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By Elise Primavera [LibraryThing — Amazon]

Although Prudence Gumm, Franny Muggs, and Cat Lemonjello have all lived on the same street their whole lives, they don’t like each other at all. And when Ivy Diamond moves to town, it’s not long before none of them like her, either. But then they find themselves mixed up with a witch, a lot of ruby red slippers – and one silver one – a wizard in a hot air balloon, and magical and perilous secret country. To survive, they’ll have to work together, appreciate each other’s strengths, and look at almost everything from the other way around.

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By Margaret Peterson Haddix [Librarything - Amazon]

Luke was never supposed to exist. The Population Law says that families can only have two kids—and the Population Police will murder any third children they find. But So Luke lives in hiding in his parents’ attic, never allowed outside, not even allowed to eat with the family in case someone glances in the kitchen window.

But then everything changes—from his hiding spot he sees another child like him, a girl who shouldn’t exist, another third. He risks everything to meet her…And it turns out that she has a daring plan which might not just liberate the two of them, but every hidden child in the country. If only they can find the courage to do it…

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Sorry about the lack of posts, guys; Rebecca and I were both doing NaNoWriMo and all other writing sort of fell by the wayside. But we’re back!

By Diane Stanley [Librarything - Amazon]

Despite the periodic wars that ravage her country, Bella’s childhood has been an idyllic one – raised by a loving, comfortable peasant family and bosom friends with Prince Julian. That is, until she discovers that she is actually the daughter of a knight, who sent her away when her mother died in childbirth, but who now wants her back. Bella is miserable with her cruel father and distant stepmother, and her misery increases when she hears of a threat to both Prince Julian’s life and the country’s tenuous peace with the neighboring kingdom. Now, armed only with a prophetic ring and her own courage, she must travel to a foreign land to save her friend, and hopefully bring peace to both realms.

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By Jane Johnson [Series at Librarything - Series at Amazon]

Ben’s world is changed when a very demanding little cat named Iggy begs Ben to free him from the evil Mr Dodds’s Pet Emporium. Iggy, it seems, hails from the magical world of Eidolon, where Dodds – known in Eidolon as the Dodman, a terrifying monster with the head of a vicious dog – has been kidnapping magical creatures to sell as exotic pets in England. Worse, Ben’s own mother is Eidolon’s rightful queen, and as magic is siphoned from the land by the Dodman’s cruel trade, Ben’s mother grows steadily sicker. Her only hope – and Eidolon’s – is for her to return to Eidolon, stop the Dodman, and reclaim her birthright. But though Ben and his sisters are the prophesied saviors of Eidolon, can they really defeat the Dodman and the various monsters he has gathered against them?

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By Jason Lethcoe [Librarything - Amazon]

Ever since his parents died and he was dumped into the world’s most miserable orphanage, nothing’s gone right for Ben. So he never really thought his birthday wish for unlimited wishes would come true, but it did – and caused major problems by doing so. Now he has to team up with Thomas Candlewick, brand-new president of the Wishworks Factory, and lead a small army of fairies, leprechauns, and Jinn into battle. Because not only has Ben’s wish upset the delicate balance of children’s birthday wishes worldwide, it’s delivered the unstoppable power of endless wishes into the hands of the president of the dreadful Curseworks Factory, where it’s become a weapon that may just destroy all wishing…forever.

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By Suzanne Harper [Librarything - Amazon]

All Sparrow wants is to live a normal life. That’s why her mother, grandmother, and six older sisters, all of whom are psychics, don’t know that Sparrow has been talking to ghosts since she was five years old. That’s why her classmates at her new school, including her friend Fiona and her cute-but-surly history partner Jack, don’t know that she lives in Lily Dale, a town so full of mediums it’s been nicknamed “Spookyville.” And that’s why she’s determined not to help Luke, the dreamy teenaged ghost who’s been haunting her, put his unfinished business to rest.

Unfortunately for Sparrow, Luke doesn’t give up very easily. Even more unfortunately, Jack insists on doing their joint history project on Spookyville. But it’s not until she discovers a connection between Luke and Jack that Sparrow realizes she may just have to give up her dreams of a normal life – and give in to her destiny.

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By Jane Yolen [Librarything - Amazon]

Austar IV used to be a planet-wide penal colony, but these days it’s a gambling world—people come from all over the galaxy to bet on the dragon fights. For Jakkin Stewart, a bond servant, those fights hold his hope. He’s managed to steal a hatchling from his Master and is raising and training it in a secret desert oasis, hoping that when it’s big enough, he can take it to the fights and win enough money to buy his freedom.

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By Rebecca Rupp [LibraryThing - Amazon]

Ever since he lost his grandfather’s pocket watch with its mysterious inscription, Choose time or lose time, Alex has been in what you might call a funk. Time seems to be racing past him too fast, and since it all ends eventually, he thinks, why even bother? That is, until a strange old woman tells him to look for his watch on the blue moon, where all lost things go.

Once Alex and his dog Zeke hitch a ride on a spaceship piloted by three-foot-tall moon rats, he teams up with Tetley, the runt of the moon rats, plus Miss Mumsley, a prim suffragette who has lost her heart, and Simon, an Elizabethan math nerd who has lost his way. From there he has three days to find his lost watch before the moon ceases to be blue and he’s trapped there indefinitely. The companions must navigate through weird allegorical locations like the Inn of Abandoned Plans, the Pointless Tower, and the Cave of Lost Tempers, while avoiding the Time Eaters, who do exactly what their name implies. Complicating things is Urd, youngest of the Norns (Shakespeare’s Weird Sisters, similar to the Greek Fates), who wants to steal everyone’s time to keep herself eternally youthful.

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Whither Rebecca leads, thither I follow. Here are some older reviews of mine of Kids/YA Genre Fiction:

The Circle of Magic #1: Sandry’s Book (The Magic in the Weaving), #2: Tris’s Book (The Power of the Storm), and #3: Daja’s Book (The Fire in the Forging), by Tamora Pierce. Three cupcakes for Sandry’s Book, four cupcakes for the other two. (Genre: High Fantasy)

Secrets of Dripping Fang #1: The Onts, by Dan Greenburg. Three and a half cupcakes. (Genre: Contemporary/Urban Fantasy)

Dealing With Dragons, by Patricia C. Wrede. Four and a half cupcakes. (Genre: High Fantasy, Fairy Tale/Mythic)

Sorcery and Cecilia, or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot, by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. Four and a half cupcakes. (Genre: Historical Fantasy/Steampunk)

The Keys to the Kingdom #5: Lady Friday, by Garth Nix. Three cupcakes, although the series as a whole gets a tentative five (which may be reevaluated when the last two come out). (Genre: Portal Fantasy)

Not a review, but what’s with the torn edges on the pages of books lately?