Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Series: Children

Fantasy Literature for Children ages 9-12.

Mixed Magics: A short story anthology for Chrestomanci fans

Mixed Magics by Diana Wynne Jones

Mixed Magics (2000) is comprised of four short stories set in the fantasy worlds of Diana Wynne Jones‘s CHRESTOMANCI; an enchanter responsible for the proper use of magic wielded by the various witches, warlocks, sorcerers and enchanters prevalent throughout his world (and several others). Although the stories are readable enough by themselves, filled with Wynne Jones’s trademark humour and originality, it’s best if you’re already familiar with her previous work in the series, these tales being filled with plenty of in-jokes and cameo appearances.

Jennifer Murdley’s Toad: Perhaps the best of the Magic Shop books

Jennifer Murdley’s Toad by Bruce Coville

This may well be my favourite of the MAGIC SHOP books, a series of standalone stories that feature a young boy or girl entering Mr Elives’ Magic Shop and leaving with a strange artefact of some kind — one which will have taught them an important life-lesson by the end of the book (though not before causing them a heap of trouble in the interim).

Perhaps the best thing about the series is that each book is surprisingly different in tone. For instance,

THE OLYMPIANS 9: Artemis: Goddess of the Hunt

Artemis: Goddess of the Hunt by George O’Connor

Artemis is another in the ongoing series of graphic stories about the Greek gods written and illustrated by George O’Connor. The short version of this review is pretty simple: these works are individually nearly all excellent, and the series as a whole, while absolutely great for young readers (and for teachers of young students), is just as fantastic a read/resource for anyone interested in Greek mythology, regardless of age. One reason is that O’Connor doesn’t simply retell the well-known stories,

December 24th, 2016. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Children, Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

The Dark Talent: The penultimate ALCATRAZ book

The Dark Talent by Brandon Sanderson

This review may contain mild spoilers for the previous books in the ALCATRAZ series.

Fans of Brandon Sanderson’s ALCATRAZ VS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS series have been waiting for six years for book five, The Dark Talent (2016), which was finally published a couple of months ago by Starscape (Tor’s children’s imprint). Recorded books brought back Ramon de Ocampo for the audio version that was released at the same time. As I mentioned in my review of the previous book,

The Shattered Lens: Metafiction for middle graders

The Shattered Lens by Brandon Sanderson

This review may contain mild spoilers for the previous books in the ALCATRAZ series.

The Shattered Lens (2010) is the fourth book in Brandon Sanderson’s hilarious middle-grade series called ALCATRAZ VS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS. The first four books were originally published by Scholastic but Starscape (Tor’s young readers imprint) has recently re-issued the series in lovely hardback editions illustrated by Hayley Lazo. The long-awaited fifth volume, The Dark Talent,

The Whizbang Machine: An original MG mystery with execution issues

The Whizbang Machine by Danielle A. Vann

Fifteen year old Elizabeth Yale has been living alone with her mother for eight years, since her father suffered an untimely death and her beloved grandfather Jack, unable to cope with the tragedy, left town to travel around the world. Elizabeth has missed Jack terribly, so she’s delighted when she gets a letter from Jack announcing that he’s coming home, and even more excited when her mother agrees to let her take a trip to Morocco with Jack in a few days.

Angel Catbird by Margaret Atwood

Angel Catbird by Margaret Atwood, Johnnie Christmas & Tamra Bonvillain

For a literary giant who is approached with a seriousness that borders on reverence, Margaret Atwood is perfectly willing to have fun and write whatever she wants. Sometimes that is clearly genre-tinged; sometimes it is darkly humorous, and sometimes it’s a graphic novel for children about a superhero who is part human, part cat and part owl. And that’s the premise of Angel Catbird, Volume 1.

Atwood’s story and words are illustrated by Johnnie Christmas and colored by Tamra Bonvillain.

If the Magic Fits: A castle filled with magical dresses and adventure

If the Magic Fits by Susan Maupin Schmid

In the kingdom of Eliora, eleven year old Darling Dimple is an orphaned servant in Princess Mariposa’s castle, a lowly pot scrubber in the under-cellar of the castle kitchens. She dreams of being a mighty sailor or a great enchantress ― and since she lives in a magic-filled castle built by dragons, surely adventures will come her way! But her daydreams lead to trouble with the castle’s Supreme Scrubstress, who doesn’t take kindly to being splashed with dirty brown dishwater when Darling and her friends are fooling around one day.

The Secret Horses of Briar Hill: finding magic and wings in dark times

The Secret Horses of Briar Hill by Megan Shepherd

Emmaline knows a secret: Briar Hill, a Shropshire mansion which has been turned into a children’s hospital during World War II, has beautiful winged horses that live in the mirrors of its elegant rooms. They move in and out of the mirror-rooms, walking through doorways, nosing half-finished cups of tea. But only Emmaline can see them, and she keeps the secret to herself. She knows the boys like Benny and Jack will tease her mercilessly if they knew. She doesn’t even tell her best friend Anna,

The Graveyard Book: Even the dead characters seem alive

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Ignore the YA label slapped on this one if that gives you pause. Though that won’t be hard to do because The Graveyard Book opens with a hand in the darkness holding a knife wet with the blood of almost an entire family: father, mother, and older child. The knife lacks only the blood of the toddler son to finish its job. Luckily for the reader (and the boy) he escapes into a nearby cemetery where a mothering ghost convinces the cemetery community to protect him.

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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