Fantasy has become an increasingly popular genre of children's literature in recent years; Quests and Kingdoms provides a basis from which an adult unfamiliar with the genre of children's fantasy literature may explore it. Quests is an historical survey for the interested general reader, which will be of great practical value to library and education professionals as well. Though the aim is to give adults concerned with bringing children (or teens) and books together a familiarity with the children's fantasy genre and its history, for those who already know and love the classics of children's fantasy Quests will be an introduction to works and authors they may have missed. Taking a chronological approach, Quests begins with the fairy-tale collections of d'Aulnoy, Perrault, and the Grimms and works its way up to the novels of J.K. Rowling and Garth Nix, covering over three centuries of fantasy read by children. The lives of 95 authors are looked at and placed in historical context, while their works are introduced through both synopses and analysis. Quests also includes chapters on Tolkien, retellings of traditional stories, and King Arthur and Robin Hood. More than 500 works are discussed, and the thorough index makes the book a practical reference resource as well as a history and an introduction to the best in the genre. K.V. Johansen has Master's Degrees in Medieval Studies (Toronto) and English (McMaster). The author of a number of children's books, she held the 2001 Eileen Wallace Research Fellowship in Children's Literature from the Eileen Wallace Collection at the University of New Brunswick. She also received the 2004 Frances E. Russell Award for research in children's literature from the Canadian section of IBBY, the International Board on Books for Young People. 'Here is a magical thing, a reference book with a heart and soul. Brimming over with ideas, as well as facts and figures, the writing is elegant and the author's enthusiasm contagious. Here, too, a noble defence of fantasy and its literary value.' -O.R. Melling 'Johansen brings a scholar's erudition and a child's delight to the field of children's fantasy. Her thoughtful survey elevates fantasy from guilty pleasure to moral education, and reveals it to be not a recent marketing-driven fad, but an ancient and unbreakable strand of human creativity. If you know nothing about the genre, this book will turn you into an aficionado; if you think you've read everything, you'll find new gems here, and old ones glowing with a new light. For teachers, parents, anyone who wants to uncover the wonder of reading, Quests and Kingdoms is a pirate's treasure map.' -Tristanne J. Connolly, St. Jerome's University

Quests and Kingdoms: A Grown-Up's Guide to Children's Fantasy Literature

Johansen, K.V.

Teen & Young Adult

Sybertooth INc

In the late twentieth century, Canadian children's fantasy had a poor reputation internationally. Was this reputation deserved, and if so, has the quality of children's fantasy and the climate for its publication improved since that time? After a survey of twentieth-century Canadian children's fantasy, Beyond Window-Dressing examines these questions through an extensive cross-section of Canadian children's fantasy published between 2000 and 2004. From Palmer Cox and Catherine Anthony Clark to Judd Palmer and Alison Baird, and writers of international reputation such as Dave Duncan, O.R. Melling, Kenneth Oppel and Charles de Lint, Beyond Window-Dressing weighs Canadian fantasy against the best of the UK and US. It provides not only a window onto Canadian developments in the genre during the opening years of the twenty-first century, but insists that fantasy must be judged by standards as rigorous as those applied to any other genre of literature. K.V. Johansen held the 2001 Eileen Wallace Research Fellowship in Children's Literature from the Eileen Wallace Collection at the University of New Brunswick and was the recipient of the 2004 Frances E. Russell Award for research in children's literature from the Canadian section of IBBY, the International Board on Books for Young People. She has Master's Degrees in Medieval Studies (Toronto) and in English (McMaster), and is the author of a number of fantasy and science fiction novels for children and teens. Her 2005 book on the history of children's fantasy, Quests and Kingdoms: A Grown-Up's Guide to Children's Fantasy Literature, has received international critical acclaim and was short-listed for the 2006 Harvey Darton Award. The author's website may be found at: www.pippin.ca

Beyond Window-Dressing?: Canadian Children's Fantasy at the Millennium

It's the future. Jordan O'Blenis may be a genius when it comes to computers, but with spies after his sister Cassie's research in UAVs and artificial intelligence, he needs all the help he can get to keep her safe and save BWB Aerospace's top secret drone project. Luckily for Jordan, he has Helen the frog expert and Cassandra, the sentient supercomputer programme he created, on his side. The problem is, Helen thinks kidnapping and interrogating a government agent is a perfectly logical solution to their problems, while Cassandra has developed a bad case of ethics. When old enemies snatch Jordan, though, it's up to Cassandra to save the day, even if that means hijacking BWB's multi-million dollar UAV system. It's just borrowing, really...

The Drone War (Cassandra Virus)

Children's Books

Literature & Fiction

A collection for adults and older teens, "The Storyteller and Other Tales" is a journey through exotic worlds and times of shapeshifters, devils, goddesses, warriors, and more.

The Storyteller and Other Tales

Genre Fiction

Once there was a prince who set off on a quest for a magic sword. He ran into a bit of trouble with a sorcerer -- who didn't like trespassers -- and the sorcerer's wolf-headed guards.... Once there was a young woman who decided to run away from home.... Luckily for the prince, who was in her father's dungeon by then, she decided to rescue him first. Luckily for both of them, Torrie came along as well. Cossypha's father, a reclusive sorcerer, seems to have gone mad. He's done something truly horrible to the servants and, since becoming obsessed with a mysterious Great Spell, hardly even notices Cossy's existence. She's had enough of being treated like a child and forbidden to study sorcery, so when she discovers Prince Rufik in the dungeon, she decides to steal him. Rufik, though he doesn't like being forced to believe in magic, is on a quest for a legendary, dragon-slaying sword. His father's kingdom is being laid waste by a dragon and the Sword Wormbane may be their last hope. Among some of the creatures in the Wild Forest, there's a story that the sword was forged by a sorcerer long ago and hidden, against the day when it would be needed to save the kingdom of Erythroth. Torrie begins to suspect that the story of the sorcerer and the Sword Wormbane is bound up with his own past. Did his friend Wren foresee some terrible fate for him, or why didn't she ever tell him about the sword? Even if they survive the dragon, Torrie and Cossypha may still be bound by Torrie's promise to return to Mistglom Castle and set things right. And a mad sorcerer who can do ... that ... to his servants is not a man to trifle with.

Torrie and the Dragonslayers

Action & Adventure

Something is cutting off Spohrville's communication with the outside world. The phones don't work. There's no radio, no TV -- no internet. Are eco-terrorists trying to shut down the Mars Relay satellite? That's what the government says, but Jordan and Helen and the sentient virtual supercomputer Cassandra don't believe a word of it. The town is overrun with "birdwatchers" who can't tell a hawk from a heron. Jordan's old enemy, Harvey Number Two of the spy agency Bureau 6, is sneaking around pretending to be a cop on holiday. And archaeologist Uncle William has dug up a very strange black rock while excavating an Acadian settlement. With no land-lines to the site of the dig and wireless communication impossible, Jordan and Helen have no back-up from Cassandra. They've taken on corrupt government agents and industrial spies before, but they've always had Cassandra behind them. It's the twenty-first century. The bad guys have night-vision goggles and interference triangulators. How did Jordan and Helen get stuck with a bunch of musket-toting historical re-enactors as their only allies?

The Black Box: A Cassandra Virus Novel

Computers & Technology

After his guardian dies, Maurey is reduced from student to unpaid servant at his grammar school and bullied because of his black hair and eyes, which make him look as if he is related to the sorcerers who once inhabited the island. When it is discovered that Maurey is indeed a descendent of one of those sorcerers, or Nightwalkers, he is sentenced to be burned alive. He and his young rescuer flee for the Nightwalkers' hidden kingdom. Any reader who enjoys otherworld fantasy, or just a good adventure story, will not be able to put this book down.

Nightwalker (The Warlocks of Talverdin, 1)

Orca Book Publishers

Years have passed since the conclusion of the prequel to this book, Nightwalker. Maurey, fully grown and a leader in his own right, finds himself pulled from his quest across the sea to protect a young princess whose life has been thrown into turmoil following her brother's murder. Princess Eleanor is determined to thwart her mother's misguided efforts to marry her off to her cousin. But even if she succeeds, her father remains a prisoner in Eswy castle, and a mysterious symbol shows up over and over again, pointing to some sort of plot against Eleanor and the kingdom. To achieve freedom, Eleanor and Maurey must work together and Eleanor must find her power.

Treason in Eswy (The Warlocks of Talverdin, 2)

Maurey, the half human, half Nightwalker Warden of Greyrock, and Annot, the dauntless Baroness of Oakhold, have settled down in Greyrock Castle, but those who still hate and fear the Nightwalkers threaten to destroy all they've worked for. While Maurey hunts for two outlaws who may guard an ancient secret, his liegeman Korby begins to uncover the truth about the cult of the Yehillon. Their enemies are always one step ahead of them though. Captured by the Yehillon and held as a hostage against Maurey, Annot struggles to survive and escape. A terrible choice lies before Maurey. If he abandons his defence of the border to save Annot, all Talverdin may fall as the Yehillon, led by their veiled prince, finally carry out a long-laid plan to wipe the warlocks from the face of the earth.

Warden of Greyrock (The Warlocks of Talverdin, 3)

In Book Four of the popular Warlocks of Talverdin series, the struggle passes on to the next generation. Betrayed by a member of his own family, abducted, poisoned and forced to recreate an ancient spell that might—if it doesn't kill him—open the lost shadow road, Nethin, son of a Nightwalker lord and a human witch, is thrown into a struggle for survival in a dying land. In that land, the Homeland, he meets Alabeth, an orphan who survived the slaughter of the last warlocks by their own kinsfolk. She is willing to trust him, but her people have rejected her. Capture means execution for both, but an even deadlier foe plans vengeance against Nethin, and the life of every Nightwalker rests on what Nethin does next.

The Shadow Road: The Warlocks of Talverdin, Book 4 (The Warlocks of Talverdin, Book Four)

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