Tag Archives: Fantasy

Elem./MG – Misfit Mansion

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Davault, Kay. Misfit Mansion. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2023. 978-1-665-90308-0. unpaged. $22.99. Grades 3-6.

Iris has lived in the Misfit Mansion for a long time. She doesn’t remember much about her own origin as a horror—just that she simply existed one day. Other horrors live in the mansion, too. They are kept safe from humans by a magic seal placed on the door. When their human protector, Mr. Halloway, has to leave on business for a few days, havoc reigns after someone breaks the door’s sealing spell. Iris and other horrors take the opportunity to explore the nearby town, Dead End Springs. Conveniently, the town is hosting their annual Harvest Festival, and the horrors have the perfect costume disguise: going as themselves. Things seem to go well at first, but someone is out to ruin the horrors’ fun.

THOUGHTS: Misfit Mansion is a not-too-scary supernatural graphic novel to pick up just in time for autumn festivities and Halloween. The themes of inclusion, diversity, and friendship are also explored here and add depth to this story. The art is colorful, imaginative, and friendly.

Graphic Novel

MG – The Storyteller

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Hobson, Brandon. The Storyteller. Scholastic, 2023. 978-1-338-79726-8 224 p. $17.99. Grades 4-6. 

Sixth-grader Ziggy Echota is diagnosed with anxiety, likely stemming from his Cherokee mother’s disappearance ten years ago when Ziggy was just a baby. Despite efforts to locate his mother, his family has no leads, and Ziggy’s pretty sure his dad gave up hope when the police did. Ziggy’s grandmother and older sister Moon have shared with him stories of the Nunnehi, wise storytelling spirits who protect Cherokees. Ziggy asks an acquaintance Alice for help in searching the desert for Nunnehi caves, in hopes of finding answers to his mother’s disappearance. Soon Ziggy, Alice, and Moon have begun their nighttime journey, and their encounters range from a coyote and a buzzard to a Shakespearean actor and a fortune teller. In each chapter they meet a different spirit, with Ziggy learning something from each of their encounters, which he logs diligently in each chapter. By the end, he doesn’t have clear answers, but he has worked through some of his grief and finds he has community and strength to go on.

Realistic Fiction
Fantasy (Magical Realism)

THOUGHTS: This story is a helpful way to showcase realistic Cherokee beliefs–and realistic disappearances of Native American women.

YA – Divine Rivals

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Ross, Rebecca. Divine Rivals. HarperCollins Publishers, 2023. 978-0-008-58815-1. 367 p. $18.99. Grades 9-12.

Divine Rivals introduces us to Iris whose brother has just left to fight in a war that is being waged between gods. Iris is trying her best at home, but with their mother addicted to alcohol and her job as a writer for a newspaper not going as well as she thought it would, things look bleak. In order to make things seem a little better, she writes letters to her brother that she slips under her wardrobe. However, the person who writes her back isn’t her brother… and she isn’t exactly sure who this mysterious person is. When Iris ends up at the front lines, with her rival from the newspaper Roman, she is forced to confront lots of things she has been ignoring.

THOUGHTS: This is a great young adult fantasy that has an extremely unique plot line, with wonderfully written characters. This will appeal to lots of readers, especially fans of Sarah J. Maas or Cassandra Clare.

Fantasy

MG – The International House of Dereliction

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Davies, Jacqueline. The International House of Dereliction. Clarion, 2023.  978-0-063-25807-5. 230 p. $16.99. Grades 3-6.

Alice and her parents, Professor Cannoli (her mother) and George Potchnik (her father) are facing their eleventh move in Alice’s ten years. Housing is part of Professor Cannoli’s compensation at the college she works for, but the problem is that George and Alice are quite good at fixing things. They fix each house the family moves into so well that the college sells the house for a big profit, then moves them into a new wreck. Professor Cannoli, arguing that Alice is of an age in which being rooted in one home is critical, devises a plan to get the college to let them stay in their new house forever. Rather than fix up their new home, the Cannoli-Potchnick family must accept their new home’s shortcomings without fixing a thing until the college grants it to them as permanent housing. Once moved in, Alice, who is unschooled, feels drawn to the condemned mansion next door, and quickly gets the “Potchnik itch” to begin repairs. As she secretly fixes the house, she discovers that it seems to be alive… and protective of the ghosts who occupy it. The ghosts on their end, believe that Alice has received the “blessing of the house” because SHE can actually see and hear them. As Alice works on her restoration, she gains the trust of The House and unravels clues about the ghosts’ past that will help them move on from the home to become “Settled.” All of this happens as demolition day approaches for the old mansion.

THOUGHTS: This is an absolute gem of a book, with many different layers for middle grade readers to enjoy. Jacqueline Davis successfully creates a unique world of ghosts in which they are classified as Past Dues, Settled Ones, Wanderers, or Captives, depending on their circumstances.  Each ghost appears to Alice in a variety of different forms and with different characteristics (twinkling shards of glass, raindrops, angry squiggles, etc.) that reflect their mood and past. Alice, her parents, and the professors at the college are quirky with unique personalities developed to the author’s descriptions, vocabulary, and writing style for each. This is not a ghost story to scare or thrill, but one to engross middle grade readers in a world of family, the passage of time, character, and storytelling. Highly recommended for all libraries looking for a great story or to expand their readers’ perception of “ghosts.” 

Mystery
Fantasy (Supernatural)

YA – Miles Morales Suspended: A Spider-Man Novel

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Reynolds, Jason. Miles Morales Suspended: A Spider-Man Novel. Atheneum, 2023. 978-1-665-91846-6. 303 p. $19.99. Grades 7-12.

Miles Morales, a teen hiding secret spider super-man powers, uncovers a villainous plot after he receives in-school-suspension (ISS) at his school, Brooklyn Visions Academy. After a blow-up with a racist teacher, Miles is set to serve his ISS day quietly by completing a large packet of work from each of his teachers. As the day progresses, Miles begins to notice there is something a little ‘off’ in the ISS room—and something weird going on with one of his classmates, Tobin. Tobin is in trouble for stealing (and allegedly eating) library books. His ‘spidey-sense’ keeps prickling, and Miles is not quite sure why. Then, Miles thinks he sees a termite crawl across Tobin’s desk…and directly into his ear. Miles ultimately discovers that Tobin is part of a larger plot. Miles must face off against this enemy in order to restore justice—and the freedom to read.

THOUGHTS: Jason Reynolds masterfully weaves together verse and prose to create a layered, complex novel; Suspended could be read and enjoyed by a middle schooler right up to a senior in high school. Reynolds keeps Spider-man cool and relevant to 2023; the book tackles topics of school library censorship and contains social justice themes while still including all of the elements of a classic superhero story. Miles himself is a realistic and nuanced character who grapples with familial and cultural identity, seeing patterns, and understanding consequences. Although this book is technically a sequel to Miles Morales, Spider-man (2018), readers can enjoy Suspended on its own as well.

Fantasy

Elem. – The Piper’s Promise

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Cypess, Leah. The Piper’s Promise. Delacorte Press, 2023. 978-0-593-17891-1. 281 p. $16.99. Grades 3-5.

The Piper’s Promise follows Clare whose brother is the pied piper who stole the children of Hamelin. Clare shows up to the town in order to offer her help to rescue and return the children. The mayor of Hamelin agrees, but insists that Clare must take his daughter Anna with her. As Clare and Anne go off on this adventure into the Faerie Realm, nothing is as it seems and the girls will encounter traps and try to stay away from the Rat Prince in order to accomplish their mission. But Clare knows there has to be a good reason why her brother took the children, and she is determined to find that out!

THOUGHTS: This is the third book in the Sisters Ever After series, but I think this can be read as a stand alone. There isn’t a ton of fantasy/world building within this book, so it’s extremely approachable for younger readers.

Fantasy

YA – Midnight Strikes

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Shahnaz, Zeba. Midnight Strikes. Delacorte Press, 2023. 978-0-593-56755-5. 442 p. $19.99. Grades 9-12.

Midnight Strikes starts with Anais wishing this ball was over so she could stop pretending to like all the bachelors, one of whom her mother is hoping she will choose to marry. When the ball is attacked by bombs and she watches everyone die, Anais thinks this is the end. Imagine her shock when she wakes up the next day, to repeat the same thing over and over again with no one believing her and no way for her to stop this madness. However, in order to stop this from happening and so she can move on (for better or worse), she needs to figure out what is happening and stop this before midnight. Will Anais be able to find anyone who believes her?

THOUGHTS: This is an extremely unique plot twist that keeps the reader guessing what’s going to happen as well as feeling the main character’s frustration at no one believing her. There is some romance in this book; however, it doesn’t show up until the second half of the book.

Fantasy

Elem. – Meesh the Bad Demon

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Lam, Michelle. Meesh the Bad Demon. Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers. 2023. 978-0-593-3727-6. unpaged. $21.99. Grades 3-6.

Meesh lives with her grandmother in Mount Magma, home of the demons and land of the lava. In fact, lava is the essence of life in Mount Magma, and most demons will spend their lives working at one of its lava plants. Meesh, however, would rather be a fairy than a demon. She loves flowers, struggles to breathe fire, and doesn’t find rainbows and unicorns disgusting in the slightest. She also idolizes television star Princess Nouna and her charmed life in Plumeria City. In other words, she is a bad demon. When the lava is infected with a toxin that turns everyone in Mount Magma to stone, Meesh escapes in the nick of time with her grandmother’s amulet. She makes her way to Plumeria City, where she stumbles into Princess Nouna’s birthday party and then right into a portal, with Nouna in tow. When they emerge, they must work together to save Mount Magma, and maybe heal the rift between fairies and demons. Volume 1 of Meesh’s adventures is a little heavy on world-building, but it works to set up Volume 2 with an unresolved plot point. 

THOUGHTS: Meesh the Bad Demon is a heartwarming adventure story that will hook readers with its manga-style artwork, high stakes, and themes of friendship and loyalty. 

Graphic Novel

MG – The Lost Library

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Stead, Rebecca, and Wendy Mass. The Lost Library. Macmillan, 2023. 978-1-250-83881-0. 224 p. $18.99. Grades 4-7.

This well-narrated audiobook centers on Evan, an inquisitive boy who loves to read, as he approaches fifth-grade graduation. He lives in the sleepy town of Martinville, which lacks a library since the fire that burned down the old one twenty-five years ago. Two authors penned this delightful tale, ideal for any bibliophile to peruse. Multiple narrators flesh out the story: Mortimer the gold striped cat; AL, the assistant librarian who lives with the other library ghosts; and Evan. The town has just started a Little Library, and Evan nabbed some of the books from the box–all of them due the same day as the fire. As he gets deeper into one of his selections, How to Write a Mystery, checked out by M.C. Higgins, he tries to figure out who started the fire back in the 1980’s. He wonders if his father’s reticence and lack of communication has anything to do with the tragedy. With his best friend Rafe at his side, Evan follows the possible clues. In alternating chapters, AL reflects on her past, coming from the orphanage to serve as a fledgling librarian under the firm but kind head librarian, Ms. Skoggins, and conducting the book club for the local school children. The wise and attentive Mortimer, dear cat, provides the feline perspective on what it surveys: both the routine at History House where the ghosts reside and the movements of Evan as he puts together the puzzle pieces that point to his own dad. This book is a cozy homage to books, readers, libraries, and librarians.

THOUGHTS: A great read aloud. I hope this book can work its magic to entice listeners that libraries, books, and librarians are important. These two authors are some of the best, and this book will not disappoint. Pair it with the fine picture book about the beginnings of the Little Library or, if there are no Little Libraries in your neck of the woods, start a project to place them around town. If that isn’t possible, connect this book with a book drive for shelters. I just found out about a church food pantry that offers a book room for families. Or build a list of books where animals are key characters. At the very least, reading this book students will learn what a pseudonym is.

Fantasy (Magical Realism)

Elem./MG – Big Tree

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Selznick, Brian. Big Tree. Scholastic Press, 2023. 978-1-338-18063-3. 525 p. $32.99. Grades 3-6

Louise has been hearing a voice but she has no idea where it’s coming from. She has been trying to tell her brother Merwin but he doesn’t really believe her. They are both seeds from a sycamore tree and one day a fire forces their mother sycamore tree to send them into the world. The two seedlings must use all their wits and wisdom to figure out the best place to grow up, avoiding all the dangers they encounter on the way. Big Tree is illustrated throughout the book to further show the world these little seedlings find themselves in. The afterword of the book goes into further detail about the different things found within the book, and the author’s note talks more about where the idea for the book came from.

THOUGHTS: Brian Selznick’s illustrations are so beautiful and make the reader pause and take them in along with the story as they read. The size of this book might intimidate some readers, and the concept might not grab them; however, if they pick up the book they will get caught up in the story. This is a must purchase for any upper elementary collection, even if it might take a book talk to get it moving off the shelf.

Fantasy
Adventure