My Beating Teenage Heart

Author: C.K. Kelly Martin

Recommended Age:  Young Adult

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
ISBN:  978-0-385-67042-5

Year Published:  2011

No. Pages:  272
Genre:  Fantasy/ Realistic Fiction
Main Character Gender: Mixed
Read & Reviewed by: Zabrina

 "The first moment is utter darkness. The absence of thought, the absence of everything. An absence that stretches infinitely backwards and threatens to smother your sanity-if there was a you, that is. But there's not. I am nothing and no one. I never was. I must not have been because otherwise, wouldn't I remember?"

Fifteen-year-old Ashlyn Baptiste doesn't know where she is or what's happened to her. She doesn't seem to have a body but she has thoughts and feelings. She watches over seventeen-year-old Breckon's life without him knowing. She knows Breckon more than she knows herself. Every little thing he does brings back little details of Ashlyn's childhood. As Breckon’s life is falling apart piece by piece. He grieves his little sister. This novel is the story of two unexpected deaths and how they become intertwined.

Sent

Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix
Recommended Age: 10 +

Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers

ISBN:  978-1-4169-5422-4
Year Published: 2009
No. Pages: 308
Genre: Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Male
Read & Reviewed by: Aaron


In this second installment of The Missing series, Jonah discovers that he is a missing child from the past, abducted from 1483 and brought to modern times. Before he knows it, Chip and another boy, Alex, are zapped back to the 15th century along with Jonah and his sister Katherine, who grab onto the boys at the last moment and end up in a time period in which they don’t belong. Chip discovers he is young King Edward V and Alex is his younger brother, the Duke of York. Although that seems like enough of a problem, they discover that their uncle intends to kill them so that he can be King instead. Can Jonah and Katherine save Chip and Alex from their fate?

Bad Hair Day

Author: Carrie Harris
Recommended Age: Young Adult
Publisher: Delacorte Press
ISBN:  987-0-385-74215-3
Year Published: 2012
No. Pages: 228
Genre: Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Female
Read & Reviewed by: Robyn




This is the sequel to Bad Taste in Boys. Kate Grable is a science geek who just cured a zombie virus. She has signed up for the Future Doctors of America as a part of the high schools pre-med programme and is assigned to shadow Dr.Burr, the county medical examiner. Within 15 minutes, Kate knows this won't be easy especially when Dr.Burr gets arrested for murder. Now, she has a murder to solve, a doctor to free, boyfriend troubles and werewolves on the loose.

The Unfinished Angel

Author: Sharon Creech
Recommended Age: 8 to 12
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061430951
Year Published: 2009
No. Pages: 176
Genre: Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Female
Read & Reviewed by: Mikaila




This book is about someone special, an angel. Angel lives in Switzerland in a 400-year- old tower called Casa Rosa. Angel watches over the village but she is unsure of her purpose. All this changes when she meets a girl named Zola, a girl who has strong opinions about what it means to be an angel and what angels should do. Together, Zola and Angel embark on acts of kindness that change the lives of the villagers. Even they can’t predict what effect they will have.

The Twits

Author: Roald Dahl
Recommended Age: All Ages
Publisher: Puffin; Reprint Edition
ISBN-10: 014241039X
ISBN-13: 978-0142410394
Year Published: 2007
No. Pages: 96
Genre: Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Mixed
Read & Reviewed by: Hunter



Mr. and Mrs. Twit are the most disgusting and smelly people in the world. They hate everything except playing mean tricks on each other, catching birds to make bird pies and forcing their caged monkeys, the Muggle -Wumps, to stand on their heads all day. The Muggle -Wumps don’t just want out, they want payback.

Skeleton Creek #4: The Raven

Author: Patrick Carman
Recommended Age: 12 and up
Publisher: Scholastic Press
ISBN-10: 0545249953
ISBN-13: 978-0545249959
Year Published: 2011
No. Pages: 240
Genre: Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Mixed
Read & Reviewed by: Nathan



Ever wanted to see your book come to life? With the Skeleton Creek series you can do just that. Patrick Carmen combines the written word with video podcasts to create a whole new experience for you as the reader.

The Raven is the fourth and last book in the Skeleton Creek series. It is the continuing adventures of best friends Ryan McCray and Sarah Fincher as they try to solve the mysteries surrounding the secret society, the Crossbones. They have solved old mysteries, found clues and travelled the country. Some secrets have yet to be uncovered. While Ryan spends the summer working in his father’s bait shop, he is also trying to avoid reporters interested in interviewing him about his discoveries. He must find time to try and solve the mystery of the map given to him by the Ghost of Old Joe Bush. Meanwhile, Sarah is on her way back to Boston from film school in LA. Along the way she will make several side trips to look for clues that the Apostle has left. Together, through secret emails, texts and phone calls Ryan and Sarah start to uncover a mystery that the Crossbones have been hiding for years. Only one problem, someone doesn’t want them to dig up the past.

Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall

Author: Wendy Mass
Recommended Age: 12 and up
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0316058505
ISBN-13: 978-0316058506
Year Published: 2008
No. Pages: 256
Genre: Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Female
Read & Reviewed by: Kestrel


Have you ever looked back on yourlife; looked back at your mistakes and used them to change who you are now? Sixteen year old Tessa is forced to do the same. When hit by a dodge ball in gym class, she falls on the floor and blacks out. Instead of waking up in the hospital, she wakes up at the mall which is rather a natural place for her to be considering both her parents work there. Only when Tessa sees her reflection in a shop window does she realize she is still in her gym uniform and that her hair is still matted with blood. She realizes she must be a ghost or in her heaven. Luckily, a similar spirited boy shows up and gives her a bag of things she bought throughout her lifetime. These items enable her to relive moments in her past and reflect upon her life untill the accident. When she confronts the skeletons in the closet, she begins to change and learns to sparkle.

Bad Taste in Boys

Author: Carrie Harris
Recommended Age: Young Adult
Publisher: Ember
ISBN-10: 0385739699
ISBN-13: 978-0385739696
Year Published: 2012
No. Pages: 208
Genre: Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Female
Read & Reviewed by: Jarrett



Kate Garble is the super smart yet, nerdy student trainer for her high school football team. She wants to be a doctor one day so she does the best she can for the football team by tending to their injuries. One day, Kate walks into the coaches office and finds unlabelled drug vials. Kate's suspicion rises when some of the players act strangely and she learns that the coach is giving them mysterious injections. Soon Mike, one of the football players, is puking black vomit on the hood of her car as she arrives at a party which makes her suspicions grow.

The rest of her party is relatively normal unless you count Mike just dropping "dead" in the middle of the party and when Kate is called to perform first aid on him, he comes back to life and bites off a chunk of her lip. Now there is no doubt in Kate's mind what is really happening. The football players are turning into black, vomiting, flesh-eating zombies. Will Kate be able to find an antidote or will the zombie apocalypse take over the world?

Life of Pi

Author: Yann Martel
Recommended Age: Adult
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN-10: 0676973779
ISBN-13: 978-0676973778
Year Published: 2002
No. Pages: 356
Genre: Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Male
Read & Reviewed by: Brahm



You are in a bar. If you have never been in a real bar imagine the dull buzz of alcohol blurring your thoughts, cigar smoke bombarding your nostrils with a burning yet vaguely pleasing smell and possibly you are thinking of refilling your glass. The alarmingly hairy man beside you at the bar leans in and whispers in a drunken slur, “Wanna riddle?” Not pausing for an answer, he whispers, “There is a Christian, a Muslim and a Buddhist sitting in a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific. They are all sitting on the same bench. The bench is 18 inches wide. The average man's bottom is 12 inches wide, so no two, let alone three, men could fit comfortably on an 18 inch surface. So how do you think they fit on the bench?” The punch line is- they are all Pi Patel.

Life of Pi is a fictional biography of Piscine Patel, nicknamed Pi, named after a famous French swimming pool. When the ship, in which the sixteen year-old and his zoo-keeping family take to emigrate from India to Canada sinks, Pi is left as the sole human survivor in a lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a tiger. Eventually, Pi and the tiger, Richard Parker, are the only ones left. Will they survive each other and being lost at sea?

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

Author: Aimee Bender
Recommended Age: Young Adult/ Adult
Publisher: Doubleday
ISBN-10: 0385501129
ISBN-13: 978-0385501125
Year Published: 2010
No. Pages: 304
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Main Character Gender: Female
Read & Reviewed by: Chloe



A few days before her ninth birthday, Rose finds her favorite lemon cake not only tasting sugary sweet, but also tasting of despair and desperation. She soon realizes she has the gift to taste people’s emotions in the food they make; only it's really a devastating curse.

The simple task of eating becomes fraught with dread. She has great trouble seeing (or tasting) past the unwelcome insight into the lives of whom she is closest. If the food isn't happy, she just simply can't eat it. Forced to eat out of the snack machine in her school, she can't avoid eating the dinner her depressed mother makes. Soon, through food, she learns many secrets but some secrets can't always be discovered with food.   

Angel Burn

Author: L.A. Weatherly
Recommended Age: Young Adult
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN-10: 0763656526
ISBN-13: 978-0763656522
Year Published: 2011
No. Pages: 464
Genre: Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Male & Female
Read & Reviewed by: Taylor



“This hadn’t been a brief flash or something that might have been a dream-it was utterly, achingly real.
I wasn’t completely human.”

Willow has always known that she is different. She is psychic. When she touches someone, she gets into their mind and sees their past, present and future. Willow lives with her Aunt Joe and her mother, who has been mentally ill ever since her father left them when Willow was a baby. One day, a girl named Beth asks Willow for a reading. Willow agrees, and sees Beth’s dark future ahead, as well as her horrible past. An angel had fed on Beth. When an angel feeds off of someone’s energy, they are diagnosed with Angel Burn. Which eventually causes such diseases as Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, etc.

Alex isn’t like any normal 17-year-old kid. He is an assassin, an angel killer. Alex goes around killing the angels that feed off humans. Alex knows more about Willow than she knows about herself. Her powers are connected to dark and dangerous forces. Alex is sent to assassinate Willow, he realizes that nothing is as it seems. He falls in love with her, leaving them both in grave danger.

The Maze Runner

Author: James Dashner
Recommended Age: 12 and up
Publisher: Delacorte
ISBN-10: 0385737955
ISBN-13: 978-0385737951
Year Published: 2009
No. Pages: 400
Genre: Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Male
Read & Reviewed by: Jarrett



When Thomas wakes up in a metal elevator, he has no memory of his past except for his first name. He is not alone. When the elevator doors open, he is welcomed by other teenagers into the Glade-an open area surrounded by four giant stone walls. Just like Thomas, these boys have no idea why or how they arrived in the Glade. All they know is that the stone doors open each morning and close each night. Runners are sent out to map the shifting maze that surrounds the Glade, in an attempt to find an exit. Some Runners never return from their daily excursion, becoming victims of Grievers- part animal, part machine.

Every 30 days, a new boy arrives. The day after Thomas enters the Glade, a girl arrives for the first time, bearing a message. Does Thomas hold the key to this maze? Will he ever find his way out and lead the others to safety?

Hunger

 Author: Michael Grant
Recommended Age: 10 +
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN-10: 0061449083
ISBN-13: 978-0061449086
Year Published: 2010
No. Pages: 608
Genre: Fantasy
Series: 2nd in the Gone Series
Main Character Gender: Male
Read & Reviewed by: Brahm

Action, cannibalism, and butt kicking powers, Michael Grant's second installation in the Gone series has it all.

It has been three months since everyone under the age of 15 has been trapped in the F.A.Y.Z. (Fallout Alley Youth Zone) an indestructible bubble with a twenty mile perimeter. Without adults the FAYZ is a place ruled by bullies and freaks, food is disappearing and more and more kids are developing super powers. Sam is a boy who can shoot lasers out of his hands, Dekka is a girl who can cancel gravity and Little Pete, can do just about anything at will, his power knows no bounds.

Things are getting worse. Everything is being watched by the Darkness, a sinister being also know as the Giaphage. It is hiding at the bottom of a mine shaft, reaching out to the minds of the teens in order to manipulate and guide them to its own ends. Normals are turning on freaks, open fighting is imminent and the teens are not the only ones hungry, so is the Darkness.

The Shadow of the Wind

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Recommended Age: Adult
Publisher: The Penguin Group
ISBN: 978-0-14-303490-2
Year Published: 2004
No. Pages: 486
Genre: Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Male
Read & Reviewed by: Kat



Barcelona, 1945. The city slowly heals from its war wounds, determined to leave the past behind.

Almost eleven, Daniel Sempere is shown by his father, an antiquarian bookseller, the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, known only to a few people. According to tradition, the first time someone enters the cemetery, he must choose a book, whichever one he wants, and adopt it, so as to ensure that it will never be forgotten, that it will always stay alive. And so, Daniel finds The Shadow of the Wind, a novel by Julian Carax. After reading the novel, Daniel is transformed and goes on a quest to discover who Carax is. Daniel soon learns that he has the only existing copy of The Shadow of the Wind and a mysterious figure has dedicated himself to eradicating Carax’s works entirely. As Daniel digs into the past, he struggles to uncover truths that have long since been buried. Daniel’s quest leads him to Barcelona’s darkest secrets- one laced with murder, madness, revenge and doomed love.

The Underneath

Author: Kathi Appelt
Recommended Age: 10 & up
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-5058-5
ISBN-10: 1-4169-5058-3
Year Published: 2008
No. Pages: 311
Genre: Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Both
Read & Reviewed by: Kylee



"There is nothing lonelier than a cat who has been loved, at least for a while, and then abandoned on the side of the road."

This book begins with an abandoned cat, who hears the lonely howl of a chained-up hound deep in the bayou. She follows the hound's tunes and reaches the old shack he's tied to. She walks right up to the dog and rubs against his front legs. Ranger, the hound dog, offers to have the cat sleep underneath the wobbly old house, and promises to keep her family safe. If Gar-Face, the man who owns the shack were to discover the cat, and later the kittens, he'd use them as alligator bait. Ranger knows this, and insists they stay in the underneath. Kittens are curious and outgoing, and when one ventures out from the underneath, it sets off the book's true adventures and creates the unexpected.

Num8ers

Author: Rachel Ward
Recommended Age: Young Adult
Publisher: The Chicken House
ISBN: 978-0545142991
Year Published: 2010
No. Pages: 336
Genre: Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Female
Read & Reviewed by: Taylor





“There are places where kids like me go. Sad kids, bad kids, bored kids and lonely kids. Kids that are different.”

Jem is different. Ever since she can remember, when she meets someone new, no matter whom, a number pops into her mind. That number is the date they will die. This creates an enormous amount of stress for Jem so she tries to avoid relationships. But when she meets Spider, she takes a chance.

While waiting to go on the London Eye ( a Ferris wheel), Jem notices that all the tourists flash the same number. Today's date. Jem, frightened for their lives, encourages Spider to flee the scene. Their escape from the scene makes them suspects in the subsequent bombing. On the run, will Jem be able to prove that she had nothing to do with the bombing and cheat death?

I Heart You, You Haunt Me

Author: Lisa Schroeder
Recommended Age: Young Adult
Publisher: Simon Pulse
ISBN-10: 1416955208
Year Published: 2008
No. Pages: 226
Genre: Realistic Fiction/ Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Female
Read & Reviewed by: Chloe


“Girl meets boy. Girl loses boy. Girl gets boy back… sort of.”

In this free verse novel, Lisa Schroeder introduces a love story about two teenagers, Ava and Jackson. Jackson accepts a dare which turns out to be his last. Ava is understandably devastated until she catches glimpses of him in the mirror, touches him in her dreams and hears his faint whispers in her mind. People may think she’s crazy but she knows the truth. Is he really back? And does she even want this?

The Fire Within

Author: Chris D'Lacey
Recommended Age: 8 - 12 years old
Publisher: Scholastic
ISBN-10: 0439672449
ISBN-13: 978-0439672443
Year Published: 2001
No. Pages: 340
Genre: Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Male
Read & Reviewed by: Devon



David Rain is a twenty-year old collage student who moves to the small town or Scrubbly, and into the home of Elizabeth Pennykettle (Liz). Liz is a potter who makes clay dragons and is teaching her daughter Lucy, to do the same. All David wants is a place to stay until he finishes collage, but he gets a lot more then he bargains for. He soon finds himself wrapped up writing a story for Lucy as well as trying to save an injured squirrel named Conker from there scheming neighbour Mr. Bacon. On top of all this, David suspects Liz and Lucy are hiding something from him, something to do with the dragons that litter the house. Can David find out the truth?

Gone

Author: Michael Grant
Recommended Age: Young Adult
Publisher: Harper Teen
ISBN: 978-0-06-144878-2
Year Published: 2008
No. Pages: 558
Genre: Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Male & Female
Read & Reviewed by: Cameron


 How would you react if everybody over fourteen simply vanished? How would you react if those remaining developed powers and if animals were mutating?

Sam Temple is 14 years old and loves to surfboard. One day, when he is alone in his house, he creates a ball of light with his hands that lightens up his darkened room. This frightens him and he knows that something is wrong, and then he is sure because when he was sitting in his desk, daydreaming, his teacher disappears. Gone. Soon the kids in Perdido Beach realize that when you hit fifteen, you disappear. Nobody knows if those who are gone are dead or if they got outside of the unbreakable barrier.

A Dog's Purpose

Author: W. Bruce Cameron
Recommended Age: 12 and up
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates, LLD
ISBN: 978-0-7653-6676-4
Year Published: 2010
No. Pages: 320
Genre: Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Male
Read & Reviewed by: Surene

Cats might have nine lives, but reading about a dog with four lives takes the cake. I loved reading this outstanding novel about a dog who searches for his purpose over the course of several lives to answer the question: Why are we here?