This week's round-up of middle grade science ficiton and fantasy from around the blogs (5/1/16)

Yay, April is over.  It was brutal--I had to give four talks yesterday at my office's preservation conference.  It was a lovely day (and one of my talks was a boat tour, which was a treat), but Hard Work.  But now that it is May I will read and review all the books and clean and repaint the house and pull up all the weeds and study French every day with my 15 year old and eat only healthy food etc. etc.

Here's what I found in my blog reading this week; let me know if I missed your post and I'll add it!

The Reviews

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians: The Knights of Crystallia, by Brandon Sanderson, at Nerdophiles

A Chance Child, by Jill Paton Walsh, at Time Travel Times Two

The Colossus Rises (Seven Wonders, 1) by Peter Lerrangis, at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

The Curse of the Chocolate Phoenix, by Kate Saunders, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Freya and the Dragon Egg, by K.W. Penndorf, at Views from the Tesseract

The Girl Who Could Not Dream, by Sarah Beth Durst, at Finding Wonderland

Grounded: The Adventures of Rapunzel, by Megan Morrison, at The Quite Concert

Hamster Princess: Of Mice and Magic by Ursula Vernon, at Jean Little Library and Puss Reboots

Island of the Sun (Dark Gravity, Book 2) by Matthew Kirby, at Hidden in Pages

The Key to Extraordinary, by Natalie Lloyd, at Log Cabin Library

The Legend of Sam Miracle (Outlaws of Time, book one), by N.D. Wilson, at Librarian of Snark

Mabel Jones and the Forbidden City, by Will Mabbitt, at Log Cabin Library

Mark of the Thief, by Jennifer Nielson, at Tales from the Raven

The Mirror's Tale, by P.W. Catanese, at The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow

The People in the Castle, by Joan Aiken, at Tor

A Pocket Full of Murder by R. J. Anderson, at Leaf's Reviews

The Power of Dark, by Robin Jarvis, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

Red: the True Story of Red Riding Hood by Liesl Shurtiff, at Sharon the Librarian and Librarian of Snark

The Roquefort Gang by Sandy Clifton at Semicolon

The Screaming Statue, by Lauren Oliver and H.C. Chester, at Middle Grade Ninja and Always in the Middle

The Secret of Dreadwillow Carse, by Brian Farrey, at The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow

Secrets of the Dragon Tomb by Patrick Samphire, at alibrarymama

Serafina and the Black Cloak, by Robert Beatty, at Mister K Reads

Shadow Magic by Joshua Khan, at No BS Book Reviews 

Sword in the Stacks (Ninja Librarians Book 2), by Jen Swann Downey, at ALA's Intellectual Freedom Blog

Surviving the  Improbable Quest, by Anderson Atlas, at Readioactive Books

Unidentified Suburban Object, by Mike Jung, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Authors and Interviews

Lauren Oliver and H.C. Chester (The Screaming Statue) at Middle Grade Ninja, interview with Andrew the Alligator Boy at Middle Grade Ninja and interview with Sam at Always in the Middle