So You Want to be a Wizard

So You Want to be a Wizard by Diane Duane, 1983 Delacorte Press

     Juanita Callahan is hiding from bullies in the library when she discovers a book titled So You Want to be a Wizard from which she disbelievingly takes a Wizard's Oath. When she wakes up Nita's name is included on a list of wizards in the back of the book, so she decides to try out her new powers. She meets Christopher Rodriguez--Kit--another new wizard testing his power. The two conjure an alternate Manhattan with a dangerous power-hungry darkness. Their call for help brings an intelligent white hole nicknamed Fred.
     The three wizards work together to retrieve a space pen the bullies have stolen from Nita, but Fred mistakes the gravity needed and swallows it. The trio meet their local Advisories who explain how to retrieve Nita's pen. Fred also brings news of two important books, one of which is missing. "The Book of Night with Moonlight" catalogues the true nature of everything, it's mirror is a catalogue of all things perverted "The Book Which is Not Named". If the darkness which Kit and Nita met when Fred appeared, the Lone Power, were to read from the unnamed Book while the Book of Night with Moon is missing the world would be irreparably altered.
     In their quest to retrieve Nita's pen from inside Fred, the three wizards fall through a world gate into the alternate New York where Nita and Kit first met the Lone Power. The alternate world is shadowed in the Lone Power's evil. In order to return home Nita, Kit, and Fred search for the two books and are faced with dragon-like creatures, an eight-legged skull-faced beast, the destruction of the Sun, and the loss of a good friend.
     So You Want to be a Wizard deals directly with the issue of good and evil. Kit and Nita find a friendship which helps them through the frustrations of public school and changing lives. Readers of all ages will enjoy the friendship between Kit and Nita as the discover themselves and their magic.

The One

The One by Kiera Cass, 2014 HerperTeen

     America Singer has come a long way since the reluctant potential princess who left Carolina. Making it to the Elite was fraught with the los of friendships, Rebel attacks and personal revelations, but America stands with three other young women for Prince Maxon's decision.
     With Aspen still hovering in the background the relationship America has with Maxon becomes strained. Having her old friend to fall back on allows America to avoid a true commitment to Maxon and his kingdom even as she waits for a sign of his commitment.
     The parties vying for Illea intensify their battles. King Clarkson attempts to use America's growing popularity to further separate the castes. The Southern Rebels again and again attack the palace in Angeles, tehn extend their violence to the people of Illea themselves. The Northern Rebels connect with Maxon and America in an attempt to forge an alliance.
     The Selection draws to a close and tensions rise as lives and futures are threatened. Can America decide what she wants before time runs out? With this princess story of an everyday young woman is aimed at readers who enjoy young adult fiction.

The Agency: A Spy in the House

A Spy in the House by Y. S. Lee, 2010 Candlewick Press

     Mary Lang is a half-caste Chinese-Irish girl living in Victorian England. From a childhood of crime she is rescued from the gallows by the women of Miss Scrimshaw's Academy for Girls. Nearly five years of schooling have created a confident young woman capable of handling nearly anything.
     Bored by the typical life planned out for her, Mary asks Miss Treleaven and Mrs. Frame for something with a little more variety--and gets more than she expected. Anne Treleaven and Felicity Frame are the leaders of the Agency, a secret investigative unit which is composed entirely of women. The Agency functions on the premise that women of the time are overlooked or discounted.
     Mary's first assignment takes her into the home of a prominent merchant, Henry Thorold, as his daughter's paid companion. The merchant is suspected of smuggling and insurance fraud. While searching for documentation of his perfidy Mary meets James Easton in the wardrobe of the home office.
     James's older brother George is infatuated with Angelica, the daughter of the house, and James has begun his own investigation into Henry Thorold. When the two join forces Mary is reluctant to trust this young man and his fascinating view of the world. As they suffer through London's worst heat wave in years, James and Mary search for evidence to support or disprove their theories, and fight the strange feelings they begin to feel for each other.
     Blooming romance threads through the mounting intrigue possibly turning an unwilling friendship into an unexpected relationship. The blend builds on the tension of their investigation. Written for middle school-aged students, The Agency is a full-fledged mystery and readers of all ages can find something to capture their attention

First Test

First Test by Tamora Pierce, 1999 Random House

     After Alanna the Lioness hid her sex for eight years to become Tortall's first female knight King Jonathan proclaimed girls welcome to train as knights along with their brothers. In the ten years since no noble family has had a daughter willing or desirous of going through such trials, so when Keladry of Mindelan and her parents petition the crown it is a battle to allow her tutelage under the Training Master. Alanna champions the girl, but is forbidden meeting her or showing such support.
     Kel idolizes Alanna and has only dreamed of following her footsteps. When she is notified of the Master at Arms' condition Kel is furious, but her time as a diplomat's daughter has trained her well. Lord Wyldon gives Kel one year--if she proves herself up to snuff she may stay, but the entire academy seems to be looking for any excuse to throw her out.
     With the threat hovering constantly, and the very obvious absence of her hero, Kel must prove to herself and her classmates that she can make it in the men's world as a girl.
     Kel is a powerful young woman, as many of pierce's protagonists, her resourcefulness and tenacity earn her respect and friends in the all-male world. Readers of all ages will enjoy her spirit.

The Grimm Legacy

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman, 2010 G.P. Putnam's Sons Books

     When Elizabeth Rew is suggested for an internship at the New York Circulating Material Repository she is intrigued. Instead of books, the library lends objects: a tea set, carpentry tools, children's toys. The items lent from the library range from simple, everyday objects to rare or complex tools and antiquities. 

     Deep in the warren-like basement Elizabeth discovers the Collections. Her first glimpse that the library is more than it seems is the disappearance of an entry in the Grimm Legacy, items straight out of the fairy tales. 

      But along with the mystical seven-league boots, neverending feast, and Little Red Riding Hood's cloak are more sinister magical items--and items which allow someone sinister action. Magical items begin to disappear. 

     Elizabeth and her new friends at the Repository decide to embark on a quest worthy of the Grimm Brothers to find the mysterious thief before they are blamed for the crime. And before they're the ones disappearing. 

     Hidden behind the simple facade of an old victorian home, the New York Circulating Material Repository houses magic. Elizabeth is an ordinary girl hoping to live an ordinary life, until the extraordinary plucks her into a world swirling with action and adventure. Readers of all ages will enjoy the effects of fantastic items from some of the best-known fairy tales in western culture.