In Catherynne M. Valente’s first book for young readers, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, the 12-year-old protagonist, September, had a unique and wonderful adventure in the world of Fairy and was brought home to Nebraska, safe and sound. For those of us who read the earlier novel and fell in love—with the writing, with the characters, with September—our desperate need for another trip to Fairyland has been as great as September’s own. With this second novel, Valente delivers another truly wonderful story.

Having vanquished the evil Marquess the first time around, September longed to return and enjoy the many marvels of what is now, surely, a peaceful kingdom. Once she finds another way back, however, she discovers that her very own shadow, the one she was forced to relinquish on her first visit, has been stirring up a good bit of trouble. She sets off  once again off to make things right and restore magic to Fairyland.

Valente’s rich prose is practically poetry. Her narrative voice is so immediate and revealing that we feel we know more about September than she knows about herself. The vocabulary is full and deep and continuously rewards the careful reader. As one character observes, “A book is a door, you know. Always and forever.” The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There is one of the best doors to choose: a completely satisfying read and a joy to revel in.

How far would you go to keep your family together? That’s a question 13-year-old Kathleen Star—better known as Pride—must find an answer to, and fast. In Sheila O’Connor’s Keeping Safe the Stars, Pride and her two younger siblings must learn to survive on their own when Old Finn, their grandfather and only living relative, gets sick. He is taken from Eden, where the Stars live, and transferred to the big hospital hours away in Duluth. Pride isn’t sure how she’s going to do it, but she vows to fulfill her mother’s wish to “keep safe the Stars.”

When Pride realizes they will need help from Old Finn, the Stars travel by themselves to Duluth to find their grandfather. Unfortunately, what they find there is nothing like what they expected.

Set during Richard Nixon’s resignation, Keeping Safe the Stars is a blend of adventure and history. Filled with just the right amount of tension, humor and love, this book grabs readers from the first page and pulls them, gently but firmly, all the way through to the satisfying conclusion.

This gem of a story, covering eight days in a sleepy small-town summer, has an unusual central character: a one-legged homing pigeon named Sherman who has gone missing from Mr. Mineo’s flock.

While on the lam, Sherman is spotted by many folks. Stella and her friend Gerald want a pet. Amos and Ethel Roper enjoy arguing about the bird. Mutt is enthralled that the silly pigeon seems attracted to his head and that everyone thinks he is making up the story. And the unnamed sweet brown dog only wants a friend.

All these stories twist and turn into each other like the footpaths of a small town. Where will it all end up? Just where it should: The brown dog finds a home (and a name: Harvey) with Stella, Mutt’s story is proved true, Sherman finds his girl pigeon and everyone has a soda at the bait shop.

Barbara O’Connor’s gift in storytelling is her restraint. Holding back allows the reader to fill in a bit, making the story more personal. Her talents make On the Road to Mr. Mineo’s an unforgettable trip.

Adam Gidwitz thrilled readers with his fairy tale retellings in A Tale Dark and Grimm. Both terrifying and humorous, the book landed on many "best of the year" lists in 2010 and marked Gidwitz, an elementary school teacher, as a writer to watch.
 
On September 27, readers can purchase In a Glass Grimmly, the follow-up novel to A Tale Dark and Grimm, starring Jack and Jill. Here on BookPage.com, take an exclusive sneak peek at the prologue and chapter one of this spooky tale. Click here for the file, courtesy of Penguin Young Readers Group [PDF].

In Fire in the Streets, Kekla Magoon picks up where her award-winning 2009 novel The Rock and the River left off, exploring the role of young people in the Chicago office of the Black Panther party during and after the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Maxie, a 14-year-old girl who lives in the projects and is in an on-again, off-again relationship with Sam (whose older brother was killed in the first book), wants to be a full-fledged Panther. She is tired of babysitting the leaders’ children, filing papers and straightening out the office. Maxie is in that in-between stage between childhood and adulthood. She wants to be a grownup, but she still loves her best friends. She wants to have a boyfriend, but she is confused by Sam’s mood swings.

She worries about her mother and the parade of men through her house, and she also worries about having enough to eat and the money to pay for electricity and the phone. She wonders how her older brother manages to hold the family together.

After a violent attack on the Panther offices, it becomes clear that Maxie has what it takes to be a real Panther. She is observant and is asked to keep her ears and eyes open for a mole in the office. Someone is giving information to the police, and Maxie is determined to find out who that is. When she finally discovers the truth, Maxie is faced with a moral decision that changes many lives.

Magoon was wise to have Maxie tell her own story, as the first-person narrative allows the reader a front-row view of her angst, worry and nearly blind love for the Panthers. We understand the attraction that the Panthers had for many young people, and we further understand how far some will go to belong to the group. The moral questions of Fire in the Streets are many, and readers will be left to consider them for a long time. The historical backdrop adds a lot to the novel, but, in the end, it’s a powerful story of one young person trying her best to find her way in a complicated world.

You know that feeling when you settle into a book and the world fades away? That’s what happened when I snuggled up with Chickadee, the fourth book in Louise Erdrich’s acclaimed Birchbark House series. I had read some of the earlier books but I worried that it had been too long since I spent time with this 19th-century Ojibwe family and their people. That was a wasted worry—like an old friend who comes to visit, Chickadee drew me right back into the story.

Chickadee and his twin brother Makoons live a happy life with their family and neighbors. The only blots on their lives are Babiche and Batiste, the two adult sons of John Zhigaag, the tribe’s mean guy. When grandmother Nokomis ruins the bully’s hat and Makoons takes it one step further by purposely humiliating him, his sons hatch a plan of revenge.

In the middle of the night, Chickadee is stolen by the two oafs and his family begins a journey across the Great Plains to find him. While the thuggish brothers end up bearing more resemblance to the dull giants of fairy tales, and there is little doubt that our little hero will find his family again, Chickadee’s odyssey is a long and difficult one. He is often comforted by the words of his grandmother and namesake bird: “Small things have great power.” The chickadee gives the little boy a song that will summon the bird in case of danger and can also be used to heal people. Little does Chickadee realize how important that song will become.

As Chickadee moves to safety, relying on the kindness of strangers and the love of his Uncle Quill, his twin Makoons sinks into sadness and illness. The tension builds as the Chickadee’s journey is extended by fierce mosquitoes, a flooding river and slow ferries. The reunion, song and all, is sweet and just in time.

Erdrich’s realistic sketches and dandy map add much to this story. I loved flipping back and forth to see what she had depicted on the map and to discover what was to come. This warm family drama in a rich historical setting makes for a special reading experience.

Now that Cassie is in middle school, she faces all the attendant problems any eighth-grade girl might encounter: losing friends, finding new ones, dancing around the inevitable cliques, dealing with crushes on boys and problems at home. The difference between Cassie and most girls her age is that her problems at home began when her older brother enlisted in the military. Sef is going to Iraq, an act admired by his father and reviled by his mother, feared by Cassie and her older sister Van, and not understood by younger brother Jack, who has Down syndrome.

Cassie’s own anxiety about Sef is drowned by her mother’s almost catatonic dread, forcing Cassie to feel as if she must step in and save everybody, and leaving her with no outlet for her emotions. When an assignment in Social Studies class leads her to correspond with an Iraqi girl her own age (who calls herself Blue Sky), Cassie finds someone who will listen to her fears. In the process, Cassie also learns that, in comparison to Blue Sky’s encounters with daily bombs and missing family members, her life is not so unmanageable.

While everyone in Cassie’s family seems to hold their breath waiting for Sef’s return, the conclusion of the book is not the Hollywood welcome home we all hope for, but rather the peace they find in the waiting.

Award-winning author Mary Sullivan has written a novel for young readers that is both timely and timeless. Though the story is set during the Iraq war, the struggles that Cassie goes through are applicable to any era. Sullivan’s prose allows us to feel the bittersweet acceptance and love each family member has for the others, and we leave feeling the same for Cassie as she must feel for her brother: hope for her future well-being and the joy of living in the present.

Hey! Hey you! Yeah, you right there, reading this review. Don’t you think it’s excellent that I’m writing a review of The Templeton Twins Have an Idea? Of course it’s excellent—otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it. What’s not to like about genius twins, their clever-yet-flighty father and the evil twins who kidnap them: Dean D. Dean and Dan D. Dean?  Nothing—that’s what. Now do yourself a favor and pick up this book!

The Templeton Twins Have an Idea is the first book in a new series written by Ellis Weiner and brilliantly illustrated by Jeremy Holmes. It features an ever-present narrator who talks to the reader, interjects comments and generally makes a hilarious nuisance of himself. However, his presence is also what makes this story so much fun to read. Professor Elton Templeton is the famous inventor of such products as the Adjust-O-Matic Diving Board and the Battery-Operated Toothpick. His children—Abigail, who loves to solve cryptic crossword puzzles, and John, who practices every day on his drum set—can work together to solve almost any problem. However, their latest problem may be more than they can handle when they are kidnapped by Dean D. Dean, a former student of Professor Templeton’s, as revenge for (supposedly) stealing Dean’s idea for a Personal One-Man Helicopter.

The Templeton Twins Have an Idea is hilarious, full of adventure and suspense, and completely original. The narrator provides insight, witty (and sarcastic) commentary and ridiculous statements, including review questions at the end of each chapter, such as “How would the Templeton twins’ lives have been different had they never been born?” Reminiscent of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, this is a promising start to an excellent new series.