The Faerie Path

The Faerie Path by Allan Frewin Jones, 2007 Eos

     Anita Palmer is a normal almost-sixteen-year-old girl enjoying time with her boyfriend, practicing for her part as Juliet in the school play, and hanging out with friends from school. On the eve of her sixteenth birthday her boyfriend invites her on a motorboat ride down the Thames River in London where they crash into a bridge. In the hospital Anita waits for her boyfriend to wake up, but is stunned when magical things begin to happen.
     When she grows a pair of dragonfly-like wings Anita believes she is dreaming, but when she searches for the missing young man and follows a shadowy specter into the Faerie Realm the dream is reality. Anita discovers she is Princess Tania, the missing seventh daughter of King Oberon and Queen Titania of the Immortal Realms. She has been missing for five hundred years when she finally returns, and nearly everyone is overjoyed at her return.
     But Edric is here too, her boyfriend has betrayed her and dragged her from the Mortal Realms into a land where Anita has no memory of her past and no idea of a possible future. She allows the charming Lord Gabriel Drake to sway her memories and it isn't until too late that she finally realizes who she is and how the two halves of her soul fit together.
     Anita and Tania are separate halves that make up the whole young woman, able to walk between the Faerie World and Mortal Realm. She learns to trust herself and discover her own abilities while battling heartbreak and fighting to overcome Edric's betrayal. Teens and young adults will enjoy the fantasy of her story, with accessible language and smooth storytelling.

The King of Attolia

The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner, 2006 Greenwillow Books

     Eugenides has shifted from the Thief of Eddis to the King of Attolia, marrying its queen in an alliance to protect the nation from the Mede Empire. At first his rule is considered a joke--his staff put sand in his food, snakes in his bed, and arrange for the palace's hounds to be released when the new king is vulnerable in their path.
     Attolia is frustrated with her king's refusal to take his power, but allows him to play her fool--subordinate and controlled. When one of the Queen's Guard, a squad leader named Costis, punches Gen the entire court laughingly encourages him, while expecting his execution any day. Costis is stunned when the king promotes him and brings him closer to the center of court intrigue.
     Gen is playing a complicated game of rooting out corruption and betrayal by playing a child acting at being king. His backroom investigation is curtailed when his enemies attempt assassination and his affinity with and love for the queen becomes public. The Thief of Eddis is forced to bring his strength to bear and show he is not just a pawn for the queen or her enemies.
     The King of Attolia is the story of Gen's transition from outsider to King of the nation. Readers of all ages will enjoy the mystery behind Gen's actions and the danger he survives in the face of his entire world crumbling, though some action is not suited for younger children.

The Arm of the Starfish

The Arm of the Starfish by Madeleine L'Engle, 1965 Farrar, Straus & Giroux

     Young Adam Eddington has been awarded a prestigious internship with Dr. Calvin O'Keefe and his family in Portugal. Dr. O'Keefe and his wife Meg Murry O'Keefe have several children including their eldest twelve-year-old Polyhymnia, or Polly. Before he leaves the United States, Adam is warned against trusting another passenger--Cannon Tallis who is escorting Polly O'Keefe back to her parents--by the beautiful Kali, daughter of a rich American industrialist.
     Adam is taken in by the beautiful face and is on guard against the Cannon's friendly overtures. When the Cannon's plans go awry and Adam escorts Polly from Madrid to Lisbon she disappears from the plane and Kali's father helps Adam rescue her. The more involved Adam becomes the more confused he is and the harder it is to decipher whom he can trust.
    The situation reveals two factions secretly warring over control of the limb regeneration research Dr. O'Keefe is developing. Adam finds a connection to the O'Keefe's and their concern over the "fall of the sparrow" and what happens to those unable to protect themselves. By casting his lot with theirs, Adam faces several ethical dilemmas and ultimately learns the dangers of trusting outward appearances.
     Meg and Calvin O'Keefe feature in L'Engle's Time Quartet with the Murry family. In the first novel featuring their family Adam is merely a visitor, who will continue in the Austin Family series. Adam grows from a naive teen into a world-weary young man over the course of his trials. The novel illustrates how appearances can be deceiving and that though the choice may be difficult there are always people willing to make your difficult choices for you--to their benefit.
     The Arm of the Starfish is a fast-paced novel involving espionage, romance, and betrayal. Readers of all ages will enjoy the novel though it is aimed more at middle and high school readers.

The Red Queen's Daughter

The Red Queen's Daughter by Jacqueline Kolosov, 2007 Hyperion Books

     Mary Seymour was orphaned when her mother, King Henry VIII's final queen Katherine Parr, died a mere week after her birth and her father, Thomas Seymour, was executed for treason. She lived with one of her mother's friends until the lady's death when Lady Strange brought the eight-year-old Mary into her household and gave her a mission. Mary was to become a White Magician helping to protect the rule of the Virgin Queen.
     But her time at court is very different from the other ladies-in-waiting: Mary is not intent on finding a husband, in fact she wants nothing to do with love or marriage. When her powerful cousin Edmund Seymour begins showering Mary with attention her purpose is clouded. Mary attempts to resist the folly she's watched other women succomb to, but something about this young man speaks to her--Edmund is the dark to her light; a powerful force aiming to overthrow the order she helps to establish with Queen Elizabeth's reign.
     Keeping true to her purpose, Mary attempts to fight her feelings for Edmund. But she soon learns the truth in her guardian's insistence: Light cannot exist without Darkness, Good must have Evil to counterbalance and give meaning to it. Mary Seymour begins her tale with the black and white ideology of a child and grows into young womanhood understanding that the world exists in shades of gray. Her story is aimed toward older teens and young adults, but readers as young as seventh grade will understand the intrigues of court.

The Time Traveler's Wife

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, 2003 Mariner Books

     Claire and Henry meet when Claire is 6 and Henry is 36. Over the years their friendship blossoms and develops into romance and when Claire is 22 and Henry 28 they marry and continue their life together. But life married to a time traveler is never predictable.
     As their life together becomes more and more difficult there are times when current Henry and future or past Henry find a way to make Claire's dreams come true. After several terrifying attempts, they have a child and the worries they faced with Henry's time traveling are transferred to their child. Even when Henry's story ends, it isn't really complete. Through thick and thin Claire and Henry find each other in space and time allowing their tale to become a fantastic love story. The fantasy of knowing her future husband her entire life helps when everything seems to be going wrong.
     Time travel as a genetic disorder is a fascinating concept and well developed in Niffenegger's novel. The DeTambles's story is one of perseverance suited to older readers. The graphic interactions and emotional plot lines make the characters more lifelike and believable. 

Real Mermaids Don't Hold Their Breath

Real Mermaids Don't Hold Their Breath by Helene Boudreau, 2012 Jabberwocky

     A month after her fourteenth birthday Jade is still reeling from her mermaid-ness, the knowledge that her mother didn't drown in the lake last year and is a mermaid too, and the kiss from mer-boy Luke at her best friend's party earlier in the summer.
     Jade deals with the struggles of being fourteen--does Luke really like her, or was he just playing with her emotions; will her father allow her to date him if Luke does like Jade; and what is going on with her mom?
     Jade and her dad have been searching for her mother since Jade helped her to escape the freshwater prison where she was trapped in mermaid form. When she finds her mom in a tidal pool about to be bulldozed Jade does everything in her power to protect the pool and release her mother.
     Jade is a normal teen dealing with the usual woes while she is anything but a normal teen, living between the human world and the mer-world. Her tensions rise from the conflict between who she knows she is and who she is learning she is. It is a universal adolescent problem and relates to pre-teen readers.