Rascal

Rascal by Sterling North, 1963 E.P. Dutton

   Eleven-year-old Sterling North and his good friend Oscar manage to capture a raccoon cub and Sterling raises Rascal. The boy has no idea of the chaos a baby raccoon can cause.
     Sterling lives with his widowed father after his mother's death and his sisters' marriages. During World War I Sterling's older brother serves and fights in Europe. Along with the rest of the town, Sterling helps with the war effort but misses and worries for his brother.
     Rascal and Sterling adventure through their Wisconsin town participating in everything from pie eating contest and fishing. The raccoon is charming and curious, but like other wild creatures Rascal has no boundaries. After several unexpected incidents Sterling is forced to allow Rascal to return to the wilderness.
     Following Rascal's first year and Sterling's adventures through their small town, Rascal looks at loss through embracing life. In autobiographical style, Sterling examines his past and the changing times he grew up in. Middle-grade readers will enjoy the raccoon's antics and easily follow North's narrative.

Son of A Witch

Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire, 2004 Regan Books

     A man is beaten and found by a group traveling the Vinkus mountains. The man is identified at the cloister he's brought to for medical treatment: he is Liir. Liir is the son of Elphaba the wicked, green, Witch of the West. While he doesn't share his mother's coloring, everyone knows who Liir is. The story jumps around in time telling Liir's story after the events of Wicked.
     After Elphaba's death, Liir returns to the Emerald City with Dorothy and her companions. Along the way he helps a princess of the Vinkus tribe, he locates Fiyero's daughter Nor, and gets permission from Glinda to visit the maximum-security prison Southstairs. He joins the Home Guard where he is employed for several years until he's deployed into Quadling Country where events lead to his desertion.
     After the Cloister, Liir and a Quadling girl, Candle, leave together. Liir heals from his wounds and acts the diplomat as Animals across Oz battle the Wizard's anti-Animal laws. The Birds are a threat to the intentional instability of Oz and have the ability to unite the nations so they ask Liir to represent them to the government. A grudging Liir accepts the new task.
     Candle takes the opportunity to reveal she's expecting his child when Liir returns to prepare for the journey to the Emerald City--he refuses to believe her even when she admits he was unconscious during the process. In the Emerald City, Liir finds another relationship with the Emperor's chief dragon master. The two young men destroy the dragons and steal back Elphaba's broom, fleeing again to the Cloister of Saint Glinda where Glinda herself is visiting.
     Liir's life is a series of beginnings and endings of relationships: he is adopted by Elphaba and abandoned when she dies; he is inducted into the Home Guard and deserts when their atrocities offend his sensibilities; he finds romantic love several times and loses it. The titular character is mired in self-doubt and his only real goal is to find his half-sister, Nor. Liir's storyline is in a nation fighting itself to maintain the separation between its people and as the son of the villain, he is uniquely placed to interact with all the factions of Oz. Son of a Witch is not appropriate for young readers with gratuitous violence both physical and sexual; readers who enjoyed Wicked will enjoy this sequel.

Odd and the Frost Giants

Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman, 2008 Bloomsbury

     Odd has always been a little different: his viking father drowned during a raid, he became lame as a child, and when his mother remarries Odd is neglected. When the winter begins to extend unnaturally life in the village becomes more and more strained.
     During a walk in the woods Odd comes across three talking animals including a bear stuck in a tree. The fox, eagle, and bear tell Odd a story of the Norse gods who have been evicted from their home in Asgard. The three are Odin, Thor, and Loki and they ask Odd's help in returning home.
     The boy agrees to help the gods and thus begins his adventures. Odin takes Odd to a magical well where he discovers wisdom and a vision of the past. Odd speaks with the giant and finds the root of the conflict.
     This short story is the tale of how the town misfit found a way to help the all-powerful Norse gods in a turn of events even Odd himself never expected. Gaiman's novella is aimed at younger readers, though readers of all ages will enjoy the story.

Where the Red Fern Grows

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, 1961 Doubleday Press

 
     Billy Colman is a 10 year-old living with his family in the Ozark Mountains of Oklahoma. All Billy wants are two 'coon hounds; the family can't afford the dogs so he works odd jobs for two years and finally arranges with Grandpa to buy the dogs through a catalogue.
     When the puppies arrive Billy is the proud owner of a female hound he names Little Ann and a male hound who he names Old Dan. As puppies the duo scare away a mountain lion they run into in the mountains and the trio forms a strange and unique bond.
     As they grow and Billy trains them Little Ann and Old Dan gain a reputation in the area - Ann is small but brilliant and Dan is doggedly determined. They're challenged by the neighboring Pritchard boys to find a mysterious 'ghost coon'. The Pritchards' dogs fight with Billy's hounds and in the process Rubin, one of the boys, tries to kill Little Ann and Old Dan and is injured when he accidentally falls on Billy's axe .
     The Pritchard boy's injury haunts Billy and to cheer him up his family enters the dogs in a competition. Little Ann immediately wins the beauty contest and they are entered into the Championship where the dogs tree three 'coons, but as they begin the chase for the winning racoon a blizzard sets in. Billy, his father, and his grandfather finally find the dogs half-frozen with a 'coon up a tree.
     Billy and his family are ecstatic when Little Ann and Old Dan win the championship with its $300 jackpot. They return home and continue hunting in the mountains. When Old Dan stands between Billy and a mountain lion the Colman family must deal with the reality of a hunting dog's life. Little Ann likewise is affected and Billy is reminded of a native legend of the Red Fern planted by angels.
     Where the Red Fern Grows is told by an adult Billy reflecting on his childhood. Readers will follow in Billy's joys and sorrows as he fights for what he wants, achieves his dream, and deals with the reality of owning a working dog. Rawls's novel is ideal for later elementary readers, though readers of all ages can enjoy his plainspoken, down-home language.

In the Hand of the Goddess

In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, 1984 Atheneum

     Alanna has become squire to Prince Jonathan, one of few who know her secret. After several years working to become a knight and learning her lessons at the heir's side Alanna must face the risks of growing up surrounded by young men.
     When the Great Mother Goddess visits disguised Alanna during a mission she encourages the girl to stand up for her dream. With support for her dream to be a warrior, the Goddess reminds Alanna there is more to life than just adventure and suggests the young woman open herself to love.
     In the same meeting, Alanna creates a new friend in Faithful, a black cat with strange purple eyes. His eyes alarm or surprise everyone who sees Alanna with her new cat companion, but it is his magic which caused the Goddess to place Faithful with her chosen warrior. Faithful becomes Alanna's most trustworthy companion and protector.
     With the Ordeal looming and the memory of her friends' response to their experience in the solid room Alanna is uneasy. While she has learned to become a knight, she still struggles with the feminine arts. In disguise she goes to her friends in the City and asks the Rogue's mother to teach her to dress and move as a woman. Alanna even allows her friend Prince Jonathan to introduce her to the more adult pursuits to be found between woman and man. All the time worrying what their friends will say when she reveals her secret.
     Over the years Alanna still worries about the Duke of Conte and his intentions toward the royal family. Duke Roger remains suspicious, but any time Alanna tries to resolve her questions about the Prince's cousin something helps her lose interest and move on. Things don't add up, and it is on the wave of her successful knighthood that Alanna finds the strength and time to take action.
     Alanna's journey transitions from learning to be a boy, learning to fit into her role, developing the skill she will require to succeed to learning to be a woman, learning to risk more than physical danger, to pursue what she believes is right. Pierce hints at more than romance between Alana and Jonathan, though it isn't illustrated for the reader. In this second stage of her life Alanna's story is more suited to teen readers with deadly betrayal, complex romantic relationships, and a minor crisis of identity.

Ascendant

Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund, HarperTeen 2010

     After she has accepted her role as a Hunter, Astrid Llewelyn continues to live in Rome and hunt unicorns. Fully trained and enjoying life when her boyfriend decides to leave Rome and go back to school in New York, and when Cornelia's Unicorn powers suddenly and slowly fade away.
     Cornelia decides to return to England and hopes to figure why her power is fading. Astrid goes with her, but they are side-tracked in Paris when Astrid comes up against a corporation trying to figure out the magic of unicorns. The corporation gives Astrid the chance to apply her talents to finding the Remedy--a cure for any illness. Her ex-boyfriend is staying with the company and creates tension between Astrid and Giovanni, her current boyfriend.
   When the bond Astrid forms with the unicorn herd on company land begins to prevent her from killing the unicorns Astrid becomes concerned with the mission placed before her. The comfort of working with a pharmaceutical company and the isolation from her friends and family changes Astrid into someone she doesn't recognize.
     When an encounter with a rogue unicorn nearly kills Astrid, her world turns upside down. The unicorns become more than just her life's work. How will Astrid handle her life depending on the magic of the unicorns?
      The transition from reluctant hunter to diligent caretaker is characterized by a significant change in Astrid's personal outlook. Ideas of chastity and the personal right of choice are addressed with the mythology of unicorns. High school readers and those who enjoy Young Adult fiction will enjoy Ascendant.

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.

Cloaked

Cloaked by Alex Flinn, 2011 HarperTeen

     Johnny Marco repairs shoes in a hotel in South Beach, Florida. His family's shoe repair shop is struggling, so Johnny works his summer away helping his mother to make it through. Johnny's best friend Meg works in her family's coffee shop across the hall. When a princess from Aloria, a small country somewhere in Europe, stays at the hotel Johnny and the hotel's pool boy are entranced by the beautiful girl.
     One night Princess Victoriana stops by the Marco family shoe repair with a mission for Johnny: repair her favorite shoes, and deliver them personally. Johnny is excited as any seventeen-year-old boy would be, but when he returns the shoe the princess has a bigger task, and more complicated. He has trouble believing that Victoriana's brother has been turned into a frog and kidnapped by the local witch in Aloria, but when she offers Johnny marriage and financial security he is willing to go out on a limb for the crazy beauty.
     Until she presents him with magical tools, Johnny doesn't believe her brother could have been transformed, let alone transported from Europe to southern Florida. With a magical cloak and earphones that allow him to communicate with once-human animals, Johnny travels to the Florida Keys in search for the missing prince. There he discovers a talking fox named Todd who asks Johnny to complete a task before giving up the information.
     After helping Todd with his task, being kidnapped by the evil witch who transformed Victoriana's brother, being rescued by Meg, fighting giants, and being chased by a homicidal maniac on a motorbike, Johnny returns to Victoriana with her brother in tow. But his adventures didn't prepare him for not wanting to marry the princess.
     With traces of The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Frog Prince, and several other fairy tales Cloaked is a fast-paced story where the characters fall from one crisis into another. Readers of all ages will wonder: What will Johnny chose when his quest is over?

The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, George M. Hill Company 1900

   Young Dorothy Gale, and her little dog Toto, are sucked through a twister out of her bland Kansas home with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry into the vivid world of Oz. When she arrives in her family's farmhouse, Dorothy lands on the Wicked Witch of the East freeing the inhabitants of the Munchkin Country.
     The confused girl is met by the Good Witch of the North and gifted with silver shoes thought to be magical. The Witch tells Dorothy that in order to return, she must go to the City of Emeralds and ask the Wizard of Oz to return her home. Dorothy and Toto begin their journey along the yellow brick road under the good Witch's protection.
     The duo meets a scarecrow along the path and free him from his perch. The Scarecrow only wants a brain, so Dorothy convinces him to join them and ask the Wizard for one. Next they meet a Tin-woodman rusted motionless. Dorothy oils his joints and invites him to join them going to the City of Emeralds. The Tin Man resolves to ask the wizard for a heart. Finally the group encounters a Cowardly Lion. Dorothy and her new friends convince him to join them and ask the Wizard for courage.
     The five: Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion survive the journey to the Emerald City together. There they each meet the wizard, in a different form he agrees to aid their quest if they can kill the Wicked Witch of the West. The gatekeeper warns the party the Witch is clever and difficult to kill. And the witch tries as she might to destroy the friends, finally settling on capturing the Lion and Dorothy with flying monkeys, incapacitating the two friends left behind.
     Dorothy is successful, through a complete mishap which destroys the witch and the people of the West are thankful enough to ask the Tin Man to be their ruler--he agrees after he aids Dorothy in her quest to return home. Back in the Emerald City the wizard tries to put off the troupe. Toto ends his rouse when he tips over a screen revealing the wizard as an old man from an Omaha, Nebraska circus.
     He grants the wishes of Dorothy's companions, but when attempting to bring her home, Toto escapes and Dorothy misses the hot air balloon ride home to retrieve her closest friend. In tears the people of the Emerald City suggest Glinda the good Witch of the South might be able to send her home. The friends adventure forth again to find Glinda in the South of Oz. Through trials and tribulations Dorothy finally manages to make her way home--There's no place like home.

The Life of Pi

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel, 2001 Knopf Canada

     Piscine Molitor Patel was named after a swimming pool in France. When his schoolmates make a joke of it Piscine becomes Pi. His father owned a zoo in India, but when the political situation in India becomes too unpredictable Pi and his family board a ship to Canada.
     Only a few days out of port the ship encounters a storm and an accident in the boiler room breaks the ship apart. Pi manages to survive in one of the ship's lifeboats. It isn't until the next morning that Pi realizes his companions are a tiger, a hyena, an orangutan, and a zebra.
     Somehow the boy manages to cross the Pacific Ocean in the rowboat with the animals, even taming the tiger, named Richard Parker. He survives on minimal knowledge about survival, persistence, and trial and error. The survival supplies in the boat don't seem like much, but they become the line between life and death.
     Before he washes up on the shores of Central America, Pi has some stunning adventures. He meets another castaway, discovers an island that eats living matter, and tames a wild tiger. When they reach Mexico Japanese officials interview Pi and he tells his story. When they are skeptical Pi repeats the story replacing the orangutan with his mother, the hyena with the ship's cook and the zebra with a sailor.
     The fantasy Martel illustrates so vividly allows the reader to imagine that the forces of nature Pi faces are more than just the delusions of a dehydrated mind. Though there is an understandable explanation for the fiction, related at the very end of the book, the elaborate tale describes life more completely. The imagery of Pi's struggle with Richard Parker and against nature describes any individual's struggle with the forces of their life.
      The story reminds us that no matter how difficult life becomes, at least we aren't in a twelve foot lifeboat with a ravenous tiger. Life of Pi is directed at an older readership, one that can understand how reality and fantasy can be equally true.

The Black Stallion

The Black Stallion by Walter Farley, 1941 Random House

     Alec Ramsey is traveling home from a visit to his uncle in Arabia when his steamer is caught in a storm and sinks. The only living beings to survive are Alec and the powerful Arabian black stallion who wasn't happy to be on the boat to begin with. The boy and the horse survive when Alec manages to get the Black free from his stall, then catches hold of the halter-rope when he plunges into the sea. Alec clings to that rope when the stallion swims to a desert island where the two are stranded for some time.
     They are rescued and Alec brings the Black home with him. He befriends the retired horse trainer, Henry Dailey, who lives nearby and together Henry and Alec begin to train the Black for racing. The Black, however doesn't have proper documentation and cannot race other than as a mystery mount in a race between champions.

     Alec and Henry train and train the Black. They enter him into the champions’ race with Alec as jockey. Until the end it is a close race, but Alec’s love for the beautiful horse helps him to beat the favored champions.

     The relationship between Alec and the Black is the cornerstone of The Black Stallion. The two begin as distant companions, survivors of a similar trauma. In the end they are inseparable and their connection is unheard of in racing circles.

     The Black Stallion is a classic, read by generations of young readers internationally. It is the first in a prolific series continued after Walter Farley’s death by his son. 

The Gathering

The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong, HarperTeen 2011

     A year ago life was perfect for Maya Delaney in small town Salmon Creek: she and her two best friends were inseparable and enjoying summertime on Vancouver Island as always. But this year things are different. Serena, captain of the swim team, drowned last summer and neither Maya nor Daniel have gotten over what happened. Their small town still mourns her, until other things, strange things, start happening.
     First Daniel begins to get vibes about people and places, that prove to be right. Then cougars keep showing up around Maya's house, and won't go away. Then Rafe shows up. He starts dating around, breaking one girl's heart after another in their small town. But he's looking for one thing--Maya's strange paw-print birthmark.
     After he convinces her to date him, Rafe explains to Maya that she was part of an experiment; the birthmark on her hip is the sign of a shape-shifter and the St. Cloud company (the company which owns Salmon Creek) conducted experiments to activate the genes which allowed her to shift. He then introduces Maya to Annie, his older sister and another shape-shifter. Annie has mastered her ability to become a cougar, but as she transitions she loses her higher functioning. Annie was becoming the cougar she turned into and Rafe searched for Maya hoping she and the St. Clouds could help Annie.
     One night Annie shifts and escapes into the forests surrounding Salmon Creek. Rafe is worried for his sister, but becomes terrified when the forests catch fire. Maya, Daniel, and Rafe search for Annie, but encounter a group of men who claim to have set the fire as a distraction to search the St. Cloud laboratories in town. After nearly being captured, Maya, Rafe, Daniel and several other teens from Salmon Creek escape  both the fire and the men who set it in an evacuation helicopter.
     The originally well-adjusted Maya is thrown into chaos when Rafe drops the news on her that her birth mother abandoned her because of her shape-shifting abilities. He also tells Maya that her mother kept her twin brother when Maya was put up for adoption, furthering her confusion. Maya's adopted parents loved her as their own and until Rafe she never wanted to know about that other life she could have lived. Her other shock is that Serena was murdered--though Maya is not as surprised as others in town. The sleepy town they once thought they lived in turns out to be a hotbed of lies and the teens of Salmon Creek must come to grips with their rapidly changing lives.
     Like every teen, the students of Salmon Creek are changing and learning how to cope with those changes. They deal with peer pressure, the pressure to perform both academically and in extra-curricular activities, and with growing up. Armstrong's novel chronicles the beginning for Maya and her friends and is followed by The Calling and The Rising. The books follow her previous trilogy to form The Darkest Powers Series and are appropriate for high school readers and anyone experiencing the transitions from one life-stage to another.

Rampant

Rampant by Diana Peterfreund, 2009 Harper Teen

     Astrid Llewelyn is a pretty normal sixteen-year-old, for a girl whose single mother lost her promising career as a scholastic researcher to become a single mother obsessed with man-eating killer unicorns. Astrid has grown up thinking her mother was crazy, hearing the terrifying stories about the creatures and their powers, and hearing the lament that unicorns are extinct. Until Astrid meets one who gores her boyfriend, nearly killing him.
     When the small goat-like creature nearly kills Brandt, Astrid's world is turned upside down: not only is her crazy mother not so crazy, but she insists that Astrid travel to Rome to learn to hunt unicorns. With her life falling apart, Astrid agrees to her mother's plans and travels to Rome. While there she meets several other young women who fulfill the strict requirements to become a Unicorn Hunter: female, virgin descendants of Alexander the Great.
     Each of the young women are from one of the great Hunter families and Cory, Cornelia Bartoli of the Leandrus line, insists that each of the families possessed a talent that is inherent in the young women's DNA and therefore they are skilled just as their ancestors were. She is gung-ho about the mission the Cloister has reclaimed and ushers the new recruits through an orientation immersing them in the new unicorn-inhabited world they must acknowledge and thrive in.
     In contrast, Astrid and her cousin Philippa are determined to have some fun on their trip to Rome and sneak out of the convent several times to meet their new friends Seth and Giovanni. In between learning to be hunters and trying to discover as much about unicorns as possible they actually manae to form some sort of relationship with the two young men. Neil, the Hunters' guardian, trainer, and big-brother, is furious when he discovers Phil's field trips--afraid of losing any Hunters. But isolation from the world they grew up in makes it difficult for the girls to cohabit after several weeks. On their first sanctioned outing the young women run into a re'em, large as an ox, and discover their abilities are in no way a match for such a massive unicorn. Somehow they succeed but it signals a shift in the attitude of the Hunters.
     Soon afterward Neil and the girls discover their corporate sponsor, Gordian, has broken contact and vanished. Before the Huners know what to do about it, they lose one of their own to an over-amorous boyfriend. The rage she feels when Seth forces Phil pushes Astrid to roam the city, but before she can exact her revenge Astrid passes out on a park bench.
     That night she dreams of a conversation with Bucephalus, a conversation which is continued when Astrid nearly dies during a battle with the kirin. Bucephalus explains that the extinction of Unicorns was an agreement allowing both Unicorns and Hunters to live peacefully for hundreds of years. Their re-emergence was a breach of the contract and Bucephalus required the aid of the Hunters to bring the rebel kirin back under control. He also gives Astrid clues on how to speed up the emergence of the Hunters' abilities to make them a match for the upcoming battles. Bucephalus gives Astrid the opportunity to let the other Hunters believe she has died.
    She calls Giovanni to help her back to the Convent and arrives in just enough time to stop the Hunters from breaking apart and giving up their fight. She encourages them toward the inevitable clash between the rebel kirin and the Hunters where they discover their contact at Gordian has one final betrayal in store.
     Rampant blends unicorns into our world as if they always existed. It deals with ideas of destiny and duty as results of self-discovery and how being robbed of those choices can either destroy or strengthen the victim. Concepts of sexuality and rape are addressed in terms that can both simplify and complicate the ideas for young readers. However, it is handled in a manner many young women encounter.
     The story is a flair of "what would happen if unicorns really existed in our world?" and is done very well. Rampant is aimed at middle and high school readers, though anyone who enjoys fantasy can enjoy it.

Everflame

Everflame by Dylan Lee Peters, 2012

     When Eveneye and Whiteclaw discover a human child while returning from a nighttime fishing excursion the two bears decide to rescue it from the wolves trying to make it their dinner. The bears take the boy home to their mountain fortress, Grey Mountain, and Eveneye asks the king to keep the human child: something about the boy makes him think he could be the bridge between humans and the bears. However, the king doesn't see anything special in the human child who was abandoned and left to be devoured by wolves and forbids Eveneye to keep him.
     Eveneye challenges the king and succeeds him as the next ruler of the Grey Mountain. They boy is named Evercloud and he grows as many young creatures do; in harmony with his world. But when he is a young man, some unknown thing appears in the sky to threaten the bears' sense of safety.
     Evercloud and his cousin, Riverpaw, petition King Eveneye for the chance to explore the mysterious shape in the sky--a shadowy ball of lightning. Despite his desire to keep his son at home, Eveneye sends Whiteclaw with the two youngsters on a mission to find the Ancients who ruled the land in time before history. The Ancients will know how to deal with the thing in the sky.
     The trio begin their quest at a nearby human village where they meet Ben and Thomas Floyd, two brothers who protect and guide them on their quest. The Floyd family, however, is hiding something. The newly enlarged quest sets out toward the mountains where they hope to free Tutoro, one of the four Ancients--the Ancient of Air.
     Hot on their trail is a cloaked Messenger, a man who travels the country answering to no one but the voice that gives him power. He believes he is on a holy mission and the horrific acts he commits are orders from his mystical patron. The Messenger kidnaps Old Man Floyd's daughter, Iolana, and forces her to lead him to the others.
     When the two voyages meet the Floyds' secret is revealed and the Messenger and his Tyrant escape the vengeance that would save the world. The quest continues in the second novel: Everflame 2: The Burning Man.
     Peters' book is an interesting take on sentient animals; the bears are much like traditional human characters and have growth like any other novelist's creation. However, their society is superficial; they live and survive but have little more than survival on the agenda. The appearance of the Tyrant and resulting quest provide reason for action in an otherwise unchanging landscape. Everflame is accessible and readily understood by most readers, it is a quick read and an appropriate age group would be young teens.

The Last Battle

The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis, 1956 Geoffrey Bles

     In the final episode of the Chronicles of Narnia things are not as they seem. Peace has reigned since Caspian X in The Silver Chair, and King Tirian rules in peace, but the prophecying centaur Roonwit predicts strange and evil things in the near future.
     Shift, a talking Ape, concocts a plan convincing Puzzle, a simple but well-meaning Donkey, to dress in a lion's skin and pretend to be the Great Lion Aslan. Shift uses Puzzle to convince the Narnians of Aslan's return and coerce them into working for the Calormenes, cutting down the Talking Trees for lumber and paying money into a fund for Shift's own use.
     Tirian believes the rumor of Aslan's return, but becomes suspicious when he overhears Shift proclaiming Aslan and the Calormene god Tash as one and the same. When he challenges the Ape the Calormenes attack and tie the king to a tree. Tirian calls to Aslan for help and is sent a vision of Digory Kirke, Polly Plummer, Lucy, Edmund, and Peter Pevensie, Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole, although he doesn't know who they are. King Tirian appears at a dinner party where the group is gathered to remember Narnia and their adventures and the Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve recognize him as a messenger from Narnia.
     Moments later in Narnia, yet a week later on Earth, Jill and Eustace appear and rescue Tirian and the band of loyal Narnians held captive by Shift and the Calormenes. A battle ensues where Tirian, Jill, Eustace and the rescued Narnians attack Shift and the Calormenes, shoving them into the stable where the false Aslan resides. The stable is haunted by Tash who swallows the ape whole, but when the rest of the rescue party is flung inside they discover a vast and beautiful land.
     The group encounters the various people from our land who have traveled to Narnia within the series, with the exception of Susan (she regards Narnia as a game she played while an immature child rather than the real place where she was once a queen). Peter orders Tash to leave and they are joined by Aslan, who proceeds to stand at the portal to Narnia and judge all of the creatures, living and dead, who gather to pass through. Those who have been loyal to Aslan or have upheld his morality are welcomed into Aslan's Country while the rest lose their intelligence and vanish.
     In a spectacular show Narnia ceases to exist and Peter closes the door between Aslan's Country and the shell of what Narnia was. Aslan sends his party further into the "Real Narnia" where they find more companions from previous novels and "Real England". Aslan reveals that the travelers and the Pevensies' parents have died in a train accident from which only Susan survived. He reveals that this is only the beginning of an eternal story in which "every chapter is better than the one before."
     The Last Battle is very much like the biblical Judgement Day. The end of the world and salvation through the Christ-figure Aslan, but it also holds truths about a secular world: the characters who are damned are those who have attempted to take advantage of the honest, hard-working folk and their belief in something greater than themselves; not only do Aslan's followers find eternal joy, but those people of Narnia's world who are morally upright are rewarded; and the memories of their youthful pastimes create camaraderie among the English friends of Narnia--Susan has forgotten the innocence of her past and loses her entire family when they are snatched from England to Real England. Lewis's stories may have a heavy Christian overtone, but they are still stories about self-discovery, honesty, and loyalty to one's own beliefs.
     The intended audience for The Last Battle is later elementary school: between 8 and 13 years old, yet readers of all ages can find something new and interesting in the story.

Many Waters

Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle, 1986 Ferrar, Straus & Giroux

   Dennys and Sandy Murry are the somewhat normal twin brothers of Meg and Charles Wallace Murry. When they disturb something in their mother's lab and are swept away from New England's winter into, what they assume to be, an alien world. The twins encounter humans, much shorter than the two teens, a miniature mammoth, unicorns that are both there and not quite there at the same time, and a water prospector named Japheth.
     Japheth offers to take Sandy and Dennys to the nearest oasis, but on the journey both boys get heatstroke, and the unicorn Dennys rides runs off. Sandy remains with Japheth and his grandfather Lamech.
     Dennys reappears, but is thrown into the garbage pile at the oasis. Even worse off, he is taken to the tent of the patriarch who he discovers is Lamech's son and Japheth's father, Noah.
     The twins realize they've been transported into Biblical times, to the time of Noah, just before the great flood. The improbable creatures that tend to the boys, the pelican, scarab beetle, and lion are merely the animal hosts of seraphim who are unusually aware of the science of modern Earth. Their counterparts, the nephilim are distrustful of the twins and their presence in Noah's world and try to discover the purpose behind their visit.
     Sandy and Dennys live at the oasis for about a year, becoming more independent of each other, and learning the complexity of the world around them and the complexity of themselves both as a twin brothers, and as individuals. When the time comes for the great flood, the boys are left behind, yet they still help build the Ark and leave their mark on Noah's family.
     Many Waters is the story of how Sandy and Dennys forge their own identities separate from the unit that everyone else views them as. Their travel through the Biblical world mirrors the journey made by their sister and brother in the previous three novels of the series and informs each boy's transformation. The ties to Bible stories are woven through out L'Engle's tale in an obvious, yet understated manner that stimulates thought. Readers both young and old can follow the evolution of Dennys and Sandy as they face adversity, find and lose love, and stick to their values, despite danger and drama. An ideal audience would be early teens facing the challenges of high school.

The Silver Chair

The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis, 1953 Geoffrey Bles

     Eustace Scrubb has returned to school after his first trip to Narnia. When he and his friend Jill Pole are running from bullies they suddenly find themselves in Narnia, but in a place Eustace has never seen: Aslan's land near a cliff. Jill tries to show off, but Eustace falls off the cliff. Aslan appears and tells Jill they have been summoned to find the heir Prince Rilian. He tells her the task was made the more difficult when Eustace fell, now she'll have to remember the Four Signs on her own. Aslan then blows her to meet Eustace in Narnia proper with a gust of breath.
     Eustace is taken to the Owl Council who decide that if the children are going to go on such a dangerous journey someone needs to go with them. Puddleglum, a marsh-wiggle, is chosen to join them. They leave from the Narnian marshes North to Ettinsmoor where the giants live.
     They encountered a woman in a fluttering green dress accompanied by a knight in dark armor who remained silent. The woman introduced herself as the Lady of the Green Kirtle and sent the children to a castle where friendly giants supposedly lived. The group rushed there, heedless of the Signs Aslan had given them, in their desire for a warm bath and comfortable bed. When they were trying to escape Jill found a cookbook open to the page for "Man" and a section on Marsh-wiggle, the trio hurried to make plans to escape. They managed to get free, but were trapped in the Underland.
     Lost, Jill, Puddleglum, and Eustace run into Earthmen, natives of Underland. The Earthmen take them across a sunless sea and to a dark castle where they find the Lady of the Green Kirtle again: the queen of Underland. The dark knight sits with them while they wait for the Lady, but Earthmen come into the room and tie him to a Silver Chair warning the travelers to leave him there regardless of what he says. When the knight speaks the words of the last sign the children release him, for fear of messing up the fourth sign like the first three. The knight rises and destroys the chair, then introduces himself as Prince Rilian of Narnia.
     When the Lady does arrive she tries to enchant the group with sweet-smelling smoke and a stringed instrument. They do not give in, angering the witch. She turns into a green serpent and attacks Rilian; he fights her off and though she was coiled around Rilian, the group manages to kill her. A chasm opens to the land of Bism and the disenchanted Earthmen go home through it.
     The four hurry through the tunnel the Lady commanded the Earthmen to dig, a passage of conquest leading to Narnia. Rilian is able to arrive at the castle at Cair Paravel in time to see his father, Caspian X whom Eustace and his cousins had traveled with. Caspian recognizes his son and Rilian is able to take his proper place as king. The children return home and, with the help of Aslan and Caspian, frighten off the bullies chasing them.

     This is one of the less busy of Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, with much of the novel taken with travel. However, the story has important themes of identity, persistence, and faithfulness to purpose. The story is written to middle elementary, but some of the themes are better geared toward older readers--eleven to thirteen years.

Untamed

Untamed by Kristin and P.C. Cast, 2008 St. Martin's

     Fledgling vampyre Zoey Redbird's friends have lost all faith in her, but she has determined to talk to them, to renew and strengthen their relationship. Aphrodite reappears re-Marked and joins the friends at lunch, but before a confrontation can ensue the famous archer fledgling  James Stark arrives. Zoey meets Aphrodite and Stevie Rae after lunch and learns that Stevie Rae is much as she was before her death; the only difference is an aversion to sunlight. The two also reveal that Aphrodite's mark is fake, she is human but retains her visions.
     When she goes to speak with them, Erin, Shaunee, Damien, and Damien's boyfriend (and a new member of their group) Jack, tell Zoey they felt betrayed when she shared Stevie Rae with Aphrodite rather than her friends. When she explains they make up and cast a circle to find out why everything has happened. Nyx explains Stevie Rae and Aphrodite, then warns the group that Dark events have been set in motion.
     The friends, the "nerd herd" rushes to a Council meeting where they find Shekinah, the High Priestess of all vampyres, has arrived to revoke Neferet's declaration of war on humans. Erik has returned to take over Professor Nolan's position as drama teacher, to Zoey's dismay. On her return to the dorm, Zoey sees Stark practicing with his bow and learns his gift is that he never misses a target, but his body rejects the Change and he dies in her arms.
     Zoey and her friends visit a local cat shelter, run by the nuns of the Benedictine Abbey, as a community activity for the Dark Sons and Daughters. The leader, Sister Mary Angela, startles Zoey with the difference between her beliefs and those of her stepfather. On the way back to the House of Night they encounter Heath, Zoey's ex-boyfriend, he says he's given up loving her because it hurt too much. Back at the House of Night Zoey is late for drama with Professor Erik Night, her former boyfriend. He casts her as Desdemona to his Othello, giving her a chance to explain her feelings, but storms off as the bell rings.
     After class Zoey is met by Darius, a Sons of Erebus (Nyx's consort) Warrior, and taken to Aphrodite. She has been having visions of Sylvia Redbird, Zoey's grandmother, and gives Zoey a poem. Sylvia and Zoey work out that the poem is an ancient Cherokee prophecy predicting the rise of Kalona, a fallen angel. Sylvia warns Zoey and her friends of Raven Mockers: half-human, half-raven offspring of Kalona and human women he violated, and Zoey requests that she come to the House of Night for protection.
     On her way to a Council meeting Zoey is attacked by a Raven Mocker and escapes Aphrodite's vision of her death by calling Damien who sends Air to her rescue. She overhears a conversation between Shekinah and Neferet; Neferet blames all the troubles she's faced on Zoey. After Neferet has gone, Zoey explains about the cat shelter and asks for a place for her grandmother. She then finds Erik and explains the situation  he encountered that caused him to break up with her.
     Sylvia Redbird arrives and stays in Stevie Rae and Zoey's room, they discuss what to do about the evil that is coming, but halfway through discover a Raven Mocker listening at the window. Shekinah asks Zoey to perform a cleansing ritual, and comes to tell her Sylvia has been in a car crash. Zoey and friends rush to the hospital and fearing the Raven Mockers caused Sylvia's accident ask to have Sister Mary Angela guard her.
     Zoey performs the ritual and tries to introduce the red fledglings, but Neferet brings undead Stark and tries to frame Zoey. Stark shoots Stevie Rae, nearly killing her, and her blood brings to life Kalona. Neferet kills Shekinah and the 'nerd herd' escapes to the underground tunnels where the red fledglings stayed. The dangerous headmistress is revealed as the evil witch who brings Kalona back from his imprisonment in the earth, heralding a new era at the Tulsa House of Night.
     The friends have found each other again, but have lost their safe haven with their escape from Neferet's dark handhold over the school. Stevie Rae's rediscovery of humanity and near death take their toll on Zoey's growing leadership; she begins to question who she has become, but turns to Nyx and her loving guidance. Zoey is still trying to figure out where her life is going and how to deal with the gifts she has been blessed with. The challenge Neferet poses is devastating, yet she is a believable character as she struggles with the problems rising from Shekinah's death and her friends' banishment. Like the rest of the series, Untamed is directed toward older school-aged readers.

Prince Caspian

Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis, 1951 Geoffrey Bles

     After their first trip into Narnia, Lucy, Edmund, Susan, and Peter Pevensie find themselves back in the magical land when they are jerked away from their railway station as they travel to school for the year. In their absence, Telemarines have invaded Narnia and driven the Old Narnians into hiding.
     The Pevensies find themselves at the ruins of Cair Paravel, their former home. It has been centuries since they were last in Narnia and the castle has fallen beyond repair.
     Prince Caspian, the rightful king of Telmarine, has escaped from his Uncle Miraz's home at the birth of his new cousin. The king no longer has need for Caspian with an heir of his own, realizing this, Caspian flees into Narnia, is discovered and taken to the Old Narnians, the talking Animals and mythical creatures of Classic Narnia.
     When Miraz and his army appear nearby, Caspian and his companions flee to Aslan's How where they stage their defense, but are nearly defeated. At a pause in the battle the Narnians debate whether to use Queen Susan's horn to call for help, but are unsure where help will arrive. They send Pattertwig, a Squirrel, to Lantern Waste where the Pevensies first appeared in Narnia, and Trumpkin the dwarf to Cair Paravel where he is captured by the Telmarines and rescued by the Pevensies.
     The group travels to meet Caspian at Alsan's How, but lose their way. Lucy sees Aslan, but is ignored until He comes to her in a dream telling her to wake the others and follow him. Eventually she convinces her sister and brothers and they see first Aslan's shadow, then Aslan himself. Aslan sends Trumpkin, Peter, and Edmund ahead to deal with treachery afoot while He, Susan, and Lucy watch the woods come alive at Aslan's return.
     Peter, Edmund, and Trumpkin arrive at the How as a black dwarf, hag, and wer-wolf try to convince Caspian to resurrect the White Witch to save Narnia and in the resulting struggle the three are killed. Peter then challenges Miraz to single combat. Goaded by his advisers, Miraz agrees and falls during the battle. His advisers shout that the Narnians cheated and order the army to attack, then stab Miraz in the back. The army is thrown back when the Living Wood comes alive and are blocked from retreat by the Great River where their bridge has been destroyed by the Narnian forces.
     At their surrender, Aslan offers the Telmarines the option of staying in Narnia under Caspian, or returning to Earth, where they came from. After some of the Telmarines travel through Aslan's magic door, the Pevensies return to Earth where their story began, just in time to catch their train to school.
     The Pevensie children are growing older; Peter and Susan discover they are too old to return to Narnia, and their faith is Aslan is challenged through the journey. The childlike joy with which they began their ventures into Narnia has faded into a more confident and more adult assurance allowing the children to take on the new roles facing them. Aslan still acts as a god-like figure appearing when times are at their worst and lifting the spirits of his followers, inspiring them to greater deeds. This story has some graphic violence, but was written for a third grade or older audience. Each new reading brings a different take on an old and familiar story.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis, 1952 Geoffrey Bles

     Edmund and Lucy have traveled to Narnia twice before, but when they and their cruel cousin Eustace Scrubb are drawn through a photograph at their aunt's home it is Eustace's first trip into the fantastical world. They find themselves on a ship, the Dawn Treader, with King Caspian X, whom they had helped regain his throne. Caspian has left Narnia in the capable hands of the dwarf Trumpkin and is sailing to the Eastern edge of the world searching for the Noble Lords. Lords Revilian, Bern, Argoz, Mavramorn, Octesian, Restimar, and Rhoop were sent away by Caspian's Uncle Miraz after his father's death.
     Reepicheep, however, joined the voyage in search of Aslan's land beyond the end of the world. Reepicheep is a Mouse, a talking mouse with a vindictive edge and the sword to back it up.
     Caspian, Reepicheep, and the children decide to explore one of the smaller Lone Islands (some of Narnia's tribute states), but before they get very far they are captured by slave dealers. Before they can be loaded onto the slave-ship a well dressed man buys Caspian. He reveals himself to be Lord Bern and Caspian reveals his own identity--together they work to get Edmund, Lucy, Eustance, and Reepicheep back. Caspian goes to the governor and finds him lacking; he requires the previous 150 years' unpaid tribute and abolishes slavery. When the governor cannot fulfill his obligations, Caspian replaces him with Lord Bern.
     The Dawn Treader and her passengers move beyond the Lone Islands. When a two-week storm empties their stores, tempers become short. The crew spots an island and go ashore to replenish their supplies. Eustace goes into the mountains to avoid work and becomes lost, he falls into a valley where he discovers a dragon. The dragon keels over and dies, to Eustace's relief, and a rainstorm drives Eustace into his treasure-filled cave. Eustace fills his pockets with gold and slips an arm-ring up his arm, then falls alseep. When he wakes he is a dragon. Eustace discovers he can fly and goes to the ship for help, startling the Dawn Treader's crew. Caspian recognizes the arm-ring as Lord Octesian's and the group accepts Eustance-the-dragon rather than fighting him. Aslan himself comes to help change the repentant Eustace back into a boy and the Dawn Treader departs Dragon Island.
     Eustace begins to become a more friendly as his changed attitude is noticed and praised. They encounter another Lord turned to gold in a pool, Reepicheep names the island Deathwater Island and they move on. The next landing is the island of the Dufflepods. Caspian, Lucy, Eustace, Reepicheep, and Edmund go ashore and Lucy discovers a race of creatures turned invisible when they refused to do work for a magician. They need Lucy to read the spell to make them visible again because it was one of their young girls who made them invisible. Lucy makes them visible, and Aslan brings her to meet the magician: a star fallen from the sky, who shows her the creatures she made visible again--one legged creatures bouncing around the yard. Coriakin, the star, repairs damage done to the Dawn Treader and makes a magical map of the lands Caspian has already explored. Coriakin also shares that seven years before a ship with the Lords Revilian, Argoz, Mavramorn, and Rhoop had continued beyond his island, naming the golden lord as Restimar.
     After some time, the Dawn Treader encounters a misty shape of an island. As the ship drew closer the skies became dark as if by magic. A mysterious man appears and reveals the island is a land where dreams come true, even the nightmares. He identifies himself as Lord Rhoop, and when the crew looks back to where the island was, it has vanished.
     The Narnians continue beyond the site of the vanished island and find another land, when Caspian, Reepicheep, Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace go ashore they find a table laden with foods of all sorts. At the table are three men in an enchanted sleep, the group assumes it was a result of eating the food, but a young woman appears and says it was a quarrel in which one of them touched the knife Aslan used at the Stone Table that caused their deep sleep. When Caspian asked how to remove the enchantment the young woman's father appeared. The woman and her father sang the dawn, and the old man introduced himself as Ramandu, another former star. He explained the group must sail to the end of the world and leave a member of their party there: Reepicheep is delighted.
     The Dawn Treader and her passengers continue on toward the much-larger sun. When Reepicheep dives overboard to battle a mer-king he discovers the sea is sweet rather than salty. He takes it to mean they are near to Aslan's land: Reepicheep's ultimate goal. They sail through miles and miles of lilies, and Aslan appears to Caspian telling him to send Lucy, Edmund, Eustace, and Reepicheep on, but to return home to Narnia. The children and Rat continue on and run aground before a giant wave, and Reepicheep continues over the ever moving wave never to be seen again.
     The children encounter Aslan and learn Lucy and Edmund are growing too old to return. When Lucy asks if Eustace will return, Aslan says it is not hers to know. They are transported back to the room in England, and Caspian returns to Narnia with Ramandu's daughter where they marry and have many sons who become kings.
     The journey shows how Narnia changes Eustace. Lucy and Edmund have already been changed by the land, becoming more confident and assured. Caspian has grown and changed since their last journey to Narnia. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was aimed toward eight-year-olds, but the reach stretches to readers of all ages.