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5/16/10

This Year's Andre Norton winner, nestled into this Sunday's Round-up of Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction from around the blogs

Welcome to yet another week's worth of gleanings--the reviews, interviews, news, etc. pertaining to middle grade science fiction and fantasy that I have hunted down. Please let me know if I missed yours!

That being said, here's a piece of news that isn't middle grade at all: the Andre Norton Award (the Nebula for childrens/YA books) has gone to The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne M. Valente. This book has a most interesting history. It started life as a children's book mentioned in another of Valente's books, Palimpsest. Then Valente actually wrote it, posting it a chapter at a time, inviting readers to pay her what they thought it was worth. Feiwel and Friends picked it up, and it's scheduled to be published as a book next spring (unless they move its publication date forward, what with it having already won a major award!) But in the meantime, here it is on-line. (and here's the full list of the 2010 Nebula winners).

Now for the Middle Grade Reviews:

Alien Encounter, by Pamela Service, at Jean Little Library.
The first two Alison Dare books at Books and Other Thoughts (I missed this last week, but since others might share my curiosity about this series, which looks more than a little cool, here it is today...)
Artemis Fowl, by Eoin Colfer at Fantasy Literature.
Attack of the Fluffy Bunnies, by Andrea Beatty, at Jean Little Library.
The Billionaire's Curse, by Richard Newsome, at Book Aunt.
The Boneshaker, by Kate Milford, at Fantasy Literature.
Celia's Robot, by Margaret Chang, at The HappyNappyBookseller.
Dark Life, by Kat Falls, at The HappyNappyBookseller.
Dot Robot: Atomic Storm, by Jason Bradbury, at Nayu's Reading Corner.
Enchanted Glass, by Diana Wynne Jones, at Books and Other Thoughts
Foiled, by Jane Yolen, at Eva's Book Addiction.
The Forgotten Door, by Alexander Key, at Bellaonbook's Blog (a look back at an old favorite)
Hidden Boy, by Jon Berkeley, at Jean Little Library.
Little Sister, by Kara Dalkey, at Charlotte's Library.
Monster Slayers, by Lukas Ritter, at Star Shadow.
My Rotten Life (Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie Book 1), by David Lubar, at Zelda Del West.
Pyramid of Souls (Magic Keepers Book 2), by Erica Kirov, at Booking Mama.
The Red Pyramid, by Rick Riordan, at Becky's Book Reviews, Book Aunt, and My Reviews.
The Sixty-Eight Rooms, by Marianne Malone, at Semicolon.
Stuck on Earth, by David Klass, at Charlotte's Library (labeled YA, but great, I think, for a 12 year old boy....)
Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris, by R.L. LaFevers, at Bookshelves of Doom.
Timekeeper's Moon, by Joni Sensel, at One Librarian's Book Reviews.
Troll Fell, by Katherine Langrish, at Charlotte's Library.
The Wide Awake Princess, by E. D. Baker, at Jean Little Library.

Massimiliano Frezzato's Keepers of the Maser comic, at Tor.

And there's also a look at the Shadow Children Series, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, at The O.W.L.

Interviews:

An interview with Hilary Wagner, author of Nightshade City (coming in October) at Dreams Can be Reached.

An interview with Molly (a dog), who is one of the characters in Mary Cunningham's fantasy/mystery middle-grade novel, The Magician's Castle, at Pets and Their Authors.

And speaking of interviews, the Summer Blog Blast Tour kicks off tomorrow. The full schedule is here, and includes an interview with Kate Milford (The Boneshaker) tomorrow at Cashing Ray.

Other News:

Booklist Online has posted its 2010 Top 10 SF/Fantasy books for Youth ("2010" meaning the last 12 months...so Catching Fire, for instance, is there...)

Those of us unable to eat in a civilized fashioned at our dining room tables, because said tables are being used to store books, will welcome Mother Reader's 5th 48 Hour Reading Challenge! The weekend is June 4-6, the prizes awesome, the fun very fun.

Anything I missed?????? Let me know!

10 comments:

  1. The Valente thing is a TRIUMPH. Just a way to make a bit of cash whilst her partner was laid off, and suddenly not only is it picked up by F&F, it's AWARDED!

    Dancing going on in that household for sure.

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  2. I just added a bunch of SF reviews...catching up on my stacks!

    http://jeanlittlelibrary.blogspot.com/2010/05/hidden-boy-by-jon-berkeley.html

    http://jeanlittlelibrary.blogspot.com/2010/05/alien-encounter-by-pamela-service.html

    http://jeanlittlelibrary.blogspot.com/2010/05/attack-of-fluffy-bunnies-by-andrea.html

    and a look at some Muppet comics, if you consider those fantasy...

    http://jeanlittlelibrary.blogspot.com/2010/05/muppet-comics.html

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  3. Yeah, I'm awfully happy for Valente! And it's rather nice for F&F, too, although how strange to be publishing a book that's already gotten a major award...if I were them, I'd be pushing it up a few notches on the calender...

    And thanks for the additional links, Jennifer! Someday I will read the alien books...

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  4. YAY! I loved The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland and am so happy to see it getting some attention.

    I don't know if you link to this sort of thing, but I do a monthly book list--my latest has several MG SF/F: Witch's Business, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland, The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, and Olivia Kidney. It's here

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  5. In celebration of the 154th birthday of Lyman Frank Baum,
    Royal Historian of Oz and author of
    The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,
    The Royal Liaison to Princess Ozma is proud to present
    Volume 2 of the Royal Magician of Oz Trilogy: Shadow Demon of Oz.

    Authored by James C. Wallace II, who was proclaimed by Her Majesty and Royal Sovereign of Oz, Princess Ozma as the Royal Liaison, Shadow Demon of Oz is the continuing story of Jamie Diggs, great-grandson of the original Wizard of Oz and his journey to become the Royal Magician of Oz.

    http://magicianofoz.blogspot.com/

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  6. Hi Maureen,

    You are the only person I "know" who has actually read this! I'm looking forward to the real thing...

    I think your list is great, but it's not quite the right fit for my mental image of my round-ups....If you ever post any more stand alone reviews, though, do let me know!

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  7. Hello James,

    I will mention your book in my next new releases post.

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  8. Charlotte, I read Ch. 1 of Valente's e-book and loved it, but I'm kind of wanting to hold out for the actual book to read the rest... (There's some irony there, I realize!)

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  9. Wow, I don't know how you keep up with all this. How interesting that a book won the Andre Norton award that isn't published yet. How inspiring.

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  10. Yes, I thought it felt familiar, like reading a book I already loved, without feeling derivative. Which is an accomplishment!

    I do post stand-alones from time to time, so I'll keep that in mind.

    ReplyDelete