If magical cats are a thing you like, Nimbus , by Jan Eldredge September 2023, Balzer + Bray) is an obvious and excellent choice!   Nimbus w...

Happy book birthday to Catalyst , by Sarah Beth Durst (Clarion, June 9, 2020), a must read for young fans of magical animals! After the ...

I don't tend to seek out books for early elementary grade kids, but I'm by no means averse to reading them when they come my way (no...

The Cat and Mrs. Cary, by Doris Gates (1962), came into my home last weekend when my sister was visiting.  Every visit she sends me a list...

Two fun new upper elementary fantasies by Vivian French are now available here in the US! UK author Vivian French has written many enjoyabl...

I have not read the first book about Audacity Jones, denizen of Miss Maisie's School For Wayward Girls ( Audacity Jones to the Rescue ...

Scarlett: A Star on the Run , by Susan Schade and Jon Buller (Papercutz, November 2015), is a graphic novel/text story hybrid of great cha...

Yay!  I have written a review, despite writing it in the same living room as two adolescent boys stressed about school work and breathing ...

The Forbidden Library , by Django Wexler (Penguin, April 2014, middle grade) -- a review in three acts. Act 1 :  In which we meet Alice,...

The First Round of the Cybils is done--I handed in the blurbs for Elementary and Middle Grade Speculative Fiction today, and I do hope you a...

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest , written by Charles de Lint, and illustrated by Charles Vess (Little Brown, March, 2013), was not quite wha...

Generally cats in children's fantasy are the good guys--magical friends and helpers. Sometimes, however, even cats can go bad...here ar...

The Ghost of Opalina , or Nine Lives, by Peggy Bacon (1967), is an utterly charming cat ghost fantasy story. It starts in my most favorite...

There are hundreds of YA books that tell of the Girl and the Fey/Angel/Demon/Vampire/Whatever Dude who fall in love. They are written for ...

A while back I made a list of fantasy cat books for kids, and an anonymous commenter enthusiastically recommended one I'd never heard of...

A Well-Timed Enchantment , by Vivian Vande Velde (1990, middle grade--that's the original cover shown at left). Deanna is not happy to...

We are, if all goes well, getting a kitten tomorrow! (Hopefully one that actually will catch mice. I have caught more mice with my own tw...

Cat Girl's Day Off , by Kimberly Pauley (Tu Books, April 2012, 336 pages, middle grade/YA) Natalie Ng suffers from invisible middle-ch...

White Cat , by Holly Black (Simon and Schuster, 2010), is pretty close to my ideal of what a YA fantasy thriller should be. Mystery! Mayhem!...