VONA STEWART

In a society split into rigid factions, Tris hides a dangerous secret as unrest builds. A brisk dystopia with a slow-burn romance.

A fox-spirit girl disguises herself and journeys across the galaxy to clear her missing brother's name, blending Korean mythology with space opera.

Offered to a dragon as a sacrifice, Creel instead befriends it and walks off with a deceptively plain pair of enchanted slippers, and straight into palace intrigue. A charmer for dragon lovers.

The sequel series to Fablehaven: the dragons no longer wish to stay in their sanctuaries, and Kendra and Seth are caught in the middle.

Cursed at birth with obedience, clever Ella sets out to break the spell, in a spirited, funny fairy-tale retelling. (The book far outshines the movie.)

Sherlock's sharp younger sister strikes out on her own as a detective in Victorian London. The series ages up from middle grade to YA as Enola grows.

A farm boy and his dragon, Saphira, rise against the tyrant king Galbatorix in the sprawling world of Alagaësia. Classic epic fantasy for dragon lovers.

Two siblings discover their grandfather runs a secret preserve for magical creatures, and that its rules exist for good reason. A really fun magical adventure; best in print.

In a world where reading is dangerous, sharp-tongued Mosca Mye and her ill-tempered goose fall in with a con man. Fantastical, funny, and a little weird.

Katsa, gifted with a deadly skill, breaks free of a cruel king and uncovers a darker danger. Fast fantasy with a strong heroine and slow-burn romance.

Gregor tumbles through his laundry room into a war-torn underground world and a prophecy about his family. An overlooked early Suzanne Collins adventure.

An orphan discovers on his eleventh birthday that he is a wizard and heads off to Hogwarts. The one a whole generation grew up on: cozy, funny, full of found family.

While spending the summer on the Navajo Nation, a boy befriends a sacred water monster and steps into Diné stories of healing and courage. Award-winning and gentle.

Unjustly sentenced to a brutal desert camp where boys dig endless holes, Stanley uncovers a buried mystery and a family curse. A funny, clever, Newbery-winning modern classic.

Cursed into an old woman's body, sensible Sophie takes up house with a vain, mercurial wizard. A cozy, funny, romantic standalone; read everything else Diana Wynne Jones wrote.

A living, sentient prison holds a boy who dreams of escape and a girl on the outside who holds the key. A dark, inventive fantasy with a killer twist.

When Mo reads aloud, characters step out of books, and villains from one story spill into his life. A bookish, adventurous tale for anyone who loves reading.

Spencer discovers that the janitors at his school secretly battle magical creatures feeding on students' brainpower, and that mops and cleaning supplies hide real magic. Funny, fast, and wildly inventive.

Twelve-year-old Sophie discovers she isn't human but an elf, and belongs to a hidden magical world she never knew existed. A sprawling, immersive series that middle-grade readers devour and reread.

The four March sisters grow up together through hardship, ambition, and love in Civil War-era New England. A warm, enduring family classic.

Sixty seconds, seven floors, one elevator: a taut novel in verse about a boy deciding whether to avenge his brother.

A world of wizards, prophecy, and a seventh son believed dead at birth. Warm and funny; the sequel series TodHunter Moon follows a girl in the same world once Septimus is grown.

Strange creatures invade Maya's Chicago neighborhood and her father, guardian of the veil, vanishes. West African mythology and a tight-knit community.

A scholarship kid navigates sixth grade, family, and her beloved grandfather's mysterious changes, in a warm, funny, Newbery-winning Cuban American story.