10 GREAT SEMI-FICTIONAL BOOKS

1.)A tough choice, but I think I’ll go with the Artemis Fowl book series by Eoin Colfer (it’s pronounced like Owen). It talks about a young criminal mastermind who discovers a world of fairies. He kidnaps one of them and demands a tonne of gold in exchange for her life. However, fairies are armed, smart and dangerous.

The books are thrilling, funny and brilliant at the same time. I guess it’s for ages 10-18 (you might disagree, but I really really like them!)

2.)Starseeker by Tim Bowler. Luke Stanton hasn’t been the same since his father died. He started hanging out with some guys that seemed cool at first, but turned out to be mean and scary. His ears are like his father’s, they’re able to pick up everything from grass to music of the universe. One day he has to steal something to prove to his new friends that he is worthy of being in the group. But in the old house he has to rob, he finds a mystery. He needs to solve it but Skin and the other guys start chasing and threatening him…

The book is intense. It holds on to you and doesn’t let go. Piano music and tall trees and fire. Song of the grass and harp in the music room. Amazing awesomeness. I loved it. It’s probably for ages 13-20. (Yes, I know I should focus my age recommendations on a couple of years but I think you’re never too young or too old for a good book.)

3.)River Boy by Tim Bowler. Jessica loves swimming and her grandpa. And it looks like she’s about to lose one of them. Her grandfather is gravely ill but he insists on going on a vacation to his birth town. He’s a painter and he wants to finish his one last painting. It’s called River Boy but the boy isn’t visible in the picture. And then Jess starts noticing a strange boy always swimming in the river…

A great story about loss and letting the ones you love go. It’s interwoven with mystery and magic and sadness and hope. I loved it. I guess ages 13-20.

4.)Story Thieves by James Riley. Bethany’s father is fictional and she can jump into books. One day her classmate, Owen, sees her jump out of a book. He won’t leave her alone if she doesn’t take him to his favourite book series. But then he makes a mistake. He changes the story. And now a crazy wizard is threatening to ruin the world as we know it and one hero isn’t enough to save the day.

It’s exactly the type of books I like. It has magic in real world and amazing occurrences and adventures. It’s fun and interesting. The only thing that bothered me was somewhere in the book. A plan relies on gold NOT conducting electricity. It works. A character specifically states that gold DOESN’T conduct electricity. Which is ridiculous. It does and it does so very well. So that’s what bothered me. Age suggestion: 9-16.

5.)The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Nobody is a kid who escaped the man that killed his family. Jack, the murderer, follows the toddler who wonders into a graveyard and for some reason Jack can’t see the boy there. Nobody is then raised by a group of ghosts and makes a lot of friends, including a living girl Elisabeth. But Jack is still looking for him…

A great book in my opinion. It’s chilling and interesting and not too long. I think you’ll enjoy it especially if you like books about ghosts that aren’t too scary. I think it’s for ages 11-15.

6.)The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. Maria Merryweather’s father dies when she is thirteen years old and she has to move to her cousin’s manor somewhere in the west of England. She discovers amazing things and helps resolve a grudge between two families that has been ruining the lives of everyone for decades.

I’ve liked this book very much ever since I was around nine years old. The book is almost seventy years old but I think it still has a way of talking to us. It’s quite fairy-tale like and that’s what I really like about it. Age suggestion: 9-15.

7.)Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. The peaceful life of dragons in their valley is shattered when a rat called Rosa tells them that humans are coming. She says they have to run and a young dragon called Lung decides to try and find the Rim of Heaven. It’s a place, remembered only by the oldest dragon, where all dragons will be safe from humans. So he takes his best friend, a brownie girl named Sorrel with him and they set of on a journey. They meet Ben, a human boy, and he goes with them. They find many adventures but also many dangers.

This book is just amazing. It’s filled with adventure and fantasy and dragons. It doesn’t bore you for a second. When I first read it I was seriously torn between making the book last longer by not reading so much, or enjoying the story for a little while and then letting it go. Age suggestion: 8-20.

8.)A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (idea by Siobhan Dowd). Conor’s mother is dying, he is being bullied at school and he keeps having the same nightmare. And now a monster is visiting him. It shows up seven minutes past midnight and it won’t leave him alone until it tells him three stories. And then it’s his turn.

This is a great book about dying and the ones who stay behind. The stories in it make for a great thinking subject. You can decide and read it chapter by chapter and dissect it in the process, or you can read it as a whole and live out the story without digging into it. Age recommendation: 12-20.

9.)Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. Minli, a young Chinese girl is growing up with her parents, Ma and Ba. Ma is quite negative, she always seeks the worst in everything. Ba is more of a dreamer. He loves telling stories and Minli loves listening to them. One day she decides to go find a way to change her family’s fortune. She meets many amazing creatures on her way and hears a lot of stories.

I really liked this book, because it’s designed like a fairy tale. It has fairy tales in it and it has magic. It’s very interesting and readable. It doesn’t take long to read since it’s full of pictures. Age recommendation: 7 years-122 years, 164 days (oldest known person ever).

10.) W.A.R.P. The Reluctant Assassin by Eoin Colfer. This time-warping novel talks about Chevie Savano, an FBI agent whose assignment (guard the time machine if anything happens to fall out of it) becomes a whole lot interesting and deadly, when Albert Garrick and Riley stumble into her world. They are from Victorian London. Albert is a murderous magician. Riley used to be his apprentice until Albert found out that he couldn’t kill another human being. That’s when the chase started and now it got Chevie involved too. Not to mention the mutations in the time tunnel that turned Albert into a superhuman…

I liked how Eoin took the idea of time travel and made it into something so well-designed, it almost seems real. It’s interesting and clever. The language used in it is quite difficult to understand, though, especially if English isn’t your first language. Age recommendation: 13-20.

Honourable mention of Harry Potter by JK Rowling, Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan, The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien and Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne.