This Sunday's round up of middle grade science fiction and fantasy postings from around the blogs

Here's what I found this week in my blog reading! Let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews:

The Adventures of Sir Gawain the True, by Gerald Morris, at Oops...Wrong Cookie

The Alchemyst, by Michael Scott, at A Strong Belief in Wicker

The Apothecary, by Maile Meloy, at Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog and At Home with Books

Bigger than a Breadbox, by Laurel Snyder, at 100 Scope Notes and DogEar

Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu, at Ex Libris and Reading in Color

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick, by Chris Van Allsburg, at Bookends

Circus Galacticus, by Deva Fagan, at The Intergalactic Academy and Book Aunt

Dr. Procter's Fart Powder, by Jo Nesbo, at Mister K Reads

The Eyeball Collector, by F.E. Higgins, at Karissa's Reading Review

The Flint Heart, by Katherine & John Paterson, at Geo Librarian, Moirae (the fates) book reviews, and Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Ghost Hunt, and Ghost Hunt II, by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, at Charlotte's Library

Goliath, by Scott Westerfeld, at Boys Rule Boys Read

Guys Read: Thriller, edited by Jon Scieszka, at Books Kids Like and Good Books and Good Wine

The King of Ithaka, by Tracy Barrett, at The Book Smugglers

Liesl and Po, by Lauren Oliver, at Sassyreads

The Magnificent 12: the Call, by Michael Grant, at Fiction Addict

The Midnight Zoo, by Sonya Hartnett, at Books Kids Like

Noah Zarc, by D. Robert Pease, at Susan Kaye Quinn (actually from the week before this one)

The Ogre of Oglefort, by Eva Ibbotson, at Charlotte's Library

The Princess Curse, by Merrie Haskell, at Madigan Reads

Princess of the Midnight Ball, by Jessica Day George, at Library Mama

Radiance, by Alyson Noel, at The Reading Chic

The Son of Neptune, by Rick Riordan, at The Elliott Review, The Book Zone (for boys) and Bookyurt

Trouble Twisters, by Garth Nix and Sean Williams, at Good Books and Good Wine

Tuesdays at the Castle, by Jessica Day George, at Book Aunt and Charlotte's Library

The Unwanteds, by Lisa McMann, at Reading Vacation

Wildwood, by Colin Meloy, at Just Booking Around

Authors and Interviews:

Edward Ormondroyd (David and the Phoenix, Time at the Top) in a two part interview at Noblemania (thanks to Oz and Ends for the heads up). On trying to write a sequel to David and the Phoenix:

"Well, the Phoenix was irrevocably gone, so I substituted a gnome-like figure, and he and David set out on a quest, carried by a flying suitcase...but of course without the old Phoenix it was as useless as Gone with the Wind without Scarlett O'Hara."

(here's what I said about the book, back in 2009)

A podcast interview with Delia Sherman (The Freedom Maze) at Small Beer Press.

Hilari Bell (The Goblin War) at The Enchanted Inkpot

Greg Fishbone (Galaxy Games) at Maranda Russell and Pembroke Sinclair

Simon Haynes (Hal Junior: the Secret Signal) at Susan Kaye Quinn

Kat Heckenbach (Finding Angel) at Magical Ink

Other Good Stuff

NPR has started a book club for kids--first up, The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman. From the site: "Click here to submit your thoughts and questions about The Graveyard Book. And be sure to listen to All Things Considered on Monday, Oct. 31. Gaiman will be on the program to chat about his book and answer some of your questions."

Lucy Mangan asks "What makes a classic?" over at the Guardian. Many fantasy books are mentioned.

At Great Kid Books there's a celebration of The Phantom Tollbooth. (Question: am I the only hard core aficionado of fantasy for kids who doesn't like this book? I didn't read it as a child; I've tried three times as an adult and it just isn't for me).

"What is Speculative Fiction" at the Accidental Novelist (a mg and ya perspective)

Catherine Fisher has been named Wales' first Young People's Laureate (the majority of her books tend to be more YA, like Incarceron, but some, like the Oracle Betrayed et seq., are good upper middle grade reads)

The shortlists for the Galaxy Book Awards (UK) have been announced, and on the children's list is A Monster Calls.

and finally, here's what travel in the future might look like--walking around on floating clouds while drifting randomly. I think I would get bored rather quickly, but the first 10 minutes would probably be lovely!