Uprooted

 Uprooted by Naomi Novik, 2015 Del Rey

     In the tower at the end of the valley lives the Dragon. He is a cold and powerful wizard who keeps the people of Dvernik safe from the Wood and its corrupted magic. Every ten years the Dragon takes the most beautiful and talented young woman from the village to be his servant. Kasia is that young woman this decade. Agnieszka is afraid for what will happen to her best friend, but she needn't worry: it isn't Kasia the dragon takes, but talentless and clumsy Agnieszka. 
     The young woman discovers the stories of what the Dragon will do to her are highly exaggerated and he simply needs someone to help keep his home and keep him company. He chose Agnieszka because she has some magic of her own and begins to teach her spells. When the Dragon is away serving Polnya's royal family Dvernik is attacked by the Wood; Agnieszka discovers the magic she's learned from the notes left by previous taken girls is different than what the Dragon teaches, and it allows her to save her people and heal the Dragon when he's injured. 

     The sally from the wood results in Kasia's capture, Agnieszka and the Dragon fight to rescue her, and Polnya's Prince Marek comes to investigate rumors that someone has been rescued from the Wood. The prince demands the Dragon and his witch rescue the queen who fled into the enchanted forest twenty years before, but the drama which ensues is entirely unexpected. 

     Based on Polish folktales Uprooted examines the high-fantasy genre in a new light. The main character is not the beauty of the town, nor does she become a great beauty through some magic, but the strength of her character and the fierceness with which she fights for what she believes to be right are at the core of her story. The wizard in the tower doesn't solve all of the world's problems with a magic spell, nor does the prince save the day in this young adult novel of self-discovery with a touch of romance. 

Anna of Byzantium

Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett, 1999 Laurel-Leaf Books

     Anna Comnena is the firstborn child of her father and chosen to inherit his Byzantine Empire. She has no worries when a baby brother is born because she has been training for this her entire life.
     Neither the selected princess, her father, or her diplomacy instructor - her father's mother, Dowager Empress Irene - put much store in visiting envoys and their insistence that only a male heir can rule the empire. Anna and her grandmother continue her education and the princess becomes a talented statesman.
     As she grows, Anna's talents soon threaten her grandmother and the Dowager Empress uses her pull with the Emperor to remove Anna from succession. When she discovers the betrayal Anna Comnena must use the skills her grandmother helped her develop in order to take back that which is her birthright.
     Anna faces her grandmother, the influence of the barbarian envoys, and an ever-changing political landscape while fighting to win back her kingdom. But will she succeed, or with the political machinations take away everything she's work her entire life for?
     Readers who enjoyed The Royal Diaries series will follow the fiction of Anna's story as she goes through significant life changes.

Stolen Songbird

Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen, 2014 Strange Chemistry

     In the nearby town Cecile's mother is a famous singer and has spent years sending tutors to train her daughter in not only music, but to also provide both general and courtly education. The night before she is scheduled to join her mother and begin a promising career Cecile is kidnapped and sold to trolls who live under the local mountain.
     She is bound to the troll prince Tristan and told she will save the people of Trollus from a curse which has kept them imprisoned for over 500 years. But Cecile's new husband is not what he seems and politics among the people who cannot lie are far more complicated than the girl can imagine.
     Escape from Trollus is impossible, but it is Cecile's only hope, until she begins to know her new husband and the people of his cursed kingdom. Cecile discovers there is more to their imprisonment than anyone tells her and there is more to Cecile than anyone expects.
     Amid all their planning Tristan and Cecile discover they're more than simply allies; their bond helps them acknowledge the human myths are no less mythical than the trolls' restrictions on human-troll interaction. When it all comes tumbling down how will the prince and princess under the mountain respond?
     The beginning of a new series Stolen Songbird explores mythology and magic in an elaborate love story richly drawn along classic lines. What are the trolls really and how does their magic save them, even as the magic slowly dies. Jensen's novel is aimed at more mature readers, though teen readers can follow and enjoy its complex storyline.

The Marvelous Land of Oz

The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum, 1904 The Reilly and Lee Company

     Several years after the Wizard took Dorothy from Oz and left the Scarecrow on the throne of the Emerald City readers return to the magical land to meet Tip, a young boy living in the north with a sorceress, who has some outlandish adventures.
     When the sorceress travels to market and returns with a powder which animates inanimate objects. The witch things to terrify Tip by bringing to life a pumpkin-headed jack which the boy had created. Tip and the newly christened Jack flee the witch to travel to the Emerald City. Along the way they collect a sawhorse, a Highly Educated Woggle-bug, and a rebellion of girls.
     When General Juniper and her army follow Tip and his companions into the Emerald City they're bound to take the city by force and grant the women of the city free from drudgery. With their knitting needles and overwhelming numbers they succeed. General Juniper attempts to reprimand the Scarecrow, but Tip and his companions, along with their stolen magic, rescue Dorothy's former companion.
     The Scarecrow, Tip, Jack, the Woggle-bug, and the sawhorse create and bring to life a gump - a mixture of different odds-and-ends found around the Emerald Palace brought to life. The Tin Man has been elected to rule over his own domain and welcomes his friends.
     Tip's party vows to help the Scarecrow reclaim his throne, with the Tin Man's help they may succeed. They seek Glinda and her army to join and support their little band. Upon returning to the Emerald City a true army against General Juniper's legion of girls looks to be a quick resolution, but Glinda has a surprise for all of Oz.
     Continuing the story of Dorothy's newly discovered land nearly two decades after the original tale Baum takes readers deeper into the fantasy of Oz leading to over a dozen additional stories by Baum himself and twenty-six by various additional authors. Readers who enjoyed the original tale of Oz and the newer retellings will find this a quirky and fantastical tale. Like most of the Oz stories, The Marvelous Land of Oz is aimed at middle readers.

The Death Cure

The Death Cure by James Dashner, 2011 Delacorte Books

     Thomas has escaped the Maze, survived the Scorch, and after one last test he and his friends will be free and cured of the Flare. The survivors have been whisked away to WICKED's compound where the last tests will take place.
     The group is allowed to spend time together, but Thomas has been separated and placed in isolation. With no way to tell time the young man begins to lose touch with reality, it takes a force of will to maintain his grasp of reality. Finally the rat-faced man who met the boys before the journey through the Scorch comes to tell Thomas of the next steps.
     Thomas and the rest of the survivors from both Group A and Group B will regain their memories; WICKED tells them this will help them all understand why they joined the experiment. Thomas, Minho, and Newt refuse to go through with the procedure. The Rat Man explains some of the survivors are immune to the Flare, others are not, escape would be worthless as the immune are despised outside the compound. But the trio are adamant; they flee to Denver, Colorado where a large group who have yet to be infected lives.
     Thomas hopes the trio will be able to save the rest of the experiment survivors, but first they have to get WICKED, and its locator chip, out of their heads. While searching for the man who can remove the chips Thomas and Minho discover Newt is among the infected and as he helps them brainstorm a plan the disease takes his mind. The authorities take Newt to a city filled with people in varying stages of the Flare.
     Again, Thomas is gripped by the need to save his friends and when he and Minho risk going into the Flare-infested city to find Newt the extent of the infestation finally strikes them. Thomas hopes there is a place the survivors from the Maze to finally find peace, but any resolution will mean going back to WICKED's base and facing the demon in its lair.
     Teen and young adult readers will be interested in the conclusion of the story in the Maze and of the Flare; some romantic tension remains, with a focus on making the right choice.

Hexed

Hexed by Michelle Krys, 2014 Delacorte Press

     Indigo Blackwood is the stereotypical high school cheerleader: cheer captain best friend Bianca, football captain boyfriend Devon, and part of a social circle capable of destroying anyone. The only thing keeping her from High School Royalty is her weird mom.
     Mrs. Blackwood believes she is a witch with real powers, she runs an occult shop in downtown Los Angeles; Indie has been raised to believe in her mother's conspiracy theories, despite what conventional wisdom and her general education say. And she is freakishly possessive of the ratty old family Bible.
     When several mysterious strangers appear in her life and the family Bible is stolen Indie's mother becomes neurotic. Indie meets super-sexy Bishop who explains her mother's crazy belief in witches, sorcerers, and other paranormal creatures aren't so crazy. While Mrs. Blackwood is not a witch, her mother was, and Indie very well could be one. But the big shocker is that the missing Bible is a list of all witches throughout the world and how they can be killed by a sorcerer.
     Indie must make the choice between living up to her popular lifestyle and following through on her promise to recover the book for her mother. Indie is plunged into the ancient war between witches and sorcerers with a minimal grasp of magic and little hope of success. Bishop tries to help Indie on her journey and to discover her destiny.
     Between dealing with betrayal from those closest to her and the search for the missing book Indie discovers something in herself which wants to protect what she has adopted as her own. Hexed is filled with teenaged angst laced with magic and hope. Older teens and young adult will enjoy Indie's journey from popular cheerleader to kick-butt crime-fighter.

Scorch Trials

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner, 2010 Random House

     After Thomas and his companions are rescued they arrive at whatever place it is the boys are dropped off by WICKED. The building is a large room with two dormitories off the main room; Thomas is awakened the first night when Teresa is pulled from him - screaming in his mind. When the boys awaken it is to find their windows replaced with screaming creatures - humans who have begun to deteriorate and call themselves the Cranks.
     Thomas and his friends flee the creatures and Thomas searches for Teresa. In her place they find Aris - another boy. Aris describes an experience very like what the boys experienced in the maze. Aris was placed in a maze full of girls and young women, much like Teresa joined the boys. Thomas is concerned for Teresa and Aris is barely accepted by the boys.
    After several days locked in the building without food and afraid to leave for fear of finding more Cranks, a strange man appears with food and gives the boys a directive. They will cross hundreds of miles of the Scorch to a barren city and beyond the mountains and a safe zone.
     Along the way Thomas, Aris, and the boys from the maze encounter more Cranks and most survive. But when Teresa and the other girls appear will the two groups survive the planned betrayal? Teen and young adult readers will enjoy Dashner's dystopia. Some violence and romantic tension pervade the story.

The Red Trailer Mystery

The Red Trailer Mystery by Julie Campbell, 1950

     After investigating in The Secret of the Old Mansion Jim Frayne runs away from Jonesy, his step-father. It's up to Trixie Belden and Honey Wheeler to find him and share what his great-uncle's lawyer has told them--Jim inherited half a million dollars from Old-Man Frayne! With Miss Trask in tow the girls pack up the Wheeler's trailer, the Silver Swan, and hit the road.
     Along the way Trixie and Honey meet the Darnell family. Mr. Darnell has been out of work and the family is living in a red trailer which Trixie finds somewhat familiar, but can't place.
     The Darnells' eleven-year-old daughter Joeanne runs away when she believes her father might be mixed up in some unsavory business. Already on the lookout for Jim Frayne the young teens add Joeanne to their search.
     When several trailers, including the one the Darnells live in, and some jewelry are reported stolen Trixie and Honey are thrust into another mystery. Several dead-ends and some strange happenings later the girls discover the various mysteries may be tied together in a single knot.
     Following two thirteen-year-olds and their chaperone around upstate New York for a summer of mystery and adventure The Red Trailer Mystery is a story for younger mystery readers. Though the crime has become more dangerous, Trixie and Honey are still young teens in mid-century America sheltered and protected despite their propensity for trouble.

Maze Runner

Maze Runner by James Dashner, 2009 Delacorte Press

     Thomas wakes in a box moving up an elevator shaft, he has no specific memories to provide his history, only his name and general knowledge about how his world should work. The elevator opens on the Glade. When the doors open Thomas is lifted from the box and becomes the newest member of the group of teen boys.
     As Greenie, Thomas learns the Glade is at the center of a maze filled with Grievers: deadly half-monster, half-machine hybrids with a pre-programmed desire to kill the boys. The next day another newbie arrives and throws the Glade's two-year schedule out of wack. Not only is the newcomer the first arrival to break the once-a-month pattern, but Teresa is the first girl to join the group.
    When Teresa triggers something called the Ending, their world changes even more. Supplies fail to come, the protective walls to close out the monsters, and the sunny blue sky turns to a grey ceiling. The boys struggle to find some semblance of normalcy only to conclude they cannot. Their only hope to survive is to escape.
     Dashner's dystopia presents the question of survival and change in a world with no personal history, and illustrates how personal memories play a role in social constructs. Thomas knows he was sent to the Maze for a reason; his only problem is remembering why.
     Violence and death abound, with suspended mystery driving the teens toward their inevitable future. Teens and young adult readers who enjoyed the Hunger Games and Divergent series will see a continuing trend in Maze Runner.

The Agency: Rivals in the City

Rivals in the City by Y.S. Lee, 2015 Candlewick Press

     Mary Quinn and James Easton have developed an understanding after the collapse of the Agency. But Mary is hesitant to allow James control over her life as his spouse. Victorian Englishwomen are their husband’s property and Mary’s radical upbringing leads her to strongly object.

     James hopes to allow Mary time to overcome her qualms. When a villain from their joint past returns, he is concerned not only for Mary’s safety, but also their hoped future together. Mary is asked to return to the all-female Agency for her part in the plot. But to continue protecting the man she loves Mary suggests they remain separate to minimize the chances of retaliation.

     James is hesitant to give Mary any time to make up her mind against him and manages to insinuate himself into her mission. 

     She discovers more than simply one extension of her past during the new case. A mystery from her personal history is answered by a Chinese pugilist who is strikingly familiar.

     She completes her final case for the Agency amidst much danger to both James and Mary herself. Mary faces the danger with more than her characteristic abandon and struggles to reconcile her past with the beliefs inherited from her eccentric education and the hope of a future. Directed at teen readers Rivals in the City concludes the Mary Quinn Mysteries. 

The Agency: The Traitor in the Tunnel

The Traitor in the Tunnel by Y.S. Lee, 2012 Candlewick Press

     After finishing her mission at the clocktower construction site, Mary Quinn has accepted her first role as a fully-fledged member of the Agency. Several months of trying to forget James Easton have been somewhat successful and Mary has taken the place of parlor maid at Buckingham Palace serving Queen Victoria.
     Her mission is simple in aim: find who has been stealing trinkets from the royal residence. But it becomes more than a simple search and find.
     Anne and Felicity, the managers of the Agency, have been tense. Their fraught relationship begins to affect Mary's work when valuable information fails to reach her; cracks in the facade between Anne and Felicity appear and begin to snake their way through the Agency as a whole. Mary finds herself depending only on the resources she can supply with her own two hands as the situation becomes more complicated and more dangerous.
     Prince Bertie, Her Majesty's heir apparent, witnesses the murder of his friend at the hands of a Lascar, and Mary worries it is her father recently reappeared. In his trauma the prince latches on to Mary as the only sympathetic ear without her own agenda--and pushes his attentions beyond acceptable boundaries.
     Balancing her work and her personal agenda against the consequences of interacting with the monarch and royal family tax Mary, but do not prevent her from seeking the truth. When the mysteries become more coherent and are explained to her satisfaction, Mary is still left with a desire for something more. Teen readers and young adult will enjoy the passionate banter back and forth between Mary and James and fans of historical fiction will enjoy the elaborate glimpse into historical England.

The Secret of the Mansion

The Secret of the Mansion by Julie Campbell, 1948 Western Publishing

     Thirteen year-old Trixie Belden is lives with her family: Mr. and Mrs. Belden, Trixie's two older brothers, Brian and Mart, and her younger brother Bobby on Crabapple Farm along the Hudson River. Brian and Mart are away at camp for the summer leaving Trixie to help their mother around the house and with young Bobby. The summer looks to be unbelievably boring and Trixie dreams of some excitement.
     When a wealthy family moves into one of the neighboring mansions Trixie meets Honey Wheeler. Honey is the same age as Trixie and spends the summer with her governess Miss Trask. In the other mansion nearby to Crabapple Farm Jim Frayne seeks refuge in his miserly great-uncle's home after running away from his abusive stepfather, Jonesy.
     When great-uncle is taken away with pneumonia Jim tells the girls the legend of a hidden treasure in his new home. The trio begin to search through the decrepit mansion for the treasure which will allow Jim to escape his step-father. Things begin to heat up when Jonesy comes looking for the runaway and Trixie's summer of boredom isn't as boring as she expects.
     A mystery for younger readers The Secret of the Mansion is the first in a series of mysteries starring the young teen. The beginning of Honey and Trixie's friendship is rocky but settles into a relationship which can stand the test of time. The mystery and suspense are suitable to older children and young teens, but enjoyable by readers of all ages.

Terrier

Terrier by Tamora Pierce, 2006 Random House

     Beka Cooper and her family moved from the Cesspool into the home of the Provost: commander of the Provost Guard, known as dogs, who keep the King's Peace in the capital, Corus. Beka shows, at a young age, her tendency toward Guardwork. When she is old enough the Lord Provost allows Bekka to join the Dogs.
     After a year of training Beka Cooper becomes a Puppy - trainee dog. To her surprise, Puppy Cooper is placed with two of the best Dogs in the city. Tunstall and Goodwin are veteran Dogs who not only care for their jobs, but also care for the justice and people in the Lower City.
     Soon two extensive cases come to their attention: the murder of nine diggers who mine in the basements of the Lower City for precious fire opals, and the kidnapping and murder of Roland Letz grandson. Letz is one of the city's most powerful "scales" known as Crookshank. He goes mad with his grandson's death and creates tension in the Underworld's Court of the Rogue allowing a foreigner, Rosto the Piper and his companions Aniki and Kora, a foothold in the unstable Underground.
     Beka admires the two women, but Rosto and his attentions make her uneasy. When push comes to shove, Beka is grateful for her new friends and the insight they bring. With more diggers turning up dead and with Beka's closest friend's husband, Crookshank's son, kidnapped next, the Lower City Dogs have their work cut out for them.
     The Puppy becomes a favorite among the lower City--not only for her past in the city, but for the tenacity which earns her the name Terrier. Beka Cooper learns to harness her talents and fights her fears to seek justice for citizens of Tortall, just as many of Pierce's heroines do.
     She is feisty and stubborn, but has her fears too. Readers who enjoy fantasy and historical fiction will find a relatable character. Terrier is more appropriate for mid-teen readers with some suggestive content.

Gathering Blue

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry, 2000 Delacorte Press

     Kira was born with a deformed leg and, in a society which casts out any imperfection into the Fields to die of exposure and the Beasts, her leg is a liability. When Kira's mother dies the ruling Council of Edifice comes to her home in the slums and brings her to the ceremonial audience chamber so Kira may prove her worth before the Council sends her to the Fields and certain death.
     Jamison, a member of the council, defends Kira and her needlework skill using an old acquaintance with her long-dead father to find the girl work. Jamison and the council set Kira to work with aged Annabella on the embroidery of a beautiful robe which shows their history. The robe is worn annually at the Gathering where the history of the people's struggle is retold by the Singer and their belief in brute superiority is reinforced when imperfection drives their society from its glory of old to this new existence of bickering and infighting.
     Annabella teaches Kira the magic of dyes and helps her improve her needlework. Kira begins to believe the idyllic life she leads when the begins to make friends in her new home. Matt is a young orphan who lives in the elaborate palace with Kira and the other orphans. Thomas is a woodworker who helps repair the staff the Singer uses to remember the songs of their history. Jo is a young girl whose talent with song secures her a place as the next Singer.
     But Annabella doesn't allow Kira to believe her world is as she dreams. When Annabella dies her offhand comments and pointed remarks make Kira look deeper at the people and events around her. After the annual Gathering Matt disappears. When he finally returns he brings a strange blind man from the Village of Healing. This man's appearance brings the subtle injustices to the forefront and encourages not only Kira but also Thomas and Jo to use their exalted places to alter expectations.
     In his attempt to gather blue for Kira and her needlework Matt links Gathering Blue to The Giver and The Messenger in this post-apocalyptic world. Inability and physical weakness do not determine the fates of Kira, Matt, Thomas, and Jo. Readers of middle ages can easily access this story of hope despite the hard truths revealed.

Revolutionary War on Wednesday

Revolutionary War on Wednesday by Mary Pope Osborne, 2000 Random House Books

     Morgan le Fay has sent Jack and Annie to the Revolutionary War for an ingredient in her spell: something to send. The siblings find themselves in December 1776 in George Washington's camp as the Continental Army plans to cross the Delaware River.
     When the weather turns sour the General is hesitant to put his people in danger with an uncertain crossing. Jack and Annie have their own part in helping the Continental Army with their Christmas Eve push toward success in the Revolutionary War.
     The Magic Tree House series examines moments in history and different cultures. In easily accessible language, Revolutionary War on Wednesday is written for early readers.

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.

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.

Boston Jane: Wilderness Days

Boston Jane: Wilderness Days by Jennifer Holm, 2010 Yearling Books

     Still in Shoalwater Bay, Washington, Jane Peck has been abandoned by her fiance. She makes plans to travel back home, but receives a letter making those plans impossible: her father, ill throughout the first novel, has died.
     With nothing left to return to, Jane decides to stay in Shoalwater Bay. But she is the only woman in the settlement, her closest companions in a nearby Chinook village. Working for her keep turns the somewhat over-emotional Jane sour and her ex-fiance's treatment makes her suspicious of the men around her. When Mr. and Mrs. Fink arrive, Jane is hopeful of a companion and friend.
    But Mrs. Fink is a little too charming: the men of Shoalwater Bay clamour to do her bidding and ignore their spunky Jane, while still expecting her to care for them. Even a proposal from Jehu, an attractive young man Jane met on the ship from Boston, is fraught with frustration and suspicion.
     A mysterious man with a valuable gold watch offers Jane the watch for her caring and hospitality and she finally has the means to go home to civilization. But the man may have something sinister in store for her new home, can Jane abandon her new friends to return to a place she never belonged?
     Though she found the adventure she had always dreamed of it turns out, adventure wasn't what Jane was searching for. Early teen readers who enjoy adventure, romance, and a touch of spook will find Wilderness Days an engaging novel with a frustratingly realistic lead in Jane.

Nobody's Princess

Nobody's Princess by Esther M. Friesner, 2007 Random House

     Growing up Helen was always told she was beautiful. When she learns her beauty will gain her different privileges and freedoms that her brothers and sister will never experience. Not only will she be queen of Sparta, but Helen has been blessed by Aphrodite with beauty like no other.
     She learns that beauty will get her anything she wants, but a little persistence will get it for her on her own terms. Helen decides no one will control her and learns to fight just like her brothers. When her younger sister is sent to her wedding, Helen and her brothers go along. They are side-tracked when their uncle sends news of a wild boar rampaging his kingdom.
     In their uncle's hall Helen meets another woman who has learned to fight like a man--though Atalanta hasn't hidden her skill and fights alongside the heroes. Helen befriends the young woman and learns more than just fighting skills from her.
     After disaster at her uncle's court and learning that Atalanta not only doesn't think badly of her, but respects her Helen and her brothers begin their long journey home. They stop at Delphi and the Pythia at Apollo's temple from whence Helen must find her own way home. Helen refuses to allow the world to make her decisions, and finds herself on her own quest.
     In a time and place where women are considered to be property of men, Helen of Sparta challenges the people around her, from her brothers to a complete stranger, to look at the pretty girl from Sparta as more than just her face. Through hard work and persistence Helen becomes friends with a legend and earns the respect of the heroes around her. Nobody's Princess is a story of going after your dreams despite the difficulties and readers in later elementary school and early middle school will enjoy it.

A Game of Thrones

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, 1996 Bantam Spectra

     When Eddard "Ned" Stark the Lord of Winterfell is called upon to exact justice on a deserter of the Night's Watch he brings his sons to witness their future duty. On their return the boys find a pack of direwolf pups, just enough of them for each of the Stark children, legitimate and bastard alike. The direwolf is the sigil of the House of Stark and each wolf connects with its child to mirror his or her traits.
     The King Robert Baratheon visits Winterfell to ask his longtime friend to be his Hand, the second in command to the king. Ned  is hesitant, but accepts the post, despite the mysterious death of the previous Hand. He promises his wife, Catelyn, to look into the possibility the queen Cersi's family Lannister could have poisoned the former King's Hand. Bran, the fourth legitimate Stark child, witnesses Queen Cersi cavorting with her twin brother Jaime Lannister, and is shoved from the windowsill. He falls and is paralyzed, and Jaime sends an assassin to keep the secret. However, Catelyn and Bran's direwolf are there to protect him. Catelyn goes to the capitol to discover the treachery that dared invade her home and to warn her husband of his danger.
     Bran stays at Winterfell with his older brother Robb and his younger brother Rickon, while his sisters Sansa and Arya journey with their father, and the oldest, illegitimate son, Jon Snow joins the Night Watch. With the Stark children go their direwolves: Ghost, Grey Wind, Lady, Nymeria, Summer, and Shaggy Dog.
     When the king is killed during a hunt, the people in power scramble for power. Queen Cersi grasps the throne through her son, Ned and the rest of the King's Council move in their own directions, the lords of the land bicker and break apart taking their properties and armies with them, Robb goes to war and claims the title King of the North.
     Away from Westeros and the Seven Kingdoms and the chaos of a regime change Danerys Targaryen, the granddaughter of Robert Baratheon's predecessor, and her brother attempt to make a new life for themselves. Viserys sells his sister to the roaming Dothraki in exchange for the promise of Westeros under his control. When her brother is killed Danerys takes over his dream. She convinces her husband to unite the wandering Dothraki and capture her homeland for her when an assassin attempts to kill both Danerys and her unborn child.
     When her husband dies, Danerys discovers her destiny as the Mother of Dragons. Her Dothraki clansmen swear allegiance to the western woman; as the story ends Danerys is just beginning her journey back to the country her family ruled for centuries and she hadn't returned to since her infancy.
     A Game of Thrones is an adult novel fraught with violence and political stratagem. A simple story of a family who puts duty before all else becomes the tale of governments and politics. The story is told from several different points of view, ranging from Ned Stark to Queen Cersi to Danerys Targaryen. The world is changing and chaos reigns in this first installment of A Song of Ice and Fire.