''Wizardology: The Book of the Secrets of Merlin'' is the third book in the Ologies series, created and published by The Templar Publishing Company in the UK in 2005, and published by

Candlewick Press Candlewick Press, established in 1992 and located in Somerville, Massachusetts, is part of the Walker Books group. The logo depicting a bear carrying a candle is based on Walker Books's original logo. History Sebastian Walker launched Walker Boo ...

in North America. The book is marketed as having been written by the mythical wizard

Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

, having been originally discovered in the year 1588 and now being revealed to the world for the first time. ''Wizardology'' is filled with useful spells and magical information. Readers can unveil novelty elements throughout; there are numerous pockets, flaps, secret codes, and scavenger hunts hidden throughout the book. The author is

Dugald Steer Dugald A. Steer (born 1965) is an English children's writer. He wrote books in the book series ''Ology''. Biography Early life and education Dugald Steer was born in 1965 and grew up in Surrey. He completed a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Eng ...

, while the book was designed by Nghiem Ta, and features the artwork of Helen Ward, Tomislav Tomic, John Howe, and

Anne Yvonne Gilbert Anne Yvonne Gilbert (born ) is a British artist and book illustrator. Her cover design of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's 1983 single "Relax" has been described as "one of the most famous record sleeves of all time". While much of her career since ...

Plot

History's most respected wizard, Merlin, describes the skills, techniques, and equipment of wizards around the globe, explains their characteristic use of spells, familiars, and potions, and offers other information and advice for apprentices. For any apprentice determined to learn the arcane arts of wizardry, there could be no better teacher than Master Merlin himself; aspiring wizards can tune in to his age-old wisdom with this compendium of all things magical. The book's intricate design also conceals a series of hidden symbols that spell out a secret message when their code is deciphered, if the reader is clever enough to find them.

* Chapter I: The Work of a Wizard * Chapter II: A Wizard's Map of the World * Chapter III: The Master Wizard's Workshop * Chapter IV: A Wizard's Robes & Tools * Chapter V: Spellcraft * Chapter VI: A Wizard's Loyal Familiars * Chapter VII: A Wizard's Menagerie of Magical Beasts * Chapter VIII: Magical Flight & Flying Carpets * Chapter IX: Potions, Healing & Magical Transformations * Chapter X: Amulets, Talismans & Magical Items * Chapter XI: Divination & Crystal Gazing * Chapter XII: Alchemy, Astronomy & the New Sciences * Chapter XIII: Famous Wizards of History * Conclusion, or The Mystery of Wizardology Revealed and Concealed

Awards and honors

* 2006:

shortlisted A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates (sometimes via intermediate lists known as "long lists"). The length of short lists varie ...

for

British Children's Book of the Year The British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year is a British literary award, given annually to works of children's literature as part of the British Book Awards (known as the Nibbies) . It was established in 1996, replacing the British Illus ...

In other media

Video games

In October 2007,

Codemasters The Codemasters Software Company Limited (trade name: Codemasters) is a British video game developer and former publisher based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts and managed under the EA Sports ...

announced a licensing agreement to create

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

and

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

based on ''Wizardology'', as well as ''

Dragonology ''Dragonology'' is a series of books for children and young adults about dragons, written in a non-fictional style. The series contains information on dragons, including about how to befriend and protect them as well as an alphabet of the dragon ...

'' and ''

Pirateology ''Pirateology: A Pirate Hunter's Companion'' is the fourth book in the Ologies series, created and published by The Templar Publishing Company in the UK, and published by Candlewick Press in North America in 2006. This book is composed of what ...

''. Nik Nak was to develop the Wii titles.

Planned film adaptations

On January 31, 2018,

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

announced they were in the process of developing a film franchise centered around all of the Ologies books, by setting up a writers' room currently consisting of

Jeff Pinkner Jeff Pinkner (born November 16, 1964) is an American television and movie writer and producer. Early life and education Born to a Jewish family,Michael Chabon Michael Chabon ( ; born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, D.C., he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, ...

, Lindsey Beer,

Joe Robert Cole Joe Robert Cole (born January 1, 1980) is an American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for his Emmy Award-nominated and Writers Guild of America Award-winning work on the first season of the true crime Anthology series, anthology television ...

Nicole Perlman Nicole Perlman (born December 10, 1981) is an American screenwriter, best known for co-writing the Marvel Cinematic Universe film ''Guardians of the Galaxy'' (2014), and the story for Marvel's '' Captain Marvel'' (2019), and for '' Pokémon Detect ...

and

Christina Hodson Christina Hodson is an English screenwriter. She is best known for writing the films ''Bumblebee'' (2018), ''Birds of Prey'' (2020), and ''The Flash'' (2023). Her screenplay ''Shut In'' appeared on the 2012 edition of the Black List, an annua ...

. The vision for the franchise is the hope that each of the writers will embrace the books by working with visual artists to create treatments which will eventually evolve into seven movie scripts with interconnected stories. Paramount also announced that

Akiva Goldsman Akiva Goldsman (born July 7, 1962) is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. Goldsman's filmography as a screenwriter includes ''The Client (1994 film), The Client''; ''Batman Forever'' and its sequel ''Batman & Robin (film), Batman ...

will act as overseer and producer of the franchise.

References

External links

Official website of the ''Ology'' series

Anne Yvonne Gilbert, Illustrator
2005 children's books Books by Dugald Steer Candlewick Press books Children's fiction books Works based on Merlin Books illustrated by Anne Yvonne Gilbert Books illustrated by Helen Ward Books illustrated by Nghiem Ta British children's books {{fantasy-book-stub