Mission: READ

Recently I have been watching my Lord of the Rings DVDs (based on JRR Tolkein’s trilogy, of course) and talking to students about this year’s Rebecca Caudill winner, Eragon by Christopher Paolini. It struck me that these are HUGE novels–not only in page numbers but in the elaborate construction of another world, all the creatures who live in that world and all the rules that apply in the world.  And it also struck me that people who say that they don’t like fantasy books often do so because this is the type of book that they think about when they hear the word “fantasy.” However, there are plenty of fantasy books that don’t involve a lengthy hero quest.  Here are just a few recommendations:

Coraline by Neil Gaiman is one of the creepiest books I’ve read in a while. It is about a girl who moves to a new flat and discovers a door into an alternate universe. The flat on the other side seems just like hers, but a little bit better.  Better food..better toys.  And then (insert forboding music here) Caroline meets her “other mother” with long, clawed fingernails and button eyes.  She wants to keep Coraline in her world forever, just like her other children…..The whole feel of the book is unsettling and the illustrations add to the mood as well. This book is a good example of one that can be classsified as a horror as well as a fantasy–and you’l want to read it with the lights on.

Fantasies can also be take-offs on traditional stories such as fairy tales.  Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix is the story of a girl who bested her evil stepmother, had the foot that fit the shoe, and went off with the prince to live happily ever after.  Except that she didn’t—live happily ever after that is.  Once at the palace Ellla is forced to embark on a series of lessons to teach her to be a proper princess-which seems to involve not much more than sitting around making pleasant conversation, sewing, and being pretty to look at. Worse yet,   Prince Charming is rarely around and when he is, he loves to talk about himself and not much else.  In short, Ella is miserable. Does she find a way to still live happily ever after? Read it and see.

Is there anyone out there who wouldn’t want to read a book about leprechauns with machine guns? The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer is part James Bond, part Princess Bride, and all fun.  In the first book, 12-year-old criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl gets himself in a heap of trouble when he kidnaps Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit and the fairies decide to fight back…I dare you not to laugh at this book.

Another funny fantasy is Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson. Arriman the Awful, handsome and successful Wizard of the North, wants an heir.  To get one, he needs a wife.  To get a wife, he decides to hold an American-Idol style competition between all the witches in the land.  The challenge: to perform the darkest piece of magic. The prize: to be Arriman’s bride, of course. The contestants are ready for a knock-down drag-out fight, but not becuse they want Arriman for a husband–they’re after the POWER! Except for Belladonna, poor soul, who truly loves Arriman but so far can only conjure up such horrific things as sweetly singing baby birds and dainty flowers.

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could travel to another time and another place? Where would you go?  Who would you meet? How about your favorite sports heroes?  Joe Stoshack, the “star” of Dan Gutman’s Baseball Card Adventure series, has that power–whenever he touches an old baseball card. He discovers this special power when he finds a Honus Wagner baseball card whle cleaning his elderly neighbor’s attic in the series’ first book Honus & Me. Once Joe figures out that a baseball card can be his own personal time machine, he meets Babe Ruth, Abner Doubleday, Jackie Robinson and more greats.  If you like sports, this is the fantasy series for you.

OK–I know I said that not all fantasies have to involve a lengthy quest, but I just can’t resist telling you about just one hero-quest book. It has less than 250 pages, but still gets the job done.  The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine is a book about two sisters.  Princess Meryl is bold, brave and wants nothing more than to fight for her country and find a cure for the Gray Death, a devastating plague.  Princess Addie is timid and shy and is used to her sister protecting her.  One of them gets the Gray Death–can you guess who?  If you guessed, Meryl, the strong one, you’re right. When the girls’ father spends too much time deliberating with councillors and not enough time getting a team together to find the cure, Addie has no choice but to take matters into her own hands.  With help from an ancient prophecy, some magic boots, a magic tablecloth, and the wizard Rhys, Addie faces dragons, ogres, specters and more.  Can she figure our where to find the cure and actually get it before Meryl’s time runs out?

Want to know more about Coraline, Just Ella, Artemis Fowl, Which Witch?, Honus & Me, or The Two Princesses of Bamarre? Then check them out and read them yourself!

Mission: Accomplished