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I love fairy tales! Who hasn’t thought about what they’d wish for if they had 3 magic wishes or dreamed of finding Prince Charming? Alex Flinn, once again, weaves real life and fairy tale magic together to take us on a fun and sometimes funny romp. Johnny and his mom own a shoe repair store in an expensive hotel. Business is not so good and teenage Johnny has to spend 12-18 hours a day there. When a guest at the hotel, an exotic princess, notices him and his work ethic she asks him to help find her brother. The twist? The prince has been cursed by a witch and turned intoRead More →

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In a kingdom of merciless tyrants and swift, brutal justice, Jebel Rum’s family is honored as royalty because his father is The Executioner. But Rashed Rum is near retirement. And when he goes, there will be a contest to determine his successor. It is a contest that thin, puny Jebel has no chance of winning.  Humiliated and ashamed, Jebel sets out on a quest to the faraway home of a legendary fire god to petition for super-human powers so that he can become the most lethal of men and take over his father’s post.  He must take someone with him to be sacrificed to the god, and soRead More →

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In a city a lot like early-20th century New York, 3 teens lives are about to intersect and be changed forever:  sold into slavery by his uncle in Italy, street musician Guiseppe finds a green violin that both leads him to imagine his freedom and towards a life-or-death struggle with his cruel padrone; orphaned clock-maker’s apprentice Frederick yearns to create a magnificent mechanical man that will allow him to make journeyman and hopefully forget the mother who abandoned him; and smart, strong-willed hotel maid Hannah is struggling to bring in enough money to support her family and find a cure for her father’s crippling illness.  Soon each of them discoverRead More →

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Thirteen Days to Midnight, the latest from Patrick Carman, is a thriller from page one.  Being indestructible may seem like a fantastic super power to have, but as Jacob Fielding quickly learns, the addictive allure of testing the limits of fear, the thrill of escaping harrowing accidents unscathed, and even saving another person from certain death, aren’t what they seem to be.  With every heroic act Jacob and his 2 thrill-seeking friends accomplish, the strange power that inhabits Jacob seems to grow stronger, darker, and more like a curse.  He knows something terrible is about to happen, but he can’t convince himself, or his friends,Read More →

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Do you know what it’s like to have a best friend? In Smells Like Dog, you will meet an interesting twelve- year- old boy who doesn’t exactly have that privilege. At least until an unexpected event takes place. The morning started just like any other. Homer Winslow Pudding woke up on his family’s goat farm in Milkydale and finished his chores. He ate breakfast. And he thought about his most favorite thing in the whole entire world: treasure hunting. Just like his famous Uncle Drake Pudding, Homer wanted to be an amazing treasure hunter, working along Drake to find lost jewels and maps. Most ofRead More →

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Australian author Richard Harland’s newest book, Worldshaker, is an action-packed, fast-paced thrill ride that grabs the reader from the first page and keeps you riveted until the satisfying conclusion. Col Porpentine is the grandson and heir to the supreme commander of the juggernaut Worldshaker. A technological marvel, Worldshaker carries over 10,000 people, including the nobility from the Old Country (formerly England) on an endless trip around the world, consuming resources and leaving a trail of destruction behind.  Col is a privileged member of the upper decks and has never questioned the order of things, the mastery of his people, and the mission of Worldshaker.  But then he meetsRead More →

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I’ve wanted to read Rick Yancey’s new book, The Monstrumologist, since it first came in last Fall, but never got around to it. Then it was named a Michael L. Printz Award Honoree, and I finally decided to make time to sit down with this intriguing looking book. And although it’s not quite what I expected, I am glad I did.  The Monstrumologistis the account of the spring of 1888 when Will Henry was a apprentice/assistant to the brilliant, but perhaps mad, Dr. Warthrop, who studies and hunts real-life monsters.  The story is framed by Rick Yancey’s present day acquisition of the notebooks from a doctor who caredRead More →

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Every 100 years humanity is tested and it’s up to 4 teenagers to pass the test and save the world: that’s the premise behind Italian author P. D. Baccalario’s adventure series out this spring from Random House.  It’s December 29th, in Rome, and 12 year olds Harvey from New York, Mistral from Paris, and Sheng from Shanghai are to share a room with their hotel owner’s daughter, Elettra. The four kids discover an amazing coincidence—they all have birthdays on February 29 and that is just the beginning of the strange events that soon engulf them. Mysteriously, they seem to have caused a blackout in Rome,Read More →

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Catherine Fisher’s latest fantasy novel, Incarceron, has recently been released in the US by Dial, and this The Times’ Children’s Book of the Year (2007) is worth picking up. Incarceron is a prison unlike anything you’ve ever imagined: its inmates live their whole lives, from birth to death, in an entirely enclosed world with a vast network of cities, underground tunnels, metal forests, and unbound wilderness, all under the ever-present, all-seeing, sentient Eye of Incarceron.  It has been sealed for centuries and only in legend has anyone ever escaped.  Finn, a 17 year old prisoner, has no memories before waking up in a cell 3 years before. EveryRead More →