The Shadow Thieves (The Cronus Chronicles)
Grade 7-9-With a wit and cynicismthat will enchant most readers, Ursu weaves an extraordinary tale filled with Greek gods, sick and shadowless children, and a plot to overthrow the Lord of the Dead. Charlotte Mielswetzki is in such a bad mood that she doesn't notice a freakish man in a tuxedo following her home from school. But something extraordinary is about to happen. Charlotte's cousin Zee lives in England, where all of his friends are becoming mysteriously and seriously ill. Sent to Charlotte's family in America, he discovers that the same thing is happening to his new friends. It turns out that Philonecron, born in the Underworld, is determined to overthrow Hades and builds an army from children's stolen shadows, getting at them through Zee. The quick-paced novel takes readers on a danger-filled journey from the Midwest to Hades, where Charlotte and Zee make their final stand against the evil threatening to destroy the world of the dead.The Shadow Thievesis a great addition to this newly popular Greek-myth genre. Readers of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (Hyperion) and Jane Yolen's Young Heroes series (HarperCollins) will delight in this new helping of myth-based fiction.-Lisa Marie Williams, Fairfax County Public Library System, Reston, VACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.