9/11/11

This Sunday's round up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs

The first week of "child at new school" has mercifully ended, and we have great hopes that soon our new path habits* will be peacefully set in stone. In the meantime, there has been much reading and reviewing of middle grade science fiction and fantasy this week around the blogs, and it is, as always, a pleasure to gather it all together for your reading pleasure! When I say "all," it's with the recognition that I've probably missed lots, so let me know if I missed you post!

The Reviews:

Big City Otto, by Bill Slavin, at A Year of Reading

The Cheshire Cheese Cat, by Carmen Agra Deedy & Randall Wright, at Waking Brain Cells

The Chestnut King, by N.D. Wilson, at Read in a Single Sitting

The Dragon of Cripple Creek, by Troy Howell, at Maltby Reads!

The Dragon Princess, by E.D. Baker, at Library Chicken

Emmy and the Home for Troubled Girls, by Lynne Jonell, at Library Chicken

Fiendish Deeds (The Joy of Spooking, Book 1), by P. J. Bracegirdle, at Beyond Books

Fly Trap, by Frances Hardinge, at By Singing Light

Galaxy Games: The Challengers, by Greg Fishbone, at Charlotte's Library

The Girl Behind the Glass, by Jane Kelley, at Charlotte's Library

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne M. Valente, at One Librarian's Book Reviews

Hazzardous Universe, by Julie Wright & Kevin Wasden, at LDS Women's Book Review

Hero, by Mike Lupica, at Donna St. Cyr

Juniper Berry, by M.P. Kozlowsky, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

The Last Council (Amulet Book 4), by Kazu Kibuishi, at A Year of Reading

The Last Dragon, by Jane Yolen, at Madigan Reads

The Midnight Gate, by Helen Stringer, at Books & Other Thoughts

Muddle Earth Too, by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell, at The Book Zone (for boys)

Nurk, by Ursula Vernon, at Library Chicken

The Princess Curse, by Merrie Haskell, at Stacked and Small Review

The Resisters, by Eric Nylund, at Maltby Reads!

Return to Exile, by E.J. Patten, at Reading Vacation

The Shadows (Books of Elsewhere 2), by Jacqueline West, at Mister K Reads

Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus, by R.L. LaFevers, at Read in a Single Sitting

Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos, by R.L. LaFevers, at Anita Silvey's Book a Day Almanac

There's No Such Thing as Ghosts, by Ursula Vernon, at Library Chicken

Trundle's Quest, by Allan Jones, at Geo Librarian

Under the Green Hill, by Laura L. Sullivan, at Beyond Books

The Unwanteds, by Lisa McMann, at Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog and The Elliott Review

Warrior Sheep Go West, by Christine & Christopher Russell, at Wicked Awesome Books

Wisdom's Kiss, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, at Book Aunt (who's assured me it's a middle grade crossover)

The Wizard of Dark Street, by Shawn Thomas Odyssey, at Susan Dennard

At Pickled Bananas, you can find short looks at Bad Island and Ghostopolis, by Doug Tennapel. For more graphic novel goodness, here are the first two books of the Three Thieves series, Tower of Treasure and At the Sign of the Black Rock, by Scott Chandler, at A Year of Reading.

At Seven Miles of Steel Thistles, you can find three out of the ordinary fantasy books--A Dark Horn Blowing by Dahlov Ipcar, Seaward by Susan Cooper, and Geraldine McCaughrean’s The Stones Are Hatching.

Author and Interviews:
Adam Jay Epstein (The Familiars) at There's a Book
Andrew Jacobson (co author of The Familiars) also at There's a Book
And there's an interview with the two of them at Kid Lit Frenzy

Other Good Stuff:
Wildwood, by Colin Meloy, is slated to be made into a movie by the same folks who brought us Coraline (more at Bookyurt)

My college chum Els (hi Els!) has assembled a lovely list of sci fi/fantasy school stories over at Tor.

Sherwood Smith talks about "the problem of kids and science fiction" at Book View Cafe Blog

And finally, continuing the whole "back to school" thing--here is a bunny classroom of great disturbing-ness that I would love to see someday in real life (from the taxidermy work of Victorian eccentric Walter Potter, via io9, where you can see many more pictures of dressed up dead animals....)

Here's a close up. Really cute, until you think about it....










*nothing to do with mg sff, but here is my favorite piece of writing on path habits--Konrad Lorenz discussing water shrews.

13 comments:

  1. Awesome round up this week! I started clicking through those links and before I knew it, an hour had just disappeared :) I also wrote a review this week for The Princess Curse.

    I can't decide if those little stuffed bunnies are adorable or creepy :P

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  2. Your roundups are wonderful. The dead bunnies - more than a little creepy. I always wonder why people do things like dress up dead creatures. I would rather see stuffed bunnies, I think.

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  3. ...I try to never "really think about" taxidermy. Ever.

    ::shudder::

    Taxidermy will always remind me of Jack Gantos' The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs, which in itself made me shudder.

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  4. Thanks S.R.--you are in there now!

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  5. That taxidermy museum is halfway cute and halfway scary. I'm not sure I could ever visit it, myself; I think it'd freak me out too much!

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  6. I think the fact that the little animals are so cute is what makes it so disturbing! Sadly, there is no longer a museum--they all got sold to private collectors a few years ago.

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  7. I *heart* your blog. Thank you, once again.

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  8. Those rodents are like a road accident.. must look away... but can't....

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  9. Thanks for the shout-out, Charlotte! This is an amazing roundup. (And shuddering right along with everyone else at those unnervingly cute bunnies...)

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  10. Love the round-ups. And it's exciting about Wildwood being made into a movie. I just won the book. Can't wait to read it.

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  11. I haven't gotten ahold of it yet, Natalie, but I'm looking forward to reading it too!

    Thanks for stopping by, Jess and Els!

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  12. Thanks for the mention, Charlotte, and for another fabulous list. I've been meaning to read that Valente for years now! (I was following her blog religiously as she was writing it)

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