After narrowly averting a demon apocalypse in the previous series, Fablehaven sibs Seth and Kendra face a new threat to the world. Read full book review >

The Hooligan brothers' go-cart race takes an unexpected turn when a sock-eating, foul-smelling, giant purple alien enlists their help completing his extraterrestrial merit badges. Read full book review >

A child with ostracism issues finds a timber tutor in this illustrated spinoff from the Land of Stories series. Read full book review >

Internal dissension, security leaks and attacks from a much larger rival add up to disaster for the orphanage-cum-spy school introduced in Playing with Fire (2013). Read full book review >

When the substitute librarian tries to kill you on the last day of school, it doesn't bode well for summer break. Read full book review >

Thirteen-year-old fosterling Max Segredo knows he's just one stop away from juvie. Luckily, that stop turns out to be the Merry Sunshine Orphanage, where the third floor is off-limits due to a secret science project, and the house rules include "No unsupervised gunplay." Read full book review >

Hollowstone Hill's magic (Lawn Mower Magic, 2012, etc.) returns in grasshoppers that, when fried and eaten, give Abner Willow an unexpected bounce. Read full book review >

Lexy lives to dance, but she dreads those terrifying recitals. Read full book review >

This tale of a constructed friend charms with its magic and imagination. Read full book review >

"It's embarrassing to run into your parents when you're with people from school, especially when your parents are about to destroy the planet." Read full book review >

Celebpub collides with fairy-tale redux in this unsuccessful debut. Read full book review >

The four Willow children attempt to tame an old-fashioned reel lawn mower with an enormous appetite for grass. Read full book review >

In this too-good-to-be-true debut, best friends Krystal and Angel get the help of snow angels to make a difference in the lives of people around them. Read full book review >

A pirate yarn sails familiar territory in satisfyingly rollicking fashion. Read full book review >

The author of The Anybodies series invites readers to use their imaginations and join ten-year-old Oyster R. Motel on a curious quest. Mysterious Temporary Disappearances (MTDs) are claiming local children in the town where orphaned Oyster has lived with a community of caring contemplative nuns (including Sister Mary Many Pockets and Sister Margaret of the Long Sighs and Withering Glare) since he was dumped at their gate as an infant. During a rare foray to the outside world, Oyster meets the Mapkeeper—caretaker of scrolls depicting Imagined Other Worlds (IOWs)—and learns that his parents long ago stole their shared map, slipped into the otherworld of stories they created as children and are trapped in that world, a miasma of Devil's Snuff (powdered sugar) with Vicious Goggles, Whining Growsels and all manner of unusual beasts and beings. Someone—or something—seems to be calling Oyster to save them. Inventive and an awful lot of fun, "it's all as real as you want it to be," and it will surely be a catalyst for creative thinking. (Fiction. 8-12)Read full book review >

Lit with a greenish glow, elaborately detailed digital paintings give a properly eerie setting to this shortened version of a poem originally published in Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep (1976). In a book-strewn workroom atop a stone tower that looms crookedly over an otherwise ordinary modern suburban neighborhood, a Saruman-ish wizard with long black nails idly transforms a passing bullfrog into a flea, a pair of mice, a cockatoo and other shapes. Then he leans out of his window to select his next victim (maybe you) from among the ant-like figures on the street below. Closing with a ground-level view of a surprised-looking chameleon clinging to a skateboard and the suggestion that "Should you encounter a toad or lizard, look closely . . . / it may be the work of a wizard," Dorman's debut makes an atmospheric opener for any magic-themed storytime. (Picture book. 6-8)Read full book review >