Rufus and Magic Run Amok: Rufus And Magic

By Marilyn Levinson

Rufus Breckenridge is an ordinary ten-year-old with a best friend and a great comic book collection. He is not a witch like his mother, aunt and grandmother. Witches take lessons to learn how to control th

• Language: English
• Publisher: Level Elevate
• Release date: Jun 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9781685123758

Marilyn Levinson

A former Spanish teacher, Marilyn Levinson writes mysteries, romantic suspense and novels for kids. Her books have received many accolades. As Allison Brook she writes the Haunted Library series. Death Overdue, the first in the series, was an Agatha nominee for Best Contemporary Novel in 2018. Out of Circulation, the eighth book in the series, will be published in August, 2024. Other mysteries include the Golden Age of Mystery Book Club series and the Twin Lakes series.  Her juvenile novel, And Don't Bring Jeremy was a nominee for six state awards. Rufus and Magic Run Amok was an International Reading Association-Children's Book Council Children's Choice and has recently come out in a new edition as the first in a series of four books. Rufus and the Witch's Drudge, the second in the series, will be published in 2024. Marilyn lives on Long Island, where many of her books take place. She loves traveling, reading, doing crossword puzzles and Sudoku, chatting on FaceTime with her grandkids and playing with her kittens, Romeo and Juliet.

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Marilyn Levinson

RUFUS AND MAGIC RUN AMOK

Rufus And Magic

First published by Level Elevate 2023

Copyright © 2023 by Marilyn Levinson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Marilyn Levinson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

Author Photo Credit: Elizabeth Kilion

Second edition

ISBN: 978-1-68512-375-8

Cover art by Level Best Designs

This book was professionally typeset on Reedsy

Find out more at reedsy.com

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For kids of all ages who believe in magic!

Praise for Rufus and Magic Run Amok

"Spirited, well-crafted characters and silly situations conspire to chronicle the turning point for a boy who just wants to be ordinary. Marilyn Levinson’s Rufus and Magic Run Amok takes the awkwardness of being 10 years old and fantastically ramps it up. It’s a fast-moving fantasy that will have young readers rooting for Rufus to not be a witch—and then magically change their minds."—Micki Bare, author of the award-winning middle grade novel Society of the Sentinelia

Marilyn Levinson beautifully captures the ten-year-old voice of Rufus, who grapples with the unwanted complications of discovering he’s inherited his family’s magical abilities. When he accidentally turns on the school’s sprinkling system and causes his classroom window to be broken, he realizes he needs his mom’s lessons on how to responsibly manage his magical gifts. But Rufus figures out something else really important. When he quashes his own fears and trusts himself, he doesn’t need magic to stand up to a bully—or even to catch a fly ball and hit a home run.—Lynn Slaughter, author, Missed Cue (forthcoming, Melange Books, 2023); Deadly Setup (Fire and Ice/Melange Books, 2022), Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards Silver Medalist, M&M Chanticleer International Awards Finalist; Leisha’s Song (Fire and Ice/Melange Books, 2021): Agatha Nominee, Silver Falchion Award, Moonbeam Bronze Medalist, Imadjinn Award for Best YA Novel; While I Danced (Write Words), EPIC Finalist; It Should Have Been You (Page Street), Silver Falchion Finalist

Chapter One

Ialways knew my mom was different. Like Grandma and Aunt Ruth were different. Weird, some people would say, when they weren’t saying worse. But me? I always prided myself on being your average American boy. Okay, above average in the brains department. A little below when it came to spunk. But I had a best friend—Billy, I could smack a ball pretty far (which most people didn’t know since I froze up in any kind of a game), and I owned an A-one comic book collection. I figured it all averaged out. Until that day. The day I found out I was JUST LIKE THEM.

It happened because of Big Douggie. Big Douggie was ten like me, except he was a head taller and twice as wide. He could pass for Son of The Hulk. Big Douggie was great at football, hockey, and baseball. He also was a bully. And I, Rufus Breckenridge, was his pet victim since first grade.

It started my first day of school, when we moved to Cannon Valley three years ago. It was April, like now, and warm enough to go outside for recess. Douggie cornered me and said he could knock me down with one hand. Before I could say, Right. You probably can, he knocked me down. He did it again the next day. And the next.

Ever since then, I’ve been on the run. Kind of like the guy in The Fugitive, only I covered the same ground whenever Big Douggie felt like chasing me home from school. This particular afternoon I was daydreaming as I walked—about which comics I wanted to buy next—when Douggie came flying down our street on his new inline skates. I don’t know how he got them on so quickly. Mr. Faraday, our principal, had a rule: no skates or skateboards anywhere in the building. But Douggie had his ways. Probably bribed the custodian with tickets to his brother’s countywide wrestling match to stash his skates somewhere in the bowels of the school.

Anyway, I was practically home when I heard Big Douggie’s sweet, melodious voice.

Hey, Rufus Dufus, I’m coming to get you!

I turned and saw him skating toward me. I started running.

You can’t escape me. I’m faster than a speeding bullet. I lifted my knees and pumped harder. I was in pretty good shape. Big Douggie chased me home two or three times a week.

Hey, Rufus Dufus, want to go for a skate ride? He was gaining on me. Only a couple of car lengths behind.

I envisioned him dragging me down the street behind him. With a burst of speed, I raced up our walk and collapsed on the top step of our porch.

Big Douggie spun to a halt in the street below. He let out his shrill, high-pitched laugh.

Just made it, did you? Better be careful. With these skates, I’m the fastest thing around.

I turned away so he couldn’t see I was panting for breath. I was safe. Douggie never so much as set foot on the sidewalk in front of our house. But he wasn’t finished yet.

Hey, Rufus, go put your skates on! We’ll go for a whirl together.

I avoided Douggie’s squinty, laughing eyes. He let out a raspberry, then skated off like he owned the street. Owned the world.

Suddenly I was furious at him. Furious at my cowardly fear. I yanked up a handful of grass and weeds.

There was a gray, fuzzy, gone-to-seed dandelion in my hand. I held it by the stem and whispered, Hey, Douggie, do a double somersault and land on your butt. Then I blew and watched the fuzz fly through the air.

Something else went flying through the air. I heard this banshee