The Cloud Kingdom
by Máire Zepf (Goodreads Author)
5 out of 5 stars
This circular collection of fairy stories is set in the framework of a girl who makes a deal with the fairies after they kidnap her cat. If they return her cat, she agrees to read them a story every week. Each story leads into the next, as the characters in the current story begin to tell another story which leads us into the next chapter, similar to the story structure of The Thousand and One Nights.
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The School for Good and Evil (The School for Good and Evil, #1)
by Soman Chainani (Goodreads Author),Iacopo Bruno (Illustrator)
3 out of 5 stars
Sophie and Agatha are kidnapped and taken to the School for Good and Evil where villains and princesses are trained to follow their own fairy tales. Beautiful Sophie is put in the school for evil to train as a witch, and brooding Agatha is placed in the school for good to become a princess. At first, the girls think they must have been mistakenly placed in the wrong schools, but they gradually realize that the magic can see into their innermost hearts. The girls refuse to conform to the school’s training, insisting that good and evil can be friends, but are they right? Can Sophie and Agatha continue to be friends when everything in the fairy tale world is pushing them apart?
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Tales Before Narnia: The Roots of Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction
by Douglas A. Anderson (Editor)
This collection of short stories and poems includes works that influenced C.S. Lewis or were direct forerunners of some of his ideas. The list includes G.K.Chesterton, George Macdonald, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kenneth Grahame, and Edith Nesbit. There are also works from some of Lewis’s fellow Inklings, friends and acquaintances, such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, Roger Lancelyn Green, and William Lindsay Gresham.
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Silver On The Tree (Dark is Rising #5)
by Susan Cooper
In this final book of the Dark is Rising series, Will and Bran team up with the siblings, Jane, Simon, and Barney to stop the rising of the Dark. Merriman is guiding and advising them, but he can’t foresee all the tricks and devilry of the Dark. Bran must recover the legendry crystal sword from the lost land, and use the sword to cut the silver mistletoe from the tree at the very moment of its flowering.
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The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen
by Lloyd Alexander
Prince Jen goes on a quest to the far north to find a legendary kingdom where the laws are fair and the people happy. He is charged with six wonderful gifts to take to the ruler of the northern kingdom. But along the way, he is delayed by bandits and loses his entourage and finds himself stranded with only one servant to help him. Prince Jen must continue his journey, befriending unlikely misfits along the way – an escaped slave girl who plays the flute beautifully, a mad robber with his own moral code, and a mysterious old man who appears and disappears at whim.
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The Grey King (The Dark is Rising, #4)
by Susan Cooper
5 out of 5 stars
Will is recovering from a serious illness, and is sent for a holiday with his aunt in Wales. There he meets Bran, a mysterious albino boy with a dog who can see the Dark wind of the Grey King. Will is on a quest to find the golden harp and use its music to awaken the Sleepers to fight against the Dark. With the help of Bran and his dog, Will stands up against the menace of the Grey King and searches for the harp, but at a terrible cost.
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The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo, #4)
by Rick Riordan
3 out of 5 stars
Zeus punishes Apollo by turning him into a mortal human. Apollo must complete various trials and serve a demigod named Meg, so that he can regain his godly status. In this fourth book of the series, Meg and Apollo are trying to turn back the zombie forces of the Triumvirate from attacking New Rome. A prophecy tells them that if they can capture the breath of a dying god, they could summon godly help to face Caligula’s armies.
Apollo and Meg are joined by Hazel, Frank, and Reyna in their quest. Lavinia, a lesbian with a crush on a Poison Oak dryad, breaks all the rules of the 12th Legion to help Meg and Apollo sneak in and out of New Rome on their quest.
The Puppets of Spelhorst
by Kate DiCamillo (Goodreads Author), Julie Morstad (Illustrator)
An old sea captain purchases five puppets from a shop window (a king, an owl, a girl, a boy, and a wolf), propelling them on an adventure to find their purpose. Each puppet has their own dreams and desires. The king wishes to hear beautiful music and respected. The wolf wants to bite and chase. The boy dreams of accomplishing some great deed. The girl longs for beauty under the moonlit sky. The owl advises them with wise words.
When the puppets become the property of two little girls, they think they will find their purpose in acting out a story with the children, but the obstacles they face are greater than they can ever imagine.
Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, LeUyen Pham (illustrator)
5 out of 5 stars
The Princess in Black (The Princess in Black, #1)
Princess Magnolia has a secret identity as the Princess in Black. At home, she wears frilly pink dresses and glass slippers, but then she changes into her monster-fighting black outfit and charges to the rescue when monsters attack the land. The monsters sneak out of the underground monster land to try to eat the goats, but the Princess in Black has the ninja skills to beat them back!
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Burning Beauty
by Temple Bailey
4.5 out of 5 stars
Virginia is overshadowed by her selfish brother Rickey, who is convinced that he has the genius to write a bestselling book. He potentially sells the manuscript to a famous editor, Michael McMillan, who is smitten with the lovely Virginia. But Virginia is also being wooed by rich Anthony, who impresses her with his fancy country estate. Virginia must choose if she will marry for money or for love, but her brother’s selfish concerns take precedence and Virginia runs away from both her suitors in order to take care of Rickey.
Rickey is obsessed with a wealthy socialite called Marty that he dubs his “silver witch”. She is his muse for a new book, but she is just toying with him. He barely notices the sweet Mary Lee who truly loves him.
Luminous Libro 