This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (3/31/19)

The middle grade sci fi/fantasy round-ups are back, after a break for Kidlitcon.  Please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

Akata Witch, by Nnedi Okorafor, at Chapters and Charms

The Apprentice Witch, by James Nicol, at proseandkahn (audiobook review)

Black and Blue Magic, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, at Say What?

Critter Haven, by Angelina Moretti, at Page Turns (you tube book talk)

Eventown, by Corey Ann Haydu, at Log Cabin Library

Explorer Academy: The Falcon’s Feather, by Trudi Treueit, at Mom Read It

Explorer Academy: The Nebula Secret by Trudi Truett, at Redeemed Reader

Forgotten City, by Michael Ford, at Say What?

Gribblebob’s Book of Unpleasant Goblins by David Ashby, at Minerva Reads

The House with Chicken Legs, by Sophie Anderson, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

The Last Last-Day-of-Summer, by Lamar Giles, at Always in the Middle, Falling Letters, proseandkahn, and Unleashing Readers

Lavender-Green Magic, by Andre Norton, at Tor

Little Apocalypse, by Katherine Sparrow, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Lost Girl, by Anne Ursu, at Kid Lit Geek

The Magic of Melwick Orchard, by Rebecca Caprara, at Always in the Middle

Nevermore: the Trials of Morrigan Crow, by Jessica Townsend, at A Dance with Books

Starfell: Willow Moss and the Last Day, by Dominique Valente, at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books 

Storm Hound, by Claire Fayers, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

Sweep, by Jonathan Auxier, at Sonderbooks

Thomas Wildus and the Book of Sorrows, by J.M. Bergen, at Lauren's Bookshelf

The Truth About Martians, by Melissa Savage, at Rosi Hollinbeck

The Wizards of Once, by Cressida Cowell, at Mom with a Reading Problem (audiobook review)

Authors and Interviews

Angie Simbert (Bone's Gift, Lingering Echos) at Middle Grade Minded

Other Good Stuff

A creature-feature about unicorns at Booklist Reader

Dino Knights cover reveal!

I'm easing back into blogging after the excitement of Kidlitcon 2019 with a fun cover reveal!

Dino Knights, the first book in a new series by Jeff Norton (@the jeffnorton) comes out June 6th from Awesome Reads!

Here's the synopsis:

"Imagine medieval times where the dinosaurs never went extinct. When dinosaur stable boy Henry Fairchild stops a vicious T-Rex from attacking his master, he is invited to join the most elite group in Brecklan, the brave Knights of Panterra, the Dino Knights. But before he can prove himself, the enemies of Brecklan attack with a flock of pterodactyls and kidnap Lord Harding. Whether he's ready or not, Henry and the Dino Knights mount a daring rescue mission...but nothing is what it seems."

And here's the cover, by George Ermos:

Sounds (and looks) good to me!

The Jim Henson Company is making a live action tv show based on the book, which sounds like lots of fun too.

Dino Knights can be preordered here.

Seventh Grade vs the Galaxy, by Joshua S. Levy, for Timeslip Tuesday

I must start with a bit of a disclaimer--Seventh Grade vs the Galaxy, by Joshua S. Levy, for Timeslip Tuesday isn't a "time travel book."  But time travel does happen in it, getting our young heroes out of a sticky situation....and it having happened once, I'm thinking it might pop again in future adventures (I hope there will be future adventures!).

School 118 is a ship in orbit around Ganymede, which, though it might sound interesting to readers, isn't of particular interest to the elementary/middle school kids who are being schooled there.  Just boring routines of school, made more unpleasant for  seventh-grader Jack by his father's disgrace and the social fallout that's come Jack's way because of it.   But then everything dull and boring is shattered when the ship comes under attack, and  strange "Quarantine" countdown begins. Jack and two classmates, Ari and Becca, sneak off to the engine room to investigate what's happened, and Jack finds that the ship recognizes him, and asks if he wants to "engage."  And with the countdown at its last second, he says the word, and the ship blasts off into space....and Jack finds his father had transformed the school into humanity's first space ship capable of light speed...

Which ends in the school and its kids and faculty being taken captive by an alien race that keeps a tight hold of their known space.  Not a friendly, welcoming hold for young emergent beings like humanity.

Now it's up to Jack, Becca, and Ari, with a bit of help from Ari's hamster, and whoever keeps sending Jack cryptic warnings, to free School 118 from the aliens' clutches and make it back to the solar system. Bluff and chutzpah and luck get them and the ship free of their alien jailers, though their classmates are left behind.  But how can they find the fuel their school ship needs to get home again? (this is where the time travel, a simple amusement in an alien arcade, comes in handy....)

And then when they get home, having saved their classmates and teachers, it's clear that the story of seventh graders vs a hostile galaxy is far from over....

So this has a lot of kid friendly energy to it, from the zero gravity dodgeball of the beginning to the kids putting their computer game skills to work to get out from the aliens control at the end of it.  The dynamic between the three main protagonists isn't tremendously deep, but it's realistic and amusing enough to do its part to keep the story engaging. There's a bit of cool gadgetry for the young tech fan to want badly, lots of humor sprinkled throughout, even when things get tense, and the settling of humanity in Jupiter's orbit is good intro sci fi.

In short, this is definitely a solid pick for the sci-fi adventure loving 8-11 year old (both cover and title are very good indications of the sort of book it is, and kids who like those will like the book!)  There are other sci fi stories for this age with more emotional heft to them (Ambassador, by William Alexander, Last Day on Mars, by Kevin Emerson), but this one really stands out for its friendly-ness for kids looking for entertainment, with  kids like themselves saving the day (although this particular day still has lots of saving to come....)

disclaimer: review copy received from the author

The Deepest Blue, by Sarah Beth Durst

So yesterday evening was the end of a crappy weekend in which nothing went well and the weather was ick and there were no tasty snacks, and I gave up trying to Do all the Things around 7:30 pm and started reading The Deepest Blue, by Sarah Beth Durst, because I really wanted to.  By 8:30 I was not quite halfway through and cursing daylight savings because clearly I'd be staying up late till I finished.  But I read with such happy absorption that it only took me till 9:30, and then I could go to bed at peace!  It's always so nice to be reminded of why exactly one labels oneself a Reader.

But enough about me.

The Deepest Blue is set in the same world as the Queens of Renthia series, a world of bloodthirsty spirits barely (and sometimes not) controlled by strong women.  Unlike the three Queens books, this one is set on the islands out in the ocean, where people also live in the middle of a constant battle of wills between their queen and her heirs and the spirits, but where the structure of power and the training of heirs is not the same at all.

Mayara can sense the spirits, and control them in an untrained way.  She hides this ability, until she must use it to save her village.  Because then, just as she knew would happen, the Silent Ones come  to take her away.   The fact that she was just married is nothing to them.  The fact that they already took her older sister is nothing.  The fact that she has absolutely no interest at all in choosing between training to become one of the Queen's heirs, or being a Silent One, the law enforcers of the islands, is immaterial.

Mayara, believing her husband is dead, choses to try to become a heir.  The heirs of this realm are put to a trial that is most often fatal.  They are taken to an island full of spirits, who have been given one command--kill.   Any woman who survives for a month becomes an heir.

There are lies and secrets and death-dealing spirits in plenty on the island.  But there are also friendships and loyalties, and women helping each other, and actually doing something to fix things and regain some measure of control over their lives!

There's a second story also playing out, but I won't say what because spoilers, that's a lovely bit of intrigue of its own back on the main islands.

In any event, back to me--I loved it and it was just the right amount of intricacy of story and just the right amount of women I really liked spending time with!  And just the right sort of pacing, with lots of small details of ordinary things setting off the extraordinary things very nicely!  I'll give it one of the highest compliments I can-- I would be happy to start reading it all over again right now.

It isn't necessary to have read the Queens of Renthia books first, so if you feel daunted by the thought of a substantial trilogy, you could get your toes wet/bloody here first.  If you have read Queens and liked those books, you must read this because you will enjoy it lots and lots!  For younger readers, this might actually be the best book to start with.  It's not marketed as YA, but I know for certain sure I'd have loved it back at that age, as young as maybe 12, when I found Patricia McKillip and Diana Wynne Jones and Robin McKinley.  The Queens trilogy feels more older-reader friendly to me, but Mayera, though married, felt young enough that an adolescent can live alongside her beautifully.  (Possibly the island where Mayera is trapped full of hostile spirits, where she makes best friends and they survive together and there's Drama will also feel familiar to kids actually in middle school/high school),

Disclaimer: review copy received ever so gratefully from the author

the mg sci fi/fantasy round-ups are on hold till the end of March

What with organizing Kidlitcon (coming up the week after next!) and finishing home renovations before Kidlitcon company comes to stay with me, I have no time for the Sunday round-ups.  But I do have lots of reviews planed for the next few weeks, and I'll be back rounding up at the end of March!

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (3/3/19)

Nothing from me this week (I am busy busy busy getting Kidlitcon 2019 all ready to go!), but here's what other people wrote about mg sci fi/fantasy books (let me know if I missed your post!)

The Reviews

Arlo Finch series, by John August, at Nerdophiles

Dragon Flight (Dragon Slippers #2) by Jessica Day George, at Hidden In Pages.

Let Sleeping Dragons Lie, by Garth Nix and at Sean Williams, at Locus

Loki's Wolves (The Blackwell Pages #1), by K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr, at Say What?

The Lost Girl, by Anne Ursu, at Waking Brain Cells

Music Boxes, by Tonja Drecker, at Cat's Corner

A Perilous Journey of Danger and Mayhem: a Dastardly Plot, by Christopher Healy, at alibrarymama

The Secret of Vault 13, by David Solomons, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Sweep, by Jonathan Auxier, at Imaginary Friends

Watch Hollow, by Gregory Funaro, at Rajiv's Reviews

Who Let the Gods Out? by Maz Evans, at Say What?

Two at alibrarymama--The House in Poplar Wood, by K.E. Ormsbee, and The Boy, the Bird, and the Coffin Maker,by Matilda Woods

Two at Geek Mom- Charlie Hernandez and the League of Shadows, and Maybe a Mermaid

Two at The Book Search--The Storm Keeper's Island and The Flooded Earth

and four at Random Musings of a Bibliophile--Angel and Bavar, The Book of Boy, The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Meddlesome, and Ogre Enchanted

Authors and Interviews

Melanie Crowder (The Lighthouse Between Worlds) at Middle Grade Book Village

Sayantani DasGupta (The Game of Stars) at Kirkus 

Tonja Drecker (Music Boxes) at Author June McCrary Jacobs


Other Good Stuff

What's new in the UK, at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books