Summer Book Blurbs

So recently I have been modifying my Rob Recommends reading list and now that summer is upon us again it is time to share the short descriptions I use when talking about the books, modified a little bit, for I tend to talk non stop. 

Young Reader Books: ages 9-14 *graphic novels

Amulet, by Kibuishi *

Two kids and their mom move into their great uncle’s house after a family tragedy. The mansion holds many secrets, one of which is a magical amulet, the other main one being a passage into another world. Emily and Navin must uncover the secrets of this other world as well as the strange amulet that seems to have a voice of its own.

Artemis Fowl, by Colfer

Young Artemis seeks to steal money from the fairy folk to strengthen his families weakening power after his father’s disappearance and his mothers declining health. Complications arise when the fairies decide to take Artemis out of the picture.

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Chokshi

Young Aru Shah and her mom run a small museum on the history of India and have many artifacts on display, one of which is a lamp that should never be lit. Once lit the lamp lets loose a bound demon that seeks to end the world and Aru Shah and her new friend must stop him.

Athena the Brain, by Holub

A retelling of Greek mythology, young Athena must attend school with fellow mythological characters. Each book focuses on different goddesses.

Bone, by Smith*

Fone Bone and his cousins are kicked out of their home land for embezzling and end up in a magical valley full of magical monsters, dragons, and talking animals finding a young girl and her grandmother with a secret past.

Charlie Bone, by Nimmo

Charlie and his family all have magical powers. Charlie can look into portraits and see what was happening when it was made. He must attend a magical academy where a few of the teachers are plotting against the kids.

Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder, by Nesbo

Two young kids, Nilly and Lisa, meet the strange Doctor Proctor, who makes strange inventions. One of which is a powder that lets kids fart as much as they want but there never is a smell. He makes a super strong batch and the kids use it to solve mysteries.

Dragons Tooth, Wilson

Kids find out their family belongs to a society of adventurers with ties across the world. They must face off against mythical characters from folk tales to the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Emerald Atlas, by Stephens

Three orphaned children are taken to a strange mansion in the mountains and find a book known as the Emerald Atlas. The book allows them to travel back in time where they must find out why there are no children in the town they were taken to. Part Narnia, part Series of Unfortunate Events.

Fablehaven, by Mull

Kendra and Seth go to stay with their grandparents at their wilderness estate and find out it is a wildlife preserve for magical monsters. After an accident they must face off against terrible monsters and solve mysteries at the different preserves across the world.

Fairy Tale Detectives, by Buckley

Daphne and Sabrina are orphaned when their parents go missing and picked up by someone claiming to be their grandmother. She takes them to a small town called Fairyport landing where the townsfolk are all fairy tale characters, Snow White is a teacher, Prince charming is the mayor, and Sleeping Beauty owns the coffee shop. The kids are descended from the Brothers Grimm and must solve mysteries.

Goblin Secrets, by Alexander

A young boy is searching for his missing brother while working with a strange witch. The boy runs into a group of goblins that work outside the law, preforming illegally in a town with no music or acting. With their help he tries to find his missing brother.

Golden Compass, by Pullman

Lyra if gifted the Olithiometer, a divining device that only a select few can read. She looks into the missing children and finds out many terrifying things about her world and others. I was sold at the phrase Panserbjorn, the species of polar bear gifted with speech and wear armor made of sky metals. 

Graveyard Book, by Gaiman:

Nobody Owens is raised by ghosts in a graveyard. Awesome and creepy, this book is one of my all time favorites.

Gregor the Overlander, by Collins

Young boy Gregor and his sister Boots get pulled into the Underland, the world beneath the streets. They find out there are a grouping of prophecies reguarding surface dwellers solving their problems and Gregor fits the bill.

Harry Potter, by Rowling

Harry goes to wizarding school, chaos ensues.

Hollow Earth, by Barrowman

Twin siblings have the ability to draw creatures to life, and using this ability they must keep a book of monsters away from terrible people.

House of Secrets, by Columbus

A family moves into a curiously cheap house that belonged to a strange author. During an incident the family get trapped inside the author’s books and must work together to find their way home.

How to Train Your Dragons, by Cowell

Young Viking Hiccup and his tribe use dragons like hunting hounds and must deal with rival tribes, dangerous foreign dragons, and a rude dragon with an overabundance of sass. Hiccup can also talk to dragons in the books and Toothless is a small green dragon the size of a cat.

Lightning Thief, by Riordan

Young Percy finds out he is related to the Greek gods and must retrieve Zeus’s master bolt or the gods will go to war with each other. Great blending of modern mythology.

Loki’s Wolves, by Armstrong

Children find out they are part of the Nordic mythology and reenact parts of the myths in their lives. The kids now seek weapons of the gods to stop the end of times.

Magyk, by Sage

A magical family with seven sons adopt a young girl the night their youngest is born and declared dead by the midwife, the same night the royal family is mysteriously killed. When a boy with only a number for a name and the girl who cant use magic meet they will have to work together to save the kingdom.

Maze of Bones, by Riordan

Book 1 of the 39 Clues series, Amy and Dan find out their family tree extends across the world and almost every influential person in history had ties with their ancestors. With this newfound information they must hunt down the 39 Clues to solve a problem that has been in the family for over four hundred years.

Middle School by Patterson

Rafe finds the rules in his new school to be ridiculous, he vows to break every rule in the student handbook.

Narnia, by Lewis

The Pensive family end up in a magical world populated by talking animals, monsters, and a witch.

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy, by Foxlee

Ophelia finds a strange boy trapped within the museum where her father is fixing swords for an exhibit. Strange monsters lurk in the shadows and a quest must be undertaken to save her father and her friends.

Peculiar, by Bachmann

After a war between humans and fairies, peace has ruled the streets until half human half fairy children, or peculiars are found hollowed out and dead, covered in runes in the river. After his sister goes missing Bartholomew and a grizzled detective must work together to find her.

Pendragon, by MacHale

Bobby Pendragon finds out his uncle can jump through time and space and together end up on another world in time to help either save or destroy it.

Red Pyramid, by Riordan

Sadie and Carter find out the Egyptian gods have been trapped within the rosetta stone, and after they have been freed their world changes. The divine beings can lend their power to magicians to use their magical powers for their own goals, and Carter and Sadie must come to term with their new powers.

Redwall, by Jacques

In a war between rats and mice young Matthias must put aside his clumsy ways to become a warrior and save his people from the rats and their allies.

Ruins of Gorlan, by Flanagan

Will wants to be a knight, but he is small and wiry, no way he could wear eighty pounds of armor while riding a horse. He does have all the skills necessary to be a ranger, he moves unseen in shadows and he can climb towers with barely any handholds. With his newfound calling he must find a way to safe his kingdom from an old evil.

Scepter of the Ancients, by Landy

Stephanie meets a strange gentleman at her uncle’s funeral, a walking talking fire throwing skeleton that moonlights as a detective. His name is Skullduggery Pleasant, and he is a magical detective trying to figure out who killed his friend and enlists Stephanie to solve the case.

Search for WondLa, by DiTerlizzi

Eva Nine lives in a strange fall out shelter with a robot helper and has not been outside. She longs to travel the world and soon finds more than she had expected. Pursued by strange monsters and a bounty hunter, Eva Nine must rely on her wits to survive her new world.

Seven Wonders, by Lerangis:

Children find their life-threatening illnesses are due to their ancient bloodline. They must work together to find all seven artifacts to save each other, starting the search in Greece. 

Sherlock Cottages by Brinnington

A retelling of Sherlock Holmes filled with fantastic puns.

Sidekicks, by Santat *

With his sidekick retired, a superhero holds auditions for a new helper while villains watch on, waiting for their time to strike.

Spiderwick Chronicles, By DiTerlizzi and Black Jared, Simon, and Mallory travel with their mom to their great uncles house to find it teeming with magical monsters. they find they have to keep the field guide, a book of monster secrets, out of the hands of an ogre, or he might destroy all the other monsters.

Sword of Summer, by Riordan

Magnus Chase has a rough time of things. after living homeless on the streets of New York, Magnus has difficulties with a fire giant and ends up dead. Now in the afterlife of the Viking heroes Valhalla, he must undergo training for the end of times while being assigned missions in the world of the living.

Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer, by Grisham Theodore wants to follow in the footsteps of both of his parents, he wants to be a lawyer. Even for his young age he has amazing knowledge of the inner workings of the legal system and attempts to help his friends with their problems. When one of his friends tells him that his brother witnessed a crime, they are afraid to go to the police, the brother was working illegally. Theodore will have to figure out how to get the evidence to the right people.

Thrones and Bones, by Anders

Karn has no Viking skills, but is the best Thrones and Bones player and has the mind of a master strategist. Thianna is half frost giant, half human and to her people, undersized and in the way. Karn and Thianna will have to work together to save their peoples from an ancient evil Karn may have unleashed.

Tunnels, by Gordon

Will Burrows and his father love digging holes, but when his father goes missing Will finds an underground world full of humans that seek to destroy the surface world.

World Without Heroes, by Mull

Jason finds himself in a strange magical world after falling into a hippo. Rachel just happened to follow the right butterfly, and with Jason’s help they must discover a secret phrase split into many parts and hidden across the known world to defeat the invincible tyrant that has crushed all resistance in the world.