Amazon has some great Kindle Deals this week on Young Adult Fiction! It's a great time to stock up of your library to revisit classics and explore new worlds!
I admit I haven't finished Dumplin' yet, but I loved the Netflix movie and bought this as soon as it was on sale. I'm excited to read the story of Willowdean, self-proclaimed fat girl who enters the local beauty pageant with a band of misfits to gain the attention of her pageant-obsessed mother and finds a better, more confident version of herself. $2 this week on Kindle; the sequel Puddin' is not on sale.
Books two and three in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer are on sale! Cinder begins the series of interconnected retold fairy tales in the story of a cyborg girl who starts a revolution in the quest to save her princely friend. Scarlet continues the tale as Scarlet befriends the street-fighter Wolf on a quest to find out what happened to her Grandmother. In book three, heroine Cress is trapped on a satellite, working for the evil queen while trying to help the fugitives Cinder and Scarlet. She finally gets free from the evil queen, but at what cost to herself and others?
One of my favorite fairy tale retellings! Ever since I read Mercer Mayer's East of the Sun, West of the Moon, I've been obsessed with tales of the beautiful maiden who comes to love her captor, but makes a mistake, tapping her love in another's grasp. It is a long journey of courage and redemption that will finally bring her face-to-face with her love again in the hopes that she can save him. You may also associate this tale with the Greek myth Cupid and Psyche.
If you're a fan of the movie, or have never seen the classic, quotable movie, you'll want to read this book. It has everything from adventure and romance to deadly forest creatures and a terrible menagerie. Buttercup has loved and lost, and so accepts the marriage proposal of the prince with little expectations. Of course, the prince is a scumbag who only wants to use her death to start a war with the neighboring country. Luckily for her, true love Westley returns to save her, but the adventure is just beginning. Don't expect a copy of the movie because the book was written first and contains much more of everything you enjoy.
A classic fantasy (1968) starting The Wizard of Earthsea series. I still remember reading this in seventh grade for a class assignment and being struck by the depth of the magical tale of the Ged, the boy training to become a wizard, who has to make some hard choices as a young mage, but learns to better himself against his greatest enemy--himself.
Another favorite read from my childhood is Johnny Tremain, a story of the American Revolution. Johnny is a normal boy serving as an apprentice to a silversmith until an accident deforms his hand, fusing some of his fingers together. With his career path over, he finds other work as a horse-boy for the Boston Observer, a patriotic paper that puts him in the center of revolutionary events and people. A great introduction to the Revolution for younger readers and still a fun read as an adult. If you've seen the movie, don't hold it against the book.
Jennifer Donnelly's moving story of sixteen-year-old Maddie who leaves her small village for life in the city. But when a guest at the hotel asks her to burn some letters and then turns up dead herself, Maddie doesn't know what to think or who to trust.
Tamora Pierce is one of my favorite YA fantasy authors and I particularly love this duet about Aly, daughter of George (retired king of thieves) and Alanna (the Lioness and King's Champion). Aly hasn't found her place in her family yet, always rebelling and pushing boundaries. When she sets sail around the coast on a short journey, her ship is attacked by pirates and she is taken captive and sold into slavery in a neighboring kingdom. She must use all of her wits to serve her household because political intrigue abounds and her particular set of skills will serve her well.
Melanie Dickerson is known for her collection of retold fairy tales with Christian themes. She has a few writing quirks that annoy me after a while, but she's a talented author and I normally enjoy her stories regardless. Evangeline, beautiful of voice, flees her kingdom to protect herself against a horrible marriage, joining a band of servants as a mute serving girl. She may fall in love with the band's leader, but she will eventually have to choose between saving him or saving her kingdom. I haven't read this far into the series, but it's a great price on a sweet fairy tale.
Thanks to the movie musical Brigadoon I am passingly familiar with the fantastical legend and this book caught my eye in the deals section. This is the first book of a four-part series about two friends who visit Scotland and fatefully end up in the mystical land of Doon. Life seems like a fairy tale for a while, but there are dark forces at work and their likelihood of making it home safely begins to look like the dream.
Another promising title I hope to read soon. While still historical fiction, it is based on events and circumstances in post-civil war Spain, 1957. A young photographer moves to Madrid in order to find his family and meets Ana, whose family struggles help him to clearly see the dark side of Franco's rule. The city may appear to be a prosperous paradise, but he must delve deeper to find the true images.
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