by Anne Nesbet

256 pages that will have you wondering how time and life could go – if you could live forever, would you?  If you could change others, would you?

The Cabinet of Earths is a beautiful thing.  A startling combination of glass, wood and metal – of sculpture, design and light that flows and buzzes with energy.  In the beginning – in the 1890’s – it seemed like a good plan to bring magic and science together.  The unity of the Lavirotte and Fourcroy families seemed to be a strong one.  They discovered away to capture the sands of time and store the essence of life away.  Granules of earth in a bottle, one for each person who would become immortal and live as long as the keeper of the Cabinet of Earths was able to keep them safe.  But in 1944, when brother betrayed brother and son killed son, the balance of life and time, of science and magic was upset.  The Cabinet has been waiting and now that Maya is close by change seems inevitable.

After Maya’s mom’s battle with cancer she has the opportunity to fulfill one of her greatest wishes – to spend a year in Paris with her family.  Maya’s dad was invited to work in a laboratory exploring his specialty, Physical Chemistry.  The Society offered to pay their moving expenses and had given them an apartment.  The offer was too good to pass up and that is how Maya and James, her five-year old brother, found themselves in Paris.  That is how they discovered the Salamander House, the man with violet-blue eyes and The Alchemical Theater.  That is how they discovered the fountain of the missing children, their long lost cousins, Henri-Pierre and seemingly invisible Louise and how they found themselves in a historical tangle of intrigue, science and magic.

Thank goodness for Valko, Maya’s school friend.  He helps Maya negotiate the social circles of school, the confusing roads and squares of the city and keeps her grounded when she could easily be caught up in her worry and questions.  Why does the brass salamander look at her?  How can glass move and flow?  What is anbar, the hourglass?  How can people be unseen and invisible?  How can people be perfectly beautiful?  Valko helps her plan and establish priorities.  But will he always be there? Read The Cabinet of Earths to discover what happens when captured time is let go and magic and science are released – does it end, does it change, what continues in its place?

by William Alexander

223 pages telling the book of a play – a reenactment of life where you can be changed, have your will taken away and live with clockwork parts that seem unimaginable – but become more real as you consider their gruesome possibility

When I heard Goblin Secrets had won the National Book Award I thought I’d give it a try.  It is an unusual book to be sure.  It made me question and wonder.  I am glad I do not live in Zombay, but I would like to cross over the Fiddleway Bridge and cast a stone to say “hello”.  I would not want to be one of Graba’s children, but I do think that would be better than fending for myself on either the North or the South side of the city.  I would love to see the masks and I would love to see the plays – I think.  That the masks could change me makes me a little nervous.  And the way life and magic works in Zombay is unsettling to me.

Rownie is an orphan living with a host of “stray children” gathered up by Graba the witch. She orders them about to do her bidding and maintain her hold on her side of the city. Rownie’s brother Rowan is missing. He seems to have vanished from the city – but Rownie believes there must be more to it than that. Intrigued by the sign a troupe of Goblin players post on the bridge, Rownie decides to attend their presentation and even dares to participate though the Lord Mayor has outlawed acting. It seems that acting and actors are unpredictable. They are able to create a magic all their own – a magic that can change the world. Those in power don’t want that world to change. They like their power, but it seems to me there is little joy in Zombay on the best of days and change might not be such a bad thing. Rownie isn’t interested in power or change but he would like to find his brother and know the warm security of knowing your family again. That simple desire is caught up between two bickering sides and an angry river threatening to flood. Read Goblin Secrets – let us know what you think. Do you end with more questions than your began with?

Colin Meloy  and Carson Ellis continue the wonder and wildness of Wildwood in the second adventure that bring Curtis and Prue together in The Wood.

Mac is home.  Everything should be right for the McReel’s, but it’s not.  Prue faces a daily longing and emptiness and there is no one to share it with.  Curtis is back in The Wood training with the Bandits, but Prue’s story in Portland continues on in dullness that gnaws at her.  It seems as though the wood is calling her. Sometimes it seems to be sending for her and other times it seems threatening and menacing.  Somethings is unsettled, unclear, on the brink of change, but what?

Meanwhile in the Melhberg home, Curtis’ parents are desperate to find him.  Their most recent lead is sending them to Istanbul, Turkey, but for this trip Elsie and Rachel must stay behind.  The Melhbergs have found a temporary place for the girls to stay, The Joffrey  Unthank Home for Wayward Youth situated on the edge of the Industrial Waste and the Impassable Wilderness.

Everything, we know, happens for a reason though that reason may not be immediately certain.  Prue and Curtis first came into The Wood together and that is how it seems they should be – together – for their role in confronting the tensions of the Wood.  But there are more denizen’s of the wood who have been hiding out in Portland and it seems that they will be called on if the evil waiting to take over is to be stopped.

Read Under Wildwood to learn more about how the history of the Wood as lead to its present challenges.  What does it take to reinstate peace to the Wood?  Is it possible to keep Wood Magic alive and whole?  What of those who cross in and out?  Are the two world really separate?  Should they be?  What do you think?  When you finish Under Wildwood you’ll be wishing for the next part of the story – I hope it comes soon!

by John Stephens

Kate, Michael and Emma have been hidden away by Stanislaus Pym, their guardian. They are not safe and he hopes that he’ll be able to discover more about the danger and the reasons with time. Time, though, is not on their side and Michael and Emma find themselves on a breathless quest to find the second Book of Beginning, The Fire Chronicle. At the same time Kate is transported by the power of the Emerald Atlas to the past.

Michael and Kate race from the Screechers and others who work for the Dire Magnus. They travel around and through the world in search of the magical book and clues to discover where and why their parents have been taken from them.  With the help of steadfast Gabriel, Michael and Kate join a dragon and an army of elves (not Michael’s beloved dwarves)  to gain control of the Chronicle and learn even more about their destiny as the prophesied three.  While their quest unfolds Kate is whisked through time to the exact moment when the magical world divided itself off and went into hiding. There she learns of another part of the children’s destiny and comes to understand more about the divide between the wizards and the Dire Magnus.

Only by being together will the children be able to do any thing – Kate is in past in New York City and Michael and Emma at at the bottom of the world in the lava chamber of vast volcano.  Magic can bring them together – but how and when.    There is a cost  for using magic but that won’t be fully understood until the story of the Books of Beginning is told from start to finish.  What is the  cost of bringing the three books together? Who will pay and how will the worlds be left? Are their more than two choices?  Are there only two sides –  good and evil?  The Fire Chronicle is a thrilling adventure that will leave you breathlessly turning pages, eagerly searching for information, connections and answers to your many questions.  I didn’t think a book could be better than The Emerald Atlas, but The Fire Chronicle just might be.  All I know for sure is that I cannot wait to read the final book in the trilogy – so many twists and turns, so many possibilities.  I can’t wait to find out discover what is in store for Emma, Michael and Kate – their parents and friends and the world.  Life is in the balance.