Dream Friends

By You Byun (Nancy Paulsen / Penguin Books for Young Readers)

Melody has the best dream friend ever. When she sleeps, she and her enormous white cat-like friend can fly, dance and play hide-and-seek, they can do anything they imagine together. But during the day, Melody has trouble summoning her dream-friend to keep her company in her new school, where she has yet to make a friend.  Using the power of her imagination, she closes her eyes and practices a dance she learned from her dream friend. When a real voice chimes in “Is that a new game?,” she opens her eyes to see another little girl who’d like to learn the dance.  Supporting the idea that dreams are the inspiration for action, “Dream Friends” is a brilliantly illustrated window into the beautiful resource that is a child’s imagination.

The Good Neighbors (Book One: Kin) by Holly Black and Ted Naifeh ....A Graphic Novel with Otherworldly Glamour (Graphix / Scholastic)

Co-author of the highly acclaimed "Spiderwick Chronicles", Holly Black, turns her powerful imaginative power down the urban fantasy path with the graphic novel, "The Good Neighbor: Kin". This title's darkly rendered setting leads the reader just beneath the skin of a college town to glimpse a sub-dura where fairies and their ilk move just beyond the perception of most humans - until they are noticed by Rue. Rue's mother has just disappeared and her father is soon implicated in her mother's absence as well as a student's murder. As she struggles with these developments, Rue begins to 'see' creatures both fair and frightening mixed among people everywhere she goes. Alone in her perception of the fairie folk, Rue follows her suspicion that her growing encounters with strange beings is connected to her missing mother and the death of her father's student, When Rue's maternal grandfather appears and confirms that Rue, like her mother, is fey, she is faced with choices that offer heartbreak at every turn. Filled with edgy imagery that blends sinister beauty with sharpening fear, the illustrations build an intense sense of revelation as the tale progresses. As a fan of graphic novels, I'm eager to pick up the next in this series! This one is definitely worth return reading and reviewed illustration - there's more than meets the eye. "The Good Neighbors: Kin" is a highly worthwhile title that will thrill both fans and newcomers to the graphic novel medium.

"The Ranger's Apprentice Series" by John Flanagan ...Core Characters Deliver Strong YA Fantasy (Penguin Books for Young Readers / Puffin)

In publishing niche that is amply populated by fantasy-flavored fiction for kids and teens, keeping the different worlds, their creatures, their magic and their rules in order can be discouraging for new, as well as experienced, readers of the genre. How refreshing it was to try on John Flanagan's debut novels in "The Ranger's Apprentice" series. Without borrowing heavily from previous kids' fantasy outings, Flanagan crafts an engaging and captivating setting with a strong cast of characters, and a story that doesn't lean too hard on wizardry and impossibility. The first three books in the series, "The Ruins of Gorlan", "The Burning Bridge" and "The Icebound Land" follow the story of Will, who with his fellow orphans and wards of the local baron, are looking forward to being apprenticed at age fifteen. Though he craves to enter apprenticeship with the Battleschool, his small physical size prevents his selection for that trade. Will is offered instead the opportunity to train as a Ranger, learning the skills and responsibilites of that elite and elusive branch in service to the kingdom of Araluen. Under the tutelage of Galt, an experienced and taciturn member of the Rangers, Will's journey of self discovery and personal growth is cast against a quickly evolving backdrop of looming war, political intrigue and heart-stopping action amid a historic European-esque setting. "The Ranger's Apprentice" series thrives because the central characters are not overshadowed by gimmicks and are allowed to remain the strong core of the story, and rightly so, as they are well-crafted and evolving as well. Highly recommended for kids as well as adult fantasy fans who will not find the books childlike, but perhaps may be reminded with pleasure of their first journey to Shannara or Middle Earth.