I have always loved books where the main character travels over into another world for a grand adventure. I found it comforting that they felt at home in a magical place as well. Middle-grade has always been a fun genre for me to read, and one that I started reading to my children once they were old enough as well. Now, as a middle-grade author of a portal fantasy trilogy, I’ve been able to create relationships with other kidlit authors and publishers and have been on many new literary adventures that way as well.
When eleven-year-old Eleanor receives a gift from her father, she never imagines it will open a portal to a fairytale world. Upon reading the first sentence of chapter one, she finds herself standing in the middle of Nightshade Forest—a dark woods with glowing blue and purple trees.
She soon learns that the magic in the kingdom is out of control, and it is up to Eleanor to restore what has gone missing. Join Eleanor and her newfound friends, Elfie and Milo in a search for a magic crystal as they fight off creatures Eleanor has only dreamed about. Can she make it to the happily-ever-after and rejoin her family, or will she be stuck in the Nightshade Forest forever?
One of the first memories of a portal-hopping character as a kid was Alice. The book taught me that no matter what is happening in the world, books are very much like wonderland: a new world and a way to find yourself. I recommend this one to all of the middle-grade readers out there because first, it’s a classic. Second, it’s just a whole lot of fun.
As a kid who was bullied a lot, it helped me feel that I had a place, even if it was having tea parties with fictional characters. This book actually inspired my trilogy.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel by English author Lewis Carroll (the pseudonym of Charles Dodgson). It tells of a young girl named Alice, who falls through a rabbit hole into a subterranean fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children.
One of the best-known and most popular works of English-language fiction, its narrative, structure, characters and imagery have been enormously…
Octavia is another character I adore and one that my daughter fell in love with as well. This is the first book in a five-book set and you get to go on adventures in a fairy world with the Bloom Family. It’s absolutely a charming portal-hopping tale filled with adventures, animal sidekicks, and a sense of wonder. It will have all the kids, and some adults, looking in their attic for a fairy door. It’s a book that is perfect for bedtime or those chilly rainy days.
I was an adult in college when I first picked up this book, but it was such a fun read and I remember binge reading them instead of the reading material I was supposed to be reading for class. Once again, the main character feels out of place in his natural world, and it is because he finds that he belongs to another. So again, this feeling of belonging when the real world just doesn’t make sense is my favorite trope and I know a lot of young readers who feel that way as well.
The Lightning Thief: the First book in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series.
The first bestselling book in Rick Riordan's phenomenally successful Percy Jackson series.
Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood. I never asked to be the son of a Greek God. I was just a normal kid, going to school, playing basketball, skateboarding. The usual. Until I accidentally vaporized my maths teacher. That's when things started really going wrong. Now I spend my time fighting with swords, battling monsters with my friends, and generally trying to stay alive.
This is a classic and I know it’s on many people’s favorite lists, but it’s such an inspiring book. To think that years later, people are still searching fancy wardrobes in secondhand stores (or maybe it’s just me haha) is wonderful. Lucy hit home with me as a kid when I read it, even though I was an only child. To believe that something else is out there—something that we can’t explain is exciting, and the entire series brings that feeling right into your living room.
Lucy steps into the Professor's wardrobe - but steps out again into a snowy forest. She's stumbled upon the magical world of Narnia, land of unicorns, centaurs, fauns... and the wicked White Witch, who terrorises all. Lucy soon realises that Narnia, and in particular Aslan, the great Lion, needs her help if the country's creatures are ever going to be free again...
This one has winter Narnia vibes, but with a whole new twist on the story. I was a beta reader for Jennifer and I read the book in one sitting because it was so good. This one is adventure-packed and perfect for those just starting to love reading. It’s book one of a series, and I recommend this one to everyone who loves Narnia or portal-traveling books. Imagine being able to just jump realms.
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good fright…”
What if Santa Claus was really a young, mad trickster and you had the one thing he wanted? What if the only person who agrees to protect you has a dark past of letting those he’s meant to protect die? What if one day you’re walking in the city and suddenly you can see another world tucked into the cracks of your own?
Helen Bell has been unwanted her whole life. So, when a young, handsome Winter guardian appears to aid her in a crisis, she’s sure he’s got his…
The Hunt for the Peggy C is best described as Casablanca meets Das Boot. It is about an American smuggler who struggles to rescue a Jewish family on his rusty cargo ship, outraging his mutinous crew of misfits and provoking a hair-raising chase by a brutal Nazi U-boat captain bent on revenge.
During the nerve-wracking 3,000-mile escape, Rogers falls in love with the family’s eldest daughter, Miriam, a sweet medical student with a militant streak. Everything seems hopeless when Jake is badly wounded, and Miriam must prove she’s as tough as her rhetoric to put down a mutiny by some of Jake’s fed-up crew–just as the U-boat closes in for the kill.
The Hunt for the Peggy C: A World War II Maritime Thriller
John Winn Miller's THE HUNT FOR THE PEGGY C, a semifinalist in the Clive Cussler Adventure Writers Competition, captures the breathless suspense of early World War II in the North Atlantic. Captain Jake Rogers, experienced in running his tramp steamer through U-boat-infested waters to transport vital supplies and contraband to the highest bidder, takes on his most dangerous cargo yet after witnessing the oppression of Jews in Amsterdam: a Jewish family fleeing Nazi persecution.
The normally aloof Rogers finds himself drawn in by the family's warmth and faith, but he can't afford to let his guard down when Oberleutnant Viktor…
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