by Betty Ren Wright

Everything is changing for Charli this summer. First, her mom just married her gym teacher, and that’s not turning out as well as Charli had thought it would. Then, her aunt and uncle take in Sophia, a snooty orphan who can tell when something bad is about to happen. Even Charli can tell something bad is going to happen when Uncle Will announces he is going to turn the town’s haunted mansion into a bed and breakfast. Can Charli and Sophia get over their dislike for each other long enough to stop terrible things from happening?

Mark Twain Award Nominee 2005-2006

Sophie is the oldest of three girls and she knows she has very little hope of an interesting future. When her family runs into money problems, Sophie’s sisters go off to be apprentices and Sophie stays home to work in the family’s hat business. Meanwhile, a mysterious castle appears on the horizon, said to be home to a young wizard who likes to suck the souls of young girls. After Sophie is cursed by the Witch of the Waste, she ends up making a bargain with the demon who powers the moving castle. She will help the demon break his contract with the Wizard Howl, and the demon will break the curse on her.

I stayed up all night to finish this book and absolutely loved it. Diana Wynne Jones consistently writes wonderful, fascinating, mysterious, and magical tales.

Nancy Farmer’s The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm is a thriller set in Zimbabwe in 2194. A high-powered government official’s over-protected children go on an adventure and end up deeper than they thought. When they disappear, their parents hire a misfit detective agency that always seems to be about half a step behind the kids. This is an interesting look at a potential future where plastic is a highly-prized commodity, but old spirits still do battle. It’s a very exciting book, but at some points, I started to get tired of all the scrapes the kids got into. However, the end was worth every minute.

The readers of this book might skew a bit young, but this book definitely tackles issues that are interesting to older readers. I especially love the juxtaposition of futuristic worries with spirit myths of the past.

A review by a New York 6th Grader
A review by another novelist
A review by a Washington girl
St. Charles (IL) public library says if you like this book, you’ll love the books on their list.

by Celia Rees
Mary is a witch who escapes from England after her grandmother is hung for witchcraft. She hides among a group of pious Puritans coming to America to start a new life, but eventually her community begins to suspect her true nature.

by Neil Gaiman
There is another city in the tunnels under London. Richard Mayhew stumbles into it by chance and finds himself in a world stranger and more dangerous than he imagined. This book wasn’t written specifically for teens, but as the author of the Sandman series, Gaiman is popular with teens.

When school weirdo Christopher Creed disappears without a trace, he leaves behind a note mentioning several students by name. Privileged, happy Torey Adams is on the list. As Torey tries to figure out why Creed mentioned him and where Creed disappeared to, he starts to see a side of life he never imagined existed. He starts to notice the hypocrisy of his friends and wonder why he didn’t treat Creed better. Author Carol Plum-Ucci does a very good job capturing a teenage boy’s thoughts in her first novel. Although they’re probably going to make a movie out of this one, do yourself a favor and read the book first.

REVIEWS BY ADULTS:

A review by a librarian in Chandler, Arizona
Short Review by Teenreads.com
Reviews by teens and adults at sff world

RELATED LINKS:

Carol Plum-Ucci’s query letter (might be of interest to aspiring writers)
An article about Plum-Ucci in a New Jersey community paper
Young adult novels set in New Jersey (I include this link because my family is from New Jersey.)

Have you read this book? What do you think of it?
If you’ve reviewed this book, send me a trackback!