Kids won’t be bored for a minute this summer with these new fantasy books that take readers on wild journeys with space aliens, mer-people, magical animals, and supernatural powers. 

My hands-down favorite is Aliens on Vacation by local author Clete Barrett Smith. David dreads being sent to his grandmother’s “Intergalactic Bed & Breakfast” Inn for the summer. The tourists act and look odd. David sees a guest swallow squares of aluminum foil and drink bleach. These guests are aliens on vacation who enjoy dressing in disguise to explore the nearby town. Their imitations of “earth-speak” will keep you laughing. There’s trouble ahead as neighbor girl Amy starts to spy and her father, the Sheriff, wants to close the inn. When David takes some alien kids camping in the forest, it’s a comic delight with some bizarre consequences.

The Magnificent 12 is a new series by Michael Grant. It includes links to a website with online games. The first book, The Call, opens as 12-year-old Mack discovers that he is developing supernatural powers that come with a heavy price. Mack must travel around the world to find 12 other 12-year-olds who also have these powers. They must join together to become “the Magnifica” and battle an ancient evil that has arisen.  A wizard gives them some very cool tools: their own credit cards, iPhones, and access to a bank account (because saving the world can be very expensive).

13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison reveals the secrets of 13-year-old Tanya, who hides her ability to see into the dark and frightening fairy world. These are no Disney fairies—they can be anything from annoying to terrifying. When her mother sends her to spend a summer with her grandmother, she senses trouble in the creepy old house. A silver bracelet with 13 charms sparkles on the floor.  When Tanya places it on her wrist she meets the ghost of a girl who died over 50 years ago, and then her troubles really begin. 

It’s a world of magic spells at a school for young wizards in The Familiars by Adam Jay Epstein. The wizards-in-training use “familiars,” animal helpers gifted and skilled with magic. A street-smart stray cat named Aldwyn sneaks into the school. He pretends to know spells, but he really just wants some yummy meals. Aldwyn forms a trio with a blue jay and a tree frog. Together they survive quests and tests and battle an evil sorceress.

Get ready for an exciting time travel experience in The Last Phoenix by Linda Chapman. In this wonder-filled adventure, a family of four kids finds an ancient phoenix bird. Her fiery gold feathers are dull with age, but she is the last of her kind on earth. She desperately needs their help. People have stolen some of her magical feathers and her powers are drained. The kids must travel back through time to bring back some of the rare substances she needs to lay a mystical egg that will hatch in fire into a strong phoenix. Ancient Egypt, the wild rainforest of Peru, and a dangerous volcano in Argentina are some of the places where the kids must travel in this story of danger and magic.

You might never want to go near the ocean again after you read Kid vs. Squid by Greg Van Eekhout. Thatcher spends the summer before seventh grade helping at his uncle’s beach boardwalk “Museum of the Strange and Curious.” The museum has shrunken heads, preserved sea creatures, a mermaid mummy and a “What-Is-It?” floating in a tank of alcohol. It looks like a monkey’s head to Thatcher, but it turns out to be the head of a powerful witch. Thatcher and his friend use their detective skills to find clues about the head. They find that the curse that goes with it is still very much alive. Watch out for the mutant mer-people! 

Esta

Nothing keeps the pages turning during summer vacation like a thrilling, fast-paced adventure story. Over the last few summers, upper-elementary and middle-school readers have been gobbling up series like Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan and the Alex Rider Adventure series by Anthony Horowitz. Both series feature action on almost every page, and a cliffhanger at the end of almost every chapter. The popularity of action-adventure-thrillers for young teens and tweens shows no signs of abating, if the number of new series being published is any indication. Here are just a few of the action-filled titles we booktalked to middle school students in Everett this spring. 

Have you ever wondered why adults act so strange sometimes? In Resisters, by Eric Nylund, we learn that aliens took over our planet 50 years ago and brainwashed all the adults. Unfortunately for the aliens, the human children of earth are immune to their mind-control, and a small group of pre-adolescent guys and gals are hoping to save the planet from alien domination with the assistance of giant insect-robot-fighting creatures.

Speaking of giant creatures, Tentacles by Roland Smith is book two in the Cryptid Hunters series. Thirteen year old orphans Grace and Marty live with their uncle, a cryptozoologist, on a tiny island off the Washington coast called Cryptos Island. They are determined to finagle their way onto their uncle’s latest expedition to prove the existence of the legendary Kraken. Throw in a little espionage, a double-agent or two, some heart-pounding chase scenes, funny one-liners and some really cool spy gadgets, and this is a thrill a minute. Reading book one, Cryptid Hunters, first is recommended but not necessary.

Here There Be Monsters: the Legendary Kraken and the Giant Squid by H.P. Newquist makes a nice non-fiction pairing with Tentacles, and features actual photos of the very elusive colossal squid. 

On the darker side and not for the squeamish, Unwind by Neil Shusterman features a not-so-distant future where troublesome teens can be “unwound,” and their body parts harvested to save the lives of others; or to supply the wealthy with fresh, young parts. Black humor, some very likable characters and a glimmer of hope at the end keep this from being a total downer. The teens in Unwind who are desperate to escape “Harvest Camp” and preserve their own skin are reminiscent of the characters in Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, another dark adventure series full of biting social commentary.

Not all is gloom and doom in teen fiction. Hero by Mike Lupica is the first book in a new series about a teenage boy who unexpectedly inherits superpowers when his father’s small private plane suspiciously crashes. Zach realizes his father was keeping secrets from both him and his mother about the true nature of his job as special advisor to the president of the United States. Superpowers come in handy for thwarting muggers and would-be assassins, but are no match for the perils of high school and early adolescence.

If devouring these titles leaves you wanting more, visit the library and ask the youth services librarians for more summer reading suggestions. We don’t just work with books for kids and teens, we read them, too!

Check out the 2011 Summer Reading Program while you are there.

Emily

Just as there are adult readers who prefer to read non-fiction, there are many children and young adults that prefer fact to fiction. They want to learn something from their reading, not just enjoy a story. And then there are those readers who like interesting books whatever the genre. Here are some of the books from the non-fiction collection we’ve been talking about to promote summer reading. Just the facts, please, most of these titles can be picked up and read in bites.

First Big Book of Why is a colorful book of answers to questions like “Why do donuts have holes” and “Exactly what is that zamboni doing out there on the ice?”  Thanks to Cool Hockey Facts, I also know that the zamboni logs 3 miles at each hockey game. This is part of a series including baseball, basketball, football, and soccer facts as well. Even someone who knows their sport well can learn from these books. I assumed, as most people do if asked, that the football huddle was initiated so that the other team couldn’t hear their plan. Surprisingly, the huddle was initiated by a deaf quarterback who signed – he used the huddle so the other teams couldn’t see what he had planned!

The 100 Most Disgusting Things on the Planet by Anna Claybourne is another title for nibblers, but don’t read it before a meal. Slugs only rate a 2 on the scale from 1 to 5 yucks; things just get worse from there. Pictures and descriptions of gourmet delights such as maggot cheese, and ugly oddities of the animal world, keep readers turning the pages.

Danger by Laura Buller is full of, well, dangerous things, but with a touch of humor as well. It includes a section on surviving a horror movie with advice like “Never flee up the stairs from a monster on the loose. Once at the top, your only way out is to jump!”

In How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg, a comical skeleton on the cover is posed in an attitude of warning as if quoting the author who admonishes: “If you don’t have the guts for gore, don’t open this book.” Each chapter features a forensic study of a famous person from history including how they died and what caused their death. There is a little history and a great deal of science (and humor) mixed in.

Animal Pop! by Wanda Jones and More Life-size Zoo by Teriyuki Komiya both use pop-up book technology to allow you to unfold and see just how big a hippo (or bison or wolf) really is without getting too close for comfort.

Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine, and a Miracle was written by Major Brian Dennis about the dog he adopted, or rather the dog that adopted him, in Iraq. His patrol was sent routinely to a desert outpost where he met a dog he called “Nubs” due to his short-cropped ears. The two bonded and eventually Nubs tracked the marine 70 miles across the desert to his base. When his CO said the dog had to go, Major Dennis enlisted friends and family to raise the funds to send Nubs to his parents in California. Nubs was waiting to welcome Major Dennis home after his time in Iraq. Lots of pictures make this heartwarming story an inviting read for animal lovers of any age.

We are fortunate to have a world-renowned storyteller, Margaret Read MacDonald, as our first summer performer. She will tell folktales at both the Main Library and the Evergreen Branch Library on July 9.  Little Rooster’s Diamond Button, The Squeaky Door, and Go to Sleep, Gecko are three of her stories published in picture book form. The illustrations compliment the texts which stay true to the oral traditions they come from.

Look for the signs that say We talked about these at your school! in the children’s and teen areas for displays featuring the books we brought to Everett schools along with bookmarks that list all of the books we brought for show and tell.

Theresa

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool 

Do you remember the first time you read To Kill a Mockingbird? When you discovered how you could truly “feel” a book, becoming entangled in one child’s world of fear, imagination and reflections on the oddness of the adults around her? Moon Over Manifest, the 2010 Newbery Award winner, grabs hold the same way. Rich in empathy and experience, this book speaks to both children and adults. 

Twelve-year-old Abilene and her father Gideon have been riding the rails as hobos during the Depression. When Gideon finds summer work, he sends Abilene to tiny, dreary Manifest, Kansas, to stay with his old friend, Shady Howard. Pastor Shady is a failed alcoholic preacher, but he’s still a caring and loyal guardian to Abilene. With the summer stretching out before her, Abilene explores the town and finds it teeming with secrets. She discovers an old box of treasured mementos, letters and newspaper clippings. Some of the letters date back to 1917. Written by Ned Gillen to a man called “Jinx,” they talk of danger, bootlegging and racial tension in the town. The letters also warn that “THE RATTLER is watching.” Abilene does some detective work with the help of two local friends, and readers immediately savor the keen curiosity and outright bravery of this girl.

A fortune-telling diviner, Miss Sadie, lives nearby in a spooky house. Abilene courageously crosses through her twisted iron gate and enters the life of this suspicious recluse. Soon she hears Miss Sadie’s vivid tales of past times in this town torn by poverty and racial fears. It seems that Miss Sadie knows the mysterious characters from that box of letters. Slowly, she and Pastor Shady reveal as much to Abilene as they think she is ready to understand.

All of the adults in this book seem as tattered and damaged as the town, but their hearts are not closed. Abilene becomes a force that steers people towards the trust, understanding and gentle compassion that they have forgotten how to feel.   

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia 

It’s 1968 and eleven-year-old Delphine has only bits and pieces of memories of her mother, Cecile, who deserted the family seven years ago for California. Delphine’s father puts her and her two younger sisters on a plane to meet their mother. The girls bubble over with hopes of seeing Disneyland and movie stars in the California of their dreams. But they find a mother who is cool, distant and obsessed with her political work within the Black Panther Party.  It seems like they are surrounded by adults with secrets. The men in big Afro hairdos and black berets seem strange and disturbing at first, and the girls can’t figure out why they call Cecile “Sister Nzila.”  

Soon the girls are sent off to Black Panther day camp to be “re-educated.” One girl gets teased for bringing along her white doll. But in this “crazy summer” right after Black Power leader Huey Newton is jailed, the girls get caught up in the energy of this unrest and change. As the sisters begin to understand the turmoil, we see the idealism and hope of young African-Americans struggling to define their need for empowerment and their vision of the future. 

Each girl has a delightful and unique way of responding to these new ideas. The book sparkles with humor as the girls support each other and muddle through. Delphine’s courage and curiosity open up some of the mystery within her mother’s locked-up heart. This book was a finalist for the 2010 National Book Award. It offers a rich combination of wit and empathy. It also sings forth with the spirit of the 1960s and recreates that time of vibrant changes.

Esta