The Book of Heroes

When her brother Hiroki disappears after a violent altercation with school bullies, the young Yuriko finds a magical book in his room. The book leads her to another world where she learns that Hiroki has been possessed by a spirit from the Book of Heroes. She visits the magical Nameless Land, where she is told how to save her brother, and is sent back to Earth with a young monk named Sora and the magical book, transformed into a mouse named Azu. Yuriko has to piece together the mystery of Hiroki, and has a library of powerful magical books at her disposal to do so!

Miyuki Miyabe's first novel was published in 1987. Since that time, she has become one of Jaan's most popular and best-selling authors. The Book of Heroes is her sixth novel to be translated into English. Miyabe's 2007 novel Brave Story won the Batchelder Award for a children's book in translation from the American Library Association. In addition to her fantasies for young adults, Miyabe has written several crime novels for adult readers, the most recent of which to be translated into English is The Devils Whisper.