By Polly Shulman When Elizabeth’s history teacher recommends her for a job at the New York Circulating Material Repository, she assumes she’ll be working with books. Soon, she discovers the things she’ll be taking care of are more likely to be dishes, gadgets, and clothing. Best of all, some of them are magic. In fact, [...]
by Frank R. Stockton, illustrated by P.J. Lynch This is an enchanting tale of a strange, old man and his unlikely adventures. The man had always lived a simple life of caring for his bees. His life began to change when a young sorcerer told him that he must have been transformed and should find [...]
Written by Shannon and Dean Hale and Illustrated by Nathan Hale Written and illustrated in the same style as Rapunzel’s Revenge, this second graphic novel by the Hale team follows Jack’s story, giving readers Jack’s history from before he met Rapunzel and following the pair after the events of the first graphic novel. Jack’s luck [...]
by Adam Gidwitz Once I started reading A Tale Dark & Grimm, I had trouble putting it down. Gidwitz gives us the darkest, grimmest versions of several Grimm fairy tales. Some are well-known and others are pretty obscure. The main characters are Hansel and Gretel, who play a role in each tale. But don’t look [...]
by Kate DiCamillo This is a fun story about Despereaux, the unlikeliest of characters. Despereaux is a mouse, a mouse that his family believes will amount to nothing. He just doesn’t act like a mouse, and Despereaux loves to read romance stories. Living in a castle, he soon discovers and falls for the Princess Pea, [...]
by Donna Jo Napoli In a beautifully written piece that incorporates Persian folklore, Donna Jo Napoli tells a story of a little girl named Parisa. Parisa’s world has been shaken and she finds herself alone. After experiencing unkindness and loneliness, Parisa shows the importance of not just being human, but humane. From courage, she creates [...]
by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Brett Helquist Neil Gaiman wrote Odd and the Frost Giants for World Book Day in the United Kingdom. Gaiman explains: “In most of the world (but not America) they have World Book Day. On World Book Day, in the UK, schoolchildren are given book tokens to buy books with, and [...]
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica George An exciting version of the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale, geared toward upper elementary readers. Queen Maude makes a deal with the King Under Stone to conceive, and is granted twelve baby girls in eleven years. But the princesses are doomed to wed the evil King’s sons [...]
by Shannon and Dean Hale This is a fun graphic novel (comic book style) retelling of the fairy tale. In this version, Rapunzel’s mother works in the desolate mine camps that surround the castle. When Rapunzel realizes her true origins, she is determined to free her mother and the other workers. The evil queen leaves [...]