Disney Readers Will Love This New Anthology

Need a crowd-pleasing gift for some bookworms? If so, look no further than “The Cursed Carnival and Other Calamities: New Stories About Mythic Heroes” from Rick Riordan Presents, which is a branch of Disney-Hyperion Publishing! This book takes some of fantasy-adventure and middle-grade fiction’s biggest authors and combines their talents to create several compelling stories that are bound to please anyone who loves a good Disney tale! Rick Riordan, one of the biggest names in middle-grade adventure books (and the author of the popular “Percy Jackson” series about Greek myths and Greek heroes as well as a particularly unique new book inspired by “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”), is the editor of this anthology. He also wrote one of the ten stories in the book!

Almost every hero in these stories is a character from the authors’ main series.  Roshani Chokshi’s character Aru Shah from “Aru Shah and the End of Time” and Kwame Mbalia’s character Tristan Strong from “Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky” are two young heroes who are returning. According to Goodreads, others are “Zane Obispo, Min the fox spirit, Sal and Gabi…Nizhoni Begay, Paola Santiago, Sikander Aziz, and Riley Oh”!

These characters stem from “The Storm Runner” by J.C. Cervantes, “Dragon Pearl” by Yoon Ha Lee, “Sal and Gabi Break the Universe” by Carlos Hernandez, “Race to the Sun” by Rebecca Roanhorse, “Paola Santiago and the River of Tears” by Tehlor Kay Mejia, “City of the Plague God” by Sarwat Chadda, and “The Last Fallen Star” by Graci Kim. You can expect everything from “a cave monster” to “an abandoned demon” in this new collection with beloved characters, and apparently “the cultures represented by these own-voices stories are: Indian, Mesoamerican, Korean, Cuban, Black American, African, Navajo, Mexican, Mesopotamian, and Celtic”.

Rick Riordan’s books typically involve some sort of mythology or fantasy elements, as well as some historical elements with a hint of treasure hunting. His books about ancient Egyptian mythology, Norse mythology, and the Greek gods have all been popular, and his books also usually feature charming and beloved heroes like Percy Jackson, Magnus Chase, or siblings Carter and Sadie in “The Kane Chronicles”. Have you read these books or any of these other authors’ books, and do you know anyone who would like this exciting anthology?