Fantasy Literature for Children ages 9-12.
The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones
The Lives of Christopher Chant is set twenty-five years before the events told in Charmed Life, but was published after it in 1988. Although many would avidly insist that you must read such books in publishing rather than chronological order (just look at the debate that rages over how you’re supposed to read the Chronicles of Narnia) I would suggest reading this before Charmed Life.
February 5th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Diana Wynne Jones | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones
Diana Wynne Jones’s novels, Charmed Life is possibly her most famous, and her most read. It is the first published of her Chrestomanci novels, and it stars many of her most famous characters with her requisite twisting plot and quirky sense of humour. Set in a parallel world ripe with magic, wizards and magical creatures, DWJ’s Chrestomanci quartet were clearly inspirational to J.K. Rowling in her creation of Hogwarts and her wizarding world — a lot of comparisons can be made between the two.
February 1st, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Diana Wynne Jones | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Gregor and the Code of Claw by Suzanne Collins
This is the fifth and series-ending (I shy from ever using the word “final” with regard to fantasy nowadays) book in the Gregor series, one of the most original and powerful young adult fantasy series now in recent years. It is not a standalone book, so if you haven’t read the first four, you should start. Assuming you have, however, how does Code stack up?
I have to admit to some disappointment. While much of what has made Gregor such a strong series can be found here: strongly distinct characters,
January 14th, 2008. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Suzanne Collins | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
To Catch a Mermaid by Suzanne Selfors
I don’t usually read children’s novels and I probably will demur in the future, except for young adult. I did my homework on To Catch a Mermaid and read a bunch of other reviews out there, and none of them are in the least bit negative.
The writing itself is great. It’s about a boy named Boom Broom who brings home a wild baby mermaid (actually more like a toddler) from a reject seafood bucket. The merbaby brings a curse that Boom must break in order to save his sister.
January 7th, 2008. Tia Nevitt (guest)´s rating: 2 | Suzanne Selfors | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Akhenaten Adventure by P.B. Kerr
The adventure in The Akhenaten Adventures involves a pair of twins, 12-yr-old John and Philippa Gaunt, who discover after a series of odd events that they are not simple upper-class adolescents as they’ve always though but a pair of djinns (“genie” is considered vulgar) about to come into their own powers. Soon they’re off to London and the tutelage of their Uncle Nimrod. It turns out, however, that they need to learn their powers quickly, for Nimrod is involved in a dangerous quest to prevent the head of an evil djinn tribe from finding a source of great power,
January 6th, 2008. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | P.B. Kerr | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Published way back in 1963, Time Cat was the first book ever written by Lloyd Alexander, and as such, exists as an interesting comparison to many of his later books, with echoes of plots and characters that will later be used in his more famous and sophisticated works. It is quite a simplistic book, with a straightforward story told in clear but sparse prose, but there are certainly traces of the excellence that is to come in Alexander’s later books,
January 5th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Lloyd Alexander | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Centre of Magic by Pamela Freeman
The Centre of Magic is the final in the three Floramonde books, beginning with The Willow Tree’s Daughter which told of the love between King Max of Floramonde and Salixia, the dryad of the willow tree, their child Princess Betony and her romance with the gardener’s boy Basil. In Windrider we learnt of the chance Betony was offered by the dragon Windrider to “put down roots” and become a dryad herself,
December 30th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Pamela Freeman | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Say what you will about the correct reading order of C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, one thing is certain — The Last Battle needs to be read last. It is not simply because it was written and published last in the series, that it clears up all loose ends in the previous installments and leaves no possible room for any sequels, but because it will change your entire understanding and perception of the last six books. Do what you like with the other books’ reading order,
December 29th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | C.S. Lewis | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Nightbirds on Nantucket by Joan Aiken
When we last saw Dido Twite at the end of Black Hearts in Battersea she was going down with the Dark Dew ship, swept away from her friends Simon and Justin in the middle of the ocean. Whilst the two boys were forced to go on without her (eventually preventing an assassination attempt on the Duke of Battersea), Dido’s fate remained a mystery, that Joan Aiken now resolves for expectant readers in the third book in her Wolves Saga.
December 20th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Joan Aiken | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Where Have the Unicorns Gone? by Jane Yolen and Ruth Sanderson
Most people are struck by the idea of the unicorn: its imagery, its meaning and its origins. Unfortunately in present times the striking and semi-dangerous idea of a horned, goat-legged, lion-tailed creature has been reduced to a sugary-sweet horsey (usually portrayed in various shades of pink or purple).
Jane Yolen and Ruth Sanderson attempt to answer the question of Where Have The Unicorns Gone? The most popular story of where these creatures went to is found within the children’s song,
December 14th, 2007. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Jane Yolen, Ruth Sanderson | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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