Into the Labyrinth

What a relief when the old story-book is republished and the characters who live inside it suddenly discover they have Readers again — lots of Readers! Princess Sylvie finds herself rushing to get to her place whenever a new Reader — whether in Boston or Bangkok — opens the book. Her mother, the queen, is especially frazzled when the popular story is loaded onto the Web, a weightless, “virtual” world of unforeseen challenges. To cope with the stress, Sylvie convinces the Writer to add a new character, who gives yoga instruction to the storybook’s cast in those moments when they have time off. But stress proves the least of their problems as strange things start happening — words get changed around, scenes disappear — and Sylvie and her friends must launch themselves into the labyrinth of cyberspace to confront a twenty-first-century evil that threatens to destroy their world.

Beat The Story-Drum, Pum-Pum (Aladdin Books)

Five traditional Nigerian tales include “Hen and Frog,” “Why Bush Cow and Elephant are Bad Friends,” “The Husband Who Counted the Spoonfuls,” “Why Frog and Snake Never Play Together,” and “How Animals Got Their Tails.”

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

Hospitalized with the dreaded atom bomb disease, leukemia, a child in Hiroshima races against time to fold one thousand paper cranes to verify the legend that by doing so a sick person will become healthy.