Read Cart and Cwidder by Diana Wynne Jones *and* Batman Adventures Vol. 1

Cart and Cwidder is a fantasy novel, I'd estimate aimed at kids in the 10 or so range, set in Dalemark, a medievalish country torn by a civil war between the North and the South. Our protagonist is Moril (full name Osfameron Tanamoril Clennonson), the youngest son in a family of traveling singers who travel around South Dalemark in a cart, performing music, spreading the news, sending letters, and taking on the occasional passenger. The family's latest passenger is a boy named Kialan, who the family agrees to take to the North.

( Spoilers )

It's kind of... sad, as far as kid's books go, since it is centered around a civil war and the book doesn't cozy it up any. People die, or come close to it, and there are some very tense sequences where the characters have to struggle to survive. (Mostly of the "not getting caught by enemies" sort of struggle, but there's also some difficulty involved with just making a living.)

As for Batman Adventures Volume 1, it's a collection of comics set in the continuity of Batman: The Animated Series. I haven't heard much about the tie-in comics to the animated series, but what I did hear/see was fairly positive and after reading through this collection I'd say yeah, they're pretty good comics. The only problem is that now I need to figure out how to get my hands on the rest of the series.

( A summary of the contents. )