The Basilisk's Lair (Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist, Book 2)

The Basilisk's Lair (Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist, Book 2)

By: R. L. LaFevers Illustrations: Kelly Murphy

This is book two of the continuing saga of Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist!

You may remember from the first book Flight of the Phoenix (Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist, Book I) Nathaniel Fludd is a beastologist in training - learning at the hands of his quirky Aunt Phil. Unfortunately it appears that the first book was not a fluke and it looks like Aunt Phil favors the "learn by doing" method. So in book two The Basilisk's Lair (Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist, Book 2) she drags the young boy beastologist-in-training on a screaming wild adventure to find the Basilisk!

As in her other adventures R.L. LaFevers takes you on a rip roaring ride into monsters and mythology mixed with the thrills of a wildlife safari....but the nice thing about Aunt Phil...she doesn't want to do this creature harm, just contain him!

This is a quick and easy read...and while the recommendations are from 3rd to 6th grade - you could read this to a 6 year old and they would LOVE it!

Off to continue the adventure with The Wyverns' Treasure (Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist, Book 3)...

From the Author (on Amazon):

I've always held a special place for animals in my heart and they have figured prominently in my books. While researching another project, I stumbled across a medieval bestiary, the ultimate zoological authority of its time, and I was fascinated by all the mythical creatures listed in there as factual. Right around that same time, I also read about the modern day discovery of new animal species. It drove home for me just how vast and mysterious our planet was, and who knew what could be living in its hidden valleys, unexplored deserts, and remote mountaintops. Thus the world of Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist was born. -R.L. LaFevers

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

The Only Thing Missing is The White Rabbit!, March 14, 2010

By	"Reading It All - Robyn" (Orange County, CA USA)

The Iron King (Harlequin Teen) by Julie Kagawa is a fantastical mashup of Alice in Wonderland meets the Fairy Kingdom of Shakespeare's Midsummer Nights Dream...it has the energy and a cast of characters that you would expect from a ride at Disneyland!

Things have been "off" in Meghan Chase's life since the disappearance of her father and now, 24 hours away from her 16th Birthday her brother has been kidnapped and she finds that her only true friend in the world isn't Robbie Goodfellow but the fairie Puck! Why hadn't she believed her little brothers pleas and warnings about the monsters in his closet? What really happened to her father? This is an edge of the seat, thrill-a-minute tumble through the rabbit hole - or in Meghan's case the hole in the closet of her little brother Ethan's room...and Kagawa manages to keep up the pace while giving each character ample time to reveal themselves. It is peppered with enough action to keep the attention of a teen boy and teen girls will love the touch of romance and it is beautifully pulled together by the skillful wordcraft of Julie Kagawa. The Iron King (Harlequin Teen) is book one of the Iron Fey from Harlequin Teen - can't wait for more...The Iron Daughter in August 2010!!!!

Curse of the Spider King: The Berinfell Prophecies Series - Book One

Curse of the Spider King: The Berinfell Prophecies Series - Book One

by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper

Middle Graders and Tweens will eagerly read this book...I only hope that the rest of the series offers the same level of entertainment as this charming series debut.

From the cover to the concept - what could be more delightfully disgusting than a Spider King with an army of spider warriors - the Curse of the Spider King: The Berinfell Prophecies Series - Book One is the first in a series about the Seven Elven Lords of Allyra.

In a world that combines medieval themes with a modern feeling the Wicked Spider King is searching for the Seven Elven Lords of Allyra. long thought dead, lost in the Siege of Berinfell as babes. Strange signs reveal that Elven blood may live among the peoples of earth.

Why does that matter? These elven lords are the only ones that have the power to destroy the Spider King and his hold on their world....

The story seems to start slowly but soon grabs your imagination and rushes you along as the Seven find out about themselves and each other, and discover what waits for them through a portal between worlds.

Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper combine creative talents to create an enchanting, scary, and winning world! It is going to seem like forever waiting until August 2010 for Venom and Song: The Berinfell Prophecies Series - Book Two.

I love the interactive trend in teen books - after all this is a world they understand. Learn more about The Berinfell Prophecies at www.heedtheprophecies.wordpress.com. Create your own tribe. Connect with fans through the forum. Win pre-release chapters and the opportunity to have Wayne and Christopher at your very own book party!

Product Description from Amazon

Fantasy. Mystery. Action. Humor. Parents, teachers, and librarians will no longer have to push kids to read-The Berinfell Prophesies will engage intermediate readers and leave them clamoring for more.

The Seven succeeding Elven Lords of Allyra were dead, lost in the Siege of Berinfell as babes. At least that's what everyone thought until tremors from a distant world known as Earth, revealed strange signs that Elven blood lived among its peoples. With a glimmer of hope in their hearts, sentinels are sent to see if the signs are true. But theirs is not a lone errand. The ruling warlord of Allyra, the Spider King, has sent his own scouts to hunt down the Seven and finish the job they failed to complete many ages ago.

Now 13-year-olds on the brink of the Age of Reckoning when their Elven gifts will be manifest, discover the unthinkable truth that their adoptive families are not their only kin. With mysterious Sentinels revealing breathtaking secrets of the past, and dark strangers haunting their every move, will the young Elf Lords find the way back to the home of their birth? Worlds and races collide as the forces of good and evil battle. Will anyone escape the Curse of the Spider King?

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Graceling

Have you ever played the game where everyone had to name the "super-power" they would ask for if given the opportunity? What was yours? probably not the ability to literally kill anyone or anything and be fairly invulnerable to pain...

In Graceling author Kristine Cashore creates a world where a chosen few are born with "Graces" - these can be something as simple as the ability to catch fish with your bare hands, the ability to run swiftly, the ability to shoot an arrow quickly and true --- and then there is the Lady Katsa's Grace - the ability to kill.

This is full of really juicy adventure, hand to hand combat, archers, sword play, good kings and bad kings...but what sets this book apart from other offerings in this genre is it's look at the consequences of the use of these graces on those who wield them.

Katsa is a strong headed young woman who has always held a position of power - not many people argue with her so she is sure that what she knows are truths...until she meets another Graceling who shows her otherwise.

The really nice thing about the way Cashore has written the relationship between Po and Katsa is that there is enough romance for the girls and it doesn't get mushy so the boys think it's in the way.

I picked this book up to "look" at it at my Mom's and sat down and read it all the way through by the next morning - this story is destined to become a blockbuster movie!

Product Description from Amazon

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.

When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.