海角大神

Where may a child run freely 鈥� exploring without a screen blocking their view of the world or an overprotective parent shooing adventure safely away? In the pages of a book.

鈥淐hildren have been underestimated for hundreds of years,鈥� an old woman says in Katherine Rundell鈥檚 new fantasy, 鈥淚mpossible Creatures.鈥� 鈥淲hy are you continuing the tedious tradition?鈥�

None of these authors make that mistake. The six books demand a lot of both their young characters and their readers.

The possibility of change

Gayle Forman鈥檚 novel 鈥淣ot Nothing鈥� is an astonishing emotional feat that grabs a reader from the first page and leaves them in tears on the last. A 12-year-old is sentenced to work at an assisted living center after committing a hate crime. There, Alex meets Josey, a 107-year-old Holocaust survivor from Poland. The two strike up a friendship, with Josey telling him about the hero of his life, a girl named Olka who taught him to sew and saved his life. And Alex, whose mother disappeared over a year ago and who blames himself for the loss, finds someone who believes that 鈥渘o one should be remembered for the worst thing they鈥檝e done鈥� when they鈥檝e done so many better things. Forman delves deeply into 鈥減eople鈥檚 capacity for cruelty, their capacity for kindness, and their capacity for change.鈥� And, oh my goodness, does she stick the ending. The last line is a benediction.

鈥淣ot Nothing鈥� is recommended by the publisher for age 10 and up.

Saving mythic critters

鈥淚mpossible Creatures鈥� by Katherine Rundell 鈥� the first in a planned trilogy 鈥� was a runaway bestseller in Britain, racking up awards including Waterstones Book of the Year in 2023 and Author of the Year at the British Book Awards. And I defy anyone to come up with a better first line than, 鈥淚t was a very fine day, until something tried to eat him.鈥�

Christopher Forrester can鈥檛 go for a walk without squirrels approaching or crows bringing him paper clips 鈥� much to his overprotective father鈥檚 dismay. Then he runs to the top of a hill he鈥檚 not supposed to climb and finds a flying girl and a baby griffin. Mal Arvorian is on a race to save 鈥渢he last magical place on earth,鈥� an archipelago where unicorns and dragons the size of hummingbirds roam freely. It鈥檚 also home to krakens and talking green squirrels and sphinxes so old they have learned to hate riddles. But a grayness is taking over the land and emptying the seas. Rundell gets her characters in trouble on the first page and keeps them there. An older reader might like a beat to marvel at all the unnatural wonders, but there are mythic critters to be saved and the plot flies along, trying to keep up with Mal. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 just stay indoors and sit on a chair all day,鈥� she tells a character. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how people turn to stone.鈥�

鈥淚mpossible Creatures鈥� is recommended by the publisher for age 10 and up.

A superfan disappears

What would you do if the magic world you dreamed of all your life turned out to be real? And you got to go there? And then it spat you out because you are not the Chosen One? You are, in fact, 鈥渞emarkably unremarkable.鈥� That鈥檚 the premise of Ransom Riggs鈥� 鈥淭he Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry.鈥� Following his mother鈥檚 death when he was 12, Leopold 鈥淟arry鈥� Berry disappeared into old VHS tapes of 鈥淢ax鈥檚 Adventures in Sunderworld,鈥� a quirky cult show set in an alternate Los Angeles. Aside from being a Sunder superfan who writes his own episodes with his best friend, Larry spends his days keeping his mother鈥檚 old Volvo roadworthy and trying to avoid his father. His dad, the author of 鈥淥nly Losers Don鈥檛 Win,鈥� is a successful motivational speaker who very much enjoys being paid to yell at people, particularly his disappointment of a son. Then a mechanical raccoon lights its tail on fire outside a window, some skyscrapers start disappearing, and Larry is afraid he鈥檚 having dissociative episodes. Either that, or maybe Sunder 鈥� and its magic 鈥� are real. Riggs, author of 鈥淢iss Peregrine鈥檚 Home for Peculiar Children,鈥� creates a doozy of an opening salvo in his new series. I can almost forgive him for the cliff-hanger.

鈥淭he Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry鈥� is recommended by the publisher for age 14 and up.

With a last name like Sherlock ...

Riddles, puzzles, and the lost treasure of Al Capone power 鈥淭he Sherlock Society,鈥� a charming ode to South Florida by James Ponti. When Zoe and Alex Sherlock decide to open a detective agency as a summer job (鈥淢aybe if our last name was Baker, we would have sold cupcakes鈥�), they recruit their grandfather as 鈥渄irector of transportation and logistics.鈥� This means he drives them and their two friends around in his classic Cadillac. But really, the retired journalist teaches the four youngsters about the power of asking 鈥渨ho, what, where, when, why, and how.鈥� In the book鈥檚 first set piece 鈥� an escape-room game set in a library 鈥� Ponti name-checks beloved child sleuths like Harriet M. Welsch (aka Harriet the Spy), Claudia Kincaid (鈥淔rom the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler鈥�), and Leroy 鈥淓ncyclopedia鈥� Brown (who also hailed from Florida). But that鈥檚 just the jumping-off point for a story that offers a deep love of local history, literature, and the irreplaceable natural realm that is the Everglades.

鈥淭he Sherlock Society鈥� is recommended by the publisher for ages 8 to 12.

Cracking the Enigma code

Puzzles of a far more deadly kind lie at the center of 鈥淭he Bletchley Riddle鈥� by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin, in which a college-age code-breaker and his younger sister try to find their missing mother. It鈥檚 1940, and Jakob Novis, a Cambridge mathematician, has been recruited to Bletchley Park to work on the Enigma project. His 14-year-old sister, Lizzie, is determined not to leave England until she finds out what happened to their mother, a U.S. Embassy clerk who went to Poland and never came back after the Nazis invaded. Jakob is sure their mum is dead and just wants to help stop the Germans who killed her. Lizzie, who is drafted as a messenger, is just as sure that he鈥檚 wrong and deeply hurt that he won鈥檛 help her. Then messages start arriving by mail, and an MI5 agent implies their mother was a traitor. Sepetys and Sheinkin deftly weave the desperate urgency of the days before the Blitz with the real history of geniuses like Alan Turing who bent their brilliance to stop Hitler. They also highlight the work of Polish code-breakers Marian Rejewski, Henryk Zygalski, and Jerzy R贸偶ycki. The history is enthralling, and the story of the people who cracked the Enigma machine is one very worth retelling.

鈥淭he Bletchley Riddle鈥� is recommended by the publisher for age 10 and up.

A family divided by war

In 鈥淭he Hotel Balzaar鈥� by Kate DiCamillo, a young girl is waiting, 鈥渜uiet, quiet like a mouse,鈥� for her father, who鈥檚 been away at war. His last letter was a long time ago. Their home is gone, and her mother works as a chambermaid at the hotel, keeping her long black hair pinned under a cap. Mother and daughter live in a small room with a bed, a sink, and a battered chest of drawers. Aside from living in a hotel, Marta鈥檚 life is wholly unlike Eloise鈥檚 at The Plaza Hotel 鈥� there is no luxury, no Nanny. Just the imperative not to cause trouble. 鈥淚 want you to know that war destroys everything, always. If anyone tries to explain it to you otherwise, in some other way, in words of nobility or valor, do not believe them,鈥� Marta鈥檚 father wrote her in that last letter. Then one day, a countess checks in wearing a green parrot and promises to tell Marta seven stories. DiCamillo鈥檚 spare story and J煤lia Sard脿鈥檚 black-and-white drawings conjure the atmosphere of a fairy tale and the yearning of a family divided by war.

鈥淭he Hotel Balzaar鈥� is recommended by the publisher for ages 7 to 10.