Fantasy

Fantasy genre

From Another World

Martin and his friends are helping their parents turn an old Brazilian coffee plantation into an inn. The children have a fun time helping to renovate the old place and they sleep in a shed that is being converted into a guest room. But one night they hear the sound of a young girl crying. Gradually, the ghost of a slave girl from the late 1800s named Rosario appears to them. Rosario tells them the story of her life and in doing so reveals the danger and instability that existed in Brazil after slavery ended. Though not the best at writing, Martin promises Rosario to record her story in the form of a book. Though the experience of slavery seems remote to the Martin and his friends, by the time they’ve heard Rosario’s story, the evil of slavery is made painfully clear. Ann Maria Machado’s deft storytelling skills and social conscience come together in this powerfully moving book that explores the history and impact of slavery.

The Cat: Or, How I Lost Eternity

Every day, eight-year-old Christine’s walk to school takes her past a talking alley cat. Christine stops and feels its warm head beneath her hand, and the cat’s insights invariably give her something to ponder. One day her teacher asks her why she’s always late for school. Frightened, she reveals her secret. Her punishment: she must write 200 lines stating repeatedly, “There are no talking cats, and from now on I will arrive at school on time.” However, the cat is real, no matter how many lines Christine writes and she might just as well leave out the “no” — the headmaster won’t even notice, says the clever cat. That’s what the cat always says — that life is all about being clever and looking out for yourself, first and foremost. Christine isn’t so sure, and she is a little scared of the cat, too. There must be more to life than self-interest.

The Story of the Seagull and the Cat who Taught Her to Fly

It’s migration time and as a mother gull dives into the water to catch a herring she’s caught in an oil slick! Thinking of the egg she is about to lay she manages to extract herself and fly to the nearest port. Exhausted, she lands on a balcony where Zorba the cat is sunning himself. Zorba wants to get help, but the gull knows it’s too late and she extracts three promises from him: 1) That he won’t eat the egg, 2) that he’ll take care of the chick until it hatches, and 3) that he’ll teach it to fly. Well the first two are hard enough, but the third one is surely impossible.

The Gorgon’s Gaze

Mallins Wood is home to the last surviving gorgon, and Col’s mother, the gorgon’s supernatural Companion, is determined to save it from encroaching development–even to the point of endangering Col and his best friend Connie, the most powerful Companion alive.

Little Wolf’s Book of Badness

Little Wolf has been brushing his teeth without being growled at, he’s been going to bed early, and he’s been far too nice to his baby brother, Smellybreff! His parents are so worried that they will never make a beast out of him that they send him off to Cunning College, where his Uncle Bigbad instructs timid cubs in the rules of badness. With each letter home to his parents, Little Wolf reveals a new adventure or lesson that he’s learned on his way to Cunning College. Once there, Little Wolf is in for a few surprises!

The Black Book of Secrets

A boy arrives at a remote village in the dead of night. His name is Ludlow Fitch—and he is running from a most terrible past. In this village is the life he has dreamed of—a safe place to live, and a job as the assistant to a mysterious pawnbroker who trades people’s deepest, darkest secrets for cash. Ludlow’s job is to neatly transcribe the confessions in an ancient leather-bound tome: The Black Book of Secrets. Ludlow yearns to trust his mentor, who refuses to disclose any information on his past experiences or future intentions. What the pawnbroker does not know is, in a town brimming with secrets, the most troubling may be held by his new apprentice.

Moominpappa’s Memoirs

Before he had a family, before he met Moominmamma, Moominpappa led a life of adventure and intrigue. But he’s never told his story until now.Now Moominpappa has a bad cold, and it’s the perfect time to remember his youthful endeavors and to ponder the Experiences which have made him the remarkable Moomin he is. As he reads each chapter aloud to Moomintroll, Snufkin, and Sniff, they, and we, learn of his triumphs and tribulations, and his momentous meetings with the Joxter, the Muddler, and a cast of other characters too incredible (especially Edward the Booble) to list here.”Moominpappa’s Memoirs” has never before been translated into English, and Farrar, Straus and Giroux is proud to be able to add this title to its other Moomin books.