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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 Hale, Shannon girl next door happens to be a Enna Burning princess, and the two teens, kept apart by Enna hopes that her new circumstance, correspond by carrier pigeon knowledge of how to wield fire ("p-mail"). The lighthearted tale maintains the will help protect her good friend right balance of humor and sentimentality as Isi--the Princess Anidori--and all the characters finally meet and discover their of Bayern against their enemies, but the need love is real. Forbidden love, secret identities, to burn is uncontrollable and puts Enna and and a happy ending--what more could you her loved ones in grave danger. (Summary ask? from Follett Destiny, November 2009).
Gaiman, Neil Hale, Shannon Anansi Boys Goose Girl Charlie's dad wasn't just any On her way to marry a prince dad. He was Anansi, a trickster she's never met, Princess god, the spirit of rebellion able Anidori is betrayed by her to overturn the social order, guards and her lady-in- create wealth out of thin air, and baffle the waiting and must become a goose girl to devil. When he dies on a karaoke stage, things survive until she can reveal her true identity get very interesting for Charlie. (Summary and reclaim the crown that is rightfully hers. from Hennepin County Library at hclib.org, (Summary from Hennepin County Library, 2007) Sept. 2008)
Princess of the Midnight Ball Hale, Shannon George, Jessica Day Book of a Thousand Days A retelling of the tale of twelve Fifteen-year-old Dashti, sworn princesses who wear out their to obey her sixteen-year-old shoes dancing every night, and of mistress, the Lady Saren, shares Galen, a former soldier now Saren's years of punishment working in the king's gardens, who follows locked in a tower, then brings her safely to the them in hopes of breaking the curse. lands of her true love, where both must hide (Summary from Follett Destiny, November who they are as they work as kitchen maids. A 2009) reimagined, little-known classic fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm, reset on the central Haddix, Margaret Peterson Asian steppes. (Summary from Hennepin Just Ella County, Sept. 2008) Combining modern sarcasm with stilted medievalism, Just Ella 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 The Seer and the Sword Ella Enchanted The fates of Princess Torina of Cursed at birth with the gift of Archeld and Landen, a former obedience by an irresponsible prince of a conquered country fairy, Ella is powerless to resist who was brought to Archeld as a the commands of others. captive, are tightly entwined. When a Expert characterization and murderous despot seizes the throne, Torina original ideas enliven this and Landen flee the country separately and novelization of Cinderella. Built each becomes a trusted adviser to the high around the traditional elements of the fairy king. tale and at times limited by those restraints, the retelling boasts an admirable heroine who Hanley, Victoria discovers her inner strength by combating her Healers Keep greatest weakness. When the Healer's Keep is attacked by dark forces, Levine, Gail Carson Princess Sara and the foreigner The Two Princesses Dorjan join forces with the of Bamarre slave girl Maeve and freeman Courageous Princess Meryl Jasper to defend it. (Summary contracts the disease that plagues from Hennepin County Library, Oct. 2004) Bamarre, and it is known that courage demonstrated by a Hoffman, Alice former coward could extinguish Foretelling the epidemic. Her timid sister Rain, the product of a rape and Addie arms herself with her sister’s sword and shunned by her distant queen sets out to find the cure. mother, struggles to find her identity and prove herself in a Levine, Gail Carson world where an Amazonian band The Wish of horsewomen warriors fight to defend their Wilma Sturtz endures most of territory and sovereignty. Rain is a gifted the eighth grade as warrior herself, but begins to question her “unpopular,” but a few weeks tribe's combative, man-hating traditions and before graduation she does a unlike the rest of her army, she does not find good deed and is granted her any pleasure in watching her enemies die. wish to be the most popular kid Haunted by a dream of a black horse, which is at school. Author Levine convincingly a common symbol of deal, Rain fears that her captures Wilma’s adolescent distress between people will someday rise against her. After her wanting her friends to like her for her and mother dies giving birth to her second child, never wanting the spell to end. Rain is forced to determine the future of her community and her own. Marillier, Juliet Daughter of the Forest 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 Follett, September 2013). Wilson, N.D. 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.
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 5
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servant boy, befriends the young princess and spell cast by her father, a violent psychopath eventually sees the ghost himself. with mind-altering abilities. (Summary from Destiny Follett, January 2013) Beddor, Frank The Looking Glass Wars Cashore, Kristen When she is cast out of Fire Wonderland by her evil aunt In a kingdom called the Dells, Redd, young Alyss Heart finds Fire is the last human-shaped herself living in Victorian monster, with unimaginable Oxford as Alice Liddell and beauty and the ability to control struggles to keep memories of her kingdom the minds of those around her, intact until she can return and claim her but even with these gifts she cannot escape rightful throne. (Summary from Hennepin the strife that overcomes her world. County Library, January 2008) (Summary from Destiny Follett, November 2010). Bouman, H.M. The Remarkable and Very Cashore, Kristin True Story of Lucy & Snowcap Graceling In 1788, thirteen years after In a world where some people are English convicts born with extreme and often- are shipwrecked on the magical feared skills called Graces, Katsa islands of Tathenland, two twelve-year-old struggles for redemption from her girls, one a native Colay, the other the child- own horrifying Grace of killing and teams up governor of the English, set out on a journey with another young fighter to save their land to stop the treachery from which both from a corrupt king. (Summary from Destiny peoples are suffering. (Summary from Destiny Follett, November 2009) Follett, November 2009). Crossley-Holland, Kevin Calhoun, Dia The Seeing Stone Aria of the Sea Merlin tells the thirteen-year- When commoner Cerinthe old narrator, “Once, there was gains admittance to the School a king with your name. . . And of the Royal Dancers, she he will be.” The Seeing Stone thinks her dream has come that Merlin gives this new true. A rivalry with another dancer causes Arthur enables him to relive incidents leading tension, which is amplified by Cerinthe’s to King Arthur’s drawing sword from stone. deep-rooted fear of using her gift for healing.
DiCamillo, Kate Cashore, Kristin The Magician’s Elephant Bitterblue When ten-year-old orphan Peter Eighteen-year-old Bitterblue, Augustus Duchene encounters a queen of Monsea, realizes her fortune teller in the marketplace heavy responsibility and the one day who tells him that his futility of relying on advisors sister, who is presumed dead, is in fact alive, who surround her with lies as she tries to help he embarks on a remarkable series of her people to heal from the thirty-five-year adventures in an attempt to find her.
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 6
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(Summary from Follett Destiny, November 2009). Kittredge, Caitlin The Iron Thorn DuPrau, Jeanne In an alternate 1950s, The City of Ember mechanically gifted fifteen-year- In the year 241, twelve-year-old old Aoife Grayson, whose family Lina trades jobs on Assignment has a history of going mad at Day to be a Messenger to run to sixteen, must leave the totalitarian city of new places in her decaying but Lovecraft and venture into the world of magic beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse to solve the mystery of her brother's Unknown Regions. (Summary from Hennepin disappearance and the mysteries surrounding Co. Library, December 2004.) her father and the Land of Thorn. (Summary 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 and develop her extraordinary musical talents. (Summary from Follett Destiny, January 2013).
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 7
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Levine, Gail Carson Pierce, Tamora Ever Alanna: The First Fourteen-year-old Kezi and Adventure Olus, Akkan god of the Eleven-year-old Alanna, who winds, fall in love and aspires to be a knight even together try to change her though she is a girl, disguises fate--to be sacrificed to a herself as a boy to become a Hyte god because of a rash promise her father royal page, and learns many hard lessons made--through a series of quests that might along her path to high adventure. make her immortal. (Summary from Hennepin County, Sept. 2008) Pullman, Philip The Golden Compass Maas, Sarah In Lyra’s world, similar to our own Throne of Glass but with some important After she has served a year of differences, each human has a hard labor in the salt mines of daemon—an animal familiar with whom one’s Endovier for her crimes, life and destiny are entwined. Lyra and her Crown Prince Dorian offers daemon, Pantalaimon, have a great destiny in eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien this sweeping, suspenseful fantasy novel, the her freedom on the condition that she act as first in a trilogy. his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. (Summary from Follett Springer, Nancy Destiny, January 2013). Outlaw Princess of Sherwood Forest, Rowan McKinley, Robin Hood The Outlaws of Sherwood After her mother’s death, The author retells the adventures thirteen-year-old Rowan of Robin Hood and his band of ventures into the forest to search for the outlaws who live in Sherwood father she has never met, who just happens to Forest in 12th-century England. (Summary from be Robin Hood. Accompanied by a wolf-like NoveList online fiction guide, March 2003.) dog, the girl learns to depend upon her own abilities and soon has her own band of loyal Meloy, Maile followers. The Apothecary Fourteen-year-old Janie Scott, Stephens, John newly arrived in London from The Emerald Atlas Los Angeles in 1952, becomes Kate, Michael, and Emma have friends with a mysterious passed from one orphanage to apothecary and his son, Benjamin Burrows, another in the ten years since and is drawn into a dangerous adventure with their parents disappeared to Benjamin when his father is kidnapped and protect them, but now they learn that they Russian spies try to steal his book of secrets. have special powers--and a fearsome enemy-- (Summary from Hennepin County Library, and embark on a prophesied quest to find a March 2012). magical book. (Summary from Follett Destiny, November 2011)
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 8
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portrayals. For the sophisticated reader, the Tolkien, J.R.R. book will be a challenging and thoughtful The Hobbit experience. Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives Werlin, Nancy comfortably in his hobbit- Impossible hole until the day the When seventeen-year-old Lucy wandering wizard Gandalf discovers her family is under an chooses him to take part in an adventure from ancient curse by an evil Elfin which he may never return. (Summary from Knight, she realizes that she must NoveList online fiction guide, March 2003.) perform three impossible tasks before her daughter is born to break the curse and to Tomlinson, Theresa save them both. (Follett, 2009) The Forestwife A creative retelling of the Robin Whitley, David Hood story focuses on the life Midnight Charter and deeds of Marian, who In the city of Agora, where retreats to the forest to escape an everything can be bought and unwanted betrothal and finds sold, two children stumble upon fulfillment in helping the poor people of the the mysterious and dangerous woods. She learns the art of healing from her Midnight Charter and play their unique part in old nurse, Agnes and gradually falls in love their society's future as they learn who they with Agnes’ outlaw son. can trust. (Summary from Follett Destiny, November 2010). Tomlinson, Theresa Child of the May This sequel to The Forestwife is a Supernatural coming-of-age story about motherless Magda, who was Bray, Libba brought to the Forestwife’s Rebel Angels clearing as a baby. At fifteen, Magda longs to Gemma Doyle returns in the seek adventure. Her wish is fulfilled when a fast-paced sequel to A Great and crisis draws the band of outlaws to Terrible Beauty. Rather than Nottingham Castle and her father takes her focusing on the normal along. Christmas traditions, Gemma's time is spent on her father, and dealing with nightmares of Voight, Cynthia her dead friend, Pippa. On top of it all, she's Elske supposed to find a temple that will bind the In this last book in the magic that she let loose in the previous book Kingdom Series, which began and the only one who might know how to with Jackaroo, Elske has find it speaks in riddles. (Summary from escaped her fate as the Death Mackin.com, 2006) Maiden and joins a new community serving Beriel, the would-be Queen of the Kingdom. The two women are foils for each other, which enhances both
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 9
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the city's supernatural folk, and she becomes Bray, Libba the object of much attention--both good and A Sweet Far Thing bad--when it is discovered she has the power At Spence Academy, sixteen- to transform at will into another person. year-old Gemma Doyle (Summary from Follett Destiny, April 2012). continues preparing for her London debut while struggling Coville, Bruce to determine how best to use magic to resolve The Skull of Truth a power struggle in the enchanted world of After stealing a skull from a the realms, and to protect her own world and magic shop, habitual liar Charlie loved ones. (Summary from Hennepin discovers that it compels honesty County, Sept. 2008) of its owner. Working through issues such as his uncle’s Brewer, Heather homosexuality, a friend’s cancer and a The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eight looming but unknowable menace, Charlie Grade Bites realizes how complicated honesty is. For thirteen years, Vlad, aided by Duncan, Lois his aunt and best friend, has kept The Third Eye secret that he is half-vampire, but High school senior Karen, who when his missing teacher is worries that her psychic powers replaced by a sinister substitute, will make her seem different he learns that there is more to being a from other people, is vampire, and to his parents' deaths, than he frightened at first when a could have guessed. (Summary from young policeman asks her to use her gift to Hennepin County, Sept. 2008) help the police locate missing children.
Casanova, Mary Gaiman, Neil Curse of a Winter Moon The Graveyard Book In 16th-century France, ruled by The orphan Bod, short for a church that overtaxes peasants Nobody, is taken in by the and burns heretics, Marius must inhabitants of a graveyard as a postpone his apprenticeship to child of eighteen months and care for his six-year-old brother, raised lovingly and carefully to the age of whose birth took their mother’s life and who eighteen years by the community of ghosts the villagers, backed by the Church, believe and otherworldly creatures. (Follett, 2009) will become a loup garou—a werewolf. (Summary from NoveList online fiction guide, March Hahn, Mary Downing 2003.) Wait Till Helen Comes Molly and Michael dislike their Clare, Cassandra spooky new stepsister Heather Clockwork Angel but realize they must try to save Sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray her when she seems ready to travels to England in search of follow a ghost child to her doom. (Summary her brother only to be from NoveList online fiction guide, March 2003.) abducted by the Dark Sisters, residents of London's Downworld, home to
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 10
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Johnson, Maureen with her entanglement with a vampire. The Name of the Star Rory, of Boueuxlieu, Louisiana, is Leavitt, Martine spending a year at a London Keturah and Lord Death boarding school when she When Lord Death comes to witnesses a murder by a Jack the claim sixteen-year-old Keturah Ripper copycat and becomes involved with while she is lost in the King's the very unusual investigation. (Summary Forest, she charms him with from Follett Destiny, 2012). her story and is granted a twenty-four hour reprieve in which to seek her one true love. Johnson, Maureen (Summary from Hennepin County, Sept. The Madness 2008) Underneath After her near-fatal run-in with Nickerson, Jane the Jack the Ripper copycat, Rory Strands of Bronze Devereaux is back in London to and Gold help solve a new string of inexplicable deaths After the death of her father in plaguing the city. (Summary from Follett 1855, seventeen-year-old Sophia Destiny, October 2013). goes to live with her wealthy and mysterious godfather at his gothic mansion, Klause, Annette Curtis Wyndriven Abbey, in Mississippi, where many Blood and Chocolate secrets lie hidden. (Summary from Follett When half of Vivian’s werewolf Destiny, October 2013). pack is destroyed in a fire following the forbidden killing Nix, Garth of a human, the remaining loups-garoux are Sabriel forced to move to a new town, where the Sabriel is the daughter of a sixteen-year-old longs for companions her necromancer whose duty it is own age. to protect the Old Kingdom: unlike other mages, he has the Klause, Annette Curtis power to bind the dead as well Freaks: Alive, On the Inside as bring the dead back to life. The story is After leaving home in search of remarkable for the level of originality of the adventure, romance, and riches, fantastic elements and for the subtle seventeen-year-old Abel, the presentation, which leaves readers to explore "normal" son of freak show for themselves the complex structure and entertainers, is haunted by a significance of the magical elements. mysterious spirit. (Summary from Hennepin County Library at hclib.org, Nix, Garth 2007) Lirael, Daughter of the Clayr In this sequel to Sabriel, Nix’s Klause, Annette Curtis imaginative magical descriptions, The Silver Kiss plot intrigues and adventure A novel of a young girl struggling sequences are outstanding, but the to accept the impending death of magnificent build-up is cause for frustration. her mother is curiously interwoven
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 11
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The expected climax is put off until the next book, Abhorsen. Time and Dimension Travel
Pierce, Tamora Asher, Jay & Mackler, Wild Magic Carolyn Homeless, outcast Daine has a The Future of Us knack with animals. They hear her,
obey her, even talk to her. Her Emma gets her first computer talents, recognized as “wild magic,” and an America Online CD- grow even stronger under the tutelage of the ROM in 1996, and when her best friend Josh mage Numair. Only Daine can sense the visits and they log on, they discover presence of the evil immortal creatures under themselves on Facebook fifteen years in the control of the country’s enemies. In a burst of future. (Summary from Follett Destiny, March glory, she saves the kingdom from invasion. 2012).
Pierce, Tamora Babbitt, Natalie Emperor Mage Tuck Everlasting The third book about Daine, the A family accidentally stumbles orphan girl who has wild magic, a upon a spring with water special ability to understand and endowing them with the gift of heal animals. She is specially eternal life. Seventy years later, chosen for a peace mission to Carthak—a without having grown a day older, a young girl threatening enemy to Tortall—because the discovers them and learns their secret. emperor’s beloved birds are sick. Citra, Becky Shannon, Samantha Never To Be Told The Bone Season Asia has Lived with elderly In the mid-21st Ira and his wife Maddy on century major world their farm for as long as she cities are controlled can remember. When Ira has by a formidable a heart attack Asia's world is turned upside security force and clairvoyant underworld cell down. Faced with the possibility of losing the member Paige commits acts of psychic only family she has ever known, Asia is treason before being captured by an frightened but fascinated by the appearance of otherworldly race that would make her a part a ghost that only she can see and hear. of their supernatural army. (Summary from (Summary from Hennepin County Library @ Follett Destiny, November 2013). hclib.org, 2007)
Cooney, Caroline Taylor, Laini Both Sides of Time Lips Touch: Three Times On the day she graduates from Contains three short stores of high school, Annie travels back supernatural love, each focusing in time 100 years and finds on a kiss that has consequences herself in the kind of for the kissers' souls. (Summary “romantic” era she has been fantasizing from Follett Destiny, November 2011). about. She meets the man of her dreams and
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 12
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helps solve a murder, but she also learns that Fleischman, Paul real love has consequences and carries Dateline: Troy obligations that fantasies don’t. The tragic tale of the Trojan War is retold in this adroit, Cooney, Caroline concise adaptation that reveals Out of Time truths, particularly about In the sequel to Both Sides of human nature, as the author Time, Annie Lockwood again is juxtaposes twentieth-century news items with swept back in time to continue events of the Trojan War. As the ancient story her Victorian adventure. Her unfolds, present-day events are revealed on a beloved Strat has fallen victim to the dastardly facing page of each spread through schemer Walker Walkey, and Strat’s sister reproductions of actual clippings, arranged joins forces with Annie to rescue him. within handsome collages in black, white and sepia tones. Cooney, Caroline B. Goddess of Yesterday Flinn, Alex A hostage in ancient Greece, Kiss in Time Anaxandra relies on her “goddess Sixteen-year-old Princess Talia of yesterday” as she impersonates persuades Jack, the modern-day her foster sister, Princess Callisto, in the court American who kissed her awake of Menelaus and Helen. When Helen flees after a three-hundred-year sleep, with Paris to Troy, Anaxandra is enslaved but to take her to his Miami home, where she saves Menelaus’ son. hopes to win his love before the witch who cursed her can spirit her away. (Summary Cooper, Susan from Follett Destiny, November 2010). The Boggart When the Volnik family inherits Hautman, Pete a Scottish castle, one of the Mr. Was castle’s more notable In this convoluted time-slip inconveniences, the boggart— fantasy, Jack Lund escapes from an ancient, mischievous spirit— a scene of family violence is inadvertently packed into a desk and arrives through a door to the past, in at the Volnik’s home in Canada upset and the hope that he will be able to annoyed. Thrilled with the possibilities of return to the scene in time to prevent his electricity and other modern conveniences, mother’s murder. However, during the fifty- the boggart plays both comic and dangerous five years he must wait, Jack faces further tricks. tragedies, including the loss of his memory.
Duncan, Lois Heneghan, James Locked in Time The Grave Nore arrives at her stepmother’s After construction workers Louisiana plantation to find her discover a mass grave in his new family odd and an aura of schoolyard, thirteen-year-old evil and mystery about the place. foster child Tom falls--or is pulled--into the excavated grave. He emerges from the darkness to find he has traveled
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 13
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through time from 1974 Liverpool to 1847 during World War II. More vivid to her than Ireland. Tom's colorful first-person narrative her real existence, her life as Chana includes describes the era of the great potato famine deportation to Auschwitz and survival told in with honesty; his time travel experiences also graphic terms. provide some clues to his family background. Reiss, Kathryn Hobbs, Will Dreadful Sorry Kokopelli’s Flute Seventeen-year-old Molly is Part fantasy, part reality, this plagued by nightmares and novel is set against the ruins of visions of a girl who died over the Anasazi cliff dwellings. Tep eighty years ago. (Summary from finds an ancient flute that causes NoveList online fiction guide, March 2003.) him to magically turn into a packrat each night. Added to the plot are a scare about a Spinner, Stephanie deadly virus that Tep’s mother may have Quiver contracted, and a stranger who has mystical When her father commands that powers. she produce an heir, the huntress Atalanta gives her suitors a MacCullough, Carolyn seemingly impossible task in order to uphold Once a Witch her pledge of chastity, as the gods of ancient Born into a family of witches, Greece look on. (Summary from NoveList fiction seventeen-year-old Tamsin is guide, March 2003) raised believing that she alone lacks a magical "Talent," but when Stead, Rebecca her beautiful and powerful sister is taken by When You Reach Me an age-old rival of the family in an attempt to As her mother prepares to be a change the balance of power, Tamsin contestant on the 1980s discovers her true destiny. (Summary from television game show, "The Follett Destiny, November 2009). $20,000 Pyramid," a twelve-year- old New York City girl tries to Mlynowski, Sarah make sense of a series of mysterious notes Gimme a Call received from an anonymous source that After accidentally dropping her seems to defy the laws of time and space. cell phone into a fountain at (Summary from Follett Destiny, November the mall, fourteen-year-old 2009). Devi Banks starts to get phone calls--and an earful of advice on how to live Ward, David her life to avoid making disastrous choices-- Archipelago from her seventeen-year-old self. (Summary Twelve-year-old Jonah and his from Follett Destiny, November 2010). mother are exploring the natural beauty of the Queen Charlotte Islands. One Nolan, Han day, a mysterious girl appears wading in the If I Should Die Before I Wake waters near their float house, and an even As neo-Nazi Hilary lies in a more mysterious mist saves Jonah from his coma in the hospital, she own plunge off a cliff top, Jonah is plunged becomes Chana living in Poland into a time travel adventure that takes him
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 14
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back 14,000 years. (Summary from david Martin, Ann M. ward.ca/news.htm. Oct 2009) The Doll People 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 Martin, Ann M. small town on the Maine coast. (Summary from The Meanest Doll in the Hennepin Co. Library, April 2005) World Annabelle and Tiffany, Yolen, Jane The Devil’s Arithmetic dolls who are best friends Hannah resents the traditions of living in the Palmer house, her Jewish heritage until time have an adventure when they hide in Kate travel places her in the middle of Palmer's backpack, are carried to school, a small Jewish village in Nazi- mistakenly go to another house, and try to occupied Poland. stop Princess Mimi, a doll who threatens all doll kind.
Toy and Object Fantasy Waugh, Sylvia The Mennyms series Card, Orson Scott The Mennyms are a family of Ender’s Shadow dolls, made by an elderly woman Follows the life of Ender before her death and imbued Wiggin’s comrade Bean—his with the ability to think and escape from the mean streets of speak. For many years they have lived Rotterdam to his student days at undisturbed in their London house, but the Battle School to his role as Ender’s right- existence is threatened when a new landlord hand ally, strategist and friend in the epic writes a letter stating he intends to visit. struggle to save Earth from alien invaders. Urban Fantasy Coville, Bruce Into the Land of Unicorns Following her grandmother’s Armstrong, Kelley instructions, Cara uses a magic Gathering Sixteen-year-old Maya suspects amulet to enter the world of there may be a link between her Luster, where the unicorns live. paw-print birthmark, her While dodging a unicorn hunter and other connection with wild animals, enemies, Cara befriends several sentient and the strange events occurring in her tiny creatures and confronts a family secret. Vancouver Island community, where a
medical research facility harbors big secrets.
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 15
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(Summary from Follett Destiny, October love with, but with the twins return, strange 2011). things begin to happen in Kami's small sleepy town. (Summary from Follett Destiny, Black, Holly October 2013). White Cat When Cassel Sharpe discovers Cast, P.C. that his older brothers have Marked used him to carry out their House of Night, Book 1 criminal schemes and then After being accepted as a stolen his memories, he figures out a way to fledgling vampire at the House of turn their evil machinations against them. Night prep school and receiving (Summary from Follett Destiny, November special powers by a goddess, sixteen-year-old 2010). Zoey Montgomery discovers one of her peers is misusing her powers and must decide what Black, Jenna he right thing to do is. (Summary from Glimmerglass www.titlewave.com, November 2009). Dana Hathaway runs away from her alcoholic mother in order to Clare, Cassandra find her father in Avalon; but the City of Bones moment she steps into that world Suddenly able to see demons and she discovers she is a Faeriewalker, someone the Darkhunters who are who can travel between both worlds. dedicated to returning them to (Summary from Follett Destiny, November their own dimension, fifteen- 2010). year-old Clary Fray is drawn into this bizarre world when her mother disappears and Clary Blake, Kendra herself is almost killed by a monster. Anna Dressed in Blood (Summary from Follett Destiny, January Cas Lowood, armed with his late 2013). father's mysterious athame, set out to kill a ghost known as Clare, Casssandra Anna Dressed in Blood, but Clockwork Prince what he believes will be a routine task turns Infernal Devices, Book 2 deadly when he discovers Anna is unlike any As the Council attempts to ghost he has ever encountered before. strip Charlotte of her power, (Summary from Follett Destiny, March 2012). sixteen-year-old orphaned shapechanger Tessa Gray works with the London Shadowhunters to find the Magister Brennan, Sarah and destroy his clockwork army, learning the Rees secret of her own identity while investigating Unspoken his past. (Summary from Follett Destiny, The twin Lynburn sisters, whose January 2013). family has owned the sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in- the-Vale for centuries have returned with their sons, one of which looks remarkably like the imaginary boy in Kami's head, who she is in
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 16
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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 Kate, Lauren Nora, concerned that she seems Torment to be in danger more than the Fallen Series: Book 2 average high school student, and When Daniel, Luce's fallen angel having decided she relies too boyfriend, tells her that he must much on her guardian angel, Patch, sets out to depart in order to hunt the investigate what really happened the night her Outcasts--immortals who wish him dead, he father left for Portland, Maine, and never hides Luce at a school for the gifted on the came back. (Summary from Follett Destiny, California coast, where she learns that Daniel October 2011). may be hiding dangerous secrets about his past. (Summary from Follett Destiny, Fitzpatrick, Becca November 2011). Hush, Hush High school sophomore Nora Larbalestier, Justine has always been very cautious in Liars her relationships, but when Compulsive liar Micah promises Patch, who has a dark side she to tell the truth after revealing can sense, enrolls at her school, she is that her boyfriend has been mysteriously and strongly drawn to him, murdered. (Summary from Follett despite warnings from her best friend, the Destiny, November 2010). school counselor, and her own instincts. (Summary from Follett Destiny, October Maizel, Rebecca 2011). Infinite Days Lenah Beaudonte, a vampire Harris, Lewis whose humanity has been A Taste For Red restored thanks to the sacrifice When some of her classmates of her lover, Rhode, did not disappear, sixth-grader Svetlana, believe she would ever be sixteen or fall in along with her new friends go in love again, but she is having those experiences search of the missing students until her past comes back to haunt her. using her newfound ability as an Olfactive, (Summary from Follett Destiny, November one who has heightened smell, hearing, and 2010). the ability to detect vampires. (Summary from Follett Destiny, November 2009).
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 17
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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)
Marr, Melissa Meyer, Stephanie Wicked Lovely Breaking Dawn Seventeen-year-old Aislinn, who In the fourth and final book in has the rare ability to see faeries, is the Twilight Saga, questions will drawn against her will into a be answered and the fate of centuries-old battle between the Bella and Edward will be Summer King and the Winter Queen, and the revealed. (Summary from survival of her life, her love, and summer all Hennepin County, Sept. 2008) hang in the balance. (Summary from www.hclib.org, 2007) Noël, Alyson Evermore Meyer, Stephanie Immortal Series: Book 1 Twilight Since the car accident that When seventeen-year-old Bella claimed the lives of her family, leaves Phoenix to live with her sixteen-year-old Ever can see father in Forks, Washington, she auras and hear people's meets an exquisitely handsome thoughts, and she goes out of her way to hide boy at school for whom she feels an from other people until she meets Damen, overwhelming attraction and who she comes another psychic teenager who is hiding even to realize is not wholly human. (Summary from more mysteries. (Summary from Follett Mackin.com, 2006) Destiny, November 2010).
Meyer, Stephanie Smith, Cynthia Leitich New Moon Tantalize When the Cullens, including her When multiple murders in beloved Edward, leave Forks Austin, Texas, threaten the grand rather than risk revealing that re-opening of her family's they are vampires, it is almost too vampire-themed restaurant, much for eighteen-year-old Bella to bear, but seventeen-year-old, orphaned Quincie worries she finds solace in her friend Jacob until he is that her best friend-turned-love interest, drawn into a "cult" and changes in terrible Keiren, a werewolf-in-training, may be the ways. (Summary from www.hclib.org, 2007) prime suspect. (Summary from Follett Destiny, October 2009)
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Stiefvater, Maggie Young, Suzanne The Raven Boys A Need so Beautiful Though she is from a A compelling Need that family of clairvoyants, Blue Charlotte has felt all her life is Sargent's only gift seems to be growing stronger, forcing her that she makes other people's to connect with people in talents stronger, and when she meets Gansey, crisis, but at the same time other changes are one of the Raven Boys from the expensive taking place and she is terrified by what Aglionby Academy, she discovers that he has Monroe, a doctor and family friend, says must talents of his own--and that together their happen next. (Summary from Follett Destiny, talents are a dangerous mix. . (Summary from Mar 2012). Follett Destiny, September 2013). Yovanoff, Brenna Stiefvater, Maggie The Replacement Shiver Sixteen-year-old Mackie Doyle, a In all the years she has watched being from another world who the wolves in the woods behind was swapped with a human child her house, Grace has been when he was a baby, struggles particularly drawn to an unusual with his allergies to iron, blood, and yellow-eyed wolf who, in his turn, has been consecrated ground and wants desperately to watching her with increasing intensity. live like a normal teenager, and when his (Summary from Follett Destiny, November crush Tate's sister disappears, Mackie sets out 2009). to find her and gets a chance to find his rightful place in the world. (Summary from Ursa, Anne Follett Destiny, September 2011). Breadcrumbs Hazel and Jack are best friends until an accident with a Witches and Wizards magical mirror and a run-in with a villainous queen find Duncan. Lois Gallows Hill Hazel on her own, entering an enchanted New student Sarah is coerced wood in the hopes of saving Jack's life. into giving psychic readings for (Summary form Hennepin County Library, her classmates but draws ire 2012). when her predictions come Waters, Daniel true and reveal the hypocrisy of Pine Crest’s Break My Heart 1000 Times best families. Accused of being a witch, Sarah In the aftermath of realizes she and her classmates are reliving the Event, which past lives as players in the Salem witch trials. made seeing the dead a part of life, Veronica and her Jordan, Sherryl friend Kirk investigate why the ghosts seem to The Raging Quiet be gaining power and stumble upon the Widowed after only two days, sinister plot of a teacher who is seeking a sixteen-year-old Marnie is replacement for his dead daughter. (Summary distrusted by the local villagers. from Follett Destiny, November 2013). When she befriends a deaf boy
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 19
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and invents a signed language, the villagers, evil. You plan to pull out all the stops, but encouraged by Marnie’s hateful brother-in- every time you solve one mystery, three more law, accuse her of witchcraft and demand a evolve. Do you stay the course you started, trial. despite your lack of progress? Do you detour and follow a new lead that may not help? Do McKenzie, Riford you listen to your instincts, or your friends? The Witches of Dredmore Lord Voldemort is preparing for battle and so Hollow must Harry. With Ron and Hermione at his Strange things begin happening at side, he's trying to hunt down Voldemort's Elijah's New England home just Horcruxes, escape danger at every turn, and before his twelfth birthday in find a way to defeat evil once and for all. How 1927, especially after two aunts he had never does it all end? (Summary from Hennepin met whisk him away to Moaning Marsh, County Library, 2008) where he realizes that they are witches who need something from him in order to remove Vande Velde, Vivian a curse. (Summary from Follett Destiny, Oct Stolen 2009) A girl finds herself running through the forest at the edge of Rees, Celia a village with no memory of Witch Child anything, even her own name, Mary, a young witch, fears for and later learns that she might be twelve-year- her own life after her old Isabelle, believed to be stolen by a witch grandmother and mentor is six years before. (Summary from hanged. Luckily, she is rescued and whisked www.hclib.org, October 2009) away to America disguised as a Puritan—all under the protective, often invisible gaze of Thesman, Jean other witches. In the expertly written, potent The Other Ones novel, persecution catches up with Mary in When a bully torments the new the New World. girl at school and a neighbor abandons his son, Bridget’s Rowling, J.K. parents tell her not to get involved in other Harry Potter and the people’s problems. Besides, Bridget has Sorcerer’s Stone problems of her own; she’s a witch who’s The first book in the Harry Potter reluctant to use her powers for fear of being series. On orphaned Harry an outcast. With the help of a cranky fairy, Potter’s eleventh birthday, mysterious however, she learns to accept her true self. missives begin arriving for him. Harry learns that his parents died saving him from an evil sorcerer and that he himself is destined to be a wizard of great power.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows It all comes down to this - a final face-off between good and
Unless noted, all summaries are from Greenwood Publishing Group, Horn Book Guide Online, 1989-2002 20