Skip to main content

If You Like...Mythology and Magic

Have you reread Percy Jackson a hundred times? Do you love stories of mythical creatures and teens with secret powers? I definitely do! I love when authors combine history, culture, and myths all into one adventure filled book. If you’re anything like me, you are going to LOVE these books bursting with mythology and magic!

Here are a few chapter books that enter into new worlds of mythology.

Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom
By Sangu Mandanna
New York : Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2021. Fiction. 334 pages.

This book features a female hero set in the world of Indian mythology. Kiki is an 11-year-old girl who constantly has anxious and worrisome thoughts, but she finds comfort in drawing characters and scenes from Indian myths and legends. One day, her drawings come to life, including the evil deity who wants to destroy the world. Read this book to discover if Kiki can overcome her anxiety and fear as she seeks to save the world.

Paola Santiago and the River of Tears
By Tehlor Kay Mejia
Los Angeles : Disney-Hyperion, 2020. Fiction. 350 pages.

Paola is a Mexican American who loves space and science. She doesn’t believe her mom’s ghost stories about La Llorona, an evil ghost woman who supposedly lives in the river and steals children. When Paola goes stargazing near the river Gila, she learns that her mother’s stories may be more than scary bedtime tales. Forced to enter into a world of nightmares and monsters, Paola must go beyond what she knows and believes in order to save her friend.

Tristan Strong Punches the Sky
By Kwame Mbalia
Los Angeles ; New York : Disney/Hyperion, 2019. Fiction. 482 pages.

After his best friend, Eddie, dies in an accident, Tristan keeps Eddie’s journal on him at all times. In an effort to cope with his grief, Tristan goes to his grandparents’ farm in Alabama. When a strange creature steals Eddie’s journal, Tristan chases after it and accidentally opens a portal to a dangerous world full of monsters. African American heroes John Henry and Brer Rabbit have been fighting the monsters for years, and they need Tristan’s help. This book will leave you on the edge of your seat, rooting for a hero who is struggling to deal with grief and loss.

Lia Park and the Missing Jewel
By Jenna Yoon
New York : Aladdin, 2022. Fiction. 346 pages.

Lia Park is a twelve-year-old Korean American with overprotective parents. After she sneaks out to attend a party, an evil diviner kidnaps her parents and ransoms them for a jewel Lia’s family has guarded for years. In order to save her parents, Lia travels to Korea where she journeys to the undersea kingdom, home to the Dragon King. Read this book to discover if Lia can gain the courage to find the jewel and save her parents.

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor
By Xiran Jay Zhao
New York : Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2022. Fiction. 340 pages.

Zack Ying is a Chinese American middle schooler who loves augmented reality gaming. When the First Emperor of China possesses Zack’s gaming headset, Zack travels to China to steal magical items and fight evil creatures. As he struggles to learn how to use his water dragon powers, Zack must also work to seal the portal to the Chinese underworld. He has to complete the Emperor’s mission or risk the fate of the world, and losing his mom, forever.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...

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: The Teacher of Nomad Land

The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story By Daniel Nayeri Montclair, NJ: Levine Querido, 2025. Historical fiction. 181 pgs. In 1941 Iran, 13-year-old Babak will do anything to stay with his younger sister Sana, who is 8. After their father is killed during the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran, the siblings are left orphaned and Babak takes over guardianship to prevent the two from being separated. Carrying his father's blackboard on his back, Babak and Sana set off from Isfahan to find the nomadic tribes as they make their yearly trek across the mountains. Along the way, they encounter a suspicious man named Vulf, a friendly Englishman with a name that means cabbage, and a Jewish boy named Ben who has Vulf hot on his heels. As he is known for doing, Daniel Nayeri weaves a highly readable adventure with threads of philosophy about God, the ties of family, and musings about how cultures can reconcile across differences. The setting of this novel is ingeniously unique, and a lengt...