The Moon by Night

The Moon by Night by Madeleine L'Engle, 1963 Farrar, Straus & Giroux

     For a summer between their lives in Thornhill and a stint in New York City the Austin family adventures across the United States. They are to visit Dr. Austin's brother and his new family, Maggy Hamilton (an orphan who has been living with the Austins) and her legal guardian Elena, Mr. Austin's new wife.
     Leaving Connecticut the family camps at campgrounds and alongside the road heading ever westward. In Tennessee they meet a teenage gang, in Texas they rescue children from a flood, in Utah they discover an abandoned baby. The journey is an adventure through contemporary society with traces of the Cold War, and anti-US sentiment at a campground in Canada.
     The fourteen-year-old Vicky Austin meets Zachary Gray at a campground in Tennessee and the young man fascinates her. The Gray family has everything they could want in material possessions: their luxurious camp trailer is pulled by a top-model hearse-like station wagon. But the Grays seem to lack what the Austins take for granted--their loving relationship.
     Despite his charm, or maybe because of it, Zachary is confident in his pursuit of Vicky throughout the country. The rest of the family doesn't like him, but the elder Austin daughter is growing up and searching for her independence so encourages his attention. When another young man, more appropriate in her family's eyes, takes an interest Zachary becomes jealous.
     Trouble seems to follow Zachary Gray and Vicky cannot save him from himself. She struggles with developing her sense of self and the summer of her "difficult year" pushes Vicky toward a more adult take on life. The second Austin Family novel is meant for middling readers--late elementary school through early high school--and can remind readers of the struggles that come with growing older.

Summerset Abbey

Summerset Abbey by T. J. Brown, 2013 Gallery Books

     Sir Philip Buxton raised Rowena, Victoria, and Prudence as sisters--three eligible young women who are drawn into shifting class politics in Edwardian England as the world hesitates on the edge of war. Rowena and Victoria are Sir Buxton's natural daughters and Prudence Tate their invaluable governess's daughter. But when Prudence's mother dies she becomes one of the Buxton girls in all but name.
     When their father dies, the three girls are drawn back to the ancestral home at Summerset Abbey where their class separations are thrown into sharp contrast. Until the Buxton daughters reach their majorities their uncle will control Sir Philip's estate, and the three women's fates.
     Rowena doesn't know what to do about her sisters' reaction to their changing circumstances and is frozen into doing nothing for the fear. Victoria suffers from asthma and fights for the life she dreams of, while uncovering a dangerous family secret. Prudence longs to belong, either to the downstairs world where Lord and Lady Buxton have shunted her, but she knows she belongs alongside her sisters. The relationships between Rowena, Prudence and Victoria become strained as they struggle to balance.
     Life at Summerset is not what it seems, and the attendees are more than they portray. As the world rolls closer and closer to conflict on a global scale definitions are re-written and it is the younger generation who will cement the new social and political landscape. Summerset Abbey is a novel for older readers--more appropriate for high schoolers with innuendo and political subtleties peppering the story.

The Lost Years of Merlin

The Lost Years of Merlin by T. A. Barron, 1996 Philomel Books

     When a boy washes up on the coast he cannot remember anything about himself. He finds himself protecting a beautiful woman with long blonde hair from a dangerous boar with razor-sharp tusks. The boy protects the unconscious woman by hiding her in a hollow tree, but is unable to fit too. The two are rescued by a glorious stag who follows the boy through his journeys.
     When the woman wakens she reveals she is Branwen, his mother, and his name is Emrys. Emrys discovers he has magical powers, which he uses to protect his mother from being burned at the stake, but kills a boy and causes his physical blindness in the same encounter. Emrys leaves his mother at a monastery and searches for where he truly belongs.
     Emrys travels to the magical isle of Fincayra somewhere between Heaven and Earth taking only herbs from his mother and a gem with vast powers on his raft. In Fincayra he meets Rhiannon and she tasks him with saving the forest she lives in. When Rhia is kidnapped in Emrys's place he vows to use his powers to save her and make things right.
     In his search for Rhia Emrys discovers several truths about his past which influence his future, one only he can decide. Through his adventures and the secrets they bring to light Emrys challenges his own capabilities, growing and altering to fit his circumstances. In the first part of his tale Merlin becomes the man behind the legend. The Lost Years of Merlin is a read aimed at older elementary students, but can interest readers of all ages.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling, 2005 Scholastic

     Harry has escaped Voldemort's clutches once again, and there is no chance the wizarding world cannot accept the return of the dark wizard--he has appeared in the Ministry of Magic itself. But Harry has been branded a spoiled attention-seeker and his reputation, along with those who support him, has been trampled in the muck. Some still doubt Voldemort's return.
     Alongside Ron and Hermione, Harry returns to Hogwarts for his sixth and penultimate year of school. Despite the chaos outside the walls, it appears not much has changed. But with Snape as his Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and a new Potions Master, Harry finds himself itching to get away.
     It is that new Potions Master that gives Harry his change of scene. Horace Slughorn knew Lord Voldemort when he was young Tom Riddle and first began his quest for supremacy and immortality. Dumbledore's invitation to return to Hogwarts begins a search for Voldemort's defeat--beginning with information Slughorn may have provided the young man. But the professor is hesitant to reveal information which may paint him in a less-than-desirable light.
     Dumbledore begins to entrust Harry with a more pivotal role in the rebellion against Voldemort and his forces. While still participating in his schooling and navigating changing friendships, as well as burgeoning relationships, Harry joins the Headmaster in his search for Voldemort's horcruxes and defeat.
     The war continues to rage around Hogwarts and even the school is not the safe haven it once was. As Voldemort's power increases and the dangers surrounding their questing mount, Harry discovers something more to his fight than just the hope for peace. The second-to-last novel in the Harry Potter Series is meant for older readers and one of the darkest yet, but as outrages pile, resistance gains strength. Harry's battle becomes one the entire wizarding world can take part in.

Dark Triumph

Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers, 2013 Houghton Mifflin

     Sybella escaped her father's brutality for the Convent of St Mortain and training as one of Death's Handmaidens. But she has been assigned to her father's household and the depravities of her family by the Abbess of St Mortain, and so, must return to the devil's pit.
     After months in the Count D'Albret's household playing the dutiful daughter, Sybella itches for the chance to kill this man who hopes to rule Brittany. Following the dictates her convent has taught her come directly from the God Mortain she waits for D'Albret's marque, but it chafes when no death marque is forthcoming.
     She begins to believe her God has abandoned her when a task from the abbess demands she free a great warrior. Beast is a great warrior, serving the old God of war with the berserker's fury, when Sybella first discovers him he is a shadow of himself, but still manages to drag her along in his rescue mission.
     With her plans thrown into chaos by the unintended journey, Sybella cares for the brute until he can manage himself. Returning him to the Duchess, thwarting another of her father's plans, and fighting to keep her heart to herself begin to bring Sybella back from the damage her family has inflicted.
     D'Albret and his rebellion continue to feature in the second installment of the His Fair Assassin Trilogy. Sybella has endured more than any woman should from the depravities of her family, and protected her younger sisters from such a fate. The story is placed at the edge of the Middle Ages and suited for older teen readers.