Fantasies for Everyone

​Nancy Brashear and Carolyn Angus 
 
A satisfying variety of enticing fantasy standalones, series openers, and continuing sagas published during the first half of 2025 will make for engaging summer reading. Younger readers will be drawn into playful animal fantasies as well as adventurous tales of human characters facing challenges in the “real” world (with magical twists) while older readers will be dropped into dystopian settings in stories with complex plots featuring adolescents fighting beastly or fairy wars, viruses, and treacherous leaders in make-believe worlds of the past, present, or future. 

​All Better Now. Neal Shusterman. (2025). Simon & Schuster.
Survivors of the Crown Royale virus, who manifest permanent side effects different from any experienced in prior pandemics, are beginning to tip the balance of societal power from behavior ruled by fear and anger to viral enlightenment in the form of contentment, happiness, and empathy. In this dystopian thriller, the lives of three teens intertwine. After Rón Escobedo survives the virus, he embraces a personal conviction that, as an alpha spreader, he must infect as many people as possible. Meanwhile, Morgan Willmon-Wu has been chosen by Dame Havilland to use her fortune to eradicate the virus, something Morgan relishes doing so she can be a major powerbroker. And teaming up with Rón, homeless Mariel Mudroch wants to support him but is unsure about his fervor and soon becomes the object of a focused hunt by the opposition because of her natural immunity to the virus. The inevitable intersection of ultimate goals versus consequences in All Better Now will leave readers eagerly anticipating the second book in the duology, All Over Now. (Gr 6 Up)

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Among Serpents (Above the Black #2). Marc J. Gregson. (2025). Peachtree Teen.  
Three months earlier, the Lantians of the Below began attacking the Skylands islands with their terrible beasts of the sky and killing hundreds of thousands of Skylanders. In Skylands, which operate on a system of Meritocracy where “the Highs rise, and the Lows fall,” sixteen-year-old Conrad Urwin, having risen to the status of High is named Prince of Skylands by his uncle, King Ulrich. Conrad is appointed commander of a squadron of Hunter ships assigned to destroy the Lantians’ deadly sky serpents (horrifying five-hundred-foot gigatauns and other created beasts) and, ultimately, to lead an invasion on the Lantians. After Ulrich blackmails Conrad and his sister, Ella, into obeying his orders for life and follows up with a move only the cruelest of rulers could orchestrate, Conrad vows to get revenge for the heinous acts of his power-hungry uncle. Readers may want to read, or reread, Sky’s End (2024) in anticipation of Downfall, the closer of Marc J. Gregson’s action-filled science fiction trilogy, planned for release in January 2026. (Gr 9-12)  
—NB ​

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As You Wish. Nashae Jones. (2025). Aladdin.
Thirteen-year-old Bernadette (Birdie) Johnson-Nkrumah and boy-next-door Deve Banerjee have been best friends since kindergarten. However, living under the influence of an over-protective mother who is paranoid about possible catastrophes that might befall her daughter, Birdie has developed a reputation as a strange girl. Wanting to reinvent herself for returning to school for eighth grade, Birdie thinks she has discovered the secret for a thriving social life: Get a boyfriend for her and a girlfriend for Deve! However, after showing Deve her list of boyfriend qualifications, she’s shocked that he is so against her plan that he begins ignoring her. When she meets Nancy (Anansi, the West African trickster spider disguised as a teenager), who claims to be an indebted relative who can grant her three wishes (“as you wish”) to heal the Deve rift, desperate Birdie accepts her offer. In a hilarious middle school rom-com turn of events, Birdie learns that each request comes with unintended consequences and that maybe what she really needs has been in front of her the entire time. (Gr 6-8)
—NB

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Beasts. Ingvild Bjerkland. Trans. by Rosie Hedger. (2025). Levine Querido.
Gigantic two-legged hairy beasts of an unknown origin are decimating the population of Norway. The collapse of society has left the few people who remain starving and turning against each other. When their mother is killed by one of these beasts, 13-year-old Abdi escapes into the nearby forest with his five-year-old sister, Alva. Ingvild Bjerkland gives a fast-paced, suspenseful account of their long, traumatic trek by foot to the port of Djupvik. Once there, Abdi hopes they will be able to board a ship that will take them to Fair Isle in the North Sea and reunite them with their father, who is conducting ornithological research there. Bjerkland’s ending with the siblings aboard a tiny, over-crowded boat with an outboard motor instead of the ship they expected and Abdi whispering “We will be home soon, I promise” to Alva makes Beasts a hopeful but realistic introduction to dystopian fantasy. (6 Up)
—CA

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The Encanto’s Curse (Encanto’s Daughter #2). Melissa de la Cruz. (2025). Putnam.
In the second book of Melissa de la Cruz’s Filipino folklore-inspired fantasy duology, half-human/half-encanto (fairy) 18-year-old Maria Josephina (MJ) Robertson-Rodriguez is the new queen and protector of the hidden fairy island kingdom of Biringan following the mysterious death of her father, King Viviencio. Shortly after her arrival, the townspeople are alarmed when the presence of a manananggal, a vampire-like creature that attacks and feeds upon its victims, is detected. When MJ wakes up from a nightmare disoriented and wearing torn, bloody clothes, she is horrified to realize that the monster terrifying the population is inhabiting her. If discovered, she will be put to death. If not, she will be consumed from within by the beast, and the killings will continue. With time running out and her former boyfriend, her best friend, her fiancée, and others paying close attention to her, she must claim her magical power and figure out how to break the curse with “true love” in time to save the kingdom and herself. (Gr 9-12)
—NB ​

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The Forgotten Magic of Zoey Turner. Erin Stewart. (2025). Aladdin.
After her father’s fatal bus accident, 12-year-old Zoey Turner’s head is filled with traumatic statistics and severe anxiety. Scared to go beyond her home, her mother’s cupcake store, or Jada’s cozy bookstore next door, she has been homeschooled. When Zoey hears that Raven M. Wells, the author of the Magic of Ever After fantasy series she loves escaping into, will be signing books at the mall, she forces herself to attend to get an autograph for the book that hooked her and her dad. Having a panic attack in the crowd, Zoey loses her place in line. She doesn’t get the autograph, but Jada gives her a pencil from the author inscribed with MAKE YOUR OWN MAGIC. When she uses the pencil to write a fan fiction-style story, Zoey is surprised to find it coming true the next day. Planning to keep the pencil’s magic a secret, she worries how quickly the pencil is shrinking with each subsequent sharpening and story creation. Zoey will need to finally face reality and use her own forgotten magic to change her destiny. (Gr 6-8)
—NB

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The House at the Edge of Magic (House at the Edge of Magic #1). Amy Sparkes. (2025). Margaret K. McElderry.
Nine, an orphaned pickpocket, pilfers a beautiful ornament from a lady’s handbag, but when she flicks the ring on the tiny door-knocker ring of the miniature house, she watches it grow into a gigantic copy of the little ornament with “higgledy-piggedly floors and windows.” The door is opened by a huge, ugly creature who pulls her inside and slams the door closed. Nine soon learns that the house is bewitched and that its occupants—High Wizard Flabbergast, a boy; Eric, the troll housekeeper; and Mr. Spoon, a kilt-wearing, sword-banishing wooden spoon—are entrapped under a curse. In exchange for a precious jewel that will allow her to escape her life under gang-master Pockets, she agrees to help them break the curse before the clock strikes 15 and the house shrinks until it and all its occupants cease to exist. Amy Sparkes’s funny, fast-paced fantasy adventure will be followed by The Tower at the End of Time (out in June) and The Bookshop at the Back of Beyond (out in September). (Gr 3 Up)
—CA

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Lost and Found (Orris and Timble #2). Kate DiCamillo. Illus. by Carmen Mok. (2025). Candlewick.
The unusual friendship between Orris, the old rat who lives behind the wall of an abandoned barn, and Timble, the young owl he rescued from a mouse trap in The Beginning (2024), develops as Timble continues to make nightly visits to listen to book-loving Orris’s stories. One night, however, Timble, who had declared, “By the light of the stars, by the light of the moon, I will always return,” does not appear. After nights of sitting at the window of the barn watching the sun go down and the moon come up, Orris concludes that now fully-grown Timble must be busy flying and having adventures and has forgotten him. And then one day, Timble returns to the barn with a story of his own to tell. The coda to Kate DiCamillo’s second book of this delightful early chapter book series, complemented by Carmen Mok’s lovely illustrations done in gouache, colored pencil, and graphite pencil, will leave young readers happy to find Orris and Timble once again spending evenings together and sharing stories. (PreK Up)   
—CA

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Sunrise on the Reaping (Hunger Games #5). Suzanne Collins. (2025). Scholastic.
Sunrise on the Reaping takes place 24 years before the dystopian series opener, The Hunger Games (2008). After 16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy defends his sweetheart, Lenore Dove, he is illegally “reaped” to be one of District Twelve’s four tributes sent to Panem’s capitol to compete in the Fiftieth Hunger Games where tributes between ages 12 and 18 will fight to their death with only one survivor bringing glory to their district. The odds are not in Haymitch’s favor since District Twelve has only won once in the history of the games. As the 48 tributes (two from each district) are winnowed through horrific deaths, Haymitch uses his wits, intelligence, luck, and alliances to stay alive against everyone’s expectations—especially those of President Snow. Suzanne Collins’s original Hunger Games series includes three books, The Hunger Games (2008), Catching Fire (2009), and Mockingjay (2010), followed by prequels, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020) and this latest book, Sunrise on the Reaping (2025). (Gr 6 Up)
—NB

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The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest. Aubrey Hartman. Illus. by Marcin Minor. (2025). Little, Brown.
Clare, the solitary undead (neither alive nor dead) fox of Deadwood Forest, is the Usher, who guides wandering souls toward the realm of the Afterlife where they will be most comfortable: Peace, Pleasure, Progress, or Pain. An unforeseen friendship develops between Clare and a badger named Gingersnapes, who doesn’t seem to be able to find her place in the Afterlife and keeps returning to his doorstep. Knowing that Hesterfowl, the visionary of Fernlight Forest, has prophesized that “the one in Deadwood Forest” (Clare) will vanish forever on All Hallow’s Eve, he must begin to deal with the probability that Gingersnapes is to be his replacement as the Usher and that he will be moving on to the Afterlife. A narrator’s note provides a thought-provoking ending to this gently humorous, child-friendly story about death, love, and the exploration of letting go with the feel of a classic animal fantasy. (Gr 3-5)
—CA

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Nancy Brashear is Professor Emeritus of English at Azusa Pacific University, in Azusa, California. Carolyn Angus is former Director of the George G. Stone Center for Children’s Books, Claremont Graduate University, in Claremont, California.