Alice overhears her father arguing with a mysterious individual and sees what she thinks is a yellow and black fairy in their kitchen. Then her father leaves on a business trip and his ship is reported lost at sea with no survivors. The solicitors in charge of her father's affairs send her to live with an "Uncle Jerry" that she has never heard of before. She learns that Geryon is actually an ancestor from several generations ago who is a magic user known as a Reader. These magicians use magic from books and collect incredible hoards of books to search through them for sections that have the peculiar resonance of magic. Geryon believes Alice may have inherited the ability, and his hunch is confirmed when she accidentally activates a magical book.
The powers of the Readers can create "prison-books, portal-books, and world-books and books that lead to the bottom of the ocean.." They can take scraps of magic from different books and combine them together to create new things. Their power is a bit like that of Mo and Meggie in Inkheart or what Lybrarians can do in The Ninja Librarians, but even closer to what the characters in Libriomancer do. If you enjoy stories that explore the magical power of words and books, then try The Forbidden Library and join Alice in her search for answers.
373 pages 978-0803739758 Ages 8-12
Recommended by: Suzanne Costner, Library Media Specialist, Tennessee USA
See more of her recommendations at: https://fveslibrary.blogspot.com
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When Alice Creighton overhears her father having an argument with a unknown creature, she has no idea how her life is about to change. In a short time, her father is lost at sea and she is packed off to a distant relative who posses a dark and creepy library that she is forbidden to enter. With the help of a talking cat, Alice enters the library and starts to read. When she opens a book, she finds herself a dangerous world where magic is controlled by Readers and she must conquer her fears and the creatures in the books to find her happy ending. Ages 10 and up, grade 5
Recommended by: Carole Soden, Librarian, California USA
