Wonder Struck by Brian Selznick (Scholastic)
Selznick, author of the elegant “Invention of Hugo Cabret,” employs the fantastic New York Museum of Natural History to link the story of a deaf girl, told entirely in arresting drawings, and a mourning boy whose words compose meticulous observations.
Both are involuntarily alone, yearning for a connection to a distant loved one. Their stories, set 50 years apart, are charged with tension and hope. Ages 9 and up
The Apothecary by Maile Meloy (Putnam)
In this story of magic realism, Janie Scott is relocated to London in 1952 along with her parents, where she befriends the British son of an apothecary whose talents include creating transformative elixers from the extraordinary Pharmacopoeia.
Janie’s parents, both blacklisted television writers waiting out the House Un-American Activities Committee idiocy, illustrate a particularly shameful period of U.S. history that also parallels the nuclear arms race between the U.S. and the then-U.S.S.R.
Meloy’s story is deft and engaging, and the children’s experiments with shape-shifting should appeal especially to readers who’ve outgrown the Animorphs books. Ages 10 and up.
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd cq (Candlewick Press)
Disquieting but compelling, this story revolves around one of the most primal human fears. Young Conor’s recurring nightmares began when his mother started a new round of chemotherapy. A horrific tree-monster visits Conor to tell three stories, “the wildest thing of all. Stories that chase and bite and hunt.”
But as his mother fades, can Conor believe the monster’s promise of healing? And how is “healing” defined? Dowd, posthumously awarded the Carnegie Medal for “Bog Child,” outlined the story’s concept before her death at age 47. Ages 12 and up.
Over and Under The Snow by Kate Messner with art by Christopher Silas Neal (Chronicle Books)
This elegant picture book illuminates the secret world cloaked by snow. While our cross country skis glide overhead, voles “scratch through slippery tunnels” to hunt for food. Beavers inside iced-over dams gnaw on stashes of aspen. A queen bee sleeps through December, waiting to rule a new colony. Snowshoe hares, camouflaged in winter white, hide in plain sight. Ages 4 and up.
The Qalupalik cq by Elisha Kilabuk cq , illustrated by Joy Ang (Inhabit)
With leopard seals, blizzards and hypothermia-inducing temperatures, do the Inuit really need a qalupaliit (spelled differently in the text than in the title ) to terrify their children?
Guess so, because Inuit children are taught to fear the legendary creature always ready to claw an unsuspecting child to its lair under the sea ice.
In this story, a fast-thinking boy outsmarts a predatory qalupaliit, but Ang’s vacant-eyed monster is horrific enough to guarantee nightmares. Ages 7 and up, but keep a nightlight handy.
The Year Money Grew On Trees written and illustrated by Aaron Hawkins (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Parents familiar with the Everyday Mathematics program will like this novel’s strategy for combining an engaging story with relevant math problems. After being (sort of) suckered into reviving a 300-tree apple orchard, young Jackson discovers that his original profit calculations neglected to account for a mounting array of expenses from fertilizer to packing boxes. Ages 10 and up.
Claire Martin: 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com
Children’s Books by Claire Martin
