The Last Fallen Star by Graci Kim

Posted on November 3, 2021 by Katy K.

Impossible tasks, banished magicians, the meaning of family, and deepest betrayals blend in this Cybils nominee.

The Last Fallen Star
by Graci Kim

Rick Riordan Presents, 2021

ISBN 978-1368059633

Read from library copy. 

This new series starter from the Rick Riordan Presents line takes us to a community hidden inside the ordinary Korean neighborhoods of Los Angeles.  Riley Oh has grown up as a non-magic person in a tight-knit community of Korean witches known as the Gifted Clans.  Her family’s clan, the Gom clan, are all talented healers and followers of the Cave Bear goddess, able to use their skills with their careers in the mundane world.  Riley’s efforts not to care that she’ll never be initiated are quickly hidden, though, when her slightly older sister Hattie offers to use a forbidden spell to share her own magic with Riley during her, Hattie’s initiation ceremony.  With magic of her own, she’d surely be fully accepted into the clan.

Except of course things go wrong.  So wrong that it threatens the home that Riley hadn’t even considered might be at risk.  And as she tries to figure out what to do next, things get even worse (avoiding spoilers here), leaving Riley and her best friend Emmett to meet the Bear Goddess in person, trusting that if Riley follows her directions, they’ll be able to fix everything.  

There used to be six clans in the community, but since a battle around the time Riley and Emmett were born, the Horangi clan of scholars has been cast out, their library and the history of the clans closed off to everyone.  It was in this battle that Emmett’s mother was killed, leading his father to deny him a magical education.  

This means that there is lots to learn on their journey, from the magical lore that Emmett hadn’t learned up until now, to both of them discovering secrets that had been deliberately locked up for the last thirteen years.  The magical library, which looks like a conservatory filled with birds that only turn into books when you take hold of them, has to be the most unusual magical library I’ve ever read about.  

The whole journey takes a rather ordinary MacGuffin hunt and turns it into an exciting adventure that involves serious soul-searching and reevaluation not just from Riley but from the whole community.  The stakes are high and the sacrifices Riley and Emmett have to make are huge.  The challenge for me in these books is always finding enough time in the ever-present action for the characters to grow and feel like real people, and this book succeeds admirably in balancing both of these elements.  Here is another new series I look forward to seeing more of.  

I have enjoyed nearly every book in the Rick Riordan Presents line, so definitely check out others in this imprint for more modern-day mythological adventures. There’s more Korean mythology to be found in Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee, When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller, and Where’s Halmoni by Julie Kim. 

This book has been nominated for the Cybils award.  This review reflects my opinion, not that of the Cybils committee.

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Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff

Posted on October 30, 2021 by Katy K.

Here’s a beautiful ghostly tale of self-discovery.

Too Bright to See
by Kyle Lukoff

Dial Books, 2021.

ISBN 978-0593111154.

Read from library copy. Ebook and audiobook available from Libby.

11-year-old Bug has grown up in an old house in Vermont that’s always been haunted.  Cold spots, doors opening and closing on their own, strange faces in the mirrors – that sort of thing.  Bug has never been bothered by it, taken all of these as natural when one lives in a house as old as theirs.  Bug’s mother has never believed in the ghosts, but Uncle Roderick, who also lives with them, taught Bug all about them and how to recognize them. 

Except now, Uncle Roderick has died.  And besides the painful, non-mystical ghosts of his winter boots and canned okra, strange new things start happening. Bug starts having vivid and disturbing dreams, and things are thrown around the house or left on the floor in the night for Bug to find. 

At the same time, Bug is trying to find out how to get along with Mo, the daughter of her mother’s business partner – former forced companion, now best friend, but who also seems most interested in makeup, fashion, and boys, studying how to fit in and make friends in middle school.  Bug tries going along with the makeovers at sleepovers and commenting on the boys in the middle school yearbook, but it all feels forced and wrong.  

When Bug is alone, the days are filled with reading and exploring the woods and creek around their house.  But even there, something is wrong.  Bug’s mind constantly narrates in the third person – “The girl climbed a tree with a book in her teeth” – and the new ghost is there even at the creek.  Slowly, Bug becomes convinced that the new ghost is Uncle Roderick, and that he’s trying to pass on a message.  But thrown and broken things only make it clear that his feelings are intense, not what the message is.  

Uncle Roderick is a real presence, too, as Bug remembers playing in the woods as well as past boyfriends and Uncle Roderick giving lessons in drag queen makeup – the life he gave up to live in the woods with his sister and Bug. The contrast between living Uncle Roderick and ghostly probably-Uncle Roderick is huge. It isn’t a life-threatening ghost situation, but it’s still really creepy. My language writing the review feels stilted because I’m deliberately avoiding using pronouns for Bug, who when the story starts has never questioned being a girl, but who nevertheless refuses to use their birth name and feels horribly uncomfortable and wrong wearing dresses or makeup.   The story is a lovely journey of Bug harmonizing the inside and outside selves. The ghostly aspects feel like they could pair well with books like The Swallow, but I haven’t seen any gender exploration like this come to middle grade speculative fiction in the past. It was also recently announced as a finalist for the National Book Award. 

This book has been nominated for the Cybils award. This review reflects my opinion, not that of the Cybils committee.

This review was featured on Twinkl’s Wonderful Books of 2021 post. Thanks to Leah for contacting me!

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The School Between Winter and Fairyland by Heather Fawcett

Posted on October 27, 2021 by Katy K.

Heather Fawcett’s previous book, The Language of Ghosts was one of the many I read and took notes on during the Cybils last year, with full intentions of writing a review.  I didn’t even include it on my list of books I hadn’t reviewed, because I was so sure I was going to get to it.  Alas, I did not – but if this book sounds good, that one, involving orphaned siblings and exciting sea voyages, will probably also appeal to you.  And this book was published on October 24, making it eligible for next year’s Cybils.  

Cover of The School Between Winter and Fairyland by Heather Fawcett

The School Between
Winter and Fairyland
by Heather Fawcett

Balzer + Bray, 2021 

ISBN 978-0063043312

Review copy kindly received from the publisher. Ebook and audiobook available on Libby.

Autumn lives with her Gran and older brothers in a tiny cottage on the grounds of Inglenook School in what feels like a Welsh-inspired country, where generations of her family have cared for the magical creatures that the wizards in training at the school use for practices.  Autumn has stompy and perpetually muddy boots, a stubborn streak a mile long, and is the favorite human of the family’s boggart.  But though she’s always longed to go to the school herself, she’s never seriously challenged the society that tells her that she’s destined to follow her family’s chosen career.  

Instead, she persists in looking for her twin brother, who vanished nearly a year ago.  One of his boots was found, slightly charred, in the ever-expanding, ever less-friendly Gentlewood, but the limited searching the wizards were willing to do for him didn’t find anything more.  Everyone else, even Gran and her other brothers, tells Autumn that Winter is dead, probably eaten by the fearsome Hollow Dragon.  Autumn can tell he’s still alive, though, and has sensed his presence in various places around the castle.  But even with Boggart helping her search, they haven’t been able to find anything. 

So when Cai Morrigan, the famous student who has been prophesied to kill the Hollow Dragon, asks for her help in overcoming his dragon phobia, she agrees to help him despite not having any use for those stuck-up students.  Surely the most talented student at the school will be able to find some clues!

The scenes of Autumn and her life – poor, but filled with mostly unspoken love, pranks, and fantastic creatures – are intercut with scenes from Winter’s point of view, trapped in a place he doesn’t understand and struggling to remember who he is.  And so as Autumn, Boggart and Cai are hunting for him, we can also see the urgency grow as Winter’s sense of self gets ever blurrier.  

Sibling rescue and chosen-by-prophecy stories are rather common, but both Winter’s predicament and Cai’s destiny are pleasantly twisty and unpredictable.  And though all the major characters read as white, class privilege plays a large role in the story, including Autumn’s family ability to speak to magical beasts not being considered real magic, and most students at the school being open about thinking that all servants are basically worthless idiots.  So, while I generally prefer books that reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the world I live in, this is a reminder that people always find reasons to justify prejudice, while still being a delightful fantasy.  

Check out my Magical Middle School list for even more stories of magic and school.

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Scales and Sensibility by Stephanie Burgis

Posted on October 22, 2021 by Katy K.

I’m taking a brief break from my Cybils reviewing to tell you about this new full-length fantasy romance novel from favorite author Stephanie Burgis.  Normally I would wait until after the Cybils to read a romance or two, but I broke down and read this one right when it came out.

cover of Scales and Sensibility by Stephanie Burgis

Scales and Sensibility. Regency Dragons Book 1
by Stephanie Burgis

Five Fathoms Press, 2021.

ISBN 979-8450717692.

Read from purchased copy. 

“It was a truth universally acknowledged that any young lady without a dragon was doomed to social failure.”

Scales and Sensibility by Stephanie Burgis

… but penniless orphan Elinor Tregarth wishes her spoiled cousin and unwilling hostess Penelope Hathergill had never convinced her father to buy her one. It’s left to Elinor to clean up the messes Penelope’s dragon Sir Jessamyn leaves.  Elinor loves the little dragon anyway – he wouldn’t be so nervous if only Penelope wouldn’t yell in his ear so much – but when Penelope insults both of them in the run-up to her debut, Elinor has had enough.  She runs away with Sir Jessamyn, her few coins, and the precious letters from her sisters, both sent to different relatives around the country.  

The meet-cute happens as she’s forced off the road by a carriage and falls into a mud puddle.  The carriage holds two men – dragon scholar Mr. Aubrey, and the handsome Mr. Benedict Hawkins, who pulls her from the mud puddle and insists on driving to an inn.  But though sparks fly, Mr. Hawkins is in the area to court the wealthy Penelope and save his bankrupt estate.  Even as they bond over both having lost their parents who also lost their fortunes to a fraudulent investment scheme, ever-practical Elinor knows she’ll never be what Mr. Hawkins needs.  

Mr. Aubrey, the scholar, wishes that people would stop reading fairy tales, as they give people the idea that dragons are magical, which they certainly are not.  But when Elinor wakes up in the inn the next morning, she’s very surprised to find something about herself radically changed.  Could Sir Jessamyn have something to do with it?  

Now Elinor finds herself back with the Hathergills in the lead-up to Penelope’s debut ball – but in disguise.  Pretending to be someone else just might give her the courage to stand up for herself for once – if she isn’t discovered first.  

I’m leaving out a great many details here, in the interest of avoiding spoilers.  But rest assured that despite Mr. Aubrey’s beliefs to the contrary, there is definitely magic in this story, as well as a mystery, a satisfying come-uppance for cousin Penelope, and a tender kisses-only romance between Elinor and Benedict.  At the same time, Ms. Burgis makes serious points about the power of women’s words between Elinor’s new-found courage and as Penelope’s downtrodden mother Lady Hathergill suddenly starts speaking her mind with devastating honesty.  

In short, readers looking for a light and magical romance to take their minds off the awfulness of the current state of the world will be satisfied, without needing to sacrifice modern views of women.  The part of me that longed for my own fire lizard as a teen was also quite happy to spend time in a world with beautiful and devoted pet dragons! I’m anxious to find out how Elinor’s two younger sisters will find their matches.

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The Wild Huntsboys by Martin Stewart

Posted on October 20, 2021 by Katy K.

I first heard about this from Betsy at a Fuse #8 Production, and was very happy when Ms. Yingling nominated it for the Cybils and gave me an even better excuse to read it!

Cover of The Wild Huntsboys by Martin Stewart

The Wild Huntsboys
by Martin Stewart

Viking, 2021

ISBN 978-0593116135

Read from library copy. 

The deprivations of wartime London mix with the modern era and dark fairies.  

12-year-old Luka has to go alone to the train station in the city of Bellum to send his beloved little sister Elena (both described as olive skinned)  off to safety in the country, since his mother is working and his father died in the war.  As she’s leaving, Elena makes Luka promise to put milk and bread out in a bowl for the fairies every week.  Luka doesn’t believe in the fairies and only agrees to please his sister, who cares so much about it. 

Then, an air raid comes just as he’s putting the offering out. Startled and hurt by the fairies’ lack of protection, he tosses the food out into the yard.  Unbeknownst to him, the fairies – including fierce warrior Jem – are watching.  They take Luka’s actions as a grave insult, and send Jem to punish both Elena and Luka in the traditional, gruesome way, in three days’ time. 

Luka, however, is more concerned with the world he knows about, one where an angry displaced boy from the North, Max, is placed into Elena’s room as soon as she’s left, food and electricity are rationed and internet and cellular access has a curfew.  On top of that, Luka accidentally alerts the Wardens to the secret hiding place of another boy, the weird and brilliant Hazel.  (Hazel is Black, but Mr. Stewart, who is white, includes some African-specific details for him, and thanks the person who helped him get them right in the acknowledgements.)  That leads Hazel to decide to move in with Luka, too.  

Once the threat is made plain by the appearance of the vengeful Jem in their midst, all three boys scramble to protect the house before the deadline, a task that will require specific things that are also in high demand for the war effort.  They’ll have to avoid the fairies (but if you look closely at the cover, you’ll see that Jem is handcuffed to Luka), the Wardens, and a fierce and territorial gang of kids called the Junkyard Knights.  Meanwhile, we also watch as little cursed Elena gets sicker and sicker…

Elena is sidelined for most of the story, leaving most of the action to the boys. She does her own part to save the day, but I would have liked to see a little more of her.  Still, this was a very impressive book overall.  The print book itself has larger type and smaller margins than usual, giving it the feel of an old Hardy Boys book, despite the modern setting.  

Overall, this is a dark story that is nevertheless strong with the building of trust and friendships and sparkles with humor. I’d give it to fans of the Magisterium series.

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Time Villains by Victor Piñeiro

Posted on October 18, 2021 by Katy K.

Now that the public nominations are closed, I can now buckle to reading. (If you are an author or publisher with books that were missed, you still have time to submit them for consideration!) This intensive Cybils reading is one of my favorite times of year – the hardest part is finding time to review all the great books!

Time Villains
by Victor Piñeiro

Sourcebooks Young Readers, 2021

ISBN 978-1728245744

Read from library copy. Ebook and audiobook available on Libby.

Seventh grader Javi Santiago and his little sister Brady are used to being dragged to antique stores by their father, and so aren’t surprised when he chooses a new table for the family there.  This table has a secret compartment underneath and beautiful carvings around the edges that lead Javi and Brady to call it Andy.  

Their school has a long tradition of annual “three people you’d invite to dinner” assignments, complete with table settings and menus – budding chef Javi loves this part the best.  In an effort to improve his grades, he asks his best friend Wiki (pictured as Black on the cover, and described as of Haitian ancestry) to help with the guest list, including not just the inventor of his favorite food, the sandwich, but also somebody with something teacherish in their name.  Wiki picks Edward Teach without telling Javi who he is. 

But it turns out that their table has the power to summon people from time and fiction.  And when notorious pirate Blackbeard shows up for dinner and doesn’t want to leave, it’s going to take Wiki’s brains, Brady’s strength, and whatever Javi can come up with to send him back to his own time. 

I’ll note that while Javi is a good hapless protagonist, slowly awakening to his powers, his sister Brady was much more of the ultra-prepared Wyld Style type, not only understanding the table better than anyone else, but also choosing great guests for her own dinner party, including Cleopatra and Rosa Parks.

This is a roller coaster of an adventure, filled with narrow escapes, slapstick humor, references to characters from history and literature that kids may or may not get without referencing the guide in the back, and Javi’s excellent Puerto Rican cooking. It fell a little harder on the crazy-fast plot side than I personally prefer, but I’d happily give this to a kid looking for a funny or adventurous story.   Their school complex includes a castle staffed by many, many interesting characters – book two, Monster Problems, is due out in July 2022.

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Blog Tour! THE TROUBLED GIRLS OF DRAGOMIR ACADEMY

Posted on October 15, 2021 by Katy K.

Hello, friends! I am so honored to be part of the blog tour for Anne Ursu’s latest book! Before we get into the book proper, mark your calendars for a book launch party – October 26 at 6 pm CT Anne will be in conversation with Kelly Barnhill, hosted by WILD RUMPUS BOOKS in Minneapolis.  Click here for more information.

And now – drumroll, please…

About the Book:

If no one notices Marya Lupu, it’s likely because of her brother, Luka. And that’s because of what everyone knows: Luka is destined to become a sorcerer.

The Lupus might be from a small village far from the capital city, but that doesn’t matter. Every young boy born in Illyria may possess the rare ability to wield magic, to protect the country from the terrifying force known only as the Dread. For all the hopes the family has for Luka, no one has any for Marya, who can never seem to do anything right. But even so, no one is prepared for the day that the sorcerers finally arrive to test Luka for magical ability, and Marya makes a terrible mistake. Nor the day after, when the Lupus receive a letter from a place called Dragomir Academy — a mysterious school for wayward young girls. Girls like Marya.

Soon she is a hundred miles from home, in a strange and unfamiliar place, surrounded by girls she’s never met. Dragomir Academy promises Marya and her classmates a chance to make something of themselves in service to one of the country’s powerful sorcerers. But as they learn how to fit into a world with no place for them, they begin to discover things about the magic the men of their country wield, as well as the Dread itself — things that threaten the precarious balance upon which their country is built.

Continue reading →
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Nominate Me for the Cybils Award!

Posted on October 10, 2021 by Katy K.

We are a little over halfway through the Cybils nominating period, a point where I am always afraid that some of my favorite books will not be nominated.  Following is a list of a dozen books that I read and would love to see nominated in the Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category, as well as another half dozen that I want to read and very much hope will be nominated so that I’ll be sure to get to them.  I am sure that I am missing many excellent titles on both lists, but this is a start.  Links to my reviews in the pitifully few cases where they are available; stars next to titles with positive diverse representation.

If you haven’t already, please go on over to the Cybils page and nominate! 

Books I’ve Read

Threads of Magic by Alison Croggon. Candlewick, 2021. ISBN 978-1536207194.

The Raven Heir by Stephanie Burgis. Bloomsbury, 2021. ISBN 978-1547606375

*Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom by Sangu Mandanna Penguin Random House, 2021 ISBN 978-0593206973

*Force of Fire by Sayantani DasGupta. Scholastic, 2021. ISBN 978-1338636642.

Nightingale by Deva Fagan. Atheneum, 2021. ISBN 978-1534465787.

River Magic by Ellen Booraem. Dial Books, 2021. ISBN 978-0525428046.

*Curse of the Forgotten City by Alex Aster. Sourcebooks Young Readers, 2021. ISBN 9781492697237.

Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy by Anne Ursu. Walden Pond Press, 2021. ISBN 978-0062275127

*Sugar and Spite by Gail D. Villanueva. Scholastic, 2021. ISBN 978-1338630923.

*Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack. Versify, November 2020. ISBN 978-0358006022.

*Healer of the Water Monster by Brian Young. Heartdrum, 2021. ISBN 978-0062990402.

*Girl Giant and the Monkey King by Van Hoang. Roaring Brook Press, December 2020. ISBN 9781250240415

Books I Want to Read

*Last Gamer Standing by Katie Zhao. Scholastic, 2021. ISBN 978-1338741506.

*Last Gate of the Emperor by Kwame Mbalia and Prince Joel Makonnen. Scholastic, 2021. ISBN 978-1338665857.

*Pahua and the Soul Stealer by Lori M. Lee. Rick Riordan Presents, 2021. ISBN 978-1368068246.

*Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares by Tehlor Kay Majia. Rick Riordan Presents, 2021. ISBN 978-1368049344.

*Tristan Strong Keeps Punching by Kwame Mbalia. Rick Riordan Presents, 2021. ISBN 978-1368054874. 

The Wild Huntsboys by Martin Stewart. Viking, 2021. ISBN 978-0593116135.

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Interview with Joy Jones

Posted on October 8, 2021 by Katy K.

I have a treat for you today, my friends – an interview with author Joy Jones, in honor of the paperback release of her book, Jayla Jumps In.

Jayla Jumps In

by Joy Jones

Albert Whitman & Co, 2020

ISBN 9780807560761
Paperback 9780807560792

Read from library copy.

Fifth-grade Jayla is worried about her mother’s health when she overhears her talking to her other relatives about her blood pressure. But when her mother and aunts and even older Cousin Julia take a break from Thanksgiving dinner to demonstrate Double Dutch jumping right outside, Jayla is intrigued. Not only would she never have guessed that her mother could do tricks like that, but Jayla hopes that starting a team at school will bring her athletic success and some new friends. At the same time, though, her beloved uncle Alonzo is no longer willing to spend hours playing video games and watching movies with her – he’s got a new girlfriend, one that seems to be sticking around more than Jayla likes. Could Double Dutch be the solution to more than one of her problems?

KK: Family plays such an important role in your book, including Jayla’s worry for her mother, her rivalry with her cousin Shontessa, and of course her evolving relationship with her uncle Alonzo.  Can you tell me more about how your process creating Jayla’s family?  
JJ: I wanted Jayla to be the driving force, not an adult. I knew from the start that she would form a multi-generational double Dutch club. And to do that, she had to have both adults and children active in her life. That meant she had to have good connections with grownups and most of the adults children interact with are family members. Therefore, I had to make sure she had interesting characters in her family to interact with. Coming up with distinctive family characters was a lot of fun! (The adult in the story I like best is Cousin Julia, because she’s the one most like me!)


KK: Cousin Julia is a great character! I was really expecting Uncle Alonzo’s fiancee Tameka to take over coaching Jayla’s Double Dutch club at school – but you took the story in a completely different direction.  What made you avoid the more standard “lonely kid learns to make friends at school” plot arc?  
JJ: I’m glad you didn’t find my plot predictable! When I sat down to write the story, I knew I didn’t want to have a typical Double Dutch story with a competition as the centerpiece. I wanted the protagonist to create a more collegial team. I thought having a team of adults and children playing together was far more interesting. And it’s what has happened in my real life. My team, DC Retro Jumpers, does demonstrations where we get everybody to jump – grandmothers, kindergartners, college kids, businessmen, police officers –  everybody. Just yesterday, we were doing a program and a man came up to me and said – “Wow! When they told me a double Dutch team was coming, I was expecting 8 or 9 year-olds.” Seeing ‘women of a certain age’ jumping around blew him away. And yes, we got him to jump, too.


KK:Faith communities are often minimized or ignored in children’s books, but Jayla’s church community also plays an important part in her life and in the book.  Could you tell me more about your decision to include this in the book? 
JJ: A lot of kids go to church – maybe not because they want to but because they have to. It didn’t feel like something alien when I was writing it. When I was young, I attended church, more for the social aspect than out of an obligation or even due to a spiritual motivation. Church attendance was a positive influence – one of many during my childhood. I just gave Jayla a similar experience. Also, my real Double Dutch team is often invited to do church events and that’s always well-received.


KK: I’m guessing that young readers are going to be most curious about Double Dutch.  Where should they go to find out more? 
JJ: The first step is a visit to the web site of the team I started, DC Retro Jumpers – www.DCRetroJumpers.com. There’s an instructional video there to show you how to do it. But what would be better than that – get a jump rope and play around with it yourself!

[Updated 10/25/21 to add] Joy emailed me to say that she was featured in a video story from AARP which you can watch to learn more about her Double Dutch team.

KK: Taking a cue from the KidLit Women podcast, what is your biggest, most out there literary ambition? 
JJ: I’ve done a lot of traveling – I’ve visited 25 states and about 12 countries, but I’ve never flown first class. I’d like to win the Newbery – then I’d be able to earn enough money so that I can travel first class. 

KK: That would be awesome! Can you tell us what you’re working on next?  
JJ: I have two projects underway. For adults, I’m co-author on a book called, Bill and Lois Wilson; The Marriage That Changed The World. It’s about the couple who help start Alcoholics Anonymous and launched the Twelve-Step recovery movement. My next children’s book in progress is an MG novel called Walking The Boomerang, which won the PENAmerica Literary Award for Children’s & Young Adult Literature.

KK: Thank you so much, Joy! I really enjoyed learning more about the thoughts that went into creating Jayla and her story. Readers, here’s where you can visit Joy’s website and find a copy of Jayla Jumps In at your local indie bookstore or library.

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10 Fantasy Books under 250 Pages

Posted on October 6, 2021 by Katy K.

This post took a little longer to put together than I had planned! While I was working on it, the Cybils nominations opened up. As you might recall, the nominated books are crowd-sourced, with each person able to nominate just one book in each category. That means we need you to nominate some books! Head on over to the Cybils blog for links, instructions, and lists of suggestions! Do it now – nominations close October 15.

Thank you to Afoma at Reading Middle Grade, who put out a stellar list of short middle grade fiction a few months ago. While she prefers realistic fiction, I thought that a list of fantasy books would be a good complement, whether you’re dealing with kids who are reluctant readers or have learning disabilities, or who need to pick a book they can finish in a reasonable time for a school assignment. Even though the page count is low on all of these books, they range from light to heavy themes. Links are to my full reviews, where available.

How I Became a Ghost by Tim Tingle (141 p) In this historical story of the Trail of Tears, a young Choctaw boy describes how he fails to survive the grueling journey, but stays close to help the rest of his people. Even though this is the shortest book on the list, it’s definitely one of the heaviest. You can read my review of the sequel, When a Ghost Talks, Listen.

A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans by Laurence Yep (152 p) Miss Drake is a dragon who takes humans as pets. But when the 10-year-old grand-niece of her previous pet won’t leave her alone, and insists on things like field trips to magical shops, Miss Drake is in for more than she bargained for.

Dragons in a Bag by Zetta Elliott (154 p) Jax is supposed to stay out of trouble while his mother leaves him with a neighborhood lady, but box of baby dragons gets loose, Jax and his friends have to find them and bring them to safety.

A Properly Unhaunted Place by Willliam Alexander (192 p) Rosa Díaz is the daughter of the world’s best ghost appeasement specialist, since ghosts are everywhere. She and Jasper, the son of the Rennaisance Faire’s Queen and Black Knight, work together to figure out why the town of Ingot doesn’t have any.

Sugar and Spite by Gail D. Villanueva (208 p) Jolina has only recently moved from Manila to a tiny island in the Philippines, where the richest girl in town is determined to make her life miserable. Could using a love potion on her make things better? Warning: pet death in an otherwise light story. Also, this book is eligible and not yet nominated for the Cybils award!

Whales on Stilts by M.T. Anderson (224 p) Three kids – a boy inventor from an early 20th century adventure series, a girl from a 1980s horror series, and ordinary, modern-day Lily – work together to stop a mad scientist’s plan to take over the world with, yes, whales on stilts. You can read my review of The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen, the second book in the series.

Time of Green Magic by Hilary McKay (229 p) A large and varied family moves into an old home, where reality shifts around the different kids. This is a quieter story of individual experiences and the messiness of relationships.

Ikenga by Nnedi Okorafor (240 p) Nnamdi’s life in Nigeria is turned upside-down twice, once when his father is murdered, and then again when his father’s spirit gives him a small statue – an Ikenga – that turns Nnedi into a superhero who is stronger than Nnamdi can control.

Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (240 p) In this favorite from my own childhood, Princess Cimorene is so disgusted when her parents want to marry her off that she runs away to live with a dragon instead. The first of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles.

Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible by Ursula Vernon (242 p) Princess Harriet, a hamster, is thrilled when she’s told that she’s cursed to prick her paw on an enchanted hamster wheel when she turns 12. That has to mean that she’s invincible, and can go off fighting monsters without fear! Though the page count is higher, the text is large and there are full-page illustrations as well as short comic panels. This is the first of a series of hilarious fairy tale spinoffs.

Bonus titles – a little longer, but still fast-moving and on the short side.

The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez by Adrianna Cuevas (256 p) 6th grade Nestor is busy adjusting to life at a new school in Texas while his father is deployed. He’s not expecting to have animals start talking him – or to need to stop a witch from Costa Rican legend.

Kingston and the Magician’s Lost and Found by Rucker Moses and Theo Gangi (275) 12-year-old Kingston is convinced that his stage magician father hasn’t died or run away, but is instead trapped inside the mirror in the Brooklyn theater where he gave his last performance.

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