Here are 69 books that Of Giants and Ice fans have personally recommended if you like
Of Giants and Ice.
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I’ve always been fascinated by family dynamics and have studied human development and psychology. I’m also a lifelong voracious reader and treasure my childhood reading experiences. Last but not least, I have three kids. Arguments and hurt feelings are inevitable but kids don’t love a lecture. A good story can bring understanding without being boring or pedantic. And we all know reading with your kids at bedtime is vital, but can’t we as parents ask for a little enjoyment too–maybe even a good laugh?!
The first in Chris Colfer's incredible series, the book centers on twins who find themselves in a fairy tale world.
Amidst the magic and fantasy, the brother and sister deal with real-world sibling dynamics and disagreements. These were so entertaining and clever–my daughter and I zoomed through the whole series together, getting a kick at what Colfer did with the classic fairy tale characters.
Alex and Conner Bailey's world is about to change...Through the mysterious powers of a cherished book of stories, twins Alex and Connor leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign land full of wonder and magic where they come face-to-face with the fairy tale characters they grew up reading about. But after a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike, getting back home is going to be harder than they thought.
My family moved from America to rural China when I was four. We never stayed in one place for very long. Ever since, I’ve been searching for home in books and countries around the world. The themes of home, belonging, and identity are important ones to me that I explore in my young adult novels. My love of travel, martial arts, and tech also lend themselves well to writing fast-paced adventure books with epic battles and fight scenes. I hope you enjoy the novels on this list as much as I do!
This book has such an interesting protagonist and a captivating world. Just like in the Cinderella fairy-tale, there’s a dashing prince, horrible step-sisters, and a royal ball.
But in this retelling, everything is set in a near-future Asian society. Oh, and did I mention Cinder, the main character, is a cyborg and has a pet robot? I devoured the whole series!
A forbidden romance. A deadly plague. Earth's fate hinges on one girl . . .
CINDER, a gifted mechanic in New Beijing, is also a cyborg. She's reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's sudden illness. But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen - and a dangerous temptation.
Cinder is caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal. Now she must uncover secrets about her mysterious past in order to protect Earth's future.
I grew up on a steady diet of Disney movies, and while I knew they didn’t stay true to the original tales, that didn’t stop me from loving them. Fast-forward through an MFA in genre fiction from Seton Hill University, and I landed a gig writing study guides for fiction novels, where I put my love of fairy tales to good use. In particular, retellings fascinate me because they bring something new to something old. The books on this list stayed with me because of their deep ties to stories that shaped who I am, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
I read this a few years ago, thought it was cute, and moved on. I recently reread it on a much deeper dive, and I found a story that was so much more than it appeared initially.
Gidwitz’s humor is excellent—I laughed out loud reading this. But he also touches on so many themes that are present throughout fairy tales while not shying away from either the darkness or the light.
I loved the way he combined some of the lesser-known tales with Hansel and Gretel to make something that was more than any one story had been before. It was something I wanted to replicate in my own way, and he does it so well.
In this mischievous and utterly original debut, Hansel and Gretel walk out of their own story and into eight other classic Grimm-inspired tales. As readers follow the siblings through a forest brimming with menacing foes, they learn the true story behind (and beyond) the bread crumbs, edible houses, and outwitted witches.
Fairy tales have never been more irreverent or subversive as Hansel and Gretel learn to take charge of their destinies and become the clever architects of their own happily ever after.
I grew up on a steady diet of Disney movies, and while I knew they didn’t stay true to the original tales, that didn’t stop me from loving them. Fast-forward through an MFA in genre fiction from Seton Hill University, and I landed a gig writing study guides for fiction novels, where I put my love of fairy tales to good use. In particular, retellings fascinate me because they bring something new to something old. The books on this list stayed with me because of their deep ties to stories that shaped who I am, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
This is the first in a series about kids who’ve had their Wonderland experience—gone to another world where they fit in, only to be thrust back to Earth.
I devoured this book with all the needy fervor of a girl who spent her childhood looking for hidden doors in tree trunks and waiting for her to be summoned to her calling. This doesn’t call from any specific tales. Rather, it combines elements from fairy tales across cultures and authors to create a world that stole my breath.
It also incorporates another story element I’m a sucker for—the school for “special” or “gifted” children. Only I hope I’d never have to attend this school because it would mean I’d found my place and then lost it again.
Winner: 2022 Hugo Award for Best Series Winner: 2017 Hugo Award Winner: 2017 Alex Award Winner: 2017 Locus Award Winner: 2016 Nebula Award Nominated: 2017 World Fantasy Award Nominated: 2017 British Fantasy Award 2016 Tiptree Honor List
"A mini-masterpiece of portal fantasy — a jewel of a book that deserves to be shelved with Lewis Carroll's and C. S. Lewis' classics" —NPR
Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children No Solicitations No Visitors No Quests
Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes…
I have been writing for more than a decade specifically in fantasy. My mind was filled with tales of magic, heroes, and mythical creatures for decades. When Christ called me it was like learning how to fit my creativity and imagination into this box. Except, He is the box from which all creativity comes. As for my expertise concerning the Word of God, I have studied the Bible from beginning to end and I have prepared and preached a number of sermons. I will one day be a full-fledged pastor, and writing is a part of the job. I have a unique blend of fantasy and Christ.
When 12-year-old Lily McKinley finds her deceased father's stone pendant, she is transported to a new dimension where she must battle evil nightmares with the help of a dragon named Cedric to save the dream keepers and rescue the Realm.
I’m an award-winning children's book author-illustrator. I’ve spent the last fifteen years dreaming up stories that I hope will inspire curiosity and wonder in kids of all ages. I’m also a life-long learner! I can’t get enough info about this amazing world we live in. The more I learn, the more I realize that being a noticer, someone who slows down to observe the tiny details around them, will inspire questions and the need to find some surprising and fascinating answers. When my daughter asks a question (and there are many), my mantra has become, “I don’t know, let’s find out!” I hope this list inspires your own adventurous inquiries.
Wordless picture books are sometimes a bit tricky. How do you “read” them anyways?
But Journey (and its sequels Quest and Return) allow you to dive into the gorgeous artwork and compelling story. Just soak it all in, and you’ll want to set off on your own adventure by the time you're done.
6
authors picked
Journey
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
4,
5,
6, and
7.
What is this book about?
Be swept away on an elaborate flight of fancy in this Caldecott award-winning, wondrously illustrated picture book about self-determination and unexpected friendship.
The winner of the prestigious Caldecott Honor, and described by the New York Times as 'a masterwork', Aaron Becker's stunning, wordless picture book debut about self-determination and unexpected friendship follows a little girl who draws a magic door on her bedroom wall. Through it she escapes into a world where wonder, adventure and danger abound. Red marker pen in hand, she creates a boat, a balloon and a flying carpet which carry her on a spectacular journey ...…
I’m a mother of two children and was raised in a noisy family of four. It was my kids who reawakened my instinct to write again and follow through on my projects. Motherhood is such a fundamental part of my life and for most women I know. It’s mundane yet transformative in the sense it brings out your inner lioness in a way you don’t anticipate. When I think about some of my favorite literary characters, they would be unrecognizable if they weren’t mothers. With that in mind, I hope readers find a lovely story for their moms on Mother’s Day.
The eternal devotion and self-sacrifice endured by the mother-daughter pair is the real heartbeat of the story as I followed Xingyin on her many adventures.
As the daughter of the exiled Moon Goddess, Xingyin is forced to flee her home when her mother fears Xingyin’s existence will be discovered by the Celestial Emperor.
Xingyin must find a way to please the very Emperor who holds her mother hostage if she has any hope of setting her mother free. Her mother gave up so much in order to give Xingyin life, and is never far from her daughter’s mind.
I could not help but hope that mother and daughter would one day be reunited.
The book also has gorgeous world-building inspired by Chinese myths that makes it an enthralling read.
The bestselling debut fantasy inspired by the legend of the Chinese moon goddess.
A young woman's quest to free her mother pits her against the most powerful immortal in the realm, setting her on a dangerous path where those she loves are not the only ones at risk...
*THE INSTANT TOP 5 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*
THERE ARE MANY LEGENDS ABOUT MY MOTHER...
Raised far away on the moon, Xingyin was unaware she was being hidden from the Celestial Emperor - who exiled her mother for stealing the elixir of immortality. But when her magic flares and reveals her, Xingyin is…
For me, books have always been an incredible way to escape, most especially when life is overwhelming. I read books as an escape when I was young, and now as an author, I write books to escape as well. My favorite books to escape into always include heart pounding adventure, fantastical magic, and characters I wish I could know in real life. These are the sorts of books I write; ones that give readers the chance to exist as someone else in another place, perhaps go on a wild adventure. My hope as an author is that my books allow readers to leave their own world and their own worries behind.
This book had everything I could ever desire in an escape—monsters, magic, and mayhem. Brine Seaborne, a very precocious girl, gets wrapped up in the adventures of pirates as they head out on a quest to find the Magical North. Intertwined with the creative, beguiling magic are conversations that resonated deeply for me, ones about what makes a person a monster and who gets to hold positions of power (I actually stopped and jotted down a couple quotes while reading! Those notes are still in my phone today!). Voyage to the Magical North sits on my “favorites” shelf because of the thoughtful questions that are buried just beneath the surface of the quest Brine and her companions embark on.
Take to the high seas in Voyage to Magical North, a swashbuckling pirate adventure filled with magic by Claire Fayers.
Twelve-year-old Brine Seaborne is a girl with a past . . . if only she could remember what it is. Found alone in a rowboat as a child, clutching a shard of the rare starshell needed for spell-casting, she's spent every day since housekeeping for an irritable magician and his obnoxious apprentice, Peter.
But everything changes when Brine and Peter accidentally break the magician's starshell and need to flee the island. Lost at sea, they blunder into the path of…
With nearly a thousand novels under my belt (or time-worn Kindle, more accurately), I was itching to make my own mark in the world of literature as I entered my teenage years. Having all but one of the books I read be, puzzlingly, written by those definitively into their adulthood only strengthened that desire. Over 850 pages of my own story, drawing from all that I’d read and heard, finally satisfied it three years later — and placed me in a position to share with other readers my age, one teen to another, those tales that most influenced and inspired me.
Most novels, fantasy or otherwise, use portals to travel between worlds—but why stop there? Story Thieves certainly doesn’t! It takes the whole concept of fictional worlds and brings it one step further—characters can physically step in and out of books, and even influence their contents.
Sounds interesting? I certainly found it to be, and read through each novel in this series within days of its release, not to mention several times later throughout the years. Should you be looking for a bit of fresh air in your library, this is certainly one choice worth considering.
A hilarious, action-packed series launches with a story-within-a-story, from the bestselling author of the Half Upon a Time trilogy.
Life is boring when you live in the real world, instead of starring in your own book series. Owen knows that better than anyone, what with the real world’s homework and chores.
But everything changes the day Owen sees the impossible happen—his classmate Bethany climb out of a book in the library. It turns out Bethany’s half-fictional and has been searching every book she can find for her missing father, a fictional character.
I’ve always been drawn to stories that feature mysterious locales and secret objects and strange or magical occurrences, so books with these elements—particularly when the main characters in the books are young people learning about themselves and the world around them—are often very satisfying to me. There’s something naturally engaging, I believe, in tales where someone is thrust into a disorienting situation and has to make sense of the uncertainty he or she faces. The books I’ve written for young readers all tend in this direction, and so I’m always on the hunt for stories along these same lines.
Trenton Lee Stewart’s follow-up to his enormously popular and influential “Mysterious Benedict Society” series was received with puzzlement by many fans expecting a retread of the MBS adventures, but I find this audacious, intricately-plotted, wildly implausible tale somewhat irresistible. It all kicks off when eleven-year-old Reuben, at once introverted and adventure-seeking, discovers a strange watch that ensnares him in deep troubles. Finding his way out proves endlessly complex and bewildering as Reuben sifts through one peril after the next. It’s a beguiling tale for those doubly-willing to suspend disbelief—Stewart dares the reader to try.
This provocative analysis of U.S. relations with Cambodia from the 1950s to the present illuminates foreign policy issues that remain especially pertinent in the aftermath of the Cold War, as we attempt to formulate new approaches to a changed but still threatening international situation. Based on interviews with more than 100 diplomats, journalists, and scholars who have been involved with the Cambodian peace process, Michael Haas' book brings to light new information on a complex chain of events and casts doubt on official accounts of U.S. policies toward Cambodia.
Haas sorts through the tangle of misinformation, anti-communist hysteria, secret operations,…
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