Far Far Away by Tom McNeil

Far Far Away begins thus:

“What follows is the strange and fateful tale of a boy (Jeremy Johnson Johnson), a girl (Ginger Boultinghouse), and a ghost.  The boy possessed uncommon qualities, the girl was winsome and daring, and the ancient ghost (the teller of this fairy tale) intentions were good.”

The ancient ghost lived once as a mortal man known as Jacob Grimm.  Yes, the very Grimm who along with his brother Wilhelm wrote Grimm’s Fairy Tales.  Jacob, it seems, after he died went to Zwischenraum- the space between death and the afterlife.

Jeremy Johnson Johnson can hear the voice of the ghost of Jacob Grimm.  For that reason, “Jeremy hears strange whisperings” are taunted about him.  In the town of Never Better, Jeremy Johnson Johnson is definitely an outcast.

“There is yet another player in this cast, the Finder Of Occasions, someone who moved freely about the village, someone who watched and waited, someone who watched and waited, someone with tendencies so tortured and malignant that I could scarcely bring myself to them….”

Jeremy’s mother has run away.  His father has shut himself in his bedroom--forgoing of any normal life.  Their bookstore and home are being foreclosed.

If Jeremy Johnson Johnson can possibly win in the TV game, Uncommon Knowledge, there might be a hope for him and his father.

If you like fantasy and fairytales, this will be an enjoyable read.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones by Cassandra Claire

 

Many, many students have enjoyed this series by Cassandra Claire. I had to find out what they were raving about so I read Book #1 City of Bones.

Fifteen-year-old Clary Fray and her mother Jocelyn live in New York City on the fifth floor of a five-story apartment without an elevator.  After a disturbing night out at a club called Pandemonium with her best friend since early childhood named Simon, Clary really feels the need to talk with her mom about baffling events she saw at the club.  But her mother is instead packing up their belongings to make a hasty trip to the country. 

Clary argues with her mom and storms out.  That is the last time she sees her mom as her mother goes missing.  The apartment is in shambles; Clary wonders if her mom has been killed or kidnapped.  Then Clary is attacked by a demon!

This series is filled with action! Why could only Clary see the two men and the one woman at the Pandemonium Club while Simon couldn’t? Does she have “the sight?” What does she do when she discovers a whole group of “people” she never knew existed--shadow hunters, demons, fairies, werewolves, and vampires?

Has Clary’s mom protected her for years? Is her mother more than an artist? And what about Luke, her mother’s friend? Is he really minding a bookstore or does he also have another “hidden” past?

Readers of fantasy should continue to enjoy all the books in this series.

 

 

The Emerald Atlas

The Emerald Atlas (Book of Beginnings) is an action packed fantasy! Enjoy the adventure as three children who were taken from their parents to protect them from something sinister that would have happened otherwise, travel to a strange placed called Cambridge Falls. What makes this place so strange is no one seems to know anything about Cambridge Falls and yet that is where Kate, Michael, and Emma are destined to reside.

It has been ten years since Kate was taken as a four-year-old with her brother who was three and her sister who was 1. They have spent ten years shuttling between orphanages.

Now they are faced with the challenge of their lives! A witch of a Countess, screechers who are at her beck and call to kill anyone who doesn't do as she says are the major problem. Orphaned children whose parents have been kept at bay as they tried desperately to reclaim their children are pleading with Kate and the children to help free them.. Dwarves who have an idiot for their leader when his brother would be a true heroic figure are totally helpless. Gabriel, who has the strength to lead and the body to match could be the most dependable friend the children have if they can trust him. Will the children be able to find The Book of Beginnings that the Countess wants to possess? If they find it, will the Countess really let the children in her captivity return to their families? Can fourteen year old Kate really keep the promise she made to her parents when she was four years old--that she would watch over and protect them when Kate herself is in danger? Read this trilling fantasy to find out!

World's End

Lovers of the fantasy Dormia rejoice! Book Two of the Dormia series entitled World's End by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski is filled with the same wonderful imaginative characters and adventures!

Alphonso Perplexion is on a school trip to France when he begins to lag behind in the catacombs beneath the streets of Paris. Now a teenager, Alphonso has gone through a growth spurt in the three years since he left Dormia. He is rather tall and gaunt. He experiences his first sleepwalking episode in three years when he meets Sophie who is also a Wanderer. The real action begins a few days later when the class trip to Marseilles, France causes another sleeping adventure that puts Alphonso on a freighter bound for of all places--Egypt.

My favorite part of this book is when Alphonso meets up with Resuza, Hill, and Bilblox. Their adventures on the fault roads was amazing to me. Will the man that Alphonso keeps seeing in his sleeping episodes be his long lost father? Could his father really be alive? Read the sequal to Dormia, World's End, to find out!

The Grimm Legacy

How cool would it be to work in a type of museum called a repository where articles of historic value could be circulated? In The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman, the main character, Elizabeth Rew, gets the chance to become a page for the New York Circulating Material Respository after her social studies teacher, Mr. Mauskopf, recommends her for the position of student page.
There is much for Elizabeth to learn. Many of the items are of great historic value; some have magical powers and require the patron circulating the item to give up something--such as his/her sense of direction--if they want to take the item out.
What Elizabeth and two of the male pages find most fascinating is the floor in the basement where items from the original Grimm's Fairy Tales are housed.
Imagine being able to circulate the sinister mirror from Snow White or magical boots that let the wearer fly through time and space!
Items from the respository have started to disappear and there is fear that they could end up in the wrong hands who would use the magic in evil ways.
This highly engaging fantasy will have you dreaming about magical items in your sleep! I imagine that there might be a sequel or perhaps an entire series developed from this book.

Hex Hall

Hecate, known as Hex Hall to its students, is a reform school for shapeshifters, faeries, witches, and warlocks. Sophie has known that she is a witch for three years. When a love spell for a fellow classmate is botched, her estranged warlock father makes certain Sophie's mother (a human) removes Sophie from her high school and sends her to Hex Hall. When a series of mysterious murders occur, Jenna, a wampire and Sophie's only friend at Hex Hall, is implicated and banished from the school. It is up to Sophie to try to clear her roommate's name and find who the real killer is.

I am not a big fan of reading about witches and warlocks, but the plot of this story did keep me engaged in reading to solve the mysterious and deadly happenings at Hex Hall.