Cornelia Funke

She is a fantastic author and I loved her books when I was younger and I still do today. The Thief Lord and Inkheart were and still are two of my favourites.

The Thief Lord is a book about a group of young children in Venice who are just trying to survive. There are two brothers who ran away from their aunt to Venice and join this group who live in an abandoned movie theatre. Their leader is Scipio, or "The Thief Lord". He supplies the group with treasures to help them survive. This book is abot friendship and trust and is absolutely amazing!

Inkheart is a trilogy about a man and his daughter and he has an ability that when he reads from a book, he can bring things out of the book such as the gold or flowers but also people. But when something comes out, something else must go in. When his daughter was very young, he was reading and the villain, Capricorn, emerged but his wife had gone in and he vowed never to read aloud again. Except now, Capricorn has come in search of him.
There was a movie adaptation of this book made in 2009 with Brendan Fraser and Helen Mirren.

Both of these books are amazing and she has so many more that I am eager to read. Give them a go!

Rivers of London Series

"Rivers of London" by Source. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rivers_of_London.jpg#/media/File:Rivers_of_London.jpg

This is an awesome series that I have been reading that centres on Peter Grant, an officer in the Metropolitan police of London, who after a strange encounter with a ghost, joins a part of the force that deals with the supernatural and becomes the first apprentice wizard of the force in 70 years. Diana Gabaldon claimed this is "what would happen if Harry Potter grew up and joined the Fuzz."
Through the books, he is learning to become a wizard as well as solve crimes and learn about what there is in the supernatural world. It is great British humour.
The books do touch on themes of sex and alcohol and such but don't shy away from letting people read them. They could start some good conversations but the themes aren't so prevalent that they will. If students are already reading series' such as Mortal Instruments or Steven King books, I think these are okay.

Pendragon Series

The Pendragon series by D.J. MacHale is an exciting fantasy series of novels for middle school aged students (and beyond).  It may be of particular interest to boys, based on my experience with two of my sons, who both loved this series and devoured all 10 books.

The premise is that Bobby Pendragon and his two best friends must save ten distinct territories, which are not part of Earth's space or time.  Each book deals with another unique territory and what Bobby and his friends must do to save it from destruction.  But how do Bobby and his friends end up in these territories?  They have been trained by Bobby's uncle to be "Travelers", able to travel through space and time to other dimensions. Part science fiction, part adventure, part fantasy, these books might just appeal to a lot of kids looking for a good read.

The Song of the Lioness Quartet

The Song of the Lioness Quartet is a series by Tamora Pierce featuring a strong female protagonist, Alanna.  In the kingdom where Alanna lives, she is expected to grow up to become a proper young lady in the palace court and her bother, Thom, is expected to train to become a knight.  Neither want to pursue the path fate has for them and so they hatch a plan to trade places and assume each other's future.  The four books in the series follow Alanna's journey as she grows up, gains skills and wins hearts.

This series would be of interest to middle school aged students, possibly especially girls, although there is action and adventure enough for all kids to enjoy.

BloodyJack

"Bloody Jack" is the first novel in a series by L.A. Meyer.  It is about a young orphaned girl in the 1800's who, to navigate the harsh England in which she finds herself alone, pretends to be a boy and gets hired on as a Ships Boy.  She chooses this path knowing that it will keep her fed and clothed and that she has a better chance of survival as a boy than a girl in the world in which she lives.

Complications arise as "Jacky" matures and develops but you'll have to read it to find out how she deals with such things.  There are currently 12 books in the series.  In each book, Jacky encounters a huge obstacle to her well being (slavery, pirating, the law, war) and, in each case, through ingenuity and bravery, she prevails, winning friends and gathering supporters along the way.

These books are great for readers that can't find enough books to read.  A student can immerse themselves in the world of Jacky Faber for a long time.  They are exciting, interesting and adrenaline pumping and they feature a strong, irresistible female protagonist.

RED: A Haida Manga

Now this is an interesting concept (and well done!).  "RED: a Haida Manga" is exactly that - a traditional Haida story told in the Japanese Manga style as graphic novel. It is the story of a brother and sister who are separated by war and the brother's quest to find the sister and exact revenge on her captors.  It is a tragic story of heroism, a search for justice and blind fury.

The really interesting aspect that makes this story telling so unique is the creator's choice to tell it in the Manga style, marrying the two cultures seamlessly.

Another fascinating thing about this book is that if you disassemble it, and reassemble it in a certain order, it becomes a 4m long continuous poster telling the story (pictured below).  I recommend this book for graphic novel studies, for learning about the Haida culture and traditions and for introducing the Manga style.