But in any event, here are the speculative fiction/sff blog posts for this week; please let me know if I missed yours!
The Reviews:
Bad Unicorn, by Platte Clarke, at Boys and Literacy
The Bell Between Worlds, by Ian Johnstone, at Lunar Rainbows
The Blizzard Disaster, by Peg Kehret, at Time Travel Times Two
The Boy at the End of the World, by Greg van Eekhout, at That's Another Story
The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, by Charles de Lint, at Greg Hill
Doll Bones, by Holly Black, at Bookends
Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine, at Here There Be Books
The Eye of Neptune, by Jon Mayhew, at The Book Zone
The Fortune-Teller (The Brightstone Saga, book 2), by Paul B. Thompson, at For Those About to Mock and a look at the whole series at Book Realms
Found (The Magic Thief, book 3), by Sarah Prineas, at Book Interrupted
Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities, by Mike Jung, at Mister K Reads
Half Magic, by Edward Eager, at Becky's Book Reviews
The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle, by Christopher Healy, at Book Nut
In Search of Goliathus Hercules, by Jennifer Angus, at Charlotte's Library
Jacob Wonderbar and the Interstellar Time Warp, by Nathan Beresfort, at Charlotte's Library
Keeper of the Lost Cities, by Shannon Messenger, at Carstairs Considers
Menace from the Deep (Killer Species, book 1), by Michael P. Spradlin, at Charlotte's Library
The Mysterious Howling, and The Hidden Gallery, by Maryrose Wood, at Kid Lit Geek
Museum of Thieves, by Lian Tanner, at Pages Unbound
North of Nowhere, by Liz Kessler, at Jen Robinson's Book Page
Puck of Pook's Hill, by Rudyard Kipling, at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles
Return to Cardamom, by Julie Anne Grasso, at alibrarymama
Sidekicked, by John David Anderson, at The Brain Lair and Maria's Melange
Song for a Scarlet Runner, by Julie Hunt, at Book Grotto
Splendors and Glooms, by Laura Amy Schlitz, at Bibliophilic Monologues
The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, by Kathi Appelt, at Nerdy Book Club
Wednesdays in the Tower, by Jessica Day George, at alibrarymama
Authors visiting Blogs:
Clete Barrett Smith (Aliens on Vacation et cet.) at From the Mixed Up Files
Christine Brodien-Jones (The Glass Puzzle) at Cracking the Cover and The Book Smugglers
Bruce Hale (Playing With Fire) at Great Kid Books, From the Mixed Up Files, and Ms. Yingling Reads
Clare M. Caterer (The Key and the Flame) at Nerdy Book Club
Liesl Shurtliff (Rump) at Nerdy Book Club
John David Anderson shares a deleted scene from Sidekicked at The Brain Lair, discusses bystanders at Maria's Melange, and is interviewed at Heise Reads and Recommends
Greta Burroughs (Gerald and the Wee People) at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia
Laurisa Reyes (The Celestine Chronicles) at Tales of Goldstone Wood (giveaway)
Other Good Stuff:
For fans of Edward Eager--looking for the real world places of Half Magic in Toledo, at Kalimac's Corner.
The Mythopoeic Awards have been announced, and the winner in the children's literature is Vessel, by Sarah Beth Durst. Here's the full story...
The Eisner Awards have also been announced; the graphic novel winners in the three youth categories (from youngest to oldest) were Babymouse for President, by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (Random House), Adventure Time, by Ryan North, Shelli Paroline, and Braden Lamb (kaboom!), and A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle, adapted by Hope Larson (Farrar, Straus, Giroux). Here's the full list of winners.
Lee and Low and Cinco Puntos discussing multicultural publishing at ALA (recap), at The Open Book and discussion of multicultural statistics in children's publishing at CCBlogC
From Lx Magazine: Illuminating Luxury, found at Once Upon a Blog-- the miller's daughter wearing baking paper:
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I am okay with the term "speculative" but don't know how many times I want to have to explain it to middle school students. Sci Fi/ Fantasy is hard enough for people to grasp, but maybe "speculative" is fairly new and may catch on.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if Platypus Police Squad counts as fantasy, but it might! I also have Half Magic by Edward Eager.
ReplyDeleteSpeculative Fiction probably does capture a broader range of genres. How would you define speculative ficiton?
ReplyDeleteWell, I'd know it when I saw it, I guess, but definitions are tricky--maybe books that includes concepts or plot elements that aren't real/possible at this point in time? For instance, The One and Only Ivan isn't exactly fantasy, because it is beleivable set in the real world, but at the same time, since it isn't possible (we assume) for a gorilla to narrate his own life as Ivan does, it's speculative fiction....
DeleteI agree with Mrs Yingling, although some adults use this term it's not very helpful to my students either. By 7-8 th grade, they have the distinction pretty clear in their minds and they want another book "just like" that.
ReplyDeleteIf I ran the world, speculative Fictin would indeed be reserved for those books like The One and Only Ivan. Didn't we used to call these books magical realism? Not a bad description.
I like "speculative fiction". I have a booklist for "futuristic, dystopian, and speculative YA fiction", actually. But I agree: it's a "know it when you see it" sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for including my post! These roundups are such a great resource.