This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (1/10/16)

Here's me back from Boston with a slew of books, finishing up this week's round-up.  I accidently marked about fifty posts in bloglovin read by accident, so if you don't see yours here, that's what might have happened to it.

And now that I have EVEN MORE Books in my house to read, I had better get cracking on writing some reviews (I had two this week, but for B. and N., not from my own list of books to review....)

The Reviews

Beetle Boy, by M.G. Leonard, at Mr. Ripley's Enchanted Books

Circus Mirandus, by Cassie Beasley, at Geo Librarian and The Children's Book Review

Crenshaw, by Katherine Applegate, at Next Best Book

The D'evil Diaries, by Tatum Flynn, at The Bookshelf Gargoyle

Ennara and the Fallen Druid, by Angela Myron, at Cover2CoverBlog

Escaping Peril, by Tui T. Sutherland, at the Barnes and Noble Kids Blog

The Girl Who Could Not Dream, by Sarah Beth Durst, at A Backwards Story

The Goblin's Puzzle, Andrew S. Chilton, at Pages Unbound Reviews

The Hollow Boy, by Jonathan Stroud, at Leaf's Reviews

Into the Waves, by Kiki Thorpe, at the Barnes and Noble Kids Blog

The Last Bogler, by Catherine Jinks, at BookForKidsBlog

The Mad Apprentice, by Django Wexler, at Middle Grade Strikes Back

The Night Parade, by Kathryn Tanquary, at Me On Books, In Bed With Books,  and The Bookshelf Gargoyle

Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures, by Jackson Pierce and Maggie Stiefvater, at Jean Little Library

Renegade Magic, by Stephanie Burgis, at Strange and Random Happenstance

Secrets of the Dragon Tomb, by Patrick Samphire, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Star Wars--The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary, at Boys Rule Boys Read

Switch, by Ingrid Law, at Destined 4 Weirdness

Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer, by Kelly Jones, at Kitty Cat at the Library

Two at Great Kid Books--Diary of a Mad Brownie, and Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures

Two at Ms. Yingling Reads--Bounders, by Monica Tesler, and The Stone Warriors, by Michael Northrup

Two at alibrarymama--I'm With Cupid and Shadows of Sherwood

Authors and Interviews

Gregory Funaro (Alistair Grim's Odd Aquaticum) at The Hiding Spot


Other Good Stuff

Frances Hardinge has won the 2015 Costa Children’s Book Award for her book, The Lie Tree

I made a list of great books on the care and keeping of magical creatures, at the Barnes and Noble Kids Blog

Star Trek Forever!  May our mail keep going boldly with these new stamps.

This week's MG Sci fi/fantasy round up will be rather late today

I am trying hard to get out of the house and up to ALA in Boston; I'll get the round up up when I get back this evening (d.v.)

Until We Meet Again, by Renee Collins, for Timeslip Tuesday

If you love Time Travel romance, with the two beautiful characters sitting on the knife edge of "will they be able to be together or will Time always separate them?" and if you are prepared to forgo any critical mindset with regard to insta love that somehow in a matter of days leads to a relationship of Utter Meaningfulness and if you don't mind a sort of cheesey secondary plot thrown in involving the mob and extortion, and if you think that rich spoiled kids are just the sort of people you want to imagine yourself being/falling in love with This is a Book For You!  Sadly, Until We Meet Again, by Renee Collins (Sourcebooks Fire, YA, November 2015), is not for me.

Cassandra slips through time back to the 1920s when she goes down to the beach one moonlight night, and there she meets her insta love Lawrence, who happily insta loves her right back.  When they figure out that they are not in fact co-temporaneous, and that the only place their two times overlap is this piece of beach, they are naturally distressed.  They become even more distressed when Cass looks Lawrence up in the archives of the local library and finds out he is about to be murdered.  (The fact that they've already changed time enough so that someone has died who in the original timeline did not die distresses them briefly, but not enough so that they are willing to stop seeing each other).  So Cass and Lawrence in their own time try to figure out who will kill him and how to stop it, and lo!  Lawrence discovers that his uncle is involved in shady dealings with the mob.  And lo!  Cass's mother discovers her daughter is sneaking off to the beach at all hours to canoodle with a strange guy (the time travel is not exclusive to Cass).  Everyone is distressed.  But the real distresses for Cass and Lawrence is wondering if they can ever make their dream of beautiful love forever become reality (the beach is getting old.  They'd really like to get a room). 

So it was kind of interesting to see dude from the 20s meet girl from the teens.  But it didn't work for me.  I found myself wit a basic inability to accept that Cass and Lawrence were at all interesting and a basic inability to believe in their Young Love:

Also
--I was annoyed at Cass's mother being a real bad parenting piece of work and shoving preppy dude Brandon at her and making plans for the two of them when she is clearly uninterested:

Brandon offers to go home, but "I don't think so," Mom says.  She steps out of Brandon's line of sight and gives me a stern, why-are-you-being-so rude look.  "Brandon's been waiting almost an hour for you.  Whatever you have to do can wait until tomorrow." Cass did not invite Brandon over, he just showed up.  And now she has to entertain him just because he's there?  No.  I was annoyed at Cass too for not just saying no to her mom and to Brandon. Pretty feeble.  It's all a set up for Brandon to be a potential suspect because of jealousy in the murder that hasn't happened yet.

--I do not think that even in the 1920s a guy would say to a girl "Faye. Talk to me.  Tell me why you're being this way.  Is it...lady troubles?"  What? Faye has been coming on strong to him in the sexy dept. and then attacking him when she's rejected, and he thinks that "lady troubles" might explain it?  And not something to do with "the muscular Italian fellow" who's been staring at them intently and clearly agitating Faye?

--Lawrence, a would-be poet, got on my nerves lots with his poetic thoughts. 
"I want to lie beside her in my bed and take her in my arms as we fall asleep to the serenade of crickets.
My breath trembles at these yearnings I cannot quell."  I cannot stand trembling yearnings of unquellable-ness.  Makes me twitchy,

So nope, not one for me, but you don't have to take my word for it.  Kirkus disagrees with me, for instance, calling it "Suspenseful, poignant, and romantic: well worth the read."

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (1/3/16)

Happy New Year!  I hope 2016 is a kind, gentle year, with enough to keep us busy without taxing our strength too terribly much.  Here's the first round-up of the year; please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

Alistair Grim's Odd Aquaticum, by Gregory Funaro, at Please Feed the Bookworm

Chase Tinker and the House of Magic, by Malia Ann Haberman, at Always in the Middle

Finders Keepers, by Dorothy A. Winsor, at Nerdophiles

The Girl With the Silver Eyes, by Wilo Davis Roberts, at Views from the Tesseract

Hoodoo, by Ronald L. Smith, at Charlotte's Library

Keeper, by S. Smith, at This Kid Reviews Books

The League of Seven (League of Seven, 1) by Alan Gratz, at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

Long Road To Freedom, by Kate Messner, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin, by Liesl Shurtliff, at One Librarian's Book Reviews

The Shrunken Head, by Lauren Oliver, at Jump Into Books

Sword of Summer, by Rick Riordan, at On Starships and Dragonwings

Under Their Skin, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, at Read Till Dawn

Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer, by Kelly Jones, at Sonderbooks

Witch Wars by Sibeal Pounder, at Pages Unbound Reviews

Two at alibrarymama--I’m with Cupid by Anna Staniszewski and Shadows of Sherwood (Robyn Hoodlum Book 1) by Kekla Magoon

and a whole slew of them at Librarian of Snark

Authors and Interviews

Alison McGhee (Firefly Hollow) at MPR News

Other Good Stuff

The finalists for the Cybils Awards have been announced; here's the Elementary/Middle Grade  Speculative Fiction list.

The Middle Grade Nerdies have also been announced, and include a nice smattering of sci fi/fantasy (interestingly with no overlap with the Cybis MG Spec Fic Shortlist)

The greatest Lemony Snicket quotes ever gathered at The Guardian

News of a lovely-sounding orphan illustration exhibit in London, via the Guardian, with fantasy well represented.

Hoodoo, by Ronald L. Smith

I have allowed myself to be lax with the reviewing these past few weeks, but the iron is hot again (or something, probably the desire to move books from my home into the hands of library patrons).  So here's a review of a really distinctive horror book nominated for the Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Cybils--Hoodoo, by Ronald L. Smith (Clarion Books, September 2015) .  I might well have read it anyway, because Ronald Smith came to Kidlitcon to be part of a panel on middle grade horror, which was lots of fun, and Hoodoo sounded most intriguing....African-American Southern Gothic horror for the young doesn't come my way all that often.

12-year-old Hoodoo Hatcher comes from a family with magic running strong in their blood.  Yet Hoodoo has yet to live up to his name.  Then a strange man comes to down, bringing horror with him...and Hoodoo is right in the cross-hairs of this stranger pruriently awful interest.  He has to learn to conjure with supernatural forces as quick as ever he can, or else.  And the reason why the stranger has come for him in particular is pretty dreadful in its own right, for one of Hoodoo's hands is not his own. It is the hand of a man hung for murder...

Fortunately Hoodoo, with the help of family and a loyal friend, a girl named Bunny, are able to persevere against the dark magic of the stranger, but not before some really scary happenings!

I wasn't sure I'd like Hoodoo, the boy, all that well--at the beginning of the book, he spends an awful lot of time telling the reader things; "if you didn't know," he says all too often.  But once the stranger's malevolence comes into full flower, it all gets nicely page-turny indeed!  Give this one to the young reader who enjoys supernatural scariness and is on the lookout for something a little different.  The setting, in Alabama in the 1930s, and the combination of hoodoo magic (rich and detailed) and Christian faith (strong and vibrant) pitted against an evil that's truly creepy, make a good change of pace, and the touches of humor in Hoodoo's narrative voice, and his eminently relatable struggle to figure out just what he's capable of make him a good comrade.  

I'm in agreement with Kirkus on this one--"The authenticity of Hoodoo's voice and this distinctive mashup of genres make Smith one to watch. Seekers of the scary and "something different" need look no further."
It's also a good one to read on a cold winter day up here in the north--the best sort of day for visiting hot, muggy southern swamp land. 

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher for Cybils Award Consideration

Looking back at my 2015 reading

I have to start with the most memorable thing that I read in 2015, that most excited my fevered brain, causing me to bring it up in conversation early and often-- the descriptions of the food in The Tournament at Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice). The first part of the book is mostly a bunch of rangers travelling around, and I would much much much rather travel with them than with Strider, a ranger with no appreciation for food.  When John Flannagan's rangers stop of the evening, one of them quickly gathers "wild greens" for a salad, and just happens to be carrying around a supply of vinaigrette dressing.  They bake bread in the coals of the fire, stop travelling early to fish for a salmon or hunt a deer, and have a plentiful supply of butter on them, which makes both the bread and the salmon tastier.  The butter especially preoccupied me with regard to logistics.  But also the fact that these guys are supposed to be hurrying, yet still have time to go for a quick deer hunt and butcher the dear and roast the deer just for supper and are weighing themselves down with all those condiments.  One supper-- "The rich taste of the venison contrasted pleasantly with the astringent taste of the salad and the warm bread was ideal for soaking up the delicious meat juices."  Another supper-- salmon "liberally covered in butter and slices of wild-growing onion and lemon." They are also traveling with coffee and wine. They need to work harder on dessert though.

Now I've gotten that out of the way--

In 2015 I read 325 books (according to what I put on Goodreads, + 3 read twice), so probably a few more than that).  106 were review copies, 118 were from the library, and the rest were presents and purchases and a few, a sad few but better than nothing, came from the languishing depths of the tbr shelves.  And I re-read one book from my shelves just for pleasure (What has happened to me?  I used to re-read like a fiend....).

My criteria for "favorite" books is whether or not I will re-read them (maybe I can count "re-reading" them in my head while doing domestic tasks?).  Two books I first read in 2015 I have already re-read--Bayou Magic, by Jewell Parker Rhodes, and Moon Rising, by Tui T. Sutherland, both of which (uncoincidently) were just shortlisted for the Cybils Awards.   I loved Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer, by Kelly Jones. The Hob and the Deerman, by Pat Walsh, is lovely (it's a continue of the Crowfield Curse series).  All of these are middle grade; there are only two YA  books I'd be interested in re-reading-- The Scorpion Rules, by Erin Bow, and Stranger, by Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith, and no adult books, because most of the adult books I read are non-fiction and once is generally enough.

The book I most enjoyed (sorry, you probably won't be able to get hold of it unless you make friends with my sister and she lends you her copy) is Beaux, by Evan Commager.  It is always a fraught thing to read an older children's book set in the South, because of the very real risk of intolerable racism on the part of the writer or the characters.  Commager (perhaps because she moved north as a young woman) managed to actively offend me only once.  So I was able to take great pleasure in the growing up of a really engaging, literate, young heroine and her best friend, with the added bonus of a nice young man who is interested in sustainable farming methods.  Possibly I liked it as much as I did because it is illustrated by N. M. Bodecker, who did Edward Eager's books, so it felt friendly and familiar.  Possibly I was just hungering for someone to address in a children's book the dangers of monocropping in early 20th century South Carolina.


Misc. final thoughts:

Book I read that I would least like to have as my one book on a desert island--Beating Gout: A Sufferer's Guide to Living Pain Free (read when my poor mother was afflicted)

Worst cruelty to kittens--The Sign of the Cat, by Lynne Jonell.  I really liked this adventure fantasy, whose hero could talk to cats.  It's a good book.  But the horrible thing the villain does to kittens is so awful that I can't actually recommend it to any young readers who love kittens, which is a large chunk of them. I will go ahead and spoil it (highlight to see)-kittens are thrown alive into a meat grinder on a regular basis so that bad guy can eat them.

Worst plausibility issues-- Judy, Patrol Leader (scroll down), by Dorothea Moore.  Every school girl danger imaginable (the falling cliffs, the burglars breaking into the school, saving people's lives right and left, thwarting smugglers) is here, but it it's actually not a bad read.   (bought in Sacramento while shopping with Maureen after Kidlitcon 2014, so I'm fond of it)

Goal for 2016-- re-read more.  Do household tasks more efficiently so that there is more time for reading.  Take the bus to work more for same reason. Read all the books.

The Cybils finalists are here!

The 2015 Cybils finalists have been announced, and as usual, these lists of childrens and YA books in a wide range of categories are a fantastic resource!  The books combine both reader appeal and great writing, making it a very kid friendly set of suggestions.

I was a panelist on the first round of Middle Grade Speculative Fiction, and here are the books we picked for our shortlist:

Bayou Magicby Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Nominated by: Patricia Tilton

In a simple but not simplistic story, 10-year-old Maddie visits her Grandmère in the Louisiana bayou in order to learn the magical traditions of her family. While there, she discovers how friendship and magic (and bonus mermaids!) can help with modern problems, and learns the importance of being connected to the land around her. Rhodes has created a book with a lyrical mix of African, French and Creole traditions that has a huge heart and is full of magic and, ultimately, joy.

Melissa Fox, The Book Nut

Castle Hangnailby Ursula Vernon
Dial Books
Nominated by: Jennifer

The titular castle of Castle Hangnail needs a new master, or it will risk being decommissioned, forcing all the resident minions to find new homes. When 12-year-old Molly comes knocking on the castle door, the minions (who expected a powerful dark magic user) are skeptical, but Molly is determined to convince them that she is wicked enough for the job (though she actually has a very good heart). Everything seems to be going well until an evil sorceress shows up claiming she is Castle Hangnail’s real intended master. Its illustrations, humor, messages of friendship and determination, and a host of memorable secondary characters (with a special nod to one minion–Pins, a voodoo doll with a talking goldfish) make Castle Hangnail an utterly enjoyable and charming place to spend your reading time!

Benda Tjaden, Log Cabin Library

Cuckoo Songby Frances Hardinge
Harry N Abrams
Nominated by: Maureen E

“Mummy, help me, please help me, everything’s strange and nothing’s right, and my mind feels as if it’s made up of pieces and some of them are missing…” When Triss wakes up from a mysterious accident, she is somehow not herself–she feels an overwhelming hunger that is only satisfied by eating the oddest things, dead leaves appear in her room, on her pillow, and in her hair; her little sister Pen rejects her completely. Triss/Not-Triss must put together the pieces of what turns out to be a larger puzzle, one that encompasses a family’s grief, betrayal, loyalty, and love. Set in post-World War I Great Britain, Hardinge’s Cuckoo Song is a beautifully written, deliciously dark fantasy for fans of historical fiction, horror, fairy tales, or family stories. We think that’s everyone.

Anamaria Anderson, Books Together

Mars Evacueesby Sophia McDougall
HarperCollins
Nominated by: Stephanie Whelan

Blast off for Mars on this science fiction debut! In order to keep them safe from the ongoing human-alien warfare on Earth, Alice Dare and other kids from around the world are being shipped off to the red planet . But Mars is far from being a safe haven, and when all the adults vanish, Alice and her new friends set out to get help. Giant floating robot goldfish, unexpected alien encounters and a not-so friendly Martian landscape are just some of the challenges they will deal with along the way. This entertaining and smartly-written romp will make you want to buckle up and enjoy the ride!

Stephanie Whelan, Views From the Tesseract

The Dungeoneersby John David Anderson
Walden Pond Press
Nominated by: Matt

The Dungeoneers is a first-class adventure that reads like a role-playing game on the surface, while being booby-trapped with plot twists and laced with reflections on morality and loyalty. When Colm starts picking pockets to help his struggling family, they are horrified. But before he can be imprisoned, he’s rescued by a man impressed by his talents who whisks him off to study at legendary Tye Twodin’s School for Dungeoneers–professional treasure hunters and monster fighters. There Colm and his new teammates, the shy young mageling Quinn Frostfoot, tough-as-nails (unless she’s bleeding herself) barbarian-to-be Lena Proudfoot, and druid-in-training Serene (with her a pet spider named Mr. Tickletoes) have to master the skills of dungeoneering. Swordplay, spells and lock picking aren’t as challenging as navigating the social pitfalls of an extraordinary boarding school and figuring out who can be trusted…and that’s before the real adventuring begins!

Katy Kramp, alibrarymama

The Fog Diverby Joel Ross
HarperCollins
Nominated by: PLCarpenter

Set in a world where a deadly fog has taken over the planet, and people are forced to live in the skies, a quartet of ragtag orphans make a living off of what they can scavenge on Earth’s surface, even though it means sending their diver, Chess, down through the toxic mist while still tethered to their sky ship. Chess is in less danger than most, as he has a mysterious resistance to the effects of the fog, but the evil Lord Kodoc will stop at nothing to find out Chess’ secret.

When the four kids – Hazel (the daring captain), Swedish (the strong pilot), Bea (the cheery mechanic), and Chess (the secretive tetherboy) find out that the woman who raised them as family is dying from the Fog sickness, they decide to embark on an mission to save her life, and avoid the evil Lord Kodoc. Featuring air pirates, great characters, and a unique setting, The Fog Diver is a fantastic steampunk adventure with a sci-fi twist that will leave you wanting more.

Kristen Harvey, The Book Monsters

Wings of Fire Book Six: Moon Risingby Tui T. Sutherland
Scholastic Press
Nominated by: Angiegirl

The Wings of Fire series returns with new dragons and a brand new story arc! After years of war, the kingdoms of the dragons are at peace, and a school has been founded to gather together young dragons from all the different factions. One of these students is Moonwatcher, a young Nightwing who has the Nightwing powers of telepathy and prophecy, gifts that might help her and her new friends thwart the dangerous and deadly plots that threaten the fragile peace. These books, with their wide range of heroic young dragon characters,, are just full of kid appeal, and Moon Rising is one of the best of them. Strong messages of friendship, tolerance, and forgiveness are presented alongside adventures large and small in a way that will have readers clamoring for more.

Charlotte Taylor, Charlotte’s Library

 

Isn't that a great list!  In one way, this was an easy year, because we had really really really strong books from which to pick.  But that of course made it hard to pick just seven....

 

And now the books have moved on to the second round of panelists, who have to pick one book as the ulitimate winner (to be announced Feb. 14).  I do not know which one I would pick.  At the moment, I am leaning toward Moon Rising, simply because Dragons at Boarding School is pretty much my personal dream book..............

 

(personal note:  I'm tickled that this year a book nominated by my 12 year old (The Dungeoneers) made it to the list)

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!