The Quantum League: Spell Robbers, by Matthew J. Kirby

Spell Robbers, by Matthew J. Kirby (Scholastic 2014) is about a boy, Ben, who discovers he has preternatural powers (in this case, the ability to alter reality through the mental manipulation of matter and energy), and who is whisked off to the headquarters of the good guys so that his preternatural powers of actuation can be honed and used against the bad guys.   He then is the chief player in an adventurous ploy that foils the bad guys.

This is not, in and of itself, an original plot, and I was doubtful. But as the story unfolded, more complexity of plot and character were added to the mix, and by the end of it, I'd found it enjoyable, and am happy to recommend it to ten (or so) year olds who love to cheer for outstanding kids in extraordinary circumstances.

Here's what made it hard for me to become invested:

The bad guys are called the Dread Cloaks, and the good guys are the League.  This is not subtle, and it makes it hard to take the Dread Cloaks seriously.   The Dread Cloaks, in general, never rise above the level of cartoonish villains--they too have powers of actuation, and it's pointed out to the reader that even small manipulations of reality can have cataclysmically evil results.  The Dread Cloaks, however, seem more concerned with turf wars and petty heists than true evil, making them less dreadful than they might have been. 

The reader is required to carry out a huge suspension of disbelief--once Ben (and other kids) are taken into the League, all trace of them is wiped from the minds of everyone outside the League.  Which is a pretty stupendously difficult thing to do, but we have to accept that it happened, only  I kept wondering how on earth you could find everyone who ever knew a kid, and erase their memories.   Thoughts of material remnants (what happened to all his possessions?) kept drifting through my mind, which was distracting.

On the other hand, there was enough I found interesting to balance out these reservations:

Ben is the bestest actuator of all (no surprise) but he actually has to learn things and it doesn't all come (totally) naturally.

More importantly, Ben really, really hates that his mother's mind has been wiped.  He loves his mom, and wants to be reunited with her, in large part because he thinks she needs him.   And this makes him rather hostile toward the League, adding interesting internal conflict.  Both Ben and the reader don't know who to trust, and the reader strongly sympathizes with Ben's reluctance to become a pawn in a game that he doesn't comprehend.  Clearly, the Dread Cloaks are bad (or they would have picked a different name), but is the League actually good?  With the addition of a character with a questionable path and questionable motives, the ambiguity increases, and this is what kept me turning the pages.

And finally, I found it interesting to read about a kid who's primary motivation is to be reunited with his mother.   It made a really nice change for a book to address a kid's separation from his parents as something that actually is meaningful for the kid, and which effects his actions and choices.   Middle grade kids are beginning to toy with the idea of separation themselves (some more enthusiastically than my own), and I think this is a theme that might well resonate with many of them. 

So in the end, despite my initial reservations, I found myself looking forward to the sequel.

Here's another review at Random Musings of a Bibliophile, The Englishist, and Ms. Yingling Reads

Note on label:  though the people in the book maintain that actuation is science, not magic, I just cannot believe it is possible enough to lable this book science fiction!  It is more like superpower fantasy.

Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Why Candy Crush has been a force for good in my life

Round about the end of last September, I happened to read a tweet from Liz in which she shared the happy news that she beat a level of Candy Crush.   I had not heard of it before, and assuming that if a game was good enough for Liz, it was good enough for me, I started playing.....I have just now beaten level 400, and have sent out a call to my Candy Crush friends on Facebook to help me advance to the next level.

It would be easy to say I was addicted to the game, and to say that I had wasted hours of my precious life on something pointless.  But this would not be fair--Candy Crush has actually added lots of point to my life.

For one thing, I have been perforce been on Facebook a lot more.  I had been dismissive of it, and not bothered, but I have truly enjoyed reading the things my friends are sharing!  I feel Connected and Warmed.   And because my Candy Crush friends and I help each other out, I feel a sense of kinship with them, a sense of friendly camaraderie that brightens my day.  When a friend I haven't seen in real life for decades sends me a game life, I smile; when I friend I've seen more often does, I'm reminded of happy times together.   It is because of Candy Crush that I finally uploaded a picture of myself into my Facebook profile...

Candy Crush is also encouraging my children to Think of Others.  If you are one of my game friends, and wonder why I send lives so profligately, know that it is not me, it is my boys, sitting by my side as I play and bound and determined to generously spew forth lives at every opportunity.  And they do sit by my side/breathe down my neck lots, making it Quality Bonding Time as we sharpen our minds together on the challenges of making the stripped/wrapped combos.

And the fact that I play Candy Crush makes me unlikely to resent my husband's preoccupation with his own on-line games, thus strengthening our marriage.  After all, we are playing in the same room.

Still, I am rather glad you only get five lives at a time.  I will never forget the summer I lost to Civilization....

The Children Next Door, by Jean Ure, for Timeslip Tuesday

Sometimes it's easy to tell when a ghost is a ghost, and to say "not time travel."  Some hauntings are trickier, though...and such is the case of The Children Next Door, by Jean Ure (1994), and in explaining why I think it's timeslip than ghost, I'll spoil it a little, but it can't be helped.

In any event, 11 year old Laura moves into a new house, and soon after, while lying in the garden reading a book (she gets character points from me for this, which is about the only time she does), she hears the voices of children next door.  They are a brother and his older sister, Tommy and Em, having an argument, which results in Em throwing Tommy's toy over the fence into Laura's yard, and coming to look for it.  Laura, being shy, instinctively hides, mentally kicking herself for being so pathetic (and though it's understandable, and necessary for the plot, it's rather wet of her) and so doesn't meet Em.

And though Laura hears Em and Tommy, and their friend Kate, and peaks at them over the fence, no one else believes they are real, and her parents think Laura is much to imaginative.  So everyone is happy when Laura makes friends with the girl who really is living next door, Zilla, a live wire who is a tad obnoxious, but it's nice for Laura to be livened up.  And Laura doesn't mention Em and co. to Zilla, though she's still seeing and hearing them on occasion, because she's now trying to convince herself that they aren't real.

These shadowy children next door fit most of the criteria for ghosts, except for one crucial fact--two of them are still alive.  What Laura is experiencing are sort of memory imprints of their past, and so though she isn't exactly traveling back in time, nor are they travelling forward; instead, past and present are overlapping.  This is exactly the sort of book where "timeslip" becomes a more useful word than "time travel."

I would have liked it just fine as a child, and doubtless re-read it; as a grown-up, it was rather slight and I never saw much in Laura or Zilla, and I thought Em was one of the meanest sisters I've met in ages.  It's by  no means a bad book; I didn't mind reading it at all, and do consider offering it to any 10 year old you have on hand who enjoys quieter mysteries in which one never leaves the house and garden....and how appreciates books that finish with a nice dollop of tragedy.

Palace of Spies, by Sarah Zettel

There are not many fun YA novels of intrigue and conspiracy (with a smidge of romance) set in the reign of George I.  In fact,  Palace of Spies, by Sarah Zettel (HMH Books for Young Readers, Nov. 2013), set in 1716, is the only one I can think of, and it sets a nicely high standard for this particular little sub-genre.  This is a good period for intrigue and plotting--the newly installed Hanoverian king is not universally loved and the Jacobites (who want the Stuarts back) are plotting and seething.  So basically, the palace of the Prince and Princess of Wales is a hotbed of somewhat more than your run-of-the-mill political and social tensions.

And young Peggy Fitzroy is right in the middle of it.

Peggy didn't have a choice.  The mysterious friend of her deceased mother, who took her in when she was booted out of her previous guardian's house, plans for Peggy to take the place of Francesca, a young lady in waiting who left the court and died (mysteriously?) some time ago...and as no one at court knows she died, and Peggy looks somewhat like her (the fashions of this period--heavy makeup and powdered hair help viz disguise), Peggy can go to court and report back to her new guardian and his associates--a gentleman (?) of uncertain status who's a whiz at cards, and unfriendly woman who will be Peggy's maid.

And Peggy has no better alternative to offer herself.  But no one has told her just what she's reporting on, and so Peggy, step by intricate step, finds herself ensnared in a dance of intrigue that is more complex than she had imagined.  Francesca had secrets--a lover, a dream, a twisted past of her own--and Peggy gradually discovers that these secrets could be deadly.......

So it was rather fun, to see things getting more complicated, and trying to spot clues and figure things out!  My only reservation is that the whole business of not actually giving Peggy any meaningful instructions--I never quite understood why her new guardian went to all the work to get Peggy installed as a lady-in-waiting if he wasn't going to use her in any useful capacity, and this felt like a pretty substantial plot hole to me.  Some of his other actions made little sense to me either.  But it's possible he was just making sure she was safely installed first, and didn't realize what a trap she was going to find herself in, and maybe the sequel will make things clearer-or even more murky and dangerous!

If you enjoy historical intrigue and mystery, give this one a try. 

Something I liked: One of the characters is an artist's apprentice, so there are a few (not lots, but some) bonus bits about Georgian art thrown in.

This week's (very substantial) round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy postings from around the blogs (2/16/14)

I found lots of posts this week!  But if I missed yours, I'm sorry--please send me the link!

The Reviews

The 9 Lives of Alexander Baddenfield, by John Bemelmans Marciano, at Magic Words

The Abominables, by Eva Ibbotson, at The Book Monsters

The Accidental Time Traveller, by Janis Mackay, at Time Travel Times Two

Aesop's Secret, by Claudia White, at A Woman's Wisdom

Back to Blackbrick, by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, at Barbara Ann Watson

The Cabinet of Wonders, by Marie Rutkoski, at Dead Houseplants

The Cloud Forest, by Joan North, at a pile of leaves

Fairest of All (Whatever After 1), by Sarah Mlynowski, at Carstairs Considers

Finally, by Wendy Mass, at book4yourkids

The Forbidden Library, by Django Wexler, at Views from the Tesseract

Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities, by Mike Jung, at That's Another Story

Jinx, by Sage Blackwood, at Semicolon, and Rachel Neumeier (also Jinx's Magic)

Jinx's Magic, by Sage Blackwood, at Kid Lit Geek

Knightley and Son: Cracking the Code, by Rohan Gavin, at Jen Robinson’s Book Page

The Luck Uglies, by Paul Durham, at Views from the Tesseract

Magic Marks the Spot, by Caroline Carlson, at alibrarymama

Magic Trix: Secrets and Spies, by Sara Grant, at Nayu’s Reading Corner

The Mesmer Menace, by Kersten Hamilton, at Sharon the Librarian

The Monster in the Mudball, by S.P. Gates, at Boys and Literacy

No Returns (The Battleband Saga book 1), by Gail Giles and Deb Vanasse, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy, by Karen Foxlee, at Jen Robinson's Book Page, Ms. Yingling Reads, and books4yourkids

Pillage, by Obert Skye, at Leaf's Reviews

Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale, at The Ninja Librarian

The Princess Curse, by Merrie Haskell, at Booked til Tuesday

The  Quirks--Welcome to Normal, and Circus Quirkus, by Erin Soderberg, at A Year of Reading

The Real Boy, by Anne Ursu, at Ex Libris

The Rithmatist, by Brandon Sanderson, at Semicolon

Rump, by Liesl Shurtliff, at Pages Unbound

The Sasquatch Escape, by Suzanne Selfors, at Literate Lives

The Secret Box, by Whitaker Ringwald, at The Write Path

Secrets of the Book, by Erin Fry, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Seven Wild Sisters, by Charles de Lint, at Charlotte's Library

Sidekicked, by John David Anderson, at Sonderbooks

The Sleeping Army, by Francesca Simon, at Charlotte's Library

A Snicker of Magic, by Natalie Lloyd, at Nerdy Book Club

A Tangle of Knots, by Lisa Graff, at Not Acting My Age

Tesla's Attic, by Neil Shusterman and Eric Elfman, at Ms.Yingling Reads

The Twistrose Key, by Tone Almhjell, at The Book Smugglers

The Water Mirror, by Kai Meyer, at Blog of Erised

The Wells Bequest, by Polly Shulman, at The Book Monsters

The Wolf Princess, by Cathryn Constable, at Ex Libris

Yesterday's Doll, by Cora Taylor, at Charlotte's Library

Zoe and Zaq and the Tiger Temple, by Lars Guignard, at Pragmatic Mom and Geo Librarian

Two at Redeemed Reader--The Twistsrose Key, by Tone Almhjell, and Jinx's Magic, by Sage Blackwood

Two of the Cybils shortlisted books, The Water Castle and Sidekicked, at alibrarymama

Three short reviews at Views from the Tesseact-- The Magician's Tower, by Shawn Thomas Odyssey, A Question of Magic, by E.D. Baker, and Song of the Quarkbeast, by Jasper Fforde.

Authors and Interviews

Anne Ursu (The Real Boy) at MINNPOST

Vivian Vande Velde (Deadly Pink, and many more) at Awake at Midnight

Karen Foxlee (Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy) at Nerdy Book Club


Other Good Stuff

The 2013 Cybils Winners have been announced--particular congratulations to Jonathan Stroud and The Screaming Staircase!

Con or Bust is currently holding its on-line auction to help fans of color attend SFF cons; the auction ends Sunday, February 23.

The Waterstones Children's Book Prize shortlists have been announced; there are several middle grade fantasy books not yet published here in the US that sound rather good.

A nice long post about PL Travers at Reveries Under the Sign of Austin, Two

Laurel Snyder--"Boys Will be Boys, and Girls Will Be Accommodating"

In the realm of the utterly adorable, which you have probably seen but regardless, Kids Read to Shelter Cats

And finally, I was awfully proud this week to reveal the cover of the fourth book in Sarah Prineas' marvelous middle grade fantasy series--the Magic Thief: Home; here's the cover again, and at the actual post there's a sneak peak at some of the interior art.

The Sleeping Army, by Francesca Simon

As soon as I saw the cover of The Sleeping Army, by Fancesca Simon (2011 in the UK), and read the blurb, I added it to my wish list:

"Freya is an ordinary girl living in modern Britain, but with a twist: people still worship the Viking gods. One evening, stuck with her dad on his night shift at the British Museum, she is drawn to the Lewis Chessmen and Heimdall's Horn. Unable to resist, she blows the horn, waking three chess pieces from their enchantment; the slaves Roskva and Alfi, and Snot the Berserk. They are all summoned to Asgard, land of the Viking gods, and told they must go on a perilous journey to restore the gods to youth.If Freya refuses she will be turned into an ivory chess piece but, if she accepts her destiny and fails, the same terrible fate awaits her. Brilliantly funny, original and a wholly new take on the Norse myths - and the travails of contemporary family life."

And I was very happy to get it for Christmas, and happy to start reading it last night...except that perhaps my expectations were too high.

I loved the set-up, with its premise that Christianity was simply a minor Roman cult, and the chessmen coming to life, and the journey to Asgard...and though Freya did not embrace her magical adventure with any enthusiasm, I was willing to make allowances.  It is true, after all, that the Norse gods and goddesses are never very pleasant, especially when they are, as is the case here, suffering from senile dementia, and no-one in their right mind would want to go traipsing off on a perilous mission to Jotunheim in the middle of winter.  And it is true that Snot the Berserker is smelly and strange, and although Alfi is pleasant enough, his sister Roskva makes it clear that she thinks Freya is useless...and it's true that riding through winter on Sleipnir, Odin's eight-legged horse, would probably be uncomfortable, so there's nothing for Freya to be all that cheerful about in terms of companionship and creature-comforts...

So I made allowances, with the expectation that at some point Freya would step up to the plate and show usefulness, spirit, spunk....something more than just being a bit stoical about wet socks...but still on page 171 of 221, there's "I can't do this!" wailed Freya.  "Any of this!" and although I saw little reason to argue with her, it sure made it hard to be deeply engaged in her story.   Maybe I have been brainwashed into thinking that a sense of wonder, excitement, and daring-do is required of fantasy heroines, and I am just to set in my ways to appreciate a (quite-possibly more realistic) deviation from this norm.

But in any event, the story manages to go on with little help from Freya, or the Norse gods, and in the end Freya makes a new friend with the help of her lip gloss and does what she has to do.

The story was interesting, and even amusing, and I quite liked Alfi and Roskva, and even Snot grew on me, and this was certainly the most interesting fictional Hel (as in Loki's daughter) I've ever met, and so I don't want to make it seem as though the book was a huge disappointment to me.   It was just Freya who was disappointing.   

(Also I think it is misleading to suggest, as the blurb does, that the reader is going to get "travails of contemporary family life.  Freya's parents are divorced and there are concomitant issues that take up maybe two pages in total and the rest of the book is all mythological questing).

All my reservations aside, I want to read the sequel, The Lost Gods (Sept. 2013 in the UK); I do like the conceit of a Norse England.

"In The Sleeping Army, Freya went to Hel and back. She fought dragons, fled fire and outwitted giants - all to restore eternal youth to the Norse Gods. But now they're back, does anyone care?

Up in Asgard, it doesn't really feel like it. The Gods' popularity on earth is waning, and without regular worship, their powers are fading fast. Meanwhile, their ancient enemies, the Frost Giants, are stirring. So the Gods hatch a plan - they'll come back down to earth, and they'll pursue a very different kind of popularity. They're going to become celebrities. A rollicking, thrilling and hilarious ride, The Lost Gods takes up where the Sleeping Army left off and takes us back to Simon's brilliantly-imagined modern Norse England."

The Cybils winners have been announced!

And the winner in Elementary/Middle Grade Spec. fic. is:

The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud!   YAY!  I think it's an especially good winner, because it cuts right across any issues of boy vs girl book and is just a great book in general.

Here's the full list.

Thank you, EMG SF panelists--you all did a great job!  And it's never to soon to start thinking about next year--look for the call for 2014 panelists sometime in August......

Seven Wild Sisters, by Charles de Lint, illustrated by Charles Vess

Seven Wild Sisters, by Charles de Lint, illustrated by Charles Vess (Little, Brown 2014) is a lovely book qua book, and a lovely story qua story.

12-year-old Sarah Jane is the middle of six sisters, moved from pillar to post all around the country before coming to rest in the Appalachian hills.   There Sarah Jane makes friends with "Aunt" Lillian, a reclusive old woman who lives even further up in the woods...who is rumored to be a witch.  But Sarah Jane doesn't see any signs of that, and she comes to enjoy spending time working alongside Aunt Lillian on all the many tasks that need doing, and listing to the stories--so many magical stories--that Aunt Lillian tells.

And then one day Sarah Jane learns that the magic is real, and she finds herself right in the middle of the story of two feuding factions of fairy folk (not your typical Celtic sort of fairies, but more nature-based).   It's not a comfortable place to be, especially when your sisters are kidnapped and held hostage.   The stakes are high...but Aunt Lillian has friends in strange places, and brave hearts and sharp wits are powerful weapons on their own account.

It's a really satisfying story of Sisters in Danger.  The girls are different enough to be memorable, and they clearly care about each other.   And the danger is real enough to be exciting, and the adventures are vividly told.   It's young reader friendly, yet even grown-readers able to accept this fairy world of warring nature fairies may well find it as appealing as I did.

And on top of my enjoyment of the words, I was very taken with the loveliness of the book-- both the full page illustrations and the smaller pictures at the beginnings of the chapters, and sprinkled throughout, enhance the story beautifully.

Seven Wild Sisters is a companion to Cats of Tanglewood Forest, set many years after that book--you don't need to read Cats first.   Though that one didn't quite work for me (mainly because it was told in episodic style), but this one I thoroughly enjoyed--nice straight narrative where bit by bit (as more and more sisters get kidnapped) the tension grows!  My one slight reservation is that it begins with a prologue from Aunt Lillian's point of view, setting the stage by telling of the fantastical characters we're going to meet, so those who like to jump right in to things may need to exercise a bit of patience (I'm thinking of younger readers here; I trust most grown-ups to be able to read prologues without twitching....).

Here are a few personal reasons I liked this one:  Weeding is portrayed as worthwhile and rewarding.  And older woman gets to play an important part in the story.  The happy ending involves the contents of an old chest.

Seven Wild Sisters was first published by Subterranean Press back in 2002; I am glad it has been republished--there is nothing else quite like it in contemporary middle grade fantasy, and it made a lovely change.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

THE MAGIC THIEF BOOK 4: HOME IS COMING THIS FALL AND HERE IS THE COVER!!!!!

It is a great honor to present the cover of The Magic Thief: Home!

 

Isn't it a lovely cover!  Isn't it lovely that the fourth books is really truly on its way, coming out this September 16th.  Isn't Pip (the dragon) the cutest thing!

If you haven't had the pleasure of reading the Magic Thief series, by Sarah Prineas (from HarperCollins), you are in for a treat!  And if you have, you are doubtless joining me in squee-ness, because this is a truly lovely middle grade fantasy series.

A bit of background:

The Magic Thief  was one of my favorite books of 2008. It was one of the first books I read for the Cybils that year, and it stayed firmly in the small group of books I was determined to push onto our final shortlist. Happily, no pushing was required.

Here's the blurb I wrote for the Cybils website:

"This fast-paced, fun, and engrossing story tells of a young thief who has survived on the strange streets of Wellmet alone, thanks to his quick hands and quick wits. But when Conn picks the pocket of the wizard Nevery, and pulls out the stone that is the locus of Nevery's magic, his life changes. As the wizard's new apprentice, Conn has only thirty days to find his own locus magicalicus, or lose his new status. Much worse is the fact that someone, or something, is sucking the magic out of Wellmet, and Conn has to use every bit of his quickness, and every bit of his new-found magic, to defeat the Magic Thief. A great adventure, with great characters!"

Then came The Magic Thief: Lost in 2009, and The Magic Thief: Found in 2010.....and then Sarah Prineas wrote a whole different trilogy (Winterling, Summerkin, and Moonkind), which was lovely too, but it resulted in a long and anxious wait for those of us who love Conn and co. to pieces!

Hence the truly joyous joy of knowing that this book is really coming.

The descriptive blurb isn't quite ready yet, but back in 2012 Sarah posted this on her blog:

"Here’s what the fourth Magic Thief book is about:
It’s called Chimney Swifts (that’s my title for it; my publisher might change it), and it’s about what happens when a gang of chimney sweeps are going down chimneys in Wellmet to steal locus magicalicus stones.  Everybody suspects Conn, of course, because he is a thief, so he (and the little dragon Pip!) has to join the sweeps to figure out what’s really going on.  What he discovers is that his biggest enemy has returned to Wellmet and is up to no good…"


And not only do I get to reveal the cover, but here are preliminary sketches of some of the characters for the interior art by illustrator Antonio Javier Caparo:

Embre:

 

Pip the dragon, in cat form (he'll be more dragonish in the final version:
And finally, Rowan:

Thank you so much, Sarah and HarperCollins!

Yesterday's Doll, by Cora Taylor, for Timeslip Tuesday

Yesterday's Doll, by Cora Taylor (1987), is a perfectly fine and uncomplicated time-travel story from Canada (where it's just The Doll).   Meg is recovering from rheumatic fever at her grandmother's house, and is given "the invalid doll" for company--Jessie, the heirloom china doll brought out only when children are sick.   Every time Meg sleeps, Jessie takes her back in time, and Meg becomes Morag, traveling west across Canada in a covered-wagon.  Jessie seems to want something from her (fixing her with creepy porcelain doll stares), and Meg is compelled to follow where the doll leads....

Meg, once she gets used to the idea, enjoys being Morag--being an only child herself, she enjoys the siblings, and even the prosaic tasks of covered wagon life are interesting (it's very uncomplicated covered-wagon travel--not that challenging for either the participants or the reader).  And she likes having two parents who love each other.  Though Meg's parents haven't told her, she is pretty certain they are splitting up.

So it's all just fine as we go across the prairie and a calf is born and some berries are picked.  But why is the doll so intent on dragging Meg back to the past?  Why do Meg's grandma and mother feel the doll wanted something from them when they were little, that they never managed to deliver???

The back cover says:  "And then she discovers why Jessie is helping.  Meg has to make a choice, one that could change her life forever!"

I read this on the back cover after finishing the book, and was taken aback.  This is not the book I read.  Sure, as Morag, Meg saves the life of her little sister (very excitingly-an excellent rescue), and dies as a result.  This is what really happened; it does not seem as though Meg did anything to change the course of history, although maybe that was what the author had in mind?  This is a plot you see lots in time travel, but mostly the author makes it clear that X would have died had not Y travelled back in time and saved her.  This author doesn't seem to be suggesting this was the case, though.

Nor is Meg particularly changed as a person, though she does decide to be stoical about the divorce (because she's realized the importance of family?).   But she's not particularly sad that Morag has died (she's laughing a few paragraphs after learning about it), so the emotional punch is utterly diluted.

And to make matters more deflating, conclusion-wise, the last time we see Jessie the doll show any signs of life she looks sad and defeated, before the glow of her eyes fades and dies.  I have no clue what Jessie's agenda was, but it seems like she failed to achieve it.

Either I am missing something, or the book is missing something....

That being said, Meg's time as Morag is perfectly pleasant time-travelling, and it's a perfectly fine "my parents are getting divorced and I have to cope" story.   So if you are an eight or nine year old (especially one who likes the idea of lying around in bed while recovering from illness), you might well love it to bits (lots of Goodreads reviews support me on this), but I  don't think I'd give it to anyone much older.

The more things change, the more things stay the same--an indie bookseller in 1912 laments the arrvial of the big department store

Back in the early 20th century, a big department store arrived in Providence, RI--here's one small bookseller's lament about what it did to his business!  The department store was truly mean--ostensibly offering a costly book for a rock bottom price, and "It was the beginning of my financial ruin...."

There's also a dig at Harper & Brothers-- who "then published far above the "tone" of the literature published by somebody now under the same name...."

The author is Sidney Rider; the original, from his "Book Notes," Vol. 29, page 2, can be read in its entirety here at Google Books.

This week's middle grade fantasy and sci fi round-up (2/9/2014)

Here's this week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs; please let me know if I missed your post!
Reviews

Behind the Bookcase, by Mark Steensland, at Jean Little Library

Clifton Chase and the Arrow of Light, by Jaimie M. Engle, at Kid Lit Reviews

Curse of the Dream Witch, by Allan Stratton, at That's Another Story

Doll Bones, by Holly Black, at Fantasy Book Critic

Emily Feather and the Enchanted Door, by Holly Webb, at Jean Little Library

The False Prince, by Jennifer Nielsen, at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

Flora and Ulysses, by Kate DiCamillo,  at Alison's Book Marks

The Forbidden Stone, by Tony Abbott, at The Hopeful Heroine

Fyre, by Angie Sage, at Leaf's Reviews

Ghost Hawk, by Susan Cooper, at Children's Book-a-day Almanac

Goblins, by Philip Reeve, at The Book Monsters

How I Became a Ghost, by Tim Tingle, at The Book Monsters

Jinx's Magic, by Sage Blackwood, at Book Nut and One Great Book

The Legend of Frog, by Guy Bass, at Wondrous Reads

Listening for Lucca, by Suzanne LaFleur, at Ciao Bella

The Lost Planet, by Rachel Searles, at The Book Monsters

The Magic Grandfather, by Jay Williams, at Views from the Tesseract

Mark of the Dragonfly, by Jaleigh Johnson, at Lit Chat

OMG...Am I a Witch?  by Talia Aikens-Nunez, at Project Mayhem (also interview and giveaway)

Operation Bunny, by Sally Gardner, at Books Beside My Bed

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy, by at In Bed With Books and Akossiwa Ketoglo

The Orphan of Ellis Island, by Elvira Woodruff, at The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow

Playing Beatie Bow, by Ruth Park, at Adventures of a Subversive Reader

Project X-Caliber, by Greg Pace, at Charlotte's Library

The Riverman, by Aaron Starmer, at Fuse #8

Root Bound, by Tanya Karen Gough, at Buried in Books and Bibliophilia, Please

The Runaway King, by Jennifer Nielsen, at The Hopeful Heroine

Sabotaged, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, at One Librarian's Book Reviews

Seven Stories Up, by Laurel Snyder, at Secrets & Sharing Soda and Story Time Secrets

The Shadow Throne, by Jennifer Neilsen, at Karissa's Reading Review

Texting the Underworld, by Ellen Booraem, at The Book Monsters

A Twist In Time, by Jean Ure, at Tales of the Marvelous (audiobook review)

Zoe and Zach and the Ghost Leopard, by Lars Guignard, at swlothian

Two at Ms. Yingling Reads-- Relativity, by Cristin Bishara, and A Snicker of Magic, by Natalie Lloyd


Authors and Interviews

George O'Connor (Aphrodite) talking about myth and fantasy at Charlotte's Library (giveaway)

D.X. Dunn (The Distania Chronicles) at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

Alicia Rivoli (The Enchantment Series) at Carpinello's Writing Pages


Other Good Stuff

The Morgan Library and Museum in New York is running an exhibit about The Little Prince through April 27th.  Read more at SLJ.

Know a young writer of spec. fic?  Maybe they'd be interested in Alpha, a ten day workshop held this summer in Pittsburgh.  More at Tor.

Anne Ursu talks about gender representation at middle grade author panels.

And speaking of gender, here's an article that every one should share with any boy they have on hand--science fiction writer J.M. Frey on why she uses just her initials, at Geek Girls have #NothingToProve.  (found via the always thought-provoking link round up at Radish Reviews)

And finally, just because, a search for "sad snowflake" (poor Olympic snowflake who couldn't) led me to this:

No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.
- Voltaire

Seven author discoveries from seven years of blogging

My blog is now seven years old!  I have written 2240 posts, and reviewed around 1300 books (by the time the blog turns eight, I might have finished indexing and actually know for sure...).  My introductory post is here; I had no clue what I was doing, and little thought for the future...this has changed only somewhat!

It has been wonderful to make new friends through blogging, and especially at this point in my life I am grateful to my Candy Crush friends, most of whom I know from blogging (thanks for the lives!).  

It has also been wonderful to make the acquaintance of  books that I would not have known about if it hadn't been for blogging.  Lots of authors I love lots and lots I would probably have found in bookstores or in the library even if I hadn't blogged, but some I really don't think I would have, because of their books not being on the shelves in those places, or because of me not knowing how much I would love their books.

So, here are seven favorite authors for seven years of blogging!  (Presented in no particular order, with quotes from some of my reviews, and with no pictures because I just realized it was my blog birthday and I don't have time to fool with pictures....)

1.  Rachel Neumeier

City in the Lake-- I got a review copy of this the first year I read sci fi/fantasy for the Cybils.  I am so glad it got nominated!  "...one of the things that I personally really liked about the book is that the main characters are all people I would enjoy knowing in real life. This could be a sign of my own mental weakness, but I so much prefer to read about people I can care deeply about. So in a nutshell, here you have lovely world-making, people I like, and a satisfying plot."

The Floating Islands -- "For those who enjoyed Neumeier's first book, The City in the Lake, rest assured that the same beautiful writing is here; for those who were uncertain about that one, be assured that here the story swings along much more swingingly, following a much more straightforward arc of adventure and self-discovery."
House of Shadows -- "Books like this almost make me regret that I have a blog--back in the day before my tbr pile/list became so extreme, I would have had the leisure to start House of Shadows right from the beginning again."

And there's also Black Dog, which I reviewed yesterday, and so won't quote from my review.

2.  Sherwood Smith

Another author I found via Cybils review copies--the same year City in the Lake was nominated (2009), two of Smith's books were as well--A Posse of Princesses, and Stranger to Command.

About Posse I said "... this is a truly fun book about girls from very different backgrounds coming together to form friendships, learning to take the responsibilities of their lives seriously, and learning a bit about luv as well." Stranger to Command I never reviewed with the detailed love I felt about it; if you are looking for an utterly character-driven magical military school/growing up story look no further.

And then I went on to sink a lot of birthday present requests and money of my own into acquiring, and enjoying, lots more of her books. 

Including Once a Princess, which  "has everything I love about Sherwood Smith--smart, strong, kickass girls, and intelligent people who obviously know things that I, and the narrator, don't know, and a beautiful balance between drowning the reader in too much information about it all and creating a very nicely detailed world, and fictional characters who are really hot." (Hot? shakes head at past self for bad writing).

3.  Caro King

Another Cybils discovery!  I love  Seven Sorcerers -- "...the only thing I didn't like about the book was that it stopped too abruptly" and its sequel, Shadow Spell -- "I really truly recommend these two books to grown-ups who read middle grade fantasy for their own reading pleasure."  (and when I say "really truly" I am being as sincere as I am capable of being).

I also liked Kill Fish Jones very much indeed- "... this fascinating tension in Grimshaw's character makes this an even more gripping, memorable book than the ordinary grippingness of Fish's danger would alone.   The reader is challenged to empathise with a demon who has killed innocent people...and King makes it possible to do so.  Grimshaw is now my second favorite demon."  (Though "hot" is not a word I want to use again unless no other word would do, "grippingness" is a fine word.)

4.  Terry Pratchett

I had, of course, heard of Discworld, but didn't think it would be to my taste.  But because of my blog, I was invited to organize a panel for last summer's North American Discworld convention, and read the whole series, and wow!!!!!   Night Watch, in particular, is a book that I love with my whole heart --"oh my gosh, I love books so much where the hero is a truly decent, good person, who knows that things are hopeless, but does the best he or she can because that is the only thing do to.   And I love books where that hero not only clings to a dogged, hard-won refusal to give up, but also is smart enough to see chances where none exist."   Is teary just remembering it.

5.  Sarah Reese Brennan

I am not at all sure I would ever have read SRB's demon trilogy if it had not been for fellow bloggers--they don't Look, exactly, like they are books for me,  and my reading life would have been a lot poorer for the loss of them.  Alan! Nick!  Mae! Jamie!  I love you guys.  I will not even bother to quote from my review of the third book, The Demon's Surrender.  It embarrasses me.

6.  Leah Cypess

I blush to remember my reaction to the ARC of Mistwood I was offered the very first BEA I ever went to (which of course I wouldn't have been at had I not started blogging)--the title and blurb made me think "Celtic twilight" done-to-death-ness, and if the publishing rep. hadn't raved about it, I would have said no, and missed out on an lovely story and great feelings of fanishness toward all the books Leah Cypess has yet to write!  My review of Mistwood was not my finest blogging hour (food metaphors should probably be avoided), but I did a better job, I think, with Nightspell (especially since I just now edited out an infelicity)--  "This is one for fans of twisty, political fantasy.... this is one also for fans of books in which the relationship between sisters is front and center .... this is one for those who like complex magics, tangling past and present, that dictate the shape of a whole society!"

7.  Laini Taylor

With Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor made it onto the bookshelves, and I would have seen it, but probably not been compelled to read it.  But long before that book was written, I was a fan-- happily for me, I read this review at Fuse #8 for Blackbringer, and then this review from Jen Robinson, and this one from Liz, and was sold.  I love it, and it's sequel, Silksinger, and am so glad my fantasy reading boy does too!  From my review of Silksinger: "I enjoyed Blackbringer very much, and happily cheered Magpie on, confident that she would prevail... Silksinger, with its underdog characters, and its message that even the small and seemingly helpless can save the world, I enjoyed even more. "

These are all authors whose books get to live on my bedroom shelves because I love them, except for Terry Pratchett because I don't have room for him (and not because he is the only guy...eeks.  Now am anxious about gender bias).

And just as a postscript--the books my boys have loved most that we wouldn't have gotten if it hadn't been for blogging are  Escape From Hat, by Adam Kline and Brian Taylor, which they both loved, and  Psychiatric Tales, by Darryl Cunningham, which is just about my 13 year old's favorite book.  When I wrote my review of Escape From Hat, I did not realize how much kid appeal it had (both boys have read it multiple times and can rave about it at great length), or I would have been more positive about it.  Sorry, Adam and Brian; I will try to make it up to you by including a picture of your book:

Black Dog, by Rachel Neumeier

Nothing makes a snow day better than a really good book, and happily, I had one on hand yesterday--Black Dog, by Rachel Neumeier (Strange Chemistry, February 4, 2014).

Going into Black Dog, I knew three important things:  1.  It is about shapeshifters--humans with shadow black dogs. 2. Many of my blogging friends (such as Brandy, Maureen, Liviania) liked it very much indeed.  3.  It is written by Rachel Neumeier, which means I could trust the writing to be pleasing.

And the snow fell, and then the "pellets" fell (when I was a child, I don't think we had "pellets;" plain ice was good enough for us and pellets makes me think of rabbit food) and the pages turned happily.

Short synopsis:  humans coexist with supernatural creatures.  The vampires were just pretty much wiped out in a vicious battle; now the Black Dogs are struggling to recoup their losses and rebuild some sort of stability.   Three teenaged siblings from Mexico have journeyed to Vermont to find one of the last strongholds of civilized Black Dogs, the Dimilioc clan.   Manuel is an ordinary boy.  Alejandro, the oldest, is a Black Dog.  And Natividad is Pure--one of the rare women blessed with the power to bring peace and protection to those around her, able to calm the rage of Black Dogs and help them find control.   It was not a journey they wanted to make, but they were forced to when their parents were slaughtered by enemy Black Dogs....who have followed them to Vermont.

The Dimilioc take the siblings in, in large part because Natividad is a prize beyond measure--she is their hope for a new, civilized, generation.   It is a somewhat desperate hope, as their numbers have been greatly reduced (by the war against vampires and its aftermath).  And now that danger has come to Vermont, Dimilioc is faced with a new struggle to survive.  Alejandro's struggle to maintain control over his Black Dog Shadow while being the fierce protector of his younger siblings, Manuel's clear-thinking logic, and Natividad's magic and goodness are about to be put to a test with hellish consequences should they fail.

Me being me, I enjoyed the first half of the book, the set-up, the most.  In some ways it felt like a paranormal house party story--the three newcomers arrive and find eccentric inhabitants with short tempers, back-stories, and agendas, and every one starts getting to know each other.  There's lots of nice ambiguity and tons of tension--Black Dogs, being dogs, are very much in to the (somewhat brutal) nuances of pack hierarchy.  For Natividad, the getting to know each other part is somewhat fraught by the assumption that she'll be paired off with one of the Dimilioc men just as soon as she's a bit older--which is squicky, and she knows it, but which is at least not as bad as her being passed around, which is what I was afraid of.  At least she has some choice, and at least, though it's clearly indicated who she'll pair up with, it's not insta-swoon Luv, but a more nuanced build up of tension!

Even better than the whole house party set up is the sibling relationship that is at the heart of the story, and it was very nicely done--lots of little flashbacks of memory, lots of genuine concern for each other.  Each of the siblings brought their own strengths to bear on their situation--and it was especially gratifying to see Natividad really truly steps up to the plate with her magic; she is one of the bravest heroines in YA I can think of, not because she is "kick-ass" but because she sees what she alone can do, and does it regardless of how scary it is because she is a good person.

The paranormal world building is kind of dropped in here and there, which worked for me--I'm still not clear on every last detail, but we are given enough to go on with, and information keeps coming.   A refreshing touch to the worldbuilding is that Christianity isn't shunted off to the side--the Pure, for instance, came about through the intervention of a centuries-old saint, and Natividad's magic is strengthened by Christianity.

My only reservation is that I grew a tad weary of the rather frequent mention of Black Dog social issues--the proper submissive posture to adopt toward the pack leader, and that sort of thing.  But that did not stop me from enjoying this one immensely!

Black Dog stands alone well, but I just this sec saw this tweet from Rachel that made me happy bounce:  "And, done! Completely done! With the BLACK DOG sequel."  Yay!

Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher at the request of the author

Project X-Calibur, by Greg Pace

Project X-Calibur, by Greg Pace (Putnam, Middle Grade, Oct. 2013) is a fun adventure that mixes science fiction with a dash of fantasy.

13-year old Ben is having a thin time of it after his father's death; he might be a whizz at car repair, but he's not so great at earning social respect, money is tight, and though Ben dreams of epic adventure, small town Texas has yet to deliver any.  But when a creepy kid turns up and introduces himself as Merlin, adventure is delivered in spades.

Ben is recruited to be one of a select group of five teens to join together, like modern Knights of the Round-Table, to face the worst threat humanity has ever known--an alien invasion.  In a top secret base in England, an alien space craft, dubbed X-Calibur, and four human-made copies wait for the kids to fly them off into space to protect earth.  X-Calibur's alien magical technology only responds to kids, and one of the five will be chosen to pilot it in the battle to come.  Ben doesn't think he has a chance of being that one; he still must prove that Merlin didn't make a mistake by choosing him, since he is so very much the most ordinary of all the kids.   And then a sixth kid, who just so happens to be the immortal King Pellinore's daughter, joins in the competition...

It looks like Ben doesn't stand a chance, but he keeps trying, and even has the decency to help his rivals overcome their own problems.    And, unsurprisingly, it is up to Ben in the end to pull the sword from the stone, as it were, and put X-Calibur's stunning secrets to the test.

Greg Pace has taken a somewhat generic plot--ordinary kid with extraordinary destiny, tested against a passel of rival kids (some hostile, some friendly)--and made it fresh and fun with the whole Arthurian fantasy meets Alien Invasion premise.  It's kind of odd to have Merlin and Pellinore side by side with alien technology, and there's no particularly informative explanation given, but that doesn't interfere with the story--what is one more suspension of disbelief among so many.

The focus of the story is on the training and the testing, with the suspense of Ben keeping his place in the program the driving plot issue.  The actual fight against the aliens comes rather far along in the book, and seemed to me to be over with in the blink of an eye; it was almost an anti-climax, and I would have enjoyed a bit more build up of tension

That being said, I am pretty sure that the target audience (kids of ten or so) will have no trouble identifying with Ben, and cheering him on as he struggles to get his chance to help save humanity.  Give this one to a reader who enjoys stories of kids being trained for great things, especially the reader who likes to cheer for the underdog!

disclaimer: review copy received from the author

Singing the Dogstar Blues, by Alison Goodman, for Timeslip Tuesday

Singing the Dogstar Blues, by Alison Goodman (1998) is a YA sci-fi book that won Australia's Aurealis Award in 1998, and it is easy to see why it did.

Some time in the future, a smart-aleck seventeen-year old girl, Joss, is in danger of being kicked out of the prestigious Centre for Neo-Historical Studies, the one place on Earth where time travel is possible.   The director of the program seems to hate her guts, and no-one could accuse Joss of trying to curry favor--she is a girl with attitude.  But then a new student joins her coterie of first year would-be time travelers--an alien from a species that's only recently made contact with Earth.   Mavkel's people are born in telepathically-linked pairs, but Mavkel's twin has died, leaving him in need of a partner with a sympathetic mind.  And it turns out that Joss is a perfect match...

Except that Joss, though she grows fond of her rather endearing alien partner, can't mind-meld with him enough to keeping him from sinking deeper toward fatal depression.  The only hope they have is finding a possible catalyst (this is me being intentionally vague)  that was destroyed a generation ago.   But when you are students of time travel, that is not an insoluble problem...

And in the meantime, there's an assassin on the loose at the Centre...

So I was doubtful at first, because Joss felt a tad gritty--kind of tough and obnoxious, and with more street-smarts than I will ever have.   But as I read, I realized that instead of the urban noir I was afraid I was going to get,  I was actually  reading a sci-fi character study involving both Joss as an individual (who plays blues harmonica) as well as human-alien interspecies communication, set within an interesting mystery, and at turns piquant and amusing.   So I was happy.

There isn't actually much in the way of time travel--as first year students, Joss and Mevkel aren't spending their days zipping back to the past (now that I think about it, I am having trouble remembering them actually attending any classes...).   So the time travel was a sneaky operation, just going back thirty or so years to get the answer to a particular question, and coming fairly late in the book.  The encounters that Joss has back in the past, though, add nuance to the situation in her present, which I appreciated.

In any event, if you are in the mood for entertaining YA sci fi starring a tough girl heroine who's kind of sad inside, whose best friend is an appealing alien, do give this a try!  Though it is now 16 years old, the only thing that felt a tad dated was the lack of instantaneous search-engine gratification...In any event, a new paperback edition was published in 2012 with a bonus Joss and Mav story (originally published in Firebirds Rising), and so you should get that edition (which is the one I linked to above) because you will almost certainly want more after you finish the original! 

Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, with special guest post by George O'Connor and giveaway!

For the last few years, George O'Connor has been bringing the Olympians to beautiful graphic-novel life courtesy of First Second Books.  Today I'm pleased to celebrate the newest addition to the series:  Aphrodite, Goddess of Love!

The Three Graces, attendants to Aphrodite, tell of her strange birth and hasty marriage to Hephestus.  They tell of the love (or more accurately, lust) she brought to Olympus, building up to the story of the Apple of Discord and the beauty contest between Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena that lead the Trojan War.  Though I'm pretty familiar with Aphrodite's story, George O'Connor has has breathed new life into it, adding bits of story I hadn't heard before, and managing to make Aphrodite (my least favorite goddess!) a not un-sympathetic character.   My reaction ranged from simple appreciation to actual chuckling out loud.  (Best Eris ever!)

It's not for younger kids--Aphrodite, after all, is the goddess of sexy times (though there is a tasteful veil drawn over the specifics).  But this is a spot on retelling for the older middle grade reader (10 or 11 or so) or teens (I know for a fact my own member of the target audience, my 13-year-old son, loves this series, and I just had the pleasure of watching my 10-year-old enjoying it very much), and I highly recommend the series as a whole to anyone with an interest in Greek mythology, as well as to fans of storytelling in graphic novel form.  There's lots of good back matter, adding educational value to the series.  And though it doesn't show as clearly as it might on the cover, Aphrodite, dark of skin and hair, adds diversity to the pantheon.

So it's an honor today to be taking part in George O'Connor's blog tour for Aphrodite, and I hope you enjoy his thoughts on myth and fantasy as much as I did!

Over to George:

Hello, patrons of Charlotte’s Library, this is George O’Connor. The lovely Charlotte has very kindly allowed me to guest star here as the third stop on the blogcrawl promoting my new book, Aphrodite: Goddess of Love, the sixth volume of Olympians, my graphic novel series retelling Greek myth.

But I don’t belong here. Seriously.

Charlotte’s Library is a blog celebrating sci-fi and fantasy books for young readers. But Olympians is shelved in non-fiction. I know it because Dewey Decimal told me so.

Oh, I know that there is a section of the blog that’s all about retellings of fairy tales, legends and myths, but that’s a mistake, surely. Somehow that section just accidentally appeared on her site. I know there’s a very flattering review of my book Poseidon up there as well (“an extraordinarily kid-friendly introduction to the Greek pantheon”) but I’m certain that’s just a series of typos, or maybe the blogger equivalent of infinite monkeys randomly typing out Hamlet.

Myths aren’t fantasy. Myths really happened, in the sense that they are stories that are told to convey truths bigger than reality. We know from myths that thunderstorms are Zeus, King of the Gods, raining his displeasure down upon hubristic mortals who defied the order of the universe. An earthquake is Poseidon throwing a tantrum because some cursed sailor escaped from his island prison. A volcano is the vented vapors of an entombed giant, fuming and furious after an eternity of imprisonment beneath a mountain. Because really, that makes more sense than excited electrons and shifting tectonic plates and magma and stuff, right?

Myths are more than that, too. One of my favorite things about mythology, beside the action and monsters and sexy stuff, is the window it provides on another way of life, another culture, a lost time when the idea that the physical embodiment of the generative power of the cosmos could create a perfect female body for herself out of the ocean foam and come ashore and make the whole world fall in love. A time when the changing of the seasons was brought on because the daughter of the goddess of grain was kidnapped by the lord of the dead to be his dread bride. There are tantalizing little hints of these vanished worldviews that created and promulgated these stories that explained the world around them. Myths are not fantasy. Myths are REAL.

But in a sense, maybe, it is fair to say that myths are born of fantasy. I’m pretty sure that were I to dig down deep into Mt Aetna in Sicily that, no matter how deeply I delved, I would never pull back a core sample with a slice of Typhon preserved inside. I believe in tectonic plates even though I can’t see them. I’m reasonably sure that were I to walk out under a blue sky and taunt Zeus the Cloud Gatherer that I would not be smote with his lightning bolt (not that I would ever try, just to be on the safe side). At some point, all these ideas must have been born out of a fantasy, some unknown storyteller’s attempt to make sense of the world. And somehow that fantastic idea took root in a culture and grew and blossomed and became religion, and grew and blossomed beyond that and became truth, and kept growing and spreading and becoming more REAL in the unreal sense that only stories can and became MYTH. The apex, the ultimate, the fantasy that explains truth more fully than any ‘real’ thing ever could.

Hmm, maybe I do belong on this site.


Thank you so much, George!  You are welcome back any time!

Courtesy of First Second, I'm happy to be able to offer a copy of Aphrodite--simply leave a comment before midnight next Sunday, February 10.

And here are the other stops on the Aphrodite blog tour o' love (so seasonally appropriate for Valentine's Day!)

This week's round-up of Middle Grade Sci Fi and Fantasy from around the blogs (2/2/14)

Welcome to another week of middle grade speculative fiction gleaned from around the blogs!

The Reviews:

The 13th Sign, by Kristin O'Donnell  Tubb, at A Backwards Story

The Age of Akra (Starchild Book 1), by Vacen Taylor, at Mother Daughter Book Reviews

Building Blocks, by Cynthia Voigt, at Charlotte's Library

The City of Death, by Sarwat Chadda, at Charlotte's Library

A Dash of Magic, by Kathryn Littlewood, at A Reader of Fictions

Double Vision: Agent 711, by F.T. Bradley, at Charlotte's Library

Dragon Defender, by J.A. Blackburn, at When I Grow Up I Wanna Write a Kid's Book

Fairest of All, and If the Shoe Fits, by Sarah Mlynowski, at Michelle I. Mason

Flora and Ulysses, by Kate DiCamillo, at The Book Monsters and Semicolon

The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate, by Scott Nash, at Puss Reboots

Hive Mind, by Timothy J. Bradley, at Views From the Tesseract

Jinx's Magic. by Sage Blackwood, at By Singing Light

Jupiter Pirates: Hunt for the Hydra, by Jason Fry, at Charlotte's Library

The Lonely Lake Monster, by Suzanne Selfors, at The Book Monsters

Magicalamity, by Kate Saunders, at Jean Little Library

Moonkind, by Sarah Prineas, at In Bed With Books

The Mostly True Story of Jack, by Kelly Barnhill, at Project Mayhem

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy, by Karen Foxlee, at The Book Smugglers

Parched, by Melanie Crowder, at That's Another Story

The Path of Names, by Ari Goelman, at Jen Robinson's Book Page

The Real Boy, by Anne Ursu, at Great Books for Kids and Teens

The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen, by Lloyd Alexander, at Tor

Renegade Magic, by Stephanie Burgis, at alibrarymama

Rootless, by Chris Howard, at The Musings of a Book Addict

The Sasquatch Escape, by Suzanne Selfors, at The Book Monsters

Seven Stories Up, by Laurel Snyder, at Becky's Book Reviews

Spell Robbers (Quantum League Book 1), by Matthew J. Kirby, at Ms. Yingling Reads and Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Under Plum Lake, by Lionel Davidson,  at Views From the Tesseract

Westley the Zombie Book 1: Rrrrrrggggle!, by Monsieur J and Mister F, at This Kid Reviews Books

The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop, by Kate Saunders, at Jean Little Library

Zoe and Zak and the Tiger Temple, by Lars Guignard, at Carpiello's Writing Pages

Three books linked by trains--  The Glass Sentence, by S.E. Grove, The Mark of the Dragonfly, by Jaleigh Johnson, and The Boundless, by Kenneth Oppel,  at Views From the Tesseract


Authors and Interviews:

Rachel Searles (The Lost Planet) at The Book Monsters, Literary Rambles, and Maria's Melange

Lemony Snicket interviews Kate DiCamillo at Buzzfead


Other Good Stuff:

The 2014 Amelia Bloomer Project list has been announced, and includes two MG fantasies--
Magic Marks the Spot, by Caroline  Carlson, and Garden Princess, by Kristin Kladstrup.  My mind is now running over the other MG sci fi/fantasy books of 2013, assessing them for feminist content....I'm thinking Handbook For Dragonslayers, by Merrie Haskell,  might count.   I always forget to send in recommendations by the time September comes around, but will try to do better this year.

The Fifth Annual Boys Read Pink Month is here at Ms. Yingling Reads -- as the mother of boys, I think it is so so so important to make it clear to boys that reading a book that's pink or has a girl on the cover doesn't make you any more or less any particular gender!  From Karen's post: "Interestingly enough, when I tell the boys that they are encouraged to do this, they have a look of relief on their faces, and check out all manner of books with great gusto."

Inscription Magazine, an online magazine of speculative fiction for teens that actively seeks diversity, is up and running.

If you are looking for a gripping-as-all-get-out YA (but good for upper MG readers too) speculative fiction read, this might be a good time to buy Variant, by Robison Wells, or its sequel, Feedback, to help an author going through a pretty bad rough spot.

I assume you all have heard about  J.K. Rowling's stunning (?) revelation about Hermione and Ron, and Flora and Ulysses winning the Newbery but how could I not mention them?  My main regret viz the ALA awards was that I had hoped that the novel version of My Neighbor Totoro would get some Batchelder love, but alas, it was not to be.


Please let me know if I missed your post!  I'm always happy to put more links in...