Childhood’s End – a book review

Sorry for the lack of blog posts, but health issues have kept my brain on hold

Here’s my latest review, this time on “Childhood’s End,” the Book of the Month for my SciFi reading group, in honor of Arthur Clarke’s passing.

I found, after reading it, that I am more fond of his short stories than his novels for the most part. The exceptions being “Rendezvous With Rama,” which remains the penultimate First Encounter book, IMO, and “Ghost From the Grand Banks,” written later in life, about the Titanic. This one was written early in his writing career, and to me it shows.

I came to the book, though as if it were newly written, in order to accurately review the book, without sentimentality or excuses. I wrote this review in the form of “notes” which I jotted down as they came to me. The book on the whole is written in a choppy style, skipping from fifty years to fifty years, to other places, even within a single chapter.

So here goes:

One word of warning to those of you who have older editions. I have both. The editions printed before 1990 have a different first chapter. He has a foreward explaining it all, and some nice background stuff. Because of the way things progressed in real time, he decided to change it up a bit. But only the first short chapter.

The upshot is the same, just the details were changed completely.

Wiki cites this about “Childhood’s End”: “In Clarke’s authorized biography, Neil McAleer writes that: “many readers and critics still consider [Childhood's End] Arthur C. Clarke’s best novel.” What do YOU think? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke

Earlier I posted on the “new” opening chapter (editions after 1990) and the foreward he wrote, explaining about the changes in it. How he changed it from an incipient Moon flight to a Mars one, since we had already conquered the moon. He also made disclaimers in the foreward about his new attitudes debunked psi phenomena, which he had earlier been quite interested in – supposedly the book deals a lot with that
subject, but at about 1/2 through, so far, there’s been little mention of psi stuff.

It’s tone is slightly dated to me, anachronistic in terms (ice-box, or is that British?), and the use of the “N” word as something that was now accepted. Sort of un-PC from how we tend to view things. “The convenient word “n*&” was no longer taboo in polite society, but was used without embarrassment by everyone. It had no more emotional, content than such labels as republican or Methodist, conservative or liberal.”

Somehow I can’t see a civilization, however changed, making he “n” word acceptable in 50 years, if ever. Some words, with racial slurs behind them, will never, IMO, make it into mainstream acceptance. Methodist is a far cry from “N”. Perhaps “Negro” which he uses, but not the other.

So far, it jumps from character to character – and they are just dropped. Of course 50 years have passed, but it was a very quick, glossed over 50 years. I would have liked to see more emphasis on the changes that happened, rather than just 2 pages explaining all the changes in science, arts, humanity, society, etc. That’s a lot of eggs to swallow in 2 pages.

On pg. 75 in my version he talks about the loss of religion, due to a device that allowed people to see into the past. “Beneath the fierce and passionless light of truth, faiths that had sustained millions for twice a thousand years vanished like morning dew. All the good and all the evil they had wrought were suddenly swept into the past, and could touch the minds of man no more.”

He seems to have a duality about religion – he seems to almost condemn it in those sentences, yet his two most famous short stories, “The Star” and “The Nine Billion Names of God” are both about religion, and
“The Star”, while questioning faith, is powerful enough to touch both believers and non-believers, IMO. And for his funeral he stated: “Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral.” Which indicates a man who abhorred religion. So, looking at “The Star” and “The Nine Billion Names of God” does that reflect some early duality back then, or just a couple of great stories, FICTION?

One of my favorite things he did was: “Clarke attempted to write a six-word story as part of a Wired Magazine article but wrote ten words instead. (“God said, ‘Cancel Program GENESIS.’ The universe ceased to
exist.”) He refused to lower the word count.” So how does that reflect his attitude towards religion? That small 10-word story seems to infer that God does exist, and has the power to make the world go away, as does “Nine Billion…” in some ways. FICTION again? To me “The Star” shows his questioning of faith and the basis of Christianity.

If anyone knows more about eh evolution back in the ’40s and ’50s of his religious views, I’m be curious to get the links, hear it, etc. Most deal with his later views, which were atheist. But it would be hard, IMHO, to write “The Star” without something behind it, although it is said that: “Near the very end of that same episode [a three-day interview described as "a dialogue on man and his world" with Alan Watts], the last segment of which covered the Star of Bethlehem, he stated that his favourite theory was that it might be a pulsar. Given that pulsars were discovered in the interval between his writing the short story, The Star (1955), and making Mysterious World (1980), and given the more recent discovery of pulsar PSR B1913+16, he said, ‘How romantic, if even now, we can hear the dying voice of a star, which heralded the Christian era.’” So was that all “The Star” was, or was it the dying breath of a crisis of faith for him? Anyone know?

Moving on:

On pg. 79, he has a great line from a wife, upon seeing her husband looking at another, very beautiful woman: “It was such a nuisance that men were fundamentally polygamous. On the other hand, if they weren’t … Yes, perhaps it was better this way, after all.”

I love how he subtly puts down marriage and it’s attendant obligations and martial framework. Nice touch of humor.

Despite his reworking of the first chapter to reflect a Mars mission, rather than the moon, he never changed the rest of it, deliberately he said, so that subtle inconsistencies arise. One in particular I like his old-style turn of phrase, although it’s moon thing sort of detracts from it, because you recall the Mars change, but was a nice piece: “A century before [yes, we seem to have jumped ahead again another 50 years, despite two chapters before starting out with ...50 years is ample time...], Man had set foot upon the ladder that could lead him to the stars. At that very moment – could it be coincidence? – the door to the planets had been slammed in his face.” A nice turn of phrase, but he refers to Moon trips, when we’ve already been there, done that, which is why he rewrote the first chapter. Why do that, and not make smaller changes in the rest? pg.92

He has an older, more colorful turn of phrase – more flowery, more full of imagery. Current SF doesn’t read like this. And that is what dates it, to me. I’ve seen it before, in some of my favorite novelists from that time, and it hasn’t bothered me before. Maybe because it’s sciend fiction this time, which is dupposed to be tomorrow’s technology, etc.? It’s the style of writing – the more descriptive, allusitory way, that seems to date, more than technology, etc.

At one point, he talks about the Overlords’ Stardrive. They know nothing about it, and one character is sitting watching a ship leave, and knows that the generally accepted theory of the light he was seeing was merely a gravitational distortion of space caused by the “immense acceleration of the Stardrive.” “What Jan was seeing, he knew, was nothing less than the light of distant stars, collected and focused into his eye whenever conditions were favorable along the track of the ship. It was a visible proof of relativity – the bending of light in the presence of a colossal gravitational field.” pg. 94

One thing that struck me was the, to me, curiously passive attitude of the people. Yes, the Overlords proved their power, etc., and yes, there were splinter groups against them, but all in all, the people just sat back and let it all fall around them – losing their drive, their science, their art, their sense of adventure. Are we so shallow as a species? Do you think this is what would happen in 50 years, in the presence of a vastly, so it seems, superior race? Do we just give up, and enjoy our little Utopia, even though Clarke says that Utopia =
boredom. I know it’s a cautionary tale, but it still seems a flimsy premise. Of course, as Clarke himself would say, it’s a work or FICTION!

And what about what Wiki says about him:
“Clarke’s work is marked by an optimistic view of science empowering mankind’s exploration of the solar system. His early published stories would usually feature the extrapolation of a technological innovation
or scientific breakthrough into the underlying decadence of his own society.” What do you think of that statement? Accurate? or not?

I also like the idea behind his 2nd law, a lesser know one than his 3rd: “The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.” See: http://groups.google.com.au/group/rec.arts.sf.misc/msg/e4185210a85826fc for a nice overview of the history behind the laws.

So, those are just my thoughts so far. Anachronistic in style, tone and certain things, and so far, 1/2 way through, not really “giving” me anything to look forward to – to hang my hat on. Not much in the way of questions, thoughts, etc. for me. For many books, by this time I would have pages of comments, not just these pitiful ones.

Are there others, like me, who have not returned to the classics very much, and when they do, have discovered certain things about them, that perhaps “glare” in the light of today? And I read authors from
the 50s, but for me, it doesn’t fit in SF. Because of my “gap?”

Despite the detractions I listed, I am still enjoying a trip to the past and the Golden Age, one that is 25 years in the past for me, not 50+.

I found my older version of “Childhood’s End” with the orig. publishing date of 1953, 48th printing 1984, before he changed the first chapter and added the foreward. On the cover, with a nice UFO shining over a city, is a review quote from The New York Times:

“A first rate tour de force that is well worth the attention of every thoughtful citizen in this age of anxiety.”

Now, I wonder, given my earlier thoughts, is it really that important a book? I wondered about what we were anxious about (the quote wasn’t dated), so I did some digging and it came from a 1953 review: http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/clarke-childhood.html

So I’m assuming it was the beginning of the Cold War? Or was that later? Before my time, and my 20th century history is very sketchy (a product of 70s liberal/innovative education in Minnesota, the ultra
liberal state). Interestingly, it’s labeled as a “Books of the Times”, and the reviewer stresses it’s relevance to society at that time.

But there is an interesting twist – the reviewer attempts to “pretend” it’s not SF:

“It must be said at the outset that Mr. Clarke’s publishers have offered his novel as science-fiction, a label that too many readers still associate with Captain Video, rocket-ship sagas and invasions of super-gremlins from universes other than our own. It is quite true that “Childhood’s End” contains some of these standard ingredients, but Mr. Clarke has mixed them with a master’s hand.”

And to end this rather self-important, prosy review (an earlier incarnation of me???):

“This review can only hint at the stimulation Mr. Clark’s novel offers. Above all, it must be emphasized that this is not a gloomy book, despite its holocausts. It is true that the invaders from outer space manage to steal the big scenes. But homo sapiens fights back to the end with resourcefulness and wit. What’s more, he rarely allows himself to be upstaged, even when he is faced with his own extinction.”

PART II

I just finished Childhood’s End, before the end of “Clarke Month,” and below are my comments on the last half:

After the seance, when the overloads are discussing Jean’s fainting upon hearing the star notation for their home planet, they make reference to her being a too old to be a prime contact (later explained obliquely), and to “transfer her to Category Purple” which was never explained – what that meant, or the significance of the categories – no other “category” was ever mentioned. pg. 103

He makes his famous statement that “the stars are not for Man,” when the Overlord makes some announcements about why the skies are closed after Jan is discovered as a stowaway. That statement is repeated, but in many ways, as is later shown in the book, the stars ARE for man, just in a new and supposedly improved version. And Clarke’s explanations for this are not satisfactory to me: he talks about how vast the galaxy is (he uses galaxy and universe interchangeably at times, which is annoying to me), but only when he gets to the metaphysical “bridge” thing does he sort of make a case. What is wrong with man colonizing his star system, and growing along the way? I just never got that part. pg. 137.

The island where the Greggson’s move to, New Athens, reminds me in many ways of the concept for Greg Egan’s Distress – it’s almost as if he borrowed the whole thing, lock stock and barrel, except for the
man-made part. pg. 144-45 (see my earlier review of that book).

The way the island was set up reminded me of the TV show “Numb3rs,” in how they used mathematics in so many ways to compute all the various optimal structuring. Pg.140, 146

He did do a nice job of foreshadowing some of society’s and technology’s trends – i.e. he talked about movies/entertainment that would make you feel like you were part of it – and take part – sort of
a VR? Pg. 148.

As I’ve said before, his writing is very prosy, almost poetical at times: “He had no wish to face whatever lurked in the unknown darkness, just beyond the little circle of light cast by the light of Science.” That, more that technology or ideas, to me, dates the book. I don’t recall if all his books were like this, or just the earlier ones – say contrast it with “Ghost from the Grand Banks.” pg. 151

I also don’t really like any of the characters, perhaps except for the first major one – Stormgren, the Secretary-General. The Greggson’s were annoying – he was always talking “plaintively” and she was way
too submissive, and they were flat, one-dimensional – nothing showing their motivations, beyond a brief reference to his artistic side. Nothing to give them flesh and blood, so that later events – the “ascendancy” or mass evolution of their children and others should move them – indeed, they were quite passive, and accepting, and never seemed to really regret or care about anything. And their marriage was described in very dull, unloving terms – he had stopped loving her, etc. Perhaps a reflection on Clarke’s own views on marriage? Anyone know?

The characters shallowness made later events seem anti-climatic and they just stood there and let it flow around them, rather than absorbing their loss, and the loss of the future of man as they knew him. Everyone on the planet seemed to always have this resigned acceptance of whatever happened to them, it was okay, they’d just get along with it – only a few were referenced with mild rebellions, or like New Athens, with such a minor revolt of the arts that it was almost ludicrous that they feared the Overlord’s displeasure. pg. 151

After his son’s “encounter” with the tsunami and his miraculous saving, George went out to the site to investigate, and found fused rock, and “knew” that the Overlords had intervened? How was he so sure? Nothing like that had ever been done for a single human – so why would he think that the Overlords had somehow picked HIS son to save, out of everyone on the planet subject to accidents, etc.? pg. 156

All, in all, I was disappointed – the ending was trite to me – and the notion that man must wait for the stars until he was ‘ready” to join at a much higher level – that he must evolve entirely into a “new” species, goes against the main frames of SF to me – that if we strive hard enough, we’ll make the stars our destiny.

I didn’t like how humanity just bowed down and accepted their fate at the end – that they just let themselves die off, without trying to see if a new generation would also evolve, or if that was the only one, etc. It seems in direct violation of all that mankind holds dear – freewill, independence, stubbornness, etc. They did that throughout the book – just accept it, like sheep.

Of course, I’ve never been a big fan of the super evolution themes – that man will suddenly evolve into a consciousness – it seems boring to me – to just be a mind, without substance, even if you have the
universe at your “mind”, it’s not at your fingertips as you have none!

And the very ending, with Karellen and the Overlords stuck in an evolutionary dead-end, and being “slaves” to the Overmind seemed “off.” What is wrong with what they had accomplished, and what they still might accomplish – why is the Overmind or an evolutionary dead-end the only two forks in the road, as Clarke says on pg. 205? Now it may only be a literary device, but it is unsatisfactory to me.

I wanted SO much more from each and every page – more character dimension, more descriptions, more delving into the whys and wherefores – it seems like it should have been two or three times the length to adequately address the subject. It just seemed way too short. And Clarke’s little disclaimer in the 1990 edition, about how when it was first published, readers were baffled by a statement at the beginning that the opinion expressed in the book were not those of the author, is a little lame, IMO. He states (in the later edition ) that this was put in because he had just published his book “The Exploration of Space” and painted an optimistic picture of our future expansion into the Universe. And now he had written a book that “the
stars were not for Man,” and he didn’t want anyone to think he had recanted his just published views.

He then goes on to state that he would change that to cover 99% of the paranormal, so that the books won’t “contribute to the seduction of the gullible, now cynically exploited by the media.” He goes on to say, that although his views on the paranormal have changed, the book still has relevance as “it’s a work of fiction, for goodness sake!”

In his foreward he also talks about how “V” the miniseries is an “impressive variation” of Chapter 2.

So, bottom line – okay reading, but disappointing – 1. flat and featureless – needs fleshing out, IMHO, and 2. trite ending – a quick, descriptionless ascendancy, without any reason how or why. The paranormal pasts, like the seance, and Rupert’s “books” seemed almost an afterthought.

A fellow member had this to say about my “notes”:

” I enjoyed Kristin’s analysis of Clarke’s classic Childhoods End. I’d like to add some points in defense of this book.

First, it was written in 1953. At that time Clarke was 36 years old and had just started publishing. He had a few novels published and some short stories, but was at the beginning of his career. So, we have to give him some slack in character and plot development. If he had written this in 1983 it would have been embarrassing.

Second, I don’t have a problem with the Overlords and their mission to guide humanity to join the Overmind. Assuming that the Overmind is a vast mind that wants to grow, it might recognize that lesser races need guidance to help them join it and designate the Overlords to guide humanity.

In rereading Childhood… I found this sentence in Karellan’s broadcast to the Earth in Chapter 14, “One of my duties has been to protect you from powers and forces that lie among the stars – forces beyond anything you can imagine.”

I don’t know if it was mentioned in the book (perhaps it was in another Clarke novel). but I recall a phrase about how an advanced intelligence could view lesser races, “…and, sometimes, dispassionately weed…” implying advanced races might have to protect the Galaxy against aggressive humans armed with nuclear weapons and a nuclear space drive.”

And my reply was:

Chris is right on all points – I was merely reacting to it as if it were a story newly minted – coming to it with “fresh” eyes. He does touch on the last point of Chris’s in “Childhood’s End”:

On pg. 136-37 (1990 version), he talks about how a stone age man might react to the Victorian age of electricity and steam, and what might happen if a Victorian man tried to tinker with a television set or a
computer. “How long would he have lived if he started to investigate their workings? The gulf between the two technologies can easily become so great that it is – lethal.”

He went on to talk about how our race, in it’s present stage of evolution, cannot face the stupendous challenge of the immensity of space. Then he says “It is a bitter thought, but you must face it. The planets one day you may possess. But the stars are not for Man.” That was after the announcement of the stowaway.

Then while he’s talking to Jan at the end, he discusses, or “pontificates” on the power of psi – that we had begun to investigate it, and while physicists would only have ruined the earth, the paraphysicists could have “spread havoc to the stars.” He says we might have become a telepathic cancer, a malignant mentality which in it’s inevitable dissolution would have poisoned other and greater minds. So they were sent to interrupt our development, guide us, and be our guardians until we were ready.

So it seems to me that at least in this book, the threat from us was not our bombs and such, nor our war-like mentality, but our inability to comprehend the extraordinary vastness of space and it’s cultures,
and that our untrained psi powers could have done much harm, until we were “ready.”

It’s not a bad book to me, just, as Chris sort of said, an untrained one, from a newbie writer, with grandiose ideas, and not yet the pen ready to commit them all to paper fully. It’s sad, because I think it could have been a great book if he had written it later in his career. But to me he was always a master of the short story, more than the novel, with the exception of “Rama,” which as I recall was fascinating at first, then became boring, so much so that I think I stopped reading it and never finished – only a rereading will tell.

But his short stories, like The Star, and such are phenomenal.

The House AI

Newer Reads for Teens in Sci-Fi and Fantasy

These are books from SimonSays.com, a website from Simon & Schuster. I found them by using the guide on the left, clicking on Teens at the top, and then on Science Fiction and Fantasy under “category.” They are the printers of many of the teen books available, and are a great way to find books for your kids, and they group then not only by teen, but by each grade level and by genre, series, etc. Most of these are published within the past year, or are yet to be published. Check the publication dates listed if you’re not sure, or can’t find it – it may be forthcoming. They are very exact about age grading, far more so than Amazon, although they ARE limited to the books they publish. But it’s a great place to start, since they are so precise in age ratings, and in how to find the exact type of book you’re looking for. So try some and see what you think. I tried to pick a representative selection. They also have a number of books for the younger set, 8-12, which I will cover next time. NOTE: These have NOT been read by either me or my kids, so I can’t vouch for them. But many have won awards, and those are listed. So be adventurous – try some.

Wake
By Lisa McMann
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: March 04, 2008
Our Price: $15.99
Ages: 14 and up
Grades: 9 and up

Description

Not all dreams are sweet.

For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people’s dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody- notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie’s seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.

She can’t tell anybody about what she does — they’d never believe her, or worse, they’d think she’s a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn’t want and can’t control.

Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else’s twisted psyche. She is a participant….

City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments)
By Cassandra Clare
Cover by Cliff Nielsen
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: March 25, 2008
Our Price: $17.99
Ages: 14 and up
Grades: 9 and up

Description

Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what’s normal when you’re a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who’s becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn’t ready to let her go — especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary’s only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil — and also her father.

To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings — and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?

In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City’s Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.

City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments)
By Cassandra Clare
Cover by Cliff Nielsen
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: February 19, 2008
Our Price: $9.99
Ages: 14 and up
Grades: 9 and up

Description

Their hidden world is about to be revealed….

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder — much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Clary knows she should call the police, but it’s hard to explain a murder when the body disappears into thin air and the murderers are invisible to everyone but Clary.

Equally startled by her ability to see them, the murderers explain themselves as Shadowhunters: a secret tribe of warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. Within twenty-four hours, Clary’s mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a grotesque demon.

But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know….

The Past is Gone (The Time Jumpers)

By James Valentine
Cover by Tom White

This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: May 8, 2007

Ages: 8 – 12
Grades: 3 – 7

Description

The Adventure Begins….

When Theodore Pine Four suddenly appears in the bedroom of Genevieve Corrigan just as her friend Jules Santorini is about to ask her out on a date, the only thing they can all agree on is that it is highly unordinary. Things get even more complicated when we find out that Theo is a teenager from the year Fourteen Billion and Seventy-Three with multicolored hair, a talking coat, and the hottest new time machine on the market: the TimeMaster JumpMan Pro. And little do they know that this chance encounter is going to kick-start an epic adventure — one that will take Jules, Gen, and Theo through history, from the Big Bang all the way up to 14,000,000,073 and everywhere in between. Along the way, our heroes are going to have to figure out how to get Theo and his malfunctioning time machine back home without undoing the fabric of time itself. And, if he’s lucky, Jules might just manage to ask Gen on that date.

The Present Never Happens (The Time Jumpers)
By James Valentine
Cover by Tom White

This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: July 10, 2007
Our Price: $5.99

Ages: 8 – 12
Grades: 3 – 7

Description

The Adventure Continues….

Rule One of TimeJumping was broken, but luckily disaster has been averted (at least for now), and Jules, Gen, and Theo are back. Their first adventure had them whisking through Time, talking to coats, and just managing to save Theo’s life — but that was just a warm-up. In the second chapter of the mind-bending TimeJumpers series, Jules and Gen (finally) go on a date, Theo turns out to be the biggest celebrity anyone in the year Fourteen Billion and Seventy-Three has ever seen, and we meet a peculiar and very irritating old man who has the strange idea that the entire history of the world is about to be overturned — and somehow Jules and Gen are involved. And that’s just the beginning. There are sinister forces at work, and Rule One is not just going to be broken, it’s going to be smashed apart.

The Future Is Unknown (The Time Jumpers)
By James Valentine
Cover by Tom White

This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: August 28, 2007
Our Price: $5.99

Ages: 8 – 12
Grades: 3 – 7

Description

The Adventure Ends.

In the third millennium, Jules is suddenly very popular, for reasons he doesn’t really understand. He should be happy, but all he can think about is Theo. Are Jules and Gen ever going to see him again? Meanwhile, in the fifteenth billennium, Quincy Carter One has disappeared after the world witnessed his aborted attempt to undermine the entire structure of Time. Not only that, TimeJumping has been all but outlawed on the Two Planets. And Theo can’t stop worrying about Jules and Gen — and what Quincy may be planning, wherever (or whenever) he is. It’s the thrilling conclusion of the TimeJumpers trilogy, and no one knows what’s going to happen next. Or before. But that’s what happens when you start fooling around with time.

Sky Inside
By Clare B. Dunkle
Cover by Sammy Yuen, Jr.
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: March 25, 2008
Our Price: $16.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

Martin lives in a perfect world.

Every year a new generation of genetically-engineered children is shipped out to meet their parents. Every spring the residents of his town take down the snow they’ve stuck to their windows and put up flowers. Every morning his family gathers around their television and votes, like everyone else, for whatever matter of national importance the president has on the table. Today, it is the color of his drapes. It’s business as usual under the protective dome of suburb HM1.

And it’s all about to come crashing down.

Because a stranger has come to take away all the little children, including Martin’s sister, Cassie, and no one wants to talk about where she has gone. The way Martin sees it, he has a choice. He can remain in the dubious safety of HM1, with danger that no one wants to talk about lurking just beneath the surface, or he can actually break out of the suburb, into the mysterious land outside, rumored to be nothing but blowing sand for miles upon miles.

Acclaimed author Clare B. Dunkle has crafted a fresh and fast-paced science-fiction thriller, one that challenges her characters — and her readers — to look closer at the world they take for granted.

Pirate Emperor (The Wave Walkers)
By Kai Meyer
Translated by Elizabeth D. Crawford
Cover by Dominic Harman
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: January 08, 2008
Our Price: $5.99
Ages: 10 – 14
Grades: 5 – 9

Description

In the vast Caribbean Sea, pirates Jolly and Griffin are stranded on a tiny island where a peculiar architect is building an enormous bridge — but to where? Another world? Before they can find out, the bridge bursts into flames and the kobalins attack. Jolly and Griffin have nowhere to run until the Ghost Trader mysteriously appears and carries them off to the magical coral city of Aelenium. It is from Aelenium that Jolly and Munk are supposed to descend far, far into the deep to keep out the world-devouring Maelstrom.

But Jolly isn’t ready for that task. She wants to rescue Captain Bannon, the only father she’s ever known, so she steals the ghost ship and sets sail. Griffin follows her, until he is trapped by the man in the whale. Princess Soledad has her own plans — to kill Pirate Emperor Kendrick. But the truly terrifying cannibal king stands in her way. Is Soledad ready to become the new pirate emperor?

Trickery Treat (Charmed)
By Diana G. Gallagher
This Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: January 01, 2008
Our Price: $6.99
Ages: 16 and up
Grades: 10 and up

Description

Trickery Treat

A portal opened — as a means for amends,
Leaves a vengeful spirit to roam.
Helping him cross over is the only way,
To restore peace within the home.

It’s Halloween, and Piper is busy decorating the Manor, which has become the neighborhood hot spot on the most bewitching night of the year. Meanwhile, Paige decides to use the party as a chance to honor the dead. She casts a spell that creates a portal for a clan of leprechauns…and other wandering spirits.

The guests are thrilled and impressed with the realistic effects, but Phoebe, Piper, and Paige soon realize that they have a big trick to deal with: one not-so-friendly ghost going out of his way to turn the Manor into a haunted house. The Charmed Ones must stop this evil soul with a vengeance before he takes the life of one experienced ghost hunter who knows his story and has met him before….

The Water Mirror (The Dark Reflections Trilogy)
By Kai Meyer
Translated by Elizabeth D. Crawford
Cover by Melvyn Grant
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: October 01, 2006
Our Price: $7.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Awards:

Kansas State Reading Circle Senior High Titles
NYPL “Books for the Teen Age”
SLJ Best Book of the Year

Description

In Venice, magic is not unusual. Merle is apprenticed to a magic mirror maker, and Serafin — a boy who was once a master thief — works for a weaver of magic cloth. Merle and Serafin are used to the mermaids who live in the canals of the city and to the guards who patrol the streets on living stone lions. Merle herself possesses something magical: a mirror whose surface is water. She can reach her whole arm into it and never get wet.

But Venice is under siege by the Egyptian Empire; its terrifying mummy warriors are waiting to strike. All that protects the Venetians is the Flowing Queen. Nobody knows who or what she is — only that her power flows through the canals and keeps the Egyptians at bay.

When Merle and Serafin overhear a plot to capture the Flowing Queen, they are catapulted into desperate danger. They must do everything they can to rescue the Queen and save the city — even if it means getting help from the Ancient Traitor himself.

Stone Light (The Dark Reflections Trilogy)
By Kai Meyer
Translated by Elizabeth D. Crawford
Cover by Melvyn Grant
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: October 16, 2007
Our Price: $8.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

Evil forces have invaded Venice – the city that Merle and Serafin call home. Luckily, the two friends hold secrets that just might stop the pharaoh from destroying their ancient city.

Merle has within her spirit of the Flowing Queen, a mysterious legendary force who serves as her guide. Indeed, the Queen’s voice has led Merle to Vermithrax, a winged stone lion. And together they are on a mission to Hell to enlist help from Lord Light.

Meanwhile, Serafin remains in Venice. He’s joined a group of rebel boys who are plotting to assassinate the pharaoh. But can a group so small really kill the biggest, most powerful man on earth?

Though they follow separate courses, Merle and Serafin will both encounter unexpected betrayals and startling revelations. And together they learn that evil takes many shapes in the world of Dark Reflections.

Glass Word (The Dark Reflections Trilogy)

By Kai Meyer
Translated by Elizabeth D. Crawford
Cover by Melvyn Grant
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: January 01, 2008
Our Price: $16.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

When they emerge from Hell, Merle, her friend Junipa who has mirrors for eyes, and Vermithrax the flying stone lion find themselves in Egypt. Of course the Flowing Queen is with them as well, since Merle swallowed her back in Venice. There is something very wrong in Egypt–it is freezing cold, and everything is covered in snow. Winter is here, looking for his lost love, Summer. And another creature is here as well–Seth, the highest of the Horus priests. Betrayed by the pharaoh and his sphinx henchmen, Seth is seeking revenge. Together they travel to the Iron Eye, the vast fortress of the sphinxes.But what does the Flowing Queen want Merle to do there?

Meanwhile Serafin, the master thief, the beautiful sphinx Lalapeya, and Eft, the mermaid, are also headed for Egypt. They are traveling underwater, in a submarine piloted by pirates. Serafin is not sure what they can do to the fight the pharaoh, but he knows surrender is not an option. Egypt has captured and enslaved his beloved Venice, and he and the others must fight the empire no matter what the cost. But the final battle will not be one that Serafin has even imagined–and the cost will be high indeed.

Here, There Be Dragons (The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica)
By James A. Owen
Illustrated by James A. Owen
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: October 23, 2007
Our Price: $9.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Awards:

ALA Best Books for Young Adults Nominee

Description

The Imaginarium Geographica

“What is it?” John asked.

The little man blinked and arched an eyebrow.

“It is the world, my boy,” he said. “All the world, in ink and blood, vellum and parchment, leather and hide. It is the world, and it is yours to save or lose.”

An unusual murder brings together three strangers, John, Jack, and Charles, on a rainy night in London during the first World War. An eccentric little man called Bert tells them that they are now the caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica — an atlas of all the lands that have ever existed in myth and legend, fable and fairy tale. These lands, Bert claims, can be traveled to in his ship the Indigo Dragon, one of only seven vessels that is able to cross the Frontier between worlds into the Archipelago of Dreams.

Pursued by strange and terrifying creatures, the companions flee London aboard the Dragonship. Traveling to the very realm of the imagination itself, they must learn to overcome their fears and trust in one another if they are to defeat the dark forces that threaten the destiny of two worlds. And in the process, they will share a great adventure filled with clues that lead readers to the surprise revelation of the legendary storytellers these men will one day become.

An extraordinary journey of myth, magic, and mystery, Here, There Be Dragons introduces James A. Owen as a formidable new talent.

Search for the Red Dragon (The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica)
By James A. Owen
Illustrated by James A. Owen
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: January 01, 2008
Our Price: $17.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

“‘The Crusade has begun’…

“There’s an old myth in the Archipelago,” he went on softly, shaking his head. “A legend, really…I recall it mentioned a Crusade, but those events happened seven centuries ago. We always thought it was only a story.”

It has been nine years since John, Jack, and Charles had their great adventure in the Archipelago of Dreams and became the Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica. Now they have been brought together again to solve a mystery: Someone is kidnapping the children of the Archipelago. And their only clue is a mysterious message delivered by a strange girl with artificial wings: “The Crusade has begun.” Worse, they discover that all of the legendary Dragonships have disappeared as well.

The only chance they have to save the world from a centuries-old plot is to seek out the last of the Dragonships — the Red Dragon — in a spectacular journey that takes them from Sir James Barrie’s Kensington Gardens to the Underneath of the Greek Titans of myth. With friends both familiar and new, they will travel through an extraordinary landscape where history, myth, and fable blend together to tell the oldest story in the world. And along the way, the Caretakers of the Geographica will discover that great deeds alone do not make heroes, and that growing up may be unavoidable…but growing old doesn’t have to be.

Quillan Games (Pendragon)
By D. J. MacHale
Cover by Victor Lee
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: December 26, 2007
Our Price: $8.99
Ages: 10 and up
Grades: 5 and up

Description

Let the Games Begin….
Quillan is a territory on the verge of destruction. The people have lost control of their own future and must struggle simply to survive. The only chance they have of finding a better life is by playing the Quillan Games. Hosted by a strange pair of game masters, Veego and LaBerge, the games are a mix of sport and combat. They use the people of Quillan as pawns for their amusement as they force them to enter competitions that range from physical battles, to impossible obstacle courses, to computer-driven tests of agility. To triumph in the games is to live the life of a king. To lose is to die.

This is the dangerous and deadly situation Bobby Pendragon finds on Quillan. He quickly realizes that the only way to save this troubled territory is to beat Veego and LaBerge at their own games and dismantle their horrible fun house. But there is more at stake for Bobby. The prize for winning the Quillan Games may be discovering the truth of what it really means a Traveler.

Raven Rise (Pendragon)
By D. J. MacHale
Cover by Dawn Austin
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: May 20, 2008
Our Price: $17.99
Ages: 10 and up
Grades: 5 and up

Description

This is where it begins. The showdown for Halla. At stake is nothing less than all that ever was and all that will be.

There’s only one thing missing–Bobby Pendragon.

While Bobby remains trapped on Ibara, the battle moves to his home territory: Second Earth. Mark Dimond and Courtney Chetwynde are left on their own to defend Second Earth against the forces of Saint Dane. They must face off against a charismatic cult leader who has risen to power by revealing a shattering truth to the people of Earth: They are not alone.

The Convergence has broken down the walls. The territories are on a collision course. The final phase of Saint Dane’s quest to rule Halla is under way.

And Bobby Pendragon is nowhere to be found.

The Time Thief (The Gideon Trilogy)
By Linda Buckley-Archer
Cover by James Jean
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: December 26, 2007
Our Price: $17.99
Ages: 10 and up
Grades: 5 and up

Description

What happens when a seventeenth-century bad guy has twenty-first-century technology?

An accident with an antigravity machine catapulted Peter Schock and Kate Dyer back to 1763. A bungled rescue attempt leaves Peter stranded in the eighteenth century while a terrifying villain, the Tar Man, takes his place and explodes onto twenty-first-century London. Concerned about the potentially catastrophic effects of time travel, the NASA scientists responsible for the situation question whether it is right to rescue Peter. Kate decides to take matters into her own hands, but things don’t go as planned. Soon the physical effects of time travel begin to have a disturbing effect on her. Meanwhile, in our century, the Tar Man wreaks havoc in a city whose police force is powerless to stop him.Set against a backdrop of contemporary London and revolutionary France, The Time Thief is the sequel to the acclaimed The Time Travelers.

Fall of a Kingdom
By Hilari Bell
Cover by Steve Stone
This Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: January 01, 2005
Our Price: $6.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

Who was Sorahb?

Stories are told of a hero who will come to Farsala’s aid when the need is greatest. But for thousands of years the prosperous land of Farsala has felt no such need, as it has enjoyed the peace that comes from being both feared and respected.

Now a new enemy approaches Farsala’s borders, one that neither fears nor respects its name and legend. But the rulers of Farsala still believe that they can beat any opponent.

Three young people are less sure of Farsala’s invincibility. Jiaan, Soraya, and Kavi see Time’s Wheel turning, with Farsala headed toward the Flames of Destruction. What they cannot see is how inextricably their lives are linked to Farsala’s fate — until it’s too late.

In Fall of a Kingdom, the first volume of the Farsala Trilogy, Hilari Bell introduces readers to a world of honor, danger, and magic in this spellbinding tale of self-discovery.

Rise of a Hero (The Farsala Trilogy)
By Hilari Bell
Cover by Steve Stone
This Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: June 01, 2006
Our Price: $6.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

The Return of Sorahb?

Legend has it that when Farsala most needs a warrior to lead it, Sorahb will be restored by the god Azura. That time has come. After a devastating loss to the army of the Hrum, Farsala has all but fallen. Only the walled city of Mazad and a few of the more uninhabitable regions remain free of Hrum rule, and they seem destined to fall as well. Farsala needs a champion now.

Three young people are waging battle as best they can. Soraya, Jiaan, and Kavi, their lives decimated by the Hrum, are each in a personal fight against their common enemy. Apart, their chances are slim, as none of them is Sorahb reborn. United, perhaps they can succeed. But only Time’s Wheel can bring them together — if it turns the right way. If it doesn’t, Farsala is surely doomed.

In the sequel to the critically acclaimed Fall of a Kingdom (formerly titled Flame), the first book of the Farsala Trilogy, Hilari Bell draws readers deeper into the mythical land of Farsala and weaves an epic tale of destiny and danger.

Forging the Sword (The Farsala Trilogy)
By Hilari Bell
Cover by Steve Stone
This Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: December 26, 2007
Our Price: $6.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

The spirit of the ancient champion, Sorahb was reborn into the body of a deghan youth, who raised an army of peasants to resist their Hrum conquerors.

Sorya, Kavi, and Jiann do everything they can to keep control of what little land remains free from Hrum rule. They have most of the peasantry, a small, untrained army, and the Suud helping them, but there is still one important piece missing: a sword that is able to withstand the Hrum’s watersteel. Without it, Farsala will fall.

But what none of these young heroes can foresee is the growing desperation of the Hrum leaders. It will lead them to break some of their own laws and sacred pacts. It will also reveal truths about the nature of war, the nature of human beings, and — most important — themselves.

Sunlight and Shadow: A Retelling of “The Magic Flute” (Once Upon a Time)
By Cameron Dokey
Cover by Kinuko Y. Craft
Designed by Mahlon F. Craft
This Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: June 17, 2008
Our Price: $6.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

A new spin on “The Magic Flute” by an acclaimed author!

In a time when the world was young and many things were quite commonplace that are now entirely forgotten, Sarastro, Mage of the Day, wed Pamina, the Queen of the Night. And in this way was the world complete, for light was joined to dark. For all time would they be joined together. Only the ending of the world could tear them apart. In other words, in the days in which my parents married, there was no such thing as divorce….

Thus begins the tale of Mina, a girl-child born on the longest night of the darkest month of the year. When her father looked at her, all he saw was what he feared: By birth, by name, by nature, she belonged to the Dark. So when Mina turned sixteen, her father took her away from shadow and brought her into sunlight.

In retaliation, her mother lured a handsome prince into a deadly agreement: If he frees Mina, he can claim her as his bride.

Now Mina and her prince must endure deadly trials — of love and fate and family — before they can truly live happily ever after….

Sara’s Face
By Melvin Burgess
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: June 17, 2008
Our Price: $7.99
Ages: 14 and up
Grades: 9 and up

Description

Fame, beauty, and face transplants

Sara wants to be famous, and when legendary rock star Jonathon Heat offers to take her under his wing and pay for her cosmetic surgery, it’s like a dream come true. But beauty comes with a hidden price tag. Is Sara willing to pay?

Unwind
By Neal Shusterman
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: November 06, 2007
Our Price: $16.99
Ages: 13 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Awards:

ALA Best Books For Young Adults
ALA Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers

Description

In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would “unwind” them

Connor’s parents want to be rid of him because he’s a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev’s unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family’s strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can’t be harmed — but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.

In Unwind, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award winner Neal Shusterman challenges readers’ ideas about life — not just where life begins, and where it ends, but what it truly means to be alive.

Clovermead: In the Shadow of the Bear
By David Randall
Cover by Steve Stone
This Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: December 01, 2005
Our Price: $5.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 6 and up

Awards:

NYPL “Books for the Teen Age”
Theodore H. White Lecturer/Joan Shorenstein Center, JFK School of Government/Harvard University (2002)
YALSA Teens Top Ten (TTT) Nominee

Description

Twelve-year-old Clovermead Wickward’s head is filled with stories of adventure. She dreams about the thrill of a sword fight and the excitement of heroic quests. The last thing Clovermead expects is for those dreams to come true. But it seems her father, Waxmelt, is not who she has believed hi to be. As she becomes aware of strange new powers within her, Clovermead realizes that her father is harboring secrest that threaten to tear their small family apart.

At the same time, the good nuns of Lady Moon are waging war again the evil bear-priests of Lord Ursus. Suddenly Clovermead and Waxmelt find themselves thrust into the middle of an epic battle.

Clovermead comes to understand that the clash between good and evil is raging not only on the battlefield but also within herself. Will she succumb to the temptation of evil, in the shadow of the bear, or will she fight for the salvation of good?

Chandlefort: In the Shadow of the Bear
By David Randall
Cover by Steve Stone
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: December 26, 2006
Our Price: $16.95
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

It has been just months since Clovermead Wickward discovered that she is really Demoiselle Cerelune Cindertallow — daughter of Lady Melisande Cindertallow, the sovereign of Chandlefort — and that the man she had called Father all her life was actually an embittered servant who stole her away when she was a baby. Since then, she has learned that she doesn’t wholly care for life inside the walls of Chandlefort, and that she doesn’t much like her mother’s expectations for how a Demoiselle should behave — especially the bit about not changing shape anymore. When you can turn into a bear, being forced to stay human can be deadly dull.

Now Clovermead must confront dangerous secrets from her family’s troubled past when a mysterious stranger appears in Chandlefort. Perhaps he is the old friend of Clovermead’s real father, as he claims to be — or perhaps an old enemy of the Cindertallows who seeks a final revenge. When Clovermead unintentionally puts her mother’s life in mortal peril, her only chance to make amends and save the mother she has just begun to know is to set off on a dangerous journey to a distant abbey. The life of her mother, the salvation of Chandlefort, and the freedom of the bears enslaved by the overwhelming power of Lord Ursus all depend on Clovermead

In this intense and compelling sequel to Clovermead, David Randall explores the strength of love, courage, and forgiveness in the battle of good and evil.

Sorrel: In the Shadow of the Bear
By David Randall
Cover by Steve Stone
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: October 23, 2007
Our Price: $16.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

The fight against the evil Lord Ursus continues, and the fate of the battle lies in the hands of fifteen-year-old Clovermead Wickward. Chandlefort’s army is in need of reinforcements, and Clovermead is charged by her mother, Lady Cindertallow, to seek allies among the nomadic Hordes of the Tansy Steppes. At the same time, Lord Ursus has dispatched Clovermead’s old enemy Lucifer Snuff to contest her. A battle of diplomacy ensues, and it is only one of many struggles that Clovermead must face.

First, Clovermead must choose between her mission to the Hordes and the pleas of her best friend, Sorrel. All the while the survival of Chandlefort is pitted against Clovermead’s promise to free Lord Ursus’s enslaved bears. But the most painful choice of all awaits Clovermead in a face-to-face confrontation with Lucifer Snuff. In the end, Clovermead must decide between the logic of war and her heart’s instinct for mercy, relying on her sacred gifts — the ability to shift into bear-form and to speak the bear-language — to have even the slightest chance at victory.

In an epic tale of honor, love, and redemption, David Randall follows Clovermead and Chandlefort with an adventure determining the fate of nations and human souls.

Questors
By Joan Lennon
Cover by Jon Foster
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: September 11, 2007
Our Price: $16.99
Ages: 10 – 14
Grades: 5 – 9

Description

Three worlds, held in perfect balance. Nothing can change that. Well, nothing except a cataclysmic disruption in the Space-Time Continuum…

Luckily the people in charge have a plan: Create three perfect Heroes, the best of each world, and send them on a quest to find the Objects of Power that will restore the balance. But things go wrong when the Heroes are needed ten years earlier than expected, and three confused kids set off to save the worlds. Madlen, Bryn, and Cam have no idea what they’re looking for or where they’ll find it. What they do know is that to fail would mean unthinkable disaster.

It’s a pity, then, that someone is determined to stop them…

From the icebound city of the dragons to the magical kitchen of The London House, Joan Lennon has crafter a highly inventive story that is fast-paced, fantastical, and funny.

Bloodtide
By Melvin Burgess
Cover by Cliff Nielsen
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: May 22, 2007
Our Price: $7.99
Ages: 14 and up
Grades: 9 and up

Description

PART I

London is in ruins, a once highly advanced city now a gated wasteland. Within its walls, a bloody war rages between two clans. Hope is sparse, but the people believe the gods have risen from the dead.

Odin himself has come to play a part in the lives of two twins, a brother and sister from the Volson clan. Siggy and Signy must come to grips with their destiny as London’s future teeters on the edge of a knife….

Bloodsong
By Melvin Burgess
Cover by Cliff Nielsen
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: August 28, 2007
Our Price: $7.99
Ages: 14 and up
Grades: 9 and up

Awards:

ALA Best Books For Young Adults

Description

PART II

Fifteen-year-old Sigurd, son of King Sigmund, is the last surviving member of the Volson clan. His father’s kingdom — the former city of London — is gone. And his father’s knife, a gift from Odin himself, has been shattered to dust.

Now, Odin’s eye is upon him. Armed with a powerful sword forged from the remnants of his father’s knife, Sigurd will face death, fire, and torment. He must travel through Hel and back…to unite his country once again.

She’s a Witch Girl
By Kelly McClymer
Cover by Kirsten Ulve
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: August 21, 2007
Our Price: $8.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

Prudence Stewart is FINALLY getting her witch on at Agatha’s Day School. Sadly, her love life isn’t quite so charmed. Boy trouble is lurking, big-time:

• First, there’s Angelo, Pru’s adorable crush-next-door. When he shows up at Agatha’s, it spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E for Pru. Especially when it comes to…

• Samuel, Pru’s best bud and tutor in all things magical. For Angelo and Samuel, it was loathe at first sight.

• And then there’s Daniel, the bad boy with wicked talent — who also happensto be the great-great-great-great-grandson of Pru’s nemesis, Agatha herself.

With all this boy drama, it’s all Pru can do to prep for the national cheerleading competition — the one that will bring her broomstick-to- spirit-stick with her former squad AND her boy-stealing ex-BFF.

A little magic just might come in handy right now….

Skin Hunger (A Resurrection of Magic)
By Kathleen Duey
Cover by David Ho
Illustrated by Sheila Rayyan
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: July 24, 2007
Our Price: $17.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Awards:

Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best
National Book Award Finalist

Description

Sadima lives in a world where magic has been banned, leaving poor villagers prey to fakes and charlatans. A “magician” stole her family’s few valuables and left Sadima’s mother to die on the day Sadima was born. But vestiges of magic are hidden in old rhymes and hearth tales and in people like Sadima, who conceals her silent communication with animals for fear of rejection and ridicule. When rumors of her gift reach Somiss, a young nobleman obsessed with restoring magic, he sends Franklin, his lifelong servant, to find her. Sadima’s joy at sharing her secret becomes love for the man she shares it with. But Franklin’s irrevocable bond to the brilliant and dangerous Somiss traps her, too, and she faces a heartbreaking decision.

Centuries later magic has been restored, but it is available only to the wealthy and is strictly controlled by wizards within a sequestered academy of magic. Hahp, the expendable second son of a rich merchant, is forced into the academy and finds himself paired with Gerrard, a peasant boy inexplicably admitted with nine sons of privilege and wealth. Only one of the ten students will graduate — and the first academic requirement is survival.

Sadima’s and Hahp’s worlds are separated by generations, but their lives are connected in surprising and powerful ways in this brilliant first book of Kathleen Duey’s dark, complex, and completely compelling trilogy.

Guide to the Uglies
By Scott Westerfeld
Cover by Carissa Pelleteri and Howard Pyle
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: October 21, 2008
List Price: $8.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Not available yet, but keep an eye out!

Z for Zachariah
By Robert C. O’Brien
Cover by Sammy Yuen, Jr.
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: July 10, 2007
Our Price: $6.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

Is anyone out there?

Ann Burden is sixteen years old and completely alone. The world as she once knew it is gone, ravaged by a nuclear war that has taken everyone from her. For the past year, she has lived in a remote valley with no evidence of any other survivors.

But the smoke from a distant campfire shatters Ann’s solitude. Someone else is still alive and making his way toward the valley. Who is this man? What does he want? Can he be trusted? Both excited and terrified, Ann soon realizes there may be worse things than being the last person on Earth.

Dream of the Stone
By Christina Askounis
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: April 10, 2007
Our Price: $8.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

Someone is following Sarah Lucas. When she peers down from her apartment window late one night, she sees him hovering in the shadows. And what about the other strange things that have been happening to her? The old woman who appears every so often to give Sarah a cryptic piece of advice and then vanishes? The mysterious gleaming stone that turns up in the mail, a universe of tiny stars suspended in its depths?

But there’s no one Sarah can trust with her story. Her journalist parents have been killed in a freak plane crash, and her older brother, Sam, a scientific genius, has disappeared under suspicious circumstances from the top secret institute where he works.

Sarah couldn’t be more alone in the world, until the day she meets Angel Muldoon, a half-Gypsy stable boy who carries a secret of his own. Together they will begin an incredible journey to another world, where they must return the stone to its rightful place and keep the forces of unimaginable evil at bay.

Turnabout
By Margaret Peterson Haddix
This Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: March 27, 2007
Our Price: $5.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

In the year 2000 Melly and Anny Beth had reached the peak of old age and were ready to die. But when offered the chance to be young again by participating in a top-secret experiment called Project Turnabout, they agreed. Miraculously, the experiment worked — Melly and Anny Beth were actually growing younger every year. But when they learned that the final treatment would be deadly, they ran for their lives.

Now it is 2085. Melly and Anny Beth are teenagers. They have no idea what will happen when they hit age zero, but they do know they will soon be too young to take care of themselves. They need to find someone to help them before time runs out, once and for all….

Virtual War (The Virtual War Chronologs)

Gloria Skurzynski

Reading level: Young Adult

Mass Market Paperback: 160 pages

Publisher: Simon Pulse (February 1, 1999)

Language: English

Book Description

Imagine a life of virtual reality — a childhood contained in a controlled environment, with no human contact. Corgan has been genetically engineered for quick reflexes, high intelligence, and physical superiority. He is unbeatable in battle. But he lives his life in a lonely module. What is a real sunset like? Or a friend?

When he meets fellow teens Sharla and Brig, Corgan begins to doubt the Federation, whose decisions he has unquestioningly obeyed. Life outside virtual reality may be for him. His fourteen years of training are about to end as the real challenge approaches. But he can’t lose focus now: He must win a virtual war, or the Western Hemisphere will be lost forever.

Clones (The Virtual War Chronologs)
By Gloria Skurzynski
Cover by Barry David Marcus
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: May 03, 2007
Our Price: $10.95
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Book Description

Clones are supposed to be identical…aren’t they?

Corgan, hero of the Virtual War, has been living a blissful, if placid, life on the Isles of Hiva, his reward for winning the War with Sharla and Brig. But what he doesn’t know is that Brig died soon after the War, and yet is not truly gone. Sharla had saved some of Brig’s DNA and has created clone-twins with it. Corgan’s world is disrupted when Sharla brings one of the clone-twins, Seabrig, to him to raise on the island, while she keeps the other, Brigand, with her in the Domed City. However, when circumstances force Sharla to bring Brigand to the island, they find that while the boys may look identical, their temperaments are not. Brigand is haughty, willful, power hungry, and despises Corgan because of his relationship with Sharla. And, as a result of the cloning process, both boys are growing at an astonishing rate. In what may or may not have been an accident with his clone-twin, Seabrig is badly injured and must be airlifted from the island to receive medical treatment in the Domed City. This leaves Corgan alone with an increasingly dangerous and unstable Brigand, who is now his size, and looking to get rid of Corgan once and for all.

A gripping sequel to Virtual War that could be ripped straight from the headlines — in eighty years….

Revolt (The Virtual War Chronologs)
By Gloria Skurzynski
Cover by Michael Frost
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: June 01, 2005
Our Price: $16.95
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

What do you do when someone truly hates you?

Corgan is used to being the hero. Leader of the team that won the Virtual War, he chose for his reward to live on the Isles of Hiva, in an idyllic paradise. Idyllic until the clones, Brigand and Cyborg, arrived, that is. Life hasn’t been the same for Corgan since.

Now he’s lucky if his former fans even remember his name. But more worrisome is that he has an enemy, a mortal enemy in the form of Brigand, who has taken over not only Corgan’s mantle as the most well-known person in the Domes, but has taken Corgan’s girlfriend, Sharla, away too. When Brigand tried to kill Corgan back in the Wyo-Dome and failed, Corgan thought he would be free of Brigand at last. But now the power-obsessed Brigand has followed him to Florida, determined to rule the Domes and finish Corgan off for good. Corgan escaped from Brigand once, but can he do it again? And more importantly, does he even want to escape this time?

So now Corgan’s got two choices. He can fight and risk getting killed or, worse, captured by Brigand. Or he can walk away and take Sharla with him…if he can figure out how to use a spacecraft that hasn’t been flown in more than fifty years.

Picking right up from where The Clones left off, this fast-paced sequel will not disappoint Gloria Skurzynski’s eager fans.

Choice (The Virtual War Chronologs)
By Gloria Skurzynski
Cover by Big Sesh Studios
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: October 10, 2006
Our Price: $16.95
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 –

Book Description

The Final Battle

Ever since Corgan escaped his mortal enemy, Brigand, by fleeing the Florida domed city, he’s felt haunted. He’s haunted by the fact that Brigand is still in power in Florida, torturing innocent citizens (including Corgan’s friend Thebos), but above all by the bitter memory that he ran away from Brigand rather than staying to fight. Corgan believes he made the right choice at the time, but now he wants to face Brigand in one final battle.

His passengers in the stolen zero-gravity spaceship-Sharla, Ananda, and Cyborg-have different ideas. Tired of arguing, Corgan chooses to land the ship in the only place he has ever been happy. But even there disaster follows him, until Sharla reveals a secret that gives him hope-hope that he can once again become the hero he was meant to be. This time, Corgan intends to stand up to Brigand, win or lose, in a fight to the death.

This thrilling sequel and conclusion to the Virtual War Chronologs has been eagerly awaited for by Gloria Skurzynski’s many fans.

Salem Witch Tryouts
By Kelly McClymer
Cover by Kirsten Ulve
This Edition: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: October 01, 2006
Our Price: $8.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

Prudence Stewart had it all at Beverly Hills High: straight A’s, the cutest crush, and a sweet gig as captain of the cheerleading squad. Then poof! Mom and Dad announce they’re moving to Salem, Massachusetts. Turns out, Pru comes from a long line of witches and it’s time for her to learn the craft. Buh-bye, Beverly Hills High — hello, Agatha’s Day School!

But Pru’s not about to trade in her spirit stick for a broomstick! She’s sure she can keep her kewl at her new school — until she discovers it’s all magic, all the time, and she’s failing Witchcraft 101. Worst of all, even the cheerleaders bring a special “spirit” to their routine. As in, triple-back-somersault-with-a-twist kind of spirit.

It’s time for Pru to cast a spell and prove she’s just as enchanting as the next girl — and somehow make cheering tryouts a flying S-U-C-C-E-S-S!

Fallen
By Thomas E. Sniegoski
This Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: October 01, 2006
Our Price: $6.99
Ages: 16 and up
Grades: 10 and up

Description

Aaron Corbet isn’t a bad kid — he’s just a little different.

On the eve of his eighteenth birthday, Aaron dreams of a darkly violent landscape. He can hear the sounds of weapons clanging, the screams of the stricken, and another sound he cannot quite decipher. But gazing upward at the sky, he suddenly understands. It is the sound of great wings, angels’ wings, beating the air unmercifully as hundreds of armored warriors descend on the battlefield.

Orphaned since birth, Aaron is suddenly discovering newfound — and sometimes supernatural — talents. But it’s not until he is approached by two men that he learns the truth about his destiny, and his role as a liaison between angels, mortals, and Powers both good and evil, some of whom are hell-bent on his destruction….

Everlost
By Neal Shusterman
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: October 01, 2006
Our Price: $16.95
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Awards:

School Library Journal Best Books of the Year

Description

Nick and Allie don’t survive the car accident…

…but their souls don’t exactly get where they’re supposed to get either. Instead, they’re caught halfway between life and death, in a sort of limbo known as Everlost: a shadow of the living world, filled with all the things and places that no onger exist. It’s a magical, yet dangerous place where bands of lost children run wild and anyone who stands in the same place too long sinks to the center of the Earth.

When they find Mary, the self-proclaimed queen of lost kids, Nick feels like he he’s found a home, but allie isn’t satisfied spending eternity between worlds. Against all warnings, Allie begins learning the “Criminal Art” of haunting, and ventures into dangerous territory, where a monster called the McGill threatens all the souls of Everlost.

In this imaginative novel, Neal Shusterman explores questions of life, death, and what just might lie in between.

Rash
By Pete Hautman
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: June 01, 2006
Our Price: $16.99
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Awards:

ALA Best Books for Young Adults Nominee
Great Lakes Great Books Master List (MI)
Hal Clement Golden Duck Award
Keystone to Reading Book Award Master List (PA)
Minnesota Book Awards Finalist
New York Times Book Review Notable Books
Texas 2×2 Reading List
Texas Tayshas High School Reading List
Thumbs Up! Award Master List (MI)

Description

“Of course, without people like us Marstens, there wouldn’t be anybody to do the manual labor that makes this country run. Without penal workers, who would work the production lines, or pick the melons and peaches, or maintain the streets and parks and public lavatories? Our economy depends on prison labor. Without it everybody would have to work — whether they wanted to or not.”

In the late twenty-first century Bo Marsten is unjustly accused of a causing a rash that plagues his entire high school. He loses it, and as a result, he’s sentenced to work in the Canadian tundra, at a pizza factory that’s surrounded by hungry polar bears. Bo finds prison life to be both boring and dangerous, but it’s nothing compared to what happens when he starts playing on the factory’s highly illegal football team. In the meantime, Bork, an artificial intelligence that Bo created for a science project, tracks Bo down in prison. Bork has spun out of control and seems to be operating on his own. He offers to get Bo’s sentence shortened, but can Bo trust him? And now that Bo has been crushing skulls on the field, will he be able to go back to his old, highly regulated life?

Pete Hautman takes a satirical look at an antiseptic future in this darkly comic mystery/adventure.

Sharp North
By Patrick Cave
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: April 01, 2006
Our Price: $16.95
Ages: 14 and up
Grades: 9 and up

Description

In a futuristic world, will everyone be replaceable?

Mira had always lived quietly until the day a stranger is shot and killed in front of her. The woman’s body is quickly removed, leaving bloodstained snow and a crumpled piece of paper on the ground as the only clues to her murder. Mira discovers that the paper contains a list of names, including her own — but why? Terrified, she begins to view everyone with suspicion, and attempts to follow the clues that the dead woman left behind, unaware of the danger she is stumbling into.

For Mira lives in an environmentally damaged and socially dangerous Great Britain that is ruled by the caste of the Great Families, forming a society where reproduction is strictly limited and where families keep illegal clones — or “spares” — of themselves, just in case a replacement is ever needed….

Fast paced and suspenseful, Sharp North is the story of Mira’s search for the truth about her own identity and her attempts to find goodness in her strange world.

Sign of the Raven
By Julie Hearn
Cover by Marc Yankus
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: October 01, 2005
Our Price: $16.95
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

Mind the gap.

Something odd is going on in the basement of an old house in London. An inexplicable gap has formed, a gap in time that links the present to the past. And twelve-year-old Tom, who discovers the gap while on a visit to his grandmother, is torn between both worlds.

Lured by a mysterious voice, Tom leaps into the early eighteenth century, to a time when circus “freaks” like the Bendy Man and the Gorilla Woman appeared at Bartholomew Fair. The voice he hears belongs to Astra, a tiny changeling child, whose limbs are no bigger than a man’s thumb. She has called him into the past, because she is convinced that Tom is the only one who can help her and her friends from danger. Doctors are paying a high price for unusual bodies to dissect, and Astra and her friends are prime subjects.

But Tom is dealing with difficulties of his own. His mum has cancer and is constantly fighting with his gran. And then he discovers a dark secret in his family’s past…a secret that pulls the strands of time together and might just close the gap forever.

Apocalypse
By Tim Bowler
Cover by Cliff Nielsen
This Edition: Hardcover
Publication Date: September 01, 2005
Our Price: $16.95
Ages: 12 and up
Grades: 7 and up

Description

Kit and his parents are out sailing when things go horribly wrong. Fog rolls in; the compasses won’t work; weird cries come from the sea. Then squalls force their boat against a giant rock. They manage to get to shore, but the dismal, almost barren island they’re on provides no comfort. The only inhabitants are a brutal group of fundamentalists whose ancestors settled there long ago. For some reason they hate Kit the moment they see him.

But Kit has glimpsed someone else, a girl who seems to be wild. He’s also seen a strange man who looks just like him, only older, with the same birthmark on his face. Kit goes in search of the girl, looking for answers to the eerie goings-on. He returns to find his parents gone and their tents torn to shreds. Have the islanders killed them? Kit sets off in a desperate search for them as he struggles for his own survival. Will the girl help him? And will he be able to escape the islanders, who clearly want to kill him?

Journey on a startling voyage into the unknown, where an ordinary teenage boy faces a world filled with malice and a terrifying vision of the future, in this haunting thriller from award winner Tim Bowler.

Well, this is all from SimonSays for teens that is fairly current. Next time it’s on to the Pre-teens, and then on to the next publisher…

WordPress.com Tags: Books, Teens, Science Fiction, Sci-Fi, Fantasy

Classic Reads for Pre-teens and Teens – some old, some new Part II

This is a list of classic books, both old and new or “instant classics” for the younger set. Some are suitable for reading aloud (esp. the ones marked as best for 4-8 yr olds), and all are suitable for most ages over 8. Even older teens might like the ones marked for younger readers. Because these are “classics,” the age boundaries are more for reading/comprehension level, rather than a guide to content, with some noted exceptions.

I invite you to look through the list, and find some that might make suitable reading or read-a-loud stories to share. Check Scholastic.com for many reprints of classics. They are one of the biggest publishers out there for these books, and for that they should be commended. Part III will be coming soon.

The Seventeenth Swap by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

WordPress.com Tags: Pre-teen, Teen, Books

Ages 9-12. “Eric Greene needs $17.99 fast. He wants to buy his young crippled friend Jimmy a pair of outrageous red cowboy boots that are on sale for one week.

But how can Eric get the cash that quickly? He has no money, but he does have a plan. He can swap for the boots. So he begins a series of wheelings and dealings with some fascinating people.

And along the way, Eric learns some very surprising things about himself – and that makes the seventeenth swap the best swap of all.” Book Description

Smoky the Cowhorse by Will James

Ages 9-12. “Smoky knows only one way of life: freedom. Living on the open range, he is free to go where he wants and to do what he wants. And he knows what he has to do to survive. He can beat any enemy, whether it be a rattlesnake or a hungry wolf. He is as much a part of the Wild West as it is of him, and Smoky can’t imagine anything else.

But then he comes across a new enemy, one that walks on two legs and makes funny sounds. Smoky can’t beat this enemy the way he has all the others. But does he really want to? Or could giving up some of his freedom mean getting something in return that’s even more valuable?” Book Description

“There have been many horse stories. But not one of them can compare with this book.” New York Times Book Review

“One of the finest horse stories ever told.” Herald Tribune

White Fang by Jack London

Ages 12 and up. “Gr. 6-8. Ed Young, whose haunting illustrations of the wolf made his Caldecott- winning Lon Po Po (1989) so memorable, was well chosen as the illustrator for the Scribner Illustrated Classics edition of White Fang. Jack London’s 1906 novel. As many will remember, London tells the story of a wolf-dog who endures great cruelty before he comes to know human kindness. The 12 pastel illustrations illuminate the text with their dramatic use of light and dark, sensitively delineated forms, and soft, subtle shades of color. A handsome new edition of a longtime favorite.” Booklist

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

Ages 12 and up. “First published in 1903, The Call of the Wild is regarded as Jack London’s masterpiece. Based on London’s experiences as a gold prospector in the Canadian wilderness and his ideas about nature and the struggle for existence, The Call of the Wild is a tale about unbreakable spirit and the fight for survival in the frozen Alaskan Klondike.” Book Description

Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry

Ages 9-12. ” On an island off the coasts of Virginia and Maryland lives a centuries-old band of wild ponies. Among them is the most mysterious of all, Phantom, a rarely seen mare that eludes all efforts to capture her–that is, until a young boy and girl lay eyes on her and determine that they can’t live without her. The frenzied roundup that follows on the next “Pony Penning Day” does indeed bring Phantom into their lives, in a way they never would have suspected. Phantom would forever be a creature of the wild. But her gentle, loyal colt Misty is another story altogether.

Marguerite Henry’s Newbery Honor Book has captivated generations of boys and girls both with its thrilling descriptions of true incidents from the tiny island of Chincoteague, and its realistic yet wonderfully magical atmosphere. This story of an animal brought into captivity poignantly reveals the powerful opposing forces of humans and nature. Wesley Dennis’s pen-and-ink ponies are masterfully depicted with rippling muscles, shaggy coats, and free spirits. (Ages 9 to 12).” Amazon

Stormy, Misty’s Foal by Marguerite Henry and Wesley Dennis

Ages 9-12. “A raging storm slashes across Assateague and Chincoteague islands. Water is everywhere! The wild ponies and the people must battle for their lives.

In the midst of the storm, Misty-the famous mare of Chincoteague-is about to give birth. Paul and Maureen are frantic with worry as the storm rages on… will Misty and her colt survive?

This is the thrilling story of the hurricane that destroyed the wild herds of Assateague, and how strength and love helped rebuild them.” Book Description

Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry and Wesley Dennis

Ages 9-12. “Movie men have come to Chincoteague to film the annual Pony Penning, and Paul and Maureen are thrilled — until they learn that the producers want to buy their beloved Misty. Reluctantly, they agree to sell in order to send their uncle to college. But how will they ever fill the lonely place that Misty leaves behind?

Finding an orphaned colt helps Paul and Maureen deal with their loss, and they soon discover that little Sea Star needs them just as much as they need him.” Book Description

King of the Wind: The Story of the Goldophin Arabians by Marguerite Henry and Wesley Dennis

Ages 9-12. “Grade 4-8-The Newbery Medal-winning tale about a stallion, a stable boy, and their globe-spanning adventures.” School Library Journal

Brighty: Of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry

Ages 9-12. “Grade 3-6-Marguerite Henry’s book (Rand McNally, 1953) is based on actual incidents in the life of a Grand Canyon burro. Brighty loves his life of independence along the Bright Angel Creek for which he was named, going to the rim in the summer and down to the canyon floor in winter. He is present as President Theodore Roosevelt discusses the beauty and grandeur of the Canyon and how it should be preserved for the American people. Brighty is the first to walk the historic bridge connecting the north and south rims. Befriended by prospectors, government men and campers, Brighty alternately helps his friends and runs free as the spirit moves him. His friend and companion, Old Timer, a prospector, is murdered by a claim jumper. A saddened Brighty searches for the killer, an adventure which runs through the book.” School Library Journal

Justin Morgan Had A Horse by Marguerite Henry

Ages 9-12. “Joel’s face suddenly lit up as if he had thought of something for the first time. He spoke now to the horse, as though he were the one that mattered. “Why, come to think of it, you’re just like us, Bub. You’re American! That’s what you are. American!”

In 1791 a Vermont schoolmaster by the name of Justin Morgan comes home with a two-year-old colt named Little Bub. Taken as payment for an outstanding debt, the little colt doesn’t seem like he is worth much, but the kindly teacher asks one of his students, Joel Goss, to train him. Joel knows the horse has great potential, and soon word about Little Bub spreads throughout the entire Northeast for his ability to outwork, outrun, outtrot, and outwalk any horse in the area.

This is the extraordinary tale of a little workhorse, who, after being born in obscurity, becomes one of the greatest breeding stallions of all time. In this true story Newbery Medal-winning author Marguerite Henry and artist Wesley Dennis celebrate the life of the only horse ever to establish a breed all by himself — the Morgan.” Book Description

“…a thing of beauty in every respect and a treasured addition to the home library.” Washington Post

Born to Trot by Marguerite Henry

Ages 9-12. “Gibson can hear the beat of the horses’ hooves against the track. Trotter are the world to him.

But all he ever does is practice. He’s still too young and inexperienced to drive in a real race.

Only he knows he’s ready for the big league. If people would give him a chance, then they would know it, too.

Gib’s chance comes in a filly named Rosalind. Now Gib can prove that he’s man enough to train a

champion. But does he really have what it takes? Can he and Rosalind go all the way to win the Hambletonian, the greatest race of all?” Book Description

“…packed with information as well as vivid accounts of exciting races.” The New York Times

Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard

Ages 9-12. “From the moment Danny sees the beautiful Irish setter, he knows Red is the dog for him. Fast and smart, strong and noble, Red is the only dog Danny wants by his side. Soon, neither boy nor dog can stand to be apart. Together Danny and Red face many dangers in the harsh Wintapi wilderness that they call home. But the greatest test of their courage and friendship will come from an enemy more cunning than any they’ve known before–a bear who is the undisputed king of the wilderness, a savage killer called Old Majesty.” Book Description

Irish Red by Jim Kjelgaard

Ages 9-12. “

For all his champion Irish setter blood, Mike was a misfit. Danny Pickett and his father tried everything to train him, but it was the pup himself who finally proved that he was a champion.” Book Description

“A worthy sequel…a rousing story.” –Library Journal

Outlaw Red by Jim Kjelgaard

Ages 9-12. “He was Sean, a champion, the biggest, handsomest son of Big Red, the famous Irish setter. Bursting with hunting instincts, he fretted under his pampered kennel life, and longed for the wilds. Then suddenly his life changed. He found himself on his own in the Wintapi wilderness, lost, his human protectors gone. An outlaw, he was hunted and shot at by the hill men. How Sean learned to survive amidst constant danger, how he challenged a coyote killer to save his mate, is a stirring tale of bravery and an exciting wilderness adventure. It is also the heartwarming story of another unwilling outlaw–the boy who loved Sean and wanted him for his own.” Book Description

Gentle Ben by Walt Morey

Ages 9-12. “The Alaskan wilderness is a lonely place for Mark Andersen, especially after the death of his brother. But Mark finds a friend named Ben, who happens to be an Alaskan brown bear. Ben and Mark form a special bond, but the townspeople are determined to destroy it. It is only through the strength of an enduring friendship that Ben—and Mark—have a chance of being saved.” Book Description

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

Ages 9-12. “Forced to leave her sunny Caribbean home for the bleak Connecticut Colony, Kit Tyler is filled with trepidation. As they sail up the river to Kit’s new home, the teasing and moodiness of a young sailor named Nat doesn’t help. Still, her unsinkable spirit soon bobs back up. What this spirited teenager doesn’t count on, however, is how her aunt and uncle’s stern Puritan community will view her. In the colonies of 1687, a girl who swims, wears silk and satin gowns, and talks back to her elders is not only headstrong, she is in grave danger of being regarded as a witch. When Kit befriends an old Quaker woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond, it is more than the ascetics can take: soon Kit is defending her life. Who can she count on as she confronts these angry and suspicious townspeople?

A thoroughly exciting and rewarding Newbery Medal winner and ALA Notable Children’s Book, Elizabeth George Speare’s The Witch of Blackbird Pond brings this frightening period of witch hysteria to life. Readers will wonder at the power of the mob mentality, and the need for communities in desperate times–even current times–to find a scapegoat. (Ages 9 and older).” Amazon

Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare

Ages 9-12. “In the year 1754, the stillness of Charlestown, New Hampshire, is shattered by the terrifying cries of an Indian raid. Young Miriam Willard, on a day that had promised new happiness, finds herself instead a captive on a forest trail, caught up in the ebb and flow of the French and Indian War. It is a harrowing march north. Miriam can only force herself to the next stopping place, the next small portion of food, the next icy stream to be crossed. At the end of the trail waits a life of hard work and, perhaps, even a life of slavery. Mingled with her thoughts of Phineas Whitney, her sweetheart on his way to Harvard, is the crying of her sister’s baby, Captive, born on the trail. Miriam and her companions finally reach Montreal, a city of shifting loyalties filled with the intrigue of war, and here, by a sudden twist of fortune, Miriam meets the prominent Du Quesne family, who introduce her to a life she has never imagined. Based on an actual narrative diary published in 1807, Calico Captive skillfully reenacts an absorbing facet of history.” Book Description

“Vital and vivid, this short novel based on the actual captivity of a pre-Revolutionary girl of Charlestown, New Hampshire, presents American history with force and verve.” Kirkus Reviews
“Superior historical fiction.” Horn Book
“Convincing historical romance set during the French and Indian War.” Booklist, ALA

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

Ages 9-12. “In all Mildred D. Taylor’s unforgettable novels she recounts “not only the joy of growing up in a large and supportive family, but my own feelings of being faced with segregation and bigotry.” Her Newbery Medal-winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry tells the story of one African American family, fighting to stay together and strong in the face of brutal racist attacks, illness, poverty, and betrayal in the Deep South of the 1930s. Nine-year-old Cassie Logan, growing up protected by her loving family, has never had reason to suspect that any white person could consider her inferior or wish her harm. But during the course of one devastating year when her community begins to be ripped apart by angry night riders threatening African Americans, she and her three brothers come to understand why the land they own means so much to their Papa. “Look out there, Cassie girl. All that belongs to you. You ain’t never had to live on nobody’s place but your own and long as I live and the family survives, you’ll never have to. That’s important. You may not understand that now but one day you will. Then you’ll see.”

Twenty-five years after it was first published, this special anniversary edition of the classic strikes as deep and powerful a note as ever. Taylor’s vivid portrayal of ugly racism and the poignancy of Cassie’s bewilderment and gradual toughening against social injustice and the men and women who perpetuate it, will remain with readers forever. Two award-winning sequels, Let the Circle Be Unbroken and The Road to Memphis, and a long-awaited prequel, The Land, continue the profoundly moving tale of the Logan family. (Ages 9 and older)” Amazon

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

Ages 9-12. “Told in the form of a recollection, these “confessions” cover 13-year-old Charlotte’s eventful 1832 transatlantic crossing. She begins her trip a prim schoolgirl returning home to her American family from England. From the start, there is something wrong with the Seahawk : the families that were to serve as Charlotte’s chaperones do not arrive, and the unsavory crew warns her not to make the trip. When the crew rebels, Charlotte first sides with the civilized Captain Jaggerty, but before long she realizes that he is a sadist and–the only female aboard–she joins the crew as a seaman. Charlotte is charged with murder and sentenced to be hanged before the trip is over, but ends up in command of the Seahawk by the time it reaches its destination. Charlotte’s repressive Puritanical family refuses to believe her tale, and the girl returns to the sea. Charlotte’s story is a gem of nautical adventure, and Avi’s control of tone calls to mind William Golding’s 1980s trilogy of historical novels of the sea. Never wavering from its 19th century setting, the novel offers suspense and entertainment modern-day readers will enjoy. Ages 11-13.” Publishers Weekly

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt

Ages 9-12. “Grades 4-8–This beautifully written novel offers valuable insights into the difficulties faced by families and communities caught up in the political, economic, and personal upheavals of war. The events of the Civil War unfold Across Five Aprils (Berkley Pub., 1986) in this moving story by Newbery Award winner, Irene Hunt. It is set in southern Illinois where Jethro Creighton, an intelligent, hardworking boy, is growing into manhood as his brothers and a beloved teacher leave to fight in the Union and Confederate armies. Hunt presents a balanced look at both sides of the conflict, and includes interesting information on lesser-known leaders and battles. Of course, Abraham Lincoln is a frequent topic of conversation, and Jethro even receives a letter from his fellow Illinoian.” School Library Journal

Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs

Ages 9-12. “The fascinating life of Louisa May Alcott, from her happy childhood to her successful career as a writer. Children who loved Little Women will enjoy reading about the real-life Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy.” Book Description

The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois

Ages 9-12. “Professor William Waterman Sherman intends to fly across the Pacific Ocean. But through a twist of fate, he lands on Krakatoa, and discovers a world of unimaginable wealth, eccentric inhabitants, and incredible balloon inventions. Winner of the 1948 Newbery Medal, this classic fantasy-adventure is now available in a handsome new edition.” Book Description

“William Pene du Bois combines his rich imagination, scientific tastes, and brilliant artistry to tell a story that has no age limit.” The Horn Book

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord

Ages 9-12. “Shirley Temple Wong sails from China to America with a heart full of dreams.Her new home is Brooklyn, New York. America is indeed a land full of wonders, but Shirley doesn’t know any English, so it’s hard to make friends. Then a miracle-baseball-happens. It is 1947, and Jackie Robinson, star of the Brooklyn Dodgers, is everyone’s hero. Jackie Robinson is proving that a black man, the grandson of a slave, can make a difference in America and for Shirley as well, on the ball field and off, America becomes the land of opportunity.” Book Description

Firework-Maker’s Daughter by Philip Pullman

Ages 9-12. “A thousand miles ago, in a country east of the jungle and south of the mountains, there lived a firework-maker called Lalchand and his daughter, Lila.”

Lila, the heroine of Philip Pullman’s charming fable, was, as a baby, “a cross little thing, always crying and refusing her food, but Lalchand built a cradle for her in the corner of the workshop, where she could see the sparks play and listen to the fizz and crackle of the gunpowder.” Once out of her cradle, she showed a marked talent for pyrotechnics, even inventing her own fireworks with names like Tumbling Demons and Shimmering Coins. Nevertheless, when Lila tells her father she’d like to become a master firework-maker, he’s shocked. Firework-making is no job for a girl, he tells her; besides, with her burned fingers and singed eyebrows, he’s afraid he’ll never be able to find a husband for her.

If Lalchand is horrified by Lila’s ambitions, his daughter is equally appalled by the prospect of a husband. Instead, she decides to run away to Mount Merapi, where every firework-maker must go to claim some of the royal sulphur from Razvani the Fire-Fiend. Lila’s adventures on the road to Merapi alternate with those of her best friend, Chulak, and his talking white elephant, Hamlet, who set out after her when they learn something that could mean life or death for Lila. Along the way, they meet pirates, wild animals, and supernatural beings of every stripe until, at last, Lila must face the scariest obstacle of all: her own fear. Pullman invests The Firework-Maker’s Daughter with wit, wonder, and more than a few goose bumps. The charm of the prose is reflected in the black and white illustrations by S. Saelig Gallagher that punctuate this slim novel. Though not as sophisticated as Pullman’s remarkable fantasy novels The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife, this engaging story does share a courageous heroine, an exciting adventure, and a singular philosophy that ties everything together in a deeply satisfying denouement. (Ages 9 to 12).” Amazon

The Railway Children by E. Nesbit

Ages 9-12. “Nearly a hundred years after its original publication, The Railway Children is still one of E. Nesbit’s most beloved and delightful stories. Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis were very happy living in a comfortable house surrounded by a cook and servants and two loving parents, until one evening when there was a knock at the door and their father was mysteriously taken away by two men. Suddenly alone, their mother moves the family to a small cottage in the countryside. There, the children begin a series of exciting adventures, from saving a train filled with passengers from a landslide, to rescuing a baby from a fire, to aiding a penniless Russian exile, to eventually unraveling the mystery of their father’s disappearance. Featuring a new jacket illustration by Caldecott medalist Paul O. Zelinsky, as well as all nineteen of the original black-and-white line drawings by C. E. Brock, this classic story is perfect for home and classroom libraries.” Book Description

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

Ages 12 and up. “

Fields of white opium poppies stretch away over the hills, and uniformed workers bend over the rows, harvesting the juice. This is the empire of Matteo Alacran, a feudal drug lord in the country of Opium, which lies between the United States and Aztlan, formerly Mexico. Field work, or any menial tasks, are done by “eejits,” humans in whose brains computer chips have been installed to insure docility. Alacran, or El Patron, has lived 140 years with the help of transplants from a series of clones, a common practice among rich men in this world. The intelligence of clones is usually destroyed at birth, but Matt, the latest of Alacran’s doubles, has been spared because he belongs to El Patron. He grows up in the family’s mansion, alternately caged and despised as an animal and pampered and educated as El Patron’s favorite. Gradually he realizes the fate that is in store for him, and with the help of Tam Lin, his bluff and kind Scottish bodyguard, he escapes to Aztlan. There he and other “lost children” are trapped in a more subtle kind of slavery before Matt can return to Opium to take his rightful place and transform his country.

Nancy Farmer, a two-time Newbery honoree, surpasses even her marvelous novel, The Ear, The Eye and the Arm in the breathless action and fascinating characters of The House of the Scorpion. Readers will be reminded of Orson Scott Card’s Ender in Matt’s persistence and courage in the face of a world that intends to use him for its own purposes, and of Louis Sachar’s Holes in the camaraderie of imprisoned boys and the layers of meaning embedded in this irresistibly compelling story. (Ages 12 and older).” Amazon

Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff

Ages 9-12. “Giff (Lily s Crossing; All the Way Home) again introduces a carefully delineated and sympathetic heroine in this quiet contemporary novel. Artistically talented Hollis Woods, age 12, has made a habit of running away from foster homes, but she s found a place on Long Island where she wants to stay for a while. She immediately bonds with Josie, her new guardian, who is a slightly eccentric, retired art teacher. Yet Hollis is far from content. She worries about Josie s increasing forgetfulness, and she sorely misses her last foster family, the Regans, whom she left under tense circumstances that are only gradually made clear. Giff intersperses tender scenes demonstrating Hollis s growing affection for Josie with memories of the Regans, whose images Hollis preserves in her sketchbook. Pictures of motherly Izzy Regan, her architect husband and their mischievous yet compassionate son, Steven, sensitively express the young artist s conception of a perfect family. As readers become intimately acquainted with Hollis, they will come to understand her fears, regrets and longings, and will root for her as she pursues her dream of finding a home where she belongs. Ages 8-13.” Publishers Weekly

The Great Turkey Walk by Kathleen Karr

Ages 9-12. “”I’ve always been fond of birds, poultry in particular.” From that first sentence, readers will gobble up Karr’s (Oh, Those Harper Girls!) hilarious novel of a boy who resolves to walk 1000 turkeys from the Show-Me state to Denver, Colorado. Simon, who’s 15 and newly graduated from the third grade, may not be too bright, but he figures he can make his fortune by buying Mr. Buffey’s bronze turkeys for a quarter apiece and selling them in Denver for $5 each. With his schoolteacher as an investor, Simon picks up a former drunk and a runaway slave to be his partners, and starts herding those turkeys 900 miles down the road. In their travels, they encounter a raging river and a swarm of locusts, each of which the turkeys conquer. But peskiest of all, they’re tailed by Simon’s no-good father, a circus strongman, who decides he wants in on the deal. The gifted Karr has a cheerful, sassy down-home writing style and a perfect pitch for dialogue (she also has an authoritative knowledge of poultry, having grown up on a New Jersey chicken farm). A bonus: the tale is based in truth?there really were turkey drives in the American West. Ages 10-up.” Publishers Weekly

Old Yeller by Fred Gipson

Ages 9-12. “When a novel like Huckleberry Finn, or The Yearling, comes along it defies customary adjectives because of the intensity of the respouse it evokes in the reader. Such a book, we submit, is Old Yeller; to read this eloquently simple story of a boy and his dog in the Texas hill country is an unforgettable and deeply moving experience.

With Old Yeller,Fred Gipsin secured his place as one of the finest novelists in America. The book was published to instant acclaim and has become one of the most beloved children’s classics ever written. Since its publication in 1956, Old Yeller has won countless awards, including the 1957 Newbery Honor. Mr. Gipson’s other works include both fiction and non-fiction. He grew up in the Texas hill country and died in 1973.” Book Description

Lad: A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune

Ages 6 and up. “First published in 1919, Albert Payson Terhune’s Lad: A Dog is actually a collection of immensely popular magazine stories. The hero is an extraordinary collie named Lad, “a thoroughbred in spirit as well as in blood.” In each tale, Lad exhibits his pure strength of character as he fights off burglars, rescues an invalid child from a poisonous snake, wins ribbons in dog shows, and otherwise leads a dog-hero’s life. This is a period piece–a threatened puppy is described, for example, as “a blinking pygmy who gallantly essayed to growl defiance”–and that touch of fustian is all part of Terhune’s enduring charm. Because the stories didn’t originally appear together, there’s considerable repetition: nearly every story with a fight scene has the same authorial mini-lecture on the difference in fighting technique between collies and bulldogs. But Lad is a character who has poked his muzzle into a million hearts, and new generations of dog lovers will also appreciate his loyalty and courage. As Terhune himself wrote, “few… bothered to praise the stories, themselves. But all of them praised Lad, which pleased me far better.” (Ages 6 and older).” Amazon

Lassie Come-Home by Eric Knight

Ages 9-12. “Lassie is Joe’s prize collie and constant companion. But when Joe’s father loses his job, Lassie must be sold. Three times she escapes from her new owner, and three times she returns home to Joe, until finally she is taken to the remotest part of Scotland-too far a journey for any dog to make alone. But Lassie is not just any dog. First published in 1940, Lassie Come-Home has become one of the best-loved dog stories in the world.” Book Description

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Ages 9-12. “Author Wilson Rawls spent his boyhood much like the character of this book, Billy Colman, roaming the Ozarks of northeastern Oklahoma with his bluetick hound. A straightforward, shoot-from-the-hip storyteller with a searingly honest voice, Rawls is well-loved for this powerful 1961 classic and the award-winning novel Summer of the Monkeys. In Where the Red Fern Grows, Billy and his precious coonhound pups romp relentlessly through the Ozarks, trying to “tree” the elusive raccoon. In time, the inseparable trio wins the coveted gold cup in the annual coon-hunt contest, captures the wily ghost coon, and bravely fights with a mountain lion. When the victory over the mountain lion turns to tragedy, Billy grieves, but learns the beautiful old Native American legend of the sacred red fern that grows over the graves of his dogs. This unforgettable classic belongs on every child’s bookshelf. (Ages 9 and up).” Amazon

The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford

Ages 9-12. “Instinct told them that the way home lay to the west. And so the doughty young Labrador retriever, the roguish bull terrier and the indomitable Siamese set out through the Canadian wilderness. Separately, they would soon have died. But, together, the three house pets faced starvation, exposure, and wild forest animals to make their way home to the family they love. The Incredible Journey is one of the great children’s stories of all time–and has been popular ever since its debut in 1961.” Book Description

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Ages 9-12. “Because of Winn-Dixie, a big, ugly, happy dog, 10-year-old Opal learns 10 things about her long-gone mother from her preacher father. Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal makes new friends among the somewhat unusual residents of her new hometown, Naomi, Florida. Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal begins to find her place in the world and let go of some of the sadness left by her mother’s abandonment seven years earlier.

With her newly adopted, goofy pooch at her side, Opal explores her bittersweet world and learns to listen to other people’s lives. This warm and winning book hosts an unforgettable cast of characters, including a librarian who fought off a bear with a copy of War and Peace, an ex-con pet-store clerk who plays sweet music to his animal charges, and the neighborhood “witch,” a nearly blind woman who sees with her heart. Part Frankie (The Member of the Wedding), part Scout (To Kill a Mockingbird), Opal brings her own unique and wonderful voice to a story of friendship, loneliness, and acceptance. Opal’s down-home charm and dead-on honesty will earn her friends and fans far beyond the confines of Naomi, Florida. (Ages 9 and older).” Amazon

The Borrowers by Mary Norton

Ages 9-12. “Anyone who has ever entertained the notion of “little people” living furtively among us will adore this artfully spun classic. The Borrowers–a Carnegie Medal winner, a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award book, and an ALA Distinguished Book–has stolen the hearts of thousands of readers since its 1953 publication. Mary Norton (1903-1993) creates a make-believe world in which tiny people live hidden from humankind beneath the floorboards of a quiet country house in England.

Pod, Homily, and daughter Arrietty of the diminutive Clock family outfit their subterranean quarters with the tidbits and trinkets they’ve “borrowed” from “human beans,” employing matchboxes for storage and postage stamps for paintings. Readers will delight in the resourceful way the Borrowers recycle household objects. For example, “Homily had made her a small pair of Turkish bloomers from two glove fingers for ‘knocking about in the mornings.’”

The persistent pilfering goes undetected until a boy (with a ferret!) comes to live in the country house. Curiosity drives Arrietty to commit the worst mistake a Borrower can make: she allows herself to be seen. This engaging, sometimes hair-raisingly suspenseful adventure is recounted in the kind, eloquent voice of narrator Mrs. May, whose brother might–just might–have seen an actual Borrower in the country house many years ago. (Ages 9 to 12).” Amazon

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Ages 9-12. “Maniac Magee is a folk story about a boy, a very excitable boy. One that can outrun dogs, hit a home run off the best pitcher in the neighborhood, tie a knot no one can undo. “Kid’s gotta be a maniac,” is what the folks in Two Mills say. It’s also the story of how this boy, Jeffrey Lionel “Maniac” Magee, confronts racism in a small town, tries to find a home where there is none and attempts to soothe tensions between rival factions on the tough side of town. Presented as a folk tale, it’s the stuff of storytelling. “The history of a kid,” says Jerry Spinelli, “is one part fact, two parts legend, and three parts snowball.” And for this kid, four parts of fun. Maniac Magee won the 1991 Newbery Medal.” Amazon

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Ages 9-12. “The evacuation of Jews from Nazi-held Denmark is one of the great untold stories of World War II. On September 29, 1943, word got out in Denmark that Jews were to be detained and then sent to the death camps. Within hours the Danish resistance, population and police arranged a small flotilla to herd 7,000 Jews to Sweden. Lois Lowry fictionalizes a true-story account to bring this courageous tale to life. She brings the experience to life through the eyes of 10-year-old Annemarie Johannesen, whose family harbors her best friend, Ellen Rosen, on the eve of the round-up and helps smuggles Ellen’s family out of the country. Number the Stars won the 1990 Newbery Medal.” Amazon

Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater

Ages 6-10. “More than 60 years have not dated this wonderfully absurd tale–it still makes kids (and parents) laugh out loud. Poor Mr. Popper isn’t exactly unhappy; he just wishes he had seen something of the world before meeting Mrs. Popper and settling down. Most of all, he wishes he had seen the Poles, and spends his spare time between house-painting jobs reading all about polar explorations. Admiral Drake, in response to Mr. Popper’s fan letter, sends him a penguin; life at 432 Proudfoot Avenue is never the same again. From one penguin living in the icebox, the Popper family grows to include 12 penguins, all of whom must be fed. Thus is born “Popper’s Performing Penguins, First Time on Any Stage, Direct from the South Pole.” Their adventures while on tour are hilarious, with numerous slapstick moments as the penguins disrupt other acts and invade hotels. Classic chapter-a-night fun. (Ages 5 to 10).” Amazon

Holes by Louis Sachar

Ages 9-12. “If you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy.” Such is the reigning philosophy at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention facility where there is no lake, and there are no happy campers. In place of what used to be “the largest lake in Texas” is now a dry, flat, sunburned wasteland, pocked with countless identical holes dug by boys improving their character. Stanley Yelnats, of palindromic name and ill-fated pedigree, has landed at Camp Green Lake because it seemed a better option than jail. No matter that his conviction was all a case of mistaken identity, the Yelnats family has become accustomed to a long history of bad luck, thanks to their “no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather!” Despite his innocence, Stanley is quickly enmeshed in the Camp Green Lake routine: rising before dawn to dig a hole five feet deep and five feet in diameter; learning how to get along with the Lord of the Flies-styled pack of boys in Group D; and fearing the warden, who paints her fingernails with rattlesnake venom. But when Stanley realizes that the boys may not just be digging to build character–that in fact the warden is seeking something specific–the plot gets as thick as the irony.

It’s a strange story, but strangely compelling and lovely too. Louis Sachar uses poker-faced understatement to create a bizarre but believable landscape–a place where Major Major Major Major of Catch-22 would feel right at home. But while there is humor and absurdity here, there is also a deep understanding of friendship and a searing compassion for society’s underdogs. As Stanley unknowingly begins to fulfill his destiny–the dual plots coming together to reveal that fate has big plans in store–we can’t help but cheer for the good guys, and all the Yelnats everywhere. (Ages 10 and older)” Amazon

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Ages 9-12. “When an eccentric millionaire dies mysteriously, sixteen very unlikely people are gathered together for the reading of the will . . . and what a will it is!” Book Description

“A supersharp mystery . . . Confoundingly clever, and very funny.” Booklist, starred review

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

Ages 9-12. “As in his Newbery Honor-winning debut, The Watsons Go to BirminghamA1963, Curtis draws on a remarkable and disarming mix of comedy and pathos, this time to describe the travails and adventures of a 10-year-old African-American orphan in Depression-era Michigan. Bud is fed up with the cruel treatment he has received at various foster homes, and after being locked up for the night in a shed with a swarm of angry hornets, he decides to run away. His goal: to reach the man, he on the flimsiest of evidence, believes to be his father, jazz musician Herman E. Calloway. Relying on his own ingenuity and good luck, Bud makes it to Grand Rapids, where his “father” owns a club. Calloway, who is much older and grouchier than Bud imagined, is none too thrilled to meet a boy claiming to be his long-lost son. It is the other members of his band Steady Eddie, Mr. Jimmy, Doug the Thug, Doo-Doo Bug Cross, Dirty Deed Breed and motherly Miss Thomas, who make Bud feel like he has finally arrived home. While the grim conditions of the times and the harshness of Bud’s circumstances are authentically depicted, Curtis shines on them an aura of hope and optimism. And even when he sets up a daunting scenario, he makes readers laugh, for example, mopping floors for the rejecting Calloway, Bud pretends the mop is “that underwater boat in the book Momma read to me, Twenty Thousand Leaks Under the Sea.” Bud’s journey, punctuated by Dickensian twists in plot and enlivened by a host of memorable personalities, will keep readers engrossed from first page to last. Ages 9-12.” Publishers Weekly

Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Ages 9-12. “When 11-year-old Marty Preston chances upon a mistreated beagle pup in his hometown of Friendly, West Virginia, he is not prepared for the ethical questions he has to face. Should he return the dog to its owner, only to have the animal abused again? Should he tell his parents? Should he steal food to help the poor creature? Marty’s efforts to cope with these questions provides the moral backbone for this story, which is presented in a language and manner that will be understood by third- and fourth-grade readers. The heart and beauty of this 1992 Newbery Medal winner lies in lessons children will take away with them. Amazon

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Ages 9-12. “When James drops magic crystals by the peach tree, the toy peach starts growing, and before long, it’s as big as a house, with a secret entranceway.” Book Description

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Ages 9-12. “Mistress Mary is quite contrary until she helps her garden grow. Along the way, she manages to cure her sickly cousin Colin, who is every bit as imperious as she. These two are sullen little peas in a pod, closed up in a gloomy old manor on the Yorkshire moors of England, until a locked-up garden captures their imaginations and puts the blush of a wild rose in their cheeks; “It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of roses which were so thick, that they matted together…. ‘No wonder it is still,’ Mary whispered. ‘I am the first person who has spoken here for ten years.’” As new life sprouts from the earth, Mary and Colin’s sour natures begin to sweeten. For anyone who has ever felt afraid to live and love, The Secret Garden’s portrayal of reawakening spirits will thrill and rejuvenate. Frances Hodgson Burnett creates characters so strong and distinct, young readers continue to identify with them even 85 years after they were conceived. (Ages 9 to 12). Amazon

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Ages 9-12. “Sara Crewe is a gifted and well-mannered child, and Captain Crewe, her father, is an extraordinary wealthy man. So Miss Minchin, headmistress of Sara’s new boarding school in London, is pleased to treat Sara as her star pupil–a pampered little princess.

But suddenly, one dreadful day, Sara’s world collapses around her. All of her lovely things are taken from her and she is forbidden to associate with her friends. Her father has died penniless in India.

Miss Minchin can now show her greedy and meanspirited nature to its fullest. The little princess is reduced to a shabby drudge. But Sara does not break, and with the help of a monkey, an Indian lascar, and the strange, ailing gentleman next door, she not only survives her sufferings but help those around her.” Book Description

Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol

Ages 9-12. “Leroy Brown, aka Encyclopedia Brown, is Idaville neighborhood’s ten-year-old star detective. With an uncanny knack for trivia, he solves mysteries for the neighborhood kids through his own detective agency. But his dad also happens to be the chief of the Idaville police department, and every night around the dinner table, Encyclopedia helps him solve his most baffling crimes. And with ten confounding mysteries in each book, not only does Encyclopedia have a chance to solve them, but the reader is given all the clues as well. Interactive and chock full of interesting bits of information—it’s classic Encyclopedia Brown!” Book Description

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Ages Y/A. “Since its publication in 1946, George Orwell’s fable of a workers’ revolution gone wrong has rivaled Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea as the Shortest Serious Novel It’s OK to Write a Book Report About. (The latter is three pages longer and less fun to read.) Fueled by Orwell’s intense disillusionment with Soviet Communism, Animal Farm is a nearly perfect piece of writing, both an engaging story and an allegory that actually works. When the downtrodden beasts of Manor Farm oust their drunken human master and take over management of the land, all are awash in collectivist zeal. Everyone willingly works overtime, productivity soars, and for one brief, glorious season, every belly is full. The animals’ Seven Commandment credo is painted in big white letters on the barn. All animals are equal. No animal shall drink alcohol, wear clothes, sleep in a bed, or kill a fellow four-footed creature. Those that go upon four legs or wings are friends and the two-legged are, by definition, the enemy. Too soon, however, the pigs, who have styled themselves leaders by virtue of their intelligence, succumb to the temptations of privilege and power. “We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of the farm depend on us. Day and night, we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples.” While this swinish brotherhood sells out the revolution, cynically editing the Seven Commandments to excuse their violence and greed, the common animals are once again left hungry and exhausted, no better off than in the days when humans ran the farm. Satire Animal Farm may be, but it’s a stony reader who remains unmoved when the stalwart workhorse, Boxer, having given his all to his comrades, is sold to the glue factory to buy booze for the pigs. Orwell’s view of Communism is bleak indeed, but given the history of the Russian people since 1917, his pessimism has an air of prophecy.” Amazon

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Ages Y/A. “William Golding’s classic tale about a group of English schoolboys who are plane-wrecked on a deserted island is just as chilling and relevant today as when it was first published in 1954. At first, the stranded boys cooperate, attempting to gather food, make shelters, and maintain signal fires. Overseeing their efforts are Ralph, “the boy with fair hair,” and Piggy, Ralph’s chubby, wisdom-dispensing sidekick whose thick spectacles come in handy for lighting fires. Although Ralph tries to impose order and delegate responsibility, there are many in their number who would rather swim, play, or hunt the island’s wild pig population. Soon Ralph’s rules are being ignored or challenged outright. His fiercest antagonist is Jack, the redheaded leader of the pig hunters, who manages to lure away many of the boys to join his band of painted savages. The situation deteriorates as the trappings of civilization continue to fall away, until Ralph discovers that instead of being hunters, he and Piggy have become the hunted: “He forgot his words, his hunger and thirst, and became fear; hopeless fear on flying feet.” Golding’s gripping novel explores the boundary between human reason and animal instinct, all on the brutal playing field of adolescent competition.” Amazon

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Ages Y/A. “Since his debut in 1951 as The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with “cynical adolescent.” Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he’s been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists. It begins,

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them.”

His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive) capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation.” Amazon

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Ages Y/A. ““When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow…. When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out.”

Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus–three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up.

Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale; we first meet the Finches the summer before Scout’s first year at school. She, her brother, and Dill Harris, a boy who spends the summers with his aunt in Maycomb, while away the hours reenacting scenes from Dracula and plotting ways to get a peek at the town bogeyman, Boo Radley. At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children’s consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding. During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well–in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies; in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right; and finally in Scout’s hard-won understanding that most people are essentially kind “when you really see them.” By turns funny, wise, and heartbreaking, To Kill a Mockingbird is one classic that continues to speak to new generations, and deserves to be reread often.” Amazon

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Ages Y/A. “Novella by John Steinbeck, published in 1937. The tragic story, given poignancy by its objective narrative, is about the complex bond between two migrant laborers. The book, which was adapted by Steinbeck into a three-act play (produced 1937), earned him national renown. The plot centers on George Milton and Lennie Small, itinerant ranch hands who dream of one day owning a small farm. George acts as a father figure to Lennie, who is large and simpleminded, calming him and helping to rein in his immense physical strength. When Lennie accidentally kills the ranch owner’s flirtatious daughter-in-law, George shoots his friend rather than allow him to be captured by a vengeful lynch mob.” Merriam Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

Ages 12 and up. “According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for “social”) has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he’s always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers–until one terrible night when his friend Johnny kills a soc. The murder gets under Ponyboy’s skin, causing his bifurcated world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser. This classic, written by S. E. Hinton when she was 16 years old, is as profound today as it was when it was first published in 1967.” Amazon

The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Ages Y/A. “The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway’s most enduring works. Told in language of great simplicity and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal — a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Here Hemingway recasts, in strikingly contemporary style, the classic theme of courage in the face of defeat, of personal triumph won from loss. Written in 1952, this hugely successful novella confirmed his power and presence in the literary world and played a large part in his winning the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature.” Book Description

Stuart Little by E. B. White

Ages 9-12. “How terribly surprised the Little family must have been when their second child turned out to be a small mouse. Apparently familiar with the axiom that “when in New York City, anything can happen,” the Littles accept young Stuart into their family unquestioningly–with the exception of Snowbell the cat who is unable to overcome his instinctive dislike for the little mouse. They build him a bed from a matchbox, and supply him with all of the accoutrements a young mouse could need. Mrs. Little even fashions him a suit, because baby clothes would obviously be unsuitable for such a sophisticated mouse. In return, Stuart helps his tall family with errant Ping-Pong balls that roll outside of their reach.

E. B. White takes Stuart on a hero’s quest across the American countryside, introducing the mouse–and the reader–to a myriad of delightful characters. Little finds himself embroiled in one adventure after another from the excitement of racing sailboats to the unseen horrors of substitute teaching. This is a story of leaving home for the first time, of growing up, and ultimately of discovering oneself. At times, doesn’t everyone feel like the sole mouse in a family–and a world–of extremely tall people? (Ages 9 to 12).” Amazon

The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker by Cynthia DeFelice

Ages 9-12. “Gr. 5-8. Lucas’ entire family has died, one by one, of tuberculosis, known as consumption in the mid-1800s. Wandering through the Connecticut countryside in grief, Lucas ends up becoming the new apprentice to Dr. Uriah M. Beecher, also the local dentist, apothecary, barber, and undertaker. Lucas’ new community is being decimated by consumption, and the local people want to try a technique rumored to work: digging up the remains of the first family member to die, removing and burning the heart, and breathing in the smoke. Dr. Beecher is certain this is useless at best, but Lucas feels sure it is worth a try. DeFelice skillfully gives readers enough historical information to see the reasoning behind the macabre practice and creates in Lucas a flesh and blood boy going through a most difficult time. Hand this title to students who have been assigned historical fiction and consider olden times to be boring.” Booklist

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple by Karen Cushman

Ages 9-12. “When California Morning Whipple’s widowed mother uproots her family from their comfortable Massachusetts environs and moves them to a rough mining camp called Lucky Diggins in the Sierras, California Morning resents the upheaval. Desperately wanting to control something in her own life, she decides to be called Lucy, and as Lucy she grows and changes in her strange and challenging new environment. Here Karen Cushman helps the American Gold Rush spring to colorful life, just as she did for medieval England in her previous two books, Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife’s Apprentice, which won Newbery Honor status and a Newbery Medal respectively. For ages 8-12.” Amazon

The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop

Ages 9-12. “Grade 4-6 A satisfying quest fantasy with a strong element of modern realism which will appeal to a wide range of readers. Ten-year-old William is so distraught at the idea of his beloved housekeeper/nanny Mrs. Phillips returning to England that, with the aid of a magic token, he shrinks her into the size of the toy knight which inhabits a wooden castle that has been passed down in her family for generations. To undo his rash deed, William must be miniaturized himself and accompany the silver knight, Sir Simon, on a quest to overthrow Alastor, a wicked magician who long ago usurped the throne of what should have been Sir Simon’s kingdom. William’s pure and gentle heart enables him to triumph over both the magician and his own childish yearning to possess Mrs. Phillips. The plot is carefully constructed. William’s real-life situation is a strong component of the story rather than a device whereby he can enter the fantasy world. His too-busy parents and his struggle to be mature enough to let Mrs. Phillips go are juxtaposed with his quest and struggle to defeat Alastor. Both William and Mrs. Phillips are sympathetic, well-developed characters. In contrast, William’s pediatrician mother and architect father are sketchy, both in William’s emotional life and in the author’s realization of them. Adults may find the theme that a pure heart can triumph over evil is a bit overstated, and fantasy buffs may desire a more fully developed fantasy world, but for young readers new to fantasy this will be successful.” School Library Journal

Crispin : The Cross of Lead by Avi

Ages 9-12. “Set in 14th-century England, Avi’s (The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle) 50th book begins with a funeral, that of a village outcast whose past is shrouded in mystery and whose adolescent son is known only as “Asta’s son.” Mired in grief for his mother, the boy learns his given name, Crispin, from the village priest, although his presumably dead father’s identity remains obscure. The words etched on his mother’s treasured lead cross may provide some clue, but the priest is murdered before he can tell the illiterate lad what they say. Worse, Crispin is fingered for the murder by the manor steward, who declares him a “wolf’s head” wanted dead or alive, preferably dead. Crispin flees, and falls in with a traveling juggler. “I have no name,” Crispin tells Bear, whose rough manners and appearance mask a tender heart. “No home, no kin, no place in this world.” How the boy learns his true identity (he’s the bastard son of the lord of the manor) and finds his place in the world makes for a rattling fine yarn. Avi’s plot is engineered for maximum thrills, with twists, turns and treachery aplenty, but it’s the compellingly drawn relationship between Crispin and Bear that provides the heart of this story. A page turner to delight Avi’s fans, it will leave readers hoping for a sequel. Ages 8-12.” Publishers Weekly

A Long Way From Chicago

Ages 9-12. “Newberry Award winner! National Book Award Finalist! A novel in stories. Joey remembers the days of childhood when he and his sister, Mary Alice, visited their grandmother.” Book Description

A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck

Ages 9-12. “Grandma Dowdel’s back! She’s just as feisty and terrifying and goodhearted as she was in Richard Peck’s A Long Way from Chicago, and every bit as funny. In the first book, a Newberry Honor winner, Grandma’s rampages were seen through the eyes of her grandson Joey, who, with his sister, Mary Alice, was sent down from Chicago for a week every summer to visit. But now it’s 1937 and Joey has gone off to work for the Civilian Conservation Corps, while 15-year-old Mary Alice has to go stay with Grandma alone–for a whole year, maybe longer. From the very first moment when she arrives at the depot clutching her Philco portable radio and her cat, Bootsie, Mary Alice knows it won’t be easy. And it’s not. She has to sleep alone in the attic, attend a hick town school where in spite of her worn-out coat she’s “the rich girl from Chicago,” and be an accomplice in Grandma’s outrageous schemes to run the town her own way–and do good while nobody’s looking. But being Grandma’s sidekick is always interesting, and by the end of the year, Mary Alice has grown to see the formidable love in the heart of her formidable Grandma.

Peck is at his best with these hilarious stories that rest solidly within the American literary tradition of Mark Twain and Bret Harte. Teachers will cherish them as great read-alouds, and older teens will gain historical perspective from this lively picture of the depression years in small-town America. (Ages 12 and older).” Amazon

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Ages 14 and up. “Grade 8-12 Brian Robeson, 13, is the only passenger on a small plane flying him to visit his father in the Canadian wilderness when the pilot has a heart attack and dies. The plane drifts off course and finally crashes into a small lake. Miraculously Brian is able to swim free of the plane, arriving on a sandy tree-lined shore with only his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother had given him as a present. The novel chronicles in gritty detail Brian’s mistakes, setbacks, and small triumphs as, with the help of the hatchet, he manages to survive the 54 days alone in the wilderness. Paulsen effectively shows readers how Brian learns patienceto watch, listen, and think before he actsas he attempts to build a fire, to fish and hunt, and to make his home under a rock overhang safe and comfortable. An epilogue discussing the lasting effects of Brian’s stay in the wilderness and his dim chance of survival had winter come upon him before rescue adds credibility to the story. Paulsen tells a fine adventure story, but the sub-plot concerning Brian’s preoccupation with his parents’ divorce seems a bit forced and detracts from the book. As he did in Dogsong (Bradbury, 1985), Paulsen emphasizes character growth through a careful balancing of specific details of survival with the protagonist’s thoughts and emotions.” School Library Journal

“This Newbery Honor book is a dramatic, heart-stopping story of a boy who, following a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness, must learn to survive with only a hatchet and his own wits. Ages 12-up.” Publishers Weekly

The River by Gary Paulsen

Ages 10 and up. “In a boxed review, PW praised the “terse, heart-stopping prose” of this follow-up to Hatchet : “The new adventure is as riveting as its predecessor . . . the psychological terrain of the sequel is fresh and distinct.” Ages 10-14. Publishers Weekly

This sequel to Gary Paulsen’s award-winning Hatchet, finds fifteen-year-old Brian returning to the Canadian wilderness where he had been stranded alone after a plane crash two years earlier. The story is self-contained, not dependent on its predecessor. AudioFile

Soldier’s Heart : Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers by Gary Paulsen

Ages 12 andup. “In spare, almost biblical prose, Gary Paulsen writes of the horrors of combat in a Civil War novella that puts a powerful, more contemporary spin on Stephen Crane’s classic The Red Badge of Courage. Based on the life of a real boy, it tells the story of Charley Goddard, who lies his way into the Union Army at the age of 15. Charley has never been anyplace beyond Winona, Minnesota, and thinks war would be a great adventure. And it is–at first–as his regiment marches off through cheering crowds and pretty, flag-waving girls. But then comes the battle. Charley screams, “Make it stop now!” disbelieving that anything so horrible could be real. Paulsen is unsparing in the details of what actually happens on the battlefield: the living men suddenly blown into pieces, the agony and fear, the noise and terror, the stinking corpses. After many battles, Charley is wounded and sent home an old man before he is 20, his will to live destroyed by combat fatigue–leaving him with a “soldier’s heart.” Paulsen has received the Margaret A. Edwards Award, the ALAN Award, and several Newbery Honor awards for previous work, but this superb, small masterpiece transcends any of his earlier titles in its remarkable, memorable intensity and power. (Ages 12 to 15).” Amazon

Although many of these books have been made into movies, I purposefully left those off for now – I will do a matching list later. But I wanted to focus on the books, and encourage kids to read, rather than just watch the movie version. Enjoy! Part III and At the Movies for Classic Kids coming soon…

Classic Reads for Pre-teens and Teens – some old, some new

This is a list of classic books, both old and new or “instant classics” for the younger set. Some are suitable for reading aloud (esp. the ones marked as best for 4-8 yr olds), and all are suitable for most ages over 8. Even older teens might like the ones marked for younger readers. Because these are “classics,” the age boundaries are more for reading/comprehension level, rather than a guide to content, with some noted exceptions. You will most likely see one or more of your favorites on this list – if not, they may be on Part II, or Part III or I simply forgot them. As I was compiling this list, I had forgotten how many of these books I owned as a child (and still have!), and how many I had bought for my girls. Feel free to leave a comment or a “post” in the Meebo box (that one is private for my eyes only) if there are books that were your favorites that you’d like to share.

They make a fine library for any young teen, including boys. Although they may not have the patience at first glance for the “classics,” (how many middle school guys would sit down and read Little Men? <grin> ), there are plenty here to interest them – books on war, dogs, wolves, adventure, etc. Classics are often a great way to get reluctant readers going, as they have stood the test of time. If you have a “reluctant” reader, try to “vet” the books ahead of time to see if the writing style is not too cumbersome, or is at a level suitable for your reader. There is nothing more frustrating and will turn off a child to reading faster than a book that’s too difficult, either in content, vocabulary, or writing style. Also, consider reading aloud, even to teens – they love the time and attention, and it gives you an excuse to reread an old favorite, or find a new one. I did it with both my girls. I still read occasionally to my 14 yr old, although my health prevented me from doing it every night, so it fell away somewhat.

I invite you to look through the list, and find some that might make suitable reading or read-a-loud stories to share. What I did find sad was that although many of these classics are still in print, it was hard to find a book description or review on Amazon, my main source for such material. They seem to think that classics don’t need a description – but many are either unfamiliar to some people, or they can’t recall the age group, or thy may just need a refresher.

Also, check the editions to make sure they are not audio books or abridged versions, unless you want an abridged edition – many of the “older age” classics are available in various age editions. Some of the greatest classics are available in reprints of the original, or as beautiful new editions, with gorgeous illustrations, in hardcover, and even boxed sets. Some of the classic series are also available in boxed sets. If there are more than one book to a series, I tried not to cover those, or too many books by a single author, with a few exceptions of those that are perennially popular. As usual, this list is my own, and as such, is arbitrary in choices, but I tried to include a wide variety.

I’ll start with my all-time favorite (next to Anne of Green Gables of course…)

Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan

Ages 9-12. “Grade 3-6-Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan (Scholastic, pap. 1986) is an exciting, suspenseful tale of Norwegian children and their contributions to protecting their town’s gold during the German occupation in 1940. Convinced that the Germans will try to steal their town’s considerable wealth of gold bouillon from the banks, the townsmen decide that it must be removed. Since a group of adults can’t remove the gold without the Germans finding out, the townsmen develop a daring plan involving the children. In teams, the children will carry the bouillon on their sleds down to the river where one of the townsmen will load them onto his ship to take to the United States. Various problems arise as the children begin to carry out this plan, but they are resolved. ” Library Journal

This book was one of my favorites as a teen – I found copies and gave them to both my daughters, to make sure the tradition continues.

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

Ages 9-12. “After reading this book, I guarantee that you will never visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art (or any wonderful, old cavern of a museum) without sneaking into the bathrooms to look for Claudia and her brother Jamie. They’re standing on the toilets, still, hiding until the museum closes and their adventure begins. Such is the impact of timeless novels . . . they never leave us. E. L. Konigsburg won the 1967 Newbery Medal for this tale of how Claudia and her brother run away to the museum in order to teach their parents a lesson. Little do they know that mystery awaits!” Amazon

Secret Agents Four by Donald J. Sobol

Ages 9-12. “Donald J. Sobol, author of the beloved Encyclopedia Brown series, weaves a wonderfully funny and entertaining mystery in Secret Agents Four. With his characteristic wit and elegant, compact prose, Sobol takes the reader on a adventurous journey with four wacky “secret agents” who are trying to save Miami from a terrible fate. I loved this book as a kid. Re-reading it as an adult convinced me that Sobol’s work is as current and enjoyable as any fiction for young readers available today. If you love adventure and mystery, this book is for you.” Amazon Customer Review

Escape from Warsaw (Original title: The Silver Sword) by Ian Serraillier

Ages 9-12. “This little book is based on a true story, and it’s one of the most exciting and amazing stories to emerge out of the heartbreak of World War II. It’s an incredible narrative about one family’s tragedy and redemption, and the lives that they touch along the way. The will to live and survive, among even the youngest children in the family, is incredibly moving and inspiring. I read this story nearly 30 years ago when I was not yet a teen, and it stayed with me. I’ve read it often since and shared it with many friends, including a few Poles who found it very touching and encouraging…a great source of national pride. At times, the story will take your breath away. I would give it more stars if I could…it’s that good.” Amazon Customer Review

The Black Stallion by Walter Farley

Ages 9-12. “Although the copy sitting on my shelf is the dog-eared Scholastic version of my youth, not this new edition, I feel that every child who has ever looked at a horse with wonder, seen it as a thing of beauty and nobility, or dreamed of having a horse of his or her own, should read this excellent series, beginning with this very book.

A fascinating and fantastical story of sea rescue, perseverance, and courage, as well as a peek into the world of horse racing half a century ago, these stories, despite being written in 1941, have a timeless quality that will always capture the heart of any adventurer.” Amazon Customer Review

National Velvet by Enid Bagnold

Ages 9-12. “The timeless story of spirited Velvet Brown and her beloved horse has thrilled generations of readers. And now the republication of this classic story in a fresh, up-to-date package will charm confirmed fans while captivating new ones. Fourteen-year-old Velvet is determined to turn her untamed horse into a champion and personally ride him to victory in the world’s greatest steeplechase, the Grand National.” B0ok Description

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

Ages 6-10. “Johanna Spyri’s classic story of a young orphan sent to live with her grumpy grandfather in the Swiss Alps is retold in it’s entirety in this beautifully bound hardcover edition. Heidi has charmed and intrigued readers since it’s original publication in 1880. Much more than a children’s story, the narrative is also a lesson on the precarious nature of freedom, a luxury too often taken for granted. Heidi almost loses her liberty as she is ripped away from the tranquility of the mountains to tend to a sick cousin in the city. Happily, all’s well that ends well, and the reader is left with only warm, fuzzy thoughts. Spryi’s story will never grow wearisome–and this is a very appealing edition.” Amazon

This version is an abridged one – the original is for older, more mature readers.

The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling

Ages 9-12. “No child should be allowed to grow up without reading The Jungle Books. Published in 1894 and 1895, the stories crackle with as much life and intensity as ever. Rudyard Kipling pours fuel on childhood fantasies with his tales of Mowgli, lost in the jungles of India as a child and adopted into a family of wolves. Mowgli is brought up on a diet of Jungle Law, loyalty, and fresh meat from the kill. Regular adventures with his friends and enemies among the Jungle-People–cobras, panthers, bears, and tigers–hone this man-cub’s strength and cleverness and whet every reader’s imagination. Mowgli’s story is interspersed with other tales of the jungle, such as “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,” lending depth and diversity to our understanding of Kipling’s India. In much the same way Mowgli is carried away by the Bandar-log monkeys, young readers will be caught up by the stories, swinging from page to page, breathless, thrilled, and terrified. (Ages 9 to 12)” Amazon

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Ages 12 and up. “Gr 7 Up-The archetypal sea-faring adventure story is given another rousing and dramatic rendition in this quickly paced abridged entry in Hodder’s top-flight Classic Collection series. The critical plot and subplot threads have been beautifully retained, and all the classic lines like “shiver me timbers” have been included.” School Library Journal

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Ages 4-8 (as a read-a-loud). “All children, except one, grow up.” Thus begins a great classic of children’s literature that we all remember as magical. What we tend to forget, because the tale of Peter Pan and Neverland has been so relentlessly boiled down, hashed up, and coated in saccharine, is that J.M. Barrie’s original version is also witty, sophisticated, and delightfully odd. The Darling children, Wendy, John, and Michael, live a very proper middle-class life in Edwardian London, but they also happen to have a Newfoundland for a nurse. The text is full of such throwaway gems as “Mrs. Darling first heard of Peter Pan when she was tidying up her children’s minds,” and is peppered with deliberately obscure vocabulary including “embonpoint,” “quietus,” and “pluperfect.” Lest we forget, it was written in 1904, a relatively innocent age in which a plot about abducted children must have seemed more safely fanciful. Also, perhaps, it was an age that expected more of its children’s books, for Peter Pan has a suppleness, lightness, and intelligence that are “literary” in the best sense. In a typical exchange with the dastardly Captain Hook, Peter Pan describes himself as “youth… joy… a little bird that has broken out of the egg,” and the author interjects: “This, of course, was nonsense; but it was proof to the unhappy Hook that Peter did not know in the least who or what he was, which is the very pinnacle of good form.” A book for adult readers-aloud to revel in–and it just might teach young listeners to fly. (Ages 5 and older).” Amazon

The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss

Ages 10 and up. “One of the world’s best-loved stories of shipwreck and survival, The Swiss Family Robinson portrays a family’s struggle to create a new life for themselves on a strange and fantastic tropical island. Blown off course by a raging storm, the family—a Swiss pastor, his wife, their four young sons, plus two dogs and a shipload of livestock—must rely on one another in order to adapt to their needs the natural wonders of their exotic new home. Inspired by Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, this classic story of invention and adventure has fired the imaginations of readers since it first appeared in 1812. Freely translated over the years, with major sections excised and new subplots added, the novel is published here in its original English translation, fully restored for a new generation of readers.” Book Description

Oliver Twist (A Stepping Stone Book Classic) by Charles Dickens

Ages 4-8. “Oliver Twist is a desperate orphan. A gang of thieves takes him in and teaches him to steal, but then he is caught. What will become of poor Oliver Twist? Kids can find out in this easy-to-read chapter book adaptation of the Dickens classic.” Book Description

NOTE: Many of the older classics are available in abridged or rewritten versions for various ages, thus heightening awareness of great literature from an early age. I recommend reading to the kids books that they will read in high school or as an adult. Or play a game of Children’s Authors version of the old card game - “The Children’s Authors Card Game features 13 writers who have touched children’s imaginations through their delightful books. Rule card included. Authors include: Dr. Seuss,,A. A. Milne, Meindert Dejong, Rudyard Kipling, Hans Christian Anderson, Lewis Carroll, Charles Perrault, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Brothers Grimm, Joel Chandler Harris, Issac Bashevis Singer, Beatrix Potter, J. M. Barrie.”

Playing this game introduced us to some of the authors on this list like Singer, Harris, and Dejong.

Oliver Twist (Penguin Classics) by Charles Dickens and Philip Horne

Ages Y/A and adult. “Novel by Charles Dickens, published serially from 1837 to 1839 in Bentley’s Miscellany and in a three-volume book in 1838. The novel was the first of the author’s works to depict realistically the impoverished London underworld and to illustrate his belief that poverty leads to crime. Written shortly after adoption of the Poor Law of 1834, which halted government payments to the poor unless they entered workhouses, Oliver Twist used the tale of a friendless child, the foundling Oliver Twist, as a vehicle for social criticism. While the novel is Victorian in its emotional appeal, it is decidedly unsentimental in its depiction of poverty and the criminal underworld, especially in its portrayal of the cruel Bill Sikes, who kills his kindly girlfriend Nancy for helping Oliver and who is himself accidentally hung by his own rope.” Merriam Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Ages 9 and up. “Sparkling with mischief, jumping with youthful adventure, Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer is one of the most splendid re-creations of childhood in all of literature. It is a lighthearted romp, full of humor and warmth. It shares with its sequel, Huckleberry Finn, not only a set of unforgettable characters–Tom, Huck, Aunt Polly and others–but a profound understanding of humanity as well. Through such hilarious scenes as the famous fence-whitewashing incident, Twain gives a portrait–perceptive yet tender–of a humanity rendered foolish by his own aspirations and obsessions. Written as much for adults as for young boys and girls, Tom Sawyer is the work of a master storyteller performing in his shirt sleeves, using his best talents to everyone’s delight.” Book Description

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Ages 9-12 and up. “A horse is a horse of course unless of course the horse is Black Beauty. Animal-loving children have been devoted to Black Beauty throughout this century, and no doubt will continue through the next. Although Anna Sewell’s classic paints a clear picture of turn-of-the-century London, its message is universal and timeless: animals will serve humans well if they are treated with consideration and kindness.

Black Beauty tells the story of the horse’s own long and varied life, from a well-born colt in a pleasant meadow to an elegant carriage horse for a gentleman to a painfully overworked cab horse. Throughout, Sewell rails–in a gentle, 19th-century way–against animal maltreatment. Young readers will follow Black Beauty’s fortunes, good and bad, with gentle masters as well as cruel. Children can easily make the leap from horse-human relationships to human-human relationships, and begin to understand how their own consideration of others may be a benefit to all. (Ages 9 to 12).” Amazon

Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge

Ages 6 and up. “Set against a backdrop of frozen canals in a winter wonderland, the year’s most exciting event in a little Dutch village is about to take place. But will Hans Brinker and his sister Gretel, with their hand-carved wooden skates, be able to compete against their well-trained young friends who own fine steel blades?” Book Description

“HANS BRINKER was my best boyhood dream. Could I, if I tried terribly hard, become somebody like him? What a shame that hardly anybody knows Hans Brinker anymore. I am delighted that he is being brought back to life.” Lewis Smedes, Fuller Theological Seminary

The Moffats by Eleanor Estes

Ages 9-12. “Who else but a member of the Moffat family could, during kindergarten recess, accidentally hitch a ride out of town on a boxcar? Or wind up trapped in the breadbox outside the delicatessen store? Or kindly offer to escort the Salvation Army man to his destination–only to accidentally bump him out of his own horse-drawn wagon? The Moffats is a paradigm of old-fashioned family fun. Four children and a hard-working widowed mother live together on New Dollar Street in the village of Cranbury. Their seemingly quiet lives are studded with almost daily unexpected adventures, with droll results.

This charming book has been making readers smile for over half a century. It reflects a gentler era, when the jolly chief of police had time to sit on the curb to hear a little girl’s “crimes” and a little boy’s escapade on a train was not cause for media panic, just a simple redirecting by the agreeable engineer. Eleanor Estes, author of the Newbery Honor book The Hundred Dresses, and Caldecott medalist Louis Slobodkin (Many Moons) make a lovely team in this story of benign humor and sweet times. (Ages 8 to 12).” Amazon

Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls

Ages 12 and up. “Jay Berry Lee is happy until the summer he is 14 years old and discovers monkeys living in the creek bottoms near his parents’ homestead. Set in the late 1800s, Summer of the Monkeys traces the boy’s adventures as he attempts to capture 29 monkeys that have (it turns out) escaped from the circus. With somewhat dubious help from his grandfather, and over the objections of his mother, Jay goes about discovering that monkeys are much smarter and harder to catch than he thought possible. Woven into this story is a second theme about his physically disabled sister and the family’s attempts to find money for an operation. As funny and touching as Wilson Rawls’s Where the Red Fern Grows, this book will appeal to the young reader who has always wished for the freedom to run wild through the woods with nothing more pressing to do than find another rabbit hole–or escaped monkey. (Ages 12 and older).” Amazon

Hurry Home, Candy by Meindert Dejong

Ages 9-12. “The dog was lost. He had no name, and no one to love him. He has only the silent, empty countryside, and a few crumbs and bare bones he could pick up. He had only himself, and he was afraid. Along the way, the little dog found a few friends, people who gave him shelter for a while, but always he moved on — until he found a place he could call home forever.” Book Description

The Wheel on the School by Meindert Dejong

Ages 9-12. “Grade 4-7-This 1955 Newbery Award-winner by Meindert Dejojng, set in a small Dutch fishing village, tells the story of a young girl and her simple composition about the storks that build their nests in neighboring villages. When the children wonder why the storks don’t nest in their village, the stage is set for a dramatic challenge against all odds.” Amazon

Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer

Ages 9-12. “The story takes place in New York City in the 1890s, during the year of 10-year-old Lucinda’s “orphanage.” That’s Lucinda’s term for her situation when her parents go to Italy and leave her in the care of Miss Peters and Miss Nettie. Lucinda, enjoying her freedom, explores the city on roller skates and makes friends wherever she goes. She reads Shakespeare with her uncle, puts on her own production of The Tempest, creates a magical Christmas for a little girl from an impoverished family, helps a family protect their fruit stand from attacks by rowdy boys, and has picnics in a vacant lot , among other adventures.” School Library Journal

All-of-a-kind Family by Sydney Taylor

Ages 9-12. “There’s something to be said for a book that makes you wish you’d been part of a poor immigrant family living in New York’s upper east side on the eve of World War I. Sydney Taylor’s time-honored classic does just that. Life is rich for the five mischievous girls in the family. They find adventure in visiting the library, going to market with Mama, even dusting the front room. Young readers who have never shared a bedroom with four siblings, with no television in sight, will vicariously experience the simple, old-fashioned pleasures of talk, make-believe, and pilfered penny candy. The family’s Jewish faith strengthens their ties to each other, while providing still more excitement and opportunity for mischief. Readers unfamiliar with Judaism will learn with the girls during each beautifully depicted holiday. This lively family, subject of four more “all-of-a- kind” books, is full of unique characters, all deftly illustrated by Helen John. Taylor based the stories on her own childhood family, and the true-life quality of her writing gives this classic its page-turning appeal. (Ages 9 to 12)” Amazon

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Ages 9-12. “”It seems to me that almost everything is a waste of time,” Milo laments. “[T]here’s nothing for me to do, nowhere I’d care to go, and hardly anything worth seeing.” This bored, bored young protagonist who can’t see the point to anything is knocked out of his glum humdrum by the sudden and curious appearance of a tollbooth in his bedroom. Since Milo has absolutely nothing better to do, he dusts off his toy car, pays the toll, and drives through. What ensues is a journey of mythic proportions, during which Milo encounters countless odd characters who are anything but dull.

Norton Juster received (and continues to receive) enormous praise for this original, witty, and oftentimes hilarious novel, first published in 1961. In an introductory “Appreciation” written by Maurice Sendak for the 35th anniversary edition, he states, “The Phantom Tollbooth leaps, soars, and abounds in right notes all over the place, as any proper masterpiece must.” Indeed.

As Milo heads toward Dictionopolis he meets with the Whether Man (“for after all it’s more important to know whether there will be weather than what the weather will be”), passes through The Doldrums (populated by Lethargarians), and picks up a watchdog named Tock (who has a giant alarm clock for a body). The brilliant satire and double entendre intensifies in the Word Market, where after a brief scuffle with Officer Short Shrift, Milo and Tock set off toward the Mountains of Ignorance to rescue the twin Princesses, Rhyme and Reason. Anyone with an appreciation for language, irony, or Alice in Wonderland-style adventure will adore this book for years on end. Amazon

” I read [The Phantom Tollbooth] first when I was 10. I still have the book report I wrote, which began ‘This is the best book ever.’” Anna Quindlen, The New York Times
“A classic… Humorous, full of warmth and real invention.” The New Yorker

This is a great one to sneak in some learning, especially math. It explains things in a clever, funny way.

The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden

Ages 9-12. “One night, the sounds of New York City–the rumbling of subway trains, thrumming of automobile tires, hooting of horns, howling of brakes, and the babbling of voices–is interrupted by a sound that even Tucker Mouse, a jaded inhabitant of Times Square, has never heard before. Mario, the son of Mama and Papa Bellini, proprietors of the subway-station newsstand, had only heard the sound once. What was this new, strangely musical chirping? None other than the mellifluous leg-rubbing of the somewhat disoriented Chester Cricket from Connecticut. Attracted by the irresistible smell of liverwurst, Chester had foolishly jumped into the picnic basket of some unsuspecting New Yorkers on a junket to the country. Despite the insect’s wurst intentions, he ends up in a pile of dirt in Times Square.

Mario is elated to find Chester. He begs his parents to let him keep the shiny insect in the newsstand, assuring his bug-fearing mother that crickets are harmless, maybe even good luck. What ensues is an altogether captivating spin on the city mouse/country mouse story, as Chester adjusts to the bustle of the big city. Despite the cricket’s comfortable matchbox bed (with Kleenex sheets); the fancy, seven-tiered pagoda cricket cage from Sai Fong’s novelty shop; tasty mulberry leaves; the jolly company of Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat; and even his new-found fame as “the most famous musician in New York City,” Chester begins to miss his peaceful life in the Connecticut countryside. The Cricket in Times Square–a Newbery Award runner-up in 1961–is charmingly illustrated by the well-loved Garth Williams, and the tiniest details of this elegantly spun, vividly told, surprisingly suspenseful tale will stick with children for years and years. Make sure this classic sits on the shelf of your favorite child, right next to The Wind in the Willows. (Ages 9 to 12).” Amazon

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Ages 9-12. “Everyone in town thinks Meg is volatile and dull-witted and that her younger brother Charles Wallace is dumb. People are also saying that their father has run off and left their brilliant scientist mother. Spurred on by these rumors, Meg and Charles Wallace, along with their new friend Calvin, embark on a perilous quest through space to find their father. In doing so they must travel behind the shadow of an evil power that is darkening the cosmos, one planet at a time.

Young people who have trouble finding their place in the world will connect with the “misfit” characters in this provocative story. This is no superhero tale, nor is it science fiction, although it shares elements of both. The travelers must rely on their individual and collective strengths, delving deep into their characters to find answers.

A classic since 1962, Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time is sophisticated in concept yet warm in tone, with mystery and love coursing through its pages. Meg’s shattering yet ultimately freeing discovery that her father is not omnipotent provides a satisfying coming-of-age element. Readers will feel a sense of power as they travel with these three children, challenging concepts of time, space, and the power of good over evil. (Ages 9 to 12)” Amazon

Many Waters by Madeleine L’Engle

Ages 9-12. “We’ve all done it. In the frigid depths of winter we’ve wished we could be magically transported to someplace warm and sunny. But most people don’t have genius parents who just happen to be working on a scientific experiment with time travel at the moment of our wish. Sandy and Dennys Murry, the “normal” boys in a family of geniuses, suddenly find themselves trudging through a blazing-hot desert, seeking a far-off oasis for shade. Their desperate wandering brings them face-to-face with history–biblical history. Soon they’re feeling right at home with Noah and his family. Even so, the urgent question is, how will Sandy and Dennys get back to their own place and time before the floods–the many waters–come? As they begin to cross the invisible border into adulthood, the twins must confront their ability to resist temptation and embrace integrity.

In Many Waters, Madeleine L’Engle continues the Murry family saga, which includes A Wrinkle in Time; A Wind in the Door; and A Swiftly Tilting Planet, which won the American Book Award. L’Engle’s mystical mix of science fiction and fantasy, time and space travel, history, morals, religion, and culture once again urges her many adoring readers to stretch their minds and hearts to understand why the world is the way it is. (Ages 9 and older)” Amazon

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Ages 8-12. “Ages 8-12. Thirty-two years before it was made into a movie, Harriet the Spy was a groundbreaking book: its unflinchingly honest portrayal of childhood problems and emotions changed children’s literature forever. Happily, it has neither dated nor become obsolete and remains one of the best children’s novels ever written. The fascinating story is about an intensely curious and intelligent girl, who literally spies on people and writes about them in her secret notebook, trying to make sense of life’s absurdities. When her classmates find her notebook and read her painfully blunt comments about them, Harriet finds herself a lonely outcast. Fitzhugh’s writing is astonishingly vivid, real and engaging, and Harriet, by no means a typical, loveable heroine, is one of literature’s most unforgettable characters. School Library Journal wrote, “a tour de force… bursts with life.” The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books called it “a very, very funny story.” And The Chicago Tribune raved, “brilliantly written… a superb portrait of an extraordinary child.” Amazon

Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney

Ages 4-8. “This is one of the seminal books of American children’s fiction. First published in 1881, eleven more volumes followed in the Pepper series, making Harriet Mulford Stone Lathrop internationally famous (as Margaret Sidney.) The series still enjoys wide readership today. It’s the story of how the Peppers cope with poverty and difficulty, always with courage and cheer, after the death of Mr. Pepper.” AudioFile

“The Peppers’ good spirits, their love for each other, and their pleasure in simple homemade fun still charms me…. I wish them a long and happy life of at least another hundred years.” Betsy Byars

Aesop’s Fables by Aesop

Ages 4-8 and up. “Beautifully designed, this lush, oversize volume showcases Pinkney’s (The Ugly Duckling) artistry in grand style. There’s a king’s ransom worth of material here, as Pinkney serves up more than 60 of the ancient Greek slave-philosopher’s fables. Aesop’s wisdom spills across the pages as freely as Pinkney’s glorious watercolors, alight with the many creatures who people the tales, from fiddling grasshoppers and diligent ants to wily foxes, clever crows, brave mice and grateful lions. Each of the vigorous retellings concludes with the kind of succinct moral that centuries of readers have come to expect (e.g., “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched”; “You are judged by the company you keep”). And whether the homilies concern a wolf in sheep’s clothing or sour grapes, the timeless virtues resonate as freshly as the day they were minted. Pinkney brings his considerable talent to bear on everything from thumbnail animal portraits to sweeping full-page vistas of hearth and woodlands, and his detail, delicacy of line and subtle palette create an elegant foil for the simple parables. If there’s room on the shelf for only one picture book version of Aesop, this could be it. All ages.” Publishers Weekly

The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Ages 12 and up. “Fighting off a pack of starving wolves, wrestling alligators in the swamp, romping with bear cubs, drawing off the venom of a giant rattlesnake bite with the heart of a fresh-killed deer–it’s all in a day’s work for the Baxter family of the Florida scrublands. But young Jody Baxter is not content with these electrifying escapades, or even with the cozy comfort of home with Pa and Ma. He wants a pet, a friend with whom he can share his quiet cogitations and his corn pone. Jody gets his pet, a frisky fawn he calls Flag, but that’s not all. With Flag comes a year of life lessons, frolicking times, and achingly hard decisions. This powerful book is as compelling now as when it was written over 60 years ago. Read simply as a naturalist study of the Florida interior, it fascinates and entices. Add the heart-stopping adventure and heart-wrenching human elements, and this is a classic well worth its Pulitzer Prize. Earthy dialect and homespun wisdom season the story, giving it a unique and unforgettable flavor, and N.C. Wyeth’s warm, soft illustrations capture an era of rough subsistence and sweet survival. (Ages 12 and older).” Amazon

Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter

Ages 9-12. “Pollyanna’s eternal optimism has made her one of the most beloved characters in American literature. First published in 1913, her story spawned the formation of “Glad” clubs all over the country, devoted to playing Pollyanna’s famous game. Pollyanna has since sold over one million copies, been translated into several languages, and has become both a Broadway play and a Disney motion picture.” Book Description

“When orphaned, eleven-year-old Pollyanna comes to live with austere and wealthy Aunt Polly, her philosophy of gladness brings happiness to her aunt and other unhappy members of the community.” Card catalog description

This is an old-fashioned one, but I recall it fondly.

My Friend Flicka by Mary O’hara

Ages 9-12. “Suddenly Ken heard the sound of horses coming near the house and started up so quickly that the leg of his chair tangled with the leg of the table and he went sprawling on the floor, then scrambled up and over to the window. . . . Ken leaned out the window as far as he could to see the last of them as they went down the Green, just jog-trotting . . .

“Ken . . . what are you doing?”

He scurried back to the table and made it true before he answered, “I’m doing my arithmetic.”

It seems Ken can’t do anything right. He loses saddle blankets and breaks reins . . . but then comes the worst news yet: a report card so bad that he has to repeat a grade. How can you tame the dreamy mind of a boy who stares out of the window instead of taking an exam? Enter Flicka, the chestnut filly with a wild spirit. Over the course of one magical summer, both will learn the meaning of responsibility, courage, and, ultimately, friendship.” Book Description

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

Ages 9-12. “Every kid thinks about running away at one point or another; few get farther than the end of the block. Young Sam Gribley gets to the end of the block and keeps going–all the way to the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. There he sets up house in a huge hollowed-out tree, with a falcon and a weasel for companions and his wits as his tool for survival. In a spellbinding, touching, funny account, Sam learns to live off the land, and grows up a little in the process. Blizzards, hunters, loneliness, and fear all battle to drive Sam back to city life. But his desire for freedom, independence, and adventure is stronger. No reader will be immune to the compulsion to go right out and start whittling fishhooks and befriending raccoons.

Jean Craighead George, author of more than 80 children’s books, including the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves, created another prizewinner with My Side of the Mountain–a Newbery Honor Book, an ALA Notable Book, and a Hans Christian Andersen Award Honor Book. Astonishingly, she wrote its sequel, On the Far Side of the Mountain, 30 years later, and a decade after that penned the final book in the trilogy, Frightful’s Mountain, told from the falcon’s point of view. George has no doubt shaped generations of young readers with her outdoor adventures of the mind and spirit. (Ages 9 to 12). Amazon

Frightful’s Mountain by Jean Craighead Craighead George

Ages 9-12. “Fans of Jean Craighead George’s My Side of the Mountain (a Newbery Honor Book) and On the Far Side of the Mountain will be delighted to return to upstate New York’s Catskill Mountains for the conclusion of her trilogy, which appears 40 years after the first title’s publication in 1959. Written because a young fan asked, “What happened to Frightful?” this volume tells how Sam Gribley’s peregrine falcon–that’s Frightful–has to make her own way in the world after Sam is forced to release her. Although told in the third person, the story is developed entirely from the bird’s point of view. George’s narrative follows the falcon through a series of dangerous adventures (involving DDT, electricity lines, and unscrupulous bird traders, to name a few) as she learns to depend on her own instincts. The environmental message is slightly heavy-handed, but it’s wrapped in an enjoyable story from a much loved and astoundingly prolific author. You don’t need to have read the earlier books to make sense of this one, though it may help. (Ages 9 and older).” Amazon

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

Ages 9-12. “Miyax, like many adolescents, is torn. But unlike most, her choices may determine whether she lives or dies. At 13, an orphan, and unhappily married, Miyax runs away from her husband’s parents’ home, hoping to reach San Francisco and her pen pal. But she becomes lost in the vast Alaskan tundra, with no food, no shelter, and no idea which is the way to safety. Now, more than ever, she must look hard at who she really is. Is she Miyax, Eskimo girl of the old ways? Or is she Julie (her “gussak”-white people-name), the modernized teenager who must mock the traditional customs? And when a pack of wolves begins to accept her into their community, Miyax must learn to think like a wolf as well. If she trusts her Eskimo instincts, will she stand a chance of surviving? John Schoenherr’s line drawings suggest rather than tell about the compelling experiences of a girl searching for answers in a bleak landscape that at first glance would seem to hold nothing. Fans of Jean Craighead George’s stunning, Newberry Medal-winning coming-of-age story won’t want to miss Julie (1994) and Julie’s Wolf Pack (1998). (Ages 10 and older)” Amazon

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Ages 9 and up. “At birth, Ella is inadvertently cursed by an imprudent fairy named Lucinda, who bestows on her the “gift” of obedience. Anything anyone tells her to do, Ella must obey. Another girl might have been cowed by this affliction, but not feisty Ella: “Instead of making me docile, Lucinda’s curse made a rebel of me. Or perhaps I was that way naturally.” When her beloved mother dies, leaving her in the care of a mostly absent and avaricious father, and later, a loathsome stepmother and two treacherous stepsisters, Ella’s life and well-being seem in grave peril. But her intelligence and saucy nature keep her in good stead as she sets out on a quest for freedom and self-discovery, trying to track down Lucinda to undo the curse, fending off ogres, befriending elves, and falling in love with a prince along the way. Yes, there is a pumpkin coach, a glass slipper, and a happily ever after, but this is the most remarkable, delightful, and profound version of Cinderella you’ve ever read.

Gail Carson Levine’s examination of traditional female roles in fairy tales takes some satisfying twists and deviations from the original. Ella is bound by obedience against her will, and takes matters in her own hands with ambition and verve. Her relationship with the prince is balanced and based on humor and mutual respect; in fact, it is she who ultimately rescues him. Ella Enchanted has won many well-deserved awards, including a Newbery Honor. (Ages 9 to 14).” Amazon

This was a fun one to read aloud – I enjoyed the book – a great new independent Cinderella!

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards

Ages 9-12. “What on earth is a Whangdoodle? A “fanciful creature of undefined nature,” it was also once the wisest, kindest, most fun-loving living thing in the world–until people stopped believing in it. When that lack of faith became widespread, the last of the really great Whangdoodles created a special land full of extraordinary creatures: furry Flukes, the sly High-Behind Splintercat, and the wonderful Whiffle Bird. But when an open-minded professor–the one adult who still believes in the Whangdoodle–joins forces with three children with active imaginations, they become an unstoppable team on a fantastic and sometimes terrifying journey to Whangdoodleland.

Readers who have explored Narnia, Oz, or Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory will be thrilled at this new destination–a marvelous land that will inspire and stimulate creative and scientific minds. And who better to expose young readers to new ways of seeing, smelling, and hearing than Julie (Andrews) Edwards of Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music fame? Her lively and clever style pulls readers along effortlessly; she, like the professor, is one grownup who can teach children never to close their minds to possibility. (Ages 9 to 12).” Amazon

My daughters loved Julie Andrews books – what could be better than a book by Mary Poppins? They also loved her “Mandy.”

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Ages 9-12. “The story starts out simply enough: Jess Aarons wants to be the fastest boy in the fifth grade–he wants it so bad he can taste it. He’s been practicing all summer, running in the fields around his farmhouse until he collapses in a sweat. Then a tomboy named Leslie Burke moves into the farmhouse next door and changes his life forever. Not only does Leslie not look or act like any girls Jess knows, but she also turns out to be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. After getting over the shock and humiliation of being beaten by a girl, Jess begins to think Leslie might be okay.

Despite their superficial differences, it’s clear that Jess and Leslie are soul mates. The two create a secret kingdom in the woods named Terabithia, where the only way to get into the castle is by swinging out over a gully on an enchanted rope. Here they reign as king and queen, fighting off imaginary giants and the walking dead, sharing stories and dreams, and plotting against the schoolmates who tease them. Jess and Leslie find solace in the sanctuary of Terabithia until a tragedy strikes and the two are separated forever. In a style that is both plain and powerful, Katherine Paterson’s characters will stir your heart and put a lump in your throat.” Amazon

The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg

Ages 9-12. “A powerhouse sixth-grade Academic Bowl team from Epiphany Middle School; the art of calligraphy; the retirees of Century Village, Florida; a genius dog named Ginger; and a holiday production of “Annie” all figure heavily in the latest book by E. L. Konigsburg, who has produced a Newbery Medal-winning children’s tale to rival her classic From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, which won the Newbery Medal almost 30 years ago. The new book centers around a group of four brilliant, shy 12-year-olds and the tea party they have each Saturday morning. Konigsburg’s wacky erudition and her knack for offbeat characters make this a funny and endearing story of friendship.” Amazon Review

This is one I found from the Children’s Author’s Game (see Part II).

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

Ages 9-12. “Imagine coming upon a fountain of youth in a forest. To live forever–isn’t that everyone’s ideal? For the Tuck family, eternal life is a reality, but their reaction to their fate is surprising. Award winner Natalie Babbitt (Knee-Knock Rise, The Search for Delicious) outdoes herself in this sensitive, moving adventure in which 10-year-old Winnie Foster is kidnapped, finds herself helping a murderer out of jail, and is eventually offered the ultimate gift–but doesn’t know whether to accept it. Babbitt asks profound questions about the meaning of life and death, and leaves the reader with a greater appreciation for the perfect cycle of nature. Intense and powerful, exciting and poignant, Tuck Everlasting will last forever–in the reader’s imagination. An ALA Notable Book. (Ages 9 to 12)” Amazon

Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt

Ages 9 and up. “The Newbery Award-winning novel from the author of Across Five Aprils and No Promises in the Wind comes her most beloved story of a girl’s coming of age.” Book Description

“After her mother’s death, Julie goes to live with Aunt Cordelia, a spinster schoolteacher, where she experiences many emotions and changes as she grows from seven to eighteen.” Card catalog description

This one I still remember well – I loved it as a teen. It stayed with me for many a year.

Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen

Ages 9-12. “Grade 3-5–Virginia Sorensen’s 1957 Newbery Award winner (Harcourt, 1956) is [a] loving family saga about Marley, brother Joe, their parents, and their friends. When Marley’s father returns home from World War II a broken man physically and spiritually, her mother decides that the family needs to leave the city for an extended visit to Grandma’s house in the country. The tale [is of] of a year in the life of this family as the father slowly regains his strength and confidence. The year is filled with small miracles from the first spring blossoms to the healing of their beloved neighbor, Mr. Chris. So many children today have parents who are part of the war effort overseas that this somewhat old-fashioned, half-century old story is still relevant for youngsters today.” School Library Journal

Plain Girl by Virginia Sorensen

Ages 9-12. “An Amish girl, Esther feels like “one black bird against the sky” in her plain clothes. So when she’s forced to attend public school she’s terrified. She fears the new world she must enter, fears the way she sticks out next to other kids, and–most of all–fears she may do what her brother did: run away and join the sinful but great wide world she’s only just discovering.” Book Description

This is another book I read as an older teen – a quiet little book, about acceptance.

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

Ages 9-12. “Scott O’Dell won the Newbery Medal for Island of the Blue Dolphins in 1961, and in 1976 the Children’s Literature Association named this riveting story one of the 10 best American children’s books of the past 200 years. O’Dell was inspired by the real-life story of a 12-year-old American Indian girl, Karana. The author based his book on the life of this remarkable young woman who, during the evacuation of Ghalas-at (an island off the coast of California), jumped ship to stay with her young brother who had been abandoned on the island. He died shortly thereafter, and Karana fended for herself on the island for 18 years.

O’Dell tells the miraculous story of how Karana forages on land and in the ocean, clothes herself (in a green-cormorant skirt and an otter cape on special occasions), and secures shelter. Perhaps even more startlingly, she finds strength and serenity living alone on the island. This beautiful edition of Island of the Blue Dolphins is enriched with 12 full-page watercolor paintings by Ted Lewin, illustrator of more than 100 children’s books, including Ali, Child of the Desert. A gripping story of battling wild dogs and sea elephants, this simply told, suspenseful tale of survival is also an uplifting adventure of the spirit. (Ages 9 to 12)” Amazon

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

Ages 9-12. “At age 11, Caddie Woodlawn is the despair of her mother and the pride of her father: a clock-fixing tomboy running wild in the woods of Wisconsin. In 1864, this is a bit much for her Boston-bred mother to bear, but Caddie and her brothers are happy with the status quo. Written in 1935 about Carol Ryrie Brink’s grandmother’s childhood, the adventures of Caddie and her brothers are still exciting over 60 years later. With each chapter comes another ever-more exciting adventure: a midnight gallop on her horse across a frozen river to warn her American Indian friends of the white men’s plan to attack; a prairie fire approaching the school house; and a letter from England that may change the family’s life forever. This Newbery Medal-winning book bursts at the seams with Caddie’s irrepressible spirit. In spite of her mother’s misgivings, Caddie is a perfect role model for any girl–or boy, for that matter. She’s big-hearted, she’s brave, and she’s mechanically inclined! (Ages 9 to 12)” Amazon

Another of my perennial favorites – this is a funnier version of the Little House series – sort of a Tom sawyer for girls.

Baby Island by Carol Ryrie Brink

Ages 9-12. “Twelve-year-old Mary Wallace and her ten-year-old sister Jean survive the wreck of an ocean liner on its way to Australia and manage to make it to a seemingly deserted island in a lifeboat with four babies.” Card Catalog Description

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

Ages 9-12. “MacLachlan, author of Unclaimed Treasures, has written an affecting tale for children. In the late 19th century a widowed midwestern farmer with two children–Anna and Caleb–advertises for a wife. When Sarah arrives she is homesick for Maine, especially for the ocean which she misses greatly. The children fear that she will not stay, and when she goes off to town alone, young Caleb–whose mother died during childbirth–is stricken with the fear that she has gone for good. But she returns with colored pencils to illustrate for them the beauty of Maine, and to explain that, though she misses her home, “the truth of it is I would miss you more.” The tale gently explores themes of abandonment, loss and love.” Amazon

A great, quiet book about the strength within.

Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes

Ages 8-12. “Meet Ginger Pye, the smartest dog you’ll ever know. Jerry Pye and his sister, Rachel, feel pretty smart themselves for buying Ginger. It was the best dollar they ever spent. Ginger steals everybody’s heart . . . until someone steals him!” Book Description

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

Ages 10 and up. “This story of a tragically injured young silversmith who ends up hip-deep in the American Revolution is inspiring, exciting, and sad. Winner of the prestigious Newbery Award in 1944, Esther Forbes’s story has lasted these 50-plus years by including adventure, loss, courage, and history in a wonderfully written, very dramatic package. It’s probably not great for little guys but mature 11-year-olds or older will find it a great adventure.” Amazon

Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

Ages 9-12. “A pioneer boy, brought up by Crow Indians, is reunited with his family and attempts to orient himself in the white man’s culture.” Card Catalog Description

Although many of these books have been made into movies, I purposefully left those off for now – I will do a matching list later. But I wanted to focus on the books, and encourage kids to read, rather than just watch the movie version. Enjoy! Part II and III, and At The Movies for Classic Kids coming soon…

SciFi Books I Want to Read – my dream buying list…

SciFi Books (a few of these are more Y/A, but I enjoy those too, and a few are fantasy, but I tried to mark them as such. ** means it looks really good, and is recommended). If they are part of a series, they are noted as such – a missing one – i.e. it starts with #2, means I have #1. Some series have names and are noted, others do not.

So try a few – you might enjoy them. All had plots I liked, or came recommended by friends.

Allen, Steve – Resurrection
Anderson, Barth – Patron Saint of Plagues
Anderson, Kevin – Metal Swarm (et al)
Asaron, Catherine – Primary Inversion
Asher, Neal – Gridlinked #1, The Line of Polity#2, Brassman #3, Polity Agent #4 (Polity Universe) Prador Moon (Polity series), Africa Moon, The Engineer Reconditioned (ss)
Ashley, Mike – Gateways to Forever
Asimov – End of Eternity, The God’s Themselves
Atlanasio, A. A. – Solis
Atwood, Margaret – Oryx and Crake
Baker, Kage – In the Garden of Iden, Heaven,
Black Projects, White Knights: The Company, Anvil of the Work
Ballantyne, Tony – Capacity
Banks, Iain – Feersum Endjinn, The Algebraist, Steep Approach to Garbadale, Consider Phlebas, Use of weapons, The Player of Games, Excession, Inversion, Look to Windward, Matter
Baxter, Stephen – Deep Future (anth), Traces
Bear, Elizabeth – Carnival, Dust, chains that You Refuse, Whiskey and Water, New Amsterdam
Bear, Greg – Quantico, Darwin’s Children, Benford, Gregory & Carter, Paul – Iceborn
Bester, Alfred – Demolished Man
Birmingham, John – Weapons of Choice
Bishop, M, ed. – Cross of Centuries
Blaylock, James – All the Bells on Earth
Bonta, Vanna – Flight
Bova, Ben – City of Darkness (ya), Sam Gunn Omnibus
Bowes, Richard – From the Files of the Time Rangers
Bradbury, Ray – The Cat’s Pajamas
Brin, David – Stratos, Glory Season, Sky Horizon (ya), Out of Time: Yanked – Kress (ya)
Brown, Eric – Helix
Brunner, John – Jagged Orbit, The Sheep Look Up
Buckner, M.M. – War Surf
Butcher, Jim – White Night (Dresden Files)
Card, Orson Scott- Wyrms, Empire
Capbianco, Michael – Burster
Carey, Jacqueline – Kushiel’s Dart, Kushiel’s Avatar
Carver, Jeff – Neptune Crossing
Cherryh, C. J. – Downbelow Station
Clarke, A – Dolphin Island (ya)
Clarke, Arthur & Stephen Baxter – Time’s Eye#1, Firstborn #2, (Time Odyssey trilogy) Emperor #1, Conqueror #2 (Time’s Tapestry series)
Clayton, Donald – The Joshua Factor
Clement, Hal – Mission of Gravity
Cook, Hugh – Wizards and the Warriors #1, The Wordsmiths and the Warguild, #2 (Chronicles of an Age of Darkness) ** To find and Wake the Dreamer
Cooper, Brenda – The Silver Ship and the Sea
Crowther, ed. – Moon Shots (anth)
Cunningham, Mich – Specimen Days
Czerneda, Julie – Survival #1, Migration #2, Regeneration #3 (Species Imperative)
Dann, Jack & Gardner Dozois – Beyond Singularity
Dann, Jon R. – Song of the Axe
Davis Russell & Martin H. Greenburg, eds. – Apprentice Fantastic (anth)
Delaney, Samuel – The Einstein Intersection, Dahlgren
DeLint, Charles – Spirits in the Wire, Onion Girl
Dick, Philip K. – Valis
DiFilippo, P – Fuzzy Dice, Ribopunk, The Steampunk Trilogy
Doctorow, Cory – Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Dowling, Jerry, ed. – The Jack Vane Treasury (ss)
Duntemann, Jeff – **The Cunning Blood
Egan, Greg – Schild’s Ladder, Quarantine, Diaspora, Permutation City, Terrenasia
Eklund, Gordon – A Thunder on Neptune
Elliot, Kate – King’s Dragon #1, Prince of Dogs #2, Burning Stone #3, Child of Flame #4, Gathering Storm #5, (Crown of Stars – fantasy)
Ellison, Harlan – Deathbird Stories (SFBC – ss)
Elrod, P.N., ed. – The Magic Shop (anth)
Emerson, Earl – Vertical Burn
Eskridge, Kelly – Dangerous Space (ss)
Farmer, Nancy – Riverworld, The Ear, The Eye and the Arm, The House of the Scorpion
Flynn, Michael – Country of the Blind, Eifelheim
Forward, Robert – Dragon’s Egg#1, **Starquake #2
Frost, Greg – Fitcher’s Brides
Gaiman, Neil – Mister Magic, Interworld
Gardner, James Alan – Vigilant #2, Hunted #3, Trapped #4 (Festina Ramos), Ascending, Gravity Wells (ss)
Gibson, William – Spook Country, Pattern Recognition
Golden, Christopher – Myth Hunters, The Borderkind
Goonan, Kathleen Ann – Rhapsody, Crescent City, In War Times
Green, Tim – 4th Perimeter
Greenburg, Martin Harry, ed. – Assassin Fantastic (anth), All Hell Breaking Loose (anth), Gateways (anth)
Greenburg, Martin H. & Brittiany A. Koren, eds. – Pharoah Fantastic (anth), Fantasy Gone Wrong
Greenburg, Martin H. & Kerrie Hughes, eds. – Maiden, Matron, Crone (anth), Children of Magic (anth)
Greenburg, Martin H. & Janet Pack, eds. – Magic Tails (anth)
Greenburg, Martin H. & John Helfers, Eds. – In The Shadow of evil (anth)
Greenburg, Martin H. & Russell Davis, eds. – Millennium 3001
Griffith, Nicola – Slow River
Grimsley, Jim – The Last Green Tree
Grimwood, Jon Courteney – End of the World Blues, **Recursion, Pashazade #1, Effendi #2, Felaheen #3 (Arabesk Trilogy – fantasy)
Hairston, Andrea- Mindscape
Haldeman, Joe – Camouflage, Forever Free
Hambly, Barbara – Ishmael (Star Trek)
Hamilton, Peter – Pandora’s Star, Judas Unchained, Reality Dysfunction Part II, A Quantum Murder, The Dreaming Void
Harrison, M. John – Nova Swing
Hartwell, David, ed. – The Space Opera Renaissance (anth)
Heinelein, RA – Mutants (ya), Outward Bound (SFBC- Podakyne, Have Spacesuit, Starship Troopers), To The Stars (SFBC – Between Planets, Rolling Stones, Starman Jones, Star Beast), Double Star, Beyond the Horizon
Heinlein, Robert and Spider Robinson – Variable Star
Herbert, Brian – The Web & the Stars
Hoyle, Fred – October the First is Too Late (old)
Jones, Gwyneth – Bold as Love
Kaye, Marvin, ed. – Don’t Open This Book (anth)
Kent, Steven – Clone Republic
Kenyon, Kay – Maximum Ice#1, Braided World #2, Tropic of Creation, Bright of the Sky #1, A World Too Near #2 (The Entire and the Rose series), Leap Point
Kenyon, Sherrilyn, ed. – My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding (anth)
Keyes, Greg – Newton’s Cannon #1 (The Age of Unreason – fantasy)
King, Stephen – Dark Tower series, Lissey’s Story
Kress, Nancy – **Beggars in Spain, Out of Time:Yanked (Brin series)
Lackey, M & Mallory, James – Outstretched Shadow
Landis, Geoffrey – Impact Parameter (ss)
Landon, Kristin – Hidden Worlds
Lem, Stanilaw – The Investigation
Levinson, Paul – The Plot to Save Socrates
Little, Denise, ed. – Creature Fantastic (anth), Time After Time (anth), Hags, Siren and Other Bad Girls of Fantasy (anth), Magic Toybox (anth)
Lumley, Brian – The House of Doors, Psychomech, Screaming SF (ss)
Mackay, Scott – Phytosphere
MacLeod, Ken – Cosmonaut Keep #1, Dark Light #2, Engine City #3 (Engines of Light series), Star Faction #1, Stone Canal #2, Cassini Division #3, (Fall Revolution series), Learning the World, Human front, Cydonia
Maguire, Greg – Mirror, Mirror (snow White fantasy)
Martin, Mark & Benford, Gregory – A Darker Geometry
Martin, George R.R., Gardner Dozois & Daniel Abraham – Hunter’s Run (not an anth)
Martin, George R.R. ed. – Inside Straight (anth), McAuley, Paul – **Four Hundred Billion Stars, Secret Harmony, Eternal Light (400 Billion Stars series), Of the Fall, Fairyland, Red Dust, White Devils, Secret of Life, Whole Wide World, Child of the River #1, Ancients of days #2, Shrine of the Stars #3 (Confluence series)
McCaffrey, Anne & Elizabeth Scarborough – Changelings #1, Maelstrom #2 Deluge #3 (Twins of Petaybee – ya/adult), First Warning #1, Second Wave #2, Third Watch #3 (Acorna’s Children – ya/adult)
McCarthy, Wil – Collapsium #1, Wellstone #2, Lost in Transmission #3, Flies From the Amber
McDevitt, Jack – Outbound
McDonald, Ian – River of Gods
McIntyre, Vonda – Transition
McKinley, Robin – Blue Sword
McMullen, Sean – Souls of the Great Machine
McPhail, Mike – Breach the Hull
Melko, Richard – Singularities Ring
Mieville, China – Iron Council, Un Lun Din
Mitchell, Syne – Technogenesis
Moon, Elizabeth – Command Decision, Engaging the Enemy, Remnant Population, Speed of Dark
Morgan, Richard – Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies (series)
Moriarty, Chris – Spin State, Spin Control
Nagata, Linda – Tech Heaven
Niven, Larry – Neutron Star (ss)
Niven, Larry & Lerner – Fleet of Worlds
Norton, Andre – Zero Stone (ya)
Norton, Andre & Martin Greenburg, eds – Catfantastic 5
Olson, Mark, ed. – Years in the Making (L. Sprague deCamp ss)
Palmer, Philip – Debatable Space
Parks, Paul – The Tourmaline
Patterson, James – Maximum Ride: Angel Experiment, School’s Out Forever (y/a)
Pohl, Fred – The Coming of Quantum Cats, Platinum Pohl (ss)
Pratchett, Terry – Going Postal, Men at Arms
Preuss, Paul – Broken Symmetries #1, Secret Passages #2
Reed, Kit – Dogs of Truth (ss)
Reed, Robert – Marrow#1, Well of Stars #2
Remic, Andy – War Machine
Resnick, Mike, ed. – Alien Crimes (anth), Down These Dark Spaceways (anth), I, Alien (anth)
Reynolds, Alastair – The Prefect, Galactic North
Roberson, Chris – Here, There, Everywhere
Robinson, Kim Stanley – The Galilieans, Wild Shore #1, Gold Coast #2, Pacific Edge #3 (Three Californias series)
Robson, Justina – Keeping it Real #1, Selling out #2 (Quantum Gravity series), Mappa Mundi, Natural History, Silver Screen
Rosenblum, Mary – Horizons (anth)
Rucker, Rudy – Postsingular
Rusch, Kristine Kathryn – White Mists of Power , The Black Queen #1, the Black King #2, Sacrifice #1(Book of the Fey)
Rusch, Kristine Kathryn, ed. – Familiars
Russell, Mary Doria – The Sparrow, Children of God
Russo, RP, ed – Futures from Nature
Sawyer, Robert – Frameshift, Terminal Exposure, Rollback, Mindscan, Hominids #1, Humans #2, Hybrids #3 (Neanderthal Parallax), Fast Forward
Scalzi, Jon – An Old Man’s War, The Android’s Dream
Scarborough, Elizabeth Ann – Cleopatra 7.2
Schroeder, Karl – Queen of Candesce, Engines of Recall
Schmidt, Stanley – Newton and the Quasi-Apple
Scott, Tim – Outrageous Fortune
Shaw, Bob – Other Days, Other Eyes
Shepard, Joel – Crossover
Simmons, Dan – Olympos, Fall of Hyperion #2, Endymion #3, Rise of Endymion #4
Silverberg, Robert – Time of the Great Freeze (ya)
Snyder, Maria – Poison Study
Stableford, Brian – Architects of Immortality
Steele, Allan – Coyote Rising, Spindrift
Stephenson, Neal – Snow Crash, Quicksilver, Cryptonomicon
Sterling, Bruce – Schismatrix Plus
Stewart, Ian – Flatterland
Stirling, S.M. – Protector’s War #2, A Meeting at Corvallis #3
Strahan, Jonathon – Best Short Novels 2004, 2005, 2006
Stross, Charles – Glasshouse, Singularity Sky, Iron Sunrise, Halting State, The Family Trade #1, The Hidden family #2, Clan Corporate #3, Merchant’s War #4 (The Merchant Princes series), The Jennifer Morgue
Suzaki, Koji & Glynne Walley – Ring #1, Spiral #2, Loop #3 (Ring trilogy)
Tepper, Sheri – Sideshow, A Plague of Angels, Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, The Awakeners (Northshore, Southshore), Singer From the Sea
Thomas, Jeffrey – Deadstock,
Thompson, Mercy – Moon Called
Tiptree, James – The Girl Who was Plugged In
Tobias, Micael – Voice of the Planet
Traviss, Karen – Matriach, Judge
Van Voght, A.E. – Slan
Varley, John – Red Thunder, Red Lightening
Vinge, Vernor – Marooned in Realtime
Vonarburg, Elizabeth – A Game of Perfection
Watts, Peter – Blindsight
Weber, David – Off Armageddon Reef
Weinbaum, Stanley – The New Adam
Westerfield – Peeps, Fine Prey, Evolution’s Darling, The Risen Empire #1, The Killing of Worlds #2 (Succession series) Midnighters (The Secret Hour, Touching Darkness, Blue Noon)
Wharton, Ken – Divine Intervention
Williams, Tad – War of the Flowers
Williams, Walter Jon – Voice of the Whirlwind, Hardwired, Implied Spaces
Williamson, Jack – Stonehenge Gate
Willis, Connie, & S. Williams, eds – A Woman’s Liberation: Futures By and About Women
Wilson, R.C. – Chronoliths, Darwinia, Axis, Spin
Womack, J – Random Acts of Senseless Violence
Zebrowski, George – Macrolife: A Mobile Utopia
Zeddies, Ann – Steel Helix
Zettel, Sarah – Reclamation

Doll Books For the Younger Set – about them and "by" them

One of the most beloved types of books I read as a child, and that my children enjoyed having read to them, were classic doll stories. While I had most of Rumer Godden’s books and we read those over and over, and my youngest was at the right age when Ann Martin’s Doll People came out, there are many others as I discovered, including a set of “Story House Dolls” books. I picked the states of my daughters’ births, and the state we live in. Hope you enjoy them!

Miss Happiness and Miss Flower by Rumer Goddden

Ages 6-10. “England is the last place Nona Fells wants to be. No one asked her if she wanted to leave sunny India to live in a chilly English village with her aunt’s family — and her cousin, Belinda, just hates her! But when two dainty Japanese dolls arrive at Nona’s doorstep, everything begins to change. Like Nona, Miss Happiness and Miss Flower are lonely and homesick, so Nona decides to build them their own traditional Japanese house. Over time, not only does Nona create a home for the dolls, but one for herself as well.

Originally published in 1961, Rumer Godden’s classic story of friendship and being part of a family is now back in print for a new generation of readers to cherish.” Book description

This book, and other Rumer Godden doll books, were among my absolute favorite as a child, and this one was long out of print. I read this and Little plum to both my daughters and each of them wanted nothing more than two little Japanese dolls. While living in Hawaii I combed the stores, looking for the right ones, but despite the Japanese department store, and shops, and the celebration of “doll day” for girls, I couldn’t find the ones I want – I’ll keep trying, for my grandchildren, if they ever arrive.

Little Plum by Rumer Godden

Ages 6-10. “Rumer Godden excels at creating a gentle fantasy world where dolls have Lives–or in this case, Thoughts–of their own. Nona and Belinda Fell treasure their three Japanese dolls: Miss Happiness, Miss Flower and Little Peach. These special persons enjoy their own Japanese dollhouse and clothes, beds, foods (green paint water tea) and celebrate many traditional customs. While the dolls converse privately, the sisters (who are unaware of their dolls’ communications) plan and dream of a new friendship. They themselves are very different: nine-year-old Nona is neat, polite and very talented with her creative fingers. While eight-year-old Belinda is a fearless tomboy, a reckless daredevil who defies parental authority, common sense and even the laws of gravity, to satisfy her whims.

But things get really interesting when a rich family buys and improves the big House Next Door. What delicious opportunities to observe the doings and possessions as they move it–and there is a daughter too! Gem proves to be a “motherless” only child, waited on by her personal nanny and a large household staff–all supervised by an authoritarian aunt. The kindly father is often away on business, but after one trip he brings his daughter a Japanese doll of her own. Poor Little Plum–as the spying girls name her and discover–is neglected by her lonely mistress.

Belinda decides to teach the proper care of Japanese dolls to the sulking snob next door, but soon the teasing and critical notes escalate into a non-verbal war between the headstrong young ladies. Will that “rough child” ever be allowed in the front door of the wealthy but isolated Tiffany-Jones’ mansion? And will Gem ever accept cultural tutelage from mere middle-class English children? This is a delightful read-aloud story for Girls Under Ten. And all women who remember the dolls of their girlhood.” Amazon Customer Review

The Doll’s House by Rumer Godden

Ages 6-10. “Rumer Godden, the author of those absorbing novels about nuns of yesteryear, “Black Narcissus” and “In This House of Brede,” both successfully filmed with Deborah Kerr and Diana Rigg respectively, tries her hand here at a book for younger readers. This is the tale of a doll “family,” not related by biology but the simple fate of being thrown together. Although there are nominal mother and father dolls, the real head of the household is Tottie, a wooden farthing doll, wise beyond her childish appearance. The dolls’ relative happiness and the way it is threatened by the appearance of Marchpane, an expensive, arrogant and, as it turns out, really malevolent interloper, makes for surprisingly gripping drama. Indeed, the tale of Marchpane’s machinations and the tragic climax of the story may be too intense for younger or more sensitive children, for whom this book needs to be introduced with care. For the rest of them, and for adults who simply like a good story, “The Dolls’ House” still exerts its considerable spell. Tasha Tudor’s illustrations are a notable contribution as well.” Amazon Customer Review

The Best-Loved Doll by Rebecca Caudill

Ages – unknown. “I still have the 1962 paperback edition and the pages are so brittle. I get all choked up reading it to my own daughter now, as I used to when my mother read it to me. It is 30 pages and tells the tender story of a girl named Betsy and her decision to bring her Best-Loved doll to a party. It is a doll that has seen better days. She had many other choices, but she followed her heart. Moral: True beauty is on the inside. I treasure this book as much as Betsy does her doll.” Amazon Customer Review

Story of Holly and Ivy, The by Rumer Godden

Ages 4-8. “Ivy, Holly, and Mr. and Mrs. Jones all have one Christmas wish. Ivy, an orphan, wishes for a real home and sets out in search of the grandmother she’s sure she can find. Holly, a doll, wishes for a child to bring her to life. And the Jones’s wish more than anything for a son or daughter to share their holiday. Can all three wishes come true? This festive tale is perfectly complemented by beloved Barbara Cooney’s luminous illustrations, filled with the warm glow of the Christmas spirit.” Book Description

Doll People, The by Ann M. M. Martin

Ages 7-10. “Passed down from one generation to the next, the Doll family has lived in the same dollhouse, located in the same room of the Palmer family’s house, for 100 years. While the world outside has changed, their own lives have not with two significant exceptions. First, Auntie Sarah Doll suddenly and mysteriously disappeared 45 years ago, when the Doll family belonged to Kate Palmer’s grandmother. More recently, the modern, plastic Funcraft family has moved into Kate’s little sister’s room. Following the time-honored traditions of such well-loved works as Rumer Godden’s The Doll’s House, The Mennyms by Sylvia Waugh and Pam Conrad’s and Richard Egielski’s The Tub People, Martin and Godwin inventively spin out their own variation on the perennially popular theme of toys who secretly come to life. By focusing on Annabelle’s and Tiffany Funcraft’s risky mission to find Auntie Sarah, the authors provide plenty of action and suspense, yet it is their skillfully crafted details about the dolls’ personalities and daily routines that prove most memorable. Selznick’s pencil illustrations cleverly capture the spark of life inhabiting the dolls’ seemingly inanimate bodies. The contemporary draftsmanship frees the art from nostalgia even while the layout which presents the illustrations as standalone compositions as well as imaginatively integrated borders and vignettes reinforces the old-fashioned mood of the doll theme. Doll lovers may well approach their imaginative play with renewed enthusiasm and a sense of wonder after reading this fun-filled adventure. Ages 7-10. Publishers Weekly

This one and it’s sequel were favorites of my younger daughter, not although being published when my older daughter was young (and missed out something she would have loved), it’s becoming a family favorite – the new Rumer Godden for the modern age,

The Meanest Doll in the World by Ann M. Martin

Ages 8-12. “Grade 3-6–Annabell Doll and Tiffany Funcraft are back in Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin’s fun-filled sequel (Hyperion, 2003) to The Doll People (Hyperion, 2000). This time the dolls take a trip outside the house in Kate’s backpack by mistake. Unfortunately, there is a mix-up at school and the dolls wind up in the home of classmate BJ. Here they meet the evil Mimi, a doll who is convinced she shall be queen of all the dolls and has the demanding attitude to prove it. Annabelle and Tiffany, along with an assortment of other dolls, fend off Mimi and her wicked army before returning to their own home. There they discover that Mimi has followed them, bent on revenge. Mimi manages to cause a rift between the Doll and Funcraft families before her own rash behavior causes her downfall. Lynn Redgrave does an admirable job of voicing the various characters and imbuing Mimi with a sly, sneering intonation. Have the book available so listeners can enjoy Brian Selznick’s witty illustrations which do a fabulous job of extending the story. This fantasy with its broad humor, evil machinations, and tales of friendship will delight both fans of the Doll People and those new to the story.” School Library Journal

The Enchanted Dolls’ House by Robyn Johnson

Ages – any, although as it’s pop-up, probably 6and up. “Adventure & Romance in Four Period Dollhouses: A Medieval Dollhouse; An 18th Century Neoclassical Dollhouse, A late Victorian Dollhouse, An early 20th Century Dollhouse. 32 pages. The 4 pages of houses are the fronts of the houses that pop forward (that is the 3D). You look in through the windows and doors and see the interior. Very interesting, very creative, and great for the imagination.” Amazon Customer Review

Enchanted Dolls’ House Wedding by Robyn Johnson

Ages 6-12. “Albert and Lucinda from the beloved The Enchanted Dolls’ House have pled their troth (Victorian for “got engaged!”). It is a happy time for everyone in the Enchanted Dolls’ House. All the dolls from the servant dolls to the toy dolls, even the resident dog and cat dolls enthusiastically join together to celebrate a joyous wedding with all the fashionable and tasteful accoutrements of the Edwardian, Regency and Victorian eras available to them.

Four masterfully conceived and constructed pop-up buildings amaze with historical accuracy and bustle with activity: Shop for wedding finery in an Edwardian department store. See the toiletries, accessories, hair styles, and beautiful wedding clothes from which the dolls choose. Attend a wedding breakfast, complete with musicians, favors, and a glorious cake garnished with marzipan pearls, pendants and bows. Peek through windows and doors of a Victorian Manor Dolls’ House and a Regency Dolls’ House to see the dolls observe their elegant way of life. And finally, attend a breathtakingly beautiful wedding in a Victorian Chapel.

Overflowing with doll lore and loving rendered details of wedding gifts, food, and flowers, readers of all ages will attend the wedding of their dreams!” Book Description

Hitty Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field

Ages 9-12. “Presented for the first time in audio, here are the charming and adventurous memoirs of an exceptional doll named Hitty. Her story begins in Maine in the early 1800s, where she is transformed from a piece of sturdy mountain-ash wood into the valued playmate of a young girl named Phoebe Preble. When the inseparable pair join Phoebe’s father on a journey aboard his whaling ship, Hitty’s one hundred years of exciting adventures begins! Join this doll of great charm and character as she travels all over the world, from India to Philadelphia to New York. Whether she is traveling with a snake charmer, attending the opera, meeting Charles Dickens, becoming a doll of fashion, posing as an artists’ model, or being stolen away on a Mississippi riverboat, one thing is certain… no doll has led a life like Hitty’s! The 1930 Newbery Award winner.” Book Description

Impunity Jane by Rumer Godden

Ages 6-12. “Impunity Jane is a Victorian pocket doll who years for adventure. Without a trace of sticky-sweetness, Godden shows us a restless doll consigned for four generations to sitting in a dollhouse, sometimes neglected for years, until she is purloined by a 7-year-old cousin, Gideon, who can hear doll wishes. Then Impunity Jane’s life begins! She is a devoted companion in Gideon’s play and gets to be a sailor, an aviator, a miner, and enjoy all manner of adventures. Gideon faces being called a “sissy” by a gang of older boys, until tough little Impunity Jane manages to win them over. Yet the guilt of her being stolen weighs heavily on both the boy and the doll, and they know they must do the honorable thing …
This story is also included in the Rumer Godden collection ‘Four Dolls.’” Amazon Customer Review

Mouse House by Rumer Godden

Ages 4-10. Although not truly a “doll” book, it takes place inside one… “This is special! It has a gentleness, and love of tiny creatures reminiscent of Beatrix Potter. It also depicts real animals as infinitely more beautiful than their toy counterparts, and it reminds us that there is plenty of room to share with…well, take your pick: other animals, other people who may be less fortunate than ourselves. This story is replete with lessons for charity, kindness, tolerance, the wonder of life, the fact that toys – and other gadgets – are really not so important for one’s happiness.

The surprise is that it’s all so poetic and subtle that there is not a trace of moralistic dogma in the entire story.” Amazon Customer Review

The Fairy Doll by Rumer Godden

1956. Ages 9 to 12. “The youngest child in a family of four children is constantly berated by her siblings as she struggles to grow past immaturity. Great Grandmother blesses her one Christmas with the gift of the Fairy Doll, who usually resides on the tree. She cares for the Fairy Doll, and the Fairy Doll helps her grow to maturity and confidence.” The Doll Book List

Candy Floss by Rumer Godden

1960. Ages 9 to 12. “Candy Floss and her crew of friends live the carnival life with their owner, Jack. Jack fondly calls Candy Floss his “good luck charm”. Then, a spoiled child determines that the doll must be hers at any cost.” The Doll Book List

Ages 4-8. “Grade 1-4– Candy Floss, a small china doll; Nuts the wooden horse; and Cocoa the dog bring Jack luck until a spoiled little girl named Clementina steals the doll and almost destroys her. The girl realizes the error of her ways and returns Candy Floss to Jack; he mends her and makes her look like new again. This book has gone through a similar rejuvenation with Hogrogian’s new illustrations, which replace those done 31 years ago by Adrienne Adams (Viking, 1960; o.p.). The doll is now stunning, with a short, stylish haircut and bright blue eyes. People and fashions are noticeably updated, but the look is still timeless. Numerous full-page paintings are more elegant than the older, smaller pictures that included simple sketches. One drawback of the new design is that there are several spreads of solid text. While there is nothing wrong with the previous edition, this one will likely attract a whole generation of readers who may otherwise have ignored the book. School Library Journal

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo

Ages 6-adult. “Starred Review. Grade 3-6–This achingly beautiful story shows a true master of writing at her very best. Edward Tulane is an exceedingly vain, cold-hearted china rabbit owned by 10-year-old Abilene Tulane, who dearly loves him. Her grandmother relates a fairy tale about a princess who never felt love; she then whispers to Edward that he disappoints her. His path to redemption begins when he falls overboard during the family’s ocean journey. Sinking to the bottom of the sea where he will spend 297 days, Edward feels his first emotion–fear. Caught in a fisherman’s net, he lives with the old man and his wife and begins to care about his humans. Then their adult daughter takes him to the dump, where a dog and a hobo find him. They ride the rails together until Edward is cruelly separated from them. His heart is truly broken when next owner, four-year-old Sarah Ruth, dies. He recalls Abilene’s grandmother with a new sense of humility, wishing she knew that he has learned to love. When his head is shattered by an angry man, Edward wants to join Sarah Ruth but those he has loved convince him to live. Repaired by a doll store owner, he closes his heart to love, as it is too painful, until a wise doll tells him that he that he must open his heart for someone to love him. This superb book is beautifully written in spare yet stirring language. The tender look at the changes from arrogance to grateful loving is perfectly delineated. Ibatoulline’s lovely sepia-toned gouache illustrations and beautifully rendered color plates are exquisite. An ever-so-marvelous tale.” School Library Journal

This book, being as it were, a sort of companion to our beloved The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread by the same author, is mine – I bought it for me, and was not disappointed, nor was my then 13 yr old, who also loved it – a story for all generations who have ever loved a toy.

Patty Reed’s Doll: The Story of the Donner Party by Rachel K. Laurgaard and Elizabeth Sykes Michaels

Ages 8-12. “In the winter of 1846, the Donner Party was stranded by heavy snows in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The pioneers endured bitter hardships, and many of them died. But some survived, including 8-year-old Patty Reed, a girl filled with dignity and determination in the face of mortal danger. This is her story, as told by Dolly, the wooden doll she kept hidden in her dress.” Book Description

The Doll in the Garden: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn

Ages 9-12. “Grade 4-7– A young girl helps her cantankerous elderly landlord to resolve a childhood act that caused the woman lifelong guilt. Ashley follows a white cat back in time and meets Louisa, a girl who is dying and who longs for her beloved doll–a doll that Ashley and her friend Kristi have found buried in Miss Cooper’s garden. In the end Ashley, Kristi, and Miss Cooper visit Louisa; the woman is able to make am mends with her childhood friend, and Ashley begins to accept her father’s death. Hahn’s portrayal of crotchety Miss Cooper is expertly drawn, giving vivid insight into why she acts and lives as she does. Ashley, her widowed mother, and Kristi are also fully realized characters. When Hahn sticks to her story, it moves along at a steady, scary clip. However, when she lapses into lengthy descriptions of flowers, birds, and landscape, she slows the pace of the story rather than creates the intended atmosphere. Ashley’s first-person narrative often gets bogged down in a flowery adult voice, particularly in the descriptions: “As still as the cherub behind me, I watched the leaves sway in the breeze. Sunlight and shadow mottled the ground, and the weeds whispered to themselves, lulling me like distant voices of children at play.” Still, it’s an imaginative ghost story, fairly predictable, but with a completely satisfying ending.” School Library Journal

The Christmas Doll by Elvira Woodruff

Ages 4-12. “Lucy and Glory are orphaned sisters with no real place to call home. Only their memories of a beautiful doll named Morning Glory brighten their bleak lives. When a deadly fever sweeps through the workhouse where the girls live, Lucy and Glory flee to the mean streets of London.One day the girls find an old battered doll that Glory senses is their beloved Morning Glory. But Morning Glory is no ordinary doll–the girls learn that she has magical powers that will change their lives in amazing ways.. With the help of the doll, the sisters discover the true meaning of the Christmas spirit.” Book Description

The Magic Nesting Doll by Jacqueline K. Ogburn and Laurel Long

Ages 6 and up. “Opulent oil paintings, as lushly colored and intricately detailed as a Russian lacquer box, set the stage for this original folktale. As Katya’s grandmother lies dying, she bequeaths Katya a magic matryoshka, or Russian nesting doll, and tells her that she may open it three times in an hour of need. The girl sets out to make her way in the world and soon arrives in a city under a wicked spell: “It is always winter without thaw, night without moon, and dark without dawn,” an innkeeper explains. Worse, the handsome young Tsarevitch has been turned into living ice. With the help of her nesting doll, which releases first a bear, then a wolf and finally a firebird, Katya is able to break the enchantment, give the conniving Grand Vizier a taste of his own frosty medicine, and find true love. Ogburn’s (The Jukebox Man) assured storytelling memorably joins together classic fairy-tale elements with Slavic imagery; her tale reads like one already tested by time. Long (The Mightiest Heart) weaves a kind of visual magic in a series of darkly lavish scenes. Her paintings simultaneously recall ornate tapestries, Russian icon art and the romantic elegance of Trina Schart Hyman. All ages.” Publishers Weekly

Tatiana Comes to America: An Ellis Island Story (Doll Hospital) by Joan Holub and Ann Iosa

Ages 6-12. “Sisters Lila and Rose, ages 8 and 10, are spending the year with their eccentric grandmother (who runs a doll hospital) while their parents are working out of the country. The girls are not pleased with this arrangement, but they begin to enjoy themselves when they learn that their grandmother has a special power to “read” the lives of the dolls she is working to restore. In each book in this series, their grandmother tells the girls the story of a different doll.In this book we meet Tatiana, a doll who travels to Ellis Island with her owner, a Russian girl named Anya.” Book Description

Goldie’s Fortune: A Story of the Great Depression (Doll Hospital, Book 2) by Joan Holub and Cheryl Kirk Noll

Ages 6-12. “Sisters Lila and Rose, ages 7 and 10, are spending the year with their eccentric grandmother (who runs a doll hospital) while their parents are working out of the country. The girls are initially unhappyt, but they begin to enjoy themselves when they learn that their grandmother has a special power to “read” the lives of the dolls she is working to restore. In each book in this series, their grandmother tells the girls the story of a different doll.In this book we meet Goldie, the beloved doll of a girl named Eliza whose family lost their fortune during the Great Depression.” Book Description

Glory’s Freedom: A Story of the Underground Railroad (Doll Hospital, Book 3) by Joan Holub and Cheryl Kirk Noll

Ages 6-12. “Sisters Rose and Lila, ages 10 and 7, are spending the year with their grandmother (who runs a doll hospital) while their parents are working out of the country. Their grandmother has a special power to communicate with dolls, and to tell their stories.In this book we meet Glory, a doll who is given to a slave girl named May by Arabella, the daughter of a plantation owner. Glory then accompanies May on her journey to freedom. Years later, Glory is discovered by the new owners of an old house that, unbeknownst to them, was used as a stop along the Underground Railroad.” Book Description

The Christmas Dolls (The Girls of the Good Day Orphanage) by Carol Beach York and Victoria De Larrea

Ages 6-10. “This book was given to me by my grandma when I was around 9 or 10. I adored it. It truly captures the magic of Christmas that children understand better than adults. The pictures are beautiful. I haven’t read it in many years, so I can’t provide much more detail, but I plan on finding my old copy and rereading it this Christmas. My best friend also had this book and absolutely adored it. Good for 6-10 year olds.” Amazon Customer Review

The Gingerbread Doll by Susan Tews and Megan Lloyd

Ages 4-8. “When the extended family gathers for its annual cookie baking, great-grandma Rebecca tells about her ninth Christmas, in 1930 during the Depression. Times were hard on their Wisconsin farm, and there was no hope of the porcelain doll she wanted; so Mama improvised a doll of thick gingerbread, with yarn hair and a dress of cloth scraps. Rebecca ‘loved Button Marie in a way you could never love anything from a store;’ but though she was careful, ‘Button Marie’ eventually broke. Later, times got better and she had a cornhusk doll and, finally, the porcelain doll. But it’s Button Marie’s scrap of a dress that great-grandma Rebecca treasures and talks about on cookie-baking day: she ‘was made from love, and that’s the part…that lasts forever.’ Lloyd’s sharply observed realistic watercolors–in a palette somewhat grayed as if to recall old b&w photos–beautifully reflect this well-told story’s warmth and focus on essential values. (Picture book/Young reader. 5-9)” Kirkus Reviews

The Doll with the Yellow Star by Yona Zeldis McDonough and Kimberly Bulcken Root

Ages 9-12. “Gr. 3-5. Eight-year-old Claudine, who lives with her parents in Nazi-occupied France, is upset by the yellow stars that she and the other members of her family are required to wear. She sews a star on the velvet cape of her treasured doll, Violette, but she affixes it to the inside of the garment so she can decide whether to let it show. When Claudine is sent to live with relatives in America, she loses both her doll and her family. Writing a Holocaust novel for young children is a tricky business, but McDonough succeeds in conveying the realities of war without terrorizing her audience. Violette is a symbol of innocence lost, but like Claudine’s father, the doll is miraculously found and restored by the end of the story. The use of the present tense brings a sense of immediacy to the telling, while Root’s full-color artwork lends a feeling of reassurance. Give this to fans of Amy Hest’s Love You, Soldier (1993), also set in New York City, but with an American Jewish protagonist.” Booklist

Henriette: The Story of a Doll by Tracy Friedman

Ages 6-10. Grade 3-5 A delightful tale of a doll’s determination and a steadily paced adventure story. After years of searching, a grandmother finally locates her long-lost granddaughter in an orphanage, but decides that it is too late to claim her. In the end, however, there is a reunion, brought about by the 14-inch doll who once belonged to the grandmother and now belongs to the granddaughter. With clever cunning, Henriette fights off a puppy, rides in a wagon among cotton bales to town, rides in a carriage with some fretful children who claim her, and finally reaches the orphanage. Children will relate to Henriette’s strong will and adventuresome spirit. The book is a new story with an old theme, and a nice addition to any collection.” School Library Journal

Home is the Sailor by Rumer Godden and Jean Primrose

Ages 6-12. “Through a series of unusual circumstances the missing men of the doll family are reunited with their relatives.” Alibris

This book is out of print, and there are simply no reviews on it. But I have a copy, and it was one of my children’s favorites. The interwoven stories of the dolls, and how each “man” is found, is enchanting, and unforgettable. Worth hunting for in library sales.

Caitlin’s Holiday by Helen V. Griffith and Susan Condie Lamb

Ages 8-12. “A delightful chapter book told with such good humor that readers will easily believe in one more toy that comes to life. Caitlin is browsing a sidewalk sale table when an irresistible urge comes over her and she “trades” her own beloved doll for a more beautiful one. Caitlin is convinced that this is a special doll, and worth every bit of the guilt she suffers, and sure enough, she is awakened that night by music playing in her room. Not only is her new doll alive, she is also obstinate, rude, and unreasonable–she refuses to turn down her stereo. Caitlin’s problems mount as the doll, who says her name is Holiday, becomes more and more difficult and demanding; she scorns Caitlin’s doll clothes, ignores Caitlin’s friends and their dolls, and won’t do anything but sunbathe on the windowsill and throw tantrums. Caitlin’s endeavors to cope with an absurd situation and to reason with Holiday, who has no logic or morals, is a maturing experience, first in frustration, and finally in diplomacy. The struggle of a child to understand and compromise is contrasted clearly with Holiday’s stunning about-face at the novel’s end, which indicates a sequel is to come. Young readers will be enchanted by Caitlin and Holiday and will be readied for the more serious subject matter of Banks’ The Indian in the Cupboard (Avon, 1982) and Cassedy’s Behind the Attic Wall (Crowell, 1983).” School Library Journal

Doll Trouble by Helen V. Griffith and Susan Condie Lamb

Ages 8-12. “Having a favorite doll come to life–what a rich, delicious fantasy. Caitlin’s old doll Jodi, resenting Caitlin for abandoning her, arranges events so that Caitlin is blamed for stealing doll clothes, and even the doll herself. Caitlin, in turn, blames Holiday (the doll in Caitlin’s Holiday, 1990) for the thefts. In the end all is forgiven: Holiday finds her way back into Caitlin’s good graces; Jodi comes home to stay; and friend Lauren’s Sandi joins Holiday and Jodi to make a trio of “living dolls.” Deftly told from Holiday’s point of view, the story skips along at a playful pace. Holiday is still entirely self-centered yet endearing–just the kind of character a 12-inch fashion doll suggests. Smooth, satisfying fantasy. (Fiction. 8-12).” Kirkus Reviews

The Richest Doll In The World by Polly M. Robertus

Ages 9-12. “Her parents having died, Emily faces the worst Christmas Eve ever. She decides to set off in the middle of a snowstorm for a spooky old mansion in hopes of seeing “the richest doll in the world.” Book Description. Available April 15, 2008

The Racketty-Packetty House: 100th Anniversary Edition by Frances Hodgson Burnett and Wendy Anderson Halperin

“Acclaimed illustrator Wendy Anderson Halperin celebrates Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic, a tale of two dollhouses, just in time for its 100th anniversary. When Tidy Castle arrives, brand-new and grand in every way, the Racketty-Packetty House has never looked shabbier, and it is shoved in the corner of Cynthia’s nursery. But the Racketty family still dances, sings, and laughs louder than all the fancy dolls combined. When a real-life princess visits the nursery, the Rackettys learn that the humans are planning to destroy their house. Only a miracle — or some very unusual magic — can save them now!

Since its publication in 1906, the story of how Queen Crosspatch and her band of fairies rescued the Racketty-Packetty House has inspired dreamers and readers of all ages in the tradition of The Secret Garden and A Little Princess. Now Wendy Anderson Halperin’s illustrations, brimming with whimsy and wonder, unlock the magic of two dollhouses — one posh and one proud — to a whole new generation of readers.”

“The Racketty-Packetty House is a beautifully illustrated charmer. It should bring great satisfaction to children with happy spirits but messy rooms!” — Gail Carson Levin, author of Ella Enchanted

“If you believe in fairies — and if your dolls have adventures when you leave the room — then Frances Hodgson Burnett has written a book for you. With brilliant storytelling and intriguing characters, she pulls readers into the world of the haves and have-nots — only in this case the two classes both happen to be dolls. Burnett’s old-fashioned, charming tale has been given beautiful new clothing for its 100th anniversary edition. Now it can delight the next generation of readers.” — Anita Silvey, 100 Best Books for Children

The Doll Hospital by James Duffy and Susan Tang

Ages 6-10. “Grade 3-6– Eight-year-old Alison, an invalid for as long as she can remember, realizes that she is different from everyone else. She counts her brother Christopher and her dolls and stuffed animals as her best friends. When Denise, her beautiful French doll, comes down with the measles, Alison convinces Christopher to help her convert Mama’s old sewing room into a doll hospital. The two children decide to accept outside patients, and the doll hospital begins to play a significant role in Alison’s own medical treatment and recovery. In this quiet, old-fashioned story, the characters, even the dolls and animals that come to life, are not fully developed. The plot is predictable, and there is too little action in this slow-moving tale to capture and hold young readers’ attention.” School Library Journal

Through the Doll’s House Door by Jane Gardam

Ages 9-12. “Friends Mary and Claire, who as children shared playtimes with their special dolls, now have children of their own to continue the tradition; PW praised this “clever bit of characterization, told with humor and imaginative zeal.” Ages 9-12. Publishers Weekly

“Two girls lose interest in playing with their doll house after moving from London to Wales but the dolls in the house amuse themselves by telling stories about their exciting pasts.” Card catalog description

Amy’s Birthday Doll by Kenneth James Newbrook

Ages 9-12? “Ken and Spot travel back in time with a doll than can talk, Spot also talks, making for a great adventure, when they turn up at his great, great grandfather’s wedding.” Book Description

The Missing Doll by Constance Hiser and Marcy Dunn Ramsey

Ages 8-10? “Grade 3-4-Hiser’s attempt to incorporate suspense, magical happenings, a dysfuntional family, and budding friendships fails in this marginal, forced novel. With the last of her birthday money, Abby buys a beautiful talking doll that speaks in riddles that relate to specific events in her life. When an unpopular girl steals it, Abby and her friend Heather sneak into her house to take it back. There they learn about Julie’s miserable home situation. The drama increases as the child runs away, is seriously injured, and is saved by the doll and the quick actions of Abby and Heather. The plot is contrived and predictable, and the characters are minimally developed. At times motivation is unclear. There is a hint of child abuse, but it’s not explored in depth, and thus Julie’s reaction to a spanking is not believable. The ending is sappy as every loose end is neatly and happily tied together. Youngsters who enjoy books about dolls, suspense, magic, and mystery should try Carol R. Brink’s The Bad Times of Irma Baumlein (Aladdin, 1991), Mildred Ames’s Is There Life on a Plastic Planet? (Dutton, 1975; o.p.), Mary Downing Hahn’s The Doll in the Garden (Clarion, 1989), Betty Ren Wright’s The Dollhouse Murders (Holiday, 1983), and William Sleator’s Among the Dolls (Dutton, 1975). School Library Journal

When the Dolls Woke by Marjorie Filley Stover

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Ages 9-12. “Grade 4-6 That this is a mystery will not be evident early on. In fact, the mystery is handled so routinely that it is solved before readers are sure there was one. Sir Gregory, an antique china doll, is the first to awaken from a long nap of neglect. He, his family and their three-story dollhouse have been owned by successive descendants of the Boston clipper Captain Wurling, whose family tree is diagrammed as the book’s frontispiece (although at a 40-year variance from the text.) Now the Captain’s granddaughter, Abby, nearly 90 and fortune depleted, ships dolls and house to Gail, her unknown great, great niece. A miniature parchment hanging on the dollhouse wall suggests to Gail the possibility of hidden treasure. Sir Gregory, with trusty toy sword in hand, abets its discovery. Great-Aunt Abby accepts the found “treasurea rubyas” a legacy from her father that will rescue her from poverty. The story’s perspective moves erratically among the various characters, flesh and china; none are ever infused with any life. Happily, Loccisano’s handful of soft pencil illustrations enliven the scenes they depict. Children with a ready-honed affinity for dolls and dollhouses might enjoy this staid story, but they would be more felicitously directed to Sylvia Cassedy’s Behind the Attic Wall (Crowell, 1983). Godden’s The Dolls’ House (Penguin, 1976) and Tregarthen’s The Doll Who Came Alive (Harper, 1972,) are better for younger or less proficient readers.” School Library Journal

Minnesota Twins : A Cabin Christmas (Story House Dolls) by Sandra Bartholomew and Lloyd Aadland

Ages 7-12. “Emma and Will Hanson learn a lesson about the true meaning of the season when their family experiences a blizzard on Christmas Eve. Illustrated by charming photographs of miniature doll characters acting out the story line in an appropriately designed dollhouse. Appropriate for ages 7-12.” Book Description

Sara of Sun Valley : An Idaho Adventure (Story House Dolls) by Sandra Bartholomew and Lloyd Aadland

Ages 7-12. “Sara of Sun Valley is a delightful adventure that brings the reader from Idaho ski slopes to a hospital in Chicago. The challenges Sara and her family face are illustrated by color photographs of the little character dolls acting out the story.” Book Publisher

Texas Mickey : A Story of Horses and Races (Story House Dolls) by Sandra Bartholomew and Lloyd Aadland

Ages 7-12. “Texas Mickey is a story that will delight the horse lover. Set on a Texas ranch, the story of Mickey and her problem accepting the Hispanic migrant workers is believable and compelling. The illustrations are wonderful color photographs of Mickey and the other miniature character dolls (including their horses) acting out the story line.” Book Publisher

The Dolls’ Secret by Linda Blackburn

Ages 8-12?. “An old lady is the proud owner of two Victorian dolls. They sit quietly on her shelf, as dolls do! Not a peep, not an utterance. That is, until a fairy enters the room through an open window and casts a spell. Victoria and Amy are no longer ordinary dolls. They have a secret; they can come to life! And so begins a journey involving spoilt children and kind children, evil witches and a vicious dog! But will the dolls continue to use their special powers to do good? And, more importantly, will they manage to keep their secret safe? Through the eyes of Victoria and Amy, Linda Blackburn explores the relationships that children form with their possessions, and with each other, in this heartwarming story that will delight any young reader.” Book Description

Victorian Doll Stories (Victorian Revival Series) by Brenda, Mrs. Gatty, and Frances Hodgson Burnett

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No reviews or description available. Suitable for most ages, given the date.

Seth The Doll Who Was Afraid Of Everything by Rowena Avery

Ages 4-8. “Rowena Avery cleverfully illustrates that when someone is afraid of everything, that someone missed out on everything!

Unique dolls highlight Seth as he learns to try new things with his other doll friends. Highly original and entertaining. This is a must-have for any collection.” Amazon Customer Reviews

A Doll-House Christmas by Jean Marzollo and Shelley Thornton

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Ages 4-8. A “punch-and-play storybook, Scholastic 1985.” Book Description

William’s Doll by Charlotte Zolotow and William Pene Du Bois

Ages 4-6. “More than anything, William wants a doll. “Don’t be a creep,” says his brother. “Sissy, sissy,” chants the boy next door. Then one day someone really understands William’s wish, and makes it easy for others to understand, too.” Book Description

The Lonely Doll by Dare Wright

“Once there was a little doll. Her name was Edith. She lived in a nice house and had everything she needed except someone to play with. She was lonely! Then one morning Edith looked into the garden and there stood two bears! Since it was first published in 1957, The Lonely Doll has established itself as a unique children’s classic. Through innovative photography Dare Wright brings the world of dolls to life and entertains us with much more than just a story. Edith, the star of the show, is a doll from Wright’s childhood, and Wright selected the bear family with the help of her brother. With simple poses and wonderful expressions, the cast of characters is vividly brought to life to tell a story of friendship.” Book Description

A Gift from the Lonely Doll by Dare Wright

“A Gift from the Lonely Doll was first published in 1966 and is one of the most frequently requested and fondly remembered books in the Lonely Doll series by the author/photographer Dare Wright. A Gift from the Lonely Doll again features Edith and her friends, Mr. Bear and Little Bear, and a generous act of kindness that helps all of them understand and celebrate the meaning of the holidays.” Book Description

Edith and Mr. Bear: A Lonely Doll Story by Dare Wright

“Mr. Bear’s expensive clock fascinates Edith. She just has to touch it. But when she does, it falls down with a crash. Unable to admit that she has broken it, Edith’s guilty conscience makes her so unhappy that she can’t even enjoy her birthday party. In fact, Edith feels so badly about lying to Mr. Bear that she contemplates running away. What happens next makes for a timeless story that will resonate with anyone who has ever tried to cover up the truth. Dare Wright’s innovative black-and-white photographs make EDITH AND MR. BEAR as intriguing as it was when first published in 1964.” Book Description

Make Me Real by Dare Wright

“”Make Me Real” is a delightful story about a little girl named Brett and the tiny doll, Persis, who becomes her best friend. Persis can only come alive when she is loved by a child, and must return to being a regular doll when that child grows up. Dare Wright (1914-2001) is the beloved author of “The Lonely Doll” series. She wrote and photographed “Make Me Real” the 1970s, but this is its first publication.” Book description

The Surprise Doll by Morrell Gipson and Steffie Lerch

“For more than half a century children have been captivated with the story of Mary and her dolls. Mary’s father was a sea captain who took long trips across the ocean, bringing back a doll from each journey. Soon Mary had six dolls and wished for a seventh one to become her “Sunday” doll. But Mary’s father said six dolls were enough for any girl, so she set off to visit the Dollmaker and, oh, was she in for a surprise!

Now available in its original, full 46-page format.” Book Description

Elizabeti’s Doll (Elizabeti Series) by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen and Christy Hale

Ages 4-8. “In an impressive debut, Stuve-Bodeen warms the heart and hearth with this sweetly evoked tale inspired by her experiences in the Peace Corps. Set in a Tanzanian village, the story tells of Elizabeti, who watches her mother care for her new baby brother and longs for a little one of her own to cuddle. She has no doll, so instead she looks around for a suitable “baby” and soon finds a rock that’s shaped just right. Carefully mimicking her mother, she bathes, feeds (her doll is “too polite to burp”) and changes “Eva,” and when doing chores ties Eva to her back “with a bright cloth called a kanga,” just as her mother does. Downcast when Eva is misplaced (her sister accidentally uses the rock for the cooking fire), Elizabeti finds her special doll in time to sing her to sleep. Stuve-Bodeen’s well-balanced prose strikes just the right tranquil, gently humorous tone. She lovingly delineates the mother-daughter relationship, and offers a rare, intimate view of another culture while sounding a universal chord. Hale (Juan Bobo and the Pig), meanwhile, deftly captures the story’s mood in softly shaded mixed-media illustrations, juxtaposing brightly printed motifs in African fabrics against an earthy, sundrenched palette. The artist is equally adept at conveying close-up portraits with a full emotional range as she is a village scene of Elizabeti carrying a water jug atop her head. A little slice of perfection. Ages 4-up.” Publishers Weekly

The Apple Doll by Elisa Kleven

Ages 4-8. “*Starred Review* Through every season, Lizzy loves the apple tree outside her window. On her first day of school, she uses it to create a new friend to take along with her: Susanna, a doll with an apple for a head and twigs for its body. When children make fun of Susanna, Lizzy leaves her at home for a while. Lizzy’s mother shows her how to make Susanna into an apple-head doll by peeling the fruit, carving her features, preserving her with lemon juice, and letting her smiling face wrinkle as it dries. Newly aged but rejuvenated, Susanna accompanies Lizzy to school again and becomes the model for a class craft project. A plot summary does little to re-create the charm of this delightfully well-written picture book. Like the first illustration of the apple tree, where Lizzy lies happily on a branch surrounded by birds, cats, and squirrels, the pictures teem with life and intriguing details, but have at their heart the clear expression of the characters’ emotions. Created in mixed media with collage elements, the illustrations vary in size and complexity, from small winsome vignettes to detailed, double-page spreads that carry the eye from the main character to the outskirts of her neighborhood. For children, parents, and teachers inspired by this inviting picture book who want to make their own apple dolls, Kleven appends instructions.” Booklist

The All-I’ll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll by Patricia Mckissack and Jerry Pinkney

“It’s Christmas, and Nella is beside herself with excitement! She and her sisters have been given a real gift – a beautiful Baby Betty doll. But it’s hard to share something you’ve waited your whole seven-year-old life for, and Nella grabs the doll for herself. It isn’t long before she discovers that a doll can’t do the fun things she and her sisters do together. So, as Christmas day fades, Nella shares it with her sisters. Set in the Depression era South, here’s a heartwarming story that captures the essence of the holiday.” Book Description

“Parents looking for books on sharing will find this an appealing exploration of the subject, teachers seeking picture books set during the Depression will find many details that bring the period to life. A gentle lesson that plays into the spirit of the holiday.” Starred Review, Booklist

“Full of humorous dialogue and scenes of realistic family life showing the close bonds within the family. Pinkney’s watercolor illustrations are masterful, as always…” - Kirkus Review, Starred Review

“An evocative book with a universal message.” The New York Times Book Review

Dolls Christmas (Tasha Tudor Collection) by Tasha Tudor

“Christmas is a special time at Pumpkin House, where two dolls named Sethany Ann and Nicey Melinda live. Every Christmas they invite their friends to join them for an elegant dinner party and a marionette show. The dolls have fun getting ready for their party: they send out invitations to their guests by Sparrow Post, decorate their very own Christmas tree with silver nutmegs and golden pears, and prepare doll-size cookies and other treats for the party. Then at “candlelight-time” on Christmas Day the guests begin to arrive, and the evening isn’t over until the last carol has been sung around the tree.

Tasha Tudor’s delightful tale captures all the charm and magic of an old-fashioned Christmas shared with your dearest friends. Beautifully illustrated in nostalgic watercolor paintings, this book will be treasured by generations to come.” Book Description

The Ticky-Tacky Doll by Cynthia Rylant and Harvey Stevenson

Ages 4-8. “Rylant (the Little Whistle series) wisely explores a child’s separation anxiety through her relationship with her doll. The author conveys the girl’s bond with the doll, handmade for her by Grandmama (“It was ticky, her mother said, because Grandmama had made it from sewing scraps. And it was tacky because pieces of cloth hung from it like soft bits of hair”), through the rhythms of their day, their trips to town, a shared meal (“At the supper table the doll fit snugly on the little girl’s lap, and its eyes could see what was for dinner”). Stevenson’s (Bye, Mis’ Lela) paintings cast a magic glow on the pair, inseparable in the opening spreads. He portrays the doll with a seam down the middle of her smiling face, X’s for eyes and a mop of striped and polka-dotted fabric strips for hair. On the first day of school, when the girl must leave the doll at home, she withdraws completely: Stevenson shows her with head bowed at a table, markers and paper untouched. Only Grandmama knows what is wrong, and she comes up with an innovative solution. With the barest of statements, Rylant affirms the child’s feelings and conveys the bond between child and grandparent (“Grandmama had lived a long time and knew about loneliness and missing someone,” while the illustration shows a framed picture of her grandfather). Stevenson’s artwork, with its layered, contrasting planes of blue and gold, resembles the loving patchwork of the doll itself. Ages 3-7.” Publishers Weekly

Nutcracker Doll by Mary Newell Depalma

Ages 4-8. “Tutus, stage lights, and tights-wearing mice – a girl’s giddy first experience dancing in THE NUTCRACKER is celebrated for all to share. For a young dancer, everything about “The Nutcracker” is thrilling, from auditions to opening night. Readers experience it all with Kepley as she dances before judges, goes to rehearsals, and stifles giggles as she gets carried offstage by a man dressed as a giant mouse! DePalma expertly takes readers backstage and into the heart of a small dancer as THE NUTCRACKER DOLL captures the magic of theater and the thrill of being part of a great ballet.” Book Description

Betty Doll by Patricia Polacco

Ages 4-8. “Polacco (Thank You, Mr. Falker) again elegantly embroiders a patch from the fabric of her own life in a moving tale that demonstrates the importance of family legacies. “I know that someday you’ll read this when your heart is aching,” reads the note that the author finds attached to Betty Doll after her mother’s [Mary Ellen's] death. Mary Ellen’s letter goes on to explain how, as a girl, she and her mother made the doll from scraps of cloth after her other dolls perished in the fire that destroyed their home. Readers will happily tumble back in time as the fluid, conversational narrative reveals anecdotes underscoring Betty Doll’s importance in Mary Ellen’s life. For instance, the sight of Betty Doll who had fallen out of her owner’s book bag alerts the child’s father to her whereabouts during a blizzard; and when the girl is bedridden with a fever, Betty keeps her company. Over the years, the author and then her own children find solace in the beloved doll, who “kissed away tears, soothed hurt knees and was a guest at hundreds of tea parties and slumber nights.” In an effective graphic manipulation, the doll alone appears in color against Polacco’s finely detailed black-and-white art, which smoothly incorporates framed family photos arranged on tabletops. Together, text and illustrations credibly and poignantly capture the powerful bond among four generations of a loving family. All ages.” Publishers Weekly

Mud Pies and Other Recipes: A Cookbook for Dolls by Marjorie Winslow and Erik Blegvad

Ages 4-8. “Any doll chef will tell you that no supermarket is as well-stocked as a forest, a sand dune, or your own backyard; and everyone knows that dolls love mud, when properly prepared.
For forty years, Mud Pies and Other Recipes has been the consummate cookbook for dolls, using only the finest ingredients found outside. All of the perennial doll favorites are here, including Dandelion SoufflÈ, Wood Chip Dip, and, of course, Mud Pies.
This special 40th anniversary hardcover edition now includes a Tea Party in the menu section, so that dolls with discriminating palates will be prepared for every social occasion. Erik Blegvad’s classically fetching illustrations provide the perfect dressing for Marjorie Winslow’s outdoor cookbook for dolls.” Book Description

“One of the most charming picture books ever published.” —Horn Book
“An adorable little book with charming pictures and a deadpan text.”—Publishers Weekly

“The nicest oddball cookbook of the year.”—Life Magazine

Daisy and the Doll (A Vermont Folklife Center Book) by Michael Medearis, Angela Shelf Medearis, and Larry Johnson

Ages 6-10. “One of the inaugural releases in the Family Heritage series, this story is based on a true incident. The husband-and-wife authors (the African-American Arts series) adopt the crisp and amiable voice of eight-year-old Daisy Turner, a former slave’s daughter who was born in Vermont in 1883. Daisy’s teacher announces that, for a school competition, each girl will hold a doll from a different country and recite a poem about that nationality. When she hands Daisy a rag doll “with a coal black face,” the other girls giggle; and anger “bubbled inside me like hot tar.” Daisy’s father, Papu, advises her to memorize the poem her teacher has written, even though it obviously offends her. Disconcertingly, readers never learn any of the poem’s contents. Daisy instead comments, “I had never really noticed the color of my skin. It was as if Miss Clark’s poem had opened my eyes for the first time.” On stage during the program, Daisy finds that her teacher’s words “caught in my throat like a bone,” and the child delivers an extemporaneous but prize-winning poem (“My Papu says that half the world/ Is nearly black as night./ And it does no harm to take a chance/ And stay right in the fight”). Johnson’s (Knoxville, Tennessee) spare representational paintings capture the narrative’s emotion-charged tenor. A concluding page offers historical background as well as tips for rhyming games and for writing poems. Ages 6-10.” Publishers Weekly

The Christmas Doll by Linda Doty

“Amy Manchester is a young girl growing up in Victorian England during the turn of the century. She lives with her widowed, artist father and her older brother Jack. Amy’s life is changed when she wishes for a beautiful porcelain doll that she sees in the village toy shop window. Along the way, she finds a new friendship and a strange mystery in an old Victorian estate, that leads her and Jack to an exciting new adventure.” Book Description

The Orphan and the Doll (A Little Apple Paperback) by Tracy Friedman

Ages preschool. “When little orphaned Amanda finds Henriette, a beautiful porcelain doll in her bed one morning, she has no idea that the magical doll will help her find the home she never knew she had.” Book Publisher

The Stone Doll of Sister Brute (A Dell Young Yearling Book) by Russell Hoban and Lillian Hoban

Ages 6-9. “Dissatisfied with her stone doll and an ugly dog, an obstreperous youngster learns about familial love in this winsome, deceptively simple story. Ages 6-9.” Publishers Weekly

I hope you enjoyed this “romp” through doll land. It’s a wonderful way for mothers and daughters to bond, even if they don’t play much with dolls.

SciFi Wire’s latest news

Here is the previous week’s “gossip” from SciFi Wire – SciFi Channel’s Feed on the latest in the SciFi/Fantasy world, on the big screen, television, and in books. Additional sources are as cited (through links).

Indy IV Trailer Drops Next Week

Yesterday, February 07, 2008, 10:00:00 PM

“Paramount will attach the first teaser trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to the fantasy movie The Spiderwick Chronicles on Feb. 14, with the spot to hit the Web shortly thereafter, Variety reported.”

“The trailer comes relatively late in the marketing game, with only four months to go before the movie opens for the Memorial Day weekend.

The reason for the delay is that the film only recently wrapped, so much of the material that would go into a memorable trailer just wasn’t ready until now.

Nevertheless, awareness and anticipation are already high for the fourth installment in the beloved franchise, so producers didn’t feel the need to show too much too soon. The fourth Indy movie opens May 22.”

ComingSoon.net says: “Indiana Jones Trailer Coming Next Week”

Source: Variety

February 8, 2008

“Variety has confirmed what we hinted at in early December, 2007, the first trailer for Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be hitting theaters and online next week:

Par will attach the first teaser for “Crystal Skull” to fantasy pic “The Spiderwick Chronicles” on Feb. 14, with the spot to hit the Web shortly thereafter.

Reason for the delay is that the film only recently wrapped, so much of the material that would go into a memorable trailer just wasn’t ready until now.

Awareness and anticipation also is already high for the pic, so producers didn’t feel the need to show too much too soon.

“In the case of Indiana Jones, he’s such a well-known character that it’s not like you have to get out there and introduce something new,” said Spielberg spokesman Marvin Levy. “You tailor the campaign to the material. We also want to keep a lot of the surprises. That’s part of the fun.”

We’ll let you know as soon as the trailer is online, stay tuned!”

AceShowBiz.com said: “‘Indiana Jones 4′ Trailer Comes Out on Valentine’s Day”

January 19, 2008 06:30:59 GMT
by Staff Writer

“The trailer of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” will have its first appearance on Valentine’s Day. According to CHUD.com, the video footage of the much expected action film will first be broadcast by Entertainment Tonight on February 14.

On the same day, the trailer will be launched in theaters as well. Following the television and theatrical releases, it is said that it will hit the web the next day, February 15. Initially, its writer, George Lucas, wanted to reveal the film’s title in the trailer, but its actor Shia LaBeouf has outed the info at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards on September 9, 2007.

Starring Harrison Ford and LaBeouf, the Steven Spielberg directed-film will be the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones’ series following the 1989’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade“. Aside from Ford and LaBeouf, the movie cast also include Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, John Hurt and Ray Winstone. The film will be released in nearly four thousand theaters in the United States and will be dubbed into 25 languages for its worldwide release. So far, though there are many leaked details information hit the net, not much about the film’s details can be confirmed aside from the fact that it is set in 1957.”

Strike End Could Affect SF&F Films

Yesterday, February 07, 2008, 10:00:00 PM

An end to the writers’ strike could affect several SF&F projects delayed by the walkout, including Sony’s Angels & Demons, which needs script revisions, and Warner Brothers’ Justice League, Variety reported.

“An end to the writers’ strike could affect several SF&F projects delayed by the walkout, including Sony’s Angels & Demons, which needs script revisions, and Warner Brothers’ Justice League, Variety reported. Studios are also contemplating how to revamp their schedules should the Screen Actors Guild go on strike in June.

Sony reiterated this week that Angels & Demons, the prequel to The Da Vinci Code, is delayed pending the outcome of the strike. Others suggest it could go into production this summer if all goes well. That’s also true for DreamWorks and Paramount’s Transformers 2. Both films are still set for release in 2009: Angels & Demons on May 15 and Transformers 2 on June 26.

Most of Warner’s movies slated for release this year are completed or are in post-production; Warner has only one movie dated so far for 2009, Zack Snyder’s Watchmen, set for release on March 6.”

Cast Set For Goyer Thriller

Yesterday, February 07, 2008, 10:00:00 PM

David Goyer’s as-yet-untitled supernatural thriller film has a cast: Gary Oldman, Odette Yustman and Cam Gigandet are in negotiations to star, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“David Goyer’s as-yet-untitled supernatural thriller film has a cast: Gary Oldman, Odette Yustman and Cam Gigandet are in negotiations to star, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Platinum Dunes is producing for Rogue Pictures.

The script, which Goyer wrote, follows a 19-year-old girl who is haunted by a dybbuk, the soul of a dead person barred from heaven, in the form of a young boy who perished in Auschwitz.

Yustman will play the girl, while Gigandet will play her sympathetic boyfriend. Oldman is the spiritual specialist who helps the girl.

Shooting is to begin March 3 in Chicago with Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller producing.”

Hollywoodreporter.com says: ” Three haunt Goyer thriller” by Borys Kit Feb 8, 2008

Odette Yustman (Getty Images photo)

“BERLIN — Gary Oldman, Odette Yustman and Cam Gigandet are in negotiations to star in David Goyer’s untitled supernatural thriller that Platinum Dunes is producing for Rogue Pictures.

The script, which Goyer wrote, follows a 19-year-old girl who is haunted by a dybbuk, the soul of a dead person barred from heaven, in the form of a young boy who perished in Auschwitz.

Yustman will play the girl, while Gigandet will play her sympathetic boyfriend. Oldman is the spiritual specialist who helps the girl.

Shooting is to begin March 3 in Chicago with Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller producing.

Oldman will next be seen as Lt. James Gordon in “The Dark Knight.” He is repped by Paradigm and Douglas Management Group.

Yustman, repped by ICM and Evolution Management, is one of the stars of “Cloverfield” and appears on ABC’s “October Road.”Gigandet, who appeared on Fox’s “The O.C.,” stars in Summit Entertainment’s debut film “Never Back Down,” which opens March 14. He also just booked a lead role in “Twilight,” Summit’s vampire romance based on the popular Stephanie Meyer books. Gigandet is repped by Endeavor and Roklin/Luber Management. “

USA Buys Enchanted Rights

Yesterday, February 07, 2008, 10:00:00 PM

USA Network will pay more than $50 million for the network-window rights to National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Enchanted and five other movies from Disney-ABC Domestic Distribution, Variety reported.

“USA Network will pay more than $50 million for the network-window rights to National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Enchanted and five other movies from Disney-ABC Domestic Distribution, Variety reported.

Disney previously sold the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy to USA, as well as the first National Treasure movie. ABC-Disney and USA declined to comment on the new deal, the trade paper reported.

Three of the four other titles in the Disney package will come to USA not as first plays but after another cable net takes a few premiere runs, including the fantasy film Bridge to Terabithia.

As part of the deal, USA sister network NBC will be able to take a run of Enchanted, as will other NBC Universal-owned networks such as SCI FI Channel and Oxygen. But USA will get the first plays.”

Variety says: “USA pockets Disney pics, Network nabs ‘Enchanted,’ ‘Treasure’ by John Dempsey

‘National Treasure: Book of Secrets’ was among the trio of pics USA paid over $50 million for. Bravo could get a run of ‘No Country for Old Men’ after USA.

USA Network will fork over more than $50 million for the network-window rights to “National Treasure: Book of Secrets,” “Enchanted,” “No Country for Old Men” and four other theatrical movies from Disney-ABC Domestic Distribution.Disney previously sold the “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy to USA, as well as the first “National Treasure” movie and the hit family comedy “Game Plan.” ABC-Disney and USA declined to comment on the new deal.

USA Network has finished first in primetime among all ad-supported cable nets for the past two years, and high-visibility movies are a key ingredient in its programming strategy. The cabler recently bought New Line’s “Hairspray,” Warner Bros.’ “Ocean’s Thirteen” and Universal’s “The Bourne Ultimatum” and “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry.”

Three of the four other titles in the Disney package will come to USA not as first plays but after another cable net takes a few premiere runs: “Bridge to Terabithia,” “Dan in Real Life” and “Becoming Jane.” The fourth, “Gone Baby Gone,” will make its debut on USA in November 2009.

As part of the deal, USA sister network NBC will be able to take a run of “Enchanted,” as will other NBC Universal-owned nets such as the Sci Fi Channel and Oxygen. But USA will get the first plays.

Sci Fi Channel is a likely destination for a run of “Terabithia” because of its fantasy elements, and Bravo could get a run of “No Country for Old Men.”

As is customary with most movie deals these days, USA will allow Disney-ABC to carve out a window for another cable network to buy a run or two of the big titles.

USA will get the Disney pics after their exclusive 18-month pay TV window on Starz, which has an theatrical output deal with Disney.”

Kilmer In, Arnett Out Of Knight

Wednesday, February 06, 2008, 10:00:00 PM

A carmaker conflict has caused NBC to hire Val Kilmer to replace Will Arnett as the voice of K.I.T.T. on its Knight Rider TV movie/backdoor pilot, Variety reported.

“A carmaker conflict has caused NBC to hire Val Kilmer to replace Will Arnett as the voice of K.I.T.T. on its Knight Rider TV movie/backdoor pilot, Variety reported.

Arnett (Arrested Development) had already completed his part for the film, which is slated to debut on NBC in less than two weeks. Producers Doug Liman, Dave Bartis and Dave Andron–along with the network and studio–were all fine with his performance, the trade paper reported.

The problem is, Arnett had a contractual conflict of interest. For the better part of a decade, Arnett has done voice-over work for General Motors as the voice of GMC Trucks. NBC’s new K.I.T.T., however, is a Ford Mustang.

Ford isn’t simply providing cars for Knight Rider: It’s taking an active role in the marketing and branding of the telefilm. Ford’s logo even appears all over NBC’s on-air promos.

Not surprisingly, when GM found out about the Ford connection, it asked Arnett to pull out. Knight Rider airs as a two-hour movie on Feb. 17 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. (NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)”

According to Wordcarfans.com “Val Kilmer to Voice KITT”

An unusual twist has scored a star for American television network NBC’s new Knight Rider movie. Due to actor Will Arnett’s conflict of interests Val Kilmer will now voice the show’s supercar, KITT.Arnett, of Arrested Development fame, was asked to step down from the role by General Motors because the actor has served as the voice for GMC Trucks over the last ten years. Despite having already recorded his voice-overs as the talking car, Arnett stepped down, according to Daily Variety.He told the entertainment industry publication, “I was very excited at the prospect of playing the part of KITT in the new Knight Rider movie. … However, because of a long relationship with General Motors as the voice of GMC Trucks, I had to respectfully withdraw from the project.”

KITT, formerly a GM-made Pontiac Trans-Am, has been re-branded as a Ford Mustang GT500. Ford is also taking on a huge chunk of the marketing for Knight Rider.

No doubt NBC is sad to see Arnett go, but happy to have Kilmer on board. Kilmer, well known for his work in Top Gun, Batman Forever, and Heat, should help generate some buzz about the movie.

If the film is well received, NBC will use it as the pilot in a new Knight Rider series.

Editor’s note: The author originally reported that the original KITT was a Pontiac Thunderbird. Obviously, and as many of our readers pointed out, this was not the case. A change has been made to the text to correct that error.”

Shadow’s Web Mirrors TV

Wednesday, February 06, 2008, 10:00:00 PM

SF author Emma Bull told SCI FI Wire that her new collaborative Web fiction project, Shadow Unit, was inspired by her desire to write fan fiction for a television series that didn’t exist.

“SF author Emma Bull told SCI FI Wire that her new collaborative Web fiction project, Shadow Unit, was inspired by her desire to write fan fiction for a television series that didn’t exist.

“Elizabeth Bear has been urging her published writer friends to try writing fan fiction, because it’s a great way to remind ourselves that, ultimately, writing is fun, that that’s why we’re doing it,” Bull said in an interview. “I wrote a Criminal Minds novella [based on the CBS TV series] and had a great time. But it made me realize that what I really wanted was to write fan fiction about a show that was a little like Criminal Minds, a little like The X-Files, a little like Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Mission: Impossible and Millennium and various other shows I loved–plus a few comics series.”

Bull decided to create the show herself–with the help of some of her writer friends–but as a Web site rather than a TV series or a novel. She co-wrote the “series” bible with her husband, author Will Shetterly, and then started recruiting other authors to take part in the project. First, she brought Elizabeth Bear on board, then Sarah Monette, and she selected some other support personnel to help with the Web site and art direction.

Bull and company started creating story and character arcs in August 2007, examining character backstories, outlining and assigning episodes for each of the authors to write. “We established that, like a TV show, the story would be told in seasons, with eight episodes per season,” Bull said. “Each episode will be a more-or-less stand-alone story; well, as much as stories in a series can stand alone. The ‘air date’ for the first episode of season one on the site is Feb. 18. After that, there’ll be a new episode every two weeks, until the novel-length season finale, which will appear in serial form, daily, starting on May 26.”

In addition to the episodes, the site features character bios, vignettes from stray (possibly nonexistent) episodes, artwork and secret links that connect to more story and character fragments. “We have a bulletin board for readers/viewers to comment and share information and speculation,” Bull said. “We hope to have theme music, even. The site is still a work in progress, really; we’re coming up with ideas for potentially neat content pretty much every day.” –John Joseph Adams.”

BoingBoing.net posted “Shadow Unit: award-winning sf writers create “fan site for a show that never existed”

Posted by Cory Doctorow, January 11, 2008 11:03 AM

My pal Elizabeth Bear — award-winning sf writer and all-round swell cat — has just launched an exciting new publishing project with a gang of pals:

Shadow Unit is, more or less, the website for a serial drama in internet form. Or possibly it’s a fan site for a TV show that doesn’t exist.Over the next couple of months, the site will be updated on a weekly or biweekly basis with new information, vignettes, character sketches, character bios, a community message board, and other exciting things.And starting in mid-February, there will be a series of novellas and novellettes, and one complete novel. Approximately one story every two weeks for sixteen weeks (though we are still tweaking the schedule), comprising the first season (of hopefully many) of a television show that doesn’t exist.

Some of the content will be free. Some will be by subscription. (Subscriptions will be extremely reasonable.) There will be DVD extras, deleted scenes, background information, character-based digressions, and I dunno what all else.

The staff writers (as of today) are Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Sarah Monette, and myself. The Brilliant Web Ghoul and Fabulous Artist is Amanda Downum. The Technical Supergeek is Stephen Shipman.

Link to announcement, Link to Shadow Unit) (Thanks, Bear!)”

Kelly Wraps The Box

Tuesday, February 05, 2008, 10:00:00 PM

“Director Richard Kelly wrote on his MySpace.com blog that he has wrapped production on The Box, his upcoming film adaptation of a Richard Matheson SF short story.”

“I haven’t blogged in a long time because, well, … I’ve been in Boston/Virginia directing my third movie!” Kelly wrote. “And now I am back in L.A., and we have officially wrapped production on The Box.”

The movie stars Cameron Diaz, James Marsden and Frank Langella in a story about a couple who receive a mysterious device that grants wishes–but at the cost of a human life.

“My editors have been working nonstop, and we are beginning to work on the visual effects, signing a composer, etc.,” Kelly said. “As soon as Warner Brothers gives us a release date, I will let you know.”

Kelly added that the DVD for his last movie, the apocalyptic SF movie Southland Tales, comes out March 18.”

Flixster.com: “Richard Kelly Wraps ‘The Box‘”

“Director Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) has updated his official blog with some information about his upcoming sci-fi thriller “The Box.”"Hello everyone… I haven’t blogged in a long time because, well… I’ve been in Boston/Virginia directing my third movie!,” explained Kelly. “And now I am back in LA and we have officially wrapped production on ‘The Box.’”In the movie, a small wooden box arrives on the doorstep of a troubled married couple, who open it and become instantly wealthy. Little do they realize that opening the box also kills someone they do not know.

“It was an amazing experience working with Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella and the entire supporting cast and crew,” Kelly added. “My editors have been working non-stop, and we are beginning to work on the visual effects, signing a composer, etc.”

At this point, he has no idea when “The Box” will appear in theaters, but says that “as soon as Warner Bros. gives us a release date I will let you know…”

Road Gets Its Young Star

Tuesday, February 05, 2008, 10:00:00 PM

“ Young Australian actor Kodi Smit-McPhee is hitting the post-apocalyptic road with Viggo Mortensen in the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize winner The Road, according to The Hollywood Reporter.”

“Smit-McPhee, 11, will play Mortensen’s son in the tale of a journey across a barren U.S. landscape after a cataclysmic event has destroyed most of life on Earth. Charlize Theron co-stars in the Dimension Films drama.

The Melbourne native recently starred opposite Eric Bana, Marton Csokas and Franka Potente in Romulus, My Father.”

HollywoodReporter.com: “Smit-McPhee takes ‘Road‘ less traveled”

By Leslie Simmons
Feb 6, 2008

Kodi Smit-McPhee

Australian actor Kodi Smit-McPhee is hitting the post-apocalyptic road with Viggo Mortensen in the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize winner “The Road.”

Smit-McPhee, 11, will play Mortensen’s son in the tale of a monthslong journey across a barren U.S. landscape after a cataclysmic event destroyed most of life on Earth. Charlize Theron co-stars in the Dimension Films drama.

2929 Prods., Nick Wechsler Prods. and Chockstone Pictures are producing.

The Melbourne native recently starred opposite Eric Bana, Marton Csokas and Franka Potente in “Romulus, My Father.” The Australian Film Institute nominated Smit-McPhee for best lead actor in “Romulus” and honored him with the Young Actor Award.

Smit-McPhee is repped by WMA, Active Artists Management in Australia and Goodmanagement.”

Iron Dragons Back In Babel

Tuesday, February 05, 2008, 10:00:00 PM

“Multiple-award-winning SF/fantasy author Michael Swanwick told SCI FI Wire that his latest novel, The Dragons of Babel, is not a sequel but is set in the same world as his novel The Iron Dragon’s Daughter. That book was inspired by a discussion he and his wife had about steam trains and fantasy novels.”

“I made a joke about the Baldwin Steam Dragon Works, [my wife] Marianne laughed, and then I asked her to write that down–because it implied an industrialized Faerie, one that I could work my own experiences into,” Swanwick said in an interview. “That became The Iron Dragon’s Daughter. I never expected [to] write another book in the same world, but not long ago I had the image of young Will running to the top of Grannystone Hill to see the war-dragons flying by. I set it down on paper, and by the end of the first two pages, I knew I had a novel on my hands.”

In The Dragons of Babel, young Will le Fey’s idyllic life is disrupted when an injured mechanical war-dragon crawls into his village and declares itself king. “Though Will kills the dragon, he becomes an outcast and then a refugee, who ends up in the monstrous heart of empire–the Tower of Babel,” Swanwick said. “There he rises from the lowest levels of society to its very peak. But the dragon is not entirely dead: He still carries it within himself.”

We all know how this plot is supposed to go, Swanwick said: The hero has a destiny of which he is unaware and winds up being crowned the king. “My problem with that is that as an American and a small-D democrat, I don’t think that the restoration of the monarchy is a good thing,” he said. “So I set myself the task of turning the conventions of fantasy on their head, while still providing the traditional satisfactions of fantasy.”

Swanwick is currently working on a novel featuring the “post-utopian con men” Darger and Surplus, the subjects of his Hugo Award-winning story “The Dog Said Bow-Wow.” –John Joseph Adams

See Flogging Babel for more info.

Fourth Who, New Sarah Due

Monday, February 04, 2008, 10:00:00 PM

SCI FI Channel has acquired the fourth season of Doctor Who and its hit spinoff series The Sarah Jane Adventures from BBC Worldwide America. Both series are slated to premiere on SCI FI in April.”

“The Sarah Jane Adventures is written and produced by the same creative team behind Doctor Who, including multiple-award-winning writer Russell T. Davies. The series centers on Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), former companion to the Doctor, who investigates offbeat mysteries with her young friends Maria, Luke and Clyde.

The fourth season of Doctor Who, meanwhile, brings back star David Tennant as the 10th Time Lord, joined by a new companion, Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), who reprises her role from the previous Christmas special. The Doctor’s previous companion, Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), also makes a triumphant return in the middle of season four.”

Galifreyone.com (The Doctor Who News Page): “Sci Fi confirms April debut for Who and SJA”

Broadcasting

February 4, 2008 • Posted By Josiah Rowe

The Sci Fi Channel has confirmed earlier reports that both Doctor Who Series Four and The Sarah Jane Adventures will begin airing on the channel in April. The channel’s news service, Sci Fi Wire, has the confirmation, and Sci Fi’s full press release is below.(Thanks to “GracieLizzy” of the Doctor Who Forum.)

DOCTOR WHO SEASON FOUR AND THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES COMING TO SCI FI CHANNEL IN APRILNEW YORK – February 4, 2008 – “SCI FI Channel has acquired the fourth season of People’s Choice Award-nominated Doctor Who and the phenomenally popular series’ new spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures from BBC Worldwide America. Both series are slated to premier on SCI FI in April 2008.The Sarah Jane Adventures is written and produced by the same creative team behind Doctor Who, including multi-award winning writer Russell T. Davies. Having traveled the universe with The Doctor, Sarah Jane is used to alien encounters. Accompanied by her new young friends Maria, Luke and Clyde, she becomes embroiled in an offbeat world of mystery and danger.

In season four of Doctor Who, David Tennant reprises his role as the tenth Timelord. For his latest adventures he is joined by a brand new companion, Donna Noble, played by award-winning actress Catherine Tate (The Catherine Tate Show, BBC AMERICA) who appeared as ‘the runaway bride’ in the previous season. ‘Martha Jones,’ played by Freema Agyeman, the Doctor’s most recent companion, who had a dramatic role last season’s finale, makes a triumphant return in the middle of season four.

“We are excited to have Doctor Who back on SCI FI for its 4th season,” said Chris Regina, Vice President of Programming, SCI FI Channel. “It’s an exciting franchise that continues to reinvent itself for new generations of viewers. The youthful appeal of The Sarah Jane Adventures will no doubt attract even younger new viewers.”

Candace Carlisle, EVP Sales and Co-productions, BBC Worldwide Americas commented, “The imagination of Russell and the rest of the production team in Cardiff who have produced these two incredible shows is outstanding. We are so pleased that the loyal fans of the SCI FI Channel will be able to meet a whole new range of characters and aliens that are intrinsically linked to the Doctor’s history. Both ‘Sarah Jane Adventures‘ and the new season of ‘Doctor Who’ are jam packed with some of the most creative storylines ever produced by the BBC’s brilliant team.”

The third season of the new Doctor Who averaged 1.3 million weekly viewers on SCI FI.

The deals were brokered by Lisa Hofer, Vice President of Co-Production & Sales, BBC Worldwide Americas. Executive Producers for The Sarah Jane Adventures are Russell T Davies, Head of Drama, BBC Wales, Julie Gardner and Phil Collinson. The series producer is Matthew Bouch. Doctor Who season four is produced by Phil Collinson; Executive Producers are Julie Gardner and Russell T Davies. Doctor Who season four is a BBC production in association with CBC.

SCI FI Channel is a television network where “what if” is what’s on. SCI FI fuels the imagination of viewers with original series and events, blockbuster movies and classic science fiction and fantasy programming, as well as a dynamic Web site (www.scifi.com ) and magazine. Launched in 1992, and currently in 93 million homes, SCI FI Channel is a network of NBC Universal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies.

BBC Worldwide Americas incorporates the U.S., Canadian and Latin American arms of BBC Worldwide, a commercial and wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). With offices in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Sao Paulo and Miami, BBC Worldwide Americas has five core businesses: Channels, TV Sales, Content & Production, Home Entertainment and Digital Media. Profit from BBC Worldwide is returned to the BBC public service.”

Adams To Visit Museum 2

Monday, February 04, 2008, 10:00:00 PM

“Enchanted’s Amy Adams is in negotiations to star opposite Ben Stiller in 20th Century Fox’s Night at the Museum 2, Variety reported.”

“The movie kicks off when the artifacts from the Museum of Natural History are boxed up and sent to the archives at the Smithsonian in Washington. Adams will play an undetermined historical figure who has a crush on security guard Larry (Stiller).

Shawn Levy returns to helm the sequel, which has a U.S. release date of May 22, 2009. Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon wrote the screenplay, and Scott Frank penned the most recent draft.”

Variety reports: “Amy Adams visits ‘Museum 2′ Actress to costar with Ben Stiller in sequel” by Tatiana Siegel

Adams

Amy Adams is in negotiations to star opposite Ben Stiller in 20th Century Fox’s “Night at the Museum 2.”

Pic kicks off when the artifacts from the Museum of Natural History are boxed up and sent to the archives at the Smithsonian in Washington. Adams will play an undetermined historical figure who has a crush on security guard Larry (Stiller).

Shawn Levy returns to helm the sequel, which has a U.S. release date set for May 22, 2009. Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon penned the screenplay, Scott Frank the most recent draft.

Levy’s 21 Laps is producing alongside 1492 Pictures. Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe will serve as producers. Studio is eyeing a May start date in Vancouver.

Adams is onscreen in “Charlie Wilson’s War” and “Enchanted.” She stars in the indie “Sunshine Cleaning,” which bowed at the Sundance Film Festival.

Adams is repped by Endeavor”

Singularity Posits The Plural

Monday, February 04, 2008, 10:00:00 PM

“SF author Paul Melko told SCI FI Wire that his novel Singularity’s Ring postulates a future Earth in which computers and networks are not the technological basis of human society.”

“Humanity has been genetically altered to form pods–groups of two, three, four or five humans–which can share emotions and thoughts chemically,” Melko said in an interview. “These pods now govern a desolate Earth that has been vacated by the technologically advanced entity called the Community,” he said. “The main character is a quintet named Apollo, created to pilot a starship in search of what happened to the Community.”

The protagonist, Apollo, is a pod of five humans engineered to be a single entity. “He shares thoughts and emotions among the five via pheromones and chemical memories that they transfer by touching,” Melko said. “Pods are a biological network that is larger than the sum of the parts; Apollo is capable of highly intuitive thoughts and analysis when he comes together to think, or, as it’s called in the novel, to consense. To come to any decision, they reach a consensus among themselves. As you might expect, pods think slower than a single human–a singleton–but their final decisions are more logical and consistent.”

The structure mimics the makeup of the main character; each of the first five chapters is told from the point of view of one of the members of the pod. “The final chapter is told from their complete–omniscient?–point of view,” Melko said. “They can each act as an individual human, but together they are something more.”

In the book, Apollo travels from Ohio to low Earth orbit and to the Amazon and the Congo, as well as to other places. “It was fun to research each of those places and extrapolate them into a world in which humanity as we know it has all but disappeared,” Melko said. “The dominant structure of this world is the orbital ring left behind by the Community. Designing and creating that was fascinating to me; I have spreadsheets of calculations covering gravity, centripetal forces and volumes.”

Ten Sigmas and Other Unlikelihoods–Melko’s first short-story collection–will be out in March from Fairwood Press.” –John Joseph Adams

Paul DiFillipo’s Review, as noted on Paul Melko’s Blog: February 04, 2008 “Singularity’s Ring” B+

In the wake of the Exodus, a handful of remnant humans struggle to maintain and extend their gestalt civilization

“As this debut novel opens, at some indefinite point in the Earth’s future, we find the state of human affairs to be summarizable thus:

It’s no mean feat to build a five-sided hero …

The whole planet hosts only 500 million people. They constitute the baseline humans who were left behind when the other billions of their compatriots, linked into a group mind called the Community, vanished down the rabbit-hole of the Singularity, an event called the Exodus. The Community left behind the Ring—a huge artificial habitat that girdles the planet, attached by a number of equatorial space elevators—and the Rift, a kind of mysterious wormhole portal in the distant reaches of the solar system.Did I say that baseline humans—the “singletons”—were the only survivors? Not exactly. Because before the Community vanished, they created “pods.” Pods are gestalt intelligences composed of two, three, four or five people, each specializing in a certain quality of mind or body. Pods seem to be the next step in the evolution of the species, although they are delicate constructs. Although each pod member has a unique personality when alone, both the incomplete pod and the separate individual are always less than optimal under these conditions. They need to be close, to exchange rich chemical data through their special organs.Oh, and let us not forget Malcolm Leto, the last member of the Community, who was left behind in cryonic suspension when his brethren evaporated.

Our hero is a five-person pod called, collectively, Apollo Papadopulos: Meda, Moira, Quant, Strom and Manuel. They are in competitive training to captain a starship to the Rift. But once they’re in the orbital segment of their competition, things begin to go very wrong, and the pod is forced to flee for its life—into the long-uninhabited Ring itself!

And baby makes five

Despite dealing with the hot topic known as the Singularity, Paul Melko’s very nicely crafted and intelligent novel has a bit of an old-fashioned feel to it. I think this stems from two factors.

First, Melko—unlike Rudy Rucker or Charles Stross—really doesn’t deal with the most mind-boggling issues of the Singularity. He takes the quite defensible course of focusing on those “normals” left behind, on the assumption that everything on the far side of the Singularity is unintelligible to us mere mortals. So even the token spokesperson of the Nerd Rapture, Leto, is hardly onstage.

The second reason Melko’s book reads a bit old-school is his major trope: the gestalt personality. This is a venerable SF “power chord,” with, arguably, many ramifications left to explore. But for some reason it’s just not used much anymore. The Sturgeon novel More Than Human (1953) did such a landmark, seminal job of handling this concept that I think writers ever after have been a little daunted. Even Le Guin’s “Nine Lives,” which shares some atmosphere with Melko’s book, is no more recent than 1969.

Finally, there’s a vaguely Simakian feel to Melko’s milieu: The vanished majority of the human race, an uplifted species (dogs in City [1952]; bears here). … Simak is one of my all-time favorite authors, but his quiet bucolic wisdom is not the razzle-dazzle flavor of the month.

But enough of these comparisons to older works. Melko does some fine new things. He shows admirable daring in switching his narration during the first five chapters among the five different pod members. He conveys action well—although the formula of “one major crisis per chapter” gets a bit predictable. His dialogue is very believable, whether spoken or transmitted among the pod. He conjures up a weird cultural vibe a little similar to what John Crowley created in his dystopic tale “In Blue” (1989). But on the deficit side, Melko does throw away any exploration of the Ring. And Leto as villain is offstage too much.

Still, it’s no mean feat to build a five-sided hero and put “him” through some thrilling adventures, as Melko cleverly does here.

In my novel Fuzzy Dice, I postulated an alternate timeline where all humans existed as gestalt personalities consisting of 12 people in each pod. As you can imagine, cars and beds had to be pretty darn capacious! —Paul

From My Daughter’s Bookshelf – More Books for Pre-teens and Teens

Here are some books from my younger daughter’s bookshelf that are books that we bought, liking the plot and/or the author. Although many of these have not yet been read (TBR pile), they are ones that even I find interesting (which is why I bought them!). A number of them are by well known adult mystery/fantasy/science fiction authors. It’s nice to see that trend. So enjoy another batch!

Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander

Ages 9-12. “Grade 3-6-Jason has always thought that his cat Gareth could talk if he wanted to, so when Gareth speaks to him he is not surprised. On finding that Gareth does not have nine lives but does have the ability to visit nine different times and places, Jason eagerly asks to go with him. Together they travel to Ancient Egypt, Roman Britain, pre-Christian Ireland, Imperial Japan, Renaissance Italy, 16th century Peru, late 16th century Isle of Man, 17th century Germany, and America at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. In each place they help someone, often rulers having problems with corrupt or evil officials. They meet St. Patrick, help Leonardo DaVinci convince his father that he should be an artist, witness the beginning of Manx cats, learn about Incan civilization, are nearly burned as witches in Germany, and participate in the opening battle of the American Revolution. Listeners learn much about history and the position of cats in various societies along the way. Originally published in 1963, Time Cat (Puffin, pap. 1996) is an early novel by Lloyd Alexander and less successful than much of his later work. Jason is not a fully developed character, but more of a device for enabling readers/listeners to see each time period through his eyes. Both the opening and closing chapters leave many unanswered questions and seem merely a frame for getting Jason and Gareth in and out of their time travels. However, young cat fanciers and fantasy readers will enjoy the story. Ron Keith reads the story well with an expressive voice, good pacing, and emphasis. Technical quality is excellent. The episodic nature of the book lends itself to audio, and it is equally suitable for both individual and group listening. The historic overview the story provides is especially appropriate for this year when many schools and libraries are looking at the past in preparation for the millennium.” School Library Journal

Lloyd Alexander is the best-selling author of the Black Cauldron series (covered here before).

Skellig by David Almond (Whitbread Award’s 1998 Children’s Book of the Year)

Ages 9-12. “British novelist Almond makes a triumphant debut in the field of children’s literature with prose that is at once eerie, magical and poignant. Broken down into 46 succinct, eloquent chapters, the story begins in medias res with narrator Michael recounting his discovery of a mysterious stranger living in an old shed on the rundown property the boy’s family has just purchased: “He was lying there in the darkness behind the tea chests, in the dust and dirt. It was as if he’d been there forever…. I’d soon begin to see the truth about him, that there’d never been another creature like him in the world.” With that first description of Skellig, the author creates a tantalizing tension between the dank and dusty here-and-now and an aura of other-worldliness that permeates the rest of the novel. The magnetism of Skellig’s ethereal world grows markedly stronger when Michael, brushing his hand across Skellig’s back, detects what appears to be a pair of wings. Soon after Michael’s discovery in the shed, he meets his new neighbor, Mina, a home-schooled girl with a passion for William Blake’s poetry and an imagination as large as her vast knowledge of birds. Unable to take his mind off Skellig, Michael is temporarily distracted from other pressing concerns about his new surroundings, his gravely ill baby sister and his parents. Determined to nurse Skellig back to health, Michael enlists Mina’s help. Besides providing Skellig with more comfortable accommodations and nourishing food, the two children offer him companionship. In response, Skellig undergoes a remarkable metamorphosis that profoundly affects the narrator’s (and audience members’) first impression of the curious creature, and opens the way to an examination of the subtle line between life and death. The author adroitly interconnects the threads of the story, Michael’s difficult adjustment to a new neighborhood, his growing friendship with Mina, the baby’s decline, to Skellig, whose history and reason for being are open to readers’ interpretations. Although some foreshadowing suggests that Skellig has been sent to Earth on a grim mission, the dark, almost gothic tone of the story brightens dramatically as Michael’s loving, life-affirming spirit begins to work miracles. Ages 8-12.” Publishers Weekly

The Book Without Words: ATale of Medieval Magic by Avi

Ages 9-12. “Grade 5-8 At the dawning of the Middle Ages, Thorston, an old alchemist, works feverishly to create gold and to dose himself with a concoction that will enable him to live forever. The key to his success lies in a mysterious book with blank pages that can only be read by desperate, green-eyed people. Master Bashcroft, enforcer of law and order for the city, desires Thorston’s secrets for himself. Brother Wilfrid, a priest with green eyes, knows the dangers of the book and seeks to retrieve it. To this mix add Odo, a talking raven, and Sybil, a poor orphan girl whom Thorston has taken in as his servant, and you have an intriguing tale in which goodness ultimately triumphs. Avi’s compelling language creates a dreary foreboding, a grim backdrop against which the characters work out their fate. The old city always seems enshrouded in nasty fog and disgusting odors. Thorston keeps consuming part of his life-giving formula and repeatedly appears to die before resuscitating as a younger person. This, plus the fact that after each “death” Sybil and the others bury him, only to have him tromp up the basement steps covered in grime, will surely keep readers turning pages. Odo’s cleverness and cynicism make him a likable character, while Sybil’s innate goodness will endear her to readers. Clearly this is a story with a message, a true fable. Thoughtful readers will devour its absorbing plot and humorous elements, and learn a “useful truth” along the way.” School Library Journal

Crispin : The Cross of Lead by Avi (2003 Newbery Award winner)

Ages 9-12. “Set in 14th-century England, Avi’s (The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle) 50th book begins with a funeral, that of a village outcast whose past is shrouded in mystery and whose adolescent son is known only as “Asta’s son.” Mired in grief for his mother, the boy learns his given name, Crispin, from the village priest, although his presumably dead father’s identity remains obscure. The words etched on his mother’s treasured lead cross may provide some clue, but the priest is murdered before he can tell the illiterate lad what they say. Worse, Crispin is fingered for the murder by the manor steward, who declares him a “wolf’s head” wanted dead or alive, preferably dead. Crispin flees, and falls in with a traveling juggler. “I have no name,” Crispin tells Bear, whose rough manners and appearance mask a tender heart. “No home, no kin, no place in this world.” How the boy learns his true identity (he’s the bastard son of the lord of the manor) and finds his place in the world makes for a rattling fine yarn. Avi’s plot is engineered for maximum thrills, with twists, turns and treachery aplenty, but it’s the compellingly drawn relationship between Crispin and Bear that provides the heart of this story. A page turner to delight Avi’s fans, it will leave readers hoping for a sequel. Ages 8-12.” Publishers Weekly

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett

Ages 9-12. “In the classic tradition of E.L. Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, debut author Blue Balliett introduces readers to another pair of precocious kids on an artful quest full of patterns, puzzles, and the power of blue M&Ms. Eleven year old Petra and Calder may be in the same sixth grade class, but they barely know each other. It’s only after a near collision during a museum field trip that they discover their shared worship of art, their teacher Ms. Hussey, and the blue candy that doesn’t melt in your hands. Their burgeoning friendship is strengthened when a creative thief steals a valuable Vermeer painting en route to Chicago, their home town. When the thief leaves a trail of public clues via the newspaper, Petra and Calder decide to try and recover the painting themselves. But tracking down the Vermeer isn’t easy, as Calder and Petra try to figure out what a set of pentominos (mathematical puzzle pieces), a mysterious book about unexplainable phenomena and a suddenly very nervous Ms. Hussey have to do with a centuries old artwork. When the thief ups the ante by declaring that he or she may very well destroy the painting, the two friends know they have to make the pieces of the puzzle fit before it’s too late!

Already being heralded as The DaVinci Code for kids, Chasing Vermeer will have middle grade readers scrutinizing art books as they try to solve the mystery along with Calder and Petra. In an added bonus, artist Brett Helquist has also hidden a secret pentomino message in several of the book’s illustrations for readers to decode. An auspicious and wonderfully satisfying debut that will leave no young detective clueless.” Amazon Reviews

The House With a Clock In Its Walls by John Bellairs

Ages 9 -12. “Lewis always dreamed of living in an old house full of secret passageways, hidden rooms, and big marble fireplaces. And suddenly, after the death of his parents, he finds himself in just such a mansion–his Uncle Jonathan’s. When he discovers that his big friendly uncle is also a wizard, Lewis has a hard time keeping himself from jumping up and down in his seat. Unfortunately, what Lewis doesn’t bank on is the fact that the previous owner of the mansion was also a wizard–but an evil one who has placed a tick-tocking clock somewhere in the bowels of the house, marking off the minutes until the end of the world. And when Lewis accidentally awakens the dead on Halloween night, the clock only ticks louder and faster. Doomsday draws near–unless Lewis can stop the clock!

This is a deliciously chilling tale, with healthy doses of humor and compassion thrown in for good measure. Edward Gorey’s unmistakable pen and ink style (as seen in many picture books, including The Shrinking of Treehorn and Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats) perfectly complements John Bellairs’s wry, touching story of a lonely boy, his quirky uncle, and the ghost of mansions past. (Ages 9 to 12).” Amazon Reviews

The Revenge Of The Shadow King (Grey Griffins #1) by Derek Benz and J.S. Lewis

Ages 9-12. “Grade 5-8-Sixth-grader Max Sumner and his three best friends, Harley, Natalia, and Ernie, refer to themselves as the Grey Griffins. They enjoy sharing a fantasy role-play game called Round Table with elderly Iver Iverson, the proprietor of Avalon, Minnesota’s Shoppe of Antiquities. It is played with odd-shaped dice and cards that depict a variety of fantastic creatures and characters-spriggans, garden faeries, goblins, and more. Iver takes the game very seriously, and the Grey Griffins learn they must do the same once Max accidentally releases a spriggan, a shape-shifting faerie, from a magical book he finds in his grandmother’s attic. The game fades into the background as other characters from the cards start appearing around Avalon-the Black Witch Morgan LaFey, the Slayer goblin, and many others. The four friends realize that it is up to them to save the world as they learn, bit by bit, that Max is probably a descendant of King Arthur and the Knights Templar. Iver and many of the other adults in their lives are there to guide him in accepting his legacy, or, in some cases, to prevent him from doing so. Stilted dialogue and stereotypical cartoonlike characters abound as this plot-driven fantasy races to a predictable ending with plenty of room for multiple sequels. The action is gross and violent in the same way that Darren Shan’s Cirque du Freak books (Little, Brown) are, and will appeal to the same readers.” School Library Journal

Summerland by Michael Chabon

Ages 9-12. “In his debut novel for young readers, Pulitzer Prize winner Chabon (The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay) hits a high-flying home run, creating a vivid fantasy where baseball is king. Following the death of his mother, 11-year-old Ethan Feld and his father, a designer of lighter-than-air-dirigibles move to Clam Island, Wash. The island is known for its almost constant rain, save for an area on its westernmost tip called Summerland by the locals which “knew a June, July and August that were perfectly dry and sunshiny.” In Summerland, Ethan struggles to play baseball for the Ruth’s Fluff and Fold Roosters, with dismal results. But here, too, a mystical baseball scout recruits Ethan and escorts him through a gateway to a series of interconnected worlds that are home to magical creatures called ferishers and an evil, shape-changing overlord called Coyote. Ethan and two of his fellow teammates soon accept a mission to save these other worlds (plus the one they live in) from ultimate destruction at Coyote’s hand. When his father’s well-being is also threatened, Ethan’s quest becomes all the more urgent. To succeed, Ethan and his friends must find a way to beat giants, ferishers and others in a series of games where striking out truly has apocalyptic implications. Chabon unspools an elaborate yarn in a style that frequently crackles with color and surprise. He occasionally addresses readers directly, imbuing his tale with the aura of something that has been passed down through the ages. Impressively, the author takes a contemporary smalltown setting and weaves in baseball history, folklore and environmental themes, to both challenge and entertain readers. Images of the icy Winterlands and beasts like the werefox and Taffy the motherly Sasquatch recall C.S. Lewis’s Narnia and some of Philip Pullman’s creations in His Dark Materials. Devotees of the genre and of America’s pastime will find much to cheer here. All ages.” Publishers Weekly

Half-Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer

Ages Y/A “Grade 4-7-Diminutive Fletcher Moon may not be the most popular 12-year-old in his Irish town but he’s proud-maybe a little too proud-of the badge that he constantly flashes to let everyone know that he’s an online graduate of a private detective academy in Washington, DC. The other kids admit that Fletcher, aka Half Moon, has solved several tough cases at Saint Jerome’s Elementary and Middle School, so they come to him when they have a problem. But when super all-in-pink girly-girl April Devereux hires him to find a lock of a pop star’s hair that she claims was stolen by one of the Sharkeys-a family of well-known criminals-everything starts going wrong for Fletcher. His precious badge is taken, he finds a single huge footprint at every crime scene, and he’s picked up by the local police for arson when the Devereux playhouse burns down. When Fletcher goes on the run, who becomes his number-one ally? Young Red Sharkey. A typically funny Colfer offering without the mania of the Artemis Fowl series (Hyperion), the story wittily delivers the message that some people aren’t-for good or ill-who they appear to be. Kids who enjoy comic mysteries will have a great time with Half Moon, and the conclusion drops plenty of hints that this could become a series.” School Library Journal

The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer (Golden Duck Awards, Eleanor Cameron Award for Middle Grades)

Ages 9-14. “Grade 6 Up A suspenseful, cautionary science fiction tale. In a future dystopia, cities have become for-profit businesses. Orphanages are not exempt from the struggle to make money, and at the Clarissa Frayne Institute for Parentally Challenged Boys, kids are forced to endure product testing and frequently end up injured as a result. With orphans facing an average life expectancy of 15, 14-year-old Cosmo Hill knows that he is on borrowed time. Unfortunately, his escape attempt nearly proves fatal. While he’s lying there dying, a small, hairless blue creature lands on his chest and begins to feed. He is rescued by the Supernaturalists, a motley crew of young people who have dedicated their lives to destroying the Parasites, which feed on the essence of the living. Cosmo joins the group as a Spotter, someone who can actually see the creatures and thus destroy them. However, facts soon emerge that cause the Supernaturalists to question everything they believe in. Is it possible that the Parasites don’t feed off of the energy of dying people, but remove pain? Are they actually beneficial to society? The plot’s twists and turns will keep readers totally engrossed until the last page. Colfer’s futuristic world seems plausible; his characters have strengths, flaws, and histories that account for their points of view. The ending is satisfying yet open to the possibility of a sequel. For anyone who loves science fiction, or just an engrossing story, this novel is a must-read.” School Library Journal

The Boggart by Susan Cooper

Ages 9-12. “Grade 4-7– The Volnik family inherits a rundown old castle on an island off Scotland and visits their new property. After returning home, 12-year-old Emily and 10-year-old Jessup notice strange things happening. Their detective work eventually discloses the cause–a mischievous boggart has accidentally become trapped in a piece of furniture the family shipped home to Canada. Unfortunately, no adults believe them. The children claim innocence on Halloween night as pieces of furniture fly through the air and a bucket of water soaks their mother. Eventually, the boggart’s pranks begin to cause serious problems; he becomes intrigued with the power of electricity, and causes a traffic accident that lands Emily in the hospital. Finally, he learns to communicate with the children by computer, causing the message– “I want to go to my own country”–to appear in Gaelic on Jessup’s screen. When he gets trapped in a black hole in a computer space-adventure game, the youngsters devise a daring, risky, and ultimately successful plan to help the boggart return home. The novel is fleshed out with numerous, vividly realized secondary characters, including various actors at the Chervil Playhouse, where Mr. Volnik is artistic director, as well as the novel’s true villain, Dr. Stigmore, a psychiatrist and a parapsychology scholar who insists that Emily is a troubled adolescent in need of hospitalization. The intelligently thought-out clash between the ancient folkloric creature and modern science guarantees a wide audience. A lively story, compelling from first page to last, and a good bet for a read-aloud.” School Library Journal

Both Sides of Time by Caroline Cooney

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Ages Y/A. “Though narrated in the stylized, spine-tingling voice that has become a Cooney trademark, this tale of time travel and romance lacks the momentum of the author’s best work (The Face on the Milk Carton; Driver’s Ed). While her decidedly unromantic boyfriend tinkers with a car engine, Annie wanders through the soon-to-be-demolished Stratton mansion, longing for a more gracious way of life. Suddenly she “falls through” 100 years-landing in 1895 just in time to witness (albeit hazily) a murder. The first person Annie meets is Hiram “Strat” Stratton, slated to inherit both the mansion and the family fortune if he marries his plain but sweet and devoted cousin Harriett. Annie and Strat fall head over heels in love, thus reproducing in the 19th century a triangle loosely similar to the situation created by Annie’s father, who, unbeknownst to Annie’s mother, is conducting an affair with a co-worker. Along with the murder, the various affairs of the heart provide fodder for almost requisite musings on the position of women then and now. Constrained by the novel’s black-and-white approach, the truly intriguing social issues raised here never acquire real urgency. Ages 12-up.” Publishers Weekly

For All Time by Caroline Cooney

Ages Y/A. “The time-travel series that began with Both Sides of Time adds another breathlessly romantic whirl through the centuries. Experienced time-traveler and 20th-century high-schooler Annie ventures into New York City to see an exhibit of Egyptian art in which she hopes to find a photograph of Strat, her lost 19th-century love. With any luck, seeing Strat’s image will magically jolt Annie back through time. The jolting works a bit too well: instead of stopping in Strat’s era, Annie journeys all the way to ancient Egypt, where she is taken in (a la Moses in the bulrushes) by the pious yet independent-minded Renifer. Meanwhile, back in the 19th century, feisty Camilla Mateusz disguises herself as a young man and goes to work for a private detective. Assigned to hunt down Strat on behalf of his evil father, Camilla ends up in Egypt, at the dig where Strat works as a photographer. Narrated in the author’s characteristically breezily, intimate style, a series of swoopy, swoony plot twists links the various characters and time periods. Although the flap copy indicates that this installation will conclude the series, its end (featuring Annie’s nascent relationship with Strat’s great-grandnephew) certainly doesn’t rule out a sequel. Ages 12-up.” School Library Journal

This is actually the fourth book in the series, the others being Out of Time, and Both Sides of Time.

David Brin’s Out of Time: Tiger in Sky by Sheila Finch

Ages 9-12. “In the world of comets far out on the Oort Cloud, impossible for adults to teleport to in the year 2345, children can become heroes. An entire space station run by teens and children, tracking and deflecting wayward comments, is beseiged by a strange alien life form called Thogs. Though these cute little one-celled furry balls are harmless singly, they reproduce rapidly and combine to be deadly to electronics and humans. Readers will side with Jerry, 15, and Nan, 14, abducted from our time to help in this emergency unrecognized as dangerous by the children running the space station. Jerry with his scientific mind and Nan with her practical leadership must use their wits and their reasoning to draw logical conclusions, make quick decisions, judge character and think up creative solutions to combat the Thogs, with the help of a saber-tooth tiger imported from extinction, and their vast, talking computer library. I like best the line: “Thanks, Library. You’ve given me a lot to think about.” Indeed. True in all times.” Amazon Customer Review

David Brin, a well-known science fiction author, has created a framework for this Y/A series. The first volume, which we don’t have is Yanked! by Nancy Kress, and this one is followed by Game of Worlds by Roger MacBride Allen. This is one of the few true series by adult science fiction authors.

Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Ages Y/A. “In Just Ella, Margaret Peterson Haddix puts a spin on the traditional tale of the glass slippers. In her version, Ella (sans “Cinder”) finds her own way to the ball (there was no fairy godmother, despite the rumors) and wins the heart of the prince. But now she is finding that life at the palace as Prince Charming’s betrothed is not as great as she thought it was going to be. In fact, it’s downright boring for a self-reliant and active girl to do needlework all day or listen to instructions on court etiquette from the strict and cold Madame Bisset. Worst of all, Ella is beginning to suspect that Charming’s beautiful blue eyes and golden hair are attached to a head with nothing in it. Her young tutor Jed, however, talks with her about serious things that really matter. Ella finally gets up the courage to announce to Charming that she doesn’t want to go through with the wedding, but when she finds herself locked in the dungeon she realizes it’s not that easy to walk away from a politically arranged marriage. In the end, as in all good fairy tales, our heroine and hero do manage to live happily ever after–but with a twist.

Fairy tale retellings are an entrancing form of young adult fiction, as they add psychological insight and turn events around for a surprising contemporary angle. Teens who enjoy this delightful revamping of an age-old story may also enjoy Donna Jo Napoli’s Spinners and Zel or the Newbery Honor book Ella Enchanted, by Gail Levine.” Amazon Reviews

Time Stops for No Mouse (Hermux Tantamoq Adventure) by Micheel Hoeye

Ages 9-12. “It’s impossible not to like Hermux Tantamoq, the watchmaking mouse. He relaxes in a flannel shirt printed with pictures of cheeses from around the world, he has a caged pet ladybug named Terfle, he writes endearing thank-you letters to the universe each night, and he has a big heart–a heart that aches for the fearless aviatrix Ms. Linka Perflinger, who unexpectedly visits his shop requesting an emergency rush repair of her wristwatch. Little does he know that this brief rendezvous with the jaunty adventuress will change his life forever. When a week goes by without word from her, he doesn’t know whether to be worried or angry. He drafts a slightly unpleasant, then desperate, then not-too-sweet, not-too-sour letter to her and awaits her response. Nothing. Even nasty encounters with his neighbor (the horribly garish and affected cosmetics tycoon Tucka Mertslin) and pleasant interludes with his artist friend Mirrin don’t distract him from his new heart-quickening obsession.

His worst fears start to cement when a yellow-eyed, thin-lipped, sharp-tongued rat comes to his shop and says with a dreadful smile, “I’ve come for Linka Perflinger’s watch.” Hermux isn’t about to fork over his beloved’s watch without a claim check, and ends up following the rat… all the way to Linka’s house! And, what’s this? Is she being kidnapped? The plot thickens as Hermux boldly enters her apartment (what has gotten into him?) and discovers a mysterious letter from Teulabonari and an overturned spicy-smelling plant. As he says to his ladybug that night, “This is the beginning of a new career for me. Either as a detective or a jailbird. Only time will tell. If it turns out to be the latter I will be asking you for hints on decorating my cage.” Soon he begins to make a connection with these strange clues and the cosmetics mogul Tucka, who pulls him into her scheme to create eternal youth in a bottle (to be taken internally).

Suffice it to say that gentle Hermux gets in way over his head with his detective work and proceeds to have fur-raising encounters involving spies, thieves, killers, betrayal, the Fountain of Youth, snakes, calliopes, and dramatic rescue attempts. Throughout it all, however, Hermux continues to thank the world at large: “Thank you for corner grocers. For sandwiches and honey fizz. For scary news and narrow escapes and trolleys and shopping bags. Thank you for loyal pets and bold adventurers (and adventuresses).” Readers will be disarmed by Hermux’s earnest, inquisitive nature and zeal for life–and thoroughly engaged by the suspenseful action adventure. Highly recommended! (Ages 10 to adult). Amazon Reviews

Phoenix Rising by Karen Hesse

Ages 9-12. “Grade 6-9-A Vermont sheep farm seems an unlikely place to worry about radiation and its effects. However, Nyle Sumner, 13, and her grandmother are completely surrounded by the grotesque results of an accident at a nuclear-power plant. Because of the accident, Nyle’s cousin Bethany has radiation poisoning. Then Gran does the unthinkable: she takes in two fugitives who were exposed to the worst of the radiation, Miriam Trent and her son, Ezra, who is also sick with the poisoning. They stay in the back bedroom, the room marked by the death of Nyle’s mother and grandfather. Now it seems likely that it will be the place that Ezra dies too. The bleak setting of this book serves as a backdrop for the sensitive interaction among the main characters. Gran quietly acts on her principles, Nyle overcomes her own feelings to help Ezra, and her best friend, Muncie, forgives past wrongs for the sake of friendship. The characters overcome adversity, not through heroic deeds of epic proportions, but through simple acts of kindness. The message is poignant, but not overpowering. Hesse has displayed considerable skill in creating a contemporary tale of hope and love rising, like a phoenix, from destruction and despair.” School Library Journal

Kokopelli’s Flute by Will Hobbs

Ages 9-12. “Grade 5-8? This unique and compelling fantasy/adventure is set in northern New Mexico. The mood is created immediately as Tepary Jones, 13, sets out to view a total eclipse of the full moon from the ruins of a cliff dwelling near his family’s farm, but the quiet mystery of the Ancient Ones is shattered by illegal pothunters. Tep finds an eagle-bone flute they leave behind, and his adventures become complicated by a magic older than the ruins. He finds himself changing into a bushy-tailed woodrat each night, which both hinders and helps him to find the pothunters; develop drought-resistant seeds with his father; and save his mother from the hantavirus, a disease thought to be contracted from rodent droppings. Both parents are scientists and have encouraged their son to enjoy and respect nature, and to help preserve the variety of life on earth as well as the beauties of the past. They are both fully developed individuals who capture and hold readers’ interest. Even Dusty, the dog, has a rare personality. Hobbs vividly evokes the Four Corners region and blends fantasy with fact so smoothly that the resulting mix can be consumed without question. Subplots flow together naturally, and ancient stories and sensibilities become one with modern lives. Outstanding characters, plot, mood, and setting combine in this satisfying and memorable book.” School Library Journal

Indigo by Alice Hoffman

Ges 9-12. “Fans of Alice Hoffman’s first novella for children, Aquamarine, will be thrilled to discover Indigo, another watery tale that blends fantasy with reality in a surprising coming-of-age quest. Thirteen-year-old Martha and her best friends, brothers nicknamed Trout and Eel for their fishy tendencies and webbed fingers and toes, long to escape from their dull, dry town. Their ambivalent feelings about running away, though, are reinforced when a fierce storm interrupts their journey and helps them begin to answer their questions about who they are “at the deepest core”–and who they will become. Unfortunately, there’s not enough time for Hoffman to develop her characters here, and an implausibly pat denouement may leave the reader wishing the book were longer–or shorter–but the elements of friendship, loss, and hope will come through for those who take it for the parable it is. (Ages 10 to 14). Amazon Reviews

Castaways of the Flying Dutchman by Brian Jacques

Ages 9-12. “Fans of the Redwall series eager to sink their teeth into the latest adventure from Brian Jacques will be surprised to find that the cover of Castaways of the Flying Dutchman belies the contents of this fine mystery novel. A handsome young lad, sporting a billowing, ripped shirt, gazes off into the distance, while behind him a ship founders on an eerily tempestuous sea. It’s true, the first (brief) section of the book does tell the tale of a stowaway orphan on the legendary, ill-fated ship, the Flying Dutchman. And that’s as swashbuckling a story as they come. But as soon as the boy and his newly adopted dog are tossed into the sea during a ferocious storm, the book takes a sharp turn. Ben and his dog, Ned, given eternal life by a sympathetic angel, now set out to “bring confidence and sympathy, help others to change their fate.” Two centuries later, they arrive in the village of Chapelvale, which is filled with quirky, affectionate citizens, who immediately welcome the mysterious but kindhearted and brave boy and his dog. The impending destruction of their village by the blustering, bloated Obadiah Smithers, an industrial speculator, propels Ben and his new friends into a thrilling search for a solution, involving ancient Byzantine gold chalices, mysterious coded messages, and some fierce tete-a-tetes with hired bullies. Illustrator Ian Schoenherr’s intriguing line drawings at the beginning of each chapter hint at the upcoming clues to the mystery. Redwall fans be warned: you’ll find no warrior mice here. But readers will find a satisfying story that never leaves a doubt as to the ability of good to triumph over evil. (Ages 9 to 12).” School Library Journal

A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones

Ages 9-12. “Grade 6 Up. High-spirited time travel fantasy that is sure to delight its readers. When 11-year-old Vivian Smith is evacuated from London in 1939, she expects to end up in the peaceful British countryside. Instead she is kidnapped by two youthful time travellers who mistake her for the “Time Lady” and whisk her off to Time City, a richly imagined alternative world which exists in time but not in history. Time City observers, Viv learns, have reason to believe that the Time Lady, the wife of the founder of Time Citya mysterious Merlin figureis at large in history and is busily altering it, thereby endangering not only the historical world but Time City itself. If Vivian is to return to her own world and time, it will be necessary for her to help her kidnappers foil the Time Lady first. That almost nothingwhether person or incidentis precisely what it appears to be at first encounter both complicates Vivian’s task and delights readers. This ability to surprise has become a Diana Wynne Jones signature, as have her unflagging inventiveness and almost uncanny ability to create imaginary worlds of resounding reality, a capacity based in part on her attention to detail and in part on her capacity to create believable and sympathetic characters. All of these gifts are in abundant evidence in A Tale of Time City which is, accordingly, absolutely first-rate entertainment. And to her fans, this will be one of the few things about her new book which will come as no surprise!” School Library Journal

Woman in the Wall by Patrice Kindl (an ALA Best Book for Young Adults)

Ages Y/A. “Anna is more than shy. She is nearly invisible. Most of the time her mother and sisters don’t see, hear, or pay attention to her. At seven, terrified of the prospect of school, Anna retreats within their enormous Victorian house, and builds a house of her own: passageways and hidden rooms become her world. As the years go by, her family forgets she ever existed. Then a mysterious note is thrust through a crack in the wall, and Anna must decide whether or not to come out of hiding. Her life may seem like a fantasy – but there is nothing more real.” Book description

“Kindl, who brought readers an unforgettable, offbeat protaganoist in her first book, does it again in this not-quite -fantasy…How Anna finds herself and her family again is a tour de force of extraordinary drma and wicked humor.” Kirkus Reviews, pointer review

School Library Journal gave this a somewhat poor review, but it’s obvious others didn’t agree, based on the reviews and awards.

Shipwreck (Island, Book 1) by Gordon Korman

Ages 9-12. “Being on a sailboat in the warm waters of the Pacific with a bunch of kids the same age could sound like a vacation dream come true. However, when this month-long trip is part of a strict program called Charting a New Course, and each participant–or inmate–is there for disciplinary problems, things don’t look quite as rosy. And then, of course, when a big storm strikes, and the captain and first mate disappear, and the boat seems to be sinking… the whole idea becomes less and less appealing. Still, for Luke, Will, Lyssa, J.J., Ian, and Charla, this is the way the cards have been dealt, and whatever problems they may have with each other, however much they don’t want to be there, it’s time to start working together to save their own lives.

The first book of Gordon Korman’s exciting new trilogy introduces readers to the six troubled kids who will become unwitting partners in their desperate bid for survival. A steely captain and a gruff first mate who calls every boy “Archie” and every girl “Veronica” keep order and attempt to turn their charges into young sailors–an effort that may pay off more than any of them ever anticipate. A hint of menace permeates Shipwreck, along with humor, angst, and mystery. Readers won’t want to miss the continuation of the riveting saga in books 2 and 3, Survival and Escape. (Ages 9 to 13).” Amazon Reviews

The Capture (Guardians of Ga’Hoole, Book 1) by Kathryn Lasky

Ages 9-12. “Grade 4-8-At the beginning of this new series, a young Barn Owl named Soren lives peacefully with his family, participating in rituals like the First Meat ceremony, and enjoying legends about the Guardians of Ga’Hoole, knightly owls “who would rise each night into the blackness and perform noble deeds.” After he falls from his nest, his idyllic world transforms into one of confusion and danger, as he is captured by evil chick-snatching owls and taken to the St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls. Soren and his new friend Gylfie work to develop strategies for withstanding “moon blinking” (brainwashing), while secretly striving to learn how to fly. The legends of Ga’Hoole help them to survive, and they are able to escape to find their families and warn the world about the dangers of St. Aegolius. While the owls have human characteristics, such as Soren’s determination and Gylfie’s creative ideas, their actions and culture reflect Lasky’s research into owl behaviors and species. The story’s fast pace, menacing bad guys, and flashes of humor make this a good choice for reluctant readers, while the underlying message about the power of legends provides a unifying element and gives strong appeal for fantasy fans.” Amazon Reviews

Gifts (Annals of the Western Shore) by Ursula K. LeGuin

Ages Y/A. “Gifts, in the context of Le Guin’s newest novel, inspire fear more often than gratitude. But this book is a gift in the purest sense, as the renowned fantasist’s admirers have waited 14 years since the release of Tehanu (1990) for another full-length young adult novel. Providing an intriguing counterpoint to the epic third-person voice of Le Guin’s Earthsea novels, this quieter, more intimate tale is narrated by its central character, Orrec. Born into a feud-riven community where the balance of power depends on inherited, extrasensory “gifts,” Orrec’s gift of Unmaking (which is wielded at a glance and is as fearsome as it sounds) manifests late and strangely, forcing him to don a blindfold to protect those he loves from his dire abilities. The blindfold becomes a source of escalating tension between Orrec and his stern father, and its eventual removal serves as a powerful metaphor for the transition from dependent youngster to self-possessed, questioning young adult. Although intriguing as a coming-of-age allegory, Orrec’s story is also rich in the earthy magic and intelligent plot twists that made the Earthsea novels classics. One would expect nothing less from the author whose contributions to literature have earned her a World Fantasy Award, a Nebula Award, and, most recently, a Margaret Edwards Award for lifetime achievement.” Booklist starred review

LeGuin is one of the top fantasy writers in the genre and it is nice to see a quality book, not a throw-away for teens, come from her pen. One could only wish there were more who followed her example.

The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine

Ages 9-12. “After stealing the hearts of middle-grade girls with her delightful Newbery Honor-winning Cinderella retelling, Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine here creates a fairy tale of her own and gives it a characteristic grrrl-power twist. Twelve-year-old Addie admires her older sister Meryl, who aspires to rid the kingdom of Bamarre of gryphons, specters, and ogres. Addie, on the other hand, is fearful even of spiders and depends on Meryl for courage and protection. Waving her sword Bloodbiter, the older girl declaims in the garden from the heroic epic of Drualt to a thrilled audience of Addie, their governess, and the young sorcerer Rhys. But when Meryl falls ill with the dreaded Gray Death, Addie must gather her courage and set off alone on a quest to find the cure and save her beloved sister. Addie takes the seven-league boots and magic spyglass left to her by her mother and the enchanted tablecloth and cloak given to her by Rhys–along with a shy declaration of his love. She prevails in encounters with tricky specters (spiders too) and outwits a wickedly personable dragon in adventures touched with romance and a bittersweet ending. Young fans of princess stories will gobble this one up. (Ages 10 to 14).” Amazon Reviews

The Merchant of Death (Pendragon Series #1) by D.J. MacHale

Ages 10 and UP. “In Pendragon: The Merchant of Death, D.J. MacHale, the creator of several popular television series and Afterschool Specials, transplants the Pendragon name from Arthurian legend to modern-day junior high school. Fourteen- year-old Bobby Pendragon has it all; he’s smart, popular, and a star basketball player in quiet Stony Brook, Connecticut. But a visit from Uncle Press soon topples all of that as Bobby learns that he is a Traveler, someone who can ride “flumes” through time and space. Bobby lands in Denduron, a medieval world where the gentle Milago are enslaved by the Bedoowan, and it’s Bobby’s job to free them. He reluctantly teams up with Loor–a girl his age from the warrior-territory of Zadaa–and other Travelers, recounting his adventures in journals that are magically transported back to his friends Mark and Courtney in Stony Brook. These first-person journals at times feel contrived–they’re riddled with terms like “coolio” and “bizarro” and gnarly descriptions of vile sights and smells–but the book’s thumping story soon scrubs away all such concern. The Merchant of Death keeps the pages flipping with steady action and near-constant mortal peril for its heroes, promising that both this and future volumes in the Pendragon series should be eagerly devoured. (Ages 10 and older). Amazon Reviews

Cut by Patricia McCormick

Ages Y/A. “Burdened with the pressure of believing she is responsible for her brother’s illness, 15-year-old Callie begins a course of self-destruction that leads to her being admitted to Sea Pines, a psychiatric hospital the “guests” refer to as Sick Minds. Although initially she refuses to speak, her individual and group therapy sessions trigger memories and insights. Slowly, she begins emerging from her miserable silence, ultimately understanding the role her dysfunctional family played in her brother’s health crisis.

Patricia McCormick’s first novel is authentic and deeply moving. Callie suffers from a less familiar teen problem–she cuts herself to relieve her inner frustrations and guilt. The hope and hard-won progress that comes at the conclusion of the novel is believable and heartening for any teen reader who feels alone in her (or his) angst. Along with Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak and E.L. Konigsburg’s Silent to the Bone, McCormick’s Cut expertly tackles an unusual response to harrowing adolescent trouble. (Ages 14 and older).” Amazon Reviews

Saffy’s Angel by Hilary McKay

Ages 9-12. “McKay’s (The Exiles; Dog Friday) sparkling novel once again introduces an eccentric, entirely engaging British family whose members readers will immediately embrace. The Casson parents, both artists delightfully distracted Eve paints in her backyard shed and comically distant Bill spends weekdays painting in his London studio named their children from a paint color chart: Caddy (for Cadmium), Indigo and Rose. All but Saffron, “so fierce and alone,” who learns at the start of the story that she is actually the Italian-born daughter of Eve’s twin sister, who died in a car crash when Saffy was three. Eve explains that Grandfather had been visiting Saffy and Saffy’s mother in Siena at the time of the accident, and delivered the girl to the Cassons, who adopted her. Now elderly and catatonic after two heart attacks, beloved Grandfather sits in silence when he visits the family, as the children hover around him, endearingly sharing news of their lives. When Grandfather dies, “They felt as if they had lost a battle they might have won if only they had tried a bit harder.”The man leaves something to each of the children: Caddy receives his crumbling cottage on a cliff in Wales; Indigo his aged Bentley (which Bill dismisses as an “absolute wreck”); Rose his remaining cash (L144). Attached to the will by a rusty pin is a note scrawled in a shaky hand, “For Saffron. Her angel in the garden. The stone angel.” As McKay shapes an intriguing plot around Saffy’s angel, the Cassons’ capricious capers and understated, droll dialogue will keep readers chuckling. Especially entertaining subplots include: reckless Caddy’s driving lessons with her patient instructor (who fabricates a girlfriend to keep his flirtatious student in check), aspiring polar explorer Indigo’s sessions sitting on his bedroom windowsill, hoping to cure his vertigo, and Rose’s efforts to create works of art using such unlikely materials as “the entire contents of the refrigerator” and the pound coins that constitute her inheritance. An unlikely friendship with Sarah (“the wheelchair girl”), a neighbor, brings out another side of Saffy as the two attempt to find her angel in Siena, and Saffy makes all kinds of discoveries, including her love for the Cassons. The author blends a generous heaping of humor and joy with a dose of pain in a memorable portrait of a vastly human family.The only disappointment for readers may be that McKay’s affecting conclusion arrives too soon. They’ll close this book hoping for the Casson clan’s swift return. Ages 8-12.” Publishers Weekly

Standing Up to Mr. O. by Claudia Mills

Ages 9-12. “Grade 5-7-Seventh-grader Maggie McIntosh is a good student and loves biology class. She especially loves the teacher, Mr. O’Neill. She feels she can talk to Mr. O. about anything, except her reluctance to do dissections in class. The other kids don’t seem to mind killing worms, but Maggie feels it is wrong. When she takes a stand and refuses to do the dissection, Jake, a good-looking troublemaker, is her only ally. Later, her lab partner stands by her when he feels that her anti-dissection essay should have won a prize and Mr. O. was one of the judges. Maggie’s inner struggle is well drawn as she attempts to articulate her beliefs and what she is willing to fight for. Her pain in disappointing, and possibly alienating, her favorite teacher is believable. Her arguments with her friends provide other viewpoints in a natural way without any didacticism. The tension is maintained until Maggie and Jake are caught “rescuing” the frogs that are next to undergo dissection. Maggie’s fight to follow her conscience will hold readers, and her growth as a person will be applauded even when she makes mistakes. Her interest in Jake forces Maggie to make other decisions, all of which help her define her beliefs. A thought-provoking book.” School Library Journal

War Horse by Micahel Morpurgo

Like Morpurgo’s Private Peaceful (2004), this searing World War I novel reveals the unspeakable slaughter of soldiers on all sides fighting against people who are just like them. The story is told by an English farm horse, Joey, and, as in Cynthia Kadahota’s Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam (2007), the first-person narrative blends the animal’s physical experience with what men say. On the farm, Joey has close ties to Albert, who is too young to join up when his dad first sells Joey to the army. Charging into battle under machine-gun fire, Joey is captured by the Germans, who train him to haul ambulances and guns. His reunion with Albert in battle is sentimental and contrived, but the viewpoint brings close the fury of the thundering guns, the confusion, and the kindness of enemies who come together in No Man’s Land to save the wounded horse. Joey’s ability to understand the language wherever he is–England, France, Germany–reinforces the novel’s antiwar message, and the terse details speak eloquently about peace.” School Library Journal

This book my youngest daughter, who loves animals, stopped half-way through. She was devastated by the picture of war and the horse that was painted. I eventually talked her into finishing it, on the grounds that she needed to due the horse justice, and she did. It turned out she loved it, although she still finds it sad – even though the ending turned out fine. We have an old battered paperback. It’s nice to see that there is a new hardcover edition – it deserves it!

Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli

Ages 12 and up. “Donna Jo Napoli thoughtfully and poetically reexamined the story of Hansel and Gretel from the witch’s point of view in The Magic Circle. Here, she retells the Greek myth of the Sirens, whose sweet, beckoning singing caused countless shipwrecks. But did the Sirens (who Napoli imagines as mermaids) really mean for the sailors to perish? Or were these sultry singers cursed themselves? In Napoli’s tale, because they are half-human, the 10 Sirens are doomed to lead short mortal lives–unless they can convince men to become their mates. But after witnessing a shipwreck in which the survivors kill one of her sisters, 17-year-old Sirena decides she would rather lose her chance at eternal life than trick a human into loving her. She vows to live alone on “an island where the first rays of sun bring sight to blind eyes…. I am going there to find new sight. I will wipe from my brain the sights I have seen and start over.” Little does she know that due to a jealous goddess, a sea-serpent bite, and a dead hero, a man will come to her island and love her for herself, not just her song. Sirena is the perfect teenage heroine–questioning authority and falling in love no matter what the consequences. In creating this beautiful story, Napoli brings mythology alive for today’s young adults. (Ages 12 to 15). Amazon Reviews

The Deadly Curse of Toco-Rey (The Cooper Kids Adventure Series #6) by Frank Peretti

Ages 9-12. “Lila and Jay Cooper have joined their dad on a mission to the jungles of Central America, where a group of American treasure hunters have already become the victims of the deadly curse of Toco-Rey. Before Dr. Cooper can solve the mystery, his children are kidnapped and his integrity is put to the test. What price will he pay to get his children back? Is the treasure in the burial tomb of Kachi-Tochetin really worth more than gold? Follow the Coopers as they explore unknown ruins, plunge through dangerous jungles, face hostile natives, and battle ancient evil forces. Will their courage and faith in God bring th