This Sunday's Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction round-up

Welcome to another week's worth of middle grade fantasy and science fiction reviews and etceteras from around the blogs (middle grade being 9-12, ish). Please let me know if I missed your post, or if you saw something really cool that I should add!

Abby Carnelia's One and Only Magical Power, by David Pogue (2010) at Book Aunt.

The Adventures of Benny, by Steve Shreve (2009) at Charlotte's Library.

Any Which Wall, by Laurel Snyder (2009), at Becky's Book Reviews.

Attack of the Fluffy Bunnies, by Andrea Beaty (2010), at Book Aunt

The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley, at Fantasy Literature (although the subtitle is "How YA fantasy is done" this is a wonderful book for 11 and 12 year olds too)

The Boneshaker, by Kate Milford, at Fuse #8.

Boom! by Mark Haddon (2010, original incarnation 1993) at Book Aunt.

Enchanted Glass, by Diana Wynne Jones (2010), at Eva's Book Addiction.

Flight of the Outcast, by Brad Strickland (2010), at Book Aunt.

Hellion, by Christopher Fowler (2010), at The Book Zone (for Boys) (one of those YA books that the review thinks would be appreciated by the upper middle grade set).

The Hidden Boy, by Jon Berkeley (2010) at Keep Reading to Your Child.

The Magic Thief, by Sarah Prineas (2008) at Writing at High Altitude.

Middleworld, by J. & P. Voelkel (2010), at Charlotte's Library.

Molly Withers and the Golden Tree, by Kent Allan Rees (2009), at Jules' Book Reviews.

The Ring of Five, by Eoin McNamee at Charlotte's Library.

Runemarks, by Joanne Harris (2008) at Robin McKinley's blog.

The Sixty-Eight Rooms, by Marianne Malone (2010), at Charlotte's Library.

Skellig, by David Almond, at The Zen Leaf.

The Storm in the Barn, by Matt Phelan (2009), at Biblio File and Yet Another Children's Book Blog.

When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead (2009) at Lucy was Robbed.

The Witchy Worries of Abby Adams, by Rhonda Hayter (2010) at In Bed with Books.

Wyrmeweald: Return's Wealth, by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell (2010) at Nayu's Reading Corner, and at Fantasy Book Review (and here's a post from the same site about its artwork)


For fans of Blackbringer, by Laini Taylor--the Story Sleuths chose it as their book to discuss in April, and here are the posts:

Post #1: Point of View in Blackbringer
Post #2: Word Choice & Language
Post #3: Suspense
Post #4: Midpoint
Post #5: Lending Fantasy a Semblance of Truth, an essay by Susan Fletcher

Interviews:

For fans of Eoin Colfer, here's a BBC video in which he talks about writing fantasy for children.

Rhonda Hayter, author of The Witchy Worries of Abby Adams, at In Bed with Books

Robin McKinley at Speculative Book Review.

Diane Zahler, author of The Thirteenth Princess, at Manga Maniac Cafe.

And at Suvudu, you can find books for your own reading list by reading about the 10 books that most influenced Christine Brodien-Jones, author of The Owl Keeper.

This has been Moomin Week at Tor! All who love the Moomins must visit the wide range of posts! And celebrate the re-release of the books by Macmillan! Coincidentally Moomin novice Lenore looks at Comet In Moominland today...

Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go, by Dale E. Basye (2008) is getting some attention in the blogs this week--it's going to be made into a movie by Juan Jose Campanella. The newest book in the series, Blimpo, comes out May 11.

The fifth book in the Sluggers series (magic meets baseball meets historical fiction) just came out--to celebrate, Boys Rule Boys Read! are having a review challenge to celebrate.

And yes, it's not middle grade, but still of great interest: the brackets for the YA Debut Battle of the Books are up here at the Shady Glade! I'm going to put my money on The Demon's Lexicon, but since I haven't read a lot of them, I could easily be missing the obvious favorite...

And finally, here are some lovely pictures of Will and Lyra's bench, and the garden it's in, at Once, Oh Marvellous Once.