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With her recent book for middle grade readers, Impossible Creatures, Katherine Rundell tells a tale of possibility. While the book soars on the fringes of imagination, with its talk of griffins, berserkers, unicorns, and sphinxes, it recounts the power of courage, determination, and a fierce passion for protection. It tells the story of two young people, Malum Arvorian and Christopher Forrester who have an allegiance to wild and living things. Rundell is herself a magician when it comes to creating characters and putting them into situations where their best selves emerge. For example, although Mal’s Aunt Leonor is a sullen and gruff character, she putsRead More →

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In: General Book Reviews, Multicultural (YA), Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
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Aneesa Marufu writes her debut dark fantasy, Rebel of Fire and Flight to explore the concepts of racism, classism, and gender roles. To tell her tale about freedom from oppression and the deep roots of hatred, Marufu creates the parallel stories of two teens: Khadija and Jacob. Set in the fictional South Asian country of Ghadaea and alternating between Khadija’s and Jacob’s experiences, the book allows readers to witness the lives of the pair and their individual challenges as they explore who they are and what they truly want in this world. Sixteen-year-old Khadija is a brown-skinned Ghadean girl, who has spent a good dealRead More →

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A magical and enchanting tale of adventure, The Color of Dragons by R.A. Salvatore and Erika Lewis will likely intrigue readers of Christopher Paolini or Anne McCaffrey. Besides a story about finding one’s self, Salvatore and Lewis tell a story about love, loyalty, and other things worth fighting for. Seventeen-year-old Maggie and Griffin are both orphans trying to find their place in the world. Just as Griffin must decide if his place is with the corpulent and greedy King Umbert serving as his champion: “Sir Griffin, the mighty Draignoch Slayer” (92), Maggie must determine whether she owes allegiance to Xavier, the magician and perhaps theRead More →

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A blood-stained note, reading “Who killed Darius Drake,” lures Darius into searching for an answer, since he’s still alive and living at Stonehill Home for Children after losing his parents in a tragic car accident when he was only three.  But the gangly orphan genius with thick glasses and a volcanic eruption of bright red hair needs a partner, whom he finds in Arthur Bash, “a big, fat, scary-looking dude” (2).  Known at school as a thug-for-hire, Bash Man will frighten foes with a menacing look for the price of a candy bar.  After his parents’ divorce, Arthur adopts the bully persona because he’d ratherRead More →