Book picks similar to
Ghostly Beasts by Joan Aiken
childrens-fantasy
childrens-fiction
wanted
age-10
The Children of Green Knowe
Lucy M. Boston - 1954
M. Boston's thrilling and chilling tales of Green Knowe, a haunted manor deep in an overgrown garden in the English countryside, have been entertaining readers for half a century.There are three children: Toby, who rides the majestic horse Feste; his mischievous little sister, Linnet; and their brother, Alexander, who plays the flute. The children warmly welcome Tolly to Green Knowe... even though they've been dead for centuries.But that's how everything is at Green Knowe. The ancient manor hides as many stories as it does dusty old rooms.And the master of the house is great-grandmother Oldknow, whose storytelling mixes present and past with the oldest magic in the world.
The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail
Richard Peck - 2013
Fans of The Tale of Desperaux, A Little Princess, and Stuart Little will all be captivated by this memorable story of a lovable orphan mouse on an amazing quest.The smallest mouse in London’s Royal Mews is such a little mystery that he hasn't even a name. And who were his parents? His Aunt Marigold, Head Needlemouse, sews him a uniform and sends him off to be educated at the Royal Mews Mouse Academy. There he's called "Mouse Minor" (though it's not quite a name), and he doesn't make a success of school. Soon he's running for his life, looking high and low through the grand precincts of Buckingham Palace to find out who he is and who he might become.Queen Victoria ought to be able to help him, if she can communicate with mice. She is all-seeing, after all, and her powers are unexplainable. But from her, Mouse Minor learns only that you do not get all your answers from the first asking. And so his voyage of self-discovery takes him onward, to strange and wonderful places.
The Time of the Ghost
Diana Wynne Jones - 1981
Then, to her horror, she encounters the ancient evil that four peculiar sisters have unwittingly woken -- and learns she is their only hope against a deadly danger.
The Bookstore Mouse
Peggy Christian - 1995
This rollicking allegory is for every book lover, every story lover, every lover of words--and the bane of censors everywhere.
The Very Little Princess
Marion Dane Bauer - 2010
Why else would she have such a lovely pink gown? Why else would she have such golden hair and flawless skin? And why else would she have a four-foot, curly-haired human creature to wait on her? Meanwhile Zoey, that four-foot, curly-haired creature, has always dreamed that someday one of her dolls would come alive. But in her dreams, the doll never ordered her around. The doll didn’t call her a servant. And the doll was a whole lot nicer!In a classic storyteller’s voice, Marion Dane Bauer tells an exquisite tale of friendship, family, and loss, laced with humor and joy.
Sheep
Valerie Hobbs - 2006
Thepuppy had never been so scared or so excited in his life. Soonhe was racing, feinting, dodging - learning what it means to beone of the proud breed of Border collies, the finest sheepherdersin the world. Then, almost overnight, his life is turned upsidedown. He finds himself in a series of strange places, with nosheep, his family gone. With nothing but the courage he wasborn with and a dream, he searches for the life he once knew,gathering names and adventures as he goes. For a short time,he's called Blackie. To the Goat Man, he's Shep. To Hollerin,he's Spot. There's one name that threatens to forever haunthim - Sparky, the name Billy the circus man calls him when hereaches for the whip. But there's another name that he is given,one that finally makes him feel at home . . .Known for her rich character development, the author bringsall her skills to delving into the mind of a clever, philosophical,and hopeful dog searching for a home.
Dear Hound
Jill Murphy - 2009
So he's extremely upset when Charlie goes away and leaves him with a sitter-upset enough that he escapes into the woods. With the help of some friendly foxes, Alfie learns to live in the wild, but he never stops thinking of Charlie and trying to find his way home. And Charlie, of course, never stops thinking of Alfie, either. Will these two be able to find each other before it's too late? Featuring irresistible black-and-white line drawings on every spread, Dear Hound is both an accessible, heartwarming story and the perfect choice for readers graduating out of early chapter books.
The Shades
Betty Brock - 1973
Her house is bleak and empty and he keeps seeing shadows when nobody is there. Emily laughs at him. "You'll get used to them," she says. "Everybody does."However, Hollis meets the real shadows, who live in the summerhouse, when he discovers the magic of the dolphin fountain. The Shades are delighted and they welcome Hollis into the family. Each day he roams the garden with the Shades. He makes Emily celebrate his birthday party outside so that the Shades can eat the shadow of his cake. At the end of the summer, an evil force threatens to enslave the Shades and it is Hollis who must work out a plan to save them.(From the inside flap of the dustcover.)
Lightland
Heather McCutchen - 2002
But when Lottie's father carves for her a magical box from an old cherry tree, she and Lewis are transported to LightLand, a fantasy world created by the memories of real-world people. The wicked NightKing rules over LightLand, determined to destroy its citizens by stealing their memories. Soon, Lottie and Lewis are leading the struggle to overcome the NightKing, during which they must confront some painful memories of their own and find the strength to endure the
Elizabeth and Zenobia
Jessica Miller - 2016
And Zenobia’s company can be very trying! When Elizabeth’s father takes them to live in his family home, Witheringe House, Zenobia becomes obsessed with finding a ghost in the creepy old mansion and forces Elizabeth to hold séances and wander the rooms at night. With Zenobia’s constant pushing, Elizabeth investigates the history of the house and learns that it does hold a terrible secret: Her father’s younger sister disappeared from the grounds without a trace years ago.Elizabeth and Zenobia is a wonderfully compelling middle-grade story about friendship, courage, and the power of the imagination.
Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy
Karen Foxlee - 2014
She and her sister Alice are still grieving for their dead mother when their father takes a job in a strange museum in a city where it always snows. On her very first day in the museum Ophelia discovers a boy locked away in a long forgotten room. He is a prisoner of Her Majesty the Snow Queen. And he has been waiting for Ophelia's help.As Ophelia embarks on an incredible journey to rescue the boy everything that she believes will be tested. Along the way she learns more and more about the boy's own remarkable journey to reach her and save the world.A story within a story, this a modern day fairytale is about the power of friendship, courage and love, and never ever giving up.
The Waterstone
Rebecca Rupp - 2002
Twelve-year-old Tad — who is only a few inches tall — doesn’t even notice it at first. Busy practicing with his new spear, arguing with his sister, Birdie, and living the normal life of a youngling of the Fisher Tribe, he thinks little of a stream slowed to a trickle here, a pond suddenly dwindling there. But Tad begins to have strange flashbacks — glimpses of the past that he knows can't possibly be his own. With these "rememberings" haunting him, he and Birdie begin an adventure marked by great sorrows, fierce battles, and unbreakable friendships. In this remarkable rite of passage, Tad grows to know who he really is and what his destiny holds. For only he can restore the water and save the forests and animals and Tribes.Only he can retrieve the Waterstone.
The Tale of Urso Brunov: Little Father of All Bears
Brian Jacques - 2003
The strongest, wisest, bravest bear in the world, he is also the smallest, no bigger than the size of your thumb. Other animals of the forest stand in awe of him-except one: a mustached monster who captures four of Urso's bears and puts them in his zoo, but who learns all too soon that the Little Father is truly a force to be reckoned with. On his way to rescue the lost bears, Urso Brunov matches wits with a tribe of boars, teaches manners to a billygoat, skims across the Deep River on a wooden flute, and finally confronts the Lord of All Sands. He'll get those bears back, never fear-believe him, for he is Urso Brunov!
City of Shadows
Celia Rees - 2002
Here he confronts both good and bad spirits and one evil shapeshifter who follows him back to his own time to bring him to his death.
Fur
Meg Harper - 2006
Yet there are many distractions back on dry land - her strange vivid dreams, her demanding swimming coach, the attentions of the gorgeous Nik Bentley, and the worries about the downy skin she constantly tries to hide.