Read This Book! Recommended Reading for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders 

Aurelie: A Faerie Tale by Heather Tomlinson

At first, I had a hard time understanding what was happening at the beginning of this story because I didn’t understand some of the words. Once I figured them out, however, I was truly mesmerized by Aurelie.  This is what you need to know: a majority of the characters in the book are faes, lutines, dracs or gargouilles; in other words, there are faerie creatures, some harmless, some quite dangerous.

The chapters are told in the alternating voices of the four main characters, Aurelie, Netta, Garin (all human) and Loic, a river drac fae.  They are childhood friends but soon must part when they begin to grow up. Aurelie is Princess Aurelie, heir to her country’s throne, Garin must flee his country for he is the enemy, Netta hides from the world after a devastating loss, and Loic must return to the Fae world to learn to become a full-grown drac. They no longer talk to each other but soon realize that they need each other’s help when Aurelie’s and Garin’s countries start warring against each other.

I love how the first chapter begins:

We promised, the three of us. No one would discover that we could see the Fae. Too dangerous, Loic had warned, rubbing his nurse’s magic ointment on our left eyes. It stung. I remember blinking through the pain, thrilled at a story come to life: his scaled legs and lizard tail, a boy’s arms, torso and handsome face. After that one solemn moment years ago, the little river drac’s hyacinth-blue gaze was never so serious again.

I really loved the magical and poetic writing of this story. The plot is a bit sophisticated but very rewarding if you can stick with it. I enjoyed the mixing and melding of the two worlds, magical and real, the beautiful language, and the wonderful friendships the four characters had. Can Princess Aurelie save her country? Will Garin return to help save his childhood friend? Will Netta come out of hiding to help Aurelie and to find her one true love? If you love fairy tales and stories of the faerie world, you’ll love Aurelie: A Faerie Tale.

You may also want to read I, Coriander by Sally Gardner and The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw for more stories about faerie folk.

Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt

One of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems is “Because I could not stop for Death/He kindly stopped for me.” Leavitt uses this poem to build a story about a young woman named Keturah who gets lost in the woods after chasing a stag. Death comes to take her at the end of three days; however, she longs to see her Grandmother and friends one more time before she dies. Keturah is able to convince Death to let her live one more day by telling him the story of a girl searching for her one true love but not telling him the ending. Death agrees to let Keturah go with the understanding that she is to return in 24 hours to finish the end of the story. The only way out of her untimely death is by finding her own one true love.

The story that Keturah tells Death weaves beautifully with her own story. Keturah cleverly keeps Death at bay by never finishing her story. But in the end, does Keturah find her own true love and save herself from Death’s fate or must she admit loss and follow Death into his world? This is a beautiful story that is never sappy or silly.