Anne Coburn, Glint

Glint

Anne Coburn

Eos, Jan 2007, $16.99

ISBN: 0060847247

Ellie and her younger brother Danny used to play together making up adventure stories about a heroic girl in a fantasy realm filled dragons, shapeshifters, and other more dangerous creatures. Five years later the siblings remain close as his friends come for his eleventh birthday party. Only one problem, Danny fails to show up. The police make no progress into his disappearance and begin to assume foul play. When her friends ask Ellie if she and Danny were close to one another, she realizes only she knows him well enough to find him. She starts at the nearby cave where they shared tales of a courageous girl their age.

At the same time that Ellie begins her quest, on the world that she and Danny imagined, their heroine Argent begins a dangerous quest to regain a stolen dragon hatchling. The danger mounts as adversaries ready to pick on a little girl seems to leap up from behind every rock on the road she travels. Yet though she risks her life, Argent refuses to go home without achieving her objective.

This terrific fantasy targets the 9-12 years old crowd, but readers of all ages will appreciate the two young, strong and caring females as each starts a separate quest to save an individual they love. The subplots showcase the courage and determination of the heroines as the charming story line rotates worlds before cleverly merging into a climax where reality and fantasy tie together. GLINT is a winning fantasy for the middle school crowd.

Harriet Klausner