Root Magic


Eden Royce - 2021
    Her beloved grandmother has just passed away. The local police deputy won’t stop harassing her family. With school integration arriving in South Carolina, Jez and her twin brother, Jay, are about to begin the school year with a bunch of new kids. But the biggest change comes when Jez and Jay turn eleven—and their uncle, Doc, tells them he’s going train them in rootwork.Jez and Jay have always been fascinated by the African American folk magic that has been the legacy of her family for generations—especially the curious potions and powders Doc and Gran would make for the people on their island. But Jez soon finds out that her family’s true power goes far beyond small charms and elixirs...and not a moment too soon. Because when evil both natural and supernatural comes to show itself in town, it’s going to take every bit of the magic she has inside her to see her through.

Malamander


Thomas Taylor - 2019
    Especially not when darkness falls and the wind howls around Maw Rocks and the wreck of the battleship Leviathan, where even now some swear they have seen the unctuous malamander creep…Herbert Lemon, Lost-and-Founder at the Grand Nautilus Hotel, knows that returning lost things to their rightful owners is not easy – especially when the lost thing is not a thing at all, but a girl. No one knows what happened to Violet Parma’s parents twelve years ago, and when she engages Herbie to help her find them, the pair discover that their disappearance might have something to do with the legendary sea-monster, the Malamander. Eerie-on-Sea has always been a mysteriously chilling place, where strange stories seem to wash up. And it just got stranger...

The Search for WondLa


Tony DiTerlizzi - 2009
    Eva's great desire is to go aboveground, and her wish comes true, though not as she had imagined. On the surface, Eva goes in search of other humans--she has never met one--and soon meets both friend and foe.

Heaven's Net Is Wide


Lian Hearn - 2007
    This is the story of Lord Otori Shigeru — who has presided over the entire series as a sort of spiritual warrior-godfather — the man who saved Takeo and raised him as his own and heir to the Otori clan. This sweeping novel expands on what has been only hinted at before: Shigeru's training in the ways of the warrior and feudal lord, his relationship with the Tribe of mysteriously powerful assassins, the battles that tested his skills and talents, and his fateful meeting with Lady Maruyama.Heaven's Net Is Wide is an epic tale of warfare, loyalty, love, and heartbreak. This book leaves off where Across the Nightingale Floor begins, finally bringing the Otori series full circle. And while it both completes and introduces the Tales of the Otori, it also stands on its own as a satisfying, dramatic novel of feudal Japan.

The Emerald Atlas


John Stephens - 2011
    Ripped from their parents as babies, they are being protected from a horrible evil of devastating power, an evil they know nothing about.Until now.Before long, Kate, Michael, and Emma are on a journey through time to dangerous and secret corners of the world...a journey of allies and enemies, of magic and mayhem. And — if an ancient prophesy is correct — what they do can change history, and it is up to them to set things right.

The Lost Frost Girl


Amy Wilson - 2017
    The Lost Frost Girl is an enchanting modern-day fairy tale about family, friendship, and the magic of embracing who you are meant to be.Owl has the kind of mom who would name her Owl, a dad she’s never met, and a boy who gives her strange looks at school—but Owl has come to accept that this is as normal as her life is going to get.Until Owl finds out that she is Jack Frost’s daughter. Determined to meet him, Owl delves into Jack’s wonderful world of winter and magic—the kind of place she thought only existed in fairy tales. And as she notices frost patterns appearing on her skin and her tears turning to ice, Owl starts to wonder if being Jack Frost’s daughter means that she has winter powers of her very own.

How to Catch a Bogle


Catherine Jinks - 2013
    Birdie McAdam, a ten-year-old orphan, is tougher than she looks. She's proud of her job as apprentice to Alfred the Bogler, a man who catches monsters for a living. Birdie lures the bogles out of their lairs with her sweet songs, and Alfred kills them before they kill her. On the mean streets of Victorian England, hunting bogles is actually less dangerous work than mudlarking for scraps along the vile river Thames. (See glossary!) Or so it seems—until the orphans of London start to disappear . . .

The Storm Begins


Damian Dibben - 2011
    He is plunged into a world of secret societies, dangerous double agents, and a terrifying countdown to oblivion. Transported by a Spanish galleon back to 19th century France, he finds himself in the headquarters of The History Keepers - a remarkable league of time-travelling special agents. The History Keepers preserve the true course of history against those who would change it for their own gain, such as the diabolical Prince Zeldt. Driven by a sense of adventure and a desire to reunite his family, Jake makes the most thrilling - and dangerous - decision of his life.

The Spindlers


Lauren Oliver - 2012
    Perfect for fans of the author’s other middle grade novels: Liesl & Po and the Curiosity House series.Looking across the breakfast table one morning, twelve-year-old Liza feels dread wash over her. Although her younger brother, Patrick, appears the same, Liza knows that he is actually quite different. She is certain that the spindlers—evil, spiderlike beings—came during the night and stole his soul. And Liza is also certain that she is the only one who can rescue him.Armed with little more than her wits and a huge talking rat for a guide, Liza descends into the dark and ominous underground to save Patrick's soul. Her quest is far from easy: she must brave tree-snakes, the Court of Stones, and shape-shifting scawgs before facing her greatest challenge in the spindlers' lair, where more than just Patrick's soul is at stake.

Hail! Hail!


Harry Turtledove - 2018
     Fresh from Duck Soup (1933), Julius, Leonard, Arthur and Herbert Marx - or as the world knows them, Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo - are transported by a freak electrical storm to Nacogdoches, Texas in the year 1826. Landing in the midst of the Fredonian Rebellion (the first attempt by settlers in Texas to secede from Mexico) and into the company of the only other Jewish person in town, they are in deep dreck. Falling in with Stephen F. Austin and inadvertently filling his head with knowledge of what is to come, our heroes risk tampering with the future of Texas, and perhaps the entire U.S.A., in their quest to return to their own time. Will they find their way back? Or will they be doomed to live out their lives without indoor plumbing?

The Miller's Girl: A Rumpelstiltskin Fairy Tale


Nina Clare - 2017
    Suddenly life has become very dangerous, and which impending fate is worse – execution or a forced marriage to a mad, old king?It will take faith, courage, and otherworldly help for Adela to outwit those who would destroy her and her loved ones. And a happy ending is something she can only hope for.

The Flame of Olympus


Kate O'Hearn - 2011
    Suddenly allied with a winged horse she’d always thought was mythical, Emily is thrust into the center of a fierce battle between the Roman gods and a terrifying race of multiarmed stone warriors called the Nirads. Emily must team up with a thief named Paelen, the goddess Diana, and a boy named Joel in order to return Pegasus to Olympus and rescue the gods from a certain death. Along the way, Emily and her companions will fight monsters, run from a government agency that is prepared to dissect Pegasus, and even fly above the Manhattan skyline—all as part of a quest to save Olympus before time runs out.

Mouseheart


Lisa Fiedler - 2014
    Soon he finds himself below the bustling streets of Brooklyn, deep within the untamed tangles of transit tunnels, and in Atlantia, a glorious utopian rat civilization.But all is not what it seems. Though Hopper is treated as a royal guest, he misses his siblings that he lost in the escape attempt. That, and Atlantia is constantly threatened by the rebels who wish to bring the city to its knees. And there are cats everywhere in Atlantia, cats that leave the citizens unharmed and no one can seem to answer why.Soon, Hopper is caught in the crosshairs of a colossal battle, one that crosses generations and species. As the clashes rage, Hopper learns terrible, extraordinary secrets: Deadly secrets about Atlantia. Painful secrets about his friends.And one powerful secret about his destiny.

The Sower of Tales


Rachna Gilmore - 2005
    She dreams and muddles her way through her days, bumbling her chores and exasperating her mother. But when evening comes, and with it the Talemeet, Calantha comes to life. She is open and attentive to everything: the Gathering, the words of release, the Tale itself, and the harmony after, when the villagers, their worries put away for a while, peacefully watch the seeds waft way.And then something dreadful happens. In every field, in every ditch across the Plains where Story Pods used to grow, there is no new growth. Calantha is sickened, and not just by thinking about the end of the Tales. She can't stand that no one else seems to care: the threat from the northern king is worry enough, they believe. So she decides it's up to her to do what's necessary: to seek the legendary Sower of Tales, and find out what's really happening on the Plains.In The Sower of Tales, Governor-General's Award-winning author Rachna Gilmore has created a fantastic world and a stirring adventure; and Calantha, impatient and stubborn, dreamy and single-minded is an entirely human heroine whose personal journey goes straight to the heart.Winner of the National Chapter of Canada IODE Violet Downey Book Award for 2005Winner of the 2005 Jane Addams Children's Book Awards in the category of Honor Books for Older ChildrenA 2006 Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award Honour BookRed Maple Award shortlist, 2005

The Dark Beneath


Alan Gibbons - 2003
    But her world is turned upside down by three refugees, all hiding from life. Anthony is fourteen, already an outcast, bullied and shunned by his peers. Farid is an asylum seeker from Afghanistan, who has traveled across continents seeking peace. And Gordon Craig is a bitter, lonely old man. She knows all of them, but she doesn't know how dangerous they are. Being part of their lives could cost Imogen her own. Supercharged with tension and drama, this novel explores what happens when the fabric of normality is ripped apart, exposing the terrifying dark beneath.