{"product_id":"the-spick-and-the-span-pil-van-martin-9780008724788","title":"The Spick and the Span","description":"\u003cp\u003eImaginative, magical, wildly funny, and with a truly unique world, The Spick and the Span is an extraordinary, exciting fantasy middle grade adventure - perfect for fans of Jessica Townsend's Nevermoor, Jonathan Stroud's Lockwood and Co, Diana Wynne Jones' Howl's Moving Castle, and Terry Pratchett's Discworld.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e Thanks to many generations of careless magicians, the city of Helm is overflowing with magic, which has made it a very dangerous place to live. Leave anything alone for too long and it will transform into something else: your house will turn to gingerbread, your teapot will start pouring pond water or - if you're really unlucky - your floor will turn to lava.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe magicians liked to pretend it's them who keep the worst magical hiccups in check, but the real heroes of the whole sorry situation are of a wholly different occupation: equally well known but decidedly less respected.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe heroes of the city of Helm are the cleaners.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWard, an ambitious twelve-year-old cleaner, wants nothing more than to belong to the League of Cleaners, who will grant him the prestige and popularity he's been looking for all his life - if only he can pass three near-impossible tests. Struggling toward this goal with a team he doesn't trust, Ward's world is upended when his friend disappears and mysterious magic-eating monsters appear all over the city and start tearing holes in the fabric of reality. Suddenly his ambitions are the least of his problems...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHugely funny and exciting, and with an incredibly imaginative, original story, The Spick and the Span is the unmissable fantasy middle grade debut of 2025 - you'll never look at magic the same way again...\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Pil Van Martin","offers":[{"title":"As New","offer_id":48675778068723,"sku":"9990002942570","price":7.5,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0634\/4284\/5939\/files\/9780008724788.jpg?v=1773898817","url":"https:\/\/www.harryhartog.com.au\/products\/the-spick-and-the-span-pil-van-martin-9780008724788","provider":"Harry Hartog Bookseller","version":"1.0","type":"link"}