Artemis Fowl
Eoin Colfer describes his new book,Artemis Fowl, as "Die  Hardwith fairies." He's not far wrong.Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is the most ingenious criminal mastermind in  history. With two trusty sidekicks in tow, he hatches a cunning plot to divest  the fairyfolk of their pot of gold. Of course, he isn't foolish enough to  believe in all that "gold at the end of the rainbow" nonsense. Rather, he knows  that the only way to separate the little people from their stash is to kidnap  one of them and wait for the ransom to arrive. But when the time comes to put  his plan into action, he doesn't count on the appearance of the extrasmall,  pointy-eared Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon (Lower Elements Police  Reconnaisance) Unit--and her senior officer, Commander Root, a man (sorry, elf)  who will stop at nothing to get her back.Fantastic stuff from beginning to end,Artemis Fowlis a rip-roaring,  21st-century romp of the highest order. The author has let his imagination run  riot by combining folklore, fantasy, and a fistful of high-tech funk in an  outrageously devilish book that could well do for fairies what Harry Potter has  done for wizardry. But be warned: this is no gentle frolic, so don't be fooled  by the fairy subject matter. Instead, what we have here is well-written,  sophisticated, rough 'n' tumble storytelling with enough high-octane attitude to  make it a seriously cool read for anyone over the age of 10.--Susan  Harrison