The first round-up of Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction of 2014!

It was rather exciting to see, in this first round-up of 2014, books that I've never heard of, let alone read.   2014 is looking good, or at the very least, entirely acceptable.  I'd love to add more MG SFF books of 2014, so if you feel so inclined, please share the ones you are most looking forward to in the comments!  I myself have two ARCs on hand I'm looking forward to lots--The Riverman, by Aaron Starmar, and  Nightingale's Nest, by Nikki Loftin.

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

The Reviews:

The 13th Sign, by Kristin O'Donnell Tubb, at The Book Monsters

The Abominables, by Eva Ibbotson, at Kid Lit Geek

Aesop's Secret, by Claudia White, at Literacy Love

The Apprentices, by Maile Meloy, at Becky's Book Reviews

Bigger Than a Breadbox, by Laurel Snyder, at Cannonball Read 5

Constable and Toop, by Gareth P. Jones, at Book Ends

Dead City, by James Ponti, at The Book Monsters

Doll Bones, by Holly Black, at Wandering Librarians

Ever After High: The Story Book of Legends, by Shannon Hale, at Beyond Books

The Eye of Minds, by James Dashner, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Fallout, by Todd Strasser, at The Book Monsters

The Flame in the Mist, by Kit Grindstaff, at Kid Lit Geek

Garden Princess, by Kristin Kladstrup, at Good Books and Good Wine

The Ghost Prison, by Joseph Delaney, at Charlotte's Library and Hidden in Pages

If the Shoe Fits (Whatever After 2), by Sarah Mlynowski, at Candace's Book Blog

Jinx's Magic, by Sage Blackwood, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile and Hidden in Pages

Leopards' Gold (Chronicles of the Red King 3), by Jenny Nimmo, at Charlotte's Library

Northwood, by Brian Falkner and Donovan Bixley, at Hidden In Pages  

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy, by Karen Foxlee, at Views From the Tesseract and Reading and Sharing

Parched, by Melanie Crowder, at The Book Monsters

A  Question of Magic, by E.D. Baker, at Charlotte's Library

The Real Boy, by Anne Ursu, at Becky's Book Reviews

Rise of the Darkings (The Invisible Order, book 1), by Paul Crilley, at The Write Path

The Rithmatist, by Brandon Sanderson, at Diary of a Text Addict

The School For Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani, at The Literary Omnivore

Sleeping Beauty's Daughters, by Diane Zahler, at The Book Monsters

A Snicker of Magic, by Natalie Lloyd, at Next Best Book

A Sound of Crying, by Rodie Sudbery, at Charlotte's Library

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, by Kathi Appelt, at The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia

Wake Up Missing, by Kate Messner, at The Book Monsters

Zoe and Zak and the Yogi's Curse, by Lars Guignard, at Carpinello's Writing Page


Other Good Stuff:

The Shortlist of the Cybils Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category was announced on the first:

Jinx, by Sage Blackwood

Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud

Rose, by Holly Webb

Sidekicked, by John David Anderson

The Rithmatist, Brandon Sanderson

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, Kathi Appelt

The Water Castle, Megan Frazer Blakemore

 

And you can see the other shortlists at the Cybils site, where the winners will be announced Feb. 14.

 

Courtesy of IO9, more books have been added to my wants list--here is an NPR article by Amal El-Mohtar in praise of Travel Light, by Naomi Mitchison, and now I want to read all her books in my copious free time la la la.

Anne Ursu shares some favorite Middle Grade reads at Bookyurt

A lists of the multicultural/diverse MG Sci Fi/Fantasy books of 2013 at Charlotte's Library

For those who like fairy tale comics, especially of lesser known fairy tales, there's a kickstarter of interest for the second volume of Erstwhile 2.

Katherine Langrish delves into the imaginary books she'd like to read in the library of the Unseen University at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles

And moving to unimaginary books-- From Zoe at Playing By the Book I learned that there are folks busily tagging the children's book illustrations amongst the 1 million or so images recently released into the wild by the British Library.  Here, from Zoe's blog, is the direct link to the ‘Children’s Book Illustration’ set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/sets/72157638906393085/

She's also amassed a nice little trove of book related illustrations, like this lovely one: