“All their life in this world and all their adventures had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
“Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things-trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real-world hollow.
“Fools!" said the man, stamping his foot with rage. "That is the sort of talk that brought me here, and I'd better have been drowned or never born. Do you hear what I say? This is where dreams — dreams, do you understand — come to life, come real. Not daydreams: dreams.”
“Wouldn't it be dreadful if some day in our own world, at home, men start going wild inside, like the animals here, and still look like men, so that you'd never know which were which.”
The fourth book in the Narnia series, Prince Caspian is one of the most memorable ones, with all the classics of a fairytale. An evil uncle, plotting for the throne, and a young prince seeking help in what’s left of the mythical part of his kingdom.
“But one of the worst results of being a slave and being forced to do things is that when there is no one to force you any more you find you have almost lost the power of forcing yourself.”
“I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say, but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather, C. S. Lewis.”
“Far overhead from beyond the veil of blue sky which hid them the stars sang again; a pure, cold, difficult music. Then there came a swift flash like fire (but it burnt nobody) either from the sky or from the Lion itself, and every drop of blood tingled in the children's bodies, and the deepest, wildest voice they had ever heard was saying: "Narnia, Narnia, Narnia, awake. Love. Think. Speak. Be walking trees. Be talking beasts. Be divine waters.”
If you grew up reading The Selection series, a contemporary YA classic that graced many, many bookshelves in the 2010s, then you might be interested in author Kiera Cass’ other work, A Thousand Heartbeats. Published in 2022, the novel centers on Princess Annika and Commander Lennox, two young people on opposite sides of a violent conflict between their two countries.
One of Us is Lying, by Karen McManus, is one of the most popular and intriguing mystery books of the last few years. Centered in the small town of Bayview California, McManus’s quick paced writing and addicting style allow readers to get invested from the very beginning. High schoolers Abby, Nate, Bronwyn, and Cooper find themselves in detention with Simon Keheller, the creator of Bayview High’s gossip app, ‘About That,’ which is known for spilling destructive and deadly secrets about Bayview’s students.
Summary: An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon is a compelling work of fiction set on a generational spaceship, the HSS Matilda, where society is divided by race and class, echoing the injustices of America. The story follows Aster, a dark-skinned healer who discovers secrets about the ship's past while navigating a hierarchy that mirrors the worst aspects of slavery.
