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Animal Fantasy Epic Fantasy
Breen, M.E. Barron, T.A. Darkwood The Lost Years of Merlin A clever and fearless orphan A young boy who has no identity endures increasing danger or memory of his past washes while trying to escape from ashore on the coast of Wales and greedy, lawless men and finds his true name after a series elude the terrifying of fantastic adventures. "kinderstalks"--animals who steal children-- before discovering her true destiny. (Summary Le Guin, Ursula from Follett Destiny, October 2009) The Wizard of Earthsea Sorcerer’s apprentice Clement-Davies, David Sparrowhawk unwittingly Fire Bringer unleashes evil on the land. He This animal epic follows the grows to manhood while fawn Rannoch and his friends attempting to subdue the evil he through many years on the run unleashed on the world. (Summary from from their herd’s harsh NoveList online fiction guide, March 2003.) dictator. Although the animals think and speak, they otherwise have the Tolkien, J.R.R. characteristics of wild deer. Rannoch’s trials The Lord of the Rings are monumental; his character is complex; and A three-part epic depicting the his enemies are truly vile. Set in Scotland Great War of the Ring, a during the thirteenth century, the novel refers struggle between good and evil to some historical events that deepen the in Middle Earth, in which tiny story. Hobbits, elves, dwarves and wizards play key roles. The books are Jacques, Brian Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and Redwall Return of the King. (Summary from NoveList When the peaceful life of online fiction guide, March 2003.) ancient Redwall Abbey is shattered by the arrival of the Fairy Tales, Folktale and evil rat Cluny and his villainous hordes, young Princesses mouse Matthias determines to find the legendary sword of Martin the Warrior Cabot, Meg which—he is convinced—will help Redwall’s The Princess Diaries inhabitants destroy the enemy. The Mia is a typical combat-boot- adventures continue in numerous books of wearing, animal-rights-loving, the series. (Summary from NoveList online algebra-failing New York teen fiction guide, March 2003.) until her absentee father reveals she’s the heir to the throne of a small European principality. Media exposure,
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 1
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princess lessons from Grandmere and the ball is over. Feminist Ella, who managed attention from dreamy senior Josh follow. without any fairy godmother, finds palace protocol boring and trophy wifedom Ferris, Jean insulting—so she escapes and finds fulfillment Once Upon a Marigold doctoring suitably bathetic war refugees Christian ran away from home alongside Jed, her nobleman love interest. at six and has happily lived in the forest for eleven years. The girl next door happens to be a Hale, Shannon princess, and the two teens, kept apart by Book of a Thousand Days circumstance, correspond by carrier pigeon Fifteen-year-old Dashti, sworn ("p-mail"). The lighthearted tale maintains the to obey her sixteen-year-old right balance of humor and sentimentality as mistress, the Lady Saren, shares the characters finally meet and discover their Saren's years of punishment love is real. Forbidden love, secret identities, locked in a tower, then brings her safely to the and a happy ending--what more could you lands of her true love, where both must hide ask? who they are as they work as kitchen maids. A reimagined, little-known classic fairy tale from Gaiman, Neil the Brothers Grimm, reset on the central Anansi Boys Asian steppes. (Summary from Hennepin Charlie's dad wasn't just any County, Sept. 2008) dad. He was Anansi, a trickster god, the spirit of rebellion able to overturn the social order, Hale, Shannon create wealth out of thin air, and baffle the Enna Burning devil. When he dies on a karaoke stage, things Enna hopes that her new get very interesting for Charlie. (Summary knowledge of how to wield fire from Hennepin County Library at hclib.org, will help protect her good friend 2007) Isi--the Princess Anidori--and all of Bayern against their enemies, but the need George, Jessica Day to burn is uncontrollable and puts Enna and Princess of the Midnight Ball her loved ones in grave danger. (Summary A retelling of the tale of twelve from Follett Destiny, November 2009). princesses who wear out their shoes dancing every night, and of Hale, Shannon Galen, a former soldier now Goose Girl working in the king's gardens, who follows On her way to marry a prince them in hopes of breaking the curse. she's never met, Princess (Summary from Follett Destiny, November Anidori is betrayed by her 2009) guards and her lady-in- waiting and must become a goose girl to Haddix, Margaret Peterson survive until she can reveal her true identity Just Ella and reclaim the crown that is rightfully hers. Combining modern sarcasm with (Summary from Hennepin County Library, stilted medievalism, Just Ella Sept. 2008) picks up the Cinderella tale after
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 2
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Hanley, Victoria Levine, Gail Carson Healers Keep Ella Enchanted When the Healer's Keep is Cursed at birth with the gift of attacked by dark forces, obedience by an irresponsible Princess Sara and the foreigner fairy, Ella is powerless to resist Dorjan join forces with the the commands of others. slave girl Maeve and freeman Expert characterization and Jasper to defend it. (Summary original ideas enliven this from Hennepin County Library, Oct. 2004) novelization of Cinderella. Built around the traditional elements of the fairy tale and at times limited by those restraints, the retelling boasts an admirable heroine who Hanley, Victoria discovers her inner strength by combating her The Seer and the Sword greatest weakness. The fates of Princess Torina of Archeld and Landen, a former Levine, Gail Carson prince of a conquered country The Two Princesses who was brought to Archeld as a of Bamarre captive, are tightly entwined. When a Courageous Princess Meryl murderous despot seizes the throne, Torina contracts the disease that plagues and Landen flee the country separately and Bamarre, and it is known that each becomes a trusted adviser to the high courage demonstrated by a king. former coward could extinguish the epidemic. Her timid sister Hoffman, Alice Addie arms herself with her sister’s sword and Foretelling sets out to find the cure. Rain, the product of a rape and shunned by her distant queen Levine, Gail Carson mother, struggles to find her The Wish identity and prove herself in a Wilma Sturtz endures most of world where an Amazonian band the eighth grade as of horsewomen warriors fight to defend their “unpopular,” but a few weeks territory and sovereignty. Rain is a gifted before graduation she does a warrior herself, but begins to question her good deed and is granted her tribe's combative, man-hating traditions and wish to be the most popular kid unlike the rest of her army, she does not find at school. Author Levine convincingly any pleasure in watching her enemies die. captures Wilma’s adolescent distress between Haunted by a dream of a black horse, which is wanting her friends to like her for her and a common symbol of deal, Rain fears that her never wanting the spell to end. people will someday rise against her. After her mother dies giving birth to her second child, Marillier, Juliet Rain is forced to determine the future of her Daughter of the Forest community and her own. To reclaim the lives of her brothers, Sorcha leaves the only safe place she has known
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 3
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and starts on a journey of pain, loss and Napoli, Donna Jo terror. Beast Elaborates on the tale of Beauty McKinley, Robin and the Beast told from the point Beauty of view of the beast and set in Kind Beauty grows to love Beast Persia. (Summary from NoveList at whose castle she is compelled online fiction guide, March 2003.) to stay and through her love releases him from the spell that Napoli, Donna Jo had turned him from a Zel handsome prince into an ugly beast. (Summary The girl in the tower, the witch from NoveList online fiction guide, March 2003.) and the prince tell this re- visioning of Rapunzel in turns. McKinley, Robin This book transforms myth Rose Daughter without flippancy, honoring Nearly 20 years after the the power of its roots. publication of Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty Nielsen, Jennifer and the Beast, McKinley has— The False Prince quizzically—produced In the country of Carthya, a another full-length novel retelling the same devious nobleman engages four tale. orphans in a brutal competition to be selected to impersonate the Meyer, Carolyn king's long-missing son in an effort to avoid a Mary, Bloody Mary civil war. (Summary from Destiny Follett, An engaging account of the January, 2013). childhood of Mary Tudor, King Henry VIII’s oldest daughter, Pullman, Philip childhood and early adulthood. The Tin Princess Long before she ascends the High melodrama and throne, Mary is dismayed by the way Henry adventure greet Becky discards her mother after failing to produce a Winter, companion to the male heir. new queen of Razkavia—a beautiful London commoner. Murdock, Catherine Gilbert Pullman’s invented kingdom, wanted by both Princess Ben Austria and Germany for its natural resources, A girl is transformed, through is the center of international conflict with instruction in life at court, plots and counterplots. determination, and magic, from sullen, pudgy, graceless Ben into Rhodes, Morgan Crown Princess Benevolence, a fit ruler of the Falling Kingdoms kindgom of Montagne as it faces war with When the peace between the neighboring Drachensbett. (Hennepin kingdoms of Mytica is threatened County, 2009) by power-hungry rulers, four people become trapped in a web of fate that will decide the course of their
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 4
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kingdoms' futures. (Summary from Destiny Wilson, N.D. Follett, September 2013). 100 Cupboards After his parents are kidnapped, Smith, Linda timid twelve-year-old Henry The Broken Thread York leaves his sheltered Boston Fifteen-year-old Alina travels to life and moves to small-town the Isle of Weaving, where Kansas, where he and his cousin Henrietta women work on a legendary discover and explore hidden doors in his attic tapestry that details the fate of room that seem to open onto other worlds. the world, but a mishap with the tapestry (Summary from Hennepin County, Sept. causes Alina to be sent to distant Kazia, and 2008) she becomes the caretaker of a child she knows will one day bring death to thousands. Quests Summary from Follett Destiny, November 2009). Alexander, Lloyd The Book of Three Other Worlds The first volume of the author’s Prydain cycle that tells the Colfer, Eoin valorous and humorous tales of Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Taran, the assistant pig-keeper, Incident who determines to save the Holly Short and Artemis Fowl kingdom from evil. The following books are find themselves uneasily on the The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran same side as they deflect a palace Wanderer and The High King. coup in the Lower Eleme nts. Up above, they try to rescue Artemis’ father from kidnappers. Alexander, Lloyd The Jedera Adventure Landy, Derek The further adventures of Skulduggery Pleasant Vesper Holly and her faithful When twelve-year-old guardian Brinny as they travel to Stephanie inherits her weird the remote country of Jedera uncle's estate, she must join where they brave many dangers forces with Skulduggery trying to return a valuable book borrowed by Pleasant, a skeleton mage, to save the world Vesper’s father many years ago. (Summary from from the Faceless Ones. (Follett, 2009) NoveList online fiction guide, March 2003.)
Shusterman, Neal Avi Downsiders Midnight Magic Beneath the city of New York, When Princess Teresina claims to an underground culture thrives. have seen the ghost of her Talon, a teenage Downsider, murdered brother in the hallway journeys to the Topside seeking of her medieval Italian castle, the medicine for his ill sister. There royal family summons a retired magician to he meets Manhattan newcomer Lindsay, an solve the mystery. Fabrizio, the magician’s event that causes the two worlds to collide. servant boy, befriends the young princess and eventually sees the ghost himself.
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 5
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with mind-altering abilities. (Summary from Beddor, Frank Destiny Follett, January 2013) The Looking Glass Wars When she is cast out of Cashore, Kristin Wonderland by her evil aunt Fire Redd, young Alyss Heart finds In a kingdom called the Dells, herself living in Victorian Fire is the last human-shaped Oxford as Alice Liddell and monster, with unimaginable struggles to keep memories of her kingdom beauty and the ability to control intact until she can return and claim her the minds of those around her, rightful throne. (Summary from Hennepin but even with these gifts she cannot escape County Library, January 2008) the strife that overcomes her world. (Summary from Destiny Follett, November Bouman, H.M. 2010). The Remarkable and Very True Story of Lucy & Snowcap Cashore, Kristin In 1788, thirteen years after Graceling English convicts In a world where some people are are shipwrecked on the magical born with extreme and often- islands of Tathenland, two twelve-year-old feared skills called Graces, Katsa girls, one a native Colay, the other the child- struggles for redemption from her governor of the English, set out on a journey own horrifying Grace of killing and teams up to stop the treachery from which both with another young fighter to save their land peoples are suffering. (Summary from Destiny from a corrupt king. (Summary from Destiny Follett, November 2009). Follett, November 2009)
Calhoun, Dia Crossley-Holland, Kevin Aria of the Sea The Seeing Stone When commoner Cerinthe Merlin tells the thirteen-year- gains admittance to the School old narrator, “Once, there was of the Royal Dancers, she a king with your name. . . And thinks her dream has come he will be.” The Seeing Stone true. A rivalry with another dancer causes that Merlin gives this new tension, which is amplified by Cerinthe’s Arthur enables him to relive incidents leading deep-rooted fear of using her gift for healing. to King Arthur’s drawing sword from stone.
Cashore, Kristin DiCamillo, Kate Bitterblue The Magician’s Elephant Eighteen-year-old Bitterblue, When ten-year-old orphan Peter queen of Monsea, realizes her Augustus Duchene encounters a heavy responsibility and the fortune teller in the marketplace futility of relying on advisors one day who tells him that his who surround her with lies as she tries to help sister, who is presumed dead, is in fact alive, her people to heal from the thirty-five-year he embarks on a remarkable series of spell cast by her father, a violent psychopath adventures in an attempt to find her.
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(Summary from Follett Destiny, November Kittredge, Caitlin 2009). The Iron Thorn In an alternate 1950s, DuPrau, Jeanne mechanically gifted fifteen-year- The City of Ember old Aoife Grayson, whose family In the year 241, twelve-year-old has a history of going mad at Lina trades jobs on Assignment sixteen, must leave the totalitarian city of Day to be a Messenger to run to Lovecraft and venture into the world of magic new places in her decaying but to solve the mystery of her brother's beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse disappearance and the mysteries surrounding Unknown Regions. (Summary from Hennepin her father and the Land of Thorn. (Summary Co. Library, December 2004.) from Follett Destiny, October 2011).
Fisher, Catherine LaFevers, Robin Incarceron Grave Mercy To free herself from an After escaping from a loveless upcoming arranged marriage, and brutal marriage, young Ismae Claudia, the daughter of the finds sanctuary at a convent Warden of Incarceron, a where the sisters still served the futuristic prison with a mind of its own, ancient gods. She discovers that in order to decides to help a young prisoner escape. stay at the convent she must become an (Summary from Follett Destiny, November assassin and serve the god of Death. Her first 2010). assignment is in the high court of Brittany
Funke, Cornelia Caroline where she is to pose as mistress to Gavriel The Thief Lord Duval, the target of Death's vengeance. But Two brothers, having run away having fallen in love with Gavriel, she is from the aunt who plans to unwilling to complete her mission. (Summary adopt the younger one, are from Follett Destiny, January 2013). sought by a detective hired by their aunt, but they have found shelter with -- La Fevers, Robin and the protection of -- Venice's "Thief Dark Triumph Lord." Sybella's duty as Death's assassin in fifteenth- Hartman, Rachel century France forces her return Serphina home to the personal hell that In a world where dragons and she had finally escaped. Love and romance, humans coexist in an uneasy history and magic, vengeance and salvation truce and dragons can assume converge in this sequel to Grave Mercy. human form, Seraphina, whose (Summary from Follett Destiny, October, mother died giving birth to her, grapples with 2013). her own identity amid magical secrets and royal scandals, while she struggles to accept Levine, Gail Carson and develop her extraordinary musical talents. Ever (Summary from Follett Destiny, January Fourteen-year-old Kezi and 2013). Olus, Akkan god of the winds, fall in love and
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 7
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together try to change her fate--to be differences, each human has a daemon—an sacrificed to a Hyte god because of a rash animal familiar with whom one’s life and promise her father made--through a series of destiny are entwined. Lyra and her daemon, quests that might make her immortal. Pantalaimon, have a great destiny in this (Summary from Hennepin County, Sept. sweeping, suspenseful fantasy novel, the first 2008) in a trilogy.
Maas, Sarah Springer, Nancy Throne of Glass Outlaw Princess of After she has served a year of Sherwood Forest, Rowan hard labor in the salt mines of Hood Endovier for her crimes, After her mother’s death, Crown Prince Dorian offers thirteen-year-old Rowan eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien ventures into the forest to search for the her freedom on the condition that she act as father she has never met, who just happens to his champion in a competition to find a new be Robin Hood. Accompanied by a wolf-like royal assassin. (Summary from Follett dog, the girl learns to depend upon her own Destiny, January 2013). abilities and soon has her own band of loyal followers. Meloy, Maile The Apothecary Stephens, John Fourteen-year-old Janie Scott, The Emerald Atlas newly arrived in London from Kate, Michael, and Emma have Los Angeles in 1952, becomes passed from one orphanage to friends with a mysterious another in the ten years since apothecary and his son, Benjamin Burrows, their parents disappeared to and is drawn into a dangerous adventure with protect them, but now they learn that they Benjamin when his father is kidnapped and have special powers--and a fearsome enemy-- Russian spies try to steal his book of secrets. and embark on a prophesied quest to find a (Summary from Hennepin County Library, magical book. (Summary from Follett March 2012). Destiny, November 2011)
Pierce, Tamora Tolkien, J.R.R. Alanna: The First The Hobbit Adventure Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, Eleven-year-old Alanna, who well-to-do hobbit, lives aspires to be a knight even comfortably in his hobbit- though she is a girl, disguises hole until the day the herself as a boy to become a wandering wizard Gandalf royal page, and learns many hard lessons chooses him to take part in an adventure from along her path to high adventure. which he may never return. (Summary from NoveList online fiction guide, March 2003.) Pullman, Philip The Golden Compass In Lyra’s world, similar to our own but with some important
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 8
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Werlin, Nancy Impossible When seventeen-year-old Lucy discovers her family is under an ancient curse by an evil Elfin Tomlinson, Theresa Knight, she realizes that she must The Forestwife perform three impossible tasks before her A creative retelling of the Robin daughter is born to break the curse and to Hood story focuses on the life save them both. (Follett, 2009) and deeds of Marian, who retreats to the forest to escape an Whitley, David unwanted betrothal and finds Midnight Charter fulfillment in helping the poor people of the In the city of Agora, where woods. She learns the art of healing from her everything can be bought and old nurse, Agnes and gradually falls in love sold, two children stumble upon with Agnes’ outlaw son. the mysterious and dangerous Midnight Charter and play their unique part in Tomlinson, Theresa their society's future as they learn who they Child of the May can trust. (Summary from Follett Destiny, This sequel to The Forestwife is a November 2010). coming-of-age story about motherless Magda, who was brought to the Forestwife’s Supernatural clearing as a baby. At fifteen, Magda longs to seek adventure. Her wish is fulfilled when a Bray, Libba crisis draws the band of outlaws to Rebel Angels Nottingham Castle and her father takes her Gemma Doyle returns in the along. fast-paced sequel to A Great and Terrible Beauty. Rather than Voight, Cynthia focusing on the normal Elske Christmas traditions, Gemma's time is spent In this last book in the on her father, and dealing with nightmares of Kingdom Series, which began her dead friend, Pippa. On top of it all, she's with Jackaroo, Elske has supposed to find a temple that will bind the escaped her fate as the Death magic that she let loose in the previous book Maiden and joins a new and the only one who might know how to community serving Beriel, the would-be find it speaks in riddles. (Summary from Queen of the Kingdom. The two women are Mackin.com, 2006) foils for each other, which enhances both portrayals. For the sophisticated reader, the Bray, Libba book will be a challenging and thoughtful A Sweet Far Thing experience. At Spence Academy, sixteen- year-old Gemma Doyle continues preparing for her London debut while struggling to determine how best to use magic to resolve
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 9
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a power struggle in the enchanted world of the realms, and to protect her own world and Coville, Bruce loved ones. (Summary from Hennepin The Skull of Truth After stealing a skull from a County, Sept. 2008) magic shop, habitual liar Charlie
Brewer, Heather discovers that it compels honesty The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eight of its owner. Working through Grade Bites issues such as his uncle’s For thirteen years, Vlad, aided by homosexuality, a friend’s cancer and a his aunt and best friend, has kept looming but unknowable menace, Charlie secret that he is half-vampire, but realizes how complicated honesty is.
when his missing teacher is Duncan, Lois replaced by a sinister substitute, The Third Eye he learns that there is more to being a High school senior Karen, who vampire, and to his parents' deaths, than he worries that her psychic powers could have guessed. (Summary from will make her seem different Hennepin County, Sept. 2008) from other people, is frightened at first when a Casanova, Mary young policeman asks her to use her gift to Curse of a Winter Moon help the police locate missing children. In 16th-century France, ruled by a church that overtaxes peasants Gaiman, Neil and burns heretics, Marius must The Graveyard Book postpone his apprenticeship to The orphan Bod, short for care for his six-year-old brother, Nobody, is taken in by the whose birth took their mother’s life and who inhabitants of a graveyard as a the villagers, backed by the Church, believe child of eighteen months and will become a loup garou—a werewolf. raised lovingly and carefully to the age of (Summary from NoveList online fiction guide, March eighteen years by the community of ghosts 2003.) and otherworldly creatures. (Follett, 2009)
Clare, Cassandra Hahn, Mary Downing Clockwork Angel Wait Till Helen Comes Sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray Molly and Michael dislike their travels to England in search of spooky new stepsister Heather her brother only to be but realize they must try to save abducted by the Dark Sisters, her when she seems ready to residents of London's Downworld, home to follow a ghost child to her doom. (Summary the city's supernatural folk, and she becomes from NoveList online fiction guide, March 2003.) the object of much attention--both good and bad--when it is discovered she has the power to transform at will into another person. Johnson, Maureen (Summary from Follett Destiny, April 2012). The Name of the Star Rory, of Boueuxlieu, Louisiana, is spending a year at a London boarding school when she
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 10
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witnesses a murder by a Jack the Ripper Leavitt, Martine copycat and becomes involved with the very Keturah and Lord Death unusual investigation. (Summary from Follett When Lord Death comes to Destiny, 2012). claim sixteen-year-old Keturah while she is lost in the King's Johnson, Maureen Forest, she charms him with The Madness her story and is granted a twenty-four hour Underneath reprieve in which to seek her one true love. After her near-fatal run-in with (Summary from Hennepin County, Sept. the Jack the Ripper copycat, Rory 2008) Devereaux is back in London to help solve a new string of inexplicable deaths Nickerson, Jane plaguing the city. (Summary from Follett Strands of Bronze Destiny, October 2013). and Gold After the death of her father in Klause, Annette Curtis 1855, seventeen-year-old Sophia Blood and Chocolate goes to live with her wealthy and When half of Vivian’s werewolf mysterious godfather at his gothic mansion, pack is destroyed in a fire Wyndriven Abbey, in Mississippi, where many following the forbidden killing secrets lie hidden. (Summary from Follett of a human, the remaining loups-garoux are Destiny, October 2013). forced to move to a new town, where the sixteen-year-old longs for companions her Nix, Garth own age. Sabriel Sabriel is the daughter of a Klause, Annette Curtis necromancer whose duty it is Freaks: Alive, On the Inside to protect the Old Kingdom: After leaving home in search of unlike other mages, he has the adventure, romance, and riches, power to bind the dead as well seventeen-year-old Abel, the as bring the dead back to life. The story is "normal" son of freak show remarkable for the level of originality of the entertainers, is haunted by a fantastic elements and for the subtle mysterious spirit. (Summary presentation, which leaves readers to explore from Hennepin County Library at hclib.org, for themselves the complex structure and 2007) significance of the magical elements.
Klause, Annette Curtis Nix, Garth The Silver Kiss Lirael, Daughter of the Clayr A novel of a young girl struggling In this sequel to Sabriel, Nix’s to accept the impending death of imaginative magical descriptions, her mother is curiously interwoven plot intrigues and adventure with her entanglement with a sequences are outstanding, but the vampire. magnificent build-up is cause for frustration. The expected climax is put off until the next book, Abhorsen.
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future. (Summary from Follett Destiny, March Pierce, Tamora 2012). Wild Magic Homeless, outcast Daine has a Babbitt, Natalie knack with animals. They hear her, Tuck Everlasting obey her, even talk to her. Her A family accidentally stumbles talents, recognized as “wild magic,” upon a spring with water grow even stronger under the tutelage of the endowing them with the gift of mage Numair. Only Daine can sense the eternal life. Seventy years later, presence of the evil immortal creatures under without having grown a day older, a young girl control of the country’s enemies. In a burst of discovers them and learns their secret. glory, she saves the kingdom from invasion. Citra, Becky Never To Be Told Shannon, Samantha Asia has Lived with elderly The Bone Season Ira and his wife Maddy on In the mid-21st their farm for as long as she century major world can remember. When Ira has cities are controlled a heart attack Asia's world is turned upside by a formidable down. Faced with the possibility of losing the security force and clairvoyant underworld cell only family she has ever known, Asia is member Paige commits acts of psychic frightened but fascinated by the appearance of treason before being captured by an a ghost that only she can see and hear. otherworldly race that would make her a part (Summary from Hennepin County Library @ of their supernatural army. (Summary from hclib.org, 2007) Follett Destiny, November 2013). Cooney, Caroline B. Taylor, Laini Goddess of Yesterday Lips Touch: Three Times A hostage in ancient Greece, Contains three short stores of Anaxandra relies on her “goddess supernatural love, each focusing of yesterday” as she impersonates on a kiss that has consequences her foster sister, Princess Callisto, in the court for the kissers' souls. (Summary of Menelaus and Helen. When Helen flees from Follett Destiny, November 2011). with Paris to Troy, Anaxandra is enslaved but saves Menelaus’ son.
Time and Dimension Travel Fleischman, Paul Asher, Jay & Mackler, Dateline: Troy Carolyn The tragic tale of the Trojan The Future of Us War is retold in this adroit, concise adaptation that reveals Emma gets her first computer truths, particularly about and an America Online CD- human nature, as the author ROM in 1996, and when her best friend Josh juxtaposes twentieth-century news items with visits and they log on, they discover events of the Trojan War. As the ancient story themselves on Facebook fifteen years in the
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unfolds, present-day events are revealed on a the Anasazi cliff dwellings. Tep finds an facing page of each spread through ancient flute that causes him to magically turn reproductions of actual clippings, arranged into a packrat each night. Added to the plot within handsome collages in black, white and are a scare about a deadly virus that Tep’s sepia tones. mother may have contracted, and a stranger who has mystical powers. Flinn, Alex Kiss in Time MacCullough, Carolyn Sixteen-year-old Princess Talia Once a Witch persuades Jack, the modern-day Born into a family of witches, American who kissed her awake seventeen-year-old Tamsin is after a three-hundred-year sleep, raised believing that she alone to take her to his Miami home, where she lacks a magical "Talent," but when hopes to win his love before the witch who her beautiful and powerful sister is taken by cursed her can spirit her away. (Summary an age-old rival of the family in an attempt to from Follett Destiny, November 2010). change the balance of power, Tamsin discovers her true destiny. (Summary from
Hautman, Pete Follett Destiny, November 2009). Mr. Was In this convoluted time-slip Mlynowski, Sarah fantasy, Jack Lund escapes from Gimme a Call a scene of family violence After accidentally dropping her through a door to the past, in cell phone into a fountain at the hope that he will be able to the mall, fourteen-year-old return to the scene in time to prevent his Devi Banks starts to get phone mother’s murder. However, during the fifty- calls--and an earful of advice on how to live five years he must wait, Jack faces further her life to avoid making disastrous choices-- tragedies, including the loss of his memory. from her seventeen-year-old self. (Summary from Follett Destiny, November 2010). Heneghan, James The Grave Nolan, Han After construction workers discover a mass If I Should Die Before I Wake grave in his schoolyard, thirteen-year-old As neo-Nazi Hilary lies in a foster child Tom falls--or is pulled--into the coma in the hospital, she excavated grave. He emerges from the becomes Chana living in Poland darkness to find he has traveled through time during World War II. More vivid from 1974 Liverpool to 1847 Ireland. Tom's to her than her real existence, her life as colorful first-person narrative describes the Chana includes deportation to Auschwitz and era of the great potato famine with honesty; survival told in graphic terms. his time travel experiences also provide some clues to his family background. Reiss, Kathryn Dreadful Sorry Hobbs, Will Seventeen-year-old Molly is Kokopelli’s Flute plagued by nightmares and Part fantasy, part reality, this visions of a girl who died over novel is set against the ruins of eighty years ago. (Summary from
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NoveList online fiction guide, March 2003.) small town on the Maine coast. (Summary from Hennepin Co. Library, April 2005) Spinner, Stephanie Quiver Yolen, Jane When her father commands that The Devil’s Arithmetic she produce an heir, the huntress Hannah resents the traditions of Atalanta gives her suitors a her Jewish heritage until time seemingly impossible task in order to uphold travel places her in the middle of her pledge of chastity, as the gods of ancient a small Jewish village in Nazi- Greece look on. (Summary from NoveList fiction occupied Poland. guide, March 2003) Toy and Object Fantasy Stead, Rebecca When You Reach Me As her mother prepares to be a Card, Orson Scott contestant on the 1980s Ender’s Shadow television game show, "The Follows the life of Ender $20,000 Pyramid," a twelve-year- Wiggin’s comrade Bean—his old New York City girl tries to escape from the mean streets of make sense of a series of mysterious notes Rotterdam to his student days at received from an anonymous source that the Battle School to his role as Ender’s right- seems to defy the laws of time and space. hand ally, strategist and friend in the epic (Summary from Follett Destiny, November struggle to save Earth from alien invaders. 2009). Coville, Bruce
Into the Land of Unicorns Ward, David Following her grandmother’s Archipelago Twelve-year-old Jonah and his instructions, Cara uses a magic mother are exploring the natural amulet to enter the world of beauty of the Queen Charlotte Islands. One Luster, where the unicorns live. While dodging a unicorn hunter and other day, a mysterious girl appears wading in the waters near their float house, and an even enemies, Cara befriends several sentient more mysterious mist saves Jonah from his creatures and confronts a family secret. own plunge off a cliff top, Jonah is plunged
into a time travel adventure that takes him Martin, Ann M. back 14,000 years. (Summary from david The Doll People ward.ca/news.htm. Oct 2009) Bothered that she hasn’t seen her Williams, Maiya Aunt Sarah for 45 years, The Golden Hour Annabelle Doll embarks on a Thirteen-year-old Rowan and search that takes her out of her his eleven-year-old sister Nina, protective dollhouse. She braves dangerous still bereft by the death of their territory beyond the nursery to discover not mother the year before, only the answers to family secrets but also a experience an unusual whole new family of dolls. adventure through time when they come to stay with their two eccentric great-aunts in a
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 14
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(Summary from Follett Destiny, November Martin, Ann M. 2010). The Meanest Doll in the World Black, Jenna Annabelle and Tiffany, Glimmerglass dolls who are best friends Dana Hathaway runs away from living in the Palmer house, her alcoholic mother in order to have an adventure when they hide in Kate find her father in Avalon; but the Palmer's backpack, are carried to school, moment she steps into that world mistakenly go to another house, and try to she discovers she is a Faeriewalker, someone stop Princess Mimi, a doll who threatens all who can travel between both worlds. doll kind. (Summary from Follett Destiny, November 2010). Waugh, Sylvia The Mennyms series Blake, Kendra The Mennyms are a family of Anna Dressed in Blood dolls, made by an elderly woman Cas Lowood, armed with his late before her death and imbued father's mysterious athame, set with the ability to think and out to kill a ghost known as speak. For many years they have lived Anna Dressed in Blood, but undisturbed in their London house, but what he believes will be a routine task turns existence is threatened when a new landlord deadly when he discovers Anna is unlike any writes a letter stating he intends to visit. ghost he has ever encountered before. (Summary from Follett Destiny, March 2012). Urban Fantasy
Brennan, Sarah Armstrong, Kelley Rees Gathering Unspoken Sixteen-year-old Maya suspects The twin Lynburn sisters, whose there may be a link between her family has owned the sinister paw-print birthmark, her manor that overlooks Sorry-in- connection with wild animals, the-Vale for centuries have returned with their and the strange events occurring in her tiny sons, one of which looks remarkably like the Vancouver Island community, where a imaginary boy in Kami's head, who she is in medical research facility harbors big secrets. love with, but with the twins return, strange (Summary from Follett Destiny, October things begin to happen in Kami's small sleepy 2011). town. (Summary from Follett Destiny, October 2013). Black, Holly
White Cat Cast, P.C. When Cassel Sharpe discovers Marked that his older brothers have House of Night, Book 1 used him to carry out their After being accepted as a criminal schemes and then fledgling vampire at the House of stolen his memories, he figures out a way to Night prep school and receiving turn their evil machinations against them.
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 15
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special powers by a goddess, sixteen-year-old average high school student, and having Zoey Montgomery discovers one of her peers decided she relies too much on her guardian is misusing her powers and must decide what angel, Patch, sets out to investigate what really he right thing to do is. (Summary from happened the night her father left for www.titlewave.com, November 2009). Portland, Maine, and never came back. (Summary from Follett Destiny, October Clare, Cassandra 2011). City of Bones Suddenly able to see demons and Fitzpatrick, Becca the Darkhunters who are Hush, Hush dedicated to returning them to High school sophomore Nora their own dimension, fifteen- has always been very cautious in year-old Clary Fray is drawn into this bizarre her relationships, but when world when her mother disappears and Clary Patch, who has a dark side she herself is almost killed by a monster. can sense, enrolls at her school, she is (Summary from Follett Destiny, January mysteriously and strongly drawn to him, 2013). despite warnings from her best friend, the school counselor, and her own instincts. Clare, Casssandra (Summary from Follett Destiny, October Clockwork Prince 2011). Infernal Devices, Book 2 As the Council attempts to Harris, Lewis strip Charlotte of her power, A Taste For Red sixteen-year-old orphaned When some of her classmates shapechanger Tessa Gray works with the disappear, sixth-grader Svetlana, London Shadowhunters to find the Magister along with her new friends go in and destroy his clockwork army, learning the search of the missing students secret of her own identity while investigating using her newfound ability as an Olfactive, his past. (Summary from Follett Destiny, one who has heightened smell, hearing, and January 2013). the ability to detect vampires. (Summary from Follett Destiny, November 2009). Clement-Moore, Rosemary Kate, Lauren Prom Date From Hell Fallen High school senior and yearbook Fallen Series: Book 1 photographer Maggie thought she Suspected in the death of her would rather die than go to prom, boyfriend, seventeen-year-old but when a classmate summons a Luce is sent to a Savannah, revenge-seeking demon, she has no choice but Georgia, reform school where she meets two to buy herself a dress and prepare to face intriguing boys and learns the truth about the jocks, cheerleaders, and Evil Incarnate. strange shadows that have always haunted her. (Summary from Follett Destiny, Oct 2009) (Summary from Follett Destiny, October 2011). Fitzpatrick, Becca Crescendo Nora, concerned that she seems to be in danger more than the
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 16
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Kate, Lauren Marr, Melissa Torment Wicked Lovely Fallen Series: Book 2 Seventeen-year-old Aislinn, who When Daniel, Luce's fallen angel has the rare ability to see faeries, is boyfriend, tells her that he must drawn against her will into a depart in order to hunt the centuries-old battle between the Outcasts--immortals who wish him dead, he Summer King and the Winter Queen, and the hides Luce at a school for the gifted on the survival of her life, her love, and summer all California coast, where she learns that Daniel hang in the balance. (Summary from may be hiding dangerous secrets about his www.hclib.org, 2007) past. (Summary from Follett Destiny, November 2011). Meyer, Stephanie Twilight Larbalestier, Justine When seventeen-year-old Bella Liar leaves Phoenix to live with her Compulsive liar Micah promises father in Forks, Washington, she to tell the truth after revealing meets an exquisitely handsome that her boyfriend has been boy at school for whom she feels an murdered. (Summary from Follett overwhelming attraction and who she comes Destiny, November 2010). to realize is not wholly human. (Summary from Mackin.com, 2006) Maizel, Rebecca Infinite Days Meyer, Stephanie Lenah Beaudonte, a vampire New Moon whose humanity has been When the Cullens, including her restored thanks to the sacrifice beloved Edward, leave Forks of her lover, Rhode, did not rather than risk revealing that believe she would ever be sixteen or fall in they are vampires, it is almost too love again, but she is having those experiences much for eighteen-year-old Bella to bear, but until her past comes back to haunt her. she finds solace in her friend Jacob until he is (Summary from Follett Destiny, November drawn into a "cult" and changes in terrible 2010). ways. (Summary from www.hclib.org, 2007)
Marr, Melissa Meyer, Stephanie Ink Exchange Eclipse Seventeen-year-old Leslie wants a Bella must choose between her tattoo as a way of reclaiming friendship with Jacob and her control of herself and her body, relationship with Edward, but but the eerie image she selects when Seattle is ravaged by a pulls her into the dangerous Dark Court of mysterious string of killings, the three of them the faeries, where she draws on inner strength need to decide whether their personal lives are to make a horrible choice. Companion to more important than the well-being of an Wicked Lovely. (Follett, 2009) entire city. (Summary from Hennepin County Library, 2007)
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 17
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talents are a dangerous mix. . (Summary from Meyer, Stephanie Follett Destiny, September 2013). Breaking Dawn In the fourth and final book in Stiefvater, Maggie the Twilight Saga, questions will Shiver be answered and the fate of In all the years she has watched Bella and Edward will be the wolves in the woods behind revealed. (Summary from her house, Grace has been Hennepin County, Sept. 2008) particularly drawn to an unusual yellow-eyed wolf who, in his turn, has been Noël, Alyson watching her with increasing intensity. Evermore (Summary from Follett Destiny, November Immortal Series: Book 1 2009). Since the car accident that claimed the lives of her family, Waters, Daniel sixteen-year-old Ever can see Break My Heart 1000 Times auras and hear people's In the aftermath of thoughts, and she goes out of her way to hide the Event, which from other people until she meets Damen, made seeing the dead another psychic teenager who is hiding even a part of life, Veronica and her more mysteries. (Summary from Follett friend Kirk investigate why the ghosts seem to Destiny, November 2010). be gaining power and stumble upon the sinister plot of a teacher who is seeking a Smith, Cynthia Leitich replacement for his dead daughter. (Summary Tantalize from Follett Destiny, November 2013). When multiple murders in Austin, Texas, threaten the grand Young, Suzanne re-opening of her family's A Need so Beautiful vampire-themed restaurant, A compelling Need that seventeen-year-old, orphaned Quincie worries Charlotte has felt all her life is that her best friend-turned-love interest, growing stronger, forcing her Keiren, a werewolf-in-training, may be the to connect with people in prime suspect. (Summary from Follett crisis, but at the same time other changes are Destiny, October 2009) taking place and she is terrified by what Monroe, a doctor and family friend, says must Stiefvater, Maggie happen next. (Summary from Follett Destiny, The Raven Boys Mar 2012). Though she is from a family of clairvoyants, Blue Yovanoff, Brenna Sargent's only gift seems to be The Replacement that she makes other people's Sixteen-year-old Mackie Doyle, a talents stronger, and when she meets Gansey, being from another world who one of the Raven Boys from the expensive was swapped with a human child Aglionby Academy, she discovers that he has when he was a baby, struggles talents of his own--and that together their with his allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground and wants desperately to
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 18
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live like a normal teenager, and when his Rees, Celia crush Tate's sister disappears, Mackie sets out Witch Child to find her and gets a chance to find his Mary, a young witch, fears for her own life rightful place in the world. (Summary from after her grandmother and mentor is hanged. Follett Destiny, September 2011). Luckily, she is rescued and whisked away to America disguised as a Puritan—all under the protective, often invisible gaze of other Witches and Wizards witches. In the expertly written, potent novel, persecution catches up with Mary in the New Duncan. Lois World. Gallows Hill
New student Sarah is coerced Rowling, J.K. into giving psychic readings for Harry Potter and the her classmates but draws ire Sorcerer’s Stone when her predictions come The first book in the Harry Potter true and reveal the hypocrisy of Pine Crest’s series. On orphaned Harry best families. Accused of being a witch, Sarah Potter’s eleventh birthday, mysterious realizes she and her classmates are reliving missives begin arriving for him. Harry learns past lives as players in the Salem witch trials. that his parents died saving him from an evil sorcerer and that he himself is destined to be Jordan, Sherryl a wizard of great power. The Raging Quiet Widowed after only two days, Rowling, J.K. sixteen-year-old Marnie is Harry Potter and the Deathly distrusted by the local villagers. Hallows When she befriends a deaf boy It all comes down to this - a and invents a signed language, the villagers, final face-off between good and encouraged by Marnie’s hateful brother-in- evil. You plan to pull out all the law, accuse her of witchcraft and demand a stops, but every time you solve one mystery, trial. three more evolve. Do you stay the course you started, despite your lack of progress? Do McKenzie, Riford you detour and follow a new lead that may The Witches of Dredmore not help? Do you listen to your instincts, or Hollow your friends? Lord Voldemort is preparing for Strange things begin happening at battle and so must Harry. With Ron and Elijah's New England home just Hermione at his side, he's trying to hunt down before his twelfth birthday in Voldemort's Horcruxes, escape danger at 1927, especially after two aunts he had never every turn, and find a way to defeat evil once met whisk him away to Moaning Marsh, and for all. How does it all end? (Summary where he realizes that they are witches who from Hennepin County Library, 2008) need something from him in order to remove a curse. (Summary from Follett Destiny, Oct 2009) Thesman, Jean The Other Ones When a bully torments the new girl at school and a neighbor
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 19
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abandons his son, Bridget’s parents tell her not to get involved in other people’s problems. Besides, Bridget has problems of her own; she’s a witch who’s reluctant to use her powers for fear of being an outcast. With the help of a cranky fairy, however, she learns to accept her true self.
Vande Velde, Vivian Stolen A girl finds herself running through the forest at the edge of a village with no memory of anything, even her own name, and later learns that she might be twelve-year- old Isabelle, believed to be stolen by a witch six years before. (Summary from www.hclib.org, October 2009)
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