This Sunday's middle-grade fantasy and science fiction round-up

Hello, fellow readers of middle grade science fiction and fantasy! Here's this week's round-up of such reviews, interviews, and etcs. as I could find. Let me know if I missed you!

The Reviews:

Amulet, vols. 1-3, by Kazu Kibuishi, at The Hopeless Gamer.

A Crack in the Sky, by Mark Peter Hughes, at Voracious YAppetite.

Dark Life, by Kat Falls, at The Excelsior Files.

The Familiars, by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson, at YA Book Shelf.

Found, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, at This Purple Crayon.

Journey to Atlantis, by Philip Roy, at Lucy Was Robbed.

Monster Slayers, by Lukas Ritter, at Charlotte's Library.

No Such Thing as Dragons, by Philip Reeve, at Charlotte's Library.

Ondine, by Ebony McKenna, at Read in a Single Sitting.

Quest for Merlin's Map, by W.C. Peever, at Book Reader's Heaven (this looks mg to me, what with a 12 year old protagonist...)

Radiance, by Alyson Noel at Fantastic Book Review

Remembering Green, by Lesley Beake, at Charlotte's Library.

The Red Pyramid, by Rick Riordan, at Book Nut.

Scumble, by Ingrid Law, at Book Aunt.

The Shifter, by Janice Hardy, at Ex Libris.

The Smoky Corridor, by Chris Grabenstein, at Lesa's Book Critiques

Spaceheadz, by Jon Scieszka, at One Librarian's Book Reviews, and Green Bean Teen Queen

Thresholds, by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, at Book Aunt.

Wednesday Witch, by Ruth Chew, at Biblio File.

Interviews:

Riley Carney (The Reign of Elements series) at Cynsations.

Kristen Landon (The Limit) at Manga Maniac Cafe.

Kathryn Lasky (The Guardians of Ga’Hoole) at Clickthecity.

Fiona McIntosh (The Whisperer) at The Australian Literature Review (note--I'd never heard of The Whisperer, so I looked it up here--it's a magical circus book. Seems like circuses are a Big Thing right now in mg/YA sff....)

And even though Kathi Appelt's books are not exactly fantasy, but more magical realism (the term she herself uses) here's an interview with her at Bobbi Miller's blog.

Miscellaneous things of great interest:

The Enchanted Inkpot offers a fun back to school list for the fantasy protagonist.

Katherine Langrish shares her thoughts on realism and fairy tales, at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles.

Sometimes, in compiling these round-ups, I'll make judgement calls about what is and isn't middle grade, and about what is and isn't fantasy/science fiction/speculative fiction. If you disagree, please say so! In "The Pirate Code of Children's Literature," Stacy Whitman (Editorial Director, Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books) talks about how and why the middle grade/YA call is made. And middle grade and young adult author Hannah Moskowitz blogs about the same subject, with lots of references to fantasy, at her blog, Invincible Summer.

Speaking of Stacy-- she recently created Tu Books in order to publish multicultural science fiction and fantasy for kids and teens--excitingly, the first two books that Tu will publish have just been announced:

"Stacy Whitman at Lee & Low Books has acquired the first novels for the Tu Books imprint, which launches in fall 2011. The imprint will focus on multicultural MG/YA science fiction and fantasy. For the launch list, Whitman has acquired World rights to a YA paranormal thriller tentatively titled Wolf Mark by Joseph Bruchac, author of Codetalker and Skeleton Man. When Lucas King’s black-ops father is kidnapped and his best friend, Meena, put in danger, Lucas’s only chance to save them is hidden away in an abandoned, monster-guarded mansion. The deal was done by Barbara Kouts of the Barbara S. Kouts Agency.

Whitman has also bought world rights to Galaxy Games by Greg Fishbone, a MG science fiction trilogy about an incoming asteroid that turns out to be an alien spaceship, visiting Earth to recruit a team of kid athletes to compete in the upcoming Galaxy Games Tournament. The first book, tentatively titled Preliminaries, will be published as part of the Tu Books launch list in fall 2011."

To which I say: Cool!

Stephanie at Read in a Single Sitting let me know that she has compiled some great lists--Books to Read After Harry Potter, and Young Adult Books About Ancient Egypt and Egyptian Mythology.


other news: Book Blogger Appreciation Week begins tomorrow! There's still time (till Sept. 15) to send in your name for consideration as a judge for the Cybils Awards! There's still time to register for Kidlitcon 2010!