1/22/12

Middle grade fantasy and science fiction--this week's round-up

Here's what I found in this week's blog reading! Enjoy, and let me know if I missed anything.

The Reviews:

Above World, by Jenn Reese, at Wandering Librarians, So I'm Fifty, and Amy's Book Den

The Aviary, by Kathleen O'Dell, at Literate Lives

Bigger Than a Breadbox, by Laurel Snyder, at Good Books and Good Wine and at Jean Little Library.

The Book of Wonders, by Jasmine Richards, at TheHappyNappyBookseller, Mundie Kids, Rex Robot Reviews, and Charlotte's Library

Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu, at Readatouille

Casper Candlewacks in the Claws of Crime, by Ivan Brett, at The Book Zone

The Cabinet of Earths, by Anne Nesbet, at Charlotte's Library, Read Like Good Readers Do, Kindle-aholic's Book Pile, and twenty by jenny

Dragon Castle, by Joseph Bruchac, at Page In Training

The Fathomless Fire, by Thomas Wharton, at Back to Books

The Fire King (Invisible Order book 2), by Paul Crilley, at Beyond Books

Forbidden Sea, by Sheila A. Neilson, at Geo Librarian

The Girl Who Cicumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne Valente, at Adventures of a Book Wyrm

Ivy's Ever After, by Dawn Lairamore, at Library_Mama

Liesl and Po, by Lauren Oliver, at Musings of a Book Addict

The Mysterious Howling, by Maryrose Wood, at Madigan Reads

Princess of the Wild Swans, by Diane Zahler, at Rebecca's Book Blog

Snow in Summer, by Jane Yolen, at Jean Little Library

Tuesdays at the Castle, by Jessica Day George, at Literary Lunchbox

Winterling, by Sarah Prineas, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

A Two for One Time travel post at time travel times two--11,000 Years Lost, and Switching Well, both by Peni R. Griffin

And a Two for One graphic novel post at Guys Lit Wire -- Sidekicks by Dan Santat and Bad Island, by Doug TenNapel

Authors and Interviews:

Jasmine Richards (The Book of Wonders) at TheHappyNappyBookseller

Sarah Prineas (Winterling) at The Enchanted Inkpot

Laura Lond (My Sparkling Misfortune), with bonus giveaway, at Geo Librarian.

Lauren Oliver (Liesl and Po) at Jason's Bookstack

Sue Perkins (Reva's Quest) at Across the Shinning Plain of Books

More Good Stuff

It is Queen's Thief week over at Chachic's Book Nook this week! If you've never read The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner, do!

Kate Coombs (aka Book Aunt) offers a lovely collection of Beauty and the Beast retellings.

And speaking of fairy tales, Mary Hoffman reflects on the Fisherman and His Wife, at Katherine Langrish's blog, Seven Miles of Steel Thistles.

Two mg fantasies that I like very much are in the running for the Edgar Awards for best juevenille mystery--Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby, and The Wizard of Dark Street by Shawn Thomas Odyssey. The other three are Horton Halfpott by Tom Angleberger, It Happened on a Train by Mac Barnett, and Vanished by Sheela Chari (which also has a slight touch of fantasy...)

At The Nerdy Book Club, Tom Angleberger proposes a new award, named for Lloyd Alexander, to be bestowed on a series after its last book is completed....lots of room for sci fi/fantasy there!

And speaking of awards, will a fantasy book be announced tomorrow as the winner of the Newbery? Here are those that did in the past:

2010 When You Reach Me
2009 The Graveyard Book
2004 The Tale of Desperaux
1999 Holes (do others consider this fantasy???)
1994 The Giver
1985 The Hero and the Crown
1976 The Grey King
1972 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
1969 The High King
1963 A Wrinkle in Time
1948 The 21 Balloons
1947 Miss Hickory
1945 Rabbit Hill
1938 The White Stag
1931 The Cat Who Went to Heaven
1930 Hitty, Her First Hundred Years
1925 Tales from Silver Lands (does this count? It's a collection of folk tales; I've never read it)
1923 The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle

(I've read all but four)

And here are those I think stand the best chance tomorrow-Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu, The Cheshire Cheese Cat, by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright, and (if it's eligible/deemed age appropriate A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness).

And speaking of A Wrinkle in Time, don't forget to check out the latest posts in the 50 Years, 50 blogs celebration! The full list is here.

14 comments:

  1. Lots of great reviews this week. Thanks for sharing them all.

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  2. Alright...can you believe I have not read Queen's Thief yet?

    Thanks for the round up and off to check out the Q/T week!

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    1. Oh my gosh...I hope you try the books and like them! The third one, The King of Attolia, is one of my most favorite books ever.

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  3. Thanks for the Queen's Thief Week shout out! :) I hope you enjoy going through the posts.

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  4. I'm really hoping The Cheshire Cheese Cat gets something tomorrow. Also A Monster Calls. However, I have to say I'm actually pulling for Amelia Lost to win the gold. It has been so long since a non-fiction has won and the book was so well done.

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    1. I'm sad for both C.C.C. and Monster...although Dead End in Norvelt does sound good....

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  5. Thanks for this week's roundup! Are you participating in Middle Grade March Madness over at The OWL? I think you'd really enjoy the event!

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    1. Yep--must get back to Jill on that...thanks for the reminder!

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  6. Hi Charlotte! Thanks so much for doing these round-ups. I was excited to see my book (Above World) listed for the first time. There have been a few other recent reviews for it, in case you're interested:

    Amy's Book Den: http://amysbookden.blogspot.com/2012/01/early-review-above-world-by-jenn-reese.html
    So I'm Fifty: http://soimfifty.blogspot.com/2012/01/marvelous-middle-grade-monday-above.html

    Again, thanks for doing these posts!
    Jenn

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  7. Thanks for the round-up! I always get inspired to read new things checking out other people's reviews.

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    Replies
    1. I'm so glad you find them useful! Thanks for letting me know.

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