. ( )
  Inky_Fingers | Sep 2, 2017 |
This is a magical story about a young boy, Ludlow Fitch who leaves his rotten parents and meets up with Joe Zabbidou, a secret pawnbroker. Joe is opening his pawnshop in a poor town that is controlled by an evil man who delights in kicking people out of their homes. Joe can't solve their problems, or the problems of Ludlow, but he encourages people to be patient and good things will come...

The story is charming but has a few important twists that young people might miss. Without them, the story is a bit confusing. ( )
  Jadedog13 | Mar 10, 2017 |
This was an excellent kids book. I am recommending it to my Reading Club at school. It had some really good themes in it like revenge, right vs. wrong, honesty, manipulation, etc. ( )
  annabw | Feb 21, 2017 |
It shows you can always find help and if you're willing to try you can always find a place to belong. Somtimes you should forget but other times you should relieve yourself of that secret... If you have any. ( )
  Brinlie.Jill.Searle | Nov 23, 2016 |
Showing 1-5 of 37 (next | show all)
D2 Anthony Huynh

My Life Changes

“He had me in an iron grip, my arm wrenched up behind my back.” He has a miserable life. Ludlow knew his parents would hurt him. “He (pa) forced opened my mouth and ran a balanced, foul tasting finger around my gums.” They took out Ludlow’s front teeth, gonna sell Ludlow’s front teeth for a living, and they all monstrously chuckled right in front of Ludlow’s face. They put him in the chair and ran off to do some other stuff. When Pa came over, Ludlow angrily kicked Pa directly to his stomach. He got out of the chair and quickly ran off.

He couldn’t figure out where to go, so he decided to hide under the bridge over River Foedus. “I would have died there if it had not been for ma and pa. They saved me, though it was not their intention, when they delivered me, their only son, into the hands of Barton Gumboot.” After all the fact that my parents would hurt me, he has a misfortune of being born in the city. He can feel the agony going right into him.

He decided to leave the city and start a new life with Joe. Joe is the person who is a “secret pawnbroker” where he swaps secret for money, so he can give the money to the villagers, who are in desperate need of it. Ludlow finds out that Joe is not really that bad as his parents. Ludlow is going to write the secrets in the black book where his secrets appear.

Joe is asking Ludlow some questions about him. He is helping Ludlow out and tells Ludlow his opinions to that situation. He helps Ludlow with his sentences and supports him by taking care of him. Joe as you can see is now trained to do everything. His life is starting to get better.

What the author can improve on is to try to remove “A Note from the Author” before the story starts because in the second paragraph, it talks about Ludlow’s mistakes and that can ruin the whole book showing that Ludlow couldn’t write a perfect memoir. “The fragments and extracts are reproduced here exactly as they were written. I corrected Ludlow’s spelling - it really was quite dreadful - but I did no more than that.” In the book, we can already tell if there is a sentence fragment or not. And “What matters is the story the document tell.” Can you add a bit more detail into it? I believe that the first part is not that necessary.

The story is telling us about beginning a new life. Out of the sentences in the story that I read, I can picture it in my mind of how Ludlow is feeling and how Ludlow is taking it step by step to start a new life as he is meeting new people at the village. There is new people talking to him showing how they react to other people. Anyways, they are very poor and powerless. I feel like a nine year old and up can read this book because after reading the first chapter, it encourages the children to keep reading to find out how his life changes and how other characters feel about their lives.

After Ludlow moved away from his parents, everything can be changed.

The Black Book of Secrets
by: F.E. Higgins
266 pp. Copyright 2007 $14.95 (United States), $18.50 (Canada)
(ages nine to twelve)
added by tsg-21 | editGeorgia
 

» Add other authors (10 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Higgins, F. E.primary authorall editionsconfirmed
Roura Mir, MaríaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ruth, GregCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Voor Beatrix

Non mihi, non tibi, sed nobis
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Toen ik mijn ogen opsloeg wist ik dat me iets te wachten stond wat gruwelijker was dan alles wat ik tot dan toe in mijn ellendige leven had meegemaakt.
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When Ludlow Fitch runs away from his thieving parents in the City, he meets up with the mysterious Joe Zabbidou, who calls himself a secret pawnbroker, and who takes Ludlow as an apprentice to record the confessions of the townspeople of Pagus Parvus, where resentments are many and trust is scarce.

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A boy arrives at a remote village in the dead of night. His name is Ludlow Fitch—and he is running from a most terrible past. What he is about to learn is that in this village is the life he has dreamed of—a safe place to live, and a job, as the assistant to a mysterious pawnbroker who trades people’s deepest, darkest secrets for cash. Ludlow’s job is to neatly transcribe the confessions in an ancient leather-bound tome: THE BLACK BOOK OF SECRETS.

Ludlow yearns to trust his mentor, who refuses to disclose any information on his past experiences or future intentions. What the pawnbroker does not know is, in a town brimming with secrets, the most troubling may be held by his new apprentice.
-- Amazon.com
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