Zel

Zel

(This review first appeared in May 2003) Rating:  Zel, by Donna Jo Napoli. Puffin Books (1996), 234 pages. This young adult retelling of the classic fairy tale Rapunzel follows the familiar storyline—a witch, a tower, a rope of hair, impassioned jealousy, a...
Coraline

Coraline

Rating:  Coraline, by Neil Gaiman.  Harper Trophy (2003), 162 pages. Gaiman, in his young adult novel Coraline, has created one of the most frightening plots in all of children’s literature.  There are many scary things that happen in this story, but...
The Book of Lost Things

The Book of Lost Things

(This review first appeared in April 2008) Rating:  The Book of Lost Things, by John Connelly.  Washington Square Press (2007), 480 pages. This book is actually alive. It is a book in which books talk (and shout, and throw themselves about), and the stories...