DISPLAY: Matthew Kirby

Author Matthew Kirby will be visiting the Provo City Library on Wednesday, August 30, at 7:00 to talk about his latest books. Why not get ready for his visit by reading some of his great children’s fantasy/science fiction?

The Clockwork Three
By Matthew Kirby
Scholastic Press, 2010. Fiction. 391 p.
As mysterious circumstances bring Giuseppe, Frederick, and Hannah together, their lives soon interlock like the turning gears in a clock and they realize that each one holds a key to solving the others' mysteries.

Icefall
By Matthew Kirby
Scholastic, 2011. Fiction. 325 p.
Princess Solveig and her siblings are trapped in a hidden fortress tucked between towering mountains and a frozen fjord, along with her best friend and an army of restless soldiers, all awaiting news of the king's victory in battle, but as they wait for winter's end and the all-encompassing ice to break, acts of treachery make it clear that a traitor lurks in their midst.

The Lost Kingdom
By Matthew Kirby
Scholastic, 2013. Fiction. 348 p.
On the eve of the French and Indian War, Billy Bartram and his naturalist father travel into the American wilderness in an airship--pursued by a party of French soldiers and haunted by a terrifying bear-wolf--on a quest to find the lost kingdom of the Welsh prince Madoc.

Spell Robbers
(The Quantum League #1)
By Matthew Kirby
Scholastic Press, 2014. Fiction. 263 p.
Ben Warner is invited to join a "science camp" led by a quantum physicist Dr. Madeleine Hughes, and with his new friend Peter he discovers the secret art of Actuation--the ability to change reality by imagining it differently--but he also finds that there are people willing to kill for that secret.

The Arctic Code
(The Dark Gravity Sequence #1)
HarperCollins, 2015. Fiction. 324 p.
The Earth is in the grip of a new Ice Age, and when twelve-year-old Eleanor's scientist mother disappears in the Arctic, Eleanor sets off on a dangerous journey to find her--and uncovers a mystery, a crime, and evidence that Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials.

Island of the Sun
(The Dark Gravity Sequence #2)
By Matthew Kirby HarperCollins, 2016. Fiction. 369 p.
Desperately searching for the other Concentrators that are fatally disrupting Earth's orbit, Eleanor and her companions are labeled as terrorists by G.E.T. forces that would eliminate all but a few select people.

Rogue World
(The Dark Gravity Sequence #3)
By Matthew Kirby
HarperCollins, 2017. Fiction. 400 p.
After the shattering new discoveries they made in Egypt, Eleanor and her friends unite in the desperate hope of saving the entire planet. They are preparing for a trek to the icy Himalayas, where they believe they’ll find the Master Concentrator and get a chance to end the threat of the rogue planet—one way or the other.

Comments

Review: The Factory

The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages. Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...

Review: A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall

A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall By Jasmine Warga New York: Harper, 2024. Fiction. 211 pages. A painting has been stolen from the Penelope L. Brooks Museum and sixth-grader Rami Ahmed is worried he's the main suspect. His mother works at the museum as the lead custodian and Rami spends a lot of time hanging out at the museum while she works. On the day the painting went missing, the only people there were the security guard Ed, the cleaning crew, and Rami. Then, a mysterious girl appears in the museum. She floats around from room to room and only Rami can see her -- and she looks exactly like the girl from the missing painting. To prove his innocence and help figure out who the floating girl is, Rami partners up with an aspiring sleuth at school named Veda and the two dive into unexpected situations as they try to solve the mystery. This is a cozy mystery that is focused mostly on characters and ambiance and only a little on the mystery itself. Don't read this book if yo...

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...

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