By Piranha T.

Molly Ayer, an orphan who lives with a foster family in Spruce Harbor, Maine, doesn’t feel like she’s wanted. She feels out of place among the kids at school, and with her foster parents at home. When she steals a book from the library, she’s told to do twenty hours of community service for repentance, and is assigned to Vivian Daly, a rich ninety-year-old woman who wants help sorting out her attic.
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Molly expects it to be a tedious task, but when Vivian begins reminiscing about her childhood, Molly learns about interesting pieces of history. Vivian was an orphan too. She was sent away from New York on one of the trains which distributed city orphans to families in the countryside who wanted a child, or simply an extra pair of hands. It’s a piece of history Molly has never heard about before—one that has shaped Vivian’s life.
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Orphan Train Girl was an interesting book, teaching a piece of history I didn’t know much about. The story alternated from past to present—between Molly and a younger Vivian—and in doing so, Christina Baker Cline narrated the stories of two different orphans in two different situations who were both searching for acceptance. I would recommend Orphan Train Girl to readers ages nine and up.

By Piranha T.

Coriander Hobie lives a perfect life, with a loving father and a beautiful mother, a life she believes will never change. But then a pair of silver shoes slip her into another world, and although she stays there for a very short time, it changes her life forever. Only a few days later, her mother mysteriously dies, leaving Coriander and her father to navigate the political turmoil of seventeenth-century London. And then her father disappears too, leaving Coriander with her stepmother, who despises her.

Yet her stepmother isn’t the only person who Coriander learns to fear. For when she enters that other world again, she discovers someone else searching for her—someone who truly wants her dead.

I, Coriander was a beautifully written, engrossing read with a plot which just keeps getting better. Although set in a historical time frame, I, Coriander is fantasy, and I’d recommend it to fans of either genre; Coriander’s voice feels very authentic to the seventeenth century, but it still has the feel of a fantasy novel. It’s one of those books which pulls you in and weaves a spell of magic around you, written like a fairytale, but the plot and characters are much deeper than in more old-fashioned books. I would highly recommend I, Coriander to readers ages eleven and up.
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Note: The audiobook, read by Juliet Stevenson, is amazing—if you like to listen to audiobooks, I would recommend this one! I also listened to one of Sally Gardner’s other books, The Red Necklace, a historical fantasy for slightly older readers, which I would recommend if you love I, Coriander. ​

​By Piranha T.
 
Not many people remember how to see magic anymore. Many years ago, a hundred dragons appeared in Vienna, but now only forty remain. They’ve disappeared, but to where, no one knows.
 
Grisha is a dragon who no longer has a friend. Maggie, the daughter of a famous poet, has never truly had one. Their stories meet one night, and they form a fast friendship. But neither can ignore the mystery of the vanished dragons. Both want to somehow put it to right, but neither knows how.
 
Help comes in the most unlikely places. The Department of Extinct Exotics, which makes sure the dragons stay to the rules. A talking cat who both think is their enemy. But it’s Maggie and Grisha’s quest—and it is they who must brave the final price.
 
The Language of Spells is a beautiful, deep fantasy novel set in a real world which is easy to believe with sympathetic characters. The beginning was a bit slower and harder to get into, but once you do it’s an engrossing read. I think it would appeal to readers of Lisa Schroeder’s The Girl in the Tower. I’d highly recommend The Language of Spells to readers ages 8 and up.

By Piranha T.

Annabel Grey is a girl in England learning how to become a proper young lady. But when her mother does some traveling, Annabel is sent to live with two aunts, who own a magic shop. Soon enough, Annabel discovers that her family is not as ordinary as she has always assumed and that both her mother, her aunts, and herself have unusual magical powers. Before long, she learns that the evil Mr. Angel and his fiendish machine are raising an army of shadow creatures—and only she can stop them. Annabel is thrown into an urgent quest to find the Morever Wand, the only thing that can stop Mr. Angel from putting an end to all good magic—forever. With the help of a strange girl, an ancient map, a finicky broomstick, and her own magical powers, can she stop Mr. Angel in time?
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A Most Magical Girl was a very good book. There was excellent character development—for example, at the beginning, Annabel didn’t believe in magic—and it was quite exciting. However, my one criticism is that it ended with a cliffhanger – paving the way, I hope, to a sequel. I would highly recommend A Most Magical Girl to readers ages 11 and up.