Archive for the ‘Best Of’ Category
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
Amulet, 2009
Fiction, Graphic Novel
ISBN: 0810983915
224 pages
Synopsis
It’s summer vacation, the weather’s great, and all the kids are having fun outside. So where’s Greg Heffley? Inside his house, playing video games with the shades drawn. …
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Graceling
Harcourt Children’s Books, 2008
Fantasy Fiction
ISBN: 015206396X
480 pages
Synopsis
Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug. …
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The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Henry Holt & Co, 2009
Historical Fiction
ISBN: 0805088415
352 pages
Synopsis
Calpurnia Virginia Tate is eleven years old in 1899 when she wonders why the yellow grasshoppers in her Texas backyard are so much bigger than the green ones. With a little help from her notoriously cantankerous grandfather, an avid naturalist, she figures out that the green grasshoppers are easier to see against the yellow grass, so they are eaten before they can get any larger. As Callie explores the natural world around her, she develops a close relationship with her grandfather, navigates the dangers of living with six brothers, and comes up against just what it means to be a girl at the turn of the century. …
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Fablehaven
Shadow Mountain, 2006
Fantasy Fiction
ISBN: 1590385810
368 pages
Synopsis
For centuries, mystical creatures of all description were gathered to a hidden refuge called Fablehaven to prevent their extinction. The sanctuary survives today as one of the last strongholds of true magic in a cynical world. Enchanting? Absolutely. Exciting? You bet. Safe? Well, actually, quite the opposite… …
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Dreamhunter
Square Fish, 2009
Fantasy Fiction
ISBN: 0312535716
384 pages
Synopsis
Laura comes from a world similar to our own except for one difference: It is next to the Place, an unfathomable land that fosters dreams of every kind and is inaccessible to all but a select few, the dreamhunters. These are individuals with the ability to catch larger-than-life dreams and relay them to audiences in the magnificent dream palace. People travel from all around to experience the benefits of the hunters’ unique visions. …
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The Giant Slayer
Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2009
Historical Fiction/Fantasy
ISBN: 0385733763
304 pages
Synopsis
A girl’s imagination transports polio-afflicted kids into a fantastic world.
The spring of 1955 tests Laurie Valentine’s gifts as a storyteller. After her friend Dickie contracts polio and finds himself confined to an iron lung, Laurie visits him in the hospital. There she meets Carolyn and Chip, two other kids trapped inside the breathing machines. Laurie’s first impulse is to flee, but Dickie begs her to tell them a story. And so Laurie begins her tale of Collosso, a rampaging giant, and Jimmy, a tiny boy whose destiny is to become a slayer of giants. …
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Solace of the Road
David Fickling Books, 2009
Fiction
ISBN: 0375849718
272 pages
Synopsis
Holly’s story will leave a lasting impression on all who travel with her.
Memories of mum are the only thing that make Holly Hogan happy. She hates her foster family with their too-nice ways and their false sympathy. And she hates her life, her stupid school, and the way everyone is always on at her. Then she finds the wig, and everything changes. Wearing the long, flowing blond locks she feels transformed. She’s not Holly anymore, she’s Solace: the girl with the slinkster walk and the supersharp talk. She’s older, more confident—the kind of girl who can walk right out of her humdrum life, hitch to Ireland, and find her mum. The kind of girl who can face the world head-on. …
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