Book picks similar to
Foxspell by Gillian Rubinstein
young-adult
fantasy
fiction
ya
Storm Boy
Colin Thiele - 1963
After a pelican mother is shot, Storm Boy rescues the three chicks, and nurses them back to health. He names them Mr Proud, Mr Ponder and Mr Percival. After he releases them, his favourite, Mr Percival, returns. The story then concentrates on the conflict between his lifestyle and the externally imposed requirement for him to attend a school, and the fate of the pelican.
The Complete Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie
May Gibbs - 1918
As well as many friends, along the way they encounter the wicked Banksia Men.
The Cuckoo Clock
Ennis Graham - 1877
At night the clock transports her to magical places.
Nobody's Family Is Going to Change
Louise Fitzhugh - 1974
They have been received by young readers, year after year, with excitement and love. The new Fitzhugh novel shares the vigorous sense of comedy and the unflinching fidelity to the real world that distinguished her earlier books. Many readers will feel, however, that Nobody's Family Is Going to Change is even finer than its predecessors. Willie, seven years old, wants to dance. Emma, his older sister, wants to be a lawyer. Is there something wrong with them? Or is there something wrong with their parents, whose dreams for their children, the ordinary dreams of New York's black middle class, have little to do with what the children want? For Willie won't stop dreaming of the day he will dance with his uncle Dipsey on Broadway, and Emma is determined that someday she will address a courtroom. In this novel, the work of a matchless storyteller , Emma finds an answer for children with families that will not change.
Following the Mystery Man
Mary Downing Hahn - 1988
He was busy reading the drugstore bulletin board when Madigan first saw him. He sure was good looking! His hair was dark and he had a full beard with a mustache that curled up on the ends and hid his mouth, just as his silver sunglasses hid his eyes. Then he walked right up to the soda fountain where Madigan and her friend Angie were sipping cherry Cokes, and asked for directions to Madigan's house!Now the handsome "mystery man" is renting a room in her very own home -- and Madigan is about to take some dangerous risks to find who he is...
West of the Moon
Margi Preus - 2014
After being separated from her sister and sold to a cruel goat farmer, Astri makes a daring escape. She quickly retrieves her little sister, and, armed with a troll treasure, a book of spells and curses, and a possibly magic hairbrush, they set off for America. With a mysterious companion in tow and the malevolent “goatman” in pursuit, the girls head over the Norwegian mountains, through field and forest, and in and out of folktales and dreams as they steadily make their way east of the sun and west of the moon.
The Night Fairy
Laura Amy Schlitz - 2010
Depicted in the lush back garden of an old giantess, garbed in delicate softly tinted petal gowns, she fiercely practices her sting, swings a thorn dagger, bribes always hungry squirrel Skuggle, and seeks to ride an iridescent hummingbird - to transform her nature into a day fairy instead.
The Friends
Rosa Guy - 1973
Her problems seem overwhelming: New York, after life on her sunlit West Indies island, is cold, cruel and filthy. She is insulted daily and is beaten up by classmates. What Phyllisia needs, God not being interested, is a friend.Edith Jackson--She is fifteen. Her clothes are unpressed, her stockings bagging with big holes. Her knowledge of school is zero. She has no parents, she swears and she steals. But she is kind and offers her friendship and protection to Phyllisia. "And so begins the struggle that is the heart of this very important book: the fight to gain perception of one's own real character; the grim struggle for self-knowledge."--Alice Walker, The New York Times
The Forgotten Daughter
Caroline Dale Snedeker - 1933
Cruelly treated, and with no hope of freedom, her only escape is into the stories of her Grecian mother's home town of Eresos, as told to her by Melissa, a fellow-slave and her mother's dearest friend.Aulus, a brave young Roman soldier, is banished from Rome and escapes to his own villa in the Italian countryside. There he is faced by a life-threatening misfortune, is saved by the enchanting young Chloe, and falls in love with her, despite the fact that she is a slave.This historically accurate book is a captivating story of adventure, love, Chloe's struggle with the anger and hatred she feels toward her father, and the forgiveness she learns that cleanses her soul.
Biggles The Camels Are Coming
W.E. Johns - 1932
"The Camel closed up until it was flying beside him; the pilot smiling. Biggles showed his teeth in what he imagined to be an answering smile. 'You swine,' he breathed: 'you dirty, unutterable, murdering swine! I'm going to kill you if it's the last thing I do on earth.'"
The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler
Gene Kemp - 1977
Their friendship lands Tyke in all kinds of trouble at Cricklepit Combined School. Matters come to a head when Tyke climbs the school's bell-tower and surprises everyone.
Well Witched
Frances Hardinge - 2007
After all, who's really going to miss a few tarnished coins?The well witch does.And she demands payback: Now Ryan, Josh, and Chelle must serve her . . . and the wishes that lie rotting at the bottom of her well. Each takes on powers they didn't ask for and don't want. Ryan grows strange bumps--are they eyes?--between his knuckles; Chelle starts speaking the secrets of strangers, no matter how awful and bloody; and Josh can suddenly--inexplicably--grant even the darkest of wishes, the kind of wishes that should never come true.Darkly witty, wholly unexpected, and exquisitely sinister, Frances Hardinge's Well Witched is one well-cast tale that readers didn't know they were wishing for.
The Magician's Elephant
Kate DiCamillo - 2009
With atmospheric illustrations by fine artist Yoko Tanaka, here is a dreamlike and captivating tale that could only be narrated by Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo. In this timeless fable, she evokes the largest of themes — hope and belonging, desire and compassion — with the lightness of a magician’s touch.
The Seventh Wish
Kate Messner - 2016
From her Mom's new job to her sister's life at college, everything seems more important than Charlie. Then one day while ice fishing, Charlie makes a discovery that will change everything . . . in the form of a floppy fish offering to grant a wish in exchange for freedom. Charlie can't believe her luck but soon realizes that this fish has a very odd way of granting wishes as even her best intentions go awry. But when her family faces a challenge bigger than any they've ever experienced, Charlie wonders if some things might be too important to risk on a wish fish.