New releases of fantasy and science fiction for children and teenagers--the end of January, 2010 list

Here they are! My information comes, as usual, from Teens Read Too, with help from Amazon.


THE CHESTNUT KING: BOOK 3 OF THE 100 CUPBOARDS by N. D. Wilson
The third book of the 100 Cupboards. "Twelve-year-old Henry York, finally reunited with his family, works with them and the Chestnut King, the long-deposed and mythic leader of the faeren people, to destroy Nimiane and her forces of evil."



DRAGON GAMES: THE BOOKS OF UMBERby P. W. Catanese. Sequel to Happentance Found. "Happenstance would like nothing more than to stay in the comfort of the Aerie, Lord Umber's spectacular cliffside home, without having to worry about the secrets of his past -- or the undetermined role he must play in Umber's desperate mission. But adventure beckons when Umber receives two mysterious messages. One is a desperate plea for help from Caspar, the man who stole precious documents from Umber's archives that could unlock the mysteries of Hap's powers. Caspar is trapped on a forbidden island, the victim of a nightmarish curse. He is willing to reveal his secrets to Umber and Hap -- but what he demands in return may be impossible to achieve. The second message is from an oppressed kingdom ruled by a brutish monarch, where an old rival of Umber's has stolen a cache of dragon eggs. The eggs have begun to hatch, and the question is, what do they plan to do with those infant dragons?"


THE MEMORY OF WINGS: THE FAERIE PATH, LAMIA'S REVENGE by Frewin Jones

Sorry there's not description here--I looked online for a while, but gave up...





THE WISH STEALERS by Tracy Trivas. "Griffin Penshine is always making wishes. But when a sinister old woman tricks her into accepting a box of eleven shiny Indian Head pennies from 1897, Griffin soon learns these are no ordinary pennies, but stolen wishes. This box of labeled pennies comes with a horrible curse: People in possession of the stolen coins are Wish Stealers, who will never have their wishes granted.... In fact, the opposite of what they've wished for will happen. Griffin must find a way to return these stolen wishes and undo the curse if her own wishes are to come true."

Young Adult:

THE ENCHANTED QUEST: THE FAERIE PATH by Frewin Jones. "Far from the Realm of Faerie, a quest to save immortality . . .A deadly plague is sweeping through Faerie, and no one is immune to its bite. Now, with the guidance of the Dream Weaver, Tania, Rathina, and a mortal ally, Connor, must head off to find the Divine Harper—the only one who can help Tania renew the Faerie Covenant of Immortality. Their quest will soon take them outside the borders of Faerie, to hostile and unwelcoming lands beyond. On their travels, Tania and her companions encounter danger at every turn as they battle pirates, contend with mysterious and mystical beings, and try to outwit those under the sinister grip of the Dark Arts. But when Tania's beloved Edric appears, it looks as if they have help at last. Or do they? As tensions and dangers rise, Tania is forced to question everything and everyone around her in order to decide if she is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice to save her loved ones."

I KISSED A ZOMIE, AND I LIKED IT by Adam Selzer. "Algonquin “Ali” Rhodes, the high school newspaper’s music critic, meets an intriguing singer, Doug, while reviewing a gig. He’s a weird-looking guy—goth, but he seems sincere about it, like maybe he was into it back before it was cool. She introduces herself after the set, asking if he lives in Cornersville, and he replies, in his slow, quiet murmur, “Well, I don’t really live there, exactly. . . .” When Ali and Doug start dating, Ali is falling so hard she doesn’t notice a few odd signs: he never changes clothes, his head is a funny shape, and he says practically nothing out loud. Finally Marie, the school paper’s fashion editor, points out the obvious: Doug isn’t just a really sincere goth. He’s a zombie. Horrified that her feelings could have allowed her to overlook such a flaw, Ali breaks up with Doug, but learns that zombies are awfully hard to get rid of—at the same time she learns that vampires, a group as tightly-knit as the mafia, don’t think much of music critics who make fun of vampires in reviews. . . ."

INCARCERON by Catherine Fisher. "Incarceron is a prison so vast that it contains not only cells, but also metal forests, dilapidated cities, and vast wilderness. Finn, a seventeen-year-old prisoner, has no memory of his childhood and is sure that he came from Outside Incarceron. Very few prisoners believe that there is an Outside, however, which makes escape seems impossible. And then Finn finds a crystal key that allows him to communicate with a girl named Claudia. She claims to live Outside- she is the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, and doomed to an arranged marriage. Finn is determined to escape the prison, and Claudia believes she can help him. But they don't realize that there is more to Incarceron than meets the eye. Escape will take their greatest courage and cost more than they know."

UNDEAD MUCH by Stacey Jay

Everyone thinks Megan's at fault for the new uber-zombie uprising. Looks like she'll need the help of both Cliff and Ethan if she's going to prove her innocence before it's too late...



Comic books/graphic novels

TRUE BELIEVERS: RUNAWAYS by Brian K. Vaughan A collection of comics. "When a group of teenagers discovers that their parents are actually super-villains, they run away from home...but that's only step one! Now that the evil Pride is gone, nearly every bad guy in the Marvel Universe is trying to fill the power vacuum in Los Angeles, and the Runaways are the only heroes who can stop them! Plus: What does a mysterious new team of young heroes want with the Runaways, and which fan-favorite Marvel characters are part of this group? Collects Runaways (2005) #1-6."


LOLA: A GHOST STORY by J. Torres A graphic novel. "Jesse sees dead people, monsters, demons, and lots of other things that go bump in the night that no one else can see. No one except his ailing grandmother - a woman who used her visions to help those living in her small town... the same rural community in all the scary stories Jesse's heard as a child. Man-eating ogres in trees. Farmhouses haunted by wraiths. Even pigs possessed by the devil. Upon his grandmother's passing, Jesse has no choice but to face his demons and whatever else might be awaiting him at grandma's house."