Welcome to our third Dragon Tail Recommends list! While I would never recommend a life of villainy, unless there is a lovely pile of gold involved to sleep on, let’s be honest, a good tale requires a good villain– or should I say one that is good at being evil. Here is a list of stories about some of the best villains residing on the shelves of the Westfield Athenaeum.
The Big Bad Fox by Benjamin Renner
“Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Fox? No one, it seems.
The fox dreams of being the terror of the barnyard. But no one is intimidated by him, least of all the hens―when he picks a fight with one, he always ends up on the losing end. Even the wolf, the most fearsome beast of the forest, can’t teach him how to be a proper predator. It looks like the fox will have to spend the rest of his life eating turnips.
But then the wolf comes up with the perfect scheme. If the fox steals some eggs, he could hatch the chicks himself and raise them to be a plump, juicy chicken dinner. Unfortunately, this plan falls apart when three adorable chicks hatch and call the fox Mommy.”
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
“When a twelve-year-old evil genius tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll. Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a most ingenious criminal mastermind, and heir to the Fowl family empire, a centuries-old clan of underworld figures and famous con artists. When Artemis kidnaps Holly Short, one of the Fairy People, to help him on his quest for gold, he takes on a Fairy world determined to rescue Holly.”
The Isle of the Lost: a Descendants novel by Melissa De la Cruz
Twenty years ago, all the evil villains were banished from the kingdom of Auradon and made to live in virtual imprisonment on the Isle of the Lost. The island is surrounded by a magical force field that keeps the villains and their descendants safely locked up and away from the mainland. Life on the island is dark and dreary. It is a dirty, decrepit place that’s been left to rot and forgotten by the world. But hidden in the mysterious Forbidden Fortress is a dragon’s eye: the key to true darkness and the villains’ only hope of escape. Only the cleverest, evilest, nastiest little villain can find it … who will it be? At sixteen, Maleficent’s daughter, Mal, is the most talented student at Dragon Hall, best known for her evil schemes. And when she hears about the dragon’s eye, Mal thinks this could be her chance to prove herself as the cruelest of them all. She’ll just need a little help from her “friends.” In their quest for the dragon’s eye, these kids begin to realize that just because you come from an evil family tree, being good ain’t so bad.”
The Bad Guys by Aaron Blabey
“The Bad Guys, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Shark, Mr. Snake, and Mr. Piranha, want to be heroes, and they decide that the way to do it is free the 200 dogs in the city dog pound–but their plan soon goes awry.”
Flunked by Jen Calonita
“When petty thief Gilly, who lives with five younger brothers and sisters in a run-down boot, gets caught stealing, she is sentenced to three months at Fairy Tale Reform School, where all of the teachers are former villains, including the Big Bad Wolf, the Evil Queen, and Cinderella’s Wicked Stepmother.”
A Whole New World: a Twisted Tale by Lisa Braswell
“Aladdin is a street rat. Like most, he’s just trying to survive another day in impoverished Agrabah. Jasmine is a princess, one who is about to enter into an arranged marriage. All she wants is to escape her fate, to see what lies beyond the palace walls. But everything changes when the sultan’s trusted advisor, Jafar, suddenly rises to power. With the help of an ancient lamp, Jafar attempts to break the laws of magic and gain control over love and death. Soon Aladdin and the deposed princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion to stop the power-mad ruler threatening to tear the kingdom apart.”
The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alex Bracken
“Prosper is the only unexceptional Redding in his old and storied family history-that is, until he discovers the demon living inside him. Turns out Prosper’s great-great-great-great-great-something grandfather made-and then broke-a contract with a malefactor, a demon who exchanges fortune for eternal servitude. And, weirdly enough, eight-hundred-year-old Alastor isn’t exactly the forgiving type.
The fiend has reawakened with one purpose–to destroy the family whose success he ensured and who then betrayed him. With only days to break the curse and banish Alastor back to the demon realm, Prosper is playing unwilling host to the fiend, who delights in tormenting him with nasty insults and constant attempts to trick him into a contract. Yeah, Prosper will take his afterlife without a side of eternal servitude, thanks. But with the help of his long-lost uncle, Barnabas, and his daughter, Nell, a witch-in-training, it seems like Prosper has at least a fighting chance of ridding himself of Alastor before the demon escapes and wreaks havoc on his family.”
Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat by Johnny Marciano & Emily Chenoweth
“Klawde had everything: sharp claws, fine fur, and, being the High Commander of the planet Lyttyrboks, an entire world of warlike cats at his command. But when he is stripped of his feline throne, he is sentenced to the worst possible punishment: exile to a small planet in a quiet corner of the universe… named Earth.
Raj had everything. A cool apartment in Brooklyn. Three friends who lived in his building. And pizza and comics within walking distance. But when his mom gets a job in Elba, Oregon, and he is forced to move, all of that changes. It’s now the beginning of summer, he has no friends, and because of his mother’s urgings, he has joined a nature camp. It’s only when his doorbell rings and he meets a fur ball of a cat that Raj begins to think maybe his luck is turning around…”
Lunch Walks Among Us by Jim Benton
“Franny K. Stein is a mad scientist who prefers all things spooky and creepy, but when she has trouble making friends at her new school she experiments with fitting in–which works until a monster erupts from the trash can.”
