Reckless by Cornelia Funke
With references to stories from the Brothers Grimm, Cornelia Funke again takes her readers into an alternate world full of dangers and evil villains. This time her protagonist is Jacob Reckless who is a boy as the start of the novel begins, but quickly ages as the story fast-forwards twelve years into his future.
Without giving too much of the plot away, Jacob’s younger brother Will follows Jacob into the alternate world where he is wounded and slowly begins morphing into a non-human. The remainder of the story involves Jacob’s attempts to save his brother. A brief trip back to the real world (ours) involves Will’s girlfriend who also ends up accompanying the brothers on the quest for the cure. Although this book has an 840 (5th grade)lexile level, I would recommend it for an older audience of teens. There may well be a sequel as the ending leaves the reader wondering what might happen next to these characters.