The Dark Lord Clementine by Sarah Jean Horwitz is a charming and original fantasy for middle grade readers.
Twelve-year-old Clementine Morcerous is the only child of the Dark Lord Elithor. She lives all alone with her father in Castle Brack and spends her days learning dark magic and tending to the fire-breathing chickens and the poison apple orchard on the silent farm.
Then, her father is cursed by the Witch of the Woods. As he grows weaker, more and more tasks fall to Clementine. She has to keep the castle running all by herself, satisfy the Council of Evil Overlords’ Dastardly Deeds quota, and try to save her father’s life. In the process, though, Clementine makes friends for the first time in her life and starts to question whether she even wants to be a Dark Lord.
This story has many of the elements you’d expect in a fantasy, such as witches, knights, villagers, a Lady of the Lake, and a unicorn. And it has unexpected elements too. My favorite is the Gricken, the Morcerous family grimoire that has been transformed into a chicken and lays spells in the form of eggs.
Larrabee and I both recommend it!
Imaginary Friends 
I saw this one a while back and promptly forgot to add it to my TBR list. Thanks for the reminder of this great sounding fantasy. The characters are hard to resist.
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This sounds fabulous! What an interesting combo of the getting-older-with-more-responsibilities dilemma (albeit in unfortunate circumstances) and an evil-themed fantasy! Thanks for the review!
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This book is sure getting a lot of buzz. I will have to check it out. Thanks for the review.
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Interesting. I have so few students who read fantasies this year, but I’ll have to take another look at this.
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I enjoy fantasies and hadn’t heard of this one. I’ll have to see if it’s at my library.
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I have never heard of this particular fantasy. From your description is sounds like a great read!
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