Quick Guide: Shannon Hale

Shannon Hale is one of those oddities that crops up every so often in the book world. She's not well known. In fact, almost no one has heard of her. But those who have read her are almost unanimous in their praise. Have a look on Amazon; it's very unusual for her books to receive less than four stars.

Broadly speaking, Shannon writes fairy tales. But these aren't twinkly stories with happy ever afters at the end. These are Teen novels with life, love, loss, death and happiness inside.

The Books of Bayern began with The Goose Girl, loosely based on the fairy story of the same name. Anidora, Crown Princess of Kildendree, is sent with Selia, her lady's maid, and a company of guards to marry the prince of neighbouring Bayern. Along the way Selia uses her powers of compulsion to overthrow Ani and persuade the guards to join her. Ani flees through the forest and when she finally reaches Bayern, she learns that Selia has been recognised as the prince's fiancee. With the help of the servants, Ani must fight for her rightful place and for the safety of her country.

In Enna Burning trouble has come to Ani's court. Neighbouring Tira is marching to war, and rumours of a fire starter in the court are adding to the unease. Ani's powers of wind-speaking are needed to quench the blaze.

After the war with Tira, peace envoys are sent from Ani's court in River Secrets. At first all seems well, but the canals of Tira hold many secrets and the envoy may be in over their heads.

In the most recent title, Forest Born, the young sister of Ani's guard flees her forest home when she begins to feel as though she no longer belongs there. At the same time, warriors from Kel strike into Bayern, burning villages to the ground. Ani and her friends must leave their home ground to find the source of these seemingly aimless attacks.



Standalone title Book of a Thousand Days is loosely based on Maid Maleen by the Grimm brothers. In the tale, a young princess refuses to marry her father's choice of husband, and she and her maid are locked in a tower for seven years for her disobedience. The maid Dashti is our hero here, relating the time spent in the tower and their adventures out of it. There are many obstacles to overcome before they finally find a safe home.



In Princess Academy, another standalone, Miri's tiny stone cutting village is astounded when auguries show that the prince's next bride will be found there. All the girls are hustled into royal training in preparation for his visit. Only Miri has any suspicions, and it will fall to her to save them all...



Shannon has a beautiful, lyrical style and it's really a shame more people aren't aware of her. Give one of her books a try. You won't be sorry.

Quick Guide: Chronicles of Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia are one of the most famous series of children's books, but not many people can name all seven or put then in the right order. It doesn't help, of course, that they were published out of what's now considered reading order; they're mostly published now in chronological order, but that's not how they were originally written.

The Chronicles are about the magical land of Narnia and the humans who find their way there. Only eleven humans ever visit Narnia. Narnian time runs much faster than ours so the series begins with its' creation and ends with its' destruction, all happening within one human lifetime.



In The Magician's Nephew, young Digory and his neighbour, Polly, stumble upon magical rings created by Digory's uncle. The rings take them on several adventures, culminating in a land that isn't really there yet. Polly, Digory and his uncle are witnesses as Aslan, the Lion god and son of the Emperor–over–the–Sea, calls the land of Narnia and all its' peoples into being.

Several decades later Digory, now an accomplished Professor, welcomes the four Penvensie children into his home, refugees from the London Blitz. Lucy, the youngest, is the first to find the way into Narnia; Peter, Susan and Edmund follow her and are caught up in a battle for Narnia's freedom. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the best known of the series.

In the last years of Narnia's Golden Age Shasta, a boy raised in Calormen, meets a Narnian horse and they decide to flee North to Narnia together. They are joined by a young Calormene girl and her horse, fleeing from an arranged marriage. Together with their new companions, The Horse and His Boy struggle towards freedom and the discovery of Shasta's true identity.

A year after their return to England, the Pevensie children are brought to Narnia once more. Here they learn that thirteen hundred years have passed since their last visit. Narnia has fallen to the brutal Telemarines and the wondrous Talking Animals and magical beings are in hiding. Only the true heir to the throne, Prince Caspian, can bring Narnia back to it's roots.

A year after their adventure with Prince Caspian, Lucy and Edmund are staying with their cousin Eustace. They are called to Narnia to aid the now King Caspian on the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a journey to find seven banished Narnian Lords and return them home. The Dawn Treader takes them far beyond the boundaries of Narnia, almost to Aslan's country itself...

Eustace, far nicer for his Narnian adventure, is on the run from bullies with a schoolfriend, Jill, when both are transported to Narnia. Given a mission by Aslan himself, at first it seems hopeless. With time running out they'll have to use everything they've learned to solve the mystery of The Silver Chair.

In The Last Battle, Narnia's days are drawing to a close. Torn by treachery on all sides, the last King, Tirian, calls on the great kings and queens of the past to help him in this last, great battle for the souls of Narnia's people.

The BBC filmed four of the books between 1988 and 1990; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and The Silver Chair. They are available from Amazon.co.uk as a box set.





More recently a series of films have been made. The Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe was released in 2005; Prince Caspian followed in 2008. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be released this Christmas, 2010.








The Chronicles are classic children's books and every child should have the chance to read them.

Reading order:

The Magician's Nephew
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle

The Horse and His Boy is often numbered out of sequence as it takes place in Calormen rather than Narnia and is only peripheral to the main story.

Quick Guide: The Last Survivors

The Last Survivors is a trilogy by Susan Pfeffer. Set in the current day, the series details the effects on the world when the moon is knocked out of orbit, closer to earth.

Life as we Knew it, the first volume, is written in diary format by a teenage girl, Miranda. She lives in rural Pennsylvania with her mother and younger brother, Jonny. Older brother Matt is away at college, and her father's new wife has just announced her pregnancy.

The diary starts up a week before the expected meteor strike on the moon. At first it's a typical teenage diary; Miranda talks about friends and school, about her imminent step‐sibling and the tiny dramas that make up life. On the day of the meteor hit, though, everything changes.

The immediate effect is tsunamis. The tide happens to be in along the east coast of America, leading to reports of major cities being devastated. And when those waves finally die down they start up on the west coast as the tide moves around. Tsunamis are only the beginning, however; the changed gravitational pull leads to earthquakes and, a little later on, volcanoes erupting fiercely enough to throw a blanket of ash into the air, cutting the sunlight and destroying any chance they had of growing a crop.

Miranda faithfully chronicles all of these changes in her world, including all her reactions and everything she and her family discuss.



the dead and the gone, the second title, follows a teenage boy, Alex, in New York during the same time period. Alex finds himself the head of the household when his father, mother and older brother are all, in different ways, lost to him. He struggles to keep his sisters alive in a city that seems more than half dead.



This World we Live In brings the two story lines together, as Alex and his sister are brought to Miranda's home. Each is a survivor in their own way, but they teach other to be strong and to face whatever happens.


For a review of Life as we Knew it, go here.

For a review of the dead and the gone, go here.

For a review of This World we Live In, go here.


Incidentally, the author is very friendly and loves hearing from fans from around the world. Visit her blog and tell her Aoife sent you.