Union Square - The Book of Wizard Craft: In Which the Apprentice Finds Spells, Potions, Fantastic Tales & 50 Enchanting Things to Make

Imagine that late one night you get a phone call from a gentleman who asks you to help him write a book that shares all the magical knowledge hes gatheredand by the way, hes been working on it for the last 600 years! Thats exactly what happened to us. He told us that hed been compiling a notebook for centuries, intending to pass it on to a deserving young wizard-in-training after he retired. When the Wizard realized he could reach millions of young wizards and sorceresses by publishing his notebook, he decided to call us so we could help him turn these notes into a first-of-its-kind book. Fine, we thought, how hard could that be? Well, let us tell you...

First of all, during some of our meetings, the Wizard completely vanished but kept right on talking. Other times he turned into a gryphon or an oak tree. As you can imagine, this took some getting used to. And deciphering his notes was quite a challenge. Some sections were hard to read because of all the mice footprints; other pages were splotched with goo and slime from alchemy experiments gone awry. Not to mention the hundreds of cobwebs covering his lab equipment. And the foot-long rats and singing beetles scampering over everything! But we persevered, and the more we read and talked, the more excited we got!

The Book of Wizard Craft contains the Wizards own recipes and instructions for making more than 50 of his most useful tools and potions, including a real wizards robe and hat, a crystal ball, magic wands, flying carpets, high-speed chase brooms, rings of power, secret journals, and apothecary ingredients (such as mandrake root and dragons blood!). You name it, the Wizard tells you how to make it in this book. He also shared his Spooky Foods Cookbook and his Really Useful Book of All-GOOD Magic Spells, Cheering Charms, and Divination with us, and we put those in, too.

It also became clear to us that the Wizard has known practically everyone in the magical arts, and many famous nonwizards for the last several centuries. He has a great sense of humor and had some wonderful stories to tell, so we asked him to write those down, too. All the important legends and myths, the real stuff of centuries of wizard lore, are here for you to read. And the Wizard himself wrote the Foreword and Farewell for the book. Made us a bit teary-eyed, they did.

A couple of cautions are in order, so pay attention! First of all, use your common sense! Dont eat or drink any of the potions or project ingredients, and be very careful with sharp tools. If you see this spider next to a how-to project, you MUST stop and go find an adult wizard or nonwizard to help you. We mean it, sincerely! Otherwise, the Wizard told us he will come back and personally turn you into a toad. Or, at the very least, youll be in really big trouble.

We hope you enjoy reading this book, and that you have lots of fun making all these wonderful, wizardly things! Please dont write to us asking how you can contact the Wizard, though. We had to promise never to divulge his name or his location, never ever. And in the wizard world, a promise made is a promise kept.