Rhianna and the Wild Magic by Dave Luckett (Book on CD by Bolinda Publishing)
Rhianna has always had trouble learning magic in the local school. She doesn’t understand why everything has to be so precise and why her teacher can’t explain the reason behind the complicated gestures and words. Rhianna’s entire society relies on magic. They use it to make bread rise, make cloth stronger, and prevent damage to crops. But then one day, the local magic starts to fail. A master mage is sent in to see what is happening and he discovers Rhianna’s disastrous attempt at magic. What he realizes when he sees Rhianna’s mistake is that she is a wild mage who uses magic naturally and draws it from the countryside. So Rhianna is blamed for the loss of magic and must take lessons to try to control her magic and wear a pendant to absorb the magic she is taking from the land so that each week it can be returned to be reused.
This is a creative fantasy read aloud by a gifted reader with a strong Australian accent. The book is well-paced and the character of Rhianna is a wonderful female protagonist. The book is filled with humor and magic. This fantasy should be recommended to families traveling on car trips. Both adults and children alike will enjoy the book. For my eight-year-old and me, it kept us wanting our drives to be just a little longer, so we could hear more of the story: the hallmark of a great audio book.

The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney (0060766182)
Twelve-year-old Thomas Ward is a farm boy who is apprenticed to the county Spook. As the seventh son of a seventh son, Thomas is able to see things that others don’t. The Spook trains Thomas to fight boggarts, but Thomas finds himself up against a family of witches. Despite the Spook’s warnings to stay away from girls in pointy shoes, Thomas begins speaking with Alice and agrees to do her a favor. But that favor will change his life entirely, making him a target of local witches.
This book is a wild ride of horror for children. It is fantastically done with spine tingling pacing, skin crawling details, and sudden chills. The main characters of the Spook, Thomas, Alice and Thomas’s mother are all well-rendered and complex. The atmosphere of the book is hauntingly vivid, dark and horrible. Give this to kids who enjoyed Goosebumps at a younger age. How wonderful to have a horror book that is a well-written triumph to recommend to young readers.