Contemporary children's fantasy has its own conventions and standards, often unacknowledged but recognized by those who write or publish fantasy. Diana Wynne Jones has built her reputation on challenging those conventions, standing them on their heads, a...

Diana Wynne Jones "is a prolific novelist of enormous range who can raise hairs on the back of the neck one minute, belly laughs the next," asserts Elaine Moss in the Times Literary Supplement. Jones not only creates mythical worlds peopled with wizards,...

IT'S AN UNLIKELY NAME for a guy who runs an Italian restaurant. "My mom met a nice Irishman," Frank McLaughlin explains. McLaughlin, whose mother is Italian, owns and manages Denver's Zia Maria, which features an eclectic Italian menu, expansive outdoor deck and...

After their father disappears, Mig and her brother, Chris, go with their mother to visit Aunt Maria, an elderly tyrant who is as demure as she is iron-willed. Upon arriving, Mig and her mother discover that they are expected to keep house for...