This week's round-up of Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy from around the blogs (Sept. 8, 2013)

Here's what I found in my blog reading this past week of interest to fans of Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy.  Once again, though at times I had hope, I was unable to find a book review for every letter of the alphabet, and so I continue to hold my review for "X" in readiness...a new Z, a difficult letter, has entered the scene (thank you, Mr. Bacigalupi), but V remains an intractable problem (although since The Shadowhand Covenant, the sequel to The Vengekeep Prophecies, by Brian Farrey, comes out this October, maybe one of you all will want to read book 1 and give me a V....).   No one is reviewing books beginning with A much either.  And B is so two years ago...

Oh well.

The Reviews

Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu, at Malin's Blog of Books

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, by Charles de Lint, at Tales of the Marvelous

Congatious Colors of Mumpley Middle School, by Fowler DeWitt, at GreenBeanTeenQueen, Beth Fish Reads, This Kid Reviews Books, and Charlotte's Library (all with giveaways)

Chupacabra, by Roland Smith, at This Kid Reviews Books

Dragon Run, by Patrick Matthews, at Nerdophiles

Earthfall, by Mark Walden, at Nerdophiles

The Fallen Spaceman, by Lee Harding, at Views from the Tesseract

Frogged, by Vivian Vande Velde, at Charlotte's Library

Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse, by Chris Riddell, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

Handbook For Dragon Slayers, by Merrie Haskell, at Rachel Neumeier

Island of Silence, by Lisa McMann, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Janitors, by Tyler Whitesides, at The ABC Writers Guild

Kingdom of the Wicked (Skulduggery Pleasant 7), by Derek Landy, at Original Content

The Lost Heir, by Tui T. Sutherland, at CatEared Reviews

The Lost Kingdom, by Matthew Kirby, at Fantasy Literature and By Singing Light

Magic Marks the Spot, by Caroline Carlson, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile and On Starships and Dragonwings

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny- Detectives Extraordinaire, by Polly Horvath, at Librarian of Snark

Oliver and the Seawigs, by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre, at Wondrous Reads 

Persephone the Daring (Godess Girls), by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams, at Dee's Reads

The Phantom Toolbooth, by Norman Juster, at Becky's Book Reviews

The Quirks: Welcome to Normal, by Erin Soderberg, at Candace's Book Blog

Rose, by Holly Webb, at A Dream Within A Dream

The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani, at Looking for the Panacea

The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood and Co.) by Jonathan Stroud, at thebookshelfgargoyle, Fairrosa Cyber Library, Nayu's Reading Corner, and Great Imaginations

Secrets of New Forest Academy (Janitors 2), by Tyler Whitesides, at Geo Librarian

Sidekicked, by John David Anderson, at Stop Hiting Your Brother

Sleeping Beauty's Daughters, by Diane Zahler, at GreenBeenTeenQueen

Tales from Lovecraft Middle School, by Charles Gilman, at Bookwyrme's Lair 

The Time Fetch, by Amy Herrick, at Alison's Book Marks

The Unwanteds, by Lisa McMann, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Wild Born (Spirit Animals 1) by Brandon Mull, at Akossiwa Ketoglo, Random Musings of a Bibliophile, and Book Ends

The Wizard of Oz, adapted from the movie screenplay by Beth Bracken, at Kid Lit Reviews

Young Fredl, by Cynthia Voigt, at Librarian of Snark (audiobook review)

Zombie Baseball Beatdown, by Paulo Bacigalupi, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Three Oz books--Tick Tock, Scarcrow, and Rinkitink, at Tales of the Marvelous


Authors and Interviews

Ellen Booraem (Texting the Underworld) at The Mod Podge Bookshelf

Janice Hardy (The Healing Wars) at Nicole Y. Walters

Claire Legrand (The Year of Shadows) at Nerdy Book Club and Great Imaginations

Diane Zahler (Sleeping Beauty's Daughters) at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

Caroline Carlson (Magic Marks the Spot) at Smack Dab in the Middle

Christine Brodien-Jones (The Glass Puzzle) at The Mod Podge Bookshelf

A.J. Hartley (Darwen Arkwright and the School of Shadows) at Nerdy Book Club

Susan Cooper, at Indy Week


Other Good Stuff

The Canadian Children's Book Centre Awards' finalists announced

Five Sci Fi pet peeves, at Views from the Tesseract

A nice list of Percy Jackson read-alikes at Bookshelves of Doom

Lee and Low's New Voices Award deadline is Sept. 30

A new digital magazine for Middle Grade readers is coming!  "The inaugural issue of Middle Shelf comes out this October. Features will include interviews with Margaret Petersen Haddix (author of Shadow Children and The Missing series), cover artist Gilbert Ford, and 12-year-old author MacKenzie Wagner. Top reads for the Halloween season will be included along with spotlights on non-fiction, graphic novel, poetry, and novelty titles."  Read more here.

(I'm hosting a giveaway of a YA time travel book, Infinityglass, by Myra McEntire, and very few people have entered, which makes me feel Sad, so even thought its not MG, maybe some of you might be interested?).