A Sound of Crying, aka House in the Wood, by Rodie Sudbery, for Timeslip Tuesday

Today's Timeslip Tuesday book is an oldie but goodie--A Sound of Crying, by Rodie Sudbery.  It was first published in the UK in 1968 as House in the Wood, and published with the new title in the US in 1970 by Scholastic (with biscuits changed to cookies; sigh), and it's just right for 9-12 year olds, and I am cross I didn't find it back when I was that age.  It is one of those books that teeters between ghost story and time slip, but since the main character does travel to the past to witness the events that transpired (albeit in her dreams), I'm going with time slip.

Polly and her younger siblings did not want their mother to be ill, and did not want to be dumped on their aunt and uncle and cousin Frederick while she got better.  Frederick did not want them either; he wanted his peaceful life as a young scientist (poor kids today--no mercury to play with) to be unbroken.   But it happens, and if you are going to be dumped on relations, it is nice when they live in an old house at the edge of a wood....

It is not so nice when Polly hears the sound of ghostly crying.   And in the night, the dreams come, taking her back to the life of Sarah, a orphaned girl who lived in the house many years ago, who was a virtual slave to her insanely miserly uncle.  Polly is a passive observer in the past, horrified by Sarah's unhappiness,  and her life in the present is haunted by the story she's witnessing.  At last the dreams lead her to the point where Sarah's life changed dramatically, and Polly can finally convince her family that there is physical proof that Sarah's story was real.

It's a lovely mix of the supernatural and the everyday, with plenty of good family dynamics, a lovely setting, and an intriguing mystery in which the past spills over into the present.  As the story progresses, Frederick relaxes away from serious scientist who doesn't have room for fun into the good companion he used to be, and although the younger children are only lightly sketched, they serve their narrative functions just fine.   Even if you don't like ghost/time travel stories, do try this one if you like 1960s/70s English family stories.    I was very excited to learn that there are sequels, although they apparently have no supernatural elements.

Clearly I should have been following my little sister's reading on Goodreads more closely.  The reason I got this from the library is that she asked for the fifth book in the series, Warts and All, for Christmas; I'm not quite sure why she hadn't shared these books with me more directly (perhaps she thoughtfully didn't wish to burden my TBR pile).   I am even sadder now that the cheap copy of Warts and All I managed to fine was "damaged" in handling and was no longer saleable.  I suspect the seller had a change of heart viz the price. 

However, if you live in Rhode Island, you can at least read this one, which I am about to return to the library.

Question:  though the book is over forty years old, it did not feel especially dated to me (possibly because I am too), and there was no  instance in which a cell phone would have made a huge difference to the plot.   But do  you suppose modern young readers, so used to their electronics, would notice the complete absence of any electronics and feel that they were truly deep in the dark,dark past? 

A Question of Magic, by E.D. Baker

The First Round of the Cybils is done--I handed in the blurbs for Elementary and Middle Grade Speculative Fiction today, and I do hope you all like our list!   It will be announced with virtual trumpets on the First of January, over at the Cybils website.   

My Cybils reading ended up far outpacing my reviewing (which happens when you have a list of 149 books to read), and so I am left with many fine books on hand that I received for Cybils reading purposes, many of which deserve to be read widely and well.   One of these books is  A Question of Magic, by E.D. Baker (Bloomsbury, Oct. 2013) which turned out to be my favorite of all E.D. Baker's books thus far. 

It is a reimagining of the Baba Yaga story.  After the death of the original bad witch, a string of young girls took her place over the years, heirs to her chicken-legged house with its fence of bones.   Serafina is the most recent girl to assume the mantle, and she does not want it one single bit.  She wants to peacefully marry her beloved, and live a simple life that does not involve magical responsibilities.  

For Baba Yaga, in this story, has the power to answer with the truth--one question per person per lifetime.   But for every question answered, Baba Yaga grows older, relying on a magical tea to restore her youth.  Lots of people have questions for her, from simple matters of the heart, to sweeping political questions....and so Serafina finds the truth coming from her mouth, finds herself in a cycle of aging and rejuvenating, and finds herself caught in the war that's swept through the kingdom.   And she misses her beloved something fierce, thought the skulls are friendly once you get to know them, and a magical cat who adds conversational spice.

Then the potion of youth is spilled.  The war grows worse.  And Serafina cannot refuse to answer the questions that keep coming...even though with each answer she grows nearer to death.......

But not to worry.  There is a happy ending.

What a nice premise is was, the whole question thing, and how nicely E.D. Baker used it!  There was just tons of variety in the questions and their consequences, and I enjoyed it very much.   With my mind still very much preoccupied with Christmas cookies, I would compare A Question of Magic to an American version of Pfeffernüsse (a sweet outside around a softly spicy inside).  Which may or may not be useful, review-wise, but there it is.

In any event, this is one I'd give in a sec to my nine year old self, in the absence of other handy nine-year-old girls.    It would not necessarily be easy to get a boy to read it--the cover is very girl marketed, what with the pink dress and the fairy (yes, there are fairies in the story) and, though I enjoyed it lots myself, I feel no need to insist with passionate conviction that my own son try it (but darn it, before he turns 11 I will get him to read The Runaway Princess, by Kate Coombs.  Maybe as a birthday present to me).

But A Question of Magic is good too.  Give it to fans of Diane Zahler and Gail Carson Levine (both obvious, because of also specializing in fairy tale retellings....), or to any girl who likes magical cats and has not grown too cynical for fairies.

Thanks, Bloomsbury, for the Cybils review copy.

This week's round-up of Middle Grade fantasy and science fiction postings from around the blogs (12/29/13)

Here's the last round-up of 2013, to which I contributed absolutely nothing, my excuse being that I was in a not very large house for the past week with six children and two sisters, two spouses, and one mother.  My sisters and I played very nicely together.

Let me know if I missed your post; I was also a bit light on blog reading this week.


The Reviews:


The Apprentices, by Malie Meloy, at Hidden in Pages

The  Dragonet Prophecy, by Tui T. Sutherland, at Candace's Book Blog

Ever After High, by Shannon Hale, at Squeaky Books

House of Secrets, by Christ Columbus and Ned Vizzini, at The Book Monsters

How I Became a Ghost, by Tim Tingle, at Book Nut

Hunted (Spirit Animals, Book 2), by Maggie Stiefvater, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

The Jupiter Pirates: Hunt for the Hydra, by Jason Fry, at books4yourkids

Lara's Gift, by Annemarie O'Brien, at The Book Monsters

Many Waters, by Madeline L'Engle, at Secrets and Sharing Soda

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy, by Karen Foxlee, at Waking Brain Cells

The Planet Thieves, by Dan Krokos, at alibrarymama

Rump, by Liesl Shurtliff, at A Reader of Fictions

The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud, at The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia

Seven Wild Sisters, by Charles de Lint, at Wandering Librarians

Sky Jumpers, by Peggy Eddleman, at The Book Monsters

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, by Kathi Appelt, at Book Nut

The Vengekeep Prophecies, by Brian Farrey, at Book Nut

The Year of Shadows, by Claire Legrand, at Book Nut

My Merry Christmas books!

Some people show children, some people show trees
Some people show cookies and snowmen and      

Well, that went nowhere.

In any event, although I have the tree and the cookies and children et al., what I like showing are my Merry Christmas books, and here's what I got this year!

(all blurbs from Amazon)

A Parachute in a Lime Tree, by Annemarie Neary.  Put on my want list last January, after reading Alex's thoughts.   "April 1941. German bombers are in the air, about to attack Belfast. Oskar is a Luftwaffe conscript whose sweetheart, Elsa, was forced to flee Berlin for Ireland two years before. War-weary, he longs for escape. In remote Dunkerin, Kitty awakes to find a parachute trapped in one of the lime trees. When she discovers Oskar, injured and foraging for food in her kitchen, he becomes a rare and exciting secret. But Ireland during the "Emergency" is an uneasy place, and word of the parachute soon spreads. Meanwhile, Elsa is haunted by the plight of the parents she left behind. With the threat of the Nazi invasion, she feels far from secure. A chance encounter with Elsa, and Charlie, a young medical student, finds himself falling in love. Oskar, Kitty, Elsa, and Charlie's lives intertwine in a climate of war, exile, and ever-uncertain neutrality."

The Green Man, by Michael Bedard.  My Waiting on Wednesday pick from Sept. 2011.   "Teenaged O – never call her Ophelia – is about to spend the summer with her aunt Emily. Emily is a poet and the owner of an antiquarian book store, The Green Man. A proud, independent woman, Emily’s been made frail by a heart attack. O will be a help to her. Just how crucial that help will be unfolds as O first tackles Emily’s badly neglected home, then the chaotic shop. But soon she discovers that there are mysteries and long-buried dark forces that she cannot sweep away, though they threaten to awaken once more."

I Saw Three Ships, by Elizabeth Goudge.  Jennifer remembered I love Goudge, and let me know this was republished--thanks!  "Little Polly Flowerdew lives with her two maiden aunts, and she is absolutely sure that something special is going to happen this Christmas. She leaves her bedroom window open on Christmas Eve, just in case the three wise men decide to come visit. When she wakes up on Christmas morning, more than one miracle seems to have taken place."

Shadows, by Robin McKinley.  "Maggie knows something’s off about Val, her mom’s new husband. Val is from Oldworld, where they still use magic, and he won’t have any tech in his office-shed behind the house. But—more importantly—what are the huge, horrible, jagged, jumpy shadows following him around? Magic is illegal in Newworld, which is all about science. The magic-carrying gene was disabled two generations ago, back when Maggie’s great-grandmother was a notable magician. But that was a long time ago. 

Then Maggie meets Casimir, the most beautiful boy she has ever seen. He’s from Oldworld too—and he’s heard of Maggie’s stepfather, and has a guess about Val’s shadows. Maggie doesn’t want to know . . . until earth-shattering events force her to depend on Val and his shadows. And perhaps on her own heritage.  In this dangerously unstable world, neither science nor magic has the necessary answers, but a truce between them is impossible. And although the two are supposed to be incompatible, Maggie’s discovering the world will need both to survive."

Still She Wished for Company, by Margaret Irwin.  "The story moves between the 1920s and the 1770s, following two heroines: 20th century Jan Challard, a London girl, and 18th century Juliana Clare, the youngest daughter of an aristocratic Berkshire family. Jan is independent and spirited, but leads a humdrum life, working in an office, and walks out with a very suitable young man. Juliana, at 17 years of age, is getting the upbringing of a young lady in the enormous family mansion, Chidleigh, and her life is devoid of excitement and event.

The two heroines can see one another from time to time, momentarily, through some rent in the fabric of time, but never manage to meet and interact. Their lives converge as Juliana's world is turned upside down; her father dies and her notoriously wicked and mysterious brother, Lucian Clare, returns to take his position as head of the family.Lucian recognizes a supernatural power in Juliana, and uses this to reach out to Jan through the ages."

Clare, the Younger Sister, by Margaret Love (1968) No blurb for this one on Amazon, but it is a very appealing sounding story about an older sister trying to united scattered siblings.  I love old books in which homes are made for siblings.

I hope all of you who are celebrating Christmas today are as happy, or (why not) even happier than me with your books (and families and cookies)!

This week's round-up of Middle Grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs

Terribly late with this because I had No Time at all to read blogs this past week, and so I had about a zillion blog posts to get through today along with many Reindeer Games with my dear family.  But here it is!  Let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews

Behind Enemy Lines (Infinity Ring 6), by Jennifer Nielsen, at Charlotte's Library

Beholding Bee, by Kimberly Newton Fusco, at The Book Monsters

Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu, at Fantastic Reads

Cake: Love, Chickens and a Taste for the Peculiar, by Joyce Magnin, at The Book Monsters

Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder, by Jo Nesbo, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Flora and Ulysses, by Kate DiCamillo, at Becky's Book Reviews

The Gargoyle at the Gates, by Phillipa Downing, at Charlotte's Library

The Ghost Prison, by Joseph Delaney, at Paranormal Sisters

Here Where the Sunbeams are Green, by Helen Phillips, at books4yourkids

How To Catch a Bogle, by Catherine Jinks, at Book Nut

Island of Fire (The Unwanteds) by Lisa McMann, at Back to Books

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, by Julie Andrews, at Becky's Book Reviews

The Little Leftover Witch, by Florence Laughlin, at The Book Cellar

The Lost Kingdom, by Matthew Kirby, at The Reading Nook Reviews

The Neptune Project, by Polly Holyoke, at The Book Monsters

Parched, by Melanie Crowder, at Book Nut and Presenting Lenore

Rose, by Holly Webb, at Book Nut

The Shadowhand Covenant, by Brian Farrey, at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

Sidekicked, by John David Anderson, at Book Nut

Sky Jumpers, by Peggy Eddleman, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

The Unseen Guest, by Maryrose Wood, at A Reader of Fictions (audiobook review)

What We Found in the Sofa and How It Changed The World, by Henry Clark, at Book Nut

The Year of Shadows, by Clair Legrand, at Charlotte's Library


Authors and Interviews

Anna Stanizewski (My Sort of Fairy Tale Ending)  at Literary Rambles

Kurtis Scaletta (The Winter of the Robots) at From the Mixed Up Files


Other Good Stuff (more or less)

Exciting news from the British Library--
"We have released over a million images onto Flickr Commons for anyone to use, remix and repurpose. These images were taken from the pages of 17th, 18th and 19th century books digitised by Microsoft who then generously gifted the scanned images to us, allowing us to release them back into the Public Domain."  There's one I liked at right.

(I am going to work really hard to convince myself that the B.L. is using "gifted" in its strict legal sense and is not endorsing the use of "gifted" in instances where "gave" will do, because that makes me cranky.  And in the same vein (it things that make me cranky), the ass has been replaced by a lamb in modern versions of The Little Drummer Boy.  Sigh.)

I'm not sure if this is actually "good stuff" or simply sad, but I find the Darwin Awards rather fascinating, perhaps because someday I might see my own name there (I am the only person I know who has ever managed to slam their nose with the car door)--here are 2013's winners.

The Gargoyle at the Gates, by Philippa Downing

One never knows what will end up on one's Cybils reading list--The Gargoyle at the Gates, Philippa Downing (from the Canadian publisher Dundrun, 2012) was a nice surprise.

Once, long ago, a great artist made a small number of living gargoyles.  They were scattered, and some feared lost, but slowly they  have been gathered back together by the descendant of their creator, who protects them in his English garden (with trips to the local churchyard).  Two ended up in Canada, where they were befriend by a human girl, Katherine, as told in the first books of this series (The Gargoyle in My Yard, and The Gargoyle Overhead). 

By the time this book begins, Gargoth and Ambergine, the two Canadian gargoyles are living in a small city park, pretending, on occasion, to be real stone gargoyles.    A boy named Christopher, new to town, and seeking respite from his happy crowded home, finds the little park....and meets the gargoyles.  Unfortunately, the gargoyles are being hunted down by a ruthless collector (who is a bit too foggy and unequivocally evil to quite work for me).  Christopher and Katherine must try to save the gargoyles from his ruthless clutches, and save the little park they call home. 

I wish that I had read the first two books before reading this one, because the beginning would have worked better if I had known more of the backstory, but after that initial roughness, I enjoyed it quite a bit. The two urban gargoyles are charming and interesting, and it was a pleasure spending time with them.  The growth of the friendship between Christopher and Katherine balanced the fantastical nicely.

If I ever encounter the first two books, I'll snap them up.  I think my personal target audience member, and any young fan of the "mythical creatures living among us" sub-genre would enjoy them lots.  Though originally published in Canada, they are available at Amazon in the US.

Review copy received from the publisher for Cybils consideration.

The Living, by Matt de la Peña

A girl cannot live on middle grade science fiction and fantasy alone, and so, despite the fact that there are still books I need to read (and re-read) for the Cybils, I treated myself to The Living, by Matt de la Peña....

Here's what I expected:  I knew (mainly from the EW review) that the main character, a Mexican American teenager named Shy, who had a summer job working on a luxury cruise ship, was going to end up on a life boat with a rich white babe, Addison.  And I knew that survival was going to be an Issue.  I assumed I was going to get a whole "let's dispel prejudice" love story along with my disaster...but I didn't know how Epic the disaster part was going to be, and how it would propel the story into the realm of speculative fiction...and I didn't know that the whole bit on the boat would be a relatively minor note in what proved to be a more character-rich, action-packed adventure than I had anticipated.

I figured it out pretty quickly though.  The Living may be a gripping page-turner, the sort of book one might read in a single sitting with dishes unwashed, suitcase unpacked, and general let the kids play in the traffic way, but subtle it is not.  Right at the beginning we learn about a horrible (mercifully fictional) disease, and it's hard for even a relatively dim reader like me not to think Pandemic! And when Shy, dispensing free water to the rich strolling the decks, hears the guilt-filled ramblings of man who's about to jump off the ship (and succeeds in making it to the water, despite Shy's efforts to pull him back), it's hard not to suspect that there are Bad Plot Things afoot. 

And then you have the whole major earthquake devastating the West Coast thing....and the concomitant tsunami hitting the cruise ship...and there's a nice sinking ship of doom bit before finally the reader (along with Shy and Addison) gets a bit of a breather from action and intrigue (though there is a bit of a shark issue) while almost dying of thirst, hunger, and exposure (with bonus overcoming prejudice, although I must say that Addison is such a racist little snot that such rehabilitation of her character as occurs is unbelievable).

But in any event, along the way we are introduced to a bevy of interesting characters (the death toll is high, so don't get too attached), and the characters reflect on class and race, and though one of them is  a Magical Negro type (the shoeshine man, who calls himself just Shoeshine), he clearly has lots of interesting backstory and rises above M. N. status.  Basically, it is all just as riveting as all get out, even though I totally guessed what was up on the Mysterious Island.

Short answer--it was great fun to read, and I still haven't packed (except for the books I'm taking with me).  And if the sequel comes out the week before I go away again, I probably won't pack then either.   Speaking of travel, if you yourself have packed, instead of reading The Living, and are flying in the next few days, it would make a really really good airplane book....cruise ship book, not so much.

Behind Enemy Lines (Infinity Ring 6), by Jennifer A. Nielsen, for Timeslip Tuesday

This week, Timeslip Tuesday falls on a Wednesday (these things happen, even in the best of families), and today's book is Behind Enemy Lines (Infinity Ring 6), by Jennifer A. Nielsen (Scholastic, 2013). 

The Infinity Ring series tells of three kids (Daq, Sera, and Riq) trying to fix history and prevent a cataclysm, and so far in the series they have bounced between many time periods and many places...but still there are more breaks in the way things should have gone for them to set right.  I was rather excited for this episode, because it's about World War II, a favorite period of mine.   In the time line in which the three kids grew up, the Allies didn't win WW II.  Instead, it was a stalemate, allowing a third party ("SQ," an organization working against the time-fixers side of things) to take over.  

But if  Daq, Sera, and Riq can fix one small thing, the Allies will win....and this small thing is a really truly cool piece of trickery on the part of the Allies.  They took a corpse, disguised him as an officer in the Royal Marines, complete with just tons of neat little details to make his identity more believable, and dumped him at sea, where he'd wash up in Spain.   The corpse was carrying Secret Information about the planned Allied invasion of Greece--when really the Allies were planning to invade Sicily.   If all went well, the Germans would get their hands on this intelligence, and swallow the story hook, line, and sinker.  And it worked!

Operation Mincemeat, as this was known, really happened, although not, of course, helped along by three kids from the future.  Jennifer Nielsen did a great job bringing it to life (inadvertent irony), and I enjoyed it lots, and also enjoyed delving on my own deeper into the Mincemeat story (cool fact--because the Germans were so badly burned by this one, two subsequent occasions when the Allies accidentally let important information fall into their hands were dismissed as being more trickery, saving the Allies' tail).

The book did strain my credulity.  Too many adults trusted the kids for no good reason, and some of the opportunities they encountered were not exactly plausible.   But extra interest was added by a time travelling bad guy working hard to mess things up, and I was glad to see that in this episode the three protagonists were spending less time annoying each other (and me), and more time getting things done.   The fact that they were separated for most of the story helped in this regard!

So a fine addition to the series, and it's a pity that it can't quite stand alone, because kids who are WW II buffs who haven't necessarily read the whole series would enjoy it lots.

Review copy received from the publisher.

The Year of Shadows, by Claire Legrand

This has been an excellent year for middle grade ghosts books, and The Year of Shadows, by Claire Legrand (Simon and Schuster, Aug. 2013, middle grade), is by no means the least of these, which is to say I liked it lots.

Olivia is angry, scared, and miserable.  After her mother left, things feel apart, and now she and her father, and her grandmother, are stuck living in the backstage rooms of a decrepit concert hall.  Her father (distant, depressed, unkempt and unhelpful) still dreams of leading his orchestra to heights of fame and financial stability, but Olivia doesn't want any part of her father's hope--she's too busy blaming him for her miserable circumstances (with some reason).

Then she realizes that on top of everything else, the hall is haunted.   And some of the spirits are friendly ghosts, who need her help to pass fully into death, and some are chaotic forces that bring danger to both ghost and girl.   With the help of two classmates who practically force friendship at prickly Olivia, she begins to help the ghosts...a scary process that involves letting them into her mind, so that she can share their memories. 

But in the meantime, the concert hall is literally falling down, and time is running out for both the ghosts, and for Olivia's family.

And once again, I embarrassed myself by sniveling on the bus ride home.  And once again, I realize while writing about a book that it had illustrations--quite nice and atmospheric ones--that utterly passed me by because I was so busy with the words.   Which I guess is a compliment.  (I am very sorry, illustrator Karl Kwasny.  I did notice the cover though, and like it lots, as do my target-audience boys).

So in any event, it's a rather dark book, but not so dark as to render the reader melancholy for any length of time.  One must bravely soldier on (at the beginning, in particular) through depressing bleakness, but gradually, as the story builds in complexity and more characters and twists of plot and zesty little details are added, it all gets lighter (though never what one would really call light)...and crescendos with a big emotional burst.  (At which point I give up fighting against musical metaphor, because after all musical metaphors are woven into the book--the program of orchestral music for each month is very deliberately chosen by the author!).   By the end there have been friendships made, and Olivia and her father are on track to build a better relationship (although I think he will always be a weak read as far as parenting is concerned....he has a habit of putting the music first) and things are better for the ghosts and stuff (that's me avoiding a spoiler).

So, if I had a slightly Gothically leaning 11 or 12 year old girl who played the violin* on hand, I would leap to press the book into her hands.   But anyone who enjoys a good ghost story, in which grimness is mixed nicely with both dead and living warmth, might very well want to give this one a try.

Disclaimer:  review copy received from the publisher for Cybils consideration

*because that's how I hear Olivia's theme; no offense to other instruments intended....although now I'm thinking maybe she's clarinet...tricky....

This week's round-up of Middle Grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs

Welcome to this week's round up of Middle Grade fantasy and science fiction!  I might well have missed posts, because of single handedly setting up my library's booksale (I am bad at finding help....), so let me know if I missed yours! 

The Reviews:

Anton and Cecil: Cats at Sea, by Lisa Martin and Valerie Martin, at Charlotte's Library

Beholding Bee, by Kimberly Newton Fusco, at Becky's Book Reviews

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, by Charles de Lint, at The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia

Fireborn, by Toby Forward, at Akossiwa Ketoglo

The Flame in the Mist, by Kit Grindstaff, at A Backwards Story

Flora and Ulysses, by Kate DiCamillo, at Wandering Librarians

Hunt for the Hydra, by Jason Fry, at School Library Journal

The Inventor's Secret, by Chad Morris, at Charlotte's Library

The Lost Heir, by Tui T. Sutherland, at Book Nut

Magic Marks the Spot, by Caroline Carlson, at Book Nut

The Obsidian Pebble, by Rhys A. Jones, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

Pi in the Sky, by Wendy Mass, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

The Real Boy, by Anne Ursu, at Book Nut

The Rithmatist, by Brandon Sanderson, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Rose, by Holly Webb, at The Book Monsters

Rules for Ghosting, by A.J. Paquette, at The Book Monsters

The Savage Fortress, by Sarwat Chadda, at Book Dragon

Sky Jumpers, by Peggy Eddleman, at Book Nut and Charlotte's Library

Spirits of the Sun (Diego's Dragon, book 1), by Kevin Gerard, at Book Dreaming

The Wells Bequest, by Polly Shulman, at Book Nut

The Vengekeep Prophecies, by Brett Helquist, at Librarian of Snark

Young Fredle, by Cynthia Voight, at Kid Lit Geek

Zoe and Zak and the Yogi's Curse, by Lars Guignard, at Mother Daughter Book Reviews


Authors and Interviews

Lars Guignard (Zoe and Zak series) at Carpinello's Writing Pages


Other Good Stuff

A lovely and moving look at what really might have happened to Susan after Narnia, at Hark, the empty highways calling

Brandy, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile, has a list of characters who captured her heart in 2013, including many fine fantasy characters.

A Tuesday 10 of Book Magic at Views From the Tesseract

The Nerdy Book Awards ballot is up, with several fine MG SFF books represented....and all are welcome to vote.

Ursula Le Guin shares her thoughts on letters from kids at Book View Café

And finally, for those feeling dispirited and unfestive-- a google search on "Christmas hedgehog" is always cheering.

Anton and Cecil: Cats at Sea, by Lisa Martin and Valerie Martin

If you have a young animal fiction lover in your life, Anton and Cecil: Cats at Sea, by Lisa Martin and Valerie Martin (Algonquin, 2013) would make a fine book offering--nice cats, nice adventure, and a happy ending (coming home to Mama, which is the best ending of all).

Anton and Cecil are young brother cats, living in a seaside town.  They are very fond of each other, and very different--  Cecil feels the pull of the sea, and spends his days aboard fishing boats, while Anton loves to listen to sea shanties, and spends his nights in the taverns.   But it is Anton who first truly goes to sea, impressed into ratting service on board an ocean-going barque....poor Anton, who never even liked mousing on dry land.

But Cecil is determined to find his brother, and boards a ship for an ocean-going adventure of his own.   They travel through a series of adventures, good and bad, meeting friends and enemies, mercenary pirates and kindly petters-of-cats, never quite giving up hope.  Because there is an ancient piece of cat lore that seems to promise that one day they will be reunited....

So it's a perfectly fine, cat-full story with a nice emphasis on sibling loyalty, and adventures that are exciting (encounters with other animals, a storm at sea, pirates, etc.).  Anton and Cecil are appealing (perhaps even enough so to win over dog-lovers).  There's a lot of luck involved, but not so much as to overpower the agency of the cat protagonists,   I'd be happy giving it to a strong reader as young as seven, and an older reader up to 10 or so.

However, the older reader might start questioning the mystical element of the cat lore that inspires Anton and Cecil.  I myself never quite figured out if it was a natural phenomena or a fantastical element.  And there was one bit that bothered me lots-- I think it is not fair to the reader to get rid of all the living people on board a ship by simply saying: they disappeared overnight, while the cat (Anton, in this case) was asleep.  What?????   So if you do give this to a reader with an inquiring mind, you might want to have some sort of answer ready! Update:  Lisa wrote me to say that this episode was inspired by the Mary Celeste, so there you go.

Disclaimer:  review copy received from the publisher for Cybils consideration.

Sky Jumpers, by Peggy Eddleman

Sky Jumpers, by Peggy Eddleman (Random House, 2013), is a post-apocalypse sci-fi story in a future Earth written for middle grade readers, and that is a very rare thing these days.   It is a solid introduction to this sort of sci fi for younger readers, with much to recommend it.   But it didn't, for me, at least, quite rise above the level of "very good" to "great."

Hope is an ordinary kid.  She's a tomboy, often late to school and untidy.  She's adopted, and sometimes wonders about her birth parents.  She's worried about how she compares to other kids.   But Hope's life isn't as normal as one might think, for the kids of her generation have no memories of what like was like for their grandparents before the "green bombs" fell, and life as humanity knew it ended.  The bombs weren't radioactive, but they altered the chemical composition of reality.  Most people died, but the founders of Hope's community found shelter in a valley surrounded by a swath of toxic air, known as "bomb breath."   Daredevil Hope has learned that the killer bomb breath is denser than normal air, so you can jump into it off of impossibly tall cliff tops (being careful not to breath) and pass through to safety...and she is the best and bravest of the sky jumping kids.

me--I am perfectly happy to accept vast chemical changes in reality, so this struck me as reasonable.  Sky jumping sounds like fun, but I would be scared.

What Hope is bad at is inventing.   Because of the bombs, old technologically no longer worked (changes in reality), and though there are paper records of the cool contrivances that once existed (which the older people still remember), ways of making things work have to be figured out again.  And so all the kids are pressured to come up with useful inventions that will make things more like they once were. 

me, reading along happily--neat!

Hope's current invention is, like her other efforts, a failure.  She feels she has nothing to contribute to her community.  But then (moving more briskly through the plot) word leaks out to the violent Raiders out in the wilds, busily raiding any community they can find, that her settlement has rediscovered antibiotics.   And they attack, and Hope's father's life is in danger.  Hope can save him...if she can escape through the wild winter weather and the poisonous gases.  So the story becomes a tremendously exciting adventure that put Hope's sky jumping skills, and the daring spirit that made her jump in the first place, to the test.   And it is rather cool the way Hope uses the bomb breath pockets to good effect viz raider foiling.

me--this was all good reading, but...but...

My first realization that maybe this wasn't a book I could love came when Hope and her classmates are sharing their latest inventions.  One of the girls proudly presents hers--she's rediscovered hair curlers! 

"I used to have to put curlers in my hair when it was wet," Ellie said, "and then wear them to bed.  It's so hard to sleep in curlers!"  (p 42).  And her teacher is pleased with her.

Hair curlers???!!!??   Gender annoyance aside, curlers contribute nothing to the gravitas to the rebuilding of a lost world, no morning for the dead, etc.

I wanted to believe the characters sorrowed for the countless dead of the parents' generation, I wanted more sense of loss for the world that once was, and higher emotional stakes beyond the particular of "my father might die." I know it's a tall order, but I wanted this really nifty premise and fine heroine to be set in a story that, in the power of its writing, imagery, and metaphor, went beyond the (very interesting) particulars of the adventure into a larger thematic territory of rebuilding civilization (and I cannot believe that hair curling would be anyone's priority at this point).  The set up was all there for something like that that, but it just didn't deliver a punch to the gut or a shock to the spirit, the way the best books do.  And I know that's a lot to expect, but the potential was there...

That being said, it might well be a book that will set young readers down the path of science fiction, because it is an engaging story, and that's not a bad thing at all.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher for Cybils Award consideration.

The Inventor's Secret, by Chad Morris, for Timeslip Tuesday

There has been something of an uptick in the number of science fiction time travel books for younger readers in the past few years--books in which high tech gizmos send folks zwooshing around through the centuries, and in which good guys want to protect time time, and bad guys want to alter it, and the kids end up trying to make things right (the Lost series, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, the Infinity Ring series from Scholastic, Richard Ungar's Time Snatched and Time Trapped, and more).     There have also been many many many speculative fiction books for kids and teens set in special schools.  The Inventor's Secret (book one of the  Cragbridge Hall series), by Chad Morris (Shadow Mountain, 2013), combines these two trends.

A little ways into the future, twins Abby and Derick Cragbridge are tremendously excited to be enrolling at the school their grandfather founded--the only one in the world where the high tech gizmos he invented allow students to actually perceive history as it happened.   It's not true time travel--though the technology exists to make that possible--but it's darned close.   Life at the new school is not all roses, though--only the best and brightest get to go to Cragbridge Hall--and Abby just plain isn't, so she comes in for a lot of flack from other students.  However, that issue quickly becomes irrelevant when the twins' grandfather and parents are kidnapped by a man who wants to take control of time for himself.   Oscar Cragbridge, worried that this might happen, left clues that will allow those he trusts to take control of time, if necessary...and so Abby and Derick set off to unravel them.

It's rather urgent that they do so quickly--their enemy has controlled time just enough to trap their parents on the Titanic, and that's never a good place to be.....

If you have a reader who really loves nifty school stories, this might well be a good pick--there are other fun inventions in the school, and interesting bits of school life (the animal avatars in particular have lots of kid appeal).  The pace is fast, the premise interesting, so it's not surprising that there are lots of good reviews on Amazon.  And it's a nice bonus that ordinary Abby is the one to truly save the day.

I myself, however, had to make a conscious effort not to think to hard about the time travel technology (I'm not at all clear, for instance, how the bad guy got the parents back to the Titanic, and the paradoxs of the whole thing (if people are stuck in the past, is time passing in the present really an issue?), but it was hard not to listen to the cracking of thin ice as I skated along.  These difficulties (which could be less pronounced for other more slow and careful readers) combined with the fact that one of the supporting characters was as annoying as heck, from personally enjoying this one.

This week's round-up of Middle Grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (12/8/13)

Welcome to another week's worth of MG sci fi/fantasy links; please let me know if I missed yours!

The Reviews

Back to Blackbrick, by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, at Charlotte's Library

Beholding Bee, by Kimberly Newton Fusco, at Book Nut

Blue Moon, by James Ponti, at Hooked On Books

Chase Tinker and the House of Secrets, by Malia Ann Haberman, at This Kid Reviews Books

The City of Death, by Sarwat Chadda, at Book Dragon

Constable and Toop, by Gareth P. Jones,  a SLJ Pick of the Day

The Creature Department, by Robert Paul Weston, at Jean Little Library

The Fellowship for Alien Detection, by Kevin Emerson, at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

Fireborn, by Toby Forward, at On Starships and Dragonwings

The Garden Princess, by Kristin Kladstrup, at Book Nut

Ghost Hawk, by Susan Cooper, at Kid Lit Geek

Icefall, by Matthew J. Kirby, at The Write Path

Jinx, by Sage Blackwood, at The Book Monsters

Listening for Lucca, by Suzanne LaFleur, at Next Best Book

Mirage, by Jenn Reese, at Charlotte's Library

My Neighbor Totoro, the novel, by Tsugiko Kubo, at Charlotte's Library

Odessa Again, by Dana Reinhardt, at Challenging the Bookworm

A Question of Magic, by E.D. Baker, at The Book Monsters

The Real Boy, by Anne Ursu, at In Bed With Books

Rose, by Holly Webb, at The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia

The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud, at Book Nut

The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket, by John Boyne, at The Book Monsters

The Time-Travelling Fashionista and Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, by Bianca Turetsky, at Manga Maniac Café

When Did You See Her Last? by Lemony Snicket, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Zombie Baseball Beatdown, by Paolo Bacigalupi, at The Book Monsters

Four short and sweet reviews at Random Musings of a Bibliophile--How I Became a Ghost, The Neptune Project, The Sasquatch Escape, and Sleeping Beauty's Daughters


Authors and Interviews

James Ponti (Blue Moon, and Dead City) at Hooked On Books

Stefan Bachmann (The Peculiar and The Whatnot) at Fantasy Fiction


Other Good Stuff

Katherine Langrish reflects on heroines of yesteryear at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles

A Tuesday Ten on Divine Intervention at Views from the Tesseract

Authors over at The Enchanted Inkpot reflect on the gift of fantasy

At On Starships and Dragonwings, there's a new Friday round-up feature of sci fi and fantasy (MG to adult)--I will try hard to remember to add links, and hope many others do to, because goodness knows I have trouble keeping up with what's out there in the grown-up world.

Speaking of the grown-up world....I am a regular reader of the Linkspam collected at Radish Reviews, which quite often includes links to conversations that keep on making me glad I am not part of the adult world of sci fi/fantasy.   And this week's collection is no exception, and after stopping for many Cleansing Breaths I am determined that I will renew my commitment to reviewing sci fi/fantasy books for kids with non-white protagonists, because the readers of today will be the fans of tomorrow.....and I had to take a break from rounding-up to write a whole post about it.

And now, on with getting ready for Christmas by a. reading hundreds of books b. cleaning the house

How I'm trying to raise my sci fi/fantasy loving kids to be the decent fans of tomorrow, with a list of recommended diverse sci fi/fantasy for kids

I am currently putting together this Sunday's round-up of Middle Grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs...but have been sidetracked and agitated by a visit to one of the blogs on my list--at Radish Reviews, there's a regular collection of links pertaining to grown-up sci fi/fantasy, and this one contained links to conversations about diversity in sci fi/fantasy that have agitated me considerably.

I don't want my boys to grow up to be the white-privileged folks whose words distressed me so very much this morning.  I want them to become the fans of a better tomorrow (or some such sincere whatever).   So I talk to them, and with them (and yeah, they sometimes get pretty sick of it, because they're kids).  We talk about who's shown on covers, and how they are shown.   Anybody non-white?  If so, are they behind a white person, or obscured in some way?  If there's a girl, is she behind the boy?  Is she looking sidewise instead of straight on?  Who has what weapon? 

Deconstructing gender and race representations is a fun family activity, and I recommend it.  Do it often enough, and it becomes habit.  Or at least a habit for the grown-up.  If you show a kid the cover of, say, Rose, by Holly Webb,  they might well say "magic kitty!  magic kitty!" and pet the kitty, and not comment on the font color, but at least the seeds of critical thought are planted....Wild Born (Spirit Animals Book 1), by Brandon Mull, which your kid might well have picked up at a recent Scholastic book fair, is a great cover for conversations on diversity and gender!

We talk about how people are identified in the books.   Who's skin color is mentioned, and who's isn't?  What are the adjectives used?  Are there characters whose ethnicity you can't guess at?   Ask them if they are imagining people who don't look like them in their own writing.   This actually has had results--my younger son was very proud of himself for deliberately choosing to write a non-white character into the standardized testing writing sample he had to produce.  And sure, it was tokenism, but at least he's recognizing that fantasy worlds don't have to be all-white, so I patted him on the head and told him he was a good child.

And finally, I offer them books whose protagonists aren't white boys.  It's easy to find great books with girls to offer boys, but it's harder to find great sci fi/fantasy for kids with non-white protagonists.   Here is a quick list of some of my favorites, that I promise most white boy readers will love:

Where the Mountain Meets the Moonby Grace Lin (2009).  A beautifully illustrated Newbery Honor winner set in China.

Bansi O'Hara and the Bloodline Prophecy, by John Dougherty (2008)  An Irish fantasy starring an Indian/Irish girl.

Chronicles of the Red King:  The Secret Kingdom (2011) by Jenny Nimmo.  Magical fantasy whose hero is African.

Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities, by Mike Jung (2012).  Fun superhero adventure with an Asian boy.

The Menagerie, by Tui T. Sutherland and Kari Sutherland (2013).  Readers might not pick up on the fact that the main character is an African American boy, because it is a non-issue, but you can point it out them.

I have many more in my list of diverse fantasy/sci fi for kids, but these are the ones that I feel most comfortable recommending.

Me over at Smugglivus

Ana and Thea asked me over for Smugglivus (thanks so much!) and my post is up today!

I wasn't actually able to share my top middle grade fantasy and sci fi books of the year, because those are the same ones that are in contention for the Cybils....so that will have to wait until after the Cybils shortlists are announced Jan. 1....

My Neighbor Totoro: the Novel, by Tsugiko Kubo from the original story by Hayao Miyazaki

What a pleasure it was to read My Neighbor Totoro, by Tsugiko Kubo (VIZ Media LLC, 192 pages, Oct. 2013).   It is just exactly the sort of book I like, and the fact that I have never seen the movie on which the book was based perhaps added to my enjoyment, because I didn't know what to expect.

Here's what it has, which is just about a check list of my favorite fictional things:

Sisters.   The two main characters are eleven-year-old Satsuki and her little sister Mei (four years old) who have  moved out to the country to be closer to the sanitarium where their mother is recovering from T.B.   Because their archaeologist father still has to work, a lot of the housekeeping, cooking, and looking after Mei falls on Satsuki's shoulders, and she has to try really hard to keep things going (which is sometimes difficult).

An emotionally moving plot.  The girls miss their mother something fierce, and of course vice versa, and love each other, and their father is loving too, and it is very poignant and I wanted to hug everybody.

The old house in the country.  It is a ramshackle old house, but charming, and it's set in a beautiful garden with a stream and old trees and a space to grow vegetables and it is lovely.  And, as mentioned above, there are many opportunities for house cleaning and cooking, so much more fun to read about than to actually do....

The magical element that makes it all enchanting.  This would be the titular neighbor, Totoro...and other denizens of the spirit world who live nearby.  The fantasy bits are magical as all get out without taking over the story, and it all works very well.   It's possible that a different reader might want more of the fantasy part....I would have been happy to see more of Totoro (and the cat bus)--Totoro only appears four times, if I remember correctly, but it was fine with me the way it was.

So the whole package is just lovely, and the illustrations by Miyazaki are charming, and the fact that it is set in Japan made all my favorite story elements fresh and new. 

Mostly I pass books I've gotten for review on to my public library.  Sometimes I put them on my boys' shelves.  This one I'm keeping for me.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher for Cybils purposes

Waiting on Wednesday-- The Truth Against the World, by Sarah Jamila Stevenson

Sarah Stevenson and I were room-mates at KidLitCon last month, and one of the things we talked about was Sarah's new book, which sounds wonderful, and very much like one I'll love:

The Truth Against the World, by Sarah Jamila Stevenson (Flux, June 2014)

"In her parents' San Francisco flat, Olwen Nia Evans, Wyn for short, has been having unsettling dreams about her family's past in Wales. But her dreams don't match up with what she's been told by her dying grandmother, Rhiannon. On the other side of the world, in London, a boy named Gareth Lewis is having disturbing dreams about a frightening encounter with a ghost. A ghost named Olwen Nia Evans.

When he looks for Olwen's name online, Gareth connects with Wyn in San Francisco as she is preparing to move with her family to fulfill Rhiannon's last wish to die in Wales. Once Wyn arrives in Wales, she and Gareth join forces to discover the truth of the lost soul that's haunting them both."

Since deciding when I was six or so that I wanted to be Welsh (with black hair and blue eyes--challenging for me) I have loved stories set there.  The first time I ever used a library card catalogue was to find children's books set in Wales...there weren't many! (Three, if memory serves me right). 

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

Back to Blackbrick, by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, for Timeslip Tuesday

Back to Blackbrick, by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2013) is a time travel story from Ireland that tugs at the heart and sticks in the mind in such a way as to make it hard to review.  Which is to say that part of the book was utterly impressive, and made me a tad teary at the end, in a good way, but part of did not work for me at all, and I can't stop thinking about how horrified I am with regard to a certain plot twist (there will be spoilers).

Cosmo is in a tough, sad place.  His brother has died.  His mother has left to go be a workaholic in Australia, and now Cosmo lives with just his grandparents.    Since he loves them, and has always been particularly close to his grandfather, this is not so horrible--except that his grandfather is loosing his mind to Alzheimer's.  And when kids at school see him talking to a lamp-post, they start taunting Cosmo.   Cosmo is desperately hoping to find some way of helping his grandfather hold on...but a social worker is starting to snoop around, threatening to send him off to a nursing home.  His uncle comes back to Ireland--Cosmo must go live with him.  And his beloved horse is sent away.

Then, in a rare lucid moment, Cosmo's grandfather gives him a key, and tells him to open the south gate of Blackbrick Abbey, a ruined manor house some ways away.  And the story shifts, as Cosmo travels back in time and meets his 16 year old grandfather, Kevin, the stable boy/general help at Blackbrick.   It is a sad and empty place--Kevin, the cook, the master, Lord Coporamore, and his spoiled little girl, Cordelia.  The cook is happy to give Cosmo some house space in exchange for help...and Kevin is happy he's there.  Almost at once, he embroils Cosmo in his plan to bring the young love of his life to Blackbrick; once she's there, he reckons, things will sort themselves out....

And Cosmo is glad to help bring his grandparents together.  Except this girl, Maggie, isn't his grandmother...and Cosmo becomes determined to keep her from marrying Kevin. 

Turns out, Cosmo doesn't have to do a thing.   Coporamore finds Maggie, and after  giving her permission to stay, he proceeds to rape her.  And Cosmo sees this beginning...and looking back on in it retrospect, he is appalled and angry...but at the time, he simply pretends it isn't happening.   And all through the next nine months that Cosmo is in the past, in a sort of happy daydream vacation from his reality, this goes on...until Maggie's child is about to be born, and Coporamore sends her off.   Cosmo and the kindly cook look after her, and the child lives, and they are happy, except for Kevin, who's gone off Maggie because of what's happened to her.

Now, maybe Cosmo didn't exactly realize what was happening at first (though he seems to have had a pretty good idea), and it is written in such a way that the reader who is not familiar with the rape of servants by their masters might not grasp what is happening.  But it's pretty clear that he's aware of what's happening to Maggie.  Maybe not quite the whole of it, but still....  And does he help Maggie? No.   No one does.   Nor does Maggie ask for help.  They are all too ashamed or afraid or in denial, and in mid 20th-century Ireland, maybe there wasn't much choice.  

So this is shelved in the kids' section of Barnes and Nobel, but it's not a book I'd want to give my ten year old; he has plenty of time to read about rape.  This one part of the book, secondary to the larger story, is more suited for older readers...but the lack of emotional effect it has on the characters within the story (Cosmo's narrative afterthoughts notwithstanding) makes it very much rape seen through the eyes of a kid.

But I, being grown-up, couldn't pretend it wasn't happening, and was upset and angry.  The fact of that Maggie was being sexually assaulted I could have lived with, sadly but accepting it as part of the story, but the lack of gravitas given it (School Library Journal was able to call the book "a rollicking ride") caused me not to like this time travel part of the story at all. 

I had a few other, less emotional, issues with the story.  For instance, Cosmo is there in the past for nine months (a heck of a long time, that passes in a very dreamlike, rather unsatisfactory time just passing way), in a pretty tight little community, yet the daughter of the house, little  Cordelia, remains almost entirely shunted off the side of the story, which just seemed totally implausible and a bit of a waste of a good character.  And it's never made clear why Blackbrick ended up a ruin in the present.

But in any event, Cosmo comes back to the present after Maggie's baby is born, expecting to find his brother alive in a new and improved present--he had told Kevin about what was going to happen, and trusted that all would be well....Though that didn't work out, Cosmo also came back armed with enough knowledge of his grandfather's past to coach him in answering questions from social workers, and Cosmo's mother comes back, and the past is put to rest and all is better.  And this was all actually very moving.

So basically this feels in my mind like two stories--modern Cosmo with family problems, which is a powerful and poignant story, very well told, convincing, moving as all get out, and Cosmo in the past, which is a heck of a lot more troubling, and much less convincing.   And I'm not sure what sort of reader I'd hand it too.  I think I am leaning toward grown-up fans of Roddy Doyle...

In any event, here's the review Back To Blackbrick got in The Guardian, which made me want to read the book very much!  And at Amazon UK, there's a whole string of accolades.  So though this didn't work perfectly for me, your mileage may vary.....

Disclaimer:  review copy gratefully received from the publisher for Cybils review purposes.

Mirage, by Jenn Reese

Mirage, by Jenn Reese (Candlewick 2013) is the second book in a pretty darn exciting sci-fi adventure series, set in a future world where humans have been genetically altered to survive in a variety of environments.  The first book, Above World, told how Aluna, one of the underwater folk, ventured out onto dry land to wage a battle against the enemy who was slowly killing her people.   But though she won the battle, the war against the maniacal scientist and his cloned minions that could destroy all the genetically-altered folk of the world is still going strong.

So Aluna and a group of diverse companions--Hoku, her friend from below the water, Dash, an exiled Equine, whose centaur-half never grew, and Calli, an Avian girl, venture into the desert to find Dash's people and make an alliance with them.  Unfortunately, their enemy has gotten there first.....but fortunately, there is hope--challenging the power of the Equines in the Thunder Trials that determine who leads the herds.  

And so, in a story that involves lots of warrior training, lots of investigating old technology, and lots of tests of friendship and courage, Aluna and her friends forge a new herd...and enter the Trials.

Amidst the excitements of political and physical wrangling, amidst all the figuring out just who their enemy is, and how to fight back, there is tons of good character building and relationships--the foursome are still young, and fumbling a tad in their journey to adulthood.  They must trust each other...but with so many external pressures being brought to bear, it's not always easy.

There a nicely idealistic theme to the series, too.  The different races of humanity must learn to put aside past differences--which, in the case of the war between the Equines and the Serpenti (snake people) bordered on genocide.   The few Serpenti who are left throw their lot in with Aluna, realizing that it is better to keep trying for a future than to sit and wait for death in the in the dark.

And finally, Alana is a most excellent heroine--brave and determined, without being unbelievable super-heroic.

I enjoyed this one more than the first book, perhaps because there is less traveling and more getting to know a particular people and place, and I'm looking forward to Book three with enthusiasm!

Here's another review from Brandy, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile, who goes beyond simple enjoyment into Book Love.

Nominated for Cybils (Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction) by Stephanie Burgis; review copy gratefully received from the publisher for Cybils consideration.

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi/fantasy from around the blogs (12/1/13)

Happy December!  The first door of this year's Star Wars Advent Callender has been opened, revealling a droid (and I got to say "that's not the droid you're looking for.")  I have bought most of my Christmas presents (and if you want book ideas for a 10 or 13 year old boy, here's what they're getting), and last night, in a fit of Christmas Ambition, we made our own holiday gift tags.   There are reasons why I don't have an Etsy store (although I think it captures the hopeful spirit in which I give gifts).

And now, the round-up; please let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews

The Atomic Weight of Secrets, by Eden Unger Bowditch, at My Precious

The Clockwork Three, by Matthew Kirby, at Next Best Book

The Contagious Colors of Mumply Middle School, by Fowler DeWitt,  at The Book Monsters

The Creature Department, by Robert Paul Weston, at Charlotte's Library

The Dark Secret (Wings of Fire Book 4), by Tui T. Sutherland, at Charlotte's Library

Dial-a-Ghost, by Eva Ibbotson, at Here There Be Books

Eldritch Manor, by Kim Thompson, at That's Another Story

Ever After High, by Shannon Hale, at Fantasy Book Critic

Flora and Ulysses, by Kate DiCamillo, at Kid Lit Geek

Frogged, by Vivian Vende Velde, at Sonderbooks

The Girl Who Soared Above Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two, by Catherynne M. Valente, at Hidden in Pages

Ghost Hawk, by Susan Cooper, at Book Nut

Ghost Knight, by Cornelia Funke, at Lust and Coffee

The Grimm Conclusion, by Adam Gidwitz, at Reads for Keeps

The Land of Stories series, by Chris Colfer, at CC Riley

The Locket of Dreams, by Belinda Murrell, at Charlotte's Library

The Name of this Book is Secret, by Pseudonymous Bosch, at Between These Pages

The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate, at ACReads

Parched, by Melanie Crowder, at Views From the Tesseract

Rain of the Ghosts, by Greg Weisman, at Great Imaginations

The Real Boy, by Anne Ursu, at Kid's Books 101 and The Adventures of Cecelia Bedila

Rose, by Holly Webb, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Rules for Ghosting, by A.J. Paquette, at Michelle I. Mason

Rump, by Leisl Shurtliff, at The Book Monsters

The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani, at Late Nights With Good Books

Skellig, by David Almond, at Library of Clean Reads

Why Kimba Saved the World, by Meg Welch Dendler, at This Kid Reviews Books

Wicked Cruel, by Rich Wallace, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Three short EMG SFF book notes at Book Nut--Lonely Lake Monster, The Ghost Prison, and Mickey Price: Journey to Oblivion

And another three at The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia--Flora and Ulysses, The Adventures of a South Pole Pig, and Fortunatly the Milk

Other Good Stuff

If you enjoy buying books, check out the call for books for Ballou Sr High School in Washington DC at Guys Lit Wire.  And there's also Kidlit for the Philippines, and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression auction of beautiful picture book art at ebay.