Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

This is a summer reading list for young adults who want to explore fantasy and imaginative fiction without resorting to the current small handful of blockbusters. This list has some classics that might otherwise be overlooked,  and some contemporary books that are just terrific. If you are looking for some really good fiction for the kids to read this summer this list can help. (Hey and all these books are great for adults too!)

If you want more information about these books and links to amazon for them I have more info on my site here: Summer reading for teens

Some Classics
A Wrinkle in Time - (Newberry Medal Winner) This is simply a beautiful book that has blazed a trail in modern children’s fantasy by putting forward a story of several children embarking on a grand adventure; In this case to rescue their father. There is some fascinating and thoughtful stuff in this book like living stars and tesseracts. It is a perennial favorite and on every librarian’s list.

A Wizard of Earthsea – Written by Ursula K. Leguin this is the first book in a series called The EarthSea series. Short and light but extraordinarily beautiful. This first book in the series follows a young boy named Ged as he goes from being a simple goat herd to a powerful wizard.  It is simply beautiful and it brings forth some wonderful and magical themes such as the concept that everything (including dragons) has a secret name.  And if you know the secret name you can control the thing (including dragons).

The Hobbit - This probably shouldn’t be on this list but it is so good that I can’t leave it off.  With the absolute enormous success of the Lord of the Rings movies this book may be overlooked but I consider it better!  It is also in the works to be a movie.

Five Children and it – This is one of the most popular books written by Edith Nesbit who is often credited with creating the whole genre of children embarking on fantasy adventures.  Her books are in the public domain now and can easily be found for free. The theme of this book is:  Be careful what you ask for. You may get it! That’s the message in this delightful tale of five youngsters who discover a bizarre sand creature that grants wishes. There’s a catch, of course: the wishes come undone at sunset, and worse yet, things often get out of hand!

Dragonflight – This book is a little more complex than earlier ones I have cited here and it tends toward being more of a novel for grownups but it very suitable for teens.  We are introduced to a complex world of dragons through the main character Lessa. This book is often credited with being the book that has launched many a young girls writing career.  It is the first book in a trilogy of books called The Dragon riders of Pern series.

A Princess of Mars: The first novel in the Edgar Rice Burroughs series and currently in the initial stages of being written into a movie or animation that will be made by Pixar.  This is the first book in a series called John Carter of Mars and it is good rollicking fun in the tradition of the old pulp magazines.  It is a favorite for young boys who like sword fighting big monsters.

Contemporary fantasy and fiction
When it comes to modern fantasy fiction for teens there is an enormous selection to choose from and that, in itself,  could be an obstacle. Here are summaries of some of the more popular ones and I have also picked some that are currently slated to be made into a movie.

Artemis Fowl Series – This series of books takes a little bit of an unusual position as far as children’s books go because Artemis Fowl himself is a twelve year old genius and a criminal mastermind. The author of these books calls them Die Hard with Fairies! And the books are often characterized as being a high-octane and rip-roaring ride.  It is a wildly popular series of books with a big website and even a wiki. There are currently five books in the series with the first being simply titled Artemis Fowl. The sixth book “The Time Paradox” is set to be released in July of 2008.

Here, there be Dragons – The title itself is rather mysterious and harkens back to another time. This was the phrase that cartographers used to write in patches of ocean that were unexplored.  The basic premise of this story will really resonate with teens that are fans of fantasy itself because it starts with the unusual meeting of three young strangers John, Jack, and Charles on a rainy night in London. We later find out these three young men are J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams.

The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches - This is a series of books that takes place in a world of magic and secrets called Ruin Mist. This book was slow to start but word of mouth turned it into a best seller. It is one of those relatively little known books and series that is very satisfying.

Septimus Heap – If magic and wizards are of strong appeal this series of books make a great alternative to Harry Potter. The Main character (Septimus) is the seventh son of a seventh son and the main line of the story follows two children switched at birth: a boy destined to be a wizard and a girl destined to be a princess.  There are currently four books in the series and the first book has been picked up by Warner Brothers and is currently being made into a movie that is scheduled for release in 2010.

Any of these books or series will launch teens and young adults on a remarkable adventure into strange fantasy worlds and no joystick or keyboard is required.

If you want more information about these books and links to amazon for them I have more info on my site here: Summer reading for teens

Popularity: 14% [?]

The John Carter of Mars series of stories are a great series of book in the old pulp fantasy style and I had read the whole series a very long time ago. I dug up some of my copies of the books here:

The movie is being written by Andrew Stanton who wrote Finding Nemo and Wall-e. You can read the post about this on the Pixar Blog. And it will be interesting to see how they handle this story and the movie. Will it be fully animated or will be something else? Either way it is probably going to be really good. Pixar always makes wonderful movies.

About The Mars books by Edgar Rice Burroughs:

There are eleven Mars books in the series and four of them (listed first) are John Carter books:

• The Princess of Mars
• The Gods of Mars
• The Warlord of Mars
• John Carter of Mars (This book is a concatenation of two Novellas: “John Carter and the Giant of Mars” and “Skeleton Men of Jupiter”.
• Thuivia, Maid of Mars
• The Chessmen of Mars
• A Fighting Man of Mar
• Swords of mars
• Synthetic Men of Mars
• Llana of Gathol

I am wondering what the first movie will be about and what the real title will be. The proper first book is A Princess of Mars and this book sets everything up because it is where John Carter first finds himself on Mars. I have also heard rumors that there will be a trilogy of movies which fits with the first three Mars books.

The John Carter books are a lot of fun and they have been re-worked and repackaged several times over the last century including some covers and internal artwork by Frazetta, which is probably some of his most recognizable stuff.

How to Get some John Carter to Read:

Amazon has plenty of the Edgar Rice Burroughs stuff and seeing as the stuff is pretty old you can also download and read it for free on Gutenberg Scroll down to the bottom of this page for Burroughs

Here is the Edgar Rice Burroughs Section on Amazon.com Edgar Rice Burroughs Books 

About the famous curved rapier that is pictured on the Frazetta art. John Carter is famous for this sword and there is even a real version that has been made and is for sale. It’s pretty cool and you can take a look at it here: John Carter’s Martian Longsword

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Today is International Dungeon & Dragons Day. (http://www.dndgameday.com/)

And in conjunction with this Wizards of the Coast has released its highly anticipated 4th edition of the game. The official release was yesterday and the books are available on amazon.com which will start shipping them on June 16.

I haven’t played D&D for a very long time but I still have very fond memories of some exciting and epic adventures when I was just a lad. The first version was released in 1974 and I think it was some time in 1975 that I took a ride up to some little shop in Boston to get a copy. It was packaged in a plastic bag and the whole thing looked like somebody made it in their basement. I wish I still had that set because it is probably a collectible now.

Anyway, it’s been over thirty years and they have only released now a fourth edition. It tells you how timeless the game system really is. D &D has had a tremendous impact on the worlds of fantasy, gaming and more. It pretty much created the whole genre of Role Playing.

 The 4th Edition was released yesterday but of course there is a bit of a lag in shipping, probably because of demand and the Amazon website says it will begin shipping on June 16th. 

Dungeons and Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set, 4th Edition 

 Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook: Roleplaying Game Core Rules, 4th Edition

Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master’s Guide: Roleplaying Game Core Rules, 4th Edition 

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