Fantasy Literature for Children ages 9-12.
THE ASGARDIANS 1: Odin by George O’Connor
What do you do when you finish a 12-title series of graphic novels (THE OLYMPIANS) covering a huge chunk of Greek mythology, one that should be a required purchase for all parents, libraries, and schools? Well, if you’re George O’Connor, apparently you look around and go, “Who’s next?” The answer, it turns out, is THE ASGARDIANS. And thank the Norse gods for that.
O’Connor opens up his new series with Odin,
March 25th, 2024. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Children, Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Dark Waters by Katherine Arden
The third (but clearly not final, given its cliffhanger ending) book in the SMALL SPACES QUARTET sees our three eleven-year-old protagonists once more go up against “the Smiling Man,” an immortal fey creature who loves to make deals and play games with unsuspecting mortals. As I anticipated after Small Spaces and Dead Voices, it’s Brian’s turn to be front-and-center while Ollie and Coco take on supporting roles.
Having received a cryptic note that promises yet another round of the terrifying feud they’ve been dragged into,
March 19th, 2024. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Katherine Arden | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Have you ever read a book in which the plot and characterization are best described as “fun but not special” only to completely fall in love with the world in which they’re set? In this case, there’s nothing wrong with the story of Hedgewitch (even if it hews a little too closely to the HARRY POTTER formula for its first few chapters: a magically-gifted child escapes a terrible environment with the help of a flying broomstick and a talking cat) but the construction and ambiance of the setting is just intoxicating.
March 8th, 2024. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Skye McKenna | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep by Philip Reeve
Philip Reeve has been one of my favourite authors for a while now, even though most of his stories are slightly outside my preferred genres. I loved Railhead, which was science-fiction, and Mortal Engines, which was dystopian – so imagine the weird squeaky noise of excitement I made on discovering that his latest book was not only in my genre wheelhouse (fantasy, of course) but which bore the captivating title of Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep (2021).
February 20th, 2024. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Philip Reeve | Children | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Fenris and Mott by Greg Van Eekhout
Fenris and Mott is Greg Van Eekhout’s charming middle grade fantasy-adventure, published in 2022. Mott—short for Martha—is a Pennsylvanian recently uprooted and transplanted to southern California, and Fenris is… well, Fenris is the wolf from Norse mythology, destined to eat the moon and usher in endless winter, endless darkness, and the age of the sword.
Mott is no stranger to broken promises, and when the book opens, she has come off a long string of them. Her absentee father is famous for making promises he doesn’t keep.
November 21st, 2023. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Greg Van_Eekhout | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Knock Three Times by Cressida Cowell
The third book in Cressida Cowell‘s THE WIZARDS OF ONCE sees our young protagonists on an adventure to collect the rare ingredients needed to banish the terrible Witches that have recently awoken all across Ancient Britain.
As difficult as it may be to find the scales of a Nuckalavee, it’s even stranger to consider the team they’ve assembled to retrieve them. Xar is the youngest son of the Head Wizard Encanzo, while Wish is the daughter of the cold Queen Sychorax,
November 11th, 2022. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Cressida Cowell | Children | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
What Lives in the Woods by Lindsay Currie
Ginny — or Gin — Anderson is looking forward to the summer writing workshop she’s going to attend with her best friend Erica, in their hometown of Chicago, until Dad upends the family’s plans because of a job. He’d going to restore a century-old house-turned-hotel, The Woodmoor Manor, in Michigan. The family will live there while he works.
This sounds terrible to Gin and her older brother Leo. While Leo is soon appeased by the news that Saugatuck, the nearby small town,
October 18th, 2022. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Lindsay Currie | Children, Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Ghostlight by Kenneth Oppel
Kenneth Oppel’s Ghostlight is a quick-moving MG story involving a trio of teens battling a long-dead villain seeking to raise an army of ghosts in modern-day Toronto. Full of action, the narrative also includes a number of brief but effective emotional moments and also highlights the poor treatment of Native groups.
Gabe Vasilakis has a summer job giving the Ghost Tour of the Toronto’s Gibraltar Point Lighthouse, which in 1839 saw the unexplained deaths of its keeper and his 16-year-old daughter, Rebecca Strand.
August 25th, 2022. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Kenneth Oppel | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Scary Stories for Young Foxes: The City by Christian McKay Heidicker
Three young fox kits, romping through their first heavy snow, come upon a gravely injured older fox in the woods. The wounded fox asks for their help, and the kits are understandably reluctant. Then the stranger fox says that he needs to tell them a story first. A scary story, but not of predators and dangers of the forest. The City and a nearby farm have equally horrifying dangers for foxes.
The Stranger’s story begins at a fox farm,
June 15th, 2022. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Christian McKay Heidicker | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Dionysos: The New God by George O’Connor
With Dionysos, writer/illustrator George O’Connor’s OLYMPIANS series comes to an end after 12 titles and at this point, having reviewed a third of them and read more, all’s that need be said is either now you can complete your collection or, if you haven’t yet purchased any — and really, why haven’t you? —, now you can go out and get the whole thing. Because it’s simply great, start to finish. We’ve reviewed these previous installments: Zeus,
March 1st, 2022. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Children, Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.