April KiddyCAT: Middle grade and YA fantasy

Middle grade and YA fantasy

There are SO many books to choose from in this area.

Here are some lists to get you started.

https://www.goodreads.com/genres/young-adult-fantasy

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/middle-grade-fantasy

And some of my favourites are fairy tale retellings, of which there are many.

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/fairy-tale-retellings

Looking forward to seeing what you all read!

Please remember to add it to the wiki - https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2023_KiddyCAT#April:_Fantasy_for_Middle_...

I have had on my shelves for a long time one of the Tiffany Aching books. Might pick that up for this.

I am currently reading the first book of His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, so I might read the second one next month. Or I might continue with my Narnia reread. Or read one of several YA fantasy series that have accumulated on my shelves. So many choices indeed!

Thanks for this lovely graphic. I might read an Emily Windsnap novel.

I've been thinking I'll probably read A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.

I am going to read Traitor to the Throne by Alwyn Hamilton which is the second book in the Rebel of the Sands trilogy.

I'm planning to read Matilda by Roald Dahl.

Just joined the group, woo!

I'm thinking of reading George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl.

>9 fuzzi: Welcome!

>9 fuzzi: Welcome!

I read The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth, which is really a retelling of a Japanese legend. It was a short but enjoyable read.

I read The Brightest Night by Tui T. Sutherland

Far and Away my favorite category. I am thinking about rereading a favorite series The Gideon Trilogy by Linda Buckley-Archer

Other Series I loved
Bartimaeus Sequence
The Mysterious Benedict Society
Artemis Fowl
Fablehaven

Standalones:
The Phantom Tollbooth
Airman
The Supernaturalist
When You Reach Me - probably my all time favorite MG book

>15 soelo: I didn't know that the Mysterious Benedict Society was a book series. I watched a few episodes of the TV show

I have completed my read of Traitor to the Throne, the second volume in author Alwyn Hamilton's YA fantasy trilogy. I enjoyed this book as much as the first volume and I am looking forward to the third and final volume.

>15 soelo: I adore The Phantom Tollboth!

Fininshed The Wee Free Men, Terry Pratchett. Not convinced.

>16 bookworm3091: It was a trilogy that came out around 2007, then there was a prequel that I didn't love and most recently a 4th book came out that was good but not as good as the originals. I am so glad they made it into a tv series instead of trying to shove each book into 1 or 2 movies!

The Forgotten Sisters / Shannon Hale
3.5 stars

In this, the 3rd (and final) book in the Princess Academy series, Miri is about to head home to the mountain with her boyfriend Peder, but she is called back to see the King and Queen at the last minute. They have “asked” her to travel to a swampy area in the kingdom where the king’s three girl cousins live; she is requested to be a tutor to train them to become princesses. The King plans to offer one of the three to a neighbouring monarch in order to prevent a war.

I enjoyed this. Of course, the sisters were nothing like princesses and it took a while to convince them to try (though there were extenuating factors, like not having time to do any lessons), so it was somewhat amusing at first, too. There was a section in the middle that slowed down a bit, but when a war started, anyway, it picked up again. I feel like it was a nice wrap-up to the series.

Just finished The Stones of Greene Knowe by L.M. Boston, last in a series of 6.
I love the Green Knowe books and want to finish the couple I missed and re-read the rest.

The author was an interesting personality and the Green Knowe series is about her own ancient English manor house and gardens that she restored - Hemingford Grey in Cambrigeshire, England. I want to visit!

I just finished Poison by Bridget Zinn, an enjoyable light fantasy that skews toward the younger end of YA. It reminded me a bit of Ella Enchanted -- not as good, but if you liked that book, I think you'll enjoy this one too.

And May's thread is posted here:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/350169

I just finished Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron, which I thought had an interesting concept, but I wish the worldbuilding and character development had gone a bit deeper.

I misplaced George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl but found it last night. I'll start reading it once I finish my current read.

Just finished Matilda by Roald Dahl.
My copy was an audiobook with an absolutely fabulous reading by Kate Winslet. I can't believe that I've owned this since January 2019 without listening to it.

I just finished Scythe by Neal Shusterman.

Down the Mysterly River / Bill Willingham
3.75 stars

12-year old Max is a Boy Scout and is in a forest, but he has no idea how he got there. It’s not long before he meets up with a talking badger. Next comes along a talking feral cat, then a talking bear. How very odd! In trying to figure out what is going on here (Max considers himself a bit of a detective), Max and the others learn that they are being chased by people called the “Cutters”. The animals know that the Cutters cut critters into something different that isn’t themselves. The Cutters themselves think they are making the critters better with the cutting they do. In any case, Max and his three new friends need to run from the Cutters. They are making their way down the river to the Wizard’s sanctuary.

I liked this. I often am not a fan of fantasy (although I generally do better with children’s fantasy, as this is) and talking animals, this was cute, and I liked all the characters, including those talking animals. I gave it the extra ¼ star for the twist at the end. Max has mostly solved the mystery of where he came from, etc, but he learns more from the “wizard” and I thought that twist was very clever – I did love the twist!

I finished The Final Trial, the fourth and final book in the middle grade A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying series by Kelley Armstrong. The series is quite charming and enjoyable, and it is about how a princess with an affinity to wild creatures strives to become the "Royal Monster Hunter" for her kingdom.

I just read Newt's Emerald by Garth Nix, a fun YA mashup of Regency romance and fantasy.

I felt like a comfort read and picked Nerilka's Story by Anne McCaffrey. It feels like a YA, not graphic at all.

I read the last three books of The Great Library series by Rachel Caine (Ash and Quill, Smoke and Iron and Sword and Pen), a YA steampunk fantasy set in an alternate world where the Great Library of Alexandria is a worldwide power that controls knowledge and technology in a disturbingly ruthless way (but, alas, not a way that's without precedent in history). I enjoyed the series a lot, but should anyone decide to pick them up, be aware that they tend to end in cliffhangers (looking at you, Ash and Quill)...

I also read The Tyrant's Tomb by Rick Riordan, one of the Trials of Apollo sub-series of his Greek/Roman demigod books that start with the Percy Jackson ones (and which I'd recommend you read first). They're fun. Riordan makes me laugh :)

I read Cinder by Marissa Meyer for this challenge