This week's round-up of middle grade science fiction and fantasy fun

Big News First: The Golden Duck Awards, for excellence in science fiction for children, have been announced (thanks to Science Fiction Awards Watch for the news). The winners are:

• Picture Book Award: Swamps of Sleethe by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Jimmy Pickering (Knopf)
• Eleanor Cameron Middle Grades Award: ZRex by Steve Cole (Penguin)
• Hal Clement Young Adult Award: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
• Special Award: You Write It: Science Fiction by John Hamilton (Abdo)

This week's reviews:

The Book of Three and The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander, at Stella Matutina (here and here)

Boom, by Mark Haddon at The Excelsior File.

Don't Know Where, Don't Know When, by Annette Laing, at Lucy Was Robbed.

The Giver, by Lois Lowry, at Rhiannon Hart.

Into the Land of the Unicorns, by Bruce Coville, at The Book on the Hill

Karma Bites, by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas, at A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy

Magic Below Stairs, by Caroline Stevermer, at Bookends.

Nick of Time, by Ted Bell, at Maltby Reads!

The Shifter, by Janice Hardy, at Let the Words Flow.

A Tale Dark and Grimm, at Becky's Book Reviews.

Thresholds, by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, at Fantasy Literature.

Zombiekins, by Kevin Bolger, at Book Aunt.

The Zombie Chasers, by John Kloepfer at Book Aunt.

Jenny's Books hosted a week celebrating Diana Wynne Jones-- here is Part 1 of the links to reviews, and here is Part 2.

It was also Once Upon a Time Week at Today's Adventure, and here's the round-up of all the links from that fairy tale filled extravaganza.

I don't, generally, include picture books in these round-ups. But for this one, I make an exception--The Shadow, by Donna Diamond, at Book Aunt. I have made the picture big so that you can see for yourself why this isn't, necessarily, a book your want to give to little kids....

Interviews:
Grace Lin (Where the Mountain Meets the Moon) at Book Dragon

Jill Vanderwood (Through the Rug) at Celina Reiling

And a piece of fun news to end with:

The YA Fantasy Showdown begins tomorrow! But do not worry, fans of MG--many mg favorites are going up against the big kids (I myself had the very great pleasure of writing Hermione vs Chrestomanci). This event is the brain child of Heather at The Secret Adventures of Writer Girl, where you can read more about it.

If Chrestomanci wins his round, he's up against either Katnis or Edward. My money is on Katnis, but part of me hopes Edward wins....Chrestomanci vs Edward would be very amusing, and lots of fun to write.

(and as a postscript I just want to stick in a link to a mg review of my own of a book I loved that isn't fantasy, but which is beautifully fantastical-- Darius Bell and the Glitter Pool, by Odo Hirsch)

Please let me know if I missed your post!