The Forbidden Library

The Forbidden Library
By Django Wexler
Kathy Dawson Books, 2014. Fiction, 373 P.
Also available as audiobook and on Overdrive

When Alice overhears her father talking in the kitchen with an angry yellow and black fairy, she is forced to embrace the impossible—and things just keep getting stranger. First her father's ship goes down and everyone assumes he's dead. Then Alice is sent to live with an uncle named Geryon she's pretty sure isn't even family. Once settled in, she discovers that the library building on the estate grounds houses secrets as well as books, and her magical connection to those books might just get her killed.

Young readers should be aware that The Forbidden Library brings up issues of death and deceit, as well as using some selective swearing. Alice's new life is no picnic, and she's going to have to learn how to survive and who to trust.

Comments

Review: Faker

Faker By Gordon Korman New York: Scholastic Press, 2024. Fiction. 214 pages. 12-year-old Trey is used to starting over at a new school -- he has the routine perfectly memorized: make new friends, introduce his dad to the wealthy parents of his new friends, and "Houdini" themselves out of there before they get caught running their latest scam. Trey's dad is a master con artist, and Trey has just been promoted to full-partner. Their new scheme for the next big score brings them to the affluent suburb of Boxelder, TN where Trey's dad has cooked up a fake electric car company for investors to buy into. The only problem is that Trey is starting to grow tired of moving around and never putting down roots, especially after forming a fast friendship with Logan and developing a crush on Kaylee, a socially conscious girl in his class. As Trey longs for a normal life, is there any way he can convince his dad to get out of the family business? Gordon Korman is a perennial favorit...

Review: The Mythmakers

The Mythmakers By John Hendrix New York: Abrams Fanfare, 2024. Informational. 217 pages. Before C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien had ever published world-renowned literature, they were friends. This book starts with the boyhood of each author, discussing how each lost their parents and the toll that took on them. It moves on to talk about the experience of each man in the trenches of World War I, and their eventual meeting at Oxford. It further chronicles their "fellowship" through the writing of many of their notable works, as well as their eventual falling out. This book is an interesting mix of comic and narrative nonfiction, flipping back and forth between chapters. A lion and wizard appear in the comic portions (in a nod to Aslan and Gandalf) to explain background information about mythology, the time period, and other pertinent information about the two. The author makes use of a limited color palette, using mostly greens, purples, and yellows, to draw the reader i...

Books That Take You There: Birthday Parties

I know quite a few people who have birthdays during the December/January holidays. For some of them it can be a struggle, since everyone is focused on the holidays and their birthdays can be skipped over. For others, they like having a birthday when all the family is together and celebrating so many things. Either way, here is a list of picture books that can take you to a birthday celebration and help brighten any birthday, even those that happen during the holidays. A Crown for Corina Written by Laekan Zea Kemp Illustrated by Elisa Chavarri New York: Little, Brown and Company, Hachette Book Group, 2023. Picture Book. Corina is having a birthday, and that means that she can pick some flowers from Abuela’s garden to make a flower crown to wear at the fiesta. Abuela helps Corina pick special flowers that have meaning in Corina’s life. Then Abuela puts la corona on Corina’s head, so that she can remember all the things that have meaning—both of Corina’s life ...

Provo Library Children's Book Blog

Search This Blog