3/4/12

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs

Welcome to another round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction posts from around the blogs! Every week I scour the web for posts, and this is what I found this time around.

Annother good round-up is Shannon Messenger's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday feature, where Shannon cheerleads an enthusiastic cabal of active contributors. I feel rather wistful that I haven't been able to generate the same excitement for my round-ups; out of all the links below, only one was sent directly too me, and because I look for posts written on any day of the week, I don't expect people to mention these round-ups when they review mf sff.

So anyway, feel free to send me links! You can even send me links to posts you didn't write! Authors--you are welcome to send me reviews your book has gotten from the past week! (I do, however, always reserve the right not to include reviews that are too brief or insubstantial to seem worth linking too, or which don't seem a good fit to me). My email address is charlotteslibrary at gmail dot com.

Feel free to review more new releases of mg sff! There are lots of books that get almost no blog coverage at all--I had time on my hands this morning, and looked for reviews of recent releases, and came up virtually empty.

Mentions of these round-ups are also appreciated--thanks all of you who've done so in the past!

The Reviews:

The 13th Horseman, by Barry Hutchison, at Mr. Ripleys Enchanted Books

Above World, by Jenn Reese, at Tripping Over Books

The Apothacary, by Maile Meloy, at books4yourkids

Ash Mistry and the Savage Fortress, by Sarwat Chadda, at The Book Zone

The Aviary, by Kathleen O'Dell, at books4yourkids

Bad Island, by Doug TenNapel, at Finding Wonderland

Benjamin Franklinstein Lives! by Matthew McElligott and Larry Tuxbury, at Charlotte's Library

The Cabinet of Earths, by Anne Nesbit, at Karissa's Reading Review

The Cheshire Cheese Cat, by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright, at Reads for Keeps

The Demon's Watch, by Conrad Mason, at Babbleabout (also an interview)

Enchantress from the Stars, by Sylvia Louise Engdahl (audio book review), at Sonderbooks

Entwinned, by Heather Dixon, at Jenny's Books

The Freedom Maze, by Delia Sherman, at The Book Smugglers

Henrietta Sharp and the Magic Lunchbox, by Jan Welborn-Nichols, at The Children's Book Review

The Humming Room, by Ellen Potter, at The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia, The Hollow Cupboards, and The Book Cellar

Kat, Incorrigible, by Stephanie Burgis, at Book Nut

The Lost Conspiracy, by Frances Hardinge, at Parenthetical

Peaceweaver, by Rebecca Barnhouse, at Karissa's Reading Review

Princess of the Wild Swans, by Diane Zahler, at Charlotte's Library

The Ogre of Oglefort, by Eva Ibbotson, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Scary School, by Derek the Ghost, at Charlotte's Library

The Secret World of Arriety, Vol. 1 (Film Comic) by Studio Ghibliat Back to Books

The Star Shard, by Frederick S. Durbin, at Crowding the Book Truck

The Sunbird, by Elizabeth Wein, at The Book Smugglers

Treasure of Green Knowe, by L.M. Boston, at Strange and Random Happenstance

Tuesdays at the Castle, by Jessica Day George, at One Librarian's Book Reviews

Under the Mountain, by Maurice Gee, at A Strong Belief in Wicker

When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, at things mean a lot and No Twiddle Twaddle

The Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, at Read in a Single Sitting

Wonder Show, by Hannah Barnaby, at The Alternative


Authors and Interviews and Editors and Illustrators

Ellen Potter (The Humming Room) at Kid Lit Frenzy

Merrie Haskell (The Princess Curse) at Literary Rambles (giveaway)

Joan Holub (Goddess Girls co-author) at The O.W.L. (giveaway)

Conrad Mason (The Demon's Watch), at Babbleabout (also a review)

How Oddfellow's Orphanage, by Emily Winfield Martin, came to be--a post by its editor at Random Acts of Reading

Sarvenaz Tash (The Mapmaker and the Ghost) at I Read Banned Books

An article from the Guardian in 1960 about Mary Norton (The Borrowers)

Laurisa White Reyes writes about "Finding Female in Middle Grade Fantasy" at Ellie Rowlins' blog

At Fabled Earth, Emily Fiegenschuh is showcasing the artwork she did for Frederick Durban's new book, The Star Shard, when it first came out, serialized in Cricket Magazine.

Other Good Stuff:

Derek Landry (Skulduggery Pleasant) shares his top ten villains at The Guardian

Jill at the O.W.L. has kicked off her March of Middle Grade Books

Not mg sff related, but still a good thing--it's Bloggiesta time! Head over here to It's All About Books to sign in to a weekend of blog improvement mania.

And also not directly mg sff related is the news (to me--I'm late to this party) that the POC Reading Challenge, which went quiet at the beginning of the year, is up and running!

And finally, here's a rather fetching writing prompt at io9

11 comments:

  1. I'm glad you do these round ups. It shows that there are some people out there reviewing middle grade books.

    I don't know why I didn't think to send you my link before now, but I'm going to do it regularly.

    Maybe you should change this to a Monday feature and link it up with the Monday Middle Graders. Because you show so much more middle grade than us who are reviewing or talking about one book. Just an idea.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The problem with doing it on a Monday is that I have to go to work...where I can't even reply to comments!

      And thanks so much for being a regular reader/contributor!

      Delete
  2. Also, my interview with Merrie Haskell is with a giveaway of The Princess Curse if you can fix that in the links.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Duh. Of course I should send you my links. I am glad it didn't occur to Natalie, either. I always look forward to it, but there was a cognitive disconnect in my thought process. The only fantasy book I reviewed in the past week was Article 5
    http://msyinglingreads.blogspot.com/2012/02/dystopias-real-and-fictional.html

    Having this on Sunday is great, because I am madly trying to make sure I've done my Nonfiction Monday and Middle Grade Monday, so now I'll remember to let you know about any fantasy. Ha! Ha! Organization!! (Or what passes for such in my world.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Article 5 seems more teenish to me, though...so I will regretfully pass on it.

      Delete
  4. As always, thanks for hosting the round-up. I wasn't sure if The Humming Room counted as fantasy!

    Novel Novice is also hosting a Middle Grade March event this month (it's popular!).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just read it myself--I was assuming it was, and still, in a very tentative way, think it is--there's the bit about Roo hearing the earth, for instance, and the mystical presence of Philip's mother....It definitly didn't feel "realistic" but I'm a bit on the fence.

      Delete
  5. Thanks for the mention, Charlotte!

    I find that I need to go out of my way to find MG to review--I'm sent plenty of YA, but only very rarely MG. Need to make better use of Netgalley, I suppose!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's why I started these--because YA sff review were a dime a dozen, but not the mg! I guess there are simply more bloggers who automatically turn to YA for their own reading pleasure, and fewer of us who really enjoy mg for its own sake!

      Delete
  6. I have to join in with Natalie and Yingling and say that I have been silly in not sending my links, but only reading the round up. I enjoy seeing it, but somehow never thought to send in my own. Silly, Silly me.

    I review childrens, MG, YA, and adult.. but I think all my MG reads are already listed above, But I will hopefully remember to send you some next time around.

    http://sstwriting.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

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