Sorcerer's Apprentice, The
Emily Rodda
Paperback
(Scholastic, Jan. 1, 2004)
A group of teens in Australia do part-time work after school. While his friends Liz, Sunny, Elmo, Richelle, and Nick alternate in coping with the babysitting gig from hell, Tom takes the job no one else wanted-cleaning out a rundown magic shop for the somewhat creepy magician and ventriloquist Sid Foy. As Tom gets closer to discovering Sid's magic secrets, The Gripper, a nasty mugger who chokes his victims, has been holding the town suspended in fear.