Awards
A Junior Library Guild selection.
Synopses & Reviews
In an exhilarating new series, New York Times bestselling author Rachel Caine rewrites history, creating a dangerous world where the Great Library of Alexandria has survived the test of time.
Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantlybut the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden.
Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family, who are involved in the thriving black market. Jess has been sent to be his familys spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Librarys service.
When he inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe that knowledge is more valuable than any human lifeand soon both heretics and books will burn.
Review
"[A] delectably thick and transfixing fantasy....[T]he characters are wonderfully complex....Funke once again proves the power of her imagination; readers will be captivated by the chilling and thrilling world she has created here." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Master translator Bell takes the German text and spins out of it vivid images and heart-stopping language that impel the reader through this adventure about narratives a true feast for anyone who has ever been lost in a book." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Like many other fantasies, this will appeal to a broad age range, though the writing is far less child-centered than it is, for example, in the Harry Potter series." Carolyn Phelan, Booklist
Review
"Characters from books literally leap off the page in this engrossing fantasy....This 'story within a story' will delight not just fantasy fans, but all readers who like an exciting plot with larger-than-life characters." School Library Journal
Synopsis
One cruel night, young Meggie's father, Mo, reads aloud from Inkheart and an evil ruler named Capricorn escapes the boundaries of fiction and lands in their living room. Suddenly, Meggie is smack in the middle of the kind of adventure she has only read about in books. Somehow, Meggie and Mo must learn to harness the magic that conjured this nightmare. Somehow they must change the course of the story that has changed their lives forever. This is Inkheart, a timeless tale about books, about imagination, about life. Dare to read it aloud.
Synopsis
Meggie lives a quiet life with her father, a bookbinder. But her father has a deep secret he possesses an extraordinary magical power. When a mysterious stranger arrives, Meggie is plunged into intrigue as her father's life is put in danger.
Synopsis
From the author of the sensational New York Times best-seller THE THIEF LORD comes a thrilling new adventure about magic and self-discovery.
Cornelia Funke, the enormously talented author of the international best-seller THE THIEF LORD, brings readers another spellbinding tale of adventure and magic.
Meggie lives a quiet life alone with her father, a book-binder. But her father has a deep secret-- he posseses an extraordinary magical power. One day a mysterious stranger arrives who seems linked to her father's past. Who is this sinister character and what does he want? Suddenly Meggie is involved in a breathless game of escape and intrigue as her father's life is put in danger. Will she be able to save him in time?
Synopsis
Imagine it were possible to bring the characters from a book to life. Not like when someone reads a book with such enchantment that the characters seem to jump off the pages and into your bedroom...but for real. Imagine they could actually climb out of the pages and into our world.
Now imagine if those characters brought their world into ours.
One cruel night, young Meggie's father, Mo, reads aloud from Inkheart and an evil ruler named Capricorn escapes the boundaries of fiction and lands in their living room. Suddenly, Meggie is smack in the middle of the kind of adventure she has only read about in books.
Somehow, Meggie and Mo must learn to harness the magic that conjured this nightmare. Somehow they must change the course of the story that has changed their lives forever.
This is Inkheart, a timeless tale about books, about imagination, about life.
Synopsis
Sixteen-year-old genius Idea Deity believes that he exists only in the pages of a novel written by a malevolent, omnipotent author . . . and that he will die in chapter 64. Meanwhile, an older teen named Reacher Mirage sings lead vocals for the undercover rock band Youforia . . . a band that exists in Ideas world only as an Internet hoax that Idea himself perpetuated. Then theres beautiful and mysterious Eunice Truant, who links their destinies. When Idea and Reacher plunge into the reality of Fireskulls Revenant, the twisted epic fantasy novel theyve both been reading, chapter 64 bears down on them like a speeding freight train on an unstoppable collision course. Being trapped in a bad book can be a nightmare. Just ask Idea Deity.
Synopsis
Cornelia Funke, the enormously talented author of the international best-seller THE THIEF LORD, brings readers another spellbinding tale of adventure and magic. Meggie lives a quiet life alone with her father, a book-binder. But her father has a deep secret-- he posseses an extraordinary magical power. One day a mysterious stranger arrives who seems linked to her father's past. Who is this sinister character and what does he want? Suddenly Meggie is involved in a breathless game of escape and intrigue as her father's life is put in danger. Will she be able to save him in time?
Synopsis
More Grimm tales await in the harrowing, hilarious companion to a beloved new classic
Take caution ahead--
Oversize plant life, eerie amphibious royalty, and fear-inducing creatures abound.
Lest you enter with dread.
Follow Jack and Jill as they enter startling new landscapes that may (or may not) be scary, bloody, terrifying, and altogether true.
Step lively, dear reader . . .
Happily ever after isn't cutting it anymore.
In this companion novel to Adam Gidwitz's widely acclaimed, award-winning debut, A Tale Dark & Grimm, Jack and Jill explore a new set of tales from the Brothers Grimm and others, including Jack and the Beanstalk and The Frog Prince.
Synopsis
An enchanting--and twisted--tale of two sisters' quest to find their parents
When their parents disappear in the middle of the night, young sisters Summer and Bird set off on a quest to find them. A cryptic picture message from their mother leads them to a familiar gate in the woods, but comfortable sights quickly give way to a new world entirely--Down--one inhabited by talking birds and the evil Puppeteer queen. Summer and Bird are quickly separated, and their divided hearts lead them each in a very different direction in the quest to find their parents, vanquish the Puppeteer, lead the birds back to their Green Home, and discover the identity of the true bird queen.
With breathtaking language and deliciously inventive details, Katherine Catmull has created a world unlike any other, skillfully blurring the lines between magic and reality and bringing to life a completely authentic cast of characters and creatures.
Synopsis
School of Rock meets World of Warcraft in this edgy, highly original YA novel of alternate realities, rock 'n' roll, time travel, and mythical characters, by DC Comics writer and Sci-Fi scribe, Robert Jeschonek, now available in paperback.
About the Author
Cornelia Funke is a bestselling author and the third most popular children's book writer in Germany after J.K. Rowling and R.L. Stine. Her first book, The Thief Lord, has won several European children's literature awards, including the Zurich Childrens Book Award (2000) and the Children's Book Award from the Vienna House of Literature (2001).