Fantasy

Do you believe in ghosts?  I discount many of the ghost stories I hear, but can’t quit discount the whole phenomenon.  That is, there is ...

Empire of Bones (Ashtown Burials #3) by N. D. Wilson. Random House, 2013. 448 pages. Reading Level: Middle gradesRecommended For: age 10 and up. We've ...

This fall, Zondervan Publishers is introducing a new imprint called “Blink.”  According to Zondervan marketing v-p Chrisynethia Floyd, “They are for anyone, regardless of faith ...

As Emily informed us yesterday, September is science and science-fiction month, featuring our read-along of Orson Scott Card's classic novel, Ender's Game.  To celebrate, we're ...

There's a big movie release this week, based on a best-selling series of young-adult fantasy novels.  Young-adult fantasy novels have proved enormously profitable for the ...

To Skim or Not to Skim It's seven o'clock, and you remember you have a book review due in the morning.  But alas, you haven't ...

Welcome to Week 6 of our Summer Reading Challenge!  If you’d like to see other posts in this series,

Other Lemonade and Lit posts:  Introduction, Week One: Booked, Week Two: Booked Discussion, Week Three: Beauty, Week Four: Sexuality in Booked, Week Five: Beauty Discussion, ...

The False Prince (2012) and The Runaway King (2013), by Jennifer A. Nielson.  Scholastic, about 350 pages each.  Age/interest level: 10-up. When we first encounter ...

Destiny, Rewritten, by Kathryn Fitzmaurice.  HarperCollins, 2013, 335 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-12 (especially girls) Bottom Line: Destiny, Rewritten ...

Cake: Love, Chickens and a Taste of Peculiar, by Joyce Magnin.  Zonderkidz, 2013, 221 pages.  Age/interest level: 8-14. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 8-10 Recommended ...

Bliss, by Kathryn Littlewood.  HarperCollins, 2012, 374 pages.  Age/interest level: 10-14. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-14 Bottom Line: Bliss mixes ...

Since I first wrote about teen paranormal romance--the spark that became a blaze with the Twilight series and all its imitators--we’ve seen the entire Bella-Edward ...

There’s a grand slam (plus one) among children’s book reviewers: Booklist, The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, Horn Book, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, ...

The Drowned Vault (Ashtown Burials #2)  by N. D. Wilson.  Random House, 2012, 447 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, 12-15 Recommended for: ages 12 and ...

Tuesday’s post about “Twisting Mother Goose” was headed down an alley I didn’t have room to address.  So today’s post springs off YA lit-blogger Georgia ...

Deadweather and Sunrise, by Geoff Rodkey.  Putnam, 2012, 296 pages.  Age/interest level: 10-up. Thirteen-year-old Egbert Masterson, or Egg as he will soon be called, is ...

Hayley Schoeppler is a 20 year old college student, the oldest in a family of seven kids, and an astute Christian book reviewer at her ...

Readers of this blog may not believe me when I say I’m not a big fantasy fan.  Then why so many fantasy reviews?  Because that’s ...

Tuesdays at the Castle, by Jessica Day George.  Bloomsbury, 2012, 225 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12. Recommended for: Ages 8-14 Whenever Castle Glower ...

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny: Detectives Extraordinaire! by Mrs. Bunny, translated from the Rabbit by Polly Horvath, illustrated by Sophie Blackall.  Schwartz & Wade, 2012, 248 ...

*Secrets at Sea, by Richard Peck, illustrated by Kelly Murphy.  Dial, 2011, 239 pages.   Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 8-10 and ...

As reported by the L.A. Times only a week ago, “Young adult continues to be the literary world’s fastest-growing genre.”  There are a lot of ...

*The Dragon’s Tooth (Ashtown Burials, Book One), by N. D. Wilson.  Random House, 2011, 482 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: ages ...

Or for you parents, will your kids be going to see the final Harry Potter movie released to theaters this week?  If so, for what ...

*Entwined, by Heather Dixon.  Greenwillow, 2011, 472 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 12-15 Bottom Line: Entwined is a fairy-tale romance ...

Heartless, by Anne Elisabeth Stengl.  Bethany House, 2010.  Age/interest level: 14-up (first in a series) Princess Una is a romantic sort, indulged by her father and ...

Rebel by R. J. Anderson. Enclave Publishing, Reprint edition, 2015. 308 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, 12-15. Recommended for: Ages 12-15 Bottom Line: Rebel, a story ...

The main problem with Christian fantasy may be, what do you do with Christ? Honestly: can it be "Christian" without him?  But it's not easy to ...

*The Charlatan's Boy, by Jonathan Rogers.  WaterBrook Press, 2010, 305 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 10-12 and up Bottom Line: ...

*Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword (graphic novel), by Barry Deutsch. Abrams (Amulet), 2010, 139 pp. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: Ages 8-10 ...

The Emerald Atlas (#1 in the Books of Beginning series), by John Stephens. Knopf, 2011, 432 pages. Reading level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ...

The Perilous Gard, by Elizabeth Marie Pope.  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001, 288.  Age/interest level 12-up. Reading Level: Teens/Young Adults Recommended for: Ages 15-18 Bottom line: ...

The Bartimaeus Trilogy, by Jonathan Stroud: The Amulet of Samarkand (Hyperion/Miramax, 2003), The Golem's Eye (2004), Ptolemy's Gate (2005). Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-14 ...

The Ring of Solomon, by Jonathan Stroud.  Hyperion/Disney, 2010, 398 pages.  Reading level: Middle grades, 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 12-14 One-line Summary: The witty narrator ...

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, by Rick Riordan: The Lightning Thief (Hyperion/Miramax,2005), The Sea of Monsters (2006), The Titan's Curse (2007), The Battle of the ...