A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin

This is the first book in a series, and I gave it a rating of three out of five. A young boy, Ged, learns some spells from his mother, but he has dreams greatness. He leaves home with a wise, old wizard who will become his mentor. The boy is impatient and doesn't feel as though he is learning anything. He leaves the wizard to attend a school of magic and becomes one of the top students. However, on a dare, Ged performs a spell that releases an evil shadow that will hunt him down throughout the rest of the book. Most of the plot is spent fleeing, and then chasing, the shadow.

I had heard of this book for years, and the book jacket gave a very interesting summary of it. The actual writing did not live up to the hype. I found the plot rather boring as Ged did not perform much meaningful magic and there were few conflicts. He wandered from place to place, trying to become a great wizard, and then regretted his misuse of power. A potentially exciting scene, where Ged battles eight dragons, falls short. "Two dragons like the first rose up from the base of the highest tower. Even as the first one they came driving straight at Ged, and even so he caught both, hurled both down, and drowned them: and he had not yet lifted up his wizard's staff." Not much of a conflict; they're just gone. Even the climax lacked suspense.

The Kane Chronicles #1: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

This book is the first in a series, and I gave it a rating of four out of five. Brother and sister, Carter and Sadie, discover they are descendants in a long line of Egyptian magicians and pharaohs. Their father releases five gods, and the children must discover their powers and stop the gods from unleashing chaos into the world. The House of Life, an organization of mortal magicians, are fighting to keep the gods imprisoned. They see Carter and Sadie as serious threats, because Carter is partially possessed by the god Horus, and Sadie is partially possessed by the goddess Isis. The children struggle to control their own minds with these supreme beings even as they battle other magicians, giant alligators, swarms of bats, and other gods. The children meet many friends and enemies, almost all of them magical, and discover that they're never sure who they can trust.

The idea of the book is that it was created based on a tape recorded by Carter and Sadie, so the chapters were written from each of their points of view. I enjoyed how the children needed to learn about their own powers, and I thought the internal conflict of the gods in their heads was unique. The conflict and plot created a great deal of suspense, and there was quite a bit of action. The main thing that bothered me was the number of different characters introduced and the number of terms from Egyptian mythology. It might just be a pet peeve of mine, but I thought it made things a little confusing at times. However, the book is very popular among our students.

Savvy by Ingrid Law

This book is a Newberry Honor book, and I gave it a rating of four out of five. Mibs Beaumont can't wait until her thirteenth birthday in just couple of days to learn her savvy. Her mother's savvy is being perfect, Rocket's savvy is that he can give off electricity, and Fish's savvy is that he can influence the weather. However, Mibs' father goes into a coma after a car accident the day before her birthday. Mibs believes her savvy is that she can heal injuries, so she plans to find some way to travel sixty miles to see her father in the hospital. She sneaks onto a bus driven by a traveling bible salesman along with three of her brothers and the preacher's son and daughter. The bus ends up going the wrong direction, so the children encounter many detours and obstacles as they try to convince the driver to take them to the city of Salina. The savvies of Mibs' and Fish create unforeseen events, some good and some not so good. Mibs' sole mission and focus is to get to Salina and save her father's life.

I enjoyed the interaction of the characters as they learned about each other. Mibs needed to learn about her new savvy, and the preachers son had a crush on her. His sister, Bobbi, was a snooty sixteen-year-old, but Mibs uses her savvy to learn about her hidden feelings. The plot itself was okay. There were some interesting events, but the focus of the book was on the characters.

Peter and the Starcatchers By Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry

This book is a prelude to Peter Pan, and I gave it a rating of four out of five. Peter and several other orphans are being taken by boat to become slaves for an evil king. However, the ship is holding a secret chest of stardust that has magical powers. Peter discovers that Molly is a starcatcher, a group of people whose sole mission is to return the stardust to where it came before their enemies get a hold of it. Their ship is sunk by pirates, and the setting changes to an uncharted island. Throughout the book, the chest is sought by the starcatchers, their enemies, pirates, mermaids, and natives on the island. Peter and Molly band together to get the chest back from the others and return it to a safe location.

I wouldn't say this book is a must-read, but I enjoyed it very much. It was exciting when the chest was taken by all of the various groups, because it complicated a fairly obvious conflict. I also liked predicting in my own mind the different ways that this book would explain things from the Peter Pan story. The book explains Peter's eternal life as a boy, his flying ability, the reason the pirate is obsessed with catching Peter, how the pirate lost his hand, the crocodile that is hunting the captain, and the origin of Neverland.

Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix

This novel is the first in "The Missing" series, and I gave it a rating of four out of five. The book opens with a mysterious plane appearing at an airport, and the only people on board are babies strapped into the seats. No crew. The setting moves forward thirteen years when two friends receive letters in the mail informing them that someone is coming to get them back. Both boys were adopted around the same time thirteen years ago, and they discover there are many other children in the same situation who are living in the same area. Some of them grew up in this town, but many others have moved here from other parts of the country. They speak with a man from the FBI, but he seems to be hiding the truth. There's another man who periodically appears out of nowhere, and then disappears after helping the two boys. A witness to the plane mystery informs them that she thinks the boys are beings from the future who have traveled back in time. If this is true, the boys still have no idea of their past, and they have no idea why all of these adopted children are coming to the same location. Is it a trap?

The plot of the book is interesting, right up there with other books by Margaret Peterson Haddix. I kept asking myself throughout the book, "Who are these kids? Are the people searching for them good or bad? They must be bad, because why would other people help them escape if they weren't bad? However, what do I really know about the people helping them?" I wanted the plot to move along a little quicker, but that's probably because I wanted answers to my questions. That means the author was doing her job! One note, you're almost forced to read the sequel, because this book ends in the middle of a situation.

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

This novel is the first in a series, and I gave it a rating of five out of five. Seth and Kendra are sent to spend time with their mysterious grandparents at Fablehaven. The kids are unaware that Fablehaven is the home to hundreds of different types of mythical creatures. Seth discovers this soon enough, since he's curious and adventurous (disobedient?) Due to a mystical code of conduct, the creatures cannot perform any magic or harm the humans unless something is done to them first, even if the event is accidental. The main conflict is that Grandma and Grandpa disappear, and the kids must enlist the help of some mythical creatures. In addition, an all-powerful creature that has been imprisoned for hundreds of years is trying to escape. A subplot is that the Society for the Evening Star is destroying havens for mythical creatures all around the world. Fablehaven also holds one of five secret relics that are the keys to some magic power.

This book is a classic fantasy. There is a great deal of interaction with the mystical creatures with some being good and some being bad. I found myself wondering what the kids would find next every time they ventured into the forest. I figured Seth would learn something after disobeying his grandfather a couple of times, but he never did. The author did a nice job of building up the suspense to the climax, and easily left the door open for the sequel, Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star.

Fablehaven 5: Keys to the Demon Prison by Brandon Mull

This book is the fifth and final book in the Fablehaven series, and I gave it a rating of five out of five. Within the first twenty pages, Kendra and Seth find themselves at the Obsidian Waste haven battling enemies from earlier books. The team is trying to get the key to the last artifact before the Sphinx and his evil demons. The Sphinx plans to release all of the worst demons in history from prison if he is able to obtain all five artifacts. Things don't go as the Sphinx planned, and the situation only gets worse as the demons gain more control. Kendra and Seth travel to different parts of the world trying to prevent the demon takeover, but they also must prepare for the likely overthrow of Zzyzx, the demon prison. Seth and Kendra display their true powers as the book climaxes with an epic battle between evil demons and good magical creatures. Many surprises are revealed as the plot unfolds.

This entire book is one long climax of the entire series. The plot is fast-paced and action-filled as the opening of Zzyzx is imminent and hope for defeating the demons is slim. One of the things I enjoy about this series, and something that makes me a little crazy, is the fact that I'm never sure who to trust or believe. Good characters are revealed as bad, while some evil characters become good. The characters' roles as good or evil are pretty much set once you get to the second half of the book; there aren't many surprise changes in characterization after that. I had a feeling of foreshadowing about some characters in the first book, but it didn't come true until this fifth book. I found myself being tricked by some characters, just like Seth. I enjoyed how this book jumped right into the action, and reading the plot was like riding a roller coaster. Just when it looked like the knights had the upper hand against the Sphinx the roles became reversed and the conflict got worse.