Four more much-loved fairy tales leap to life in this series of lively retellings. With the help of her fairy godmother, a kitchen maid mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters attends the palace ball where she meets the prince of her dreams.
Magic
Comus
In an adaptation of the poem “A Masque at Ludlow Castle” by John Milton, two young men must rescue their sister Alice from Comus, the evil magician who has bewitched her and carried her off to his hidden kingdom.
The Starlight Cloak
In the author’s version of the Cinderella story, a princess in Ireland leads a life of misery until her foster mother reveals magical powers that change her life forever.
The Pharaoh’s Secret (Amelia’s Notebook Series)
Filled with intrigue and surprises, The Pharaoh’s Secret includes Marissa Moss’s original illustrations throughout. The novel skillfully weaves history with a personal story full of heartache and family tensions that will entice and enthrall readers. When Talibah and her younger brother, Adom, accompany their father, an academic, to his homeland of modern Egypt on his research assignment, they become involved in a mystery surrounding an ancient, lost pharaoh—a rare queen ruler. Someone has tried to wipe her from the record, to make it appear as if she never existed! She needs Talibah to help her and her high priest, Senenmut, reclaim their rightful place in history. Exotic locales, mysterious strangers, and a sinister archaeologist round out an adventure that is full of riddles, old tales, and, most surprisingly of all, a link to Talibah’s and Adom’s mother, who died mysteriously.
Fantasy Encyclopedia
With a foreword by the award-winning fantasy author Jonathan Stroud, and illustration by some of the world’s best illustrators including John Howe, the Fantasy Encyclopedia is a spectacular one-stop guide to the creatures and people of folklore and fantasy. From goblins and fairies to dragons and Dracula, this encyclopedia covers them all with sparkling, readable text and stunning illustrations. Discover how the magic of stories throughout the centuries has kept these creatures alive in traditions and cultures around the world. Using a highly visual approach, featuring more than 400 photographs and illustrations, this book will introduce readers to each fantasy character within its habitat and genre. Cross-reference boxes direct readers to popular books and movies starring these fantastical creatures. This is a must-have for any fantasy enthusiast!
Magical Tales from Many Lands
Fourteen folktales from around the world, illustrated in folk-art style, include a Zulu tale of a devoted mother and an Inca story about a beautiful and proud magician, along with tales representing the Jewish, Arabic, Amerindian, and other traditions.
Cake Girl
In this bedazzling picture book for all seasons, a Witch is once again alone on her birthday. So she uses her powers to bake a Cake Girl to act as her servant for the day. She tells Cake Girl to sing and dance—and do all the housework! “And then,” says the Witch, “I’ll eat you.” But Cake Girl proves to be too clever a confection for such a fate, and she soon turns the tables on her maker, with happy results for them both. Cheery and cheeky themes abound in this deliciously illustrated story about the magic of laughter and play and new companions.
The Faceless Ones
Valkyrie screamed, sprinting toward Skulduggery. He looked up and reached out to her, but it was too late. If you’ve read the other Skulduggery books by Derek Landy (and you really should have read them by now), you’ve seen it all before: Some bad guy wants to bring about the end of the world, and Skulduggery and Valkyrie fight valiantly to stop it from happening. A few people get hurt, sure, but everything’s all right in the end. Well, not this time.
DarkIsle
IT’S A MAGICAL world if you know where to look. . . .For 10-year-old Morag, that magical world is no farther than the cellar of her cruel foster parents’ home. That’s where she’s shocked to meet Aldiss, a talking rat, and his resourceful companion, Bertie the dodo bird. Morag jumps at the chance to escape a life of drudgery and join them on their quest to save their homeland from an evil warlock named Devlish, who is intent on destroying it. But first, Bertie and Aldiss will need to stop bickering long enough to free the only guide who knows where to find Devlish: Shona, a dragon who’s been turned to stone. Together, these four friends begin their journey to a mysterious island beyond the horizon, where danger and glory await—along with clues to the disappearance of Morag’s parents, whose destiny seems somehow linked to her own.
Wild Magic
The Pied Piper had his reasons for enchanting the children of Hamelin and stealing them away—ones rooted in a deep history of wild magic. Mari and her brother Jakob are among the children who followed the piper’s song, and they are now trapped in a beautiful but cruel world inhabited by a horrid Beast. They must remain there until he finds the right child, the chosen one, who can lift his century old curse. But the price of breaking the curse is a terrible one. This fast-paced, richly fantastical continuation of a familiar tale is a powerful story of a family torn apart by tragedy, and the magical adventure that heals them.