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The Oracle Betrayed
Catherine Fisher
Synopsis:

They might not know what the future holds,
but they know they hold it in their hands.

Mirany, the newly appointed attendant to the Speaker, is untested, in fear for her life, and keeper of the god's secrets.

Seth, an ambitious scribe toiling in the shadow of the pyramid, has discovered the secret labyrinths and underground passages to the tombs.

Hermia, the Speaker, interprets the words of the god and twists his wishes to suit her treachery.

General Argelin, the cunning leader in league with the Speaker, intends to dictate the choosing of the new ruler Alexos, the quiet boy, is fated to rule the land -- unless his enemies succeed in their plot.

Oblek, the foolish musician, may be the only person who can keep Alexos alive.

The Jackal, the black-market tomb raider, will strike like a scorpion if anyone interferes with his scheme to rob the sacred catacombs

Publication Date: 03/16/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Falling in the Garden
Walter G. Klimczak
Synopsis: I stood in anticipation before my open bedroom window, listening to the steady cadence of the rain. It fell upon the darkened world beyond and a myriad collection of sounds melted seamlessly together to form the powerful, dissonant voice of the storm. For all its predictability, there remained an element of surprise within the static-a subtle, unspoken phrase or message trying to break through the surface.Doing his best to live a life touched by sorrow, Michael Sullivan has always been searching for an answer. When his best friend moves away, he tries to look within for some kind of explanation. Then he meets Ashley Haddow in the center of a sprawling forest-a place they call The Meadow. Separated by a span of over 50 years, both form a friendship that transcends time.They soon come to share an impossible secret and find themselves in the middle of something far stranger than they could have ever imagined.
Publication Date: 03/03/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Midnighters: The Secret Hour
Scott Westerfeld
Synopsis:

This is the first book in New York Times bestselling author Scott Westerfeld’s Midnighters series.

A few nights after Jessica Day arrives in Bixby, Oklahoma, she wakes up at midnight to find the entire world frozen. For one secret hour each night, the town belongs to the dark creatures that haunt the shadows. And only a small group of people—Jessica included—is free to move about then. They are The Midnighters.  

The Secret Hour is the first book in the Midnighters trilogy, from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of the Uglies series.

Publication Date: 03/02/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Truesight
David, Jr. Stahler
Synopsis:

On a frontier world is a colony called Harmony.

Like everyone who lives there, Jacob is blind.

In his debut novel, David Stahler Jr. vividly imagines a future where genetic engineering has taken a startling turn. On a distant planet, in a utopian community of the blind, one remarkable young man will discover just how much there is to see -- if only he is willing to look.

Publication Date: 02/17/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Millicent's Gift
Ann Rinaldi
Synopsis: Aware of the powerful gift she possesses, Millicent looks to her family for advice as to whether or not she should use it, but doing so only leads to more confusion as different members of the family have completely different opinions on the matter. Reprint.
Publication Date: 02/01/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Rairarubia
W. Royce Adams
Synopsis: RAIRARUBIA, Book 1 in the award winning, on-going fantasy-adventure series, The Rairarubia Tales, now comes in a new Second Edition. This is the book that begins eleven-year-old Molly Doogan's adventures in a mysterious, timeless land called Rairarubia.
Publication Date: 02/01/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
The Keys to the Kingdom-Grim Tuesday
Synopsis: Arthur Penhaligon's magical adventures continue as he faces a new grave danger -- in the form of an enemy named Grim Tuesday. More amazing fantasy from best-selling author Garth Nix.

Arthur doesn't think he will ever have to return to the strange house that nearly killed him on Monday -- the house that contains an entire world. But Tuesday brings new challenges -- in the form of an enemy named Grim Tuesday, who threatens the well-being of both Arthur's family and his world. Arthur must retrieve the Second Key from Grim Tuesday in order to save everything -- an adventure that will include stealing a Sunship, surviving a very weird work camp, befriending a bearlike spirit, fighting the voidlike Nithlings, and traveling to the scary Far Reaches for the ultimate showdown.
Publication Date: 01/01/04
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Inkheart
Cornelia Funke
Synopsis: Meggie’s father, Mo, has an wonderful and sometimes terrible ability. When he reads aloud from books, he brings the characters to life--literally. Mo discovered his power when Maggie was just a baby. He read so lyrically from the the book Inkheart, that several of the book’s wicked characters ended up blinking and cursing on his cottage floor. Then Mo discovered something even worse--when he read Capricorn and his henchmen out of Inkheart, he accidentally read Meggie’s mother in.

Meggie, now a young lady, knows nothing of her father's bizarre and powerful talent, only that Mo still refuses to read to her. Capricorn, a being so evil he would "feed a bird to a cat on purpose, just to watch it being torn apart," has searched for Meggie's father for years, wanting to twist Mo's powerful talent to his own dark means. Finally, Capricorn realizes that the best way to lure Mo to his remote mountain hideaway is to use his beloved, oblivious daughter Meggie as bait!

Cornelia Funke’s imaginative ode to books and book lovers is sure to be enjoyed by fans of her breakout debut, The Thief Lord, and young readers who enjoyed the similarly themed The Great Good Thing by Roderick Townley. (Ages 10 to 15) --Jennifer Hubert

Publication Date: 10/01/03
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Gregor the Overlander
Suzanne Collins
Synopsis: This irresistible first novel tells the story of a quiet boy who embarks on a dangerous quest in order to fulfill his destiny -- and find his father -- in a strange world beneath New York City.

When Gregor falls through a grate in the laundry room of his apartment building, he hurtles into the dark Underland, where spiders, rats, cockroaches coexist uneasily with humans. This world is on the brink of war, and Gregor's arrival is no accident. A prophecy foretells that Gregor has a role to play in the Underland's uncertain future. Gregor wants no part of it -- until he realizes it's the only way to solve the mystery of his father's disappearance. Reluctantly, Gregor embarks on a dangerous adventure that will change both him and the Underland forever.
Publication Date: 09/01/03
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Fantasy
Tale of Despereaux
Timothy Basil Ering, Kate DiCamillo
Synopsis: The beloved author of BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE enlightens us with a tale of adventure, despair, love, and soup.

Welcome to the story of Despereaux Tilling, a mouse who is in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea. It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro, who lives in the darkness and covets a world filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a slow-witted serving girl who harbors a simple, impossible wish. These three characters are about to embark on a journey that will lead them down into a horrible dungeon, up into a glittering castle, and, ultimately, into each other’s lives. And what happens then? As Kate DiCamillo would say: Reader, it is your destiny to find out.

From the master storyteller who brought us BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE comes another classic, a fairy tale full of quirky, unforgettable characters, featuring twenty-four stunning black-and-white illustrations by Timothy Basil Ering, in an elegant design that pays tribute to the best in classic children’s books and bookmaking traditions.
Publication Date: 08/25/03
Age Level: Any Age
Genre: Fantasy
A. D. 62: Pompeii
Rebecca East
Synopsis: A twenty-first century woman is stranded in first century Pompeii when a time travel experiment goes awry; she is sold to a wealthy family as a house slave. This provides her with an intimate, upstairs/downstairs perspective on household life in ancient times. At first she does menial work, but she improves her situation by telling stories and making prophecies. As her influence grows, she wins the love of her master and his daughter and provokes the vengeful jealousy of his wife.In this gentle fable about the power of stories to change people's lives, the heroine uses sources that include fairy tales and great works of literature to argue for womens rights and the humanity of slaves, and to inspire herself and others to be resourceful, courageous and independent. Miranda's own life becomes as mythic as the stories she tells. In a narrative that is part adventure, part romance, and part fantasy, the heroine triumphs over adversity and makes a place for herself in the world of the past.Visit the companion web site at www.rebecca-east.com to see ancient works of art that inspired the descriptions of characters and settings.
Publication Date: 02/07/03
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
City of the Beasts
Isabel Allende
Synopsis:

Fifteen-year-old Alexander Cold has the chance to take the trip of a lifetime. Parting from his family and ill mother, Alexander joins his fearless grandmother, a magazine reporter for International Geographic, on an expedition to the dangerous, remote world of the Amazon. Their mission, along with the others on their team -- including a celebrated anthropologist, a local guide and his young daughter Nadia, and a doctor -- is to document the legendary Yeti of the Amazon known as the Beast.

Under the dense canopy of the jungle, Alexander is amazed to discover much more than he could have imagined about the hidden worlds of the rain forest. Drawing on the strength of the jaguar, the totemic animal Alexander finds within himself, and the eagle, Nadia's spirit guide, both young people are led by the invisible People of the Mist on a thrilling and unforgettable journey to the ultimate discovery....

In a stunning novel of high adventure, internationally celebrated novelist Isabel Allende leads readers through the intricacies of two personal quests, and on an epic voyage -- teeming with magical realism -- into the wonder-filled heart of the Amazon.

Publication Date: 10/22/02
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
The Time Machine
Greg Bear, H.G. Wells
Synopsis:

“I’ve had a most amazing time....”

 

So begins the Time Traveller’s astonishing firsthand account of his journey 800,000 years beyond his own era—and the story that launched H.G. Wells’s successful career and earned him his reputation as the father of science fiction. With a speculative leap that still fires the imagination, Wells sends his brave explorer to face a future burdened with our greatest hopes...and our darkest fears. A pull of the Time Machine’s lever propels him to the age of a slowly dying Earth.  There he discovers two bizarre races—the ethereal Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks—who not only symbolize the duality of human nature, but offer a terrifying portrait of the men of tomorrow as well.  Published in 1895, this masterpiece of invention captivated readers on the threshold of a new century. Thanks to Wells’s expert storytelling and provocative insight, The Time Machine will continue to enthrall readers for generations to come.

 

Publication Date: 10/01/02
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Revenge on Rairarubia
W. Royce Adams
Synopsis: Book 4 in the on-going fantasy/adventures series, The Rairarubia Tales for ages 9 and up.
Publication Date: 11/01/01
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Demon In My View
Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Synopsis: Though nobody at her high school knows it, Jessica is a published author. Her vampire novel, Tiger, Tiger, has just come out under the pen name Ash Night. Now two new students have just arrived in Ramsa, and both want Jessica’s attention. She has no patience with overly friendly Caryn, but she’s instantly drawn to Alex, a self-assured, mysterious boy who seems surprisingly familiar. If Jessica didn’t know better, she’d think Aubrey, the alluring villain from her novel had just sprung to life. That’s impossible, of course; Aubrey is a figment of her imagination. Or is he?
Publication Date: 09/11/01
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
In The Forest of the Night
Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Synopsis: By day, Risika sleeps in a shaded room in Concord, Massachusetts. By night, she hunts the streets of New York City. She is used to being alone. But someone is following Risika. He has left her a black rose, the same sort of rose that sealed her fate 300 years ago. Three hundred years ago she was human. Now she is a vampire, a powerful one, and her past has come back to torment her.
Publication Date: 05/09/00
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy

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