4/14/13

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi/fantasy from around the blogs (4/14/13)

Here's what I found this week; enjoy and let me know if I missed your post!

(Publishers, publicists, and writers--you are welcome to send me full schedules of blog tours, reviews I missed, etc. etc.)

The Reviews:

The Abandoned, (aka Jennie), by Paul Gallico, at In Bed With Books

Aliens on Vacation, by Clete Barrett Smith, at Maria's Melange 

The Beyonders: Chasing the Prophecy, by Brandon Mull, at SciFiChick

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, by Charles De Lint, at Mundie Kids

Cloneward Bound, by M.E. Castle, at Akossiwa Ketoglo

The Colossus Rises, by Peter Lerangis.  Ongoing joint review at Maria's Melange and The Brian Lair, and another review at the American Book Center blog

Fake Mustache, by Tom Angleberger, at Books & Other Thoughts 

The Flame in the Mist, by Kit Grindstaff, at YA Bibliophile (audiobook)

A Greyhound of a Girl, by Roddy Doyle, at Reads for Keeps

Gustav Gloom and the Nightmare Vault, by Adam-Troy Castro, at Pass the Chiclets

Hammer of Witches, by Shana Mlawski, at Finding Wonderland

The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle, by Christopher Healy, at The Book Smugglers and Sonderbooks

Johnny and the Bomb, by Terry Pratchett, at Charlotte's Library

The Key and the Flame, by Claire Caterer, at From the Mixed Up Files

The Last Free Cat, by Jon Blake, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Menagerie, by Tui T. Sutherland and Kari Sutherland, at Charlotte's Library

Mira's Diary: Lost in Paris, by Marissa Moss, at That's Another Story 

Odd and the Frost Giants, by Neil Gaiman, at Fantasy Literature

Rump, by Liesl Shurtliff, at Book Nut and books4yourkids

The Spindlers, by Lauren Oliver, at Kid Lit Geek

Splendors and Glooms, by Laura Amy Schlitz, at Abby the Librarian
and One Librarian's Book Reviews

Stolen Magic, by Stephanie Burgis, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile  and Sonderbooks

Undertown, by Melvin Jules Bukiet, at Sharon the Librarian

Whatever After: Fairest of All, by Sara Mlynowski, at Becky's Book Reviews

Authors, Interviews, and Artwork

Shana Mlawski's Hammer of Witches is this week's Big Idea at Whatever

Liesl Shurtliff (Rump) at All For One and OneFour Kid Lit  and I Like These Books

Kit Grindstaff (The Flame in the Mist) at Steph Su Reads and  Literary Rambles (giveaway) 

Claire M. Caterer (The Key and the Flame) at GreenBeanTeenQueen,
Nerdy Book Club. IceyBooks, The Hiding Spot, Fantasy Book Addict, and The Book Muncher (with giveaways)

Art work reveals (and giveaways) of The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle, by Christopher Healey, at Ms. Yingling Reads and The Book Smugglers

Marissa Moss (Mira's Diary series) at That's Another Story

Kate DiCamillo (talking about the metaphor matrix of Tiger Rising) at Cynsations

Other Good  Stuff

The Victorians were strange, or perhaps just very much like us.  They would have made great Peep Dioramas, in between creating headless portraits (from PetaPixel, where there are lots more, via io9).


Actually I think they were weirder than us.  (These are really taxidermied kittens, from the museum of Walter Potter, who didn't have Peeps to work with....).




Moving back to books, if you want to feast your eyes on award winning picture books of many lands (many of which are fantastical, and so relevant!), Tasha at Waking Brain Cells has a gallery of the nominees for the 2014 Hans Christian Anderson Award.  I can't decide if this one, published in English as Great Book of Animal Portraits, by Croatian illustrator Svjetlan Junaković, which is now stuck in my mind forever, is one I Must Have, or the stuff of nightmares (or possibly both, but at least these animals aren't taxidermied):


 I see on further perusal that many of the other illustrations (re-imaginings of Old Masters with animals) are less disturbing....so I am very tempted.  Here's "Vermeer's Study of a Young Frog:


8 comments:

  1. Thanks for the great links, including mine. I actually interviewed Kit Grindstaff and am giving away The Flame in the Mist if you can correct this. Thanks.

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    1. Oh goodness, I am so sorry! I had a sense of foreboding that I was going to confuse the two...and I did... But it's fixed now.

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  2. I like the Vermeer animals, mostly because they are a little disturbing. My nephew would probably like them.

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  3. Yikes, surprisingly disturbing pictures. I reviewed Tanglewreck today on my blog, an awesome SF/Fantasy novel.

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  4. I knew the victorians were peculiar but I guess I had no idea just how much. Wow!

    PS: Thanks a lot for the shout out. My giveaway of Cloneward Bound is still on. Here is my link: http://akossiwaketoglo.com/2013/04/08/marvelous-middle-grade-monday-cloneward-bound/

    Oh and thanks for the other links too. More books for me to read. :)

    ~Akoss

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  5. Hah, yes. The Victorians were at least as weird AS, if not weirder than us... the whole Hey, Let's Fake Everyone Out With Fairies was a pre-runner to Photoshop.

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  6. I did finally have a MG fantasy book review last week, Splendors and Glooms: http://librariansbookreviews.blogspot.com/2013/04/book-review-splendors-and-glooms-by.html. It's been such a long time since I last posted a MG fantasy review! Love your round ups.

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