In case you wonder how I find the links, here's how. I follow about 500 blogs on google reader (which doesn't mean I read them. Just the post titles, mostly. So it doesn't actually take too long). On Sunday morning, I do a blog search on "middle grade fantasy." I have been known to go through the books recently reviewed on Kirkus, so I can do some specific title searches, and I search for books I myself know about. Occasionally people send me links.
Which leads gracefully to my next point--more people are welcome to send links directly! (charlotteslibrary at gmail dot com). This includes authors and publicists. That being said, I do reserve the right to decline to link to posts I don't find valuable. People are also welcome to leave links in the comments.
Onward.
The Reviews:
The Alchemyst, by Michael Scott, at books4yourkids
The Book of Doom, by Barry Hutchison, at The Book Zone
Case File 13: Zombie Kid, by J. Scott Savage, at Book Nut
The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, by Claire Legrand, at Lust for Stories
Demonkeeper, by Royce Buckingham, at Known to Read
Down the Mysterly River, by Bill Willingham, at BooksYALove
Drizzle, by Kathleen Van Cleve, at GreenBeanTeenQueen
Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun, by Liz Kessler, at theawseomeadventuresoflulu
The False Prince, by Jennifer Nielsen, at Kristen Evey
The Fellowship for Alien Detection, by Kevin Emerson, at Charlotte's Library
Freaks, by Kieran Larwood, at Finding Wonderland
Herbert's Wormhole, by Peter Nelson, at Maria's Melange
In a Glass Grimmly, by Adam Gidwitz, at Karissa's Reading Review
The Lost Heir (Wings of Fire) by Tui T. Sutherland, at Ms. Yingling Reads
On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave, by Candace Fleming, at Log Cabin Books
The Runnaway King, by Jennifer Nielsen, at Stacked and Bookshelvers Anonymous
The Shadows (The Books of Elsewhere), by Jacqueline West, at Middle Grade Ninja
The Space Between, by Kiki Thorpe, at Sharon the Librarian
Spirit's Princess, by Esther Friesner, at Charlotte's Library
The Strangers (Books of Elsewhere 4), by Jacqueline West, at Log Cabin Library
A Tangle of Knots, by Lisa Graff, at Bookalicious and Literacious, and as an audiobook, at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia
The Time Paradox, by Eoin Colfer, at Fyrefly's Book Blog
The Time-Travelling Fashionista, by Bianca Turetsky, at Time Travel Times Two
Authors and Interviews
Jennifer Nielsen (The Runaway King) at The Enchanted Inkpot
Mike Yung (Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities) at The Enchanted Inkpot
Anna Staniszewski (My Very UnFairy Tale Life) at Readatouille
Jasmine Richards (The Book of Wonders) at The Brown Bookshelf (as part of the wonderful 28 Days Later series)
The middle grade members of the Lucky 13s (debut authors of 2013), many of whom have written sff books, share their thoughts on why they write middle grade fiction.
Other Good Stuff
Shortlists! The Andre Norton Award, the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, and the Diagram Prize (for quirkiest book title). Here are this year's contestants for that one:
Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop by Reginald Bakeley
God's Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis by Tom Hickman
How Tea Cosies Changed the World by Loani Prior
How to Sharpen Pencils by David Rees
Lofts of North America: Pigeon Lofts by Jerry Gagne
Was Hitler Ill? by Hans-Joachim Neumann and Henrik Eberle
I think I like the peaceful simplicity of "How to Sharpen Pencils" the best. What I'd really like, though, is a book on how to keep pencil erasers fresh, or at least, how to restore them to eraserability.
Children's Book Week (May 13-19, 2013) is on its way, and this year's bookmark is nicely mg sff! Plus it has a hidden letters challenge.
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Thanks for sharing how you find your links. I've always wondered. Awesome links. I'll start having some middle grade ones starting in March. I somehow went for two months without spotlighting a middle grade author.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the look into your link roundup process! It's quite involved, and it makes me even more appreciative that you do it each week. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteFinding all those links still sounds pretty involved, but thanks for doing it. I love reading other people's thoughts on books I'm reading.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, thanks for a great list, and also for the heads up on Children's Book Week. Of course, the way the calendar falls this year, it will be "Happy Book Week! Now, turn in all your books on Friday!" We get out at the end of May, and it takes at least two weeks to get all of the books returned.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you will get lots of snow days, and run further into June...we already have two days to make up!
DeleteThanks for those links. And that bookmark is so clever!
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