The Land of Stories: Wishing Spell is a book about
two twin siblings who get stuck in the book of
fairytales provided by their grandmother. The
book takes us through their journey as they
explore the new world and face completely unknown
dangers of the book. I highly recommend this book
for young kids, especially those in middle school
since that is the age of the characters in the
book. Personally, this is one of my favorite
The Magic Fish is a heartwarming graphic novel that showcases beautiful parallels between the fairytales Tien reads with his parents and Tien’s own story of trying to tell his family that he’s gay. There’s a lot of difficulties in communicating with parents that don’t speak English well, and wanting to them something so important as being gay. As this young boy navigates through his own struggling Vietnamese, this book shows us that happiness can be reached even through the language barrier.
Soman Chainani’s Quests for Glory is the fourth book in The School for Good and Evil series; however, it begins a new trilogy. Students of the School for Good and Evil are on their required fourth-year quests, Sophie is the acting Dean of Evil, and Agatha and Tedros are trying to return Camelot to its former glory. As the reader revisits some of their favorite characters, Chainani introduces a new cast, including a villain who tries to take Tedros’ throne.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, written by Grace Lin, is a fantasy novel inspired by Chinese mythology and folklore. The book follows Minli, a young girl who lives in the Village of Fruitless Mountain, working hard and farming despite the terrible land of the Fruitless Mountain. Her father tells her stories and she wishes to have an adventure of her own. One day, she uses her money to buy a goldfish, and it turns out that the goldfish can talk.
Poisoned brings an interesting alternative plot line to the classic fairytale Snow White. Sophie is both compassionate and the heir to her father’s throne. Her stepmother shares different ideas when it comes to ruling. She orders for the hunter to bring back Sophie’s heart. Unlike the traditional tale, the hunter accomplishes his task. Sophie is thankfully saved by many mysterious strangers that she meets along the way. She of course has also saved many creatures of sorts, and many of them return the favor.
The Hinterland — a fairytale world filled with magic, violence, and wickedly beautiful promises. In this collection of twelve dark fairytales, author Melissa Albert brings to life the stories that make up the very backbone of her debut novel, The Hazel Wood. Within these pages, girls grown from apple blossoms, women in bearskins, and grooms with the eyes of lions perform a precarious dance, toying with the fibers of life.
The School for Good and Evil is the first book in a series of the same name by Soman Chainani. This is a middle-grade fantasy novel that follows two girls in their early teens as they are taken from their hometown and thrust into a school to learn to become either good or evil. Although this is a middle-grade book, it has some more mature themes and insinuating moments in the dialogue.
How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories is a companion book to Holly Black’s Folk of the Air series, this time following High King Cardan, one of the series’ more compelling characters.
The second book in the Lunar Chronicles, Scarlet, is a take on the well known tale of Little Red Riding Hood. The main character and namesake is Scarlet, a farm girl living on the outskirts of a small French town. Scarlet’s spunkiness and courageous attitude makes her an almost shockingly dynamic character compared to Cinder from the first book.