THE KINGDOM OF KEVIN MALONE

Amy, 14, is roller-skating in Central Park when Kevin, a tough Irish kid from her old neighborhood, suddenly runs by and pins onto her jersey a trinket he took from her long ago. Running after him, she passes through an arch and into the kingdom that Kevin has created to escape his father's brutality. There, Amy is drawn into Kevin's struggle with his archenemy Anglower, returning to the real world to bring Kevin a magic sword. In the end, Kevin defeats Anglower, who turns out to be a reincarnation of his brutal, drunken father. Amy returns home, but Kevin stays in his kingdom. Charnas blends tough, gritty young New Yorkers who have real problems—Kevin's dad, Amy's recent loss of a beloved cousin—with the standard elements of troll-and-mole fantasy. The mix is uneven, but it does make an engrossing story. (Fiction. 12+)