Fantasy Literature for Children ages 9-12.
The Iron Ring by Lloyd Alexander
The trademark feature of Lloyd Alexander’s storytelling is to choose a cultural background and weave his own story into the already existing mythology; his most famous example of this is of course The Chronicles of Prydain, in which his own story and characters were melded with the myths and legends of Wales (as found in The Mabinogian). The Iron Ring gets a similar treatment, as worked into the story are elements of The Mahabharata and The Ramayana,
June 18th, 2009. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Lloyd Alexander | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Last Colony by Eoin Colfer
The Artemis Fowl series has always been superbly written and brilliantly conceived, with an astonishing array of humor, techno-gadgets, mind-bending plots, daredevil escapes and rescues… frankly, they have a tendency to leave one dizzy — but enchanted.
And The Last Colony is better than the previous installments.
There are many reasons for this. First, there were at least three places where Colfer could have stopped writing, wrapped the book up, given it a different title, and shipped it off to his publisher and wait to collect his generous royalty checks.
June 18th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 5 | Eoin Colfer | Children | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
THE FORESTWIFE TRILOGY by Theresa Tomlinson
Theresa Tomlinson’s Forestwife is a good kids’ book. For the most part, it kept me interested, but there were many “cheesy” sections that ended way too “neatly” for me. There was also no recognizable “bad guy” which makes a plotline sort of boring and unrecognizable.
The nice thing about The Forestwife was that it was not your typical Robbin Hood/Maid Marian novel. Marian was more of a hero herself in this version, making it an empowering book for young girls,
June 12th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 2 | Theresa Tomlinson | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Wizard in the Tree by Lloyd Alexander
All the wizards have long since departed this land for Vale Innis — but one has been left behind. When Mallory’s favorite oak tree is felled, she finds a surprising discovery inside: an old wizard named Arbican who’s desperate to follow his fellow wizards across the sea. The orphaned Mallory has grown up with stories of magic and enchantment, and couldn’t be more delighted with the discovery — especially if there’s a chance that she can go with him. Mallory does not have the most wonderful life as scullery maid to the nasty Mrs Parsel,
June 12th, 2009. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 2 | Lloyd Alexander | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Slathbog’s Gold by M.L. Forman
Alex Taylor is not having a good day. He didn’t mean to drop all the glasses and break them. Besides it was his cousin’s fault. Thinking that a brisk walk would clear his head, Alex wanders down a street and happens to see a sign in the window of a bookshop: Adventurers Wanted, apply within.
Curious, Alex enters the store and before he knows it he is signing a contract to go on an adventure with an Elf and a Dwarf. With the rest of his company Alex goes on the adventure of a lifetime searching for the evil dragon Slathbog and pursuing his legendary treasure.
June 2nd, 2009. Guest´s rating: 4.5 | M.L. Forman | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Contrary to its daunting size, Foundling is a fun story about a boy with a girl’s name. Rossamund is a Bookchild, meaning he was raised as an orphan, and the only record of his existence is recorded in the book of names at the orphanage. Rossamund is an older child at the orphanage, as he has not yet been chosen to go out into the world and work for whoever chooses him. When he is finally called upon, he is a little downhearted to hear that he is to be a lamplighter.
June 1st, 2009. Skye Walker´s rating: 4 | D.M. Cornish | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud
In the long ago history of Jonathan Stroud’s YA fantasy Heroes of the Valley, the great hero Svein gathered the other 11 heroes of the Valley to fight the Battle of the Rock against the ravening inhuman Trows who had long terrorized the Valley residents, snatching babies and killing women and children at night — the only time the Trow came out. At the end of the battle, the heroes were all dead but the Trow were driven utterly out of the valley and into the heights.
May 27th, 2009. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Jonathan Stroud | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The 13th Reality by James Dashner
The 13th Reality, the first volume of The Journey of Curious Letters by James Dashner, was a complete delight.
Tick (short for Atticus) is your ultimate unlikely hero. He has a birthmark on his neck that he hates so much that he wears a scarf year-round. The school bullies call it the “barf scarf” and when we meet him, he is in the midst of being bullied. That very day, he receives the first in a series of curious letters,
May 16th, 2009. Tia Nevitt (guest)´s rating: 4.5 | James Dashner | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A Glory of Unicorns by Bruce Coville
Bruce Coville (the compiler and editor of this anthology) promised in his introduction no sappy unicorns, tells us that unicorn love is hard and demanding, and unicorns themselves neither safe nor sweet. However, four stories into this book I found that was exactly what the book was delivering — sweet, dreamy, dear little unicorns. Contradicting his own words Coville brings us the story of ‘The Guardian of Memory’ in which unicorns have names such as ‘Arabella Skydancer’ and ‘Manda Seafoam’ and are entirely domesticated,
May 16th, 2009. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Bruce Coville | Children, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
The Last Olympian is Rick Riordan’s conclusion to the well-received Percy Jackson series which involves the attempt by Kronos, the titan displaced ages ago by Zeus and the other Olympians, to rally his fellow titans, as well as assorted monsters, demigods, and disgruntled minor gods, to take down the Olympians and their allies, especially the Olympians’ children — the demigods of Camp Half-Blood led by Percy Jackson (son of Poseidon), Annabeth (daughter of Athena), and Grover (a satyr).
As one might expect of the concluding book,
May 12th, 2009. Bill Capossere and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Rick Riordan | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
so you're saying I should read it? :)
As a native New Yorker, I love the idea of the city being filled with canals and no skyscrapers! And…
How did I miss this? Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
I guess that is true, Marion. And when it comes to "You Only Live Twice," I saw the movie TWICE…
You managed to work in your two loves; vintage fiction and films!