Tattoo by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

When Bailey and her three friends get temporary tattoos at the mall, things start getting strange.  Bailey hears a voice saying “To fight, to live, we two of three bestow this gift.”  The tattoos are talking to her.  She starts seeing people, and she sets fire to another girl’s shoes.  One of her friends can hear what the others are thinking.  Another gets premonitions of the future.  And the fourth can change things.  The girls are excited about their new powers.  But then the girl who can see the future gets a vision of a girl on a balcony, falling.  Suddenly, the powers aren’t fun anymore.  Something serious is going on.  Can the four friends figure out the mystery and stop it before their powers disappear?

Review by Kathleen

Pure Dead Magic by Debi Gliori

Meet the Strega-Borgia family. There’s Titus (he’s twelve), Pandora (ten), Damp (fourteen months), and their parents Signor Luciano and Signora Baci.  And their many-greats grandmother, Strega-Nonna.  They live in Scotland, in a castle, and Signora Baci is studying to be a witch.  Signor Luciano has disappeared after walking out one night.  And strange things are starting to happen around the castle, especially when Signor Luciano’s half-brother, Don Lucifer di S’Embowelli Borgia decides he doesn’t want Titus to receive his inheritance.

Pure Dead Magic, and the other books in the Pure Dead series by Debi Gliori, are especially good for younger teens who liked A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.

Review by Kathleen

Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

“Benevolence is not your typical princess – and Princess Ben is certainly not your typical fairy tale.”

Princess Ben is the story of a girl who likes being Princess but doesn’t want to be queen.  Her father is the king’s younger brother, and her mother is known more for her healing potions than her grace around a ballroom.  So when her parents, along with the king, die one tragic day on the way to visit Ben’s grandfather’s tomb, Ben has no choice but to move into the castle under Queen Sophia’s tutelage.  She hates it.  The queen wants Ben to lose weight, so she restricts what Ben can eat.  Ben’s forced into classes in dancing, manners, deportment, and needlework.  Ben lashes out by stepping on her dancing teacher’s laces, untying them.  When the queen discovers that someone has been sneaking food to the princess, Ben is moved to a little room about the queen’s suite.  After one particularly brutal dinner, Ben discovers, quite by accident, a magic portal in her room that leads her to a book of spells.  Princess Ben learns magic and, in turn, learns about herself and of what she’s truly capable.

Review by Kathleen