Wataru Mitani is an eleven-year-old boy living in a suburb of Tokyo. He likes playing video games with his best friend Katchan more than going to school or studying for exams at evening cram school. Recently, a school rumor has been swirling suggesting that a building near Wataru’s house is haunted. Wataru doesn’t believe in ghosts so he’s not surprised when nothing supernatural appears the night he and Katchan explore the building, although the two boys do have a strange, unsettling encounter with the building’s owner. This is followed by something even more unsettling at home: Wataru’s father announces that he is leaving Wataru and his mother. The shocking announcement turns Wataru’s world upside down. His mother spirals into physical and emotional chaos, becoming a risk to herself and others when she attempts suicide, and his father becomes even more distant and detached. Filled with desperation and confusion, Wataru returns to the building and discovers a rare portal into a fantasy world called Vision. The realm of Vision is ruled by the Goddess who lives in the Tower of Destiny. Seeing the opportunity to change the fate of his family through the help of the Goddess, Wataru embarks on a quest. The deft blending of fantasy and reality in Brave Story extends to Vision itself, which strangely parallels people and circumstances from the real world (in addition to features from video games). Brave Story offers a tantalizing adventure and fresh new fantasy wrapped up in a hefty translation of fate, love, and family. The novel will give readers a strong sense of contemporary youth culture in Japan, where it was originally published, and where both Manga and Anime spinoffs of the story have been produced. (Ages 10–14)

In Miyuki Miyabe’s fourth translated book, ten-year-old Wataru is ap palled that his father plans to divorce his mother and marry another woman. When his mother attempts suicide, Wataru enters the fantastic land of Vision, where he struggles against internal and external monsters to reach the Tower of Destiny. His journey pits good against evil, friendship against personal goals, and leads him through animelike adventures. Although the 816-page text is intimidating, gamers will readily identify with this book. In Japan, it was serialized, published as manga, as video games, and as an ani mated movie. Introduce readers who crave similar fantasy worlds to Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story (1979/1983). 2008 Batchelder Award. lmp

Originally published as Bureibu sutori in Japanese by Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Japan, in 2003. Translated by Alexander O.

Young Wataru flees his messed-up life to navigate the magical world of Vision, a land filled with creatures both fierce and friendly. His ultimate destination is the Tower of Destiny where a goddess of fate awaits. Only when he has finished his journey and collected five elusive gemstones will he possess the Demon's Bane--the key that will grant him his most heartfelt wish...the wish to bring his family back together again! -- VIZ Media