This week's round-up of Middle Grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs, plus my new role with the Cybils Awards

First, my own news viz the Cybils Awards--after being a humble panelist for several years, I've been promoted to Category Organizer for Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy (aka Speculative Fiction)!   This means that I'll be responsible for assembling the lists of brilliant first and second round panelists, making sure that the books nominated are where they should be, and generally keeping things in this category running smoothly. 

And of course I want all of you regular contributors to these round-ups to apply to be panelists, because you all are the ones avidly reading mgsff.  This is what the volunteer application looked like last year (look for the 2013 form on August 15) and in the meantime, please let me know if you have any questions!

And as always, please let me know if I missed your post this week!

The Reviews

Aesop's Secret, by Claudia White, at The Book Smugglers (scroll down)

The Book of Story Beginnings, by Kristin Kladstrup, at Laurel Holman

The Borrowers Aloft, by Mary Norton, at Tor

A Box of Gargoyles, by Anne Nesbet, at Charlotte's Library

The Bromeliad Trilogy (Truckers, Diggers, and Wings), by Terry Pratchett, at Here There Be Books

Cloneward Bound, by M.E. Castle, at Geo Librarian

Doll Bones, by Holly Black, at Hidden in Pages and Mrs. Payan Reads

The Emerald Atlas, by John Stephens, at Book Hooked Blog (audiobook review)

The False Prince, by Jennifer Nielsen, at A Reader's Adventure (audiobook review)

Fight of the Phoenix (Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist, book 1), by R.L. LeFevers, at The Write Path

Giving Up the Ghost, and The Secrets Within, by Phoebe Rivers, at Secrets & Sharing Soda

Handbook for Dragon Slayers, by Merrie Haskell, at Slatebreakers

Harding's Luck, by E. Nesbit, at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles

The Hypnotists, by Gordon Korman, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Igraine the Brave, by Cornelia Funke, at Mother Daughter Book Reviews

The Iron-Jawed Boy, by Nikolas Lee, at Ms. Bibliophile

Jack Templar Monster Hunter, by Jeff Gun-Hus, at Non-Stop Reads

Keeper of the Lost Cities, by Sharon Messenger, at A Slightly Nerdy Bookworm

Listening to Lucca, by Suzanne LaFluer, at Random Acts of Reading

The Magic Pudding, by Norman Lindsay, at Becky's Book Reviews

The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail, by Richard Peck, at the Christian Science Monitor

North of Nowhere, by Liz Kessler, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

The Northern Frights (Scary School 3), by Derek the Ghost, at Little Library Muse

Oliver and the Seawigs, by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre, at The Book Zone

The Pirate's Coin, by Marianne Malone, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Real Boy, by Anne Ursu, at Carina's Books and Reederama (I missed these last week, but thought people would be interested, so decided to include them....)

Return to Cardamom, by Julie Anne Grasso, at guiltless reading

Rump, by Liesl Shurtliff, at That's Another Story and The Book Smugglers

The Sasquatch Escape, by Suzanne Selfors, at Book Nut

The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani, at Good Books and Good Wine 
(audiobook review) and Death, Books, and Tea

The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud, at Bookends

Sidekicked, by John David Anderson, at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia and Mister K Reads

Starbounders, by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson, at Sci Fi Chick

Tales From Lovecraft Middle School (books 1-3), by Charles Gilman, at Bewitched Bookworms

The Time Garden, by Edward Eager, at Here There Be Books

The Trap Door (Infinity Ring 3), by Lisa McMann, at Charlotte's Library

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, by Kathi Appelt, at Librarian of Snark

Tuesdays at the Castle, by Jessica Day George, at Bookwyrme's Lair

Unicorns of the Mist--Wonderlight, by R.R. Russell, at Mother Daughter Book Reviews

The Wells Bequest, by Polly Shulman, at Bookworm 1858

The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop, by Kate Saunders, at The Librarian's Daughter

The Year of Shadows, by Claire Legrand, at Bookshelvers Anonymous


Authors and Interviews

Julie Grasso (Return to Cardemom) at Nayu's Reading Corner

Ari Goelman (The Path of Names) at Nerdy Book Club

Merrie Haskell (Handbook for Dragon Slayers) at The Madeline Project

Braden Bell (Penumbras) at Literature Young Adult Fiction

Mary G. Thompson (Escape from the Pipe Men), at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia


Other Good Stuff

Lois Lowry shares her thoughts on the film adaptation of The Giver.

The shortlist for the 2013 Kelpies Prize has been announced

If I were in Chicago, I'd go see the current exhibit at Gallery F, featuring "a ragtag team of artists joining together to pay homage to the life works of Roald Dahl." (found at Stacked).

And finally, today is National Sisters' Day.   Big sisters saving little brothers is the most common sibling relationship in MG SFF these days, so much so that Summer and Bird, by Katherine Catmull is the only recent MG SFF book with a pair of sisters I can think of....moving up in age, my favorite sister book of the past year is Summer of the Mariposas, by Guadalupe Garcia McCall.    Please feel free to share your own favorite fantasy sisters in the comments!