No middle grade round-up today, too busy with Christmas "magic."

Or at least "magic" for a given value of "magic."  The Magic Christmas trees are not quite as festive as portrayed on their packaging.

Do you like the nutcracker I made for my snow globe? (perhaps it is good that it is partially concealed by glare...)

I have also played the following reindeer games--Exploding Kittens, Cthulhu Gloom, Kings of Tokyo, Chinese checkers, Chicken Cha Cha Cha, and Dixit.  I have eaten my name in chocolate (literally), played Christmas carol on hand bells, read books, and seen Star Wars.  I hope all of you are having a nice time too!

There will be a round up (d.v.) need week!

The books my boys are getting for Christmas

We have arrived safely at Grandma's house in Virginia, and I have unpacked the presents (mostly books) and started wrapping them.  I like to give books not just because Books but because books are one of the few things I can wrap reasonably well (I am not Martha Stewart, nor was meant to be, as J. Alfred Prufrock almost put it).   But even books are tricky when you are me, and every scrap of extra paper is a thing of shame, and you aren't allowed to use more than three thin slivers of tape per present (because the Environment).  But the wrapping is now done, and here are the books they are getting:

For my 15 year old son:

Baba Yaga's Assistant, by Marika McCoola (this graphic novel has gotten great reviews)

Jackaby, by William Ritter  (he loves Lockwood and Co., and this seems a reasonable next step)

Great Tales of Horror, by H.P. Lovecraft (he goes to school a stone's throw from Lovecraft Square, and I work almost across the street from the Shunned House.  Lovecraft is cool amongst the geeky young of Providence.  This was also very cheap at my local B. and N.).

Science Tales: Lies, Hoaxes, and Scams, by Darryl Cunningham  (he loves Cunningham's first graphic book, Psychiatric Tales, which tell the author's experience working in a psychiatric hospital).

The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir, by Riad Sattouf (he loves Persepolis; I hope this one is good too!)

Agnes Quill: an Anthology of Mystery, by Dave Roman  I found this one by cleverly wondering what else Dave Roman, a favorite of ours (Astronaut Academy love!) had written.  "Agnes Quill is the story of a teenage detective, the haunted city she lives in, the strange cases she solves, and the ghosts who help, hinder, or just plain annoy her."  Sounds good to me.

Sketching from the Imagination: Sci-fi.  We need inspiration.

 

Digger, Vol. 1, by Urusla Vernon.  This one has been in my Amazon cart for years, and I have finally bought it yay!

 

For my 12 year old son

 

(From Scholastic for review) Escaping Peril (Wings of Fire 8), by Tui T. Sutherland (I am so happy my review copy for B. and N. Reads came in time for Christmas!  My boy will be happy too!  Happiness all around, plus that smug pleasure that comes from giving your children books they really want that haven't been released yet).

 

Mogworld,  by Yahtzee Croshaw (he asked for it.  I bought it.)

 

Mouse Guard: Baldwin the Brave and Other Tales by David Petersen (the Mouse Guard books are good graphic novels for fantasy lovers this age)

 

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs (he was asking about this one the other day, there was a nice copy in my local used bookstore, and I had bookstore credit burning a hole in my pocket...and I wanted another large hardcover to really give the suitcase that extra special heft that means Christmas is really happening  sob.  And yes, I since I bought lots of these through Amazon, I could have had them sent directly here to VA, but then I would have had to pay VA sales tax even though I was clearly buying them right there in RI, and I resented that.).

 

Pearls Gets Sacrificed, by Stephan Pastis.  Both boys are Pearls Before Swine fans

 

and the one that will make him Happiest of all--Gunnerkrigg Court #3: Reason.  I came home from BEA this summer with the first two books, and he Loves them.  They are being reissued (so the paperback of this one comes out in Feb.)  but I was able to find a used copy so nice (first edition hardcover, mint condition) that I almost don't want to put it into his grubby little paws....(although to be fair, just in case he is sneaking on here and reading this and if you are Matt don't tell me you did, he is the most obsessive of any of us about hand washing....)

 

 

 

 

 

If you had to pick one set of books to be given for yourself, which would it be?  I guess I would be the 12 year old, because of really wanting to read Escaping Peril myself.

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the bogs (12/20/15)

Welcome to this week's round-up; please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

Blood Ties (Spirit ANimals #3), by Garth Nix and Sean Williams, at Buxton's Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels

The Colossus Rises (Seven Wonders #1), by Peter Lerangis and Torstein Norstrand, at Hidden in Pages

The Dungeoneers, by John David Anderson, at The Book Nut

Fuzzy Mud, by Louis Sacher, at Challenging the Bookworm

Game of Flames, by Robin Wasserman, at Read Till Dawn

The Goblin's Puzzle: Being the Adventures of a Boy with No Name and Two Girls Called Alice, by Andrew S. Chilton, at Sharon the Librarian

Hunted (Spirit Animals #2) by Maggie Stiefvater, at Buxton's Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels

The Islands of Chaldea, by Diana Wynne Jones, at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

Mark of the Thief, by Jennifer Nielsen, at alibrarymama

Mars Evacuees, by Sophia McDougall, at Buxton's Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels

Milo Speck, Accidental Agent, by Linda Urban, at Charlotte's Library

MiNRS, by Kevin Sylvester, at The Book Nut

The Nest, by Kenneth Oppel, at Redeemed Reader

Nomad, by William Alexander, at The Book Nut

Rules for Stealing Stars, by Corey Ann Haydu, at Waking Brain Cells

The Second Guard, by J.D. Vaughn, at alibraryama

The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow by Jessica Haight & Stephanie Robinson, at Randomly Reading

The Subtle Knife, by Philip Pullman, at Please Feed the Bookworm

The Three Sisters, by Sonia Halbach, at Kristen Burns

The Toymaker's Apprentice, by Sherri L. Smith, at Charlotte's Library

Treasury of Norse Mythology, by Donna Jo Napoli, at This Kid Reviews Books

Vaiant, by Sarah McGuire, at Fantasy of the Silver Dragon

Wake Up Missing, by Kate Messner, at Dark Faerie Tales

Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye, by Tania Del Rio, and Will Staehle, at Ms. Yingling Reads

World Zomination (#7), by John Kloepfer and David DeGrand, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Magical Mysteries at SLF--. The Adventures of Lettie Peppercorn, by Sam Gayton, The Dastardly Deed, by Holly Grant, The Deadly 7, by Garth Jennings, The Door by the Staircase, by Katherine Marsh, and A Tale of Highly Unusual Magic, by Lisa Papademetriou

Ana of The Book Smuggers reflects on the Ironmonger Trilogy by Edward Carey at Kirkus

A reflection on the Septimus Heap series, by Angie Sage, at Redeemed Reader

 

Authors and Interviews

Jonathan Stroud shares why he loves fan art at The Guardian
 

Other Good Stuff

The first Fantastic Beasts trailer has arrived (more at Tor)

and Not a good Stuff--RIP Peter Dickinson

 

Milo Speck, Accidental Agent, by Linda Urban

Milo Speck, Accidental Agent, by Linda Urban (HMH Books for Young Readers, Sept. 2015) is a fun fantasy for the older elementary kid who likes things quick and silly.

Milo's portal to a fantasy realm isn't a magical wardrobe or anything at all full wonder and enchantemnet; instead its a dryer.  A dryer that tumbles him (as it were) in a world of gigantic ogres, who would love to eat him!  He's not the first human to make his way to the ogres' oversized world-he soon finds out that his dad's company is in business there, and his dad himself might be in danger of ogreish execution!  So Milo sets out to find his dad, and in the process he rescues Tuck, the rather entitled daughter of the company boss, and a handful of other human kids, all the while having to constantly evade the rather hamfisted attempts of the ogres to keep their tasty snacks prisoners contained. 

It's a fine whimsical, easy read,  It's playful but given some weight by the very real dangers Milo faces, and bravely overcomes.   He is a kid who's not just copping with being inexperienced and unskilled, but who has to face bigger than life size (literally) challenges without giving up, and he rises to the occasion in fine style. Give this one to the kid who you think will find the dark humor  of a boy as a crunch snack food appealing (although don't worry--no kids are eaten and everyone gets safely home).  Not my own personal cup of tea--there's a limit to how many "escapes from ogres" I personally find interesting, even if each one has a different twist--but I can see lots of kids enjoying it lots.

disclaimer: review copy received for Cybils Award Consideration

The Toymaker's Apprentice, by Sherri L. Smith

If you are not the sort of person who reads about 300 middle grade fantasy novels per year (which I do, give or take), you might think that mg fantasy is much of a muchness; you might not have much of a sense of how much Room there is in this little subgenre for surprises.  I am surprised by how often I still think "I haven't read this before."

The Toymaker's Apprentice, by Sherri L. Smith (Putnam, Oct. 2015) is a story I had never thought of, though I thought it would be one I knew--a reimagining of the Nutcracker.  Though the mysterious Drosselmeyer is here, and the Nutcracker given to the little girl, and the battle with the rats, the most traditional Nutcracker part of the story comes very close to the end, and there are no sugarplum fairies (no big loss!). 

Instead, the core of the story is the age old conflict between rodent-kind and human-kind, and how a tilt in the balance of population/power threatened the city of Nuremburg and even the whole rule of mankind.  And the heart of the story is a boy named Stefan Drosselmeyer, toymaker by training, who's lost his mother and who longs to see the world, and make wonders of clockwork ingenuity. The other heart of the story is a boy named Arthur, who is a mouse prince.  A mouse prince who is part of a monstrosity, whose life is constrained horribly both by the magic of his deranged mouse queen mother and by his monstrous life as one of seven heads on one mouse body.  Stefan and Arthur are like dark twins of each other, and much of the book is the story of Stefan's journey to Arthur's home island, where his mother is plotting mouse domination over humanity, alternating with sections from the point of view of the rodent protagonists/antagonists.

Smith's writing is powerful, taut, and vivid.  The story is thought-provoking and fascinating, with clockwork magic and human/animal magic in abundance.  I was gripped.  It is a good book.

Yet I am not quite quite sure just who I would recommend this to.  Obviously, anyone who screams when they see a mouse would not find some of the invading mouse horde scenes comfy reading (characters think there is water flowing down streets, but it is really mice.  That sort of mouse horde thing).   Anyone who loves the fairy sugarplum sparkle of the Nutcracker ballet and thinks that's what they'll get here will feel cheated.   Anyone who reads middle grade fantasy to revel in the power a young kid might have to change the world with sword or sorcery might find Stefan's lack of such traditional fantastical heroism (though he has plenty of determination and considerable mechanical ingenuity, and does some fine sword fighting toward the end) disappointing. 

So I think I would recommend this one to those who don't have a whole lot of expectations about what middle grade fantasy should be, but who are prepared to suspend disbelief and go along with a beautifully written mouse vs human fantasia of not inconsiderable length and sophistication.  Mouse vs. human has been done before, but never quite like this.

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

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (12/13/15)

Mid December greetings to you all!  Here's what I found in my blog reading this week; please let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews

The Bromeliad Trilogy, by Terry Pratchett, at Nerdy Book Club

Cupcakes vs. Brownies (Zimmah Chronicles #1), by Scott King, at Candace's Book Blog

Curiosity House: The Shrunken Head by Lauren Oliver & H.C. Chester, at Geo Librarian

Battle at Tenochtitlan (Diego's Dragon #3), by Kevin Gerard, at Always in the Middle

A Dragon's Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans, by Laurence Yep and Joanne Ryder, at Book Nut

The Dragon of the Month Club, by Iain Reading, at Kid Lit Reviews

Emily Windsnap and the Ship of Lost Souls, by Liz Kessler, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Escape from Baxter's Barn, by Rebecca Bond, at Becky's Book Reviews

Faces of the Dead, by Suzanne Weyn, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Forgotten Sisters (Princess Academy 3), by Shannon Hale, at One Librarian's Book Reviews

The Girl Who Could Not Dream, by Sarah Beth Durst, at Charlotte's Library

The Giver, by Lois Lowry, deconstructed by Catherine Faris King at The Book Smugglers

The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman, at Please Feed the Bookworm

The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley, at alibarymama

How to Fight a Dragon's Fury, by Cressida Cowell, at Read Till Dawn

Jack, by Liesl Shurtliff, at Book Nut

Lilliput, by Sam Gayton, at Book Nut

Mars Evacuees, by Sophia McDougall, at Book Nut

Moon Rising (Wings of Fire #6), by Tui T. Sutherland, at Book Nut

My Diary from the Edge of the World, by Jodi Lynn Anderson, at Charlotte's Library

The Nest, by Kenneth Oppel, at The Book Wars

The Night Parade by Kathryn Tanquary, at Pages Unbound Reviews

The Poe Estate, by Polly Shulman, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Project Alpha, by D.J. MacHale, at Read Till Dawn

SandRider, by Angie Sage, at Charlotte's Library

Seraphina and the Black Cloak, by Robert Beatty, at Tianna Holley

Seven Dead Pirates, by Linda Bailey, at Buxton's Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels

Upside-Down Magic, by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins, at  Fantasy of the Silver Dragon

The Worlds Traveler, by M. L. Roble, at Bean's Bookshelf and Coffee Break and Fiction and Film


Authors and Interviews

Tracey Baptiste talks about The Jumbies in a podcast at The Yarn

Catherynne M. Valente (The Fairyland books) at Fantasy Magazine

Jessica Haight and Stephanie Robin (The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow) at SA Larsen


Other Good Stuff

A lovely look at The Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula Le Guin, by David Mitchell at The Guardian

If you are still shopping for presents for the space geek in your life, Buzzfeed has a very tempting list of suggestions.  So tempting that I ordered this shirt for my 12 year old:

I also find the knitted baby black hole tremendously appealing:

Vietnamese Children's Favorite Stories, retold by Tran Thi Minh Phuoc

One of the rewards of being part of the first round of the Cybils Awards is the addition of interesting books to your to be read pile--I find that the opportunity for publisher to nominate a limited number of their own books results in getting review copies of things I'd never heard of, and am glad to now have read!  One such book in my category of Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction is Vietnamese Children's Favorite Stories, retold by Tran Thi Minh Phuoc, illustrated by Nguyen Thi Hop and Nguyen Dong (Tuttle Publishing, 2015).

This anthology of 15 hero tales, just-so stories, and straight out fairy tales, good for kids 6-9ish,  is both entertaining and informative.  I was happy to expand the range of my own interior holding of folktales, and particularly glad to learn from one of the hero tales (Le Loi and the Magic Sword) a bit of Vietnamese history that I was never taught in school (I very much like historical knowledge painlessly acquired in this way!).  The writing is smooth and nicely descriptive without being cluttered--I can easily imagine reading these stories out loud, and at three to six or so pages each (with lots of space taken by illustrations) they are a good read-aloud length. 

I found the illustrations pleasant, but not remarkable; they seemed to me to be not dissimilar in style to old fashioned American fairy tale anthologies of my own child hood back in the 1970s... but because you don't have to trust me viz illustrations, here's what School Library Journal said: "The delicate and detailed watercolor illustrations elegantly enhance the appeal of this work."  Here's what I can say with conviction--the cover is gorgeous and inviting as all get out.

So basically this is a fine book to offer the kid who wants fairy tales of many lands, be they Vietnamese themselves or not, and a very fine book for parents to get a hold of if they want to expand the imaginations of their young.  It's a good, solid, authentic addition to any library's shelves.

Here's the Kirkus Review, with which I am in agreement.

The Girl Who Could Not Dream, by Sarah Beth Durst

The Girl Who Could Not Dream, by Sarah Beth Durst (Clarion Books, middle grade, November 2015).

Sophie is not like the other kids.  For one thing, she can never let anyone know what her parents do as a sideline to their bookstore business--they distill and bottle dreams, and then sell them secretly on the dream black market.  Sophie helps by plying sleep troubled schoolmates with dream catchers, providing her parents with fresh nightmares to be bottled (and yes, there's a market for adolescent nightmares), .  For another thing, Sophie has never had a dream of her very own.  Once when she was younger she snuck a nightmare from her parents collection, and dreamt about a monster...and found that she brought the monster out her when the dream ended.  Monster, fuzzy and tentacled,  is now Sophie's best and only friend, fiercely protective and loyal.

When a new boy, Ethan, comes to Sophie's school, she quickly realizes that he's a good candidate for dream supplying, and luckily he turns out to be a good candidate for friendship too.  For Sophie's life becomes upended when her home is ransacked, dreams are stolen, and her parents go missing.  A sinister villain wants to use nightmares for his own greedy ends, and he wants to control Sophie's ability to bring things from dreams to our own world.

So Sophie, Ethan, and Monster set of to track down and foil the villain, assisted by a rainbow sparkle flying pony borrowed from someone else's dream (which amused me lots!).  And they find a situation that is a true nightmare, with the scariest things that people can dream up all to real.

It is a  warm and smart and funny and scary story, and Monster (with his dry wit and lovable personality) is my favorite fictional monster of the past decade. Durst's writing is snappy and vivid, Sophie is an appealing heroine, and the nightmares really are disturbing (don't give this to a kid suffering from arachnophobia.  It might make things worse).  References to other fantasy novels will please young fans of the genre, and even those who you might not consider fans of Fantasy will probably be tickled too by the intersection of magic and real life.

Short answer--a winner.

SandRider, by Angie Sage

SandRider, by Angie Sage (HarperCollins, Oct. 2015), is the second book in the Todhunter Moon series, a spin off of the Septimus Heap books.  If you loved spending pages of lovely rich time with Septimus, you will love these two newer books.  And there's no reason not to start with Septimus, so the question of whether Sandrider can stand alone is somewhat moot. 

Sandrider is the story about the good guys, Septimus, and Tod (she prefers "Tod" to her given name of "Alice"), and associated friends and family, racing to find out where a magical dragon egg, kidnapped by a bad magician, is being hidden so that they can keep the bad magician from bonding to the dragon when it hatches.  It is a story of deserts, and sled rides through snow woods, people trying to find home and trying to be comfy in the homes they have, and friends and family and all sorts of Magyks. 

As a fan of both series-es, I loved reading it...I trust Angie Sage to bring me through safely to the other side of the tense bits, and I am so fond of all the characters, old and new, that is a treat to spend time with them.  There are lots of descriptions of magic, and magical places and people, and a huge cast of characters, and I can see how it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea--it is a bit like eating nutella straight from the jar.  Which I like to do from time to time, so there you are.

So if you are looking for really tight plots with no little paths down the arcs of characters you aren't sure you remember, or if you are looking for deeply powerful emotional punches (as opposed to emotional friendly slaps on the back), this won't be quite what you want.  But it works nicely for me.  And I find the books themselves, with their comforting heft, attractive covers, and pleasing pencil illustrations, add to the friendliness of it all.  And oh goody!  The third Todhunter book, StarCatcher, is finished and will be out next October.

Short answer: if you are shopping for a nine or ten year old, boy or girl, who loves fantasy, get them the first Septimus book, Magyk.  There is some scarinesss, and some violence, but it rarely comes to any sort of bloody final conclusion.  And then they will be set for a nice long while as they work through the series....

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

My Diary from the Edge of the World, by Jodi Lynn Anderson

My Diary from the Edge of the World, by Jodi Lynn Anderson (Aladdin, November 2015), is a road trip from Maine to California (followed by a boat trip to Antarctica)  through a fantastical version of the United States (where dragons, sasquatches, and all manner of "magical" creatures exist along side the local MacDonalds).  12 year old Gracie's family--parents, self, big sister, and little brother, plus an orphaned boy (parents killed by sasquatches) her age escaping foster care--didn't want to hastily abandon their big old house in Maine to crowd into a camper van and head out west, a west with no certainty of roads, let alone safety from hostile fantastical critters.  But the death Cloud didn't leave many options.

In Gracie's world, Dark Clouds will quite often come looking for people who are going to die, and sort of cloudily engulf them in a deadly way.  And Gracie's little brother is sickly and puny, so when a Dark Cloud starts heading down their street, little Sam is its obvious target.  So the family tries to outrun it, trying to keep ahead of it until they can leave their world and its Dark Clouds behind forever.

For Gracie's father, found of thought experiments involving string theory, believes in the existence of another version of Earth, a place with no dragon or deadly mermaids or Dark Clouds.  But even if this other world exits,  can the family camper van make it to the edge of the world with the family intact? (Well, no, because the other Earth lies of the edge of Antarctica, which requires a boat, which has to be sailed through a sea of ghost pirates etc.).

The story of this trip is told in the form of Gracie's diary, and she is a fine diarist, capturing not just the external marvels and dangers and shifting scenery, but, as her skill and insight become more practiced, capturing her understanding of her family as well.  It is a gripping family, and a gripping world, and this road trip through it, involving witches, pegusi, and a Guardian Angel the family hires in California, that makes for good reading.   Gracie's voice is lively and personable, and the descriptions are vivid as all get out. 

My only reservation is that Gracie keeps saying that her mother thinks of a her as a frisky, daredevil, circus-going-on-inside-her kid, yet Gracie just sits there in the Winnebego,  writing.  She's never much more than a passive observer, which I found a bit frustrating.  On the other hand, it was nice to have a story with two parents both present and caring, even if the Dad is a bit of a caricature of a wooly minded professor and somewhat absent even when physical there. 

Short answer--a sure thing for the fantasy loving, writing inclined, 11 year old girl (especially one with an annoying older sister).  Also a good one for anyone who wants their fantasy mingled with speculations on string theory!

Here's the Kirkus review, which more or less agrees with me (I think there are at least two Kirkus reviewers of MG SFF, one of whom  agrees with me and one who gets things badly wrong.  It is the later one, for instance, who didn't blink when Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer ended up in the regular MG section of their Best Of list, despite being obviously fantasy....)

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (12/6/15)

Amulet Keepers (Tombquest #2), by Michael Northrup, at Hidden in Pages

The Boundless, by Kenneth Oppel, at Leaf's Reviews

The Boy Who Knew Everything, by Victoria Forester, at Read Till  Dawn

Castle Hangnail, by Ursula Vernon, at Book Nut

Curiosity House: The Shrunken Head, by Lauren Oliver and H.C. Chester, at Book Nut

Dead Boy, by Laurel Gale, at Mother, Daughter, and Son Book Reviews and The O.W.L. (giveaways at both)

Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede, at Read, Breathe, Relax

The Elementia Chronicles: Quest For Justice [Book 1] An Unofficial Minecraft-Fan Adventure, by Sean Fay Wolfe, at This Kid Reviews Books (with interview)

Fuzzy Mud, by Louis Sachar, at Guys Lit Wire
The Half Upon a Time trilogy, by James Riley, at Carstairs Considers

The Hollow Boy, by Jonathan Stroud, at Buxton's Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels and Bibliobrit

Hook's Revenge, by Heidi Schulz, at Ramblings of a Daydreamer

Kringle, by Tony Abbott, at Boys Rule Boys Read

MiNRS, by Kevin Sylvester, at That's Another Story

The Mysterious Girl in the Garden, by Judith St. George, at Charlotte's Library

Nomad, by William Alexander, at Charlotte's Library

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee, at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

Princess Juniper of the Hourglass, by Ammi-Joan Paquette, at alibrarymama

Project Alpha, by D.J. MacHale, at The Book Cellar

Rogue (The Paladin Prophecy #3), by Mark Frost, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Rosemary Spell, by Virginia Zimmerman, at BooksForKids

The Sword of Summer, by Rick Riordan, at Book Nut

Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer, by Kelly Jones, at  @HomeLibrarian and Challenging the Bookworm

The Watchmen of Port Fayt, by Conrad Mason, at On Starships and Dragonwings

The Wind in the Willow, by Kenneth Graham, at Becky's Book Reviews


Authors and Interviews
Dorine White (The Diamond Looking Glass) at Literary Rambles with giveaway

Andrew S. Chilton (The Goblin's Puzzle) at Tales From the Raven with giveaway


Other Good Stuff

It's gingerbread house time; here's Falling Water in gingerbread at Modern Bear

The Mysterious Girl in the Garden, by Judith St. George--simple time travel for the young middle grade reader

Today's Timeslip Tuesday book is The Mysterious Girl in the Garden, by Judith St. George (1981).  It's a rather straightforward, simple of plot and character story that is nonetheless not without charm.

An American girl, Terrie, is forced spend the summer in London, tagging along with her mother to Kew Gardens every day (her mother is studying there).  Terrie is sullen and bored; she wanted to stay with her grandma on Cape Cod for the summer instead.  And so she is rather deliberately not having a good time.  But then a little dog comes out of the shrubbery, though dogs are forbidden in the gardens, and Terrie follows it back, and meets a strange girl named Charlotte, who says she is a princess.

Terrie is naturally skeptical, but soon she realizes that the little dog acts like a messenger to bring her back two hundred years to the reign of King George III.  Charlotte is his grand-daughter, and being rather bored herself, she's glad to make friends with Terrie.  And nothing much happens except for Terrie visiting Charlotte quite often, until Terrie takes Charlotte's places so Charlotte can go visit her mother for the day (something her grandfather, the king, has forbidden).  Terrie almost gets found out, but makes it back to her own time safely, and that's the end.

But though it is slight, it is rather vivid and magical.  If you are nine or so and easily pleased by gardens and times past and magic that's totally unexplained and you like little dogs and like to read about girls becoming friends and dressing up in 18th century clothes, you will find it enjoyable.  There's no deep point to it; it's basically just a nice thing that happens to happen to Terrie that makes her summer better.  Since so few of us are in fact nine any more, it's hard to actually Recommend this any more recommendingly, but I'm happy to have read it; it was nice and soothing on a cold wet December night! 

Thanks, Anamaria, for sending it my way!

Nomad, by William Alexander--excellent middle grade sci fi

Nomad, by William Alexander (Margaret K. McElderry Books, Sept. 2015), is the continuation of the story begun in Ambassador (here's my review of that one).  I hesitate to call it a sequel, because that implies there's a clear cut book one and book two, and Ambassador ended so abruptly, so cliff-hangery, with so much more to come, that it didn't quite seem a complete book on its own.  On the other hand, Alexander did an utterly amazing job making Nomad able to stand alone (I know two readers who were surprised there was a first book), while simultaneously picking up what was started in Ambassador and running with it, that I am almost able to forgive him for the trauma of how the first came to a close.  But now they are both out, and if you haven't read them yet, get them both at the same time and treat them as one story split into two books, and you will be in for a treat!  These books are absolutely top notch sci fi for middle grade readers, and older ones too!

Gabe Fuentes, once an ordinary kid, is Earth's ambassador to a  universe full of alien cultures.  Every species has an ambassador, and they are all kids, because only kids can use the mind warping mechanism that makes communication possible.   Earth doesn't know about Gabe, though, nor do they know that the planet is in danger from an alien race, the Outlast, bent on taking over everything.  The Kaen, a nomadic clan of space wanderers, has come to our solar system to escape the Outlast, and Gabe hopes they can help defeat them....but he has not a clue how.

Meanwhile, Gabe's ambassadorial predecessor, a Russian girl named Nadia, has also met up with Kaen.  She left her post years back to try a daredevil mission into the travel lanes of another group of aliens...the same travel lanes that the Outlast are using for their intergalactic blitzkrieg.  That journey left her blind, with a fried visual cortex (for those who dislike magical/sci fi healing--it doesn't happen for Nadia), and the Kaen have taken her in.  Gabe and Nadia, and the young Kaen ambassador, continue to try to find out how they can close the travel lanes....but the Outlast are drawing ever closer, and time is running out.

And Gabe is also worried for his family--his Mexican parents came to the US illegally, and his dad has been deported (and his home blown up, as told in book 1).  So the struggle against the Outlast is combined with Gabe's own journey back to Earth to find his father, and sort things out for his family, while being pursued by hostile aliens (as if boarder patrol worries weren't enough). 

It is an utterly compelling set up, with utterly compelling characters.  That being said, these aren't books I'd give to kids who have to have things Happening all the time; there's rather a lot of fretting in place, as opposed to running around like crazy, acting adventurously.  So much fretting, indeed, that I got a bit twitchy from it (possibly I was fretting more than the characters...).  But gee, the scope and wonder of the story are mind-candy for readers who are science fictionally inclined.  And the themes of communication and seeking safety are timely and well-written without belaboring the point.  I also very much enjoyed how much the Kaen appreciated Mayan culture--they met the Mayans when their nomadic path took them past Earth millennia ago, and borrowed many elements of their art and architecture (copying the Mayan pyramids for themselves, in a  nice twist on the regular aliens building them stories).

And this time around, Alexander ends with an ending.  A good one.  (Except I really really want to know what happens to the Outlast ambassador...his story is still a very open ended one and I care about him, even though he was ostensibly the Enemy).

My short answer--it's a bit like David Brin for the young-complicated, very inventive, the believability of its reality stretched almost to breaking point, and memorable as all get out.   If you have a young sci fi minded reader who needs a present, do consider these two books.

disclaimer: review copy provided by the publisher for Cybils Award consideration.

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (11/29/15)

Nothing from me this week--I have been reading lots, but not reviewing; instead I am spending the last of my feeble strength trying to get the living room French doors sanded and reinstalled; they had spent the last fifty or so years down in the basement, which wasn't good for them.  I thought (in my usual haplessly optimistic way) that it would be but the work of moments...ha ha ha.

The Reviews

The Castle Behind Thorns, by Merrie Haskell, at Fantasy of the Silver Dragon

The Copper Gauntlet, by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare, at Reading Rumpus Book Reviews

A Curious Tale of the In-Between, by Lauren DeStefano, at Winter Haven Books

The Diamond Looking Glass, by Dorine White, at Always in the Middle

Dragon Spear, by Jessica Day George, at Buxton's Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels

Escape from Baxter's Barn, by Rebecca Bond, at Hope is the Word

Fires of Invention, by J. Scott Savage, at Buxton's Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels

The Girl Who Could Not Dream, by Sarah Beth Durst, at Sonderbooks

Greenglass House, by Kate Milford, at Read Till Dawn

Grounded, by Megan Morrison, at alibrarymama

Hoodoo, by Roland L. Smith, at Sharon the Librarian

I'm With Cupid, by Anna Staniszewski, at Log Cabin Library

The Jumbies, by Tracey Baptiste, at Randomly Reading

Krabat and the Sorcerer's Mill, by Otfried Preussler, at Emerald City Book Review

Maddie Hatter and the Deadly Diamond, by Jayne Barnard, at Buried Under Books

The Map to Everywhere, by Carrie Ryan and John Parke Davis, at The Overstuffed Bookcase

Max Helsing and the Thirteenth Curse, by Curtis Jobling, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Moving Target by Christina Diaz Gonzalez, at On Starships and Dragonwings

The Rosemary Spell, by Virginia Zimmerman, at The Nocturnal Library

Shadows of Sherwood, by Kekla Magoon, at In Bed With Books

A World Without Princes, by Soman Chainani, at Sometimes I Read

The Trilogy of Two, by Juman Malouf, at My Brain On Books

The Whispering Skull, by Jonathan Stroud, at Leaf's Reviews

The Wrinkled Crown, by Anne Nesbet, at The Reading Nook Reviews

Three at alibrarymama--The  Copper Gauntlet, The Hollow Boy, and Nightborn, and three more at Dead Houseplants--Diary of a Mad Brownie, Harriet the Invincible, and Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures.


 Authors and Interviews

Dianne K. Salerni (The Eighth Day) at Project Mayhem, on dispatching the bad guy

Michael Gibney (The Three Thorns) at Diana's Book Reviews


Other Good Stuff

Asteroid mining is now legal, so you can go read MiNRS to get a look at that happy future (some sarcasm, given what happens in MiNRS....)

Guest of the Month Club--Reading Around the World with Emily of Follow the Yellow Book Road

Today I'm taking part in the Guest of the Month Club, hosted by Emily Reads Everything.  This month's topic was "what do you do when you're not blogging," and I was partnered with Emily of Follow the Yellow Book Road.  Here's Emily, travelling around the world while managing to get some reading in!

When I was in the 8^th grade, a teacher was organizing an educational trip to France, Brussels, and Amsterdam. In order to go on trip, I fundraised (with quite a bit of help from my parents). That trip was my first taste of travel and I loved it! I enjoyed seeing new places, learning and experiencing history, trying new food, and meeting new people. It wasn’t until after college that I was able to make traveling a significant part of my life. I have been to 21 countries and my bucket list just keeps growing. After travelling I've learned to always stock up my Kindle before I leave.

Here is a quick top 5 destination list for you with some stories about reading around the world. 

Best trip for snorkeling/diving: Maldives! Talk about paradise. These tiny sand bar type islands are breathtakingly beautiful. The climate and the coral reefs are perfect for seeing all types of sea life. Some of the highlights of this trip included: clownfish (Nemo!), manta rays, stonefish, and lionfish.

I went to the Maldives, before I had my Kindle. I brought two books with me on this trip and finished one on the flight there. I finished the other one pretty quickly too. Luckily, the resort we were staying at had a "library" it was a sort of "take one, leave one" library. I was set up by languages and the English section was pretty small, but I was able to find two books to borrow and returned them before we left. I loved being able to read on the beach, completely uninterrupted. I also donated one of my books to the library.

Favorite City: Florence, Italy! I spent two days walking around this city and loved it. The churches were beautiful, there was plenty of shopping, and lots of small cafes. We saw the Statue of David and I was sure to rub the snout of the bronze boar to ensure that I would return to Florence.

Before this trip, I added a couple new books to my Kindle. But the tour was SO jam packed that the only time I had to read was on the flights.

Favorite trip in the US: Hawaii! We did a cruise in order to see multiple islands. I loved how there was the opportunity to experience history at Pearl Harbor. I also enjoyed swimming at various waterfalls in Maui. The views were amazing; we saw volcanos, waterfalls, pineapple plantations, the Na Pali Coast, and more.

Surprisingly, I didn't bring a book or my Kindle on this trip. But the cruise ship had a library, so I borrowed a book to read. Unfortunately I didn't get to finish the book and had to return it. I was pretty engrossed in the book and thought for sure I would remember the title and author. Of course, when I got home and actually looked for the book, I couldn't remember the title or author.

Favorite Country: Greece! Hands down, I have been 3 times and each time I loved it more and more. Greece truly has everything you could want in a travel destination: beautiful beaches/islands, awesome mountainsides, great food, incredibly kind people, history that you can’t get enough of, busy cities, and old fashioned towns.

The first time I went, I brought a couple physical books with me and traded with my sister part way through the trip. The other two times, I brought my kindle with me.

My most adventurous trip: Africa! My husband and I signed up for a group tour. We traveled by bus to several countries and camped most nights. The safaris were amazing (my favorite was the Ngorongoro Crater) and we met some awesome people from around the world. After the group tour we spent about a week on our own and swam in the Devil’s Pool in Victoria Falls.

On this trip, I knew I'd have a ton of time traveling from place to place. I stocked up my Kindle before we left, about half way through the trip I had read everything. Luckily, we had a one night stop in a hotel with wi-fi and I was able to download several more books. There was one day that we were on the bus for 12 hours and I read two whole books.

It's kind of funny, because this is the first time I've tried to remember what books I've read in various destinations and I really can't place everything.


Thank you so much, Emily, for being my partner!  I hope you have lots more lovely trips to come! 

And you can find out more about me (nothing surprising) at my post over at Emily's place...

A Blind Guide to Stinkville, by Beth Vrabel

One of my favorite books when I was a young reader was Light a Single Candle, by Beverly Butler, about a girl who goes blind and how she copes with her new reality.  My fondness for that book led me to look forward to A Blind Guide to Stinkville, by Beth Vrabel (Sky Pony Press, middle grade, October 2015) .  It, too, is about a girl who is almost, but not quite, blind, coping with a new reality, and though it really isn't much like Light a Single Candle, I enjoyed it for its own merits.

For Alice, her minimal eyesight is not new; she has albinism, with profound side effects on her ability to see.  But she doesn't think of herself as blind, because with a strong magnifying glass she can read print, and because even though the world is a blur, it's still a blur she sees.  But it's one thing to live in a blur of the place you've grown up in, and another to be transplanted to a strange town, navigating both a new external world of people and places (and realizing that your ability to be independent is not all that great), and navigating the changes it's brought to her family. Her mom is profoundly depressed, and Alice, her father, and brother, are all feeling rather fragile and tense as a result.  So there's a lot on Alice's plate.  And then her parents decide that she should go to a school for the blind....even as she's beginning to make a place for herself in the seeing world of her new town. 

Alice doesn't feel sorry for herself because she is different, but that doesn't mean she is a Pollyanna (always being Glad).  Her main problems (old friends and family and new friends who are tricky waters to navigate, and her dog being sick) are problems anyone might have, and though in Alice's case her differences don't make things any easier, her reality is her reality and she doesn't once think "if I were like everyone else everything would be better."  She does resist going to the school for the blind, because that's not how she defines herself, but she's sensible enough to realize, once she visits the place, that there are useful things she can learn that will help her grow in independence.

And so the thrust of the book is about growing and listening to other people's stories and finding a sense of place in a strange blurry (metaphorically) world of a new town.  Alice finds her anchor by taking part in a writing competition of essays about the town, and so in listening and thinking about the new place and people she puts down roots, and it is clear that she will thrive.

Light a Single Candle is focused very tightly on the main character's experience of blindness.  It has nothing about what the grown-ups are thinking; "problem" parents, like Alice's depressed mother, are much more common now than they were back in the 20th century when all we cared about was the kids.....The wider spread of issues in A Blind Guide to Stinkville offers a way to make the story of someone unusual, like Alice is, relatable someone whose story isn't all about her.  And so this is one that will appeal to fans of good middle grade realistic fiction, as opposed to the more narrowly focused group of fans of kids with disabilities, although it's certainly one that group will like too!

Humor is generously blended into a story that anyone navigating the new reality of growing up, and/or being relocated to a strange new town, can relate to, and the result is a warm, generous book that I enjoyed lots.  (And I would enjoy a sequel in which Alice gets a guide dog!  I think Alice would enjoy that too...)

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (11/22/15)

Please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

The Afterlife Academy, by Frank L. Cole, at Buxton's Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels

The Alchemist's Theoremm: Sir Duffy's Promise, by Margaret Chiavetta, at Cindy Reads A Lot

The Candy Shop War, by Brandon Mull, at Hidden In Pages (audiobook review)

Connect the Stars, by Marisa de los Santos and David Teague, at That's Another Story

Crenshaw, by Katherine Applegate, at Great Imaginations

A Curious Tale of the In-Between, by Lauren DeStefano, at Book Nut

The Disappearance of Emily H., by Barrie Summy, at The Write Path and The Write Stuff

Dragon Flight, by Jessica Day George, at Buxton's Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels

The End of Time (The Books of Umber #3), by P.W. Catanese, at Buxton's Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels

Fuzzy Mud, by Louis Sacher, at SLJ (audiobook review)

The Galaxy Pirates: Hunt for the Pyxis, by Zoe Ferraris, at Sharon the Librarian

The Goblin's Puzzle, by Andrew S. Chilton, at SLJ

The Hill Road, by William Mayne, at Charlotte's Library

Hunters of Chaos, by Crystal Velasquezm at The Book Nut

Just Ella, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, at Snuggly Oranges

MiNRS, by Kevin Sylvester, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Nest, by Kenneth Oppel, at The Book Nut

Nightmares, by Jason Segel and Kirstern Miller, at Good Books and Good Wine (audiobook review)

The Poe Estate, by Polly Shulman, at Mom Read It

A Riddle in Ruby (Key to the Catalyst, 1) by Kent Davis, at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia
Rose and the Lost Princess, by Holly Webb, at Pages Unbound

Scary School #3 & #4 by Derek the Ghost, at Geo Librarian

School for Sidekicks, by Kelly McCullough, at alibrarymama

Seven Dead Pirates, by Linda Bailey, at Charlotte's Library

Switch, by Ingrid Law, at My Brain on Books and Project Mayhem

The Sword of Summer, by Rick Riordan, at Good Books and Good Wine

A Tale of Highly Unusual Magic, by Lisa Papademetriou, at The Reading Nook Reviews

The Wrinkled Crown, by Anne Nesbet, at alibrarymama

Upside-Down Magic, by Sarah Mynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins, at The Book Nut

Warren the 13th and the All Seeing Eye, by Tania Del Rio, illustrated by Will Staehle, at The Book Wars

Two animal fantasies--Escape from Baxter's Barn and Brilliant, at alibrarymama

A look at Edward Carey’s Iremonger Trilogy at Educating Alice


Authors and Interviews

Greg Leitich Smith (Borrowed Time) at Cynsations

Christine Hayes (The Mothman's Curse) at Cynsations

Andrew Harwell (The Spider Ring) at Watch. Connect. Read


Other Good Stuff

Jonathan Auxier (The Night Gardener) wins two big awards from the Canadian Children's Book Centre

"When Maps Came to Oz" at Oz and Ends

A picture book brilliantly reimagining a Xenomorph from Aliens at The Laughing Squid (via Fuse #8)

Rick Riordan celebrates the de-whitewashing of the Russian edition of the Kane Chronices, at the Guardian

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness is coming to the big screen; here's the trailer

Seven Dead Pirates, by Linda Bailey

I am not fond of pirates, so the fact that I sincerely (really) enjoyed Seven Dead Pirates, by Linda Bailey (Tundra Books, September 2015) suggests to me that readers who do in fact actively seek out pirate book will enjoy it very much indeed! (with the caveat that the action takes place not on the rolling main but on dry land, with just a splash, as it were, of ocean adventure at the very end....)

When Lewis's mother inherits the old family house by the ocean, they have to live in it for six months before it can be sold.  His mom and dad are unenthusiastic; it's a bit of a fixer upper.  But Lewis loves the tower room he claims as his own...until he finds that it's occupied by seven dead pirates.  He agrees to help them get back to their ship (conveniently located in a nearby museum) and gradually overcomes his (very natural) fear and uncertainty, even coming to enjoy reading Treasure Island out loud to them.  It's not as if he has any other friends; his horrible shyness has seen to that, and he is bullied at school (along with at least half of this year's middle grade speculative fiction protagonists).

So Lewis comes up with a plan to take the pirate ghosts to the museum on Halloween, the one day that even if they turn visible (which they do under stress) people won't be all that consternated.  And in the meantime the pirates are a tricksy bunch, although they do end up helping Lewis grow in confidence....as does the arrival of a not quite but almost manic pixie dream girl at school, who can openly admit to wearing thrift store clothes and still be cool, who finds out about the pirates and is happy to visit them!

Things I liked--

--It's a great old house.  There was tension about whether it would be sold and demolished, but this was resolved.

--even though pirates aren't my first choice, this was a really interesting plot, and it worked well. Pirates and boy helped each other believably. 

--the magic is intergenerational; Lewis inherits the pirates, more or less, from his great-grandfather, and family history is a part of the story.

--there was a really cool kickass kindergarten girl who stood up to the bully on Lewis' behalf.  I really liked her!

So if "ghosts pirates" doesn't appeal, don't be off-put.  It's a fun, fast read, and I'm glad it was nominated for the Cybils, because I wouldn't have read it otherwise.  Although I am glad my own old house is ghost free....I wouldn't want to share my bedroom with them!

The Hill Road, by William Mayne, for Timeslip Tuesday

The Hill Road (Over the Hills and Far Away in the UK), by William Mayne (1968 in the UK, 1969 in the US), is perhaps the most boring time travel adventure to Dark Age Britain I have ever read, and I am pretty much ready to give up on William Mayne (which isn't that hard, what with him having been a child abuser, although I still am very fond of his Hob stories).   But in any event, I have now read The Hill Road, which is at least a better title than the UK one.

So there's this Dark Age girl, Magra, on the Scottish boarder, who has a. red hair (magic!) and b. a magic stone of time travelness (really magic!) and there are bad guys attacking peacefullish villages, and because of her magicness, Magra gets sent off to the big chief guy to share her magic in a helpful way, or possibly to be a ritual sacrifice (neither me or Magra is entirely sure....).  And Magra decides that instead of the dangerous journey through her own time, it would make more sense to hop through time to the future.  And in so doing, her magic time travel stone whisks three ordinary kids from the 20th century, and their ponies, back in time.  The modern kids then have an uncomfortable dangerous journey, sort of like the Dark Ages equivalent of  driving down the New Jersey Turnpike the day after Thanksgiving.

Nothing much happens.  The modern kids get to see Dark Age power struggles and are occasionally in danger.  They don't spend a whole lot of time thinking "gee we've travelled through time" and so miss lots of chances to deeply experience what they are going through.  And when they get to the end of the journey, Magra pops back into her own time and it is over and nothing has happened in terms of character growth, interesting story, or anything.  The modern kids are neither appealing or memorable.

According to the jacket flap, this "series of situations" is "as strange and unpredictable and momentous as any this brilliant author has ever offered us."  This blog post is just as unenthusiastic as any I have ever offered you all.

The Lightning Queen, by Laura Resau

The Lightning Queen, by Laura Resau (Scholastic, Oct 2015), is one of my favorite books of 2015 (I hope it wins the Newbery).  If you are looking for a truly beautiful, heartwarming multicultural story about kids who make their dreams come to happen through undaunted determination, this is one I can recommend wholeheartedly.

Every summer, Matteo leaves Maryland with his mother to visit her family in a village on the Hill of Dust, in Mexico.  The summer is even more special than usual--Matteo's grandfather Teo tells him a magical story from his own childhood, a story that beings when Esma, self-styled Gypsy Queen of Lightning, comes to the village.  Esma's family are Gypsys who travel across Mexico, bringing moving pictures to isolated villages like Teo's, mesmerizing the audiences, but often being met with prejudice and outright hostility. 

But Teo and Esma become friends, real life-long best friends, and the two of them make a peace between the villagers and the Romini so that Esma can stay longer, and be sure to come back.  Which she does...

Esma dreams of becoming a great singer, but her family don't want to let her go pursue her dream.  Teo wants a life of more than goat herding, but Maestra Maria, the teacher at the regional school is harsh and prejudiced against indigenous Mixteco people like Teo (and it doesn't help much that he's accompanied to school by his pet skunk, one of the many animals he's rescued and cares for).   But the two of them persevere, and their dreams come true--Teo gets his education, with Esma's help, and Esma gets a chance to sing, with Teo's.

Music takes Esma far from the Hill of Dust, where Teo stays, living a rich life of his own as the doctor to his community.  But now, this summer in which he's telling the story of Esma to his grandson, he feels Esma's pull on his spirit.  It is time to find her again.

Matteo uses the power of google back in Maryland to track Esma down, and just as he does so, his grandfather flies in from Mexico, having somehow known that the moment had come.   And so they meet again--two best best friends, with Matteo and Esma's grand-daughter all set to continue the family tradition.

There's so much to like here, like the rich cast of supporting characters, and the lovely balance Resau achieves between celebrating Teo's indigenous culture and vividly creating a strong sense of place without being romanticizing or patronizing.   But its the eminently loveable characters of Teo and Esma who really win the reader's heart.  It's not really a fantastical story, except for Teo knowing it is time to fly to America, and perhaps Esma's grandmother's skill at fortune telling.   It doesn't need supernatural magic, though, to be magical--the friendship at the heart of the story does that just fine all by itself.

Backmatter about the Mixteco and the Romini people pushes the story into even more of an mind-broadening experience for young readers who might think of Mexico as a cultural monolith.  Back in 2009 I interviewed Laura Resau about the intersection between anthropology and fiction (both of us have an academic background in anthropology) and it remains one of my favorite blog posts.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher