Fantasy Friday (and new book alert!): Breadcrumbs  by Anne Ursu.

"It snowed right before Jack stopped talking to Hazel, fluffy white flakes big enough to show their crystal architecture, like perfect geometric poems. It was the sort of snow that transforms the world into a different kind of place. You know what it's like - when you wake up  to find everything white and soft and quiet, when you run outisde and your breath suddenly appears before you in a smoky poof, when  you wonder for a moment if the world in which you woke up is nt the same one that you went to bed in the night before. Things like that happen, at least in the stories you read. It was the sort of snowfall that, if there were any magic to be had in the world, would make it come out. And magic did come out."

Unfortunately, the magic that comes out of that wonderful, marvelous, story book snow is evil magic- in the form of The Snow Queen. She spirits Jack away from Hazel and everyone he knows into a deep, dark forest. And even though Jack has stopped talking to Hazel, she is still his best friend. Best friends save each other, no matter what.

This marvelous, magical retelling of Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen is a must-read for anyone who loves a heroic, epic adventure, dazzling fantasy worlds, and a character who's learning what it means to grow up.

After a fun and spook-filled Stories to Chill Your Bones, we felt it was appropriate to share some of the Children's Library's favorite books for the Halloween season.

Whether it's Nutmeg nominee authors Mary Downing Hahn and Cynthia DeFelice, who can both write suspensful fiction, or folk tales collected by Alvin Schwartz, there are many titles scattered throughout the Kids Fiction and Kids Nonfiction sections. Ask a children's librarian and they can surely show you their favorite spooky books. Snuggle up with a cup of hot apple cider and one of these titles, but prepare to be scared!

Rosh Hashanah Books

Fantasy Friday: Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

Princess Cimorene is bored. Unlike her perfect, preening princess sisters, she couldn't care less about dancing, protocol, or embroidery. She's bored silly by lessons on the correct volume a proper princess should scream when being carried off by an ogre. According to her parents, it's not proper for a princess to take cooking lessons from the castle cook, fencing lessons from the general of the army, magic lessons from the court magician, or Latin lessons from the royal librarian. The only thing Cimorene can do is sit and wait for the day of her arranged marriage to a handsome, boring, silly Prince Charming. And practice a princess-like scream for when those ogres come.

Then Cimorene gets a brilliant idea. If she runs away and becomes a dragon's princess, she won't have to dance, learn manners, or embroider ever again. Any dragon would be happy to have her. She wasn't snatched out of her castle like the normal dragon's princess. She actually wants to be there, and the dragon won't have to fight a knight to keep her or chase her if she runs away. Plus, she knows how to make delicious cherries jubilee.

Thrills, chills, witches, adventures with fire-proofing spells, evil wizards, and hypersensitive dragons abound in this hysterically funny story of a princes who isn't ready to wait for happily ever after.

Fantasy Books (Kids IRead Fiction)

If you're selecting books from our IRead section and  you like books about magical events, places, and people, then this list is for you!

Classic Independent Reader Books (Kids IRead Fiction)

If you've been selecting books from our IRead section, be sure to check out some IRead Classics - old and new!

Realistic Fiction for Girls (Kids Fiction)

If you're a girl who is not a fan of books about magic, fairies, dystopian futures, historical dramas, or animals going on adventures, then we STILL have a booklist for you!

Realistic Fiction for Boys (Kids Fiction)

If you're a boy and you aren't interested in magic, science fiction, the future, time travel, animals on adventures, and/or history, then we STILL  have a book list for you!

Welcome to the Innagural Fantasy Friday Post!

Kate Milford's The Boneshaker: a book I would highly reccomend it to everyone who likes thrills, chills, visions, prophecies, the midwest, history, and battles with great and terrible Evil.

It's 1914, and Natalie Minks lives in a quiet, sleepy town. A slightly strange, quiet, sleepy town, situated just down the road from the former town. Old Aracane burned  to the ground under mysterious circumstances 200 years before, and the crossroads it stands on have been known to flicker in the night.

Natalie loves two things more than anything else in the world. She loves the legends her mother tells her each night before bed, strange stories where men meet the Devil at the crossroads and survive, or don't. And she loves her father's mechanic shop, where she spends her days learning how things work.

Life is great until the day the doctor leaves town to help with a mysterious flu epidemic 200 miles away. As the doctor leaves town, Dr. Jake Limberleg's Nostrum Fair and Medical Show arrives. And there's something not-quite-right about Dr. Jake, who wears clothes from a 100 years ago and won't ever, ever take his gloves off.

Worse, there's something truly wrong with the medicines he begins to dispense to the town and the men who help him dispense it. Somehow, Natalie knows that there is a great evil at work in Arcane. And she may be the only one who can stop it.

Have you ever met the Devil at the crossroads? Because it looks like Natalie's about to...

Check out these fun school stories and back-to-school tales from today's Friday Reads LIVE! Back-to-School Edition.