In Sarah Jean Horwitz’s THE DARK LORD CLEMENTINE (Algonquin, 329 pp., $17.99; ages 10 and up), a hilariously heartwarming magical adventure, that’s not as easy as it sounds.

Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies had to cut and change some parts of the Tolkien books. Among them, transforming Tolkien’s Dark Lord Sauron into a giant flaming eye on top of a dark tower.