This past week's new releases of science fiction and fantasy for children and teenagers

Here are the middle grade and YA science fiction and fantasy books that came out this past week, taken from Teens Read Too.

Dodger for President (Dodger and Me), by Jordan Sonnenblick. From Booklist: "Picking up where Dodger and Me (2008) left off, Sonnenblick continues the story of friends Willie and Lizzie and the magical blue chimp, Dodger, that only they can see. The formula is much the same—dorky kid helped out by invisible ally—but here it’s applied to a school election that has Willie and Lizzie facing off against a superpopular jock and his tough-guy sidekick. And again, Dodger spends most of the book bouncing off the walls, espousing zany schemes that mostly serve to hamstring the kids’ campaign."

Grk Takes Revenge, by Joshua Doder. "Tim and Natascha realise to their horror that Max has gone to Paris to confront their first adversary, Colonel Zinfandel, the dictator of Stanislavia. They rush after him, with their intrepid dog Grk. Will Max overstep the mark and do something dangerous? Will Colonel Zinfandel be a ruthless and violent as he is has been before? And how can two children and a dog do any good? All will be revealed when they reach Paris!"


The Kingdom of Carbonel, by Barbara Sleigh. This is the second book of a series beloved by many that is being brought back into print by the New York Review Children's Collection (and if you haven't visited them to see the great list of books they are bringing out, do! "Night falls and Cat Country comes to life: town walls turn into roads, roof and treetop become mountain and field. The black cat Carbonel and his consort, Queen Blandamour, have long reigned over this magical place, where humans are scarce, cats roam freely, and the rivers flow with cream. But the wicked Grisana, a beautiful gray Persian who makes Lady Macbeth look like a lap cat, has plans of her own for Cat Country, and Carbonel and his children, Prince Calidor and Princess Pergamond, are all that stand between her and the throne. With the backing of Carbonel’s old foe, the witch Mrs. Cantrip, and her apprentice, Miss Dibdin, Grisana may be unstoppable. Luckily, Carbonel can count on Rosemary and John, his young friends from Carbonel: The King of the Cats, to come to his aid. Together with the good creatures of Cat Country—and with the help of a few magical spells—the children confront Grisana and her nasty crew. It is a battle for the future of Cat Country and only the strongest magic will prevail."

The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen, by Delia Sherman. "Neef, the official Changeling of Central Park, has survived a life-threatening quest, but that’s nothing compared to her first experiences at Changeling school. At Miss Van Loon’s, she meets her counterparts from all over Manhattan, learns the basics of diplomacy, and, of course, gets in trouble. This time Neef must recover the Magic Mirror, or else New York Harbor’s Mermaid Queen will turn all of the city’s fresh water to salt—and everything will die."

Mike Stellar: Nerves of Steel, by K. A. Holt. "Things are not so stellar for Mike Stellar. He is stunned when his parents inform him that he has only eight hours to pack before they move to Mars. Despite the fact that he suspects his parents are involved in a major sabotage plot; that the only person who believes him is a girl who won’t shut up; and that his mother’s assistant seems to be spying on Mike’s every move, Mike is dealing with the same things that every eleven-year-old deals with: bad cafeteria food, a strict limitation on his electronic use, and a teacher who is so old-fashioned she must be from the year 2099."

Septimus Heap: The Magykal Papersby Angie Sage. A collection of miscellanies, including the private journals of Septimus, Jenna, and Marcia Overstrand, the best—and worst—places to eat as described in The Egg-on-Toast Restaurant Guide, Sirius Weazal's Speedy Guides to the Palace, the Wizard Tower, and Wizard Way, excerpts from the Pigeon Post Biography series and the Heaps of History series, and more.



Young Adult:

Alyzon Whitestarr, by Isobelle Carmody. "Alyzon Whitestarr doesn't take after her musically talented father or her nocturnal, artistic mother. In fact, she’s the most normal member of a very eccentric family . . . until the day that an accident leaves her more unique than she ever could have dreamed. Suddenly colors are more vibrant to Alyzon; her memory is flawless; but strangest of all is Alyzon’s sense of smell. Her best friend smells of a comforting sea breeze. She registers her father’s contentment as the sweet scent of caramelized sugar. But why does the cutest guy in school smell so rancid? With Alyzon’s extrasensory perception comes intrigue and danger, as she becomes aware of the dark secrets and hidden ambitions that threaten her family. In the end, being different might be less of a blessing than a curse. . . .

Fairy Tale, by Cyn Balog. "Morgan Sparks has always known that she and her boyfriend, Cam, are made for each other. But when Cam’s cousin Pip comes to stay with the family, Cam seems depressed. Finally Cam confesses to Morgan what’s going on: Cam is a fairy. The night he was born, fairies came down and switched him with a healthy human boy. Nobody expected Cam to live, and nobody expected his biological brother, heir to the fairy throne, to die. But both things happened, and now the fairies want Cam back to take his rightful place as Fairy King. Even as Cam physically changes, becoming more miserable each day, he and Morgan pledge to fool the fairies and stay together forever. But by the time Cam has to decide once and for all what to do, Morgan’s no longer sure what’s best for everyone, or whether her and Cam’s love can weather an uncertain future."

Prism, by Faye & Aliza Kellerman. Prism is set in "a slightly alternate universe in which medicine and health care do not exist, and in which sick people are allowed to die without any care. Set in New Mexico and California, the novel features three teens who fall through a cave at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico while on a field trip. They are plunged into a frightening parallel universe—seven weeks in the past, in which their "normal" worlds of family and high school remain the same…except for the fact that no medicine exists and when people die in the street they are picked up and disposed of.

Chaos - Graphic Novel (The Lost Books) and Renegade-Graphic Novel (The Lost Books), by Ted Dekker. From Publishers Weekly: "At the beginning of the series, four young people are given the mission of finding the seven missing Books of History to secure the continuity of reality. In Renegade, the hotheaded Bilios uses a forbidden book to transport himself to a small Colorado town, where a dark stranger convinces him that the people aren't real so that it's okay to kill them. In Chaos, young Johnis and Silvie are transported to Las Vegas, into the middle of a scheme by a monstrous Shataiki bat to unite the books and bring his mate into this world so they can spawn."

And finally, here's a book that (despite the title) isn't science fiction or fantasy, but that I enjoyed very much (review to come very soon):

Nothing but Ghosts, by Beth Kephart