The Last Lie, by Patricia Forde (August 1, 2020, Sourcebooks Young Readers), is the sequel to The List,* the story of the girl who's the keeper of words in a dystopian future society where language for the majority of the people living in the city of Ark is limited to 600 words. Letta loves words, and takes her job as keeper of them seriously. In the first book, she escapes Ark; now she lives with people who call themselves the rebel Creators, trying to keep culture alive.
When Letta learns that the leader of Ark wants to limit language even further, and when the soldiers of the city move against the rebels, capturing her friends, she is compelled to act to free her friends in particular, and her people more generally from a wordless subjugation to tyranny. She has her good friend Marlo on her society, and together they make a dangerous journey outside of their familiar world, finding dangers and allies. But the rebels are outnumbered, and in the end it's up to Letta to use her words to tip the balance in favor of freedom.
Letta's a great character, full of understandable doubt as to what she is able to accomplish. She doesn't see herself as a leader, and often her heart rules her head, causing her to make choices that are not always the safest. But she's able to step into the role required of her with great bravery, and she's always true to her personal commitment to keeping words from being lost.
It's a gradual build up to the excitement of the end, when introspection and journeying becomes direct action, so a bit of patience is needed. And it certainly is a book that will work much better for those who have read The List; lots of things won't really make sense otherwise.
The List was solidly a middle grade book; here Letta is preoccupied by her feelings for Marlo in a way that's pushing more YA-ward, making this a great pick for readers of 12 or so, moving from mg into YA. More generally, anyone who's interested in how controlling language can control people will be fascinated. That would be me, and my favorite part of this book was Letta's preoccupation with words--collecting them, taking comfort from them, and being determined to pass them on.
*The List was first published in Ireland as The Wordsmith, and The Last Lie was originally Mother Tongue.
disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher.
8/20/20
8/16/20
This week's round up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (8/16/20)
Here's what I found this week; do let me know if I missed your post!
The Reviews
Bone Hollow, by Kim Ventrella, at the Deakin Review of Children's Literature
Class Trip to the Cave of Doom (Dragon Slayers' Academy #3) by Kate McMullan, at Say What?
A Curse of Mayhem (Alyssa McCarthy’s Magical Missions #2), by Sunayna Prasad, at She Just Loves Books
The Daring of Della Dupree, by Natasha Lowe, at Charlotte's Library
A Game of Fox & Squirrels, by Jenn Reese, at A Kids Book a Day
The Girl and the Ghost, by Hanna Alkaf, at Books. Iced Lattes. Blessed.
The Girl Who Drank The Moon, by Kelly Barnhill, at Krisha's Cozy Corner
Ghostsitter: A Crazy Inheritance, by Tommy Krappweis, at Hidden in Pages (audiobook review)
The League of Secret Heros, books 1 and 2--Cape, and Mask, by Kate Hannigan, at alibrarymama
Midnight at the Barclay Hotel, by Fleur Bradley, at Charlotte's Library
The Nightmare Next Door, by Joel A. Sutherland, at Ms. Yingling Reads
Nightbooks, by J.A. White, at Never Not Reading
Paris On Repeat, by Amy Bearce, at Middle Grade Minded
Revenge of the Dragon Lady (Dragon Slayers' Academy #2) by Kate McMullan, at Say What?
Silverswift, by Natalie Lloyd, at Hidden In Pages (audiobook review) and Reading between the Dunes
The Squire’s Quest, by Gerald Morris, at Leaf's Reviews
Switched (Fairy Tale Reform School #4), by Jen Calonita, at Say What?
Tilly and the Lost Fairytales, by Anna James, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads
Time School: We Will Honour Them, by Nikki Young, at Book Craic
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, by Kwame Mbalia, at Young Adulting
The Words of the Wandering (The Crowns of Croswald #3), by D.E. Night, at Log Cabin Library
Three at Ms. Yingling Reads--A Pinch of Magic, by Michelle Harrison, Eva Evergreen: Semi Magical Witch. by Julie Abe, Kiki's Delivery Service, by Eiko Kadono, translated by Emily Balistrieri.
Authors and Interviews
Fleur Bradley (Midnight at the Barclay Hotel) at MG Book Village
Janet Fox (The Artifact Hunters) at Spooky Middle Grade
Other Good Stuff
The Cybils Awards season starts August 19! Anyone who reviews/talks about kids and YA books on line is welcome to apply to be a panelist; I'll share the link as soon as it's up. Here's a post from my archives if you're curious about what it entails--Five reasons to apply to be a Cybils Judge (with particular reference to middle grade spec fic)
Unexpected choices in this top mg fantasy books of 2020 list at Joel's Books
The 2020 Dragon Award Finalists have been announced; here are the YA/MG books:
- Finch Merlin and the Fount of Youth by Bella Forrest
- Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer
- The Grace Year by Kim Liggett
- Force Collector by Kevin Shinick
- The Poison Jungle by Tui T. Sutherland
- Cog by Greg van Eekhout
8/14/20
Midnight at the Barclay Hotel, by Fleur Bradley
I'm happy to be part of the blog tour today for Midnight at the Barclay Hotel, by Fleur Bradley, illustrated by Xavier Bonet (middle grade, Viking, August 25 2020). I'm always up for a good mysterious hotel story, and this one delivers very nicely!
JJ Jacobson is a young ghost hunter, but hasn't yet found any good ghosts to hunt. So when his mother gets a surprising invitation for a weekend at the famous, and supposedly haunted, Barclay Hotel. She's always awfully busy and preoccupied with her peanut butter and jelly business, but he convinces her to go, and to take him with her.
She isn't the only one to get a mysterious invitation; a handful of other guest have been carefully selected as well. And when they arrive, they find out why--all but one of them is a suspect in the death of the hotel's owner! And then the snow begins to fall, trapping them....with a murderer.
As well as hunting ghosts, JJ has to hunt for the answers to the mysteries in which his mom has been entangled. Fortunately there are two other kids at the hotel--Penny (grand-daughter of another guest) and Emma, who lives there. They join forces, exploring the hotel together, discovering the secrets of the other guests, and hunting for ghosts (because yes, the hotel is haunted!).
The hotel is a fascinating place, and the kids are entertaining company! They make a great team-- Penny (who is black) loves books, and puts that to good use, JJ loves his ghost hunting, and there's lots of detail about his technology. Emma knows the hotel, so she's their guide. There are plenty of twists, and nothing is quite as it seems, making the pages turn quickly. The solution wasn't what I was expecting at all (though I did guess a few things)!
For kids who like mysteries, ghosts, and weird hotels and playing Clue, this is a perfect book, especially for those on the younger side of middle grade (the 9 and 10 year olds). And it's lots of fun for everyone else too!
Here are all the other tour stops:
JJ Jacobson is a young ghost hunter, but hasn't yet found any good ghosts to hunt. So when his mother gets a surprising invitation for a weekend at the famous, and supposedly haunted, Barclay Hotel. She's always awfully busy and preoccupied with her peanut butter and jelly business, but he convinces her to go, and to take him with her.
She isn't the only one to get a mysterious invitation; a handful of other guest have been carefully selected as well. And when they arrive, they find out why--all but one of them is a suspect in the death of the hotel's owner! And then the snow begins to fall, trapping them....with a murderer.
As well as hunting ghosts, JJ has to hunt for the answers to the mysteries in which his mom has been entangled. Fortunately there are two other kids at the hotel--Penny (grand-daughter of another guest) and Emma, who lives there. They join forces, exploring the hotel together, discovering the secrets of the other guests, and hunting for ghosts (because yes, the hotel is haunted!).
The hotel is a fascinating place, and the kids are entertaining company! They make a great team-- Penny (who is black) loves books, and puts that to good use, JJ loves his ghost hunting, and there's lots of detail about his technology. Emma knows the hotel, so she's their guide. There are plenty of twists, and nothing is quite as it seems, making the pages turn quickly. The solution wasn't what I was expecting at all (though I did guess a few things)!
For kids who like mysteries, ghosts, and weird hotels and playing Clue, this is a perfect book, especially for those on the younger side of middle grade (the 9 and 10 year olds). And it's lots of fun for everyone else too!
Here are all the other tour stops:
Aug. 3rd: Book review at Always in the Middle
Aug. 11th: An interview at MG Bookvillage
Aug. 16th: Guest post: Fleur talks about reaching reluctant readers at Unleashing Readers
Aug. 17th: Review at Secret Files of Fairday Morrow blog
Aug. 18th: Review and giveaway at MG Mojo
Aug. 19th.: Interview and giveaway at From the Mixed-Up Files
Aug. 21st: Book review at Our Thoughts Precisely.
Aug. 23rd: Interview and giveaway at Spooky MG
Aug. 24th: Interview at YA Booknerd
Facebook Live Book Launch on Aug. 25th!
Aug. 25th: Writer's Digest Author Spotlight
Sept. 4th : Fleur talks about getting out of your comfort zone on Kirby Larson’s blog
Sept. 8th: Fleur outlines how to develop a compelling MG concept at Writer's Digest
disclaimer: review copy received, with great pleasure, from the author!
8/11/20
The Daring of Della Dupree, by Natasha Lowe, for Timeslip Tuesday
The Daring of Della Dupree (July 2020, Simon and Schuster) is Natasha Lowe's fourth story about a young girl studying witchcraft, and like her predecessors, Poppy, Mabel, and Cat, Della's journey toward understanding her magic has its rocky moments! (Though the books are connected, they all stand alone just fine).
Della is not the most outstanding student at Ruthersfield Academy even though she shares a name with its founder, the great witch Della Dupree. She loves looking after animals, which isn't on the curriculum, and having a baby duckling in one's pocket makes it hard to focus on history. When her class has to do presentations about the famous Della and her struggle to give girls the freedom to be magical back in the middle ages, when witches were persecuted, not-famous Della puts it off till the last minute. A desperate trip to the school library to consult an ancient book from the earliest days of the school turns out to be just the thing.
The book somehow compels her to borrow one of the school's time travelling talismans, and with the necklace fastened on, she sends herself back in time to the year the school was founded. When she arrives and stops to think, she plans to go home soon, but then she meets Mary, a little girl whose own magic is just beginning to bubble up and out of control, rendering her almost hysterical with fear. Witches are hated, and Mary doesn't want her life destroyed. While comforting Mary, a travelling entertainer happens by, and when he goes on his way Della finds to her horror her necklace has gone with him!
Now she's trapped in the past and, like Mary, she has lots to be afraid of. But all is not lost. An older witch, Bessie, is gathering witch girls around her; they visit her in secret to learn to handle their magic. Bessie's teachings and unfettered magic are a far cry from the staid and controlled magic of Della's school, fiercer and boarding on the unethical. But she can't travel through time.
To find the jester, Della finds work at the local castle. Magic is a habit for her, so the food becomes more potable, the smells less horrid, and the rooms cleaner. The necklace, however, is nowhere to be found. And then she and the other girls are betrayed and their nightmare comes true when they are imprisoned in the castle. Della has to do some quick thinking and clever magic to get them out, and even more of both when she sees a way to not only make peace between the lord and his banished brother, but to open the hearts of the locals to magic, and the witches who wield it (lasagna is involved, and lots of boot mending. Della is very good a practical magic....)
Like its companions, Della's book is a warm and friendly adventure. Kindness and courage are central to her success and there are plenty of fun magical moments. There's plenty of tension too--ranging from not meeting the expectations of parents and school, to dealing with prejudice and possible death. This later part of the book, the backbone of the plot, makes it more than just fun magical romps, and it's good to see Della come back home to her own time a stronger, better person as a result of her experiences (because magical time travel should change a person, or it's pointless). But the joy of the magic makes even the tensest moments sparkle!
It's pretty good time travel too--there's not any effort to provide any real world historical context (it's generic medievally times), so there's a lot of the culture that's missing, but on the other hand, nothing that's there (food, clothes, livelihoods, prejudice against witches etc.), was jarring, and the sensory detail made it all seem vividly real. (I liked that when Della returned to her own time in the end, the sensory details of her experience, as it were, came with her...which is to say, she badly needed a bath). On the time travel difficulty scale, this is a fairly easy one--language problems seem to be taken care of by the magic, and (as long as you have your wand ready) clothes and food can be sorted out easily.
Della's adventure is one that I would give in a heartbeat to a nine or ten year old whose devoured all the books about care of magical animals, and needs something new to read. Magical animals don't actually play a role in the plot (Della would probably have liked more!), but Della's baby duck will make her immediately sympathetic to these readers, and then they'll be off and running. More generally, it's a really good series for kids who aren't ready for the upper middle grade sort of books, with violence and hints of romance and more darkness.
Short answer, if the cover is judged cute and appealing, the book will be enjoyed. (I am a sample size of 1 in this regard, so it is probably true!).
disclaimer: review copy very gratefully received from the author
Della is not the most outstanding student at Ruthersfield Academy even though she shares a name with its founder, the great witch Della Dupree. She loves looking after animals, which isn't on the curriculum, and having a baby duckling in one's pocket makes it hard to focus on history. When her class has to do presentations about the famous Della and her struggle to give girls the freedom to be magical back in the middle ages, when witches were persecuted, not-famous Della puts it off till the last minute. A desperate trip to the school library to consult an ancient book from the earliest days of the school turns out to be just the thing.
The book somehow compels her to borrow one of the school's time travelling talismans, and with the necklace fastened on, she sends herself back in time to the year the school was founded. When she arrives and stops to think, she plans to go home soon, but then she meets Mary, a little girl whose own magic is just beginning to bubble up and out of control, rendering her almost hysterical with fear. Witches are hated, and Mary doesn't want her life destroyed. While comforting Mary, a travelling entertainer happens by, and when he goes on his way Della finds to her horror her necklace has gone with him!
Now she's trapped in the past and, like Mary, she has lots to be afraid of. But all is not lost. An older witch, Bessie, is gathering witch girls around her; they visit her in secret to learn to handle their magic. Bessie's teachings and unfettered magic are a far cry from the staid and controlled magic of Della's school, fiercer and boarding on the unethical. But she can't travel through time.
To find the jester, Della finds work at the local castle. Magic is a habit for her, so the food becomes more potable, the smells less horrid, and the rooms cleaner. The necklace, however, is nowhere to be found. And then she and the other girls are betrayed and their nightmare comes true when they are imprisoned in the castle. Della has to do some quick thinking and clever magic to get them out, and even more of both when she sees a way to not only make peace between the lord and his banished brother, but to open the hearts of the locals to magic, and the witches who wield it (lasagna is involved, and lots of boot mending. Della is very good a practical magic....)
Like its companions, Della's book is a warm and friendly adventure. Kindness and courage are central to her success and there are plenty of fun magical moments. There's plenty of tension too--ranging from not meeting the expectations of parents and school, to dealing with prejudice and possible death. This later part of the book, the backbone of the plot, makes it more than just fun magical romps, and it's good to see Della come back home to her own time a stronger, better person as a result of her experiences (because magical time travel should change a person, or it's pointless). But the joy of the magic makes even the tensest moments sparkle!
It's pretty good time travel too--there's not any effort to provide any real world historical context (it's generic medievally times), so there's a lot of the culture that's missing, but on the other hand, nothing that's there (food, clothes, livelihoods, prejudice against witches etc.), was jarring, and the sensory detail made it all seem vividly real. (I liked that when Della returned to her own time in the end, the sensory details of her experience, as it were, came with her...which is to say, she badly needed a bath). On the time travel difficulty scale, this is a fairly easy one--language problems seem to be taken care of by the magic, and (as long as you have your wand ready) clothes and food can be sorted out easily.
Della's adventure is one that I would give in a heartbeat to a nine or ten year old whose devoured all the books about care of magical animals, and needs something new to read. Magical animals don't actually play a role in the plot (Della would probably have liked more!), but Della's baby duck will make her immediately sympathetic to these readers, and then they'll be off and running. More generally, it's a really good series for kids who aren't ready for the upper middle grade sort of books, with violence and hints of romance and more darkness.
Short answer, if the cover is judged cute and appealing, the book will be enjoyed. (I am a sample size of 1 in this regard, so it is probably true!).
disclaimer: review copy very gratefully received from the author
8/9/20
This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (8/9/20)
Welcome to this week's round-up of mg sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs! Please let me know if I missed your post.
The Reviews
The Blue Witch by Alane Adams, illustrated by Jonathan Stroh , at Log Cabin Library
Cattywampus, by Ash Van Otterloo, at Ms. Yingling Reads
Dream Team (books 1 and 2), by Tom Percival, at bookloverjo
Dream Team-A Case of Jitters, by Tom Percival, at Library Girl and Book Boy
Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical Witch, by Julie Abe, at The Quiet Pond
The Forest of Stars, by Heather Kassner, at Books. Iced Lattes. Blessed.
Heart of the Moors, by Holly Black, at Charlotte's Library
Just South of Home, by Karen Strong, at alibrarymama
Kiki MacAdoo and the Graveyard Ballerinas, by Colette Sewall, at Books. Iced Lattes. Blessed. and A Garden of Books
The Last Lie, by Patricia Forde, at Cracking the Cover
Midnight at the Barclay Hotel, by Fleur Bradley, at Always in the Middle
Moonchild: Voyage of the Lost and Found, by Aisha Bushby, illustrated by Rachael Dean, at bookloverjo
My Headteacher is an Evil Genius, by Jack Noel, at A Little But a Lot
Ogre Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, at Woodpecker Books
Over the Moon, by Natalie Lloyd, at Completely Full Bookshelf
Paola Santiago and the River of Tears (Paola Santiago #1),by Tehlor Kay Mejia, at The Bookwyrm's Den
The Problem Child, by Michael Buckley (Sisters Grimm #3), at Say What?
Race to the Sun, by Rebecca Roanhorse, at Locus
Return to Roar, by Jenny McLachlan, illustrated by Ben Mantle. at Library Girl and Book Boy
Ronan Boyle and the Swamp of Certain Death (Ronan Boyle, #2), by Thomas Lennon, at YA Books Central
Two by Heather Kassner at Scarlet Readz and Runz-The Forest of Stars and The Bone Garden
Authors and Interviews
Aisha Bushby (Moonchild – Voyage of the Lost and Found) at A little but a lot and Library Girl and Book Boy (both with reviews)
Julie Abe (Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical Witch) at WNDB
Lorelei Savaryn (The Circus of Stolen Dreams), at MG Book Village
Fran Wilde (The Ship of Stolen Words) at MG Book Village
Other Good Stuff
New in Ireland this September, at Book Craic
8/8/20
Heart of the Moors, by Holly Black, a Disney Maleficent novel
Heart of the Moors, by Holly Black (middle grade, October, 2029, Disney), lay far to long in my house unread, through no fault of its own. I wanted to read it, and was very happy to win it in a giveway a while back, but it just didn't happen until this weekend. And it made for good weekend reading!
This book takes place in between the two Maleficent movies, and if you haven't seen them, but only the original animated Sleeping Beauty movie, it will be a bit jarring. Aurora is now queen of both the human and the fey lands of the Moors, determined to stablish peace between the two. Maleficent is still fiercely protective of her, and Prince Philip is still at court, falling more in love with Aurora every day. Also at court are power-hungrey, greedy men who want to use Aurora for their own ends, and it's they, not Maleficent, who are the unscrupulous bad guys (although Maleficent' s scruples aren't really the strongest, she's on the good side here).
Aurora is new to all the business of running a kingdom, and her leadership skills lag a bit behind her goodness of heart. She's also new to falling in love, and is terrified when she realizes that's what's happening to her. It's the same sort of terror she feels before falling asleep, one of the traumas of the past--true love when horribly wrong for Maleficent.
But Aurora, with help from both humans and the Fair Folk, is able to chart a course to a happier future for both her two kingdoms, and herself.
This is a book for 9-12 year olds, so though there is romance, with a thoughtful questioning of what true love is, and though there is violence, there's nothing I saw that I'd flag as inappropriate for young readers. What I think this book really is good for is to be a gateway into YA fantasy, which is full to the gills with books about young women (and some young men) become rulers without being ready for the job. So a great one for tweens!
I enjoyed it but not remarkably so, as my mind has already been trained to a higher level of court intrigue in my fantasy reading. I did enjoy the tension of Maleficent's character, and appreciated the friendship that's the basis for the romance; for one thing, Philip's aware that he couldn't have given the kiss of true love to Aurora because of not knowing her.
I think fans of the movies will enjoy the book more than me; I haven't seen them. (I also think that if I hadn't been distracted by my brain pushing forward the moors in the Wayward Children series every time I read "the Moors" the reading experience would have been smoother....probably the same thing would happen to me if I re-read Wuthering Heights, which might actually be reason to do so--that whole tortured story taking place in McGuire's world would be much more interesting...)
This book takes place in between the two Maleficent movies, and if you haven't seen them, but only the original animated Sleeping Beauty movie, it will be a bit jarring. Aurora is now queen of both the human and the fey lands of the Moors, determined to stablish peace between the two. Maleficent is still fiercely protective of her, and Prince Philip is still at court, falling more in love with Aurora every day. Also at court are power-hungrey, greedy men who want to use Aurora for their own ends, and it's they, not Maleficent, who are the unscrupulous bad guys (although Maleficent' s scruples aren't really the strongest, she's on the good side here).
Aurora is new to all the business of running a kingdom, and her leadership skills lag a bit behind her goodness of heart. She's also new to falling in love, and is terrified when she realizes that's what's happening to her. It's the same sort of terror she feels before falling asleep, one of the traumas of the past--true love when horribly wrong for Maleficent.
But Aurora, with help from both humans and the Fair Folk, is able to chart a course to a happier future for both her two kingdoms, and herself.
This is a book for 9-12 year olds, so though there is romance, with a thoughtful questioning of what true love is, and though there is violence, there's nothing I saw that I'd flag as inappropriate for young readers. What I think this book really is good for is to be a gateway into YA fantasy, which is full to the gills with books about young women (and some young men) become rulers without being ready for the job. So a great one for tweens!
I enjoyed it but not remarkably so, as my mind has already been trained to a higher level of court intrigue in my fantasy reading. I did enjoy the tension of Maleficent's character, and appreciated the friendship that's the basis for the romance; for one thing, Philip's aware that he couldn't have given the kiss of true love to Aurora because of not knowing her.
I think fans of the movies will enjoy the book more than me; I haven't seen them. (I also think that if I hadn't been distracted by my brain pushing forward the moors in the Wayward Children series every time I read "the Moors" the reading experience would have been smoother....probably the same thing would happen to me if I re-read Wuthering Heights, which might actually be reason to do so--that whole tortured story taking place in McGuire's world would be much more interesting...)
8/5/20
Consolation Songs: Optimistic Speculative Fiction For A Time of Pandemic, edited by Iona Datt Sharma, for a baby shower gift
Consolation Songs: Optimistic Speculative Fiction For A Time of Pandemic, edited by Iona Datt Sharma (June 29, 2020), is an anthology of, as the title suggests, stories that hopeful reading. All proceeds are donated to the COVID-19 appeal being run by the UCLH Charity, the charity supporting the University College London Hospitals NHS Trust.
A co-worker is having a baby, and so we all bought baby shower gifts, to be opened in a zoom meeting next week. When I was having baby showers, it was lovely to get all the baby stuff, but no one gave Me anything, and since this co-worker enjoys reading spec. fic., I thought a nice new book would be a lovely thing to give, along with something for the actual baby. I had heard about Consolation Songs from Stephanie Burgis, who has a story in the anthology, and as well as supporting a good cause, I was thinking comforting spec fic stories are just the thing one wants to read with a new born.
I read the book first, of course, to make sure it really was suitable, but very very carefully and then let it sit after wrapping it give any germs a chance to die. I did, however, run into a problem. I liked the stories very very much (a nice mix of funny, moving, and comforting), and wanted to keep the book for myself! It is basically perfect pandemic reading, whether or not you have new born.
This is not to say that the stories are all sweetness and light; there's some darkness and underlying sadness and anger too. But they all have hope. Some I wanted to hug, like Seaview on Mars, by Katie Rathfelder, a story of a woman moving into a retirement community on Mars; being an old woman, who lived through years when the planet was barely habitable, she has been through a lot, and some bits of her memories made me teary. Some stories made me grin, like Stephanie Burgis' light romantic comedy, Love, Your Flatmate, about two room-mates, stuck with each other in lockdown, one woman a human editor and the other a fey musician, who find a very mutually satisfying (romantic) solution to their conflict...It's an epistolatory story, which made it even more fun. And then there are some that are testaments to the indominable human spirit, like This Is New Gehesran Calling, by Rebecca Fraimow, in which scattered refugees from a place that no longer exists find that it is still alive as long as they are still there to collectively remember, thanks to an underground radio station. It made me chuckle, and made me a bit teary.
There are other great stories, but these three are my favorites! I would so much rather have had this on hand to read when I was home with my own newborns--with my oldest, the first book I tried to read was The Hero, by Louise Le Nay. It was supposed to be "a charming, poignant, and optimistic tale of an adolescent girl's journey of discovery set during World War I" but I found it horribly depressing, and it had very small type. In my depressed desperation for soothing escape and inability to read small type (one of the fun things about that experience was having brain surgery two weeks after he was born, which fucked up my eyesight) I put it aside and pitifully reread the Xanth books, which goes to show how bad things were (there's a lot I don't find soothing about them when I'm in my right mind). With my second baby, and type size no longer a problem, I read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which had just come out, and we all know how cheerful that is, not.
So in any event, I would much rather have had Consolation Songs. And I would still rather have it than have given it away, but then I would have had to find some other present....and nothing else would have been as exactly the sort of book I wanted to give! I hope she likes it.
A co-worker is having a baby, and so we all bought baby shower gifts, to be opened in a zoom meeting next week. When I was having baby showers, it was lovely to get all the baby stuff, but no one gave Me anything, and since this co-worker enjoys reading spec. fic., I thought a nice new book would be a lovely thing to give, along with something for the actual baby. I had heard about Consolation Songs from Stephanie Burgis, who has a story in the anthology, and as well as supporting a good cause, I was thinking comforting spec fic stories are just the thing one wants to read with a new born.
I read the book first, of course, to make sure it really was suitable, but very very carefully and then let it sit after wrapping it give any germs a chance to die. I did, however, run into a problem. I liked the stories very very much (a nice mix of funny, moving, and comforting), and wanted to keep the book for myself! It is basically perfect pandemic reading, whether or not you have new born.
This is not to say that the stories are all sweetness and light; there's some darkness and underlying sadness and anger too. But they all have hope. Some I wanted to hug, like Seaview on Mars, by Katie Rathfelder, a story of a woman moving into a retirement community on Mars; being an old woman, who lived through years when the planet was barely habitable, she has been through a lot, and some bits of her memories made me teary. Some stories made me grin, like Stephanie Burgis' light romantic comedy, Love, Your Flatmate, about two room-mates, stuck with each other in lockdown, one woman a human editor and the other a fey musician, who find a very mutually satisfying (romantic) solution to their conflict...It's an epistolatory story, which made it even more fun. And then there are some that are testaments to the indominable human spirit, like This Is New Gehesran Calling, by Rebecca Fraimow, in which scattered refugees from a place that no longer exists find that it is still alive as long as they are still there to collectively remember, thanks to an underground radio station. It made me chuckle, and made me a bit teary.
There are other great stories, but these three are my favorites! I would so much rather have had this on hand to read when I was home with my own newborns--with my oldest, the first book I tried to read was The Hero, by Louise Le Nay. It was supposed to be "a charming, poignant, and optimistic tale of an adolescent girl's journey of discovery set during World War I" but I found it horribly depressing, and it had very small type. In my depressed desperation for soothing escape and inability to read small type (one of the fun things about that experience was having brain surgery two weeks after he was born, which fucked up my eyesight) I put it aside and pitifully reread the Xanth books, which goes to show how bad things were (there's a lot I don't find soothing about them when I'm in my right mind). With my second baby, and type size no longer a problem, I read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which had just come out, and we all know how cheerful that is, not.
So in any event, I would much rather have had Consolation Songs. And I would still rather have it than have given it away, but then I would have had to find some other present....and nothing else would have been as exactly the sort of book I wanted to give! I hope she likes it.
8/2/20
This week's middle grade sci fi/fantasy round-up (8/2/20)
Only five months left of 2020! I'm starting to work on my 2021 bingo card (I predicted nothing correctly for 2020). I'm thinking rabid badgers (because why hasn't this ever happened before?), the sun going supernova, the strange seeds from China devastating our crops, and other excitements. But also there will always be great mg sci-fi and fantasy books to provide a pleasant escape!
In any event, here's what I found in my blog reading this week (please let me know if I missed your post!)
The Reviews
City of the Plague God, by Sarwat Chadda, at proseandkahn
Curious Magic, by Elisabeth Beresford, at Charlotte's Library
Curse of the Night Witch, by Alex Aster, at Charlotte's Library
The Time of Green Magic, by Hilary McKay, at Cracking the Cover
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, by Kwame Mbalia, at Zezee with Books
Vlad the Worst Vampire, and its sequel, Fang-tastic Friends, by Anna Wilson, illustrations by Kathryn Durst, at Log Cabin Library
In any event, here's what I found in my blog reading this week (please let me know if I missed your post!)
The Reviews
City of the Plague God, by Sarwat Chadda, at proseandkahn
Curious Magic, by Elisabeth Beresford, at Charlotte's Library
Esme's Gift (Esme Series Book 2) by Elizabeth Foster, at Pages for Thoughts
Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical Witch, by Julie Abe, at Lucy's Kids Blog
The Girl and the Ghost, by Hanna Alkaf, at Utopia State of Mind
The Jumbies, by Tracey Baptiste, at Read to Ramble
Maňanaland, by Pam Muňoz Ryan, at Of Maria Antonia
The Mostly Invisible Boy, by A.J. Vanderhorst, at Book Craic
The Quest of the Fair Unknown, by Gerald Morris, at Leaf's Reviews
Quintessence, by Jess Redman, at Ms. Yingling Reads, Books. Iced Lattes. Blessed., and Nerdophiles
The Rider’s Reign (Rose Legacy #3) by Jessica Day George, at Pamela Kramer
The Rider’s Reign (Rose Legacy #3) by Jessica Day George, at Pamela Kramer
School for Nobodies, by Susie Bower, at Arkham Reviews
Sky Pirates: Echo Quickthorn and the Great Beyond, by Alex English, at A Dance With Books
A Tale of Magic by Chris Colfer, at Woodpecker Books
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, by Kwame Mbalia, at Zezee with Books
Vlad the Worst Vampire, and its sequel, Fang-tastic Friends, by Anna Wilson, illustrations by Kathryn Durst, at Log Cabin Library
Three at The Bookwyrm's Den--The Jumbies, by Tracey Baptiste, The Mulberry Tree, by Allison Rushby, and Raiders of the Lost Archives, by Michael Dahl and Patricio Clarey
Authors and Interviews
Beth McMullen (,Lola Benko, Treasure Hunter) at From the Mixed-up Files
Catherine Fisher (The Midnight Swan) at Firefly Press (YouTube)
Allen Brokken (Towers of Light series) at K.A. Cummins
Authors and Interviews
Beth McMullen (,Lola Benko, Treasure Hunter) at From the Mixed-up Files
Catherine Fisher (The Midnight Swan) at Firefly Press (YouTube)
Allen Brokken (Towers of Light series) at K.A. Cummins
Other Good Stuff
at Tor--"Ron Howard Says Scripts for the Willow Sequel Series Are “Going Great”
Strong Fairy Tale Heroines #23: CAP O’ RUSHES at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles
Strong Fairy Tale Heroines #23: CAP O’ RUSHES at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles
8/1/20
Curse of the Night Witch, by Alex Aster
Curse of the Night Witch (Emblem Island #1), by Alex Aster (Sourcebooks, June 2020), is a single-sitting, very satisfying middle grade (9-12 year olds) fantasy, with the only unsatisfying part being that the second book isn't available right now.
Everyone (or almost everyone) born on Emblem Island has a mark that shows their particular gift, and a lifeline that magically shows the highs and lows to come, and how long that life will be. Twelve-year old Tor isn't happy with his long, boring life line, that promises no excitement, and downright hates his leadership emblem. He doesn't want to be leader, and doesn't want to spend his days studying the dry texts of leadership education. He desperately wishes he had an emblem for water breathing isntead--underwater is where he is happiest.
At the annual New Years celebration, all the islanders throw wishes into the bonfire, and some are granted. Tor's wish is one of those. The next morning he wakes up with his leadership emblem gone...but now there's a curse symbol in its place, and his life line is shortened almost to nothing. Then his best friend Engle, and his not-friend, Melda (the only other leadership marked kid in his village), get contaminated by the curse. Now they too have only a few weeks to live.
The only way to rid themselves of the curse is to find the legendary Night Witch, who haunts the island's stories, gathered together in the Book of Cuentos that the kids take with them. Those stories are their guides to the fearsome dangers of magical creatures and treacherous terrain outside their home village. The island is bigger and more wonderful and horrible than they had dreamt, but they keep going, and learn to trust each other, and the stories. (And they get home safely in the end, with the immediate problem solved, but new dangers and challenges looming--I can't wait for the next book!).
All the things that make middle grade fantasy adventure so much fun to read can be found here. There's wildly extravagant world-building that somehow managed never to tip me out of the story in disbelief, solid friendship between the kids (including the antagonist to friends relationship of Tor and Melda), bravery (bolstered by lots of help from grown-ups along the way, which I appreciated), thought-provoking considerations of destiny, and a much more nuanced final confrontation than I'd been expecting! The stories in the Book of Cuentos are rooted in tales told to Alex Aster by her Columbian grandmother, which makes the book even more appealing.
Personally, something that made this interesting to me is that it's not a portal fantasy, but a fantasy quest carried out by insiders to the magic of their own world. I think this helped make it feel tight and contained, and helped keep the pacing brisk.
I'd recommend it to fans of the Morrigan Crow series--totally different setting, but a similar playful feel to the magical setting (although possible I'm thinking about Morrigan because she was "cursed" too...but I think it's a good recommendation nevertheless). It also felt like one for anyone who enjoyed Lalani of the Distant Sea, and basically one for anyone who likes magical monsters and kids with magical gifts!
short answer-- a really strong series start that I enjoyed lots.
Everyone (or almost everyone) born on Emblem Island has a mark that shows their particular gift, and a lifeline that magically shows the highs and lows to come, and how long that life will be. Twelve-year old Tor isn't happy with his long, boring life line, that promises no excitement, and downright hates his leadership emblem. He doesn't want to be leader, and doesn't want to spend his days studying the dry texts of leadership education. He desperately wishes he had an emblem for water breathing isntead--underwater is where he is happiest.
At the annual New Years celebration, all the islanders throw wishes into the bonfire, and some are granted. Tor's wish is one of those. The next morning he wakes up with his leadership emblem gone...but now there's a curse symbol in its place, and his life line is shortened almost to nothing. Then his best friend Engle, and his not-friend, Melda (the only other leadership marked kid in his village), get contaminated by the curse. Now they too have only a few weeks to live.
The only way to rid themselves of the curse is to find the legendary Night Witch, who haunts the island's stories, gathered together in the Book of Cuentos that the kids take with them. Those stories are their guides to the fearsome dangers of magical creatures and treacherous terrain outside their home village. The island is bigger and more wonderful and horrible than they had dreamt, but they keep going, and learn to trust each other, and the stories. (And they get home safely in the end, with the immediate problem solved, but new dangers and challenges looming--I can't wait for the next book!).
All the things that make middle grade fantasy adventure so much fun to read can be found here. There's wildly extravagant world-building that somehow managed never to tip me out of the story in disbelief, solid friendship between the kids (including the antagonist to friends relationship of Tor and Melda), bravery (bolstered by lots of help from grown-ups along the way, which I appreciated), thought-provoking considerations of destiny, and a much more nuanced final confrontation than I'd been expecting! The stories in the Book of Cuentos are rooted in tales told to Alex Aster by her Columbian grandmother, which makes the book even more appealing.
Personally, something that made this interesting to me is that it's not a portal fantasy, but a fantasy quest carried out by insiders to the magic of their own world. I think this helped make it feel tight and contained, and helped keep the pacing brisk.
I'd recommend it to fans of the Morrigan Crow series--totally different setting, but a similar playful feel to the magical setting (although possible I'm thinking about Morrigan because she was "cursed" too...but I think it's a good recommendation nevertheless). It also felt like one for anyone who enjoyed Lalani of the Distant Sea, and basically one for anyone who likes magical monsters and kids with magical gifts!
short answer-- a really strong series start that I enjoyed lots.
7/28/20
Curious Magic, by Elisabeth Beresford, for Timeslip Tuesday
Curious Magic, by Elisabeth Beresford (1980), sounded so very good. Who would not want to read about a boy, Andy, going off for a holiday to a remote British island, to stay in an ancient fort, a boy with a broken leg who finds himself in the role of the Wounded Knight who must free the island from a magical enchantment, and who has time travel adventures in the process of so doing?
On the plus side, I liked the time travel elements, back through the past of the place, very much; one character kept reappearing in various guises, first as a kindly Roman centurion, and then in similar roles of guardian and caretaker of the place. One the downside, there's no plot connection between all the other things that are happening and the time travel; a symbolic, history of place connection, but that's it. I am not at all sure why it was even happening, except that the author wanted to write it.
The actual plot is just too much for me. Angry sea king vs. white witch, with merboy trying to give up the sea to live on land who must be hidden from the sea king and the witch's niece with growing magic of her own roping Andy into trying to break the sea king's imprisoning spell on the island? All in 144 pages. This is not what I wanted.
I have nothing against the writing, and it was all very vivid and magical. I have nothing against the two main characters, Andy and Ella the Witch's niece. They were just as plucky and adventurous as you would expect them to be. And I like the Roman centurian very much. That wasn't enough though.
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