Why I wish I could be a guest in my own home (it's the books...), plus Bout of Books Sign Up

My sister-in-law just returned to England after a lovely two week visit.  In large part it was lovely because she is a reader (and published writer) of children's books, and I got to do one of the things I love best--browse my shelves and find piles and piles of books for a guest to read!

Here's what she got through during her visit:

The only bittersweet part of all this book fun was that I had to go to work.  I did not get to be a guest too--reading and basking in the sun and resting (whiney whiney whiney).   So when my dear boy said his throat was killing him, and could he stay off school on this lovely sunny spring day, I tenderly acquiesced (I'm not feeling that great either...).   And though I won't actually get to be a guest for the day (there are Chores to be done), I'm planning on doing a lot of reading.  It will be good for my mental health.

And so I am sneaking in under the sign-up wire for the Bout of Books Readathon...

And I will start reading, after, of course, I carefully put all the books shown above back to their proper places, and restore the lego creations I stashed in the laundry room two weeks ago.

The Water Castle, by Megan Frazer Blakemore

The Water Castle, by Megan Frazer Blakemore (Walker Childrens, middle grade, Jan. 2013)

The three Appledore-Smith kids were leading a perfectly normal life until the horrible day their father suffered a debilitating stroke.  Next thing they know, their mother is dragging them off north to the town of Crystal Springs, Maine--to the mysterious old Water Castle, a tangled labyrinth of a house built by their ancestor.  There he had hoped to find the water of life...and there Ephraim, the middle child, can't help but hope that if the stories of the water of life are true, it might break his father free from the prison the stroke has trapped him in.

With the unlikely, and at first unwilling, help of Mallory, whose family worked for the Appledore family long ago, and Will, whose family has nursed a feud against them for over a century, Ephraim begins to explore the Water Castle.  He and his new comrades find themselves solving a mystery that combines science and story, past and present.   And at the end, there is the water...

Interspersed with the story of Ephraim and co. are flashbacks to the past of 1908, that tell the story of Nora, a young black girl from Mallory's family, recruited by old Mr. Applebaum so long ago to help him in his quest for the water of life.   She was his research assistant, hobnobbing with the likes of Nicola Tesla, seizing the chance to learn all she could so that she could explore all the great, vast world, like the explorers racing to be the first to find the North Pole...and her story plays an integral part in shaping the present.

The Water Castle is perhaps slow to start, and I was initially unwarmed by the uncomfortable social dynamics in which Ephraim finds himself enmeshed--lots of things go wrong at first, especially at school.  It didn't seem like the book was going to live up to the promise of its utterly appealing cover.  But as the story progressed, and grew simultaneously more focused and more complex, I was sucked in.   And was rewarded by the very nice twist at the end.

There's radioactivity, tragedy, generations of complex social relationships, a Van der Graaf generator that turns ugly on Ephraim, libraries full of books, hidden rooms that defy conventional architecture, questions about what science is, and what exploration is--why does it matter if the North Pole is found?  And there's the biggest question of all--if the water of life was real (even if it just extended your natural life), would you drink it?

Best thing--the science is really cool, and the book stars both girls and boys who love it.  Give this one to your kid who likes both fantasy and the history of science--it's not fantasy, but it has that feel.

It's possible to explain everything that happens rationally, and the reader can have fun doing that.  But it's a much more powerful story (that twist I mentioned....) if you can suspend disbelief, and accept, along with Ephraim and Mallory and Will, that science can be truly wondrous. 

Here are other reviews, at Fuse # 8 and at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Disclaimer:  I received a surprise review copy from the publisher just recently.  I had already gone out and bought my own on a biblio-shopping-therapy whim (at an indie bookstore, so I could feel Righteous), and I had picked this one out because it was the only one that had a kid on the cover who wasn't white--Mallory (because if enough people buy more books with non-white kids on the cover, maybe there will be more of them some day), and because the cover was, in more general terms, one that screamed at me that this was a book I had to read.  Stone griffins etc.   Of course, having bought the book, I felt no pressure to actually read it, because there was no rush to do so, so I'm very glad I got a second one that came with the all impetus attached to review copies!  Now I keep one, the library gets one, and everyone is happy.

Except perhaps Ephraim and Will and Mallory, who are left in a somewhat "eeks what will happen next" place....

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantsy (5/12/13)

Happy Mother's Day, and welcome to this week's round-up of middle grade sci fi/fantasy postings from around the blogs.  If I missed your post, let me know!

The Reviews

The Ability, by M.M. Vaughan, at Charlotte's Library

An Army of Frogs, by Trevor Price and Joel Naftali, at Now Read This!

Astronaut Academy Re-Entry, by Dave Roman, at Charlotte's Library (I don't generally include graphic novels, but I love this one lots and its my own review.  Also it is science fiction, which is thin on the mg ground)

Canary in a Coal Mine, by Madelyn Rosenberg, at Geo Librarian

Charlotte Sometimes, by Penelope Farmer, at The Book Smugglers

The Cheshire Cheese Cat, by Carmen Agra Deedy, at Bunbury in the Stacks (audiobook review)

Doll Bones, by Holly Black, at A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy, LibLaura5,  Salima Korri Reviewing the Writing, The Book Cellar and YA Bibliophile (audiobook review)

The Game of Sunken Places, by M.T. Anderson, at Great Books for Kids and Teens

The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman, at Nerdy Book Club

Gustav Gloom and the Nightmare Vault, by Adam-Troy Castro, at Log Cabin Library

Here Where the Sunbeams are Green, by Helen Phillips, at Book Nut

In a Glass Grimmly, by Adam Gidwitz, at There's a Book 

Jinx, by Sage Blackwood, at io9 and Reading Rumpus

Loki's Wolves, by K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr, at Ms. Yingling Reads, Great Imaginations, Charlotte's Library, and Alice, Marvels

The Menagerie, by Tui T. Sutherland and Kari Sutherland, at Readers by Night

Museum of Thieves, and City of Lies, by Lian Tanner, at Kid Lit Geek

New Lands (The Chronicles of Egg, 2), by Geoff Rodkey, at Akossiwa Ketoglo
and thehopefulheroine

The Runaway King, by Jennifer Nielsen, at Bibliophilic Monologues

The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani, at  Kid Lit Geek and Scott Reads It

The Silver Bowl, by Diane Stanley, at Madigan Reads

The Spindlers, by Lauren Oliver, at That's Another Story

Stolen Magic, by Stephanie Burgis, at Waking Brain Cells

The Storm Bottle, by Nick Green, at Geo Librarian

Summer and Bird, by Catherine Catmull, at alibrarymama

Teacher's Pest, by Charles Gilman, at BookYAReview, and Tim's Book Reviews

The Time Cavern, by Todd Fonseca, at Time Travel Times Two

The Water Castle, by Megan Frazer Blakemore, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Wednesdays in the Tower, by Jessica Day George, at Kid Lit Geek


Authors and Interviews:
(note to publicists--please feel free to send me blog tour lineups with links to the specific posts--I'd be happy to include them, but don't always have time to track them all down myself!)

Jessica Day George (Wednesdays in the Tower) at Cracking the Cover

Soman Chainani (The School for Good and Evil) at Cracking the Cover

Liesl Shurtliff (Rump) at Literary Rambles

A Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle character intros. at Ms. Yingling Reads, Kid Lit Frenzy, The Write Path, and The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia

Megan Whalen Turner (The Thief) at KidsEBookBestsellers

Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr (Loki's Wolves) at Entertainment Weekly  And here are the stops from the Loki's Wolves blog tour:

Tuesday, May 7 – Bookalicious featuring Ragnarök

Wednesday, May 8 – Mundie Kids featuring Odin

Thursday, May 9 – Novel Thoughts featuring Thor

Friday, May 10--Charlotte's Library featuring Freya and Frey

Saturday, May 11 – Bewitched Bookworms featuring Loki

Geoff Rodkey (New Lands--The Chronicles of Egg, book 2), joined by his agent and editor, at From the Mixed Up Files  and all by himself at Book Dreaming

Ari Goelman (The Path of Names) at The Lucky 13s

Stuart Webb (Jenny at Chatsworth) at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books


Other Good Stuff:

I could have put this in the reviews section, but thought it would be happier down here--Kate Forsyth takes a loving look at an old favorite--The Stone Cage, by Nicholas Stuart Gray, at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles.

I made a short quiz of mother's shown on covers of recent mg sff books for Mother's Day.  It's short cause there aren't many.

And finally, librarians on parade to celebrate spring and promote summer reading (found at 100 Scope Notes).  I find it strangely moving (no pun intended).

Can you identify the Cover Mothers of middle grade sci fi/fantasy? A short (because there aren't many) quiz.

My own Mother's Day fun is that I get to stay home with the kids and my husband's sister while my husband is off doing his Irish Music thing in New York.  Happily, I like my children and sister-in-law more than I like New York, so that's fine.

But none the less,  in an effort to Take Part in the national celebration, and perhaps even Contribute, I offer this short quiz.

It's a truism that mothers don't play an active role in middle grade fantasy and science fiction--mostly they are shown either not noticing their kids are gone/replaced by aliens etc.,  too busy with their own lives/too critical of their children to have a clue, or, occasionally, sad their children aren't there any more.   But there are exceptions.  The four mothers (one a stepmother, one a ghost) shown below are all made it (more or less) on to the covers.   Do you recognize them?  (Hint:  2 are from 2012, one is from 2011, and one is from 2009).   I've put the answers at the end.

I'm pretty sure this shows both father (left) and mother (right), because of them having breakfast together as a family, even though the "mother" looks about 10....

And finally, I'm not quite sure which of these is the mother of the main character (though if pressed, I'd say the last one), but in any event, they are all mothers...

If you can think of any other mothers shown on mg sff covers, do share!

Answers  (highlight to see):  Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again, by Frank Cotrell Boyce, Fairest of All, by Serena Valentino, Spellbinder, by Helen Stringer, and A Greyhound of a Girl, by Roddy Doyle.

Loki's Wolves, by K.L. Armstrong & M.A. Marr, Review and Character Blog Tour

Ragnarok, the end of the world in violence and freezing winter, fortold in Norse mythology, is coming...but instead of taking place far off in long ago Scandinavia, it's about to take place in the modern US.  And there's just one little problem--the Norse gods, who were fated to fight in the great battle against the forces of darkness, are dead.


But they have descendants.

Loki's Wolves, by K.L. Armstrong & M.A. Marr (Little Brown, 2013), is the story Matt, a thirteen year old boy who's grown up in South Dakota knowing that he's descended from Thor.   What he didn't expect was that he would have to play Thor's part in Ragnarok...and what is worse, the elders of his family are certain that he has no chance of winning.

Guided (cryptically) by the Norns, Matt is determined not to give up, and sets off to gather together descendants of all the gods.  The first kids he meets, though, are descendants of Loki--a boy named Fen and his cousin Laurie, and they've never been friends with Matt.  Far from it.   But though Loki fought with the bad guys in the original story, if Matt can learn to trust these two unlikely allies, maybe they can work together in this new version of the story....

And so the three of them set out, on a quest to gather certain magical items and find the rest of the god-descended teenagers they need--Odin, Fri.   But it's not a walk in the park--already the forces of darkness are beginning to work against them...and, as this first book comes to a close, the stakes are getting very high indeed...

Of course, it's hard not to compare this to the Percy Jackson series, and indeed, fans of those books will welcome this series--more mythological fun and mayhem!  But Loki's Wolves is somewhat different in feel.  For one thing, the focus of the book is on three distinct characters right from the beginning, so there is more character-driven tension, and less immediate mythological mayhem.   And here we are immersed more gradually in the struggle at hand--this first book is more a gathering of characters, setting the stage for the Real Adventures to come (although it is not without excitements).

My own response--a fine start with a great premise, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.

I'm happy to be a stop on the Loki's Wolves Blog Tour, in which questions are asked and answers given by the authors. My assignment was to ask about two of the god-descended teenagers-- Reyna and Ray, descendants of Frey and Freya.

 He launched into explaining the myths: “The twins are Frey and Freya. In the old stories, Freya is the goddess of love and beauty. Frey is the god of weather and fertility. We need to find their descendants, who are apparently also twins.” Matt paused. “Two for one. That’ll make it easier.”

- Loki's Wolves, page 148

Me:  In this first book of the series, the twins Reyna and Ray are somewhat shadowy figures--Fen calls them "Goth Ken and Goth Barbie,"  with good reason--they aren't exactly bubbling over with rich, nuanced demonstrations of personality.  Will we get a chance to know them as individuals later in the series?  Will they get to play a more central role, bringing into the story the characteristic of their ancestral deities, Freya and Frey?  And will we get more insight into their particular powers? 

Kelley: Yes, we definitely don't get a full picture of Ray and Reyna in the first book. They're the most wary of the descendants, unwilling to commit fully to the group and so, unwilling to reveal more of themselves. In Loki's Wolves, the other characters don't have a chance to get to know the twins so, by extension, neither does the reader. Once they become a true part of the team, we'll get to see their real selves. At the same time, they'll learn more about themselves and their powers.

Me:  And why did you decide to make them Goth?  I'm having trouble imaging Freya and Frey, deities of love and procreation and warmth of all sorts, as it were, as morose Goths hanging around a cemetery!   We haven't been told much about their backstory--just that their dad's a  (relatively) rich casino owner, and I'm wondering if there's something that we haven't been told yet….

Kelley: Goth culture is known for its emphasis on morbidity and death, but also seeks to find light and happiness in the dark parts of life. Ray and Reyna are two kids struggling to come to terms with their past and their present--their heritage as gods of light and fertility combined with lives of commercialism and cynicism (as the children of casino owners) They've discovered their affinity for magic and without the proper background regarding their heritage, they associate those powers with the dark arts and have embraced that side of themselves. Like many very young goths, they feel alienated and confused, and they're seeking to find their way.

Me:  I'll look forward to finding out more about them! Thanks very much, Kelley and Melissa!

The other stops on the blog tour are:

Tuesday, May 7 – Bookalicious featuring Ragnarök

Wednesday, May 8 – Mundie Kids featuring Odin

Thursday, May 9 – Novel Thoughts featuring Thor

Saturday, May 11 – Bewitched Bookworms featuring Loki

(disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher)

Astronaut Academy Re-Entry, by Dave Roman

"They're Mine!"
"No, they're mine!  They live in My room!"

etc.

This was the conversation that ensued when it came time to pick a shelf space for the two Astronaut Academy books by Dave Roman, the second of which, Astronaut Academy Re-Entry (First Second, May 15, 2013) was read about five times each in five days by my two boys (nine and twelve). 

I would have solved the problem by putting them on my own shelves, if I kept graphic novels in my bedroom.  They are that lovable.  They are also very funny--both the words and the pictures.  And they are also very good value for your money.  Not only are they eminently re-readable, but even a fast-reading adult (ie me) will take at least an hour to savor every page the first time through (I didn't let my eyes glide over any of the pictures.  I didn't want to miss anything).

On one level, these books deliver sci-fi fun of a very wacky sort.  The setting is, after all, Astronaut Academy, where students arrive in robot-cat like school bus in space.  There are robots and other high-tech accouterments.   There is also a character who is a ninja bunny, and the mysterious Senor Panda.   There's the very sci-fi game of Fireball, that plays a major role in the events of Astronaut Academy, and lots lots more.

But what there also is, even more so, is characters to love.  From Hakata Soy, the central protagonist, to the kids on Team Feety Pajamas (who spend most of their time in the library, ostensibly Evil, but actually not so much), to the shy, the geek, the sporty kids who make up the gloriously fascinating and diverse student body, there is someone for just about anyone to relate too and sympathize with.

And so the central story line of Astronuat Academy Re-Entry isn't the Fireball excitement, the way Hakata makes peace with his Past, or even the defeat of the heart stealing fiendish monster from space.  Nope, the central story line follows the emotional arcs of lots of kids as they navigate the world of school and friendship and parental expectations (at a wacky school in space, but still universal).   And my heart goes out to them all.

(Here at Tor, you can see nice several pages of the book, staring one of my favorite characters, Thalia Thistle, playing fireball.  And some of the heart eating monster stuff).

It's not a straight-forward, linear progression of story--it's told from multiple points of view.   And things don't necessarily make Sense, especially if you haven't read the first book.   This might make it not a book for everyone.  But who cares about sense, says I,  when you are given a combination of words that read themselves out loud in your head and pictures that make you smile like crazy?

Plus dinosaur cars.  I loved them in the first book, and I was getting worried that they weren't going to be in this book.  But they are.

Here's my review of book 1--Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity.

disclaimer:  review copy received very happily indeed from the publisher. 

The Boy, the Bear, the Baron, the Bard, by Gregory Rogers, for Timeslip Tuesday

I am very sad about the recent, and horribly untimely, death of Australian writer and illustrator Gregory Rogers.  I've already featured one of his wordless time-travel picture books (The Hero of Little Street), a book I liked well enough, but today I'm posting about the book I think is his masterpiece, one that is truly a classic, and the one that makes me wish something fierce that Gregory Rogers was still here to give us more --The Boy, the Bear, the Baron, the Bard (Roaring Brook Press, 2004).

In this wordless picture book, a boy kicks his soccer ball into an empty theater, and goes in after it.  It is strange, and dark, and abandoned...and utterly fascinating.  The boy finds himself in the costume room, and dressed as an Elizabethan actor, he pulls the curtains aside to go out on the stage....and WHOM!  He's back in time, Shakespeare himself is tripping over the soccer ball, and the play is ruined.

Now the boy must run through the streets of London, pursued by the furious playwright.  He hides behind the cage of a dancing bear...who asks (wordlessly) to be set free...so boy and bear together set off to experience what the city has to offer them. But Shakespeare is nothing if not persistent.  Fortunately the cell block off the Tower of London offers a refuge, and there they find another prisoner (the baron of the title) to be released!

Now Baron, Bear, and Boy are on the run together.  But all is not lost!  Their path takes them right to Queen Elizabeth, and she is charmed...

Shakespeare, however, still wants revenge.  And he chases the boy back to where it all began--the empty stage, and so back home again.

It is sweet and lovely and funny and fascinating, and utterly wonderful.  The story flows just beautifully, despite being wordless.  The artwork is full of detail, full of enthusiasm, and captivating as all get out.  It is a book that is a delight to share with children of just about any age.   Critical and cynical though I am, I cannot think of anything negative at all to say about it.

Thank you, Gregory Rogers, for making me and my children laugh and learn.

The Ability, by M.M. Vaughan

The Ability, by M.M. Vaughan (Margaret K. McElderry Books, middle grade, April 23, 2013), isn't the most desperately original book, but it is not without considerable appeal for younger readers.

Young Christopher is having a rather grim time of it.  His mother is locked in a deep depression, and his teachers loathe him, through no particular fault of his own.  But when he is recruited to be one of six students at a top-secret, government-run boarding school hidden in the heart of London, everything changes.  This is no ordinary school--it exists to train kids to use their extrasensory abilities.  Here at last Chris can excel (his mind-reading skills are exceptional) and make friends.

But there is a catch.  The kids at this school are being trained, benevolently, but still, to work for the government...and their first mission starts sooner than planned.  Someone out there is using these same abilities to drive insane everyone who attended the first incarnation of this school, years ago.  And the prime minister himself is a target.

The strong kid-appeal part of the book comes from the loving description of the school and its curriculum.   It's a wish-fulfillment of interior decoration, tasty food, bonding with quirky kids, and recognition of Special-ness.    The adult reader might find the character development somewhat superficial (the brainiest of the group says at one point "I want to finish some extra advanced physics that I'm working on" p. 163),  the two girls are a sweet one who likes pink and a tousle-haired tough girl, and the other two boys are an amusing foreigner and a bully who isn't so bad after all).  And the same adult might wonder when something will actually start Happening...which, toward the end, it does, when there is a direct confrontation with the villains of the piece.

Because the reader is told right at the beginning who the bad guys are and what their motivation is, and sees them at work during the book, the suspense is somewhat lacking.  A violent twist toward the end does up the stakes, but a tad too late....

All this being said, the younger reader of spy/mystery/paranormal ability school stories about special kids (who is new to these various bits of genre) might well enjoy it tremendously.  After all, everything is fresh when you read it for the first time.

(Note to grown-ups choosing books for kids--the violent twist at the end involves Chris loosing control of his abilities and actually killing one of the bad guys (which distresses Chris very much, quite understandably).  Though of course the bad guys had been using their abilities in twisted ways, and there had been a few disturbing indications that the paranormal abilities of even the good kids weren't all fun and games, I was a little taken aback by this un-glossed-over death, and just wanted to mention it to the gate keepers out there...)

disclaimer:  advance review copy received from the publisher

This Week's Round-up of Middle Grade Fantasy and Sci Fi from around the blogs (May 5, 2013)

This week's roundup of middle grade fantasy and science fiction is brought to you from the Springfield Marriott, where I am at the New England Society for Childrens' Book Writers and Illustrators, trying hard to remember to introduce myself as "a writer of archaeological non-fiction" and not "a book blogger." As always, please let me know if I missed your link; I'll add it when I get home this afternoon!

The Reviews:

Alanna: the First Adventure, by Tamora Pierce, at Leaf's Reviews

An Army of Frogs, by Trevor Pryce and Joel Naftali, at Ms. Yingling Reads  

Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu, at YA Book Shelf

The Colossus Rises, by Peter Lerangis, part 3 of a joint review at  Maria's Melange and The Brian Lair

Deadweather and Sunrise (Chronicles of Egg Book 1), by Geoff Rodkey, at Project Mayhem

The Flame and the Mist, by Kit Grindstaff, at Waking Brain Cells

Fortunately, the Milk, by Neil Gaiman, at Educating Alice

Frogged, by Vivian Vande Venlde, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Garden Princess, by Kristin Kladstrup, at  Ms. Yingling Reads

The House of Secrets, by Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini, at Good Books and Good Wine
and Book Dreaming

How I Met My Monster, byR.L. Stine,  at Ms. Yingling Reads

Jinx, by Sage Blackwood, at Bookends

Johnny and the Bomb, by Terry Pratchett, at Time Travel Times Two

The Key and the Flame, by Claire M. Caterer, at Candace's Book Blog

Loki's Wolves, by K.L. Armstrong & M.A. Marr, at Fantasy Literature

Lost Worlds, by Andrew Lane, at The Book Zone

The Menagerie, by Tui T. Sutherland and Kari Sutherland, at Challenging the Bookworm

A Mutiny in Time, by James Dashner, at One Librarian's Book Reviews 

The Peculiar, by Stefan Bachmann, at We Fancy Books

The Planet Thieves, by Dan Krokos, at Finding Wonderland

The Reluctant Assassin, by Eoin Colfer, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Renegade Magic, by Stephanie Burgis, at Waking Brian Cells

The Runaway King, by Jennifer Nielsen, at alibrarymama, Reads for Keeps, Karissa's Reading Review, and Geo Librarian

The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy, by Nikki Loftin, at The Hiding Spot 

Sorrowline (Timesmith, book 1), by Niel Bushnell, at The Children's War

Teacher's Pest, by Charles Gilman, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Tilly's Moonlight Garden, by Julia Green, at The Children's Book Review

Troubletwisters, and The Monster (Troubletwisters 2), by Garth Nix, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Wednesdays in the Tower, by Jessica Day George, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile and Charlotte's Library

Wonder Light: Unicorns of the Mist, by R.R. Russell, at Candace's Book Blog

Authors and Interviews

Geoff Rodkey (The Chronicles of Egg) at Project Mayhem and at Akossiwa Ketoglo

Liesl Shurtliff (Rump) at Cynsations

Adam Glendon Sidwell (The Buttersmith's Gold) at The Write Path (giveaway)

Other Good Stuff

At the Horn Book--"Middle Grade Saved My Life"--thoughts on keeping mg distinct from YA, and why it matters

An excerpt from Faeryland: The Secret World of the Hidden Ones, by John Matthews, at Tor

Neil Gaiman's keynote address from the Digital Minds Conference

This giant rubber ducky (which I found at Tor) is touring the world:

Off to NESCBWI

Today I am going off to Springfield, MA, for the Society of Childrens' Book Writers and Illustrators conference.  My sister-in-law from England, Anna Adeney, who's published forty odd books for children, is coming with me, which is a nice bonus.  

I helped her work on her website yesterday.  I helped her accidentally delete a large chunk of it.  I felt very, very, sad.  So did she.  Sigh.

But regardless, off we go, and when I will come home I will catch up on all my reading and reviewing and get the garden completely into shape and catch up at work and do a little light home renovation (many people seem to like bathroom doors, and Anna brought the last roll of dining room wallpaper we needed with her from England, which saved us some money) and possibly, I hope, I really mean to, write my book.

More anon.

Waiting on Wednesday--Grumpy Cat, and Penguins Hate Stuff

I am feeling rather more cheerful than I did 15 minutes ago.  Since then, I have perused Chronicle Books' most recent catalogue.  To my surprise and pleasure, I found two picture books that I am looking forward to sharing, not with a young child, but with my older boy, who will, when they are released, be 13 (and presumably an occasionally grumpy adolescent).  Yeah for twisted humor!

Grumpy Cat: A Grumpy Book (October) is a compilation of Grumpy Cat (apparently an Internet sensation), being grumpy.  It looks like it could make even the most sullen 13 year old crack a smile.

The second book that appealed tremendously is Penguins Hate Stuff, by Chris Stones (July 16, 2013): 

"Penguins hate zombies. They also hate serpents, bad haircuts, sock monkeys, leprechauns, Halloween, oil rigs, vampire penguins, and mermaids. They really hate clowns, but they really like capes, balloons, and free vacations. This quirky collection reveals the discriminating tastes of these adorable flightless Antarctic birds who encounter odd foes (snow sharks, beavers, cowboys, samurai...), but still manage to enjoy the little things in life. With wit, humor, and the occasional alien invasion, Greg Stones's paintings capture the playfully absurd life of penguins."

I feel great love toward this book already. 

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Bonjour, Lonnie, by Faith Ringgold, for Timeslip Tuesday

April is such a hard month--all I want to do is to be outside, getting everything weeded and planted and spruced up, but it's the busiest month at work, busy with the kids' homework, busy busy busy...and so no time to read the big long book that was supposed to be this week's Timeslip Tuesday offering.

So I turned to a quick picture book read -- Bonjour, Lonnie, by Faith Ringgold (Hyperion Books for Children, 1996), and, um, it's kind of strange.

Bonjour, Lonnie, is a picture book that uses rather vague magical bird-assisted time travel in order to show an orphaned boy, Lonnie, his family, and to give him loving guardians in his own time.   The magical bird in question is a singing French one, known as Love Bird, and when it visits Lonnie, it takes him back to early 20th-century Paris...and then vanishes, leaving him to wander past famous monuments to look for it (basically three pages of Paris is great, that don't advance the plot, but are not uninteresting....).

Then Love Bird shows up again, and leads the little boy to a small house wherein are his grandparents--a black man and a white woman, which surprises Lonnie.  His grandfather explains he came to France to fight in WW I.  He was a great singer  (and we have a rather nice introduction to the Harlem Renaissance, and black culture flourishing), but  when he went back home, he was oppressed by the prejudice that he found there, and went back to Paris, married a beautiful French girl, and became a famous opera singer.

The scene then changes; Lonnie sees his parents and himself as a baby...he finds out his father was killed as young soldier in WW II, and his Jewish mother sent him to the US to safety with a young friend.  She in turn fell ill, no-one could find the kin she had hoped to leave Lonnie with, and so he was there in the orphanage, waiting, all unknowing, for Love Bird to find him.

And because of the love bird, the missing kin are found (and Lonnie's mother reassures him that his new Aunt Connie "has dyed her own graying locks red like yours," which I find very odd) and all is well.

So it's rather strange (the love bird device in particular).  The reader knows it's timeslipish, because of being told so, but basically it reads like a dream of shifting scenes and flashbacks.  It's not a story, so much as an explanation of the family history with underlinings of African American and WW I and WW II history.  It's not un-compelling, and it is rather interesting (especially in it's multicultural emphasis) but I find it hard to imagine curling up and reading it with a child...especially since it might provoke a child to ask questions that they might not be ready to fully grasp--like why Lonnie's Jewish mother felt she had to send him to safety.   It's definitely one to read yourself before you read it to a child, so that you can expect what's going to happen next.

Ah gee.  I know Faith  Ringgold is a famous artist, but her people didn't appeal to me personally (speaking frankly, they looked like zombies, with stiff arms and staring eyes--vibrant, colorful zombies, but still).  This, I'm quite prepared to admit, is just my own reaction.

(if you look it up on Amazon, be warned that the blurb given is for another book, so it won't be useful)

Wednesdays in the Tower, by Jessica Day George

I utterly adored Tuesdays At the Castle, by Jessica Day George (2011-- my review), and so was naturally looking forward to its sequel, Wednesdays in the Tower (Bloomsbury, 2013; technically May 7, but in my local B and N right now).   I found it utterly engrossing.

Castle Glower has a habit of tweaking with its layout--adding and subtracting new rooms, shifting the floor plan, making the rooms of welcomed guests much more pleasant than those of less welcome ones--and generally, though not always, these things happen on Tuesdays.  Celie, the youngest princess, knows the castle better than anyone, and she's been mapping its changes through the years.

Then the castle starts to surprise even Celie.  First there's the never before seen armory, full of enchantments, but that was just the beginning. One Wednesday Celie finds a new tower, and in it is an egg...and when it hatches, Celie finds herself the surrogate mother to a baby griffin...even though griffins are mythological creatures, with no place in Celie's world.

The Castle won't let her tell anyone but her oldest brother, Bran (the Castle Wizard), making things a bit difficult for her...but more distressingly, the Castle seems to be going haywire. More and more rooms are appearing, and none are leaving, with little regard for the wishes of its current inhabitants.

Celie (not unnaturally) tries to find out all she can about griffins.  Gradually she finds clues that lead to a past when the folk of the castle lived side by side with griffins, riding them through the air.

But there's someone in the castle who knows more about its ancient secrets than Celie can imagine...and he's determined to keep all knowledge of griffins from her.   Will she be able to keep her own griffin safe?  Just what is this strangers mysterious agenda?  (and what on earth is the Castle up to?!!?).

It's a more tense read than the first book, which was light-hearted fun (though with emotional twists...). This is essentially a suspenseful mystery, and though there's plenty of lovely castle-magic whimsy, and the young griffin is charming, the sense of possible impending castle-doom made it a gripping page turner.

And though it ended with the primarily mystery resolved, George added a heck of the twist at the end to make it clear that there are many more adventures to come....

Like the first, this is great stuff for the younger reader of fantasy (the eight to ten year old).  It's heavy on Mythological Creatures appeal (Celie's bond with her griffin, and her wild flights on its back, are the stuff of many a young reader's wish-fulfillment), with a very likable main character, suspense without violence, and friendships without romance.   I liked it lots myself and recommend it whole-heartedly.

Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

This week's round up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (4/28/13)

 Here's what I found in this week's internet hunt for reviews and such of middle grade sci fi and fantasy books.  Please let me know if I missed yours!

The Reviews:

The Accidental Time Traveller, by Janis Mackay, at Guys Lit Wire

The Big Bank Burglery (St. Viper's School for Super Villains), by Kim Donovan, at Log Cabin Library

Deadweather and Sunrise (Chronicles of Egg), by Geoff Rodkey, at Becky's Book Reviews

Deadly Pink, by Vivian Vande Velde, at Books & Other Thoughts

Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun, by Liz Kessler, at Ms. Yingling Reads 

Fyre, by Angie Sage, at Deseret News

The Gliter Trap (OMG--Oh My Godmother) by Barbara Brauner & James Iver Mattson, at Books Beside My Bed

Goblin Secrets, by William Alexander, at Geo Librarian

Ghoulfriends Forever, by Gitty Daneshvari, at Paranormal Sisters

Hammer of Witches, by Shana Mlawski, at Charlotte's Library

House of Secrets, by Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini, at Pub Writes, Reading Rumpus, Leisure Reads, and There's a Book 

Iron Hearted Violet, by Kelly Barnhill, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile 

Keeper of the Lost Cities, by Shannon Messenger, at Xander's Middle Grade Book Reviews

Lizzie Speare and the Cursed Tomb, byAlly Malienko, at The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-something Year Old Girl

The Magician's Tower, by Shawn Thomas Odyssey, at Akossiwa Ketoglo

Mira's Diary: Home, Sweet Rome, by Marissa Moss, at Kid Lit Frenzy and Rebecca  Behrens

The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani, at Bookworm1858

The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy, by Nikki Loftin, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Space Bingo, by Tony Abbott, at Time Travel Times Two

Syren, by Angie Sage, at Leaf's Reviews

Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos, by R.L. LaFevers, at Deb A. Marshall

Toothiana, Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies, by William Joyce, at Wondrous Reads

The Two Princesses of Bamarre, by Gail Carson Levine, at Tales of the Marvellous

Unnatural Creatures, by Neil Gaiman, at A.V. Club (Kirkus says this is for ages 10-14...have any of you all read it?  Is it really?)

Wednesdays in the Tower, by Jessica Day George, at Karissa's Reading Review

When the Butterflies Came, by Kimberly Griffiths Little, at Ms. Yingling Reads


Authors and Interviews and Art

Soman Chinani (The School for Good and Evil) at Harvard Magazine

Two artwork reveals for The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle, at Candace's Book Blog and The Hiding Spot

Kit Grindstaff (The Flame and the Mist) at From the Mixed Up Files

Anna Staniszewski (My Epic Fairytale Fail) at Sharon the Librarian

Suzanne Selfors (The Sasquatch Escape) at The Write Path

Claire M. Caterer (The Key and the Flame) at Cynsations 

Rick Riordan on Reading Myths and the Myths of Reading 

Ned Vizzini (House of Secrets) at The Book Zone

Liesl Shurtliff (Rump: the True Story of Rumplestiltskin) at Project Mayhem 

More Good Stuff

Adorable robots learn to walk, at io9

Adorable knitted hedgehog (I needed a picture, so I googled "knitted hedgehog" cause I like hedgehogs, and "knitted baby otter" didn't yield anything good):

Can you identify any of these time travel books for kids? I can't....

Though I am moving steadily forward in my effort to read every time travel book for kids ever written (except I'm never going to read every Magic Tree House book--there are limits), there are still lots of books out there I've never encountered.

Out of the last four requests I've gotten for help identifying half-remembered books, I could only answer one; here are the other three, and if you recognize any of them, please leave a comment!

"I am looking for a fantasy novel I read partially when I was barely ten. The cover was ripped so I can not recall the title except that the story involved a young boy and girl who come across a talking talisman or artifact that was able to take them back in time every hundred or so years until the come to a medieval era in which mankind was enslaved by aliens, apparently the true origin of the talisman is revealed to be alien. I can not recall how the story ends but it is a very humorous novel with the talisman coming across as sarcastic yet funny."

"My boyfriend has a book in mind that he loved when he was younger.  He said it was about someone who went into a tree and traveled way back in time, like to the dinosaur era.  He's sure that it wasn't the series with the tree house though."

Sam has an answer for this one-- The Ancient One, by T. A. Barron; if that's not it, Reading Is My Life wonders if it might be a Ruth Chew book.

"When I was in middle school, which I'm not entirely sure when that was (I think it was around 98), we read a book about a girl who would go back and forth through time. All I can remember is the cover- A brunet girl stands in the middle, cut down the half, on one side she wears a tank top and blue jeans, and the other, some Civil war, or older dress. The scene that I remember is that she is running down an alleyway, trying to avoid being seen by surveillance cameras, and slips through time. She winds up in a tunnel, where she hides behind a wagon to avoid soldiers of some sort."

HumbleIndigo has suggested Running Out of Time, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, which definitely meets the cover criteria:

Deb also suggest Both Sides of Time, by Caroline Cooney, for this one.

I really wish someone would guess the alien one...sarcasm in mg sff is not as common as it should be, in my opinion.

Hammer of Witches, by Shana Mlawski

Hammer of Witches, by Shana Mlawski (Tu, 2013, upper middle grade/YA).

Young Baltasar has grown up in late 15th-century Spain, a time when the Spanish Inquisition was going strong, listening to the stories told him by his uncle Diego--many of which were drawn from the Jewish heritage Diego and his wife ostensibly renounced when they chose to become nominal Christians (it was either that, or living in terrible fear of discovery--Ferdinand and Isabel did not want any Jews in Spain).    But of all his uncle's stories, Baltasar thrills most to those of the brave warrior Amir al-Katib, who fought for the Christian kingdoms of Europe, was betrayed by them, and ended his life fighting on the side of the Moors who were being driven from Spain.  Or so Baltasar has always believed.

But that's not actually how Amir al-Katib's story ended.  When a sinister oranization, known as the Hammer of Witches, dedicated to fighting witchcraft with any means deemed necessary, imprisons Baltasar, he is questioned under threat of torture about Amir.   And he intensively responds with a gift for magical storytelling he didn't know he had--and raises a golem, who carries him home.

Where, of course, the nice folks (not) from the Hammer of Witches know where to find him.

Now his aunt and uncle are dead, and Baltasar is on the run.  But he's not alone for long--his uncle has passed on a slim golden chain that belonged ot Amir al-Katib himself, and, much to Baltasar's wonder, it summons an Ifritah--a girl who is have spirit, half human, and full of magic.  And when the Ifritah, Jinniyah, takes him to Baba Yaga for advice, Baltasar finds that a great evil is about to head west from Europe across the sea...and that he might be able to thwart it.

And so Baltasar and Jinniyah sail off with Christopher Columbus....a journey wherein the little fleet is beset by magical enemies.   But Baltasar can answer each magical creature with one of his own; the real evil (obviously to the modern reader) doesn't come until land is reached, and the Columbian consequences begin.

So. It is tremendously exciting, what with magical adventures, the voyage of exploration, the fact that the Hammer of Witches has a spy embedded in the voyage, the mystery of Amir al-Katib (which plays a large part in the story), and Baltasar's own growing control of his storytelling magic.  In particular,  Baltasar's time spent with the Taino people, who are describe in rich detail, and who seem much saner than the Europeans, is worthwhile reading.

Just about any reader who likes excitement will appreciate the high-stakes, fast-moving story; those who are Readers to begin with will especially appreciate the strong link here between magic and storytelling.   It is a fascinating take on the story of Columbus' voyage, one that respects the Taino and gives them equal agency to the Europeans.  There is a strong young female character, too, to round things off gender-wise, and to my surprise it wasn't Jinnyah but someone else....

I didn't find it a perfect read, though, primarily because Baltasar is a very distant first-person narrator.  He's awfully good at describing (his words made beautifully clear pictures in my mind), but not so good at sharing enough of his feelings to make me care deeply about him as an individual.  And, in fact, at one point I actively disliked him--after the aforementioned girl character witnessed the rape of Taino women, it was creepy of Baltasar to kiss her uninvited, and then, a few pages later, jokingly say to her that "we both know you're dying for another kiss" (page 286). 

I was also disappointed by the fact that Jinniyah, the Ifritah, doesn't end up having much of a role in the story--I kept expecting her to be responsible for some major twist in the plot, but she never took center stage, and was often shunted off onto the sidelines. 

Still, there was much to enjoy, and it was refreshing to read a book whose main character not only embodies the clash of cultures in 15th century Europe between Judiasm, Christianity, and Islam, but offers an unflinching look at the horror Columbus' voyage unleashed on the native peoples he encountered.

For another perspective, here's the Kirkus review.

Note on age:  This one felt rather tween-ish to me, which is to say for readers 11 to 14.  Baltasar himself is fourteen (though, I think, a rather young 14), and a few specific instance of violence, including what happened to the Taino women, pushes this beyond something I'd give to a ten-year old.

disclaimer:  review copy received from the publisher

The Sterkarm Handshake, by Susan Price, for Time Slip Tuesday

The Sterkarm Handshake, by Susan Price (Scholastic, 1998).

Imagine that, round-about our present time here in the 21st century, capitalist entrepreneurs have discovered how to travel in time.  The thought of all the natural resources back there in the past, waiting to be exploited, makes them happy.

One of the time tunnels they have constructed leads to the sixteenth century in the wild boarder lands between England and Scotland.  The Sterkarm clan who rule the patch of this land are fierce, treacherous, loyal to each other and not giving a damn about anyone else, and they are cognizant that the time travelers have much to offer (the aspirin tablets are a hit).

Andrea is a young anthropologist, embedded back in time among the Sterkarms.  Literally--she and Per, the son of the chief are passionately involved.   For Andrea, deemed unattractively large by her own society, it is nice to be lusted after, and Per does genuinely care for her....it might even be love (although I couldn't help but wonder about how much her emotions were colored by her new desirability, and this made me uncomfortable).

But all is not well.  The problem with greedy exploitation is that often the people being exploited fight back, and things go sour.   The trouble in this case begin when Per, gravely wounded fighting off raiders (all in a days work for the Sterkarms), is taken by Andrea to the 21st century.  The director of the company, a nasty piece of work, wants him as a hostage.  Per escapes, makes his way through the tunnel home, and then he and his people declare war on the 21st century, burning what they can of the tunnel.

It is rebuilt, and the 21st century comes to make war in the past.  It seems as though its an uneven match--heavy artillery against bows and arrows.  But arrows can kill, and the Sterkarms have years of experience with treachery and guerrilla warfare...

So it basically stopped being fantasy neo-colonialism (interesting), and became a military sci fi story (not my cup of tea), and by the last hundred pages I was skimming because everyone was running around bashing each other etc., and I ws really tired of hearing about Andrea's predicament (torn between two conflicting loyalties, and not wanting any one to be killed, and not wanting the boy she's been sleeping with to be a ruthless killer even though he clearly is etc).

And did Andrea, intelligent anthropologist, save the day with intelligent anthropologizing?  No.  She went to pieces, and was all "Oh Per if you love me you will be kind and do something and not kill the people from the 21st century." Disappointing.

What it needed was more characterization and less fighting, in my opinion.  The bad guy was one dimensional, and so uninterestingly bad that there was little point to him.  Per and Andrea are two dimensional at best.  In as much as they are already sharing a bed by the time we meet them, there is no subtlety to their relationship, and I never believed that they were actually in love with each other as people, as opposed to fond bedmates (I have nothing against affectionate lust enjoyed by both parties, but it's not as interesting as the tension of love being realized), and like I said, I didn't need Andrea's dilemma drummed into my head quite so much.  A few minor characters come to interesting life, most notably Joe, a homeless Sterkarm descendant of modern times, who travels back to find a better life for himself--his is a fascinating little side-story.  But this wasn't enough to actually make me care all that much.

Final thought--loved the premise, and thought the story was fascinating.  If the book had been about 150 pages shorter, I might well have enjoyed it lots.  As it was, it kind of oozed over the edges of its central story, and I lost interest. 

However, don't necessarily take my word for it---The Sterkarm Handshake won the Guardian's Children's Prize, and got lots of critical acclaim, and is pretty much a classic of military/capitalist time-travel.