THE QUEEN OF NOTHING is the conclusion to the intensely satisfying Folk of the Air trilogy by Holly Black. Jude Duarte has been exiled from Faery to the mortal world, but she sneaks back in to impersonate her twin sister, Taryn—and, while she’s at it, reclaim her own rightful place as High Queen. She gets kidnapped by her stepfather who mistakes her for Taryn, as he plots to dethrone Cardan—and therefore Jude herself! Beginning with THE CRUEL PRINCE, followed by THE WICKED KING, finishing with THE QUEEN OF NOTHING, these novels masterfully combine court intrigue, romantic drama, and the magic of a most dangerous Faerieland. (YA)
THE DARKEST PART OF THE FOREST, also by Holly Black, and also set in the same Faerieland as the Folk of the Air series, is a standalone story about Hazel Evans and her brother Ben, and the Faerie prince who is encased in a glass coffin in the forest near their home. And it’s about how Hazel becomes a warrior, and how Ben tries to fight the magic of his music, and how they both try to save their hometown from an invasion of the Folk. And it’s about the monster that lives in the heart of the forest. It’s contemporary dark fantasy with plenty of traditional fairy tale elements and romance. Most excellent! (YA)
LOOK BOTH WAYS: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks, by Jason Reynolds, is a collection of ten stories, woven together to make up a larger story of community. Once the dismissal bell rings at Latimer Middle School, students burst forth into the rest of their lives, filled with boogers and divorce, stolen change and cancer and candy, skateboarding and bullies and plenty more that’s packed into these pages. The always-creative Reynolds has given us another winner. (MG)
Picture Books:
THE SHORTEST DAY, by Susan Cooper, began as a work for the theater--"a joyful celebration of the winter solstice, in music, dance, and words”—and now Carson Ellis’s gouache illustrations bring the poem new life as a book. When the old year dies, people gather "singing, dancing,/ to drive the dark away.” Heavily influenced by northern European beliefs, it’s a mythic, uplifting piece that shows how ancient winter solstice rituals are still alive in many modern holiday traditions.
JUST IN CASE YOU WANT TO FLY, by Julie Fogliano and Christian Robinson, is a delightfully imaginative collaboration. “…here’s some wind/and here’s the sky/here’s a feather/here’s up high…” It begs to be read aloud and savored. The book is well made, too—take the dust cover off for a complementary cover, and savor the whole of it as a piece of picture book art at its best.
POKKO AND THE DRUM, by Matthew Forsythe, is also beautifully made, with thick, creamy pages and gorgeously colored illustrations. The story, too, is a winner—when Poko’s parents give her a drum, they declare it was "a big mistake.” But Poko takes her drum into the forest, where she assembles a diverse crowd of animals who also play instruments. (She only has to threaten the wolf once not to eat the other band members.) It’s droll and fun and truly noteworthy.
--Lynn
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