10 Captivating Fantasy Books For Young Readers

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Readers of all ages love fantasy, but kids are especially likely to get hooked on this fantastic genre, where imagination runs wild, magic is real, and the world is inhabited by strange and beautiful creatures. The ten captivating books listed here allow young readers to escape to new worlds, where they can experience amazing adventures. https://wiki.ezvid.com/m/10-captivating-fantasy-books-for-young-readers-J7iRlnKs8VQYg

10 Captivating Fantasy Books For Young Readers

TitleAuthor
1.Charis: Journey to Pandora’s JarNicole Y. Walters
2.Sir Princess PetraDiane Mae Robinson
3.The Hob and the DeermanPat Walsh
4.Fog IslandTomi Ungerer
5.There May Be a CastlePiers Torday
6.Mabel Gray and the Wizard Who Swallowed the SunClayton Smith
7.DreamwoodHeather Mackey
8.The Secret Life of Daisy FitzjohnTania Unsworth
9.Bad MagicPseudonymous Bosch
10.The Mad Wolf’s DaughterDiane Magras

Fun Activities For Young Fantasy Fans

How to Encourage Kids to Read

A great way to start is to get a bookshelf for your child’s room. If they have access to their own collection of books, it’ll be easy for them to read at their own pace. And if they’re looking at the shelf everyday, reading will always be on their mind. It’s also important to give your kids a comfortable place to sit. This can be anything from a rocking chair to a couch to a dedicated reading nook. If they have a space that’s just for them, it makes reading time all the more special. As they grow, your young ones will start to read more challenging books with words they don’t know. Encourage them to look up unfamiliar terms in the dictionary so they can expand their vocabulary. Finally, if you’re having trouble getting your kid interested in books in the first place, try bridging the gap between visual media and literature with graphic novels.

What is Fantasy?

In Depth

No genre can capture the imagination quite like fantasy, where readers are invited to envision impossible worlds, daring heroes, and strange creatures living in the land of myth and legend. There’s a reason why so many speculative stories spellbind young readers with their tales of misfits, outcasts, and kids with untapped stores of tremendous bravery.

For young readers on the lookout for adventure, here, in no particular order, are some stunningly imaginative books that will bring out the magic in everyday life.

In the #1 spot is “Charis: Journey to Pandora’s Jar” by Nicole Y. Walters. Charis has been waiting all her life for a chance to show her stuff. Now, it’s up to the hyper-imaginative thirteen-year-old to save the world by visiting Pandora’s Jar, the place where demons and kind spirits dwell. The catch? She’s only got five days to release the spirit of Hope from the jar before mankind is officially doomed forever. With the help of a few trusty deities and her best friend Gabe, Charis has to summon up all her courage to set things right.

She’s only got five days to release the spirit of Hope from the jar before mankind is officially doomed forever.

At #2, we have Diane Mae Robinson’s “Sir Princess Petra.” Even Princesses get bored of being pampered sometimes. In this series, nine-year-old Petra decides that she wants to become a knight. But even though she’s got courage and cunning to spare, knighthood comes with its own set of pressures and obstacles, like having to silence a dragon and visit the spooky Forest of Doom. If she can overcome a few kooky quests, she’ll find her true place in the kingdom.

At #3 is “The Hob and the Deerman” by Pat Walsh. Crowfield Abbey is a peculiar place. It’s a portal, of sorts, between the world we know and the Otherworld, a place where demons, boggarts, and all kinds of creatures freely roam. When Walter, a “hob” spirit, returns to find everything in disarray, he knows he needs to take action to help put all the troubled spirits in the abbey to rest. But it will take a lot of help, and a lot of courage, to cross paths with the Deerman of the forest and live to tell the tale.

At #4 is Tomi Ungerer’s “Fog Island.” No one ever returns from Fog Island. It’s a place shrouded in mystery, a place that Finn and Cara have been warned against visiting. But when the two siblings disobey their father and head for the far-off island, they’re in for more than they bargained for. Is the ancient place just a pile of ruins? Or is there a deeper mystery lurking, something that only the mercurial Fog Man can unlock?

But when the two siblings disobey their father and head for the far-off island, they’re in for more than they bargained for.

For #5 we have “There May Be a Castle” by Piers Torday. Eleven-year-old Mouse knows he shouldn’t have survived the car crash when he was thrown from the vehicle during a Christmas Eve drive to his grandparents’ house. He woke totally fine, but in a world he barely recognized. With the help of a magical sheep and a sardonic talking horse, he’ll need to find his way to the castle if he wants to regain entry to his own life. That is, if this place everyone speaks of is more than the stuff of legend.

Coming in at #6 is Clayton Smith’s “Mabel Gray and the Wizard Who Swallowed the Sun.” The people of Brightsbane have had a rough time ever since the eternal night started. After a wizard took away the daytime from the land, he decided he needed to come back to steal a book of magic spells that holds the key to the township’s total destruction. Luckily, a spirited orphan named Mabel is going to set things right.

If she can summon up the courage to deal with a series of fantastical creatures and hair-raising quests, she might find a way to break her hometown’s terrible curse forever.

If she can summon up the courage to deal with a series of fantastical creatures and hair-raising quests, she might find a way to break her hometown’s terrible curse forever.

At #7 is Heather Mackey’s “Dreamwood.” Runaway Lucy has a fair amount of experience with supernatural forces. Her father is an expert on the subject, and she’s on a quest to find him and bring him back so she doesn’t have to go to that dreadful boarding school anymore. The problem is, her father isn’t where she thought he’d be. Could it be that the enchanted forest of Dreamwood proved too powerful a match for him? There’s only one way to find out: by heading into the heart of the living grove, no matter the consequences.

Coming in at #8 is “The Secret Life of Daisy Fitzjohn” by Tania Unsworth. Some might call Daisy’s life unusual: her best friends are a talking rat and a ghost, and she lives in an old estate that’s slowly falling apart. When her mother leaves on a strange expedition and doesn’t return, Daisy knows she can’t hide within the walls of Brightwood Hall any longer. She’ll have to do what it takes to save her home and keep her family together, with only the help of her eclectic sidekicks to guide her.

At #9 we find Pseudonymous Bosch’s “Bad Magic.” Clay knows there’s no such thing as magic. He’s seen a million sleight-of-hand shows and he knows they’re just tricks. That said, there are a few things happening at Earth Ranch that he can’t explain. Clay was supposed to be sent to the rehabilitation camp to be “scared straight.” But there’s more at work here than a few obstacle courses and hikes. For one thing, he’s having conversations with llamas.

For one thing, he’s having conversations with llamas.

For another, he may or may not have just seen a ghost. If there’s magic on Earth Ranch, Clay needs to make sure it’s not the deadly kind. If he can make it off the volcanic island without causing an explosion, he’ll count himself lucky.

Finally, at #10, is “The Mad Wolf’s Daughter” by Diane Magras. When Drest’s family of male warriors is taken captive, she finds herself in a unique position. All her life, her father and brothers took care of her. Now, she’s got to free her kin with the help of a witch, a soft-spoken knight, and her own fierce courage. With a mysterious bandit out to get her and her sense of independence growing by the day, Drest will find herself taking chances, slaying personal demons, and doing things she never dreamed herself capable of.

https://wiki.ezvid.com/m/10-chttps://wiki.ezvid.com/m/10-captivating-fantasy-books-for-young-readers-J7iRlnKs8VQYgaptivating-fantasy-books-for-young-readers-J7iRlnKs8VQYg

Literary Classics Gold-Winning Books

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Literary Classics

Review:

Most people who enjoy reading do so because of their love for stories, real or imagined.  It is indeed rare to find a person who loves reading who also delights in breaking sentences down into their grammatical parts.  Fortunately for young knights and princesses, author Diane Mae Robinson has addressed the subject of grammar in a way that will help kids (and even adults) enjoy the topic.  Imagine studying syntax in the context of fire-breathing dragons, ogres and the like.  In Robinson’s The Dragon Grammar Book readers are introduced to terminology before diving into meatier topics such as dangling prepositions in this enchanting book which ends with dragon grammar skill tests to help youngsters assess what they’ve learned.  Recommended for home and school libraries, The Dragon Grammar Book has earned the Literary Classics Seal of Approval.
LITERARY CLASSICS Book Awards & Reviews International Book Awards • Top Honors Youth Book Awards • Seal of Approval https://clcreviews.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-dragon-grammar-book-earns-literary.html

The Dragon Grammar Book – Grammar for Kids, Dragons, and the Whole Kingdom wins two top gold awards, Gold medal in Chapter Books/Middles Grades and Lumen Award for Literary Excellence: http://www.clcawards.org/2018_Award_Winning_Books.html

Literary Classics Top Honors Gold Book Awards honoring excellence in literature for children and young adults
Literary Classics Lumen Book Awards honoring excellence in literature for children and young adults

Kindle, Paperback, and Hardcover: https://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Grammar-Book-Dragons-Kingdom-ebook/dp/B078G1VKP2

Book Synopsis:

2018 Four-Time Gold Medal Winning Book in Children’s Education.
Finally! An easy-to-understand English grammar book with fun grammar lessons for middle grades and up. An excellent education reference for classroom and homeschool grammar lessons.

The Dragon Grammar Book is the perfect grammar study guide to help readers learn the rules of grammar and improve language art skills with ease and enjoyment.  From multi-award-winning children’s fantasy author, Diane Mae Robinson, The Dragon Grammar Book provides a fun and engaging approach to learning English grammar through easy-to-follow lessons, humorous example sentences, and chapter quizzes to conquer all those tricky grammar rules.

  • Easy-To-Understand Lessons organized to gradually build on the basic grammar rules toward an intermediate level.
  • Engaging Examples Sentences explain each grammar rule through a humorous and creative writing style.
  • An Expansive Resource of grammar terminology, confusing words, punctuation rules, types of sentences and proper structure, parts of speech, verb agreement, and more.
  • Quizzes with Answer Keys reinforce each lesson before proceeding to the next lesson.

 Featuring the zany fantasy characters in the author’s international-award-winning The Pen Pieyu Adventures series, The Dragon Grammar Book is sure to be enjoyed by kids, teens, young adults, and the whole kingdom.

“Oriented toward pragmatic, real-world usage, The Dragon Grammar Book is a great resource for kids, their teachers, and anyone else who’d like to know more about language and how to use it. Most highly recommended.”–Jack Magnus for Readers’ Favorite.
2018 Book Excellence Awards, 1st Place Winner, Education & Academics. 2018 Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards, Gold Winner, Children-Education. 2018 Literary Classics International Book Awards, Gold Winner, Educational Books. 2018 Lumen Award for Literary Excellence.

Read Reviews: https://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Grammar-Book-Dragons-Kingdom-ebook/dp/B078G1VKP

View other award-winning dragon books for kids by author Diane Mae Robinson: https:www.dragonsbook.com

Mayo & Filippo Show Aloha – Book Review

  • alinkas-bookMaya & Filippo Show Aloha

    Author: Alinka Rutkowska                                          Illustrator: Konrad Checinsk

  • Print Length: 37 pages
  • Publisher: Capraro Press (March 7, 2015)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.Language: English
  • ASIN: B00U2JD7RM

About the book:

Have you ever been to Hawaii? Let Maya & Filippo show you around! Learn important facts about the islands’ geography and history. Discover the culture of Hawaii with its lei, ukeleles and hula dance. But there’s more. Learn how to live the spirit of Aloha with Maya & Filippo. 

If you enjoy free kids’ books for kindle ages 4-8, this will be a wonderful introduction to Maya & Filippo’s world of cruise travel.

What I thought: 

This is a great book to introduce kids to the history and geography of Hawaii through interesting facts about culture, beliefs, and the use of the island’s local words. Maya & Filippo have an Aloha adventure that is fun  and easy to read. The author does a fine job with capturing the Aloha spirit in this book. Kids are sure to love this book as well as all the  Maya & Filippo’s adventures books.


I like that the  book also has a short quiz at the end, to test reading/listening skills, along with some facts about Hawaii. The book also has colorful illustrations that enhance the text.

About the author                                                                                    

Alinka Rutkowska is a multi-award-winning and #1 international best-selling author and coach.

She’s been featured on Fox Business Network, Examiner, She Knows, She Writes, Blog Talk Radio, The Writer’s Life and many more.


Author’s website: http://alinkarutkowska.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25113313-maya-filippo-show-aloha?from_search=true&search_version=service

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Maya-Filippo-Show-Aloha-Books-ebook/dp/B00U2JD7RM/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1433606168&sr=1-3&keywords=alinka+rutkowska

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/maya-filippo-show-aloha-alinka-rutkowska/1121368819?ean=9781502813251

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Review by Diane Mae Robinson, multi-award winning children’s fantasy author. Sign up for Diane’s newsletter and receive your free 55-page pdf Sir Princess Petra coloring book: https://dragonsbook.com/subscribe/

Or just visit Diane’s website for some secret character information on the Kid’s Page, to get access to the free teacher’s lesson plan for grade 4 on the Teacher/Librarian Page, or to learn more about her multi-award winning dragon books for children: http://www.dragonsbook.com

How To Count Rhythm And Meter In Poetry

How to Count Rhythm and Meter in Poetry
by Deborah Owen, CEO
Creative Writing Institute

 

poetry-post-by-deb-owen-images Two things every poet needs to know are the rise and fall of meter and the rhythm that carries from one line to the next.

Meter is timing the words in the same order on each line. Rhythm is making the timing fall on the right beat at the right time. That can be a big trick. Example:I saw a man who came from Mars and wore a pretty suit
Green was it, and something strange, he wore just one pink boot
Here is how you can check the syllables in poetry. Place the back of your hand under your chin and read your poem aloud, clearly, distinctly and slowly. You will notice that your chin naturally falls with each syllable.

In the first sentence, the first accent falls on the word “saw” – not on the word “I.” In the second line, the rhythm is wrong because the accent falls on the first syllable, which is “Green.” Can you see that? Look at it again. You could force the rhythm to work, but the following would be better:

I saw a man who came from Mars and wore a pretty suit
The green did shine, but something strange, he wore just one pink boot

Do you see how the accent now falls on the second word in both sentences? That’s rhythm! Many poets think they have metered their poetry when they have actually thrown it off, (but poets have literary license to arrange the language to suit their needs).

If you wanted to change the rhythm from one verse to the next, you could do that. In the first verse, every accent could fall on the first word. In the second verse, it could fall on every second word. Just group them and you will be fine.

Now reread those two lines of poetry and count the rise and fall of the accents. You should count seven on each line. Got it? Yeah!

Deborah Owen is the CEO of Creative Writing Institute  where I am also a writing tutor for the Writing For Children Course http://cwinst.com/classes_view.php?classid=4
 
 
CWI, a Nonprofit Charitythat Offers Free Courses to Cancer Patients
 
Creative Writing Institute provides professionally written creative writing courses to the general public at great prices. At CWI, you will receive a private tutor at no extra cost. He/she will provide personal feedback as often as you want it. At CWI, we go the extra mile that others only talk about!
If you are a cancer survivor and wish to apply for a scholarship, seehttp://www.cwinst.com/faq.php.
Connect with Deborah Owen, CEO
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coloring-book-png
Sign up for your free 55-page pdf coloring book and enter my coloring contest.  To learn more about my multi-award winning dragon books for children visit www.dragonsbook.com

Coloring Contest With Cool Prizes, All Ages!

coloring-book-pngThe Sir Princess Petra Coloring Contest is on! Join the multi-award winning series coloring contest for all ages.

The contest will begin Nov. 8, 16 and finishes Mar. 8, 2017

There are 3 categories in the contest:

Category #1: kids to age 9

Category # 2: ages 10 – 16

Category # 3: ages 17 and over

 

PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW THE CONTEST GUIDELINES AT THE END OF THIS POST.

GET YOUR COLORING BOOK HERE: https://dragonsbook.com/subscribe/

PRIZE FOR CATEGORY #1, KIDS TO AGE 9

Sir Princess Petra Notepad and Sir Princess Petra Hardcover Book

coloring-book-prize-1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Petra book one cover

 

PRIZE FOR CATEGORY # 2,  AGES 10 – 16

Sling bag with Snarls the dragon digital logo                                                                                            coloring-book-prize-2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRIZE FOR CATEGORY # 3, AGES 17 AND OVER.

Compu messenger bag with Snarls the dragon embroidered logo

coloring-book-prize-3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTEST GUIDELINES

  1. Contest participants can be from a school I have previously visited on an author visit, or they can sign up to The Dragon Newsletter.  If you are already signed up for my newsletter, you will receive the link for the pdf coloring pages again in the November newsletter. If you have not signed up for the newsletter, see # 2.
  2. Contest participants can enter by signing up to The Dragon Newsletter (an occasional newsletter about my new book releases, contests, and giveaways). Upon sign up, you will receive the 55-page pdf coloring book which are the pages for the contest. Sign-up form here: https://dragonsbook.com/subscribe/
  3. One entry from the pdf coloring book per person. 
  4. Entries can be emailed or mailed. Address details will be sent via The Dragon Newsletter in November, 2016.
  5. All entries must indicate: Name, Age, School I Visited, or Email Address you used to sign up to the newsletter with.
  6. Winning entries will be picked by independent judges. Have fun and good luck!                  Snarls feels so important since his picture is on the bags. To read more about my dragon books for children, visit: www.dragonsbook.com 

Sir Princess Petra Books–Dragon Books For Children

Re-post from 

Just in! 

The trailer for Book 2: Sir Princess Petra’s Talent.

If you haven’t gotten your copy of this adventure series about a unique knight, boldly going where girls rarely went in the daring time of knights and dragons, get it before they are all gone!  Dragons wait for no one!

talent-lighter-version

Sir Princess Petra’s Talent 

Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89kQ_ztMfAo

Author Diane Mae Robinson & Illustrator Samantha Kickingbird

Here is an excerpt, in case you really have not read this book yet: http://kid-lit-reviews.com/2013/10/06/review419-the-pen-pieyu-adventures-book-2-sir-princess-petras-talent-by-diane-mae-robinson/

Don’t know who Sir Princess Petra is? I’m aghast! Okay, take a look at this. Then take a look at, NO!, go read book 1: Sir Princess Petra. It is available everywhere good books for kids are sold.

sir-princess-petra

.Sir Princess Petra

.book trailer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-PmNBJL67A&feature=youtu.be

RELATED ARTICLES

To read more about these dragon books for children and adventure kids books: http://www.dragonsbook.com/ReviewIndex.html

How to write dragon books for children

DRAGONS . . .very interesting creatures, and always up to stuff.

Snarls the dragon in Sir Princess Petra

I write children’s chapter books in the fantasy/adventure genre. But most important about writing fantasy kids books is that I write dragon books for children. My first book in this series is entitled,  Sir Princess Petra – The Pen Pieyu Adventures

Snarls, the dragon, is a secondary character in this series. And he is quite the character.

Even though Snarls is an imaginary creature, he still possesses important traits that any human character would possess. And possessing important traits is what makes any character whole and round.

When I start making the character outlines for a book, that character’s attributes and flaws, as well as personal appearance, have to be consistent.

Making characters whole and round is the most important thing you can do for your characters, and it starts with a notebook. Each character has their own segment, and as I think about characteristics for that character I write them all down.

For instance: Is the character mostly serious or goofy? Are they generally a good or bad character?   What things do they stand up for? What do they look like? And what are their likes and dislikes?

The list goes on and on, but the more characteristics I write for each character, the more real those characters become. And all the characters in my books must be real to me or they will not be real to my readers.

It is also important to note that not every characteristic will come out in the story, but when the writer knows their characters inside and out, it is easy to choose the what, when, and why that characters does or says something in the story.

Snarls, the dragon in my books, is therefore treated as any character in the book–and he has to pull his weight as an intriguing character.

So in order to write dragon books, or any fiction kids books, the characters must be real to the writer first. And the sky’s the limit as the writer mulls over what kind of characteristics the players will have.

For more information about my characters, go to: http://www.dragonsbook.com/for-kids.html and scroll down for the kid’s coloring book to download, and for info about Book One characters.

 

Kid Lit Review

Reviewed by Kid Lit Reviews  http://kid-lit-reviews.com/

Sir Princess Petra The Pen Pieyu Adventures by Diane Mae Robinson

5 stars / 5 stars Princess Petra’s birthday request sends the court into a frenzy, but when she agrees to undertake a knight’s quest they can’t stop her. Armed with a cake knife and outfitted in the best royal pots and pans, Petra sets off to face a dragon and win her real armor before encountering a bog witch, and an army of the kingdom’s worst enemies. Will Petra’s kindness and acceptance prove to be more valuable than weapons and armor?

Petra is the Princess of Pen Pieyu. It is September ninth, Petra’s ninth birthday, more appropriately called her “royal birthday.” Her father, the King, tells Petra she can have “anything your heart desires.” So what does a little Princess choose? Diamonds? Jewels? Barbie’s Palace? A Royal Playground? Nope, Petra decides she wants to become a knight. The King tells her she cannot because not only is she a Princess, she is a . . . girl.

“Where is it written that a girl cannot be a knight?” Petra asks. They check the Royal Rulebook and no, nothing about a girl not being a knight. Ah, but to be a knight, Petra must prove she is brave by performing an act of bravery. She chooses to quiet the howling dragon. Petra suits up in her temporary, makeshift armor and heads out to the Forest of Doom to hush Snarls.

Sir Princess Petra is one of those stories that will appeal to most everyone. It is charmingly funny. Petra sets out to prove she has what it takes to be a royal knight and proves she can do nearly anything. Snarles, the howling dragon, is endearing and lovable. If stuffed, sitting on a toy store shelf, every kid would want him. The story is short enough to be read in one sitting, say at bedtime. There are many opportunities for humorous, wacky, high-pitched voices, making Sir Princess Petra fun to read aloud. The author’s imagination is appropriately childlike. Petra is a child every parent will love. I know a child would have sweet, funny dreams after hearing mom or dad read this at bedtime.

Girls and boys will love this story. Girls will be able to relate to Petra, the girl who wants to break conventional female boundaries and enter into a male dominated career. Petra can encourage girls to become anything they choose, even when conventional wisdom, or a Royal Rulebook disagrees. Boys will love Snarls, the howling dragon and all the other Forest of Doom characters.

The illustrations are pencils drawings with wonderful shading and highlights. Petra is a strong character, yet the artist renders her sweetly, catching the child’s emotions perfectly. Snarls, the nasty, horrifying, dangerous dragon Petra sets out to conquer, looks the part until Petra sways him with her charms, and then helps him escape a predicament no one could expect. It is just one plot twist, which will entertain and amuse the reader. I hope Ms. Robinson continues her Pen Pieyu adventures.

Read more about Diane’s multi-award winning dragon books for children series: www.dragonbooks.com


Sir Princess Petra
Author:  Diane Mae Robinson
Illustrator: Samantha Kickingbird
Publisher: Tate Publishing
Publication Date: January 17, 2012
Number of Pages:  68
ISBN: 978-1-6134-6264-5
by KidLitReviews in 5starsDebut AuthorLibrary Donated BooksMiddle Grade Tags: ,