Carry On

Carry On
By Rainbow Rowell

Simon Snow and Baz Pitch are pretty much opposites; Simon is the Chosen One, Baz is a vampire. Simon is full of magic but not a very controlled magician, Baz is super capable with a wand. Simon is an orphan, Baz is from a wealthy, old-school family of Mages. These two teens are sworn enemies, as well as long-time roommates Watford School of Magicks. They are also secretly in love with each other.
In Rainbow Rowell's silly, fun spin-off from Harry Potter, good and evil are not as black and white as they first appear. There are mysteries to be solved and secrets to be revealed! If you enjoyed Harry Potter, and like the genre of magic boarding school stories, you're in for a treat with this one.

Snow & Rose

Snow & Rose
By Emily Winfield Martin

Two sisters, Snow and Rose, once lived a fancy life with their loving parents in a fancy house with a beautiful garden. But their father disappears one day, and the girls and their grieving mom move to a tiny cottage in the mysterious and possibly dangerous woods. Snow and Rose meet a quirky boy named Ivo, who has a vast knowledge of mushrooms, and they discover a library in the woods filled with magical objects (instead of books!). There is also a bear who befriends the girls and helps them out of some trouble...
This fairy tale is illustrated with gorgeous pictures and is full of mystery, magic, and bonds of friendship and sisterhood.

Skellig

Skellig

By David Almond

In this mysterious story, a soccer-playing boy named Michael moves into an old fixer-upper house with his family. While his mother is in the hospital with his new baby sister--who is very sick--Michael discovers a strange, sickly, ghost-like man in their run-down garage. Michael takes care of this man, who has wings, by bringing him Chinese food and medicine as often as he can. With the help of a neighbor and new friend, Mina, Michael eventually moves "Skellig" to a  more secret, safer place so he can grow stronger. In this mystical novel there are many unanswered questions that make you think about the story long after it ends.

Wishtree

Wishtree

By Katherine Applegate

This is a sweet and funny but also very poignant tale of a changing neighborhood, told from the perspective of a 216-year-old oak tree named Red.
After a new family--who happens to be Muslim--moves into the neighborhood, a vandal carves a mean-spirited "Leave" into the tree's trunk. Red and their animal companions try to help the new family feel more acceptance by coming up with an action plan or two (or three) that involves some real creativity!  

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
By Chris Grabenstein

This is a fun and unusual adventure, perfect for puzzle and secret code lovers!
Set in a fantastic new high-tech library designed by famous game master extraordinaire Mr. Luigi Lemoncello, a group of kids must solve puzzles and follow clues to get out of the library and win the incredible prize being offered!
I think I read somewhere that this book is kind of a cross between Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Mr. Lemoncello seems inspired by Willy Wonka, for sure) and The Hunger Games...but takes place in a library...
If you enjoy it, there are several sequels too.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon

The Girl Who Drank the Moon
by Kelly Barnhill

This fantasy novel received the 2017 Newbery Medal.
It's about a sweet, kind witch--Xan--and the baby girl she adopts and raises, Luna.
It's also about a dysfunctional/dystopian town (reminded me of Jonas's town in The Giver) where every year a baby is sacrificed by the people in charge "for the good of everyone"...but really, it's just to keep the townsfolk scared and powerless.
As Luna approaches her 13th birthday and learns more about her past and her own magical powers, she embarks upon a great and dangerous adventure with her dear friends, a Swamp Monster and a Tiny Dragon....what unfolds is both creepy and beautiful.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
By Ransom Riggs

This is a real page-turner...and pretty spooky, too!
Jacob, 16 years old, was always been enchanted by his grandfather's crazy stories of growing up in an orphanage on a wind-swept island off the coast of Wales--along with a number of children with strange powers and abilities. Jacob has even seen the photos. But as he got older, his grandfather's stories seemed too fantastic to be true. After a mysterious "accident", Jacob is suddenly inspired to investigate the island and track down anyone still connected with the orphanage.
Set against the backdrop of World War II, this novel is a mix of fantasy, reality, mystery and horror...it will keep you guessing!!

This book is part of a trilogy; Hollow City and Library of Souls are the next two books. And Tales of the Peculiar is a collection of short stories that relates to the trilogy. Check them out!

The Lie Tree

The Lie Tree
By Frances Hardinge

The Lie Tree is part historical fiction, part fantasy--a mysterious, intriguingly dark story.
Fourteen year-old Faith Sunderly pretends to be a good, quiet girl because that's what is expected of her in Victorian England. But inside she is a gifted natural scientist, determined to win her famous scientist father's attention.
When he is mysteriously murdered, Faith does some detective work on her own. She discovers a fantastic tree her father has been hiding--a tree that feeds off of lies whispered to it in the dark. In order to learn more, and perhaps unable to resist the power of this strange specimen, Faith begins to spread her own lies. However, this becomes more dangerous that she ever could have imagined... 

Ms. Marvel

Ms. Marvel #1

By G. Willow Wilson
Illustrated by Adrian Alphona

Get ready to be impressed if you have not already heard about Marvel's new superhero Ms. Marvel!
Kamala Khan, a Pakastani-American teenager from Jersey City, NJ, feels like she doesn't quite fit in with most of the other students in her high school; She can't go to parties, she can't eat bacon (her parents are loving but strict, and the family is Muslim), she doesn't feel as devout as her brother and friend Nakia.
After a green misty bomb explodes in her city one night (bringing the new Age of Inhumanity) Kamala is mysteriously given special powers...Kamala loves the original comic book Ms. Marvel--aka Carol Danvers--but is completely surprised when she herself is transformed into Ms. Marvel!
Being a superhero is not all it's cracked up to be, discovers Kamala, and she must figure out ways to make her  new powers work; maybe by starting to be more accepting of herself!

The Beast of Cretacea
By Todd Strasser

Maybe you've never read the classic Moby-Dick...I haven't (yet!)...but this sci-fi retelling of Herman Melville's epic adventure on a whaling ship may make you want to check it out!
Set in the future, when Earth is covered by a Shroud of thick pollution, food and all other resources are scarce.  Humans struggle to survive--at least most of them do.
Ishmael, age 17, has no other choice than to be transported to another galaxy to harvest resources from a different Earth-like planet--that way he can make money to get his parents off of Earth and somewhere safer.
Little does Ishmael know that by joining the crew of the mighty Pequod, dangerous adventures lie ahead: a giant, lethal underwater beast the captain of the Pequod is obsessed with hunting down, savage pirates, gentle islanders etching out an alternative way of life on land, new friends--and new enemies.
All of this for a boy who has never eaten solid food, taken a shower, nor seen the ocean...
A page-turner!

The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Mysterious Benedict Society
By Trenton Lee Stewart 

This is a very fun book (and series!) for people who love puzzles, mysteries, and secret missions...
Four specially-chosen, quirky, and orphaned children are sent to the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened to help solve a mystery they don't completely understand but are supposedly well-equipped to tackle. The challenge is for them to work together--and think WAY out of the box--to stop evil forces from controlling the world's population...hard to explain, but read it and enjoy!

Wildwood

Wildwood
By Colin Meloy
Illustrated by Carson Ellis

Since I used to live in Portland, Oregon, I particularly loved the setting of Wildwood. And since I love the music of the band The Decemberists, I had a hunch I would enjoy the writing by that band's lead singer and lyricist, Colin Meloy. And I did!
Wildwood is the first book in a trilogy of fantasy stories involving two 12-year-old kids, Prue and Curtis, who accidentally wander into an enchanted wood that borders the city of Portland. In these woods, talking forest animals and humans, some with (dark) magical abilities are preparing for a war--and Prue and Curtis find themselves more involved in the civil unrest than they could have imagined!
Full of adventure and wit, Wildwood will keep you reading and wondering how it will all work out...

The illustrations throughout the book by Carson Ellis are wonderful, too!

Akata Witch

Akata Witch
By Nnedi Okorafor

This book is kind of a Teens-Turned-Superheroes thriller set in Nigeria! Very original!
Full of magic--and black magic--strange twists and turns, realism and fantasy, I wasn't really sure how this wild story would unfold, up to almost the last page.
It has plenty of fantastical elements, but also stark realism--about fitting in, about racism, about being different, about accepting oneself...It's an interesting novel, for sure!

The Sleeper and the Spindle

The Sleeper and the Spindle

By Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by Chris Riddell

I love other books by Neil Gaiman that I've read--Coraline, The Graveyard Book--so I was intrigued by this slender, new book with incredibly detailed and beautiful illustrations by Chris Riddell.
It is a fairy tale...of sorts! Or perhaps a few different fairy tales you may recognize, but twisted together, distorted, and combined in a surprising way--with a little dark magic thrown in.
Who says Snow White has to wear a dress? Who says it must be a man who kisses Sleeping Beauty? Who says any given princess is even good?
Read this book and be challenged in what you've heard of princesses who go to sleep for a hundred years, and the heroes who rescue them...

The False Prince

The False Prince
By Jennifer A. Nielsen

California Young Reader Medal
2014-2015 Middle School Winner!

I had a hard time putting this book down once I'd started it--and the twists and turns in the story really surprised me!

Four similar-looking orphan boys, selected and purchased by a wealthy and powerful nobleman, are forced to compete with each other to be the new--false--prince who will be installed on the throne. The royal family has been disappeared, the kingdom is on the verge of war, and the dubious noblemen has a bizarre plan that may prevent war...or maybe he's just planning his own path to power...?

Shadows of Sherwood

 
Shadows of Sherwood: A Robyn Hoodlum Adventure
By Kekla Magoon

I've always loved the tales of Robin Hood, so when I heard about this brand-new series with a dystopian, urban twist--the Robyn Hoodlum Adventures--I was pretty excited!
This first book in the series, Shadows of Sherwood, introduces Robyn, a street-smart teen with a daring taste for adventure, and her eclectic merry band of new friends. From a mixed-race family of political importance and privilege, Robyn suddenly finds herself alone and terrorized one night when her parents are disappeared by the very creepy Sheriff Marissa Mallet.
Nott City is changing, and not for the better; an evil governor, Ignomus Crown, has taken power and Sheriff Mallet will stop at nothing to please him. Innocent people are being arrested all over town, and Robyn finds herself at the top of the Most Wanted list once she begins to bravely help the poor and needy citizens of the city....
Stay tuned for more from Kekla Magoon!

The Thickety

The Thickety: A Path Begins
By J.A. White

Witchcraft, fantasy, horror, magic...this first book in the Thickety series (4 books altogether) is pretty gripping!

Kara Westfall, a young witch, must figure out whether her powers are evil or for good--or some strange combination of the two... Long ago her mother was murdered before her eyes by the community for being a witch, and Kara has always wondered about her mother's powers and how they were used. The community watches Kara closely to determine whether she should share the same fate as her mother.

Isolated on an island, the town Kara lives in with her dad and little brother borders a creepy forest, the "Thickety." In this magical forest live horrific beasts and strange beings. Kara must enter the Thickety in order to find out the answers she needs to know...

Doll Bones

Doll Bones
By Holly Black

I thought Doll Bones was just as great as it looks and sounds!
A creepy underlying story about a supposedly-murdered-girl-turned-into-a-ceremic-doll really makes for an excellent plot.
And the three middle school-aged friends, Zach, Poppy and Alice are very endearing and believable. Dealing with their own issues about growing up and getting too old to "play dolls", they embark upon an exciting adventure with many twists and turns, and some unexpected disappointments too.
An excellent book that truly kept me up--reading--at night!

P.S. I had to look up whether bone china is really made from bones...It is...!

The One and Only Ivan

The One and Only Ivan

By Katherine Applegate

Just finished this one last night...sniffling, wiping my eyes a little, I'll admit. I can understand why it was selected for a Newberry medal.
Told simply but powerfully, from the perspective of a gorilla locked in a cage (for 27 years!) in a shopping mall, this novel is based--sadly--on a true story.
But author Katherine Applegate gives Ivan some special friends to keep him company in her story, including a stray dog and a couple of amazing elephants...and Ivan, who is a dedicated artist, really perseveres against all odds.

The Search for WondLa

The Search for WondLa
By Tony DiTerlizzi

This sci fi novel is the beginning of a wonderful trilogy by the author of The Spiderwick Chronicles. The illustrations are fabulous, and you can "interact" with them via webcam on the author's website: wondla.com/home/wondla-vision/).

Eva Nine is a human girl, raised for 12 years by a robot named Muthr (short for Multi-Utility Task Helper Robot). They have only ever lived underground, and Eva Nine has never even seen the sun...

Until the day a dangerous beast attacks her cozy home and forces Eva to flee into the unknown and strange above-ground.

Thus ensues a wild adventure with roaming trees, crazy giant creatures, and a hope that Eva Nine will find the human companions she longs to meet.