My Favorite Books, Part 3

Here are some of my favorite chapter books for kids from 2013 . . .

Fyre by Angie Sage
Book 7 of the Septimus Heap series
Septimus must battle the remnants of the Dark Domaine, which will remain until the power of the evil Two-Faced Ring is destroyed forever. To accomplish that, the ancient Alchemie Fyre must be relit -- a task that sends Septimus to the very origins of Magyk and Physik, testing both his skills, and his loyalties to ExtraOrdinary Wizard, Marcia Overstrand, and Alchemist Marcellus Pye.

Prince Puggly of Spud by Robert Paul Weston
When Prince Puggly attends a ball in the Kingdom of Spiff, he is laughed at by all the Spiffs, except for the Princess of Spiff who helps him teach her fellow Spiffian citizens a lesson.

The 13-Story Treehouse by Andy Griffiths
Follows the efforts of Andy and Terry to meet a latest book deadline despite numerous distractions in their sophisticated tree house home, including flying cats, giant bananas, and sea monsters pretending to be mermaids.

The Boy on the Porch by Sharon Creech
Discovering a speech-disabled boy asleep on their porch, young couple John and Marta forge a loving bond with the child and come to think of him as their own while wondering about his mysterious past and enjoying the world through his eyes.

My Favorite Books, Part 2

Here are some of my favorite books for teens from 2013 . . .

Nameless: A Tale of Beauty and Madness by Lili St. Crow
Raised in luxury as the pampered, adopted heiress of Enrico Vultusino, godfather of the Seven -- the powerful Families that rule magic-ridden New Haven -- Camille knows that she is not really Family. Unlike them, she is a mortal with a past that lies buried in trauma. Then she meets the mysterious Tor and begins to uncover the secrets of her birth.

This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith
Perfect strangers Graham Larkin and Ellie O'Neill meet online when Graham accidentally sends Ellie an e-mail about his pet pig, Wilbur. The two 17-year-olds strike up an e-mail relationship from opposite sides of the country and don't even know each other's first names. What's more, Ellie doesn't know Graham is a famous actor, and Graham doesn't know about the big secret in Ellie's family tree. When the relationship goes from online to in-person, they find out whether their relationship can be the real thing.

Being Henry David by Cal Armistead
Seventeen-year-old 'Hank,' who can't remember his identity, finds himself in Penn Station with a copy of Thoreau's Walden as his only possession and must figure out where he's from and why he ran away.

Boy Nobody by Allen Zadoff
Sixteen-year-old Boy Nobody, an assassin controlled by a shadowy government organization, The Program, considers sabotaging his latest mission because his target reminds him of the normal life he craves.