Cornelia Funke is the third best-selling author in Germany (behind Rowling, natch, and R.L. Stine). But her second runner-up status doesn't diminish her book Inkheart, which comes up with a terrific concept: what if reading books aloud permitted the characters in them to come to life and inhabit this world? And what if it wasn't always the nice characters (Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter) but the not-so-nice (evil) ones too?
MT Anderson and Scott Westerfield are critically acclaimed YA and sci-fi writers. Anderson's Feed and Westerfield's Uglies, Pretties, & Specials trilogy are equal parts speculative, satire, and scary. The best sci-fi also is human and emotionally honest, and these books are all excellent efforts as strong as any "adult" novel in the field.
Eva Ibbotson exhibits more of Roald Dahl's spark on her grocery lists than Rowling has in her entire literary output. She's also been around a lot longer, trucking in the fantastic, the whimsical, and the fabulistic without trying too hard. Good places to start include The Secret of Platform 13, Which Witch?, or Island of the Aunts.
And books I'm judging solely on the merits of their covers and blurbs:
Monster Blood Tattoo by D.M. Cornish - the first book ("Foundling") of an epic, fully-realized, world-building series that is already garnering comparisons to Tolkien (hopefully without all the boring-as-hell Hobbity walking/eating/singing idleness);
Here Be Monsters by Alan Snow (who also does lots and lots of woodcut-esque, old-timey original illustrations for the book);
The 13 ½ Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers, a German writer who has penned and illustrated this massively imaginative tome;
Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller, who introduces a kick-ass female protagonist who meets a kick-ass female superspy in the secret tunnels and civilization under Manhattan.
Article comments
1 - Diane Duane
Hey, thanks for the mention! Much appreciated. :)
2 - Tiffany Leigh
You're very welcome. I love your Young Wizards series ever since I found a paperback copy of "So You Want To Be A Wizard?" in the early-90's at my favorite used bookshop in mid-coast Maine. I'm glad they are easier to spot now. =)
3 - Brad
Tiffany,
Great statements. I too read the Blue Dolphins long ago and far away. Thanks for the new suggestions.
And, are you sure you shouldn't give her one more try. ;-) Just kidding, don't hurt me.
-b rad