Your grandchild will enjoy these stories of a zombie and a young mermaid

by Amy Orringer

Though fantasy stories and fairy tales continue to enjoy their hold on the younger set, thanks to a certain wizard-based series, the world of young adult and tween fantasy is experiencing its own coming-of-age. The stories are less about plunging readers completely into another world, and more about that other world being tossed into readers' lives, the already complex mess of adolescence.

Twilight, The Twilight Saga, Book 1 (Little, Brown Young Readers, 2006) by Stephenie Meyer

This is one of the few young adult novels we can recommend for both grandmothers and granddaughters. Twilight, the Twilight Saga, Book 1 is the first in yet another brilliant series that’s well-written enough to suck in (excuse the pun) even the most cynical adult reader. Readers can immediately identify with the main character, 17 year-old Bella; she’s a completely regular, kind-of-clumsy, independent girl — the kind we root for because secretly (or for some tweens, maybe not so secretly), we’re a little like that too. So the plot gets even more enthralling when we discover that Bella just happens to be cosmically connected to a handsome, dangerous, incredibly kind vampire. Sure, there are lots of books about love against all odds, but this one manages to conjure up that belief in true, immortal that love we develop as young girls and never really let go of, no matter how long ago we traded it for practicality. Young readers find themselves wanting to believe that even amid midterms and homecoming and the whole vampires-eat-humans problem, they’ll somehow make it through; older readers will simply feel like young readers again. The entire series has been flying off the shelves for months, and the first book will be released as a movie, starring Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattinson, later this fall.

Price: $6
For ages: 14 and older
Available at: Amazon.com

Generation Dead (Hyperion, 2008) By Daniel Waters

It’s hard enough going to high school every day as a regular kid – you’ve got AP exams to take, a homecoming date to find, and maybe a chore or two to do around the house. For zombies, who move at half the pace of normal teenagers, the road is extra bumpy. Generation Dead, is set sometime in the future, where those American teenagers who happen to die just won’t stay dead. Scientists have many theories about why this happens — preservatives in food, live-action video games, and vaccines are the favored few — but no one can fully explain the phenomenon. Teenage zombies are a relatively new breed, and the “traditionally biotic” (i.e., living) teenagers have a hard time getting used to the idea of them. Some, like Phoebe, our ironically Goth main character, do their best to reach out to the undead. But as history dictates, conflict always arises when the “normal” way of life is called into question, despite the best efforts of Phoebe and her friends. Surprisingly, the scariest characters in this book aren’t the ones who don’t breathe.

Price: $12
For ages: 14 and older
Available at: Amazon.com

The Tail of Emily Windsnap (Candlewick, 2006) by Liz Kessler

This book is highly recommended by a 7-year-old, who with her mom, is already starting book two of the series. Like Bella in Twilight, Emily in The Tail of Emily Windsnap also grows up as an independent child of a single mother. Emily has no memory of her father, and strangely, neither does her mother. All she is told is that he left one day when she was a baby, and never said another word to Emily’s mom. There are other mysteries in Emily’s life too — like why she and her mother live on a houseboat despite her mother’s fear of the ocean, and why Emily has never learned to swim. But one day, when her class is invited to take swimming lessons in the school pool, Emily finally gets her mother to agree. After all those years of being surrounded by water, finally she gets a chance to dive in. It’s not too long after Emily’s first plunge that she notices something feels different, but also vaguely familiar. Though she’s out of the pool before anyone notices her change, she sneaks back down to the oceanfront later that evening to try the water again. As she submerges, she discovers her true identity as a mermaid, and begins her journey to uncover the mysteries of her life that lie just beneath the surface.

Price: $6
For Ages: 9 to 12
Available at: Amazon.com