William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream retold by Bruce Coville illustrated by Dennis Nolan*

My sons and I are memorizing some lines from A Midsummer Night's Dream so I read aloud this picture book to my nine year old. 
We thoroughly enjoyed it!
This humorous story features four humans who are experiencing the complications with love.  The fairies and hobgoblins decide to assist and make a bigger mess . . . for awhile.
The illustrations are magnificent!  The expressions on the characters' faces are perfectly depicted.  We love Puck because of how Mr. Nolan drew his facial expressions. 
Couple of well known phrases are from this play- "The course of true love never did run smooth."  -Lysander and  "What fools these mortals be!"-Puck
*Highly recommend.
-Borrowed from the library.
Warning: Word "ass" is used throughout the book-referring to a donkey.  But then Bottom says, "Well, I'll not let them make an ass of me!". 

Wicked Nix by Lena Coakley illustrated by Jaime Zollars

Nix is the foulest of fairies.  When a "people"  begins to remodel an abandoned cottage in the fairies' forest, Nix is quite disturbed.  He resolves to deploy his fairy tricks.  Boldly he threatens the "man people" with scary warnings.
The only problem is Nix is not magical like most fairies and this man-people seems to know how to scare and harm fairies.  The other fairies are in Summer Country so he has no one to help him.  So he consults Rose the Wise, his friend  who is a "little-girl-people".
As the story progresses, mysteries about Nix's  life slowly unfolds and the ending is a pleasant surprise.
A short book with a fast moving plot.
*I was pleased to see that this book was actually printed and bound in the U.S.A.!

-Borrowed from the library.

Grounded The Adventures of Rapunzel by Megan Morrison*

Co-created by Ruth Virkus
While holding true to the original Rapunzel story, Ms. Morrison adds dimension to the characters and explores answers to "why".
Why would a witch take children so she can remain youthful?
Why would Jack make a bargain with a giantess?
Why would Rapunzel be content in her tower all of these years?

Rapunzel loves witch and all that she provides for her.   Then when Jack invades her tower (no prince or valiant warrior has been able to), she is appalled by his accusations against witch.  She and Jack set out on an adventure across the land of Tyme where Rapunzel discovers that the land dwellers are not all evil and ordinary life can be magical.
Yet she remains loyal to Witch, urgently wanting to return to the tower to save her from Geguul.  Can she trust Witch or will she erased all of Rapunzel's adventure memories?
Very exciting!  Will appeal to girls who love adventure (boys will even like this story too, I think.).
*Highly recommend for junior high and older.
-Borrowed from the library.
Guided Reading Level: Y (6th grade)
Warning: Rapunzel is very naive.  She does not understand the concept of parents and them having children together.  The author states that Jack has to explain it to her  (and is quite embarrassed as he tries to educate her!).  He also has to explain what happens at childbirth (the labor, how a child comes into the world). So if the parent has not explained reproduction yet, the reader may be asking questions.
This book also makes the reader feel sorry for witch who has done so much evil.  A good discussion about forgiveness and justice could ensue the reading of this book.
Book #2-Disenchanted: The Trials of Cinderella was published this past Oct (2016).

The Kingdom of Fantasy #8-The Hour of Magic by Geronimo Stilton*

My fourth grader read this book to himself in one day!
Geronimo returns to the Kingdom of Fantasy to figure out why the Timepiece was spinning faster and faster and causing Blossom, the Queen of Fairies,  to age.  
-Borrowed from the library.
*Highly recommended by my fourth grader.
Guided Reading Level: S (4th grade)
Grade Level Equivalent: 4

Bloom by Doreen Cronin illustrated by David Small*

This book is a bit different from Ms. Cronin's typical stories!!
In a glass kingdom, Bloom, a powerful fairy, is banished because she leaves a trail of mud and dirt wherever she treads.
The fragile kingdom is soon in disrepair.   So the king and queen search for Bloom so she can work her magic.  The royal figures, however, do not like her solution---mud--and leave in disgust.  With desperation, they send their least intrusive kingdom member-Genevieve.  Once Genevieve finds Bloom, Bloom quickly teaches her the solution to the problem and ultimately teaches her that "there is no such thing as an ordinary girl".
*Highly recommend.
A fun story!
Strategy: inferring author's message/fable moral
*Borrowed from the library.

Geronimo Stilton The Volcano of Fire-The Fifth Adventure in the Kingdom of Fantasy*

My second grader read this book two times in two days!!  Needless to say, he really liked it!
Geronimo's main mission was to stop earthquakes from destroying the Kingdom of Fantasy plus rescue Sproutness, a fairy.
Guided Reading Level: T (4th grade)
Grade Level Equivalent: 4.2
**Highly recommend.
Text features: headings, bold font, labels, diagrams, maps
Strategies: check for understanding, vocab. expansion/word choice

The Amazing Voyage #3-in The Kingdom of Fantasy by Geronimo Stilton

My son is devouring the books in this Kingdom of Fantasy series.
He said-Geronimo received an armored suit from a talking boat named Horizon (who was made from the talking forest).  He traveled to the land of nightmares which use to be the land of dreams but when Crackle, the queen of witches took it over, she transformed it into nightmares.  Geronimo is to save the the queen of fairies-Blossom and destroy the black dragon.  With his sword of light, Geronimo destroys the black dragon, rescues Blossom and restores the kingdom to peace and goodness.
*Highly recommend.
Warnings/points to discuss: witches, nightmares
Guided Reading Level: S (4th grade)

Geronimo Stilton The Quest for Paradise-The Return to the Kingdom of Fantasy #2*

My second grader loves this series.
He told me that Geronimo must find the "heart of happiness".  He enjoyed the little puzzles throughout the story-he said they were easy enough that you were able to find hidden objects and return to the story quickly.
As Geronimo travels to different fantasy lands (fairies, ogres, land of sweets, land of toys, kingdom of comfort, land of gold, land of fairy tales), he hears various tales from the featured creatures.
Fact boxes, maps, onomatopoeia words abound!
*Highly recommend.
Guided Reading Level: T (4th grade)
Grade Level Equivalent: 4

A Leprechaun's St. Patrick's Day by Sarah Kirwan Blazek illustrated by James Rice

In rhyming text, the reader learns about typical St. Patrick's Day activities in Ireland.  Of course, the tricky leprechauns abound!
Real Irish words are included (along with their definition).  The author was born in Ireland and retains dual citizenship (Ireland and U.S.)

Traveling Tom and the Leprechaun by Teresa Bateman illustrated by Melisande Potter

All the unmarried men try to win Princess Kathleen's hand in marriage but are unsuccessful.  She sets up a challenge: capture a leprechaun's pot of gold and she would marry the man.
Tom, a traveling minstrel, accepts the challenge and wins.  But in the end he is not quite sure if he is the victorious one as he watches the leprechaun embrace the freedom he once had!!

A Fine St. Patrick's Day by Susan Wojciechowski illustrated by Tom Curry

Two towns, Tralah and Tralee, compete each St. Patrick's Day in a decorating contest.  Tralah always wins.  The story relates how a small gentleman comes on the eve of St. Patrick's Day for the villages' help in rescuing his cows stuck in the mud.  Both towns are frantically completing their decorating tasks.  Only the people from Tralee help the man and go to bed not completing their decorating.  They awaken the next morning to a huge surprise and learn a lifelong lesson.
Strategies: predicting, inferring

Clever Tom and the Leprechaun by Linda Shute

I loved the illustrations-facial expressions especially.
Tom happens upon a leprechaun and thinks that he will be set for life with the leprechaun's riches.  The leprechaun has the last laugh, of course!!
Funny!
The author shares the history of the story, leprechauns,  and of Ireland in the back.

Tea Time with Sophia Grace and Rosie by Sophia Grace Brownlee and Rosie McClelland illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas

Two cousins plan the perfect tea party and invite a surprise guest-each other!
Very cute and sweet-both the story time and the illustrations.
Girls who like pink, fairies, tea parties and imagining will love this book.
"Written" by two actual girls who live in England and periodically come to the US to appear on the TV show Ellen.