Frances and the Monster by Refe Tuma, HarperCollins, 352 pages ($17.99)  Age 8 to 12.

In a mansion overlooking Bern, Switzerland, the 11-year-old daughter of two scientists taps into her own scientific genius to awaken her great-grandfather's creation in this dazzling, original take on the Frankenstein story.

Frances Stenzel, who bears scars and a missing ear from a car accident years before, has driven away 16 tutors by her 10th birthday and is desperately hoping her parents will take her along to a scientific symposium in Brussels. Instead, they introduce her new tutor, a robot named Hobbes ((Household Operations Bionic Butlery and Education Servant), programmed to care for her and monitor her so she can't get into trouble while they're gone.  

But Frances, who spent her childhood "watching her parents create polymers and bind neutrons," quickly figures out a way to power down Hobbes and finds her great-grandfather's journal and his secret laboratory, with a box containing the body of a monster frozen in ice. After drinking the intelligence serum her parents have been giving a chimp named Fritz, Frances is able to decipher her great-grandfather's codes to bring the monster to life.

But the monster escapes, and a remorseful Frances ventures into Bern to try to bring him back. Along the way she meets a kind boy named Luca, an old woman who can see into her past, a belligerent constable and a terrifying "sewer man" named Mr. Gangle.

The suspenseful tale unfolds against the colorful backdrop of Bern and includes a pursuit across roofs to the medieval Zytglogge clock tower, a pleasant afternoon drifting down the Aare River and the masks and mayhem of the Tschaggatta festival.

 Refe Tuma, creator of "What the Dinosaurs Did" series,' offers descriptive writing, memorable characters, thrilling suspense and a shocking perfect twist at the end. 

The Midnight Children by Dan Gemeinhart; Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 352 pages ($16.99) Ages 8 to 12.

 "Nearly all of Slaughterville was asleep when the children came..." 

12-year-old Ravani Foster is jolted awake by a feeling of loneliness late one night when a truck arrives and he watches seven children, one a girl his own age, disappear into the empty house across the street. 

Master storyteller Dan Gemeinhart ("Some Kind of Courage," "The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise") weaves a kind of enchantment into this thrilling tale of the power of connection to transform lives and the ripple effect acts of kindness can have in transforming an entire community.

 Ravani, a quiet, friendless boy, lives with his parents on Offal Road, not far from Carcass Creek, in Slaughterville, where the slaughterhouse is the main employer. Gemeinhart offers stomach-turning descriptions of what goes on there. "The sounds from inside got clearer: violent whooshes and gruesome ka-chunks and pitiable moos that made his hands break out in greasy sweat. A moist buzzing that could only be an electric saw blade cutting through bone. And beneath it all a dark pattern like a drumbeat: a hiss, then a startled moo that cut off abruptly with a meaty thud. Hiss-moooTHUD! Hiss-moooThud!..."

The girl, Virginia, confides that she and the others are runaway orphans who are being hunted. Ravani is battling his own demons: he is bullied relentlessly by two schoolmates and feels privately that he is a disappointment to his father. Does Ravani  have what it takes to protect his new friends? Gemeinhart's third-person narrative and setting of his novel in an undefined place and time add a hint of magic to his lovely tale of "found" family.

Ride On by Faith Erin Hicks, colors by Kelly FitzPatrick; First/Second, 229 pages ($14.99) Age 10 to 14.

This engaging graphic novel of friendship among young equestrians will appeal to any kid who loves horses and to fans of Raina Telgemeier and Remy Lai.

Victoria loves horses but riding lessons and competitions at the elite Waverly Stables are stressful – and expensive, particularly now that her parents are divorced. Hurt by a falling out with her best friend Taylor – whose parents bought her her own horse – Victoria leaves for a lesser-known stable, resolving to focus on riding and to avoid the drama of making friends.

So Victoria rebuffs the welcome from a chatty girl named Norrie, who is convinced she's a spy sent from Waverly. Norrie is also annoyed when Victoria is chosen to train Edgewood Stable's new horse.

Through her marvelous cartoon panels, Hicks brings to life her memorable human and equine characters including "demon" pony Olaf in this engaging tale of friendship through a shared love of horses.

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Reviewer of children's books for the Buffalo News and retired after 36 years at The News, working as a copy editor, assistant city editor, feature writer, youth section editor and digital content editor.

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