Ravenfall, by Kalyn Josephson

Ravenfall, by Kalyn Josephson (September 6th 2022 by Delacorte Press), was a truly delightful read, reminding me strongly why I really really like middle grade fantasy!  Rather than do my usual plot summary followed by thoughts, here are all the things that made me a happy reader:

The titular Ravenfall, run as a guest house, but primarily a home, is a magical house with tons of personality, always paying attention to its residents.  I love place centered stories, and this delivered!  

It is protected by a guardian jabberwocky, who mostly takes the shape of a cat, who also has tons of personality.

And it is home to a magical family.  Anna is the youngest child, and her gift has just manifested--when she touches someone, she shares their memories of deaths they have witnessed.  I loved how she compares her magic to the various gifts of the rest of the family, and feels disappointed and less than, but grows to realize that it is actually much more of a gift than she thought it was.  Very relatable.

Another kid, Colin, arrives at Ravenfall alone, in terrible trouble.  I loved how he is welcomed and how his grief isn't played down, and is still there even as he finds comfort and a sense of belonging (and his own magic).  

It was great shifting between Anna's insider pov and Colin's newcomer pov; it really made the place, the people and the magic three-dimensional.

And I loved how the central antagonist, and the growing threat he brings to Ravenfall, is huge and awful, but not exaggerated to the point where it seems impossible that the two kids can play a central role in defeating it....

But they are totally and unconditionally not just backed up but directed by all the grown-ups and older sisters, because the kids couldn't have done everything alone.  This made the plot very solid and satisfying to grown-up me. And yet even the grown-ups make mistakes...figuring out what to do requires teamwork, admitting mistakes, 

And finally I liked very much (though this is a smallish thing that the target audience might not appreciate as much as me), is that Anna's mother doesn't actually want to have been stuck running Ravenfall, but does it with good grace.  A nice bit of real world grown-up-ness that was another thing that made everything feel really solid.

Even more finally, I liked (lots) how, after I read the satisfying, closure providing ending, I saw there would be a second book!

So in short, a lovely immersive read that I highly recommend!

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi/fantasy from around the blogs (8/28/2022)

Good morning, all, and welcome to the last round-up of Summer 2022.  It was a summer in which I learned how to replace rotten siding on my house (sigh), among other never ending historic house ownership work, and I did not read nearly as many books as I wanted to!  Fall is much better for reading (kids are back at college and it gets too cold to work outside) which is why being a Cybils panelist in elementary/middle grade fiction (or another category) is a lovely thing!  The deadline to apply is September 9th. 

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

The Reviews

Alliana, Girl of Dragons, by Julie Abe, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Dark Waters (The Small Spaces Quartet, Book 3) by Katherine Arden, narrated by Renee Dorian, at 

Hidden in Pages

A Dragon Used to Live Here, by Annette LeBlanc Cate, at Rosi Hollinbeck

Dread Wood, by Jennifer Killick, at Valinora Troy

Fear Ground, by Jennifer Killick, at Scope for Imagination

Fenris and Mott, by Greg Van Eekhout, at proseandkahn

The Fire Star (A Maven & Reeve Mystery) by A.L. Tait, at Log Cabin Library

Daybreak on Raven Island, by Fleur Bradley, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Ghostcloud, by Michael Mann, at Say What?

Ghostlight, by Kenneth Oppel, at  Say What?

Homebound, by John David Anderson, at alibrarymama

The Polter-Ghost Problem, by Betsy Uhrig, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Room of Shadows, by Ronald Kidd, at Intotheheartwyld 

Space Blasters-Suzie Saves the Universe, by Katie and Kevin Tsang, at  alittlebutalot

The Tale of Truthwater Lake, by Emma Carroll, at Scope for Imagination

A Taste of Magic, by J. Elle, at Cracking the Cover and Nerds & Beyond

The Time-Traveling Fashionista and Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile (The Time-Traveling Fashionista #3) by Bianca Turetsky, at Charlotte's Library

Trex, by Christyne Morrell, at Sifa Eliabeth Reads

The Vampire Slayer’s Survival Guide, by Katy Birchall, at Book Craic

Authors and Interviews

Susie Bower (The Dangerous LIfe of Ophelia Bottom), at Library Girl and Book Boy

Erin Petti (Thelma Bee In Toil And Treble) at From the Mixed Up Files 

Landra Jennings (The Whispering Fog), at From the Mixed Up Files

Fleur Bradley (Daybreak on Raven Island) at (teenlibrariantoolbox.com)

John David Anderson (Homebound) at Nerdy Book Club

Christyne Morrell (Trex), at  Middle Grade Minded and Literary Rambles

Greg Van Eekhout (Fenris and Mott), at Middle Grade Ninja

Juliana Brandt (Monsters in the Mist) at Flip Your Script 

Refe Tuma (Frances and the Monster) at  Teen Librarian Toolbox.

Other Good Stuff

On Science Fiction (Part II) – Children's Book Council 

When I saw "11 Middle Grade Series Updates for Eager Fans"  at SLJ, I thought I was getting continuations of Edward Eager stories...and was very surprised, but pleased...I am not, but there are still lots I'm looking forward too.

The Time-Traveling Fashionista and Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, by Bianca Turetsky, for Timeslip Tuesday

The Time-Traveling Fashionista and Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile (The Time-Traveling Fashionista #3) by Bianca Turetsky (2013), fell victim to the fate that many books I actually buy--once I own a book I paid for, it's so easy for me to feel no urgency to actually read it.  But now I have (yay!) and it can go join the first to books in this fun middle grade series on my time travel bookshelf.

Louise, a young fashionista, has already travelled back twice in time, thanks to the mysterious Traveling Fashionista Vintage Sale (by invitation only).  She's tried on two dresses, one which took her to the Titanic and one which took her to the court of Marie Antoinette.  This time she slips into a lavender Grecian gown, and is plunged into the life of Cleopatra--with a twist.  She's now a worker in the costume crew for the epic Hollywood movie, staring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton!  But then she finds a necklace with a gorgeous pearl, and illicitly tries it on....and travels back in time again.

Now she's in the court of the real Cleopatra, a young woman fighting for power...and for her life.  Threats are everywhere, and soon Louise, now one of Cleopatra's handmaids, is wondering if she herself will make it home alive.  This isn't a time period I know all that much about, so I found nothing in the history to nitpick, and learned more about it in that graceful, pleasant way one learns history from reading fiction!

This is fairly easy time travel--Louise has an identity to fill in each different time, so language isn't an issue,  and although she has to keep her wits about her so as not to display her ignorance, she manages to muddle along well enough for her secret to be safe. 

It's a good story, with the magic of the time travel balanced by Louise's pragmatic thoughts. There's a touch of middle school angst in her real time that makes Louise seem very real and relatable...perhaps the bravest thing she does is to wear her vintage fashions to school.  

Something that really make these book stand out are the lovely illustrations by Sandra Suy-lovely dresses in particular!  And  of course the audience who will love this series most are the girls like Louise whose creativity uses fashion to flourish. This would not be me, but still I enjoyed them, and if there had been a fourth I would happily read it!

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this week's roundup of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (8/21/22)

Good morning and welcome to this week's round-up (this week with help from bloglovin for the first time in ages).  Please let me know if I missed your post!

First--the call for Cybils judges has gone out!  You have till the end of the day on September 9th.  It really is lots of fun, so do consider it!  Let me know if you have any questions. (I've put * next to the books included this week that are eligible for this year's Elementary/Middle Grade Cybils, which is books published in the US or Canada October 16, 2021 and October 15, 2022, to entice you to apply, and/or make a mental note that they can be nominated--anyone can nominate a book in each category starting in October.  Some are tricky because they are already out in the UK but not the US--as always, let me know if I've made mistakes!)

The Reviews 

*12 to 22: POV You Wake Up in the Future! by Jen Calonita, at Cracking the Cover

*Amari and the Great Game (Supernatural Investigations #2), by B.B. Alston, at Say What?

Anya and the Dragon, by Sofiya Pasternack, at Sonderbooks

*The Black Slide, by J.W. Ocker, at Ms. Yingling Reads

*Eden's Everdark, by Karen Strong, at Bookworm for Kids

*Fenris and Mott, by Greg van Eekhout, at Mom Read It

*Frances and the Monster, by Refe Tuma, at Say What?

*Goblin Market, by Diane Zahler, at A Backwards Story and Eli to the nth

Ghost Boys, by Jewell Parker Rhodes, at Colorful Book Reviews 

The Glen Beyond the Door, by Meta Mayne Reid, at Charlotte's Library

*Gravebooks (Nightbooks #2), by J.A. White, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Hatmakers, by Tamzin Merchant, at Leaf's Reviews

The Lost Girl King, by Catherine Doyle, at Book Craic

*The Lost Ryu, by Emi Watanabe Cohen, at Jean Little Library

Mia and the Lightcasters (*?), by Janelle McCurdy, at Book Craic

The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne, by Jonathan Stroud, at Rapunzel Reads

*Paola Santiago and the Sanctuary of Shadows by Tehlor Kay Mejia, at The Bookwyrm's Den 

*The Patron Thief of Bread, by Lindsay Eagar, at Pages Unbound 

*Ravenfall, by Kalyn Josephson, at Say What?

*The Secret Benefits of Invisibility (The Falinnheim Chronicles #2), by C.W. Allen, at Eye-rolling Demigod's Book Blog

*Secret of the Shadow Beasts, by Diane Magras, at Charlotte's Library

*Stinetinglers, by R,K, Stine, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Thirteen Secrets, by Michelle Harrison, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

*This Appearing House, by Ally Malinenko, Ms. Yingling Reads

The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #1), by Jessica Townsend, at Simone and Her Books

The True Meaning of Smekday, by Adam Rex, at proseandkahn

*Wildseed Witch, by Marti Dumas, at Cracking the Cover

Wolfbane, by Michelle Paver, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

The Worlds We Leave Behind, by A.F. Harrold, illusrrated by Levi Pinfold, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

4 mini reviews at A Cat, a Book, and a Cup of Tea--Orla and the Wild Hunt by Anna Hoghton, The House of Shells by Efua Traoré, A Beginner’s Guide to Ruling the Galaxy by David Solomons, and  Mouse Heart by Fleur Hitchcock

Authors and Interviews

Greg van Eekhout (*Fenris and Mott) at Charlotte's Library

Rebecca King (Ember Shadows and the Fates of Mount Never), at Library Girl and Book Boy

Erin Petti (*Thelma Bee in Toil and Treble) at MG Book Village

J. Elle (*A Taste of Magic) at Middle Grade Ninja

Dan Poblocki  (*Tales to Keep You Up at Night) at From the Mixed Up Files and Ms. Yingling Reads

The Dragon Flyers | Chapter Book | ARC – A Dance With Books (wordpress.com)

Diane Zahler (*Goblin Market) at Teen Librarian Toolbox

Kate Gilby Smith (Olive Jones and the Memory Thief), at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

Marlo Berliner (agent) and Refe Tuma (author) (*Frances and the Monster), at Literary Rambles

Other News (not good stuff this week)

Barnes and Noble is cutting back hard on the number of hardcover mg books they'll have in stock, which is a blow to authors, especially debut authors. Here's a summary at Book Riot.  So now is a good time to order a book(s)....You can find lots (but not all) 2022 debuts here.

Fenris and Mott, by Greg van Eekhout (with interview!)

When my kids were little, we would talk about little baby Fenwis [sic] and how what he really needed was a Mama who loved him very much and gave good scritches....so it was rather delightful to see that flight of fancy come to life in Greg van Eekhout's newest book, Fenris and Mott (August 2, 2022, Harper Collins).

When Mott finds a scared little pup mweeping sadly in a recycling bin, her heart melts...dog's aren't allowed in her new apartment, but she can't just leave him.  But it turns out this isn't a puppy, but a wolf cub, who will need to be taken to live in the wild.  

The cub does not want to be leashed and taken into the wild, breaks free, and starts to bring about Ragnarok, the destruction of the world in Norse mythology.  The little mweeper is in fact Fenris, the fabled wolf who is fated to devour the sun and the moon....

And suddenly Mott's life becomes filled with Norse gods wanting to encourage Fenris, because prophesies are meant to come true. Fenris can't help the fact that the rune of annihilation is in his gut, and starts devouring on a (relatively) small scale--bits of city infrastructure and a famous actor disappear down his bottomless maw....Fortunately Mott and Fenris are found by Trudi, a Valkarie who is Fenris's protector, and the two of them join forces to try to stave off Ragnarok and save little Fenris.

It's an exciting story full of mythological mayhem crashing into the real world, balanced by the more quotidian story of a middle school kid in a new town with an absent father who doesn't' keep his promises and a best friend far away who's moving on without her.  It's also a fable of climate change (things can get plenty bad without a rune of annihilation on the loose) and so is extremely topical. The ending packs a zinger of a punch leaving my mind racing.....(nb-Fenris is fine in the end, and one hopes the moon will survive being slightly gnawed....). It's also sweet and funny and has an adorable puppy, so should be a huge hit with young fans of cute animals!  It's easy to imagine this one getting lots of love from its target audience.

And now it's my pleasure to welcome Greg here to my blog! I've been a fan of his since his very first book for young readers, Kid Vs Squid, which I reviewed back in 2010....

 

How did the idea for Fenris and Mott first come to you?

I thought it'd be fun to write a story about a kid who has to take care of some kind of cute and destructive creature. I didn't know if the creature would be an ordinary pet or an alien or a dinosaur or some kind of genetically modified beast or something else, but that was one of the seeds of an idea I first came up with. 

Was there anything that surprised you in the writing of it?

I didn't know the book was going to be in part about climate change, but you can't write about Ragnarök without writing about extreme weather, and to write about extreme weather without writing about climate change would have been weird and dishonest. 

 

This is your second Ragnorak book, the first being Norse Code, written for adults and published back in 2009.  Very different books, very different audiences….but as you were writing Fenris and Mott, did you have intrusive Norse Code flashbacks?

Not really. Norse Code and Fenris & Mott are such different books that it really wasn't hard to keep them completely separate in my head. Even when they have characters in common, like Loki and Odin and Hermod, they're very different versions of those characters. 

 

Will there be a sequel?  I can’t stop thinking about what Mott might do with her own pocket Ragnorak—nuclear waste cleanup, perhaps…..and will little Fenris be a good domesticated pet?

Oh, I would love to write a sequel! I had so much fun writing Fenris & Mott, and it'd be a blast to visit those characters again. As for Fenris as a pet, he'd be destructive and disruptive and a little bit horrible, just like my dogs!

And finally, what are you working on now?

I'm putting the final touches on a new middle-grade, The Ghost Job. It's about a crew of ghosts who do heists, and it's scheduled to come out next year.

Thank you Greg!  I will now proceed to start looking forward to The Ghost Job!

 

Greg van Eekhout is also the author of Voyage of the Dogs, Cog, and Weird Kid. He lives in San Diego, CA, with his astronomy/physics professor wife and two dogs. He’s worked as an educational software developer, ice cream scooper, part-time college instructor, and telemarketer. Being a writer is the only job he's ever actually liked. You can find more about Greg at his website: www.writingandsnacks.com.

 

The Glen Beyond the Door, by Meta Mayne Reid, for Timeslip Tuesday

A few weeks ago I joined a new Goodreads Group--"Forgotten Vintage Children's Lit We Want Republished!" and Meta Mayne Reid was one of the authors mentioned.  I'd never heard of her, and when I saw she wrote at least one time travel book, I was intrigued.  Fortunately I'd just earned an Amazon gift card with gas points (yay (?) for the high price of gas) that covered the cost of The Glen Beyond the Door (1968), and I was very excited to read it.  

Lisa's parents have just moved from Belfast to her grandfather's old home after his death.  She's recovering from polio, which has left her with a weak leg.  Soon her cousin Andrew comes to stay--his parents are off in America, and he's basically been dumped on them.  She's thrilled by the idea of having an almost brother, but Andrew is miserable.  Then, up in the attic of the house, where one wall is wood that burned in a fire centuries ago, the two kids find time travel magic.  

Together they explore the history of their family home, from the Stone Age up to the arrival of the Planters from Scotland, who took the Irish land for their own.  Each visit to the past gives them not just food for thought and wonder, but strengthening gifts--literally a stronger leg for Lisa, and a dog for Andrew, but Andrew is also helped make it through the bewildering mix of sadness and anger he's feeling.  And they are left with a tight connection to their family's home, where Planters and native Irish blended their lives together, and Andrew becomes officially welcomed into Lisa's family.

The time travel is the somewhat distant sort, in which the modern kids are mostly spectators, overlapping into kids from the past, but not changing what happened.  This made it feel more like a history lessons than part of a whole story (and I much prefer time travelers with independent volition), but it was not without interest.  Both the events of the past and the reactions of Lisa and Andrew were good (though not great) reading.  Andrew's present day emotional turmoil take center stage more forcefully than the past does, and although this too was good reading I was a little disappointed that Lisa becomes a secondary character.  

What I really liked was the layered past of this bit of Northern Ireland--there was a lovely sense of place.

So although I read it happily, and have added another of Reid's more affordable books, The McNeils at Rathcapple) to my Amazon cart, it might be a while before I use my hard won gas rewards points, Bing rewards, and Swagbucks gift cards for it.  I can actually afford to buy myself books with real grown-up money (and use this for new books), but I try not spend my wages on vintage books, because if it is too easy to buy them, I might well start buying too many.....and that way lies madness and penury.

Secret of the Shadow Beasts, by Diane Magras

I've read lots and lots of good books so far this year, but this past week, for the first  time in ages, I started one after supper (Secret of the Shadow Beasts, by Diane Magras), and read and read and then had an oh no moment when I realized it was almost midnight (usually I'm safely in bed at ten, and wake up around five thirty) and I hadn't quite finished the book yet....a terrible dilemma.  I finished it though because there really wasn't a choice, but sadly did not quite give the people of Rhode Island, for whom I work, my absolute shiny and alert best the next day.....(happily I have lots to do that isn't rocket science on which lives are depending, so it's ok, and I have no regrets).

This (very good, very gripping) book is set in a world where nightfall brings forth venomous shadow beasts, and everyone with sense huddles inside protected buildings.  The shadow beasts are slower to attack kids and some kids are immune, and these kids are taken from their families when they are little and trained to be beast fighters.  Nora could have been one of them, but her father wouldn't let her be taken. Now he has been killed by a shadow beast, Nora decides for herself that she will put the last few years of her childhood immunity to work keeping other people from the same fate.

And she goes off to get to trained, but there are far too few kids, and far too many shadow beasts, so when she shows unusual aptitude, she's quickly slotted into the Hawks, one of the fighting brigades comprised of handful of children, and sent off on her first two week mission.  Even immune kids can be killed by shadow beasts, if they are attacked enough times, and the Hawks just suffered the loss of one of their crew, Lucy. Nora is taking her place.  The Hawks are also kids taken from their families when they were seven or so, and so they have become a tight knit found family; it takes a while for Nora to be fully part of the group.  So things aren't exactly happy triumphant monster slaying.  

And the number of shadow beasts keeps growing....there's a sinister reason behind it (the titular secret), and Nora and her fellow Hawks might be the only ones able to survive the incredibly dangerous, almost insane, mission to set the balance right again.  (lots of interesting bits of plot here, that I shan't talk about for reasons).

bonus points for:

comfort reading for the characters!  there's one bit where the kids have some down time, and visit a bookstore to load themselves up with escapist material, and I loved seeing the different genres they liked.

an adult who adults!  The Hawks, and other brigades, don't go out alone; there's a grown-up with them to do the driving, help with game plans and emergencies,  and keep morale up. This grown-up, rather disturbingly, also acts as beast bait (kids being less likely to be attacked).  In any event, the Hawks grown-up is a good one, and I was really glad they had him.

trauma that was not splashed all over the place but dealt with in a moving, slow burn sort of way--these kids have been dealt a rotten hand, and are working through tough things, and Nora is something of a catalyst that helps with this.

NB--Secret of the Shadow Beasts (June 14th 2022, Dial Books), is eligible for this years Cybils Awards (in Elementary/Middle Grade speculative fiction).  Starting this Wednesday, the 17th, you can apply to be a panelist on for this category, or one of the others....here's a blog post of mine with more info.

this week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy (8/14/22)

Good morning all!  Here's what I found this week; let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews

The Blackthorn Branch, by Elen Caldecott, at Scope for Imagination

Castle of Tangled Magic, by Sophie Anderson, at alibrarymama

City of Speed (Battle Dragons #2), by Alex London, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Dark Days (Skulduggery Pleasant #4), by Derek Landy, at One Reading Nurse

David Massie and the Hidden Underworld, by Andrew M. Nehring, at Log Cabin Library

Daybreak on Raven Island, by Fleur Bradley, at Say What?

Dead Voices (Small Spaces # 2) by Katherine Arden, at Hidden in Pages (audiobook review)

Duet, by Elise Broach, at Reading Middle Grade

Fenris & Mott, by Greg Van Eekhout, at Log Cabin Library

The Green Ember, by S.D. Smith, at Valinora Troy

Lloyd, Natalie. Hummingbird, by Natalie Lloyd, at Ms. Yingling Reads, and Cracking the Cover

The Left-Handed Fate, by Kate Milford, at Colorful Book Reviews

Ravenfall, by Kalyn Josephson, at Log Cabin Library

A Reluctant Witch’s Guide to Magic, by Shivaun Plozza, at Glam Adelaide

The Tarnished Garden, by Alyssa Colman, at Charlotte's Library

The Thirteen Curses, by Michelle Harrison, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

Witchlings, by Claribel A. Ortega, at Lazy Day Literature

Authors and Interviews

Ally Malinenko (This Appearing House), at Middle Grade Ninja 

Shawn K. Stout (The Impossible Destiny of Cutie Grackle), at MG Book Village

Oanis Rawbone (Whippoorwill Lane), at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

Polly Holyoke (Skyriders) at MG Book Village

Andrew M. Nehring (David Massie and the Hidden Underworld) "Inspiring Kids Through Science Fiction" at Smack Dab in the Middle and Chapter Break

A.L. Tait (The Mapmaker Chronicles, Maven & Reeve Series and Ateban Cipher) at Log Cabin Library

Katherine Arden (Small Spaces series) at Publishers Weekly

Claribel A. Ortega (Witchlings) at Rapunzel Reads

 

Other Good Stuff

NEW MG & YA SCI-FI AND FANTASY, at Book Riot

Heather Kassner (The Plentiful Darkness) picks five  "magical middle grade novels woven with darkness and heart" at Shepherd

25 Books Starring Dragon-Loving Mighty Girls, at a mighty GIRL

and a reminder that starting August 17, you'll be able to apply to be a Cybils panelist! Here's why I think being a Cybils judge is a wonderful thing.

The Tarnished Garden, by Alyssa Colman

 

Here's my Goodreads review for The Tarnished Garden, by Alyssa Colman--"checks lots of my boxes--sisters, a garden, school story, magic, kittens......I enjoyed it very much!"  And indeed though I enjoyed the first book in the series, The Gilded Girl, lots, this was more to my taste, because of it having the garden and magical kittens!

Maeve has been reunited with her big sister, Izzy, after a traumatic stint of being a farmed out orphan out west.  The two are now pupils at a new school for magic in New York city; it is the Gilded Age, but with magic.  But Maeve and Izzy are having trouble reconnecting, Maeve's magic is wild and uncontrolled, there are those who think magic should be the exclusive purview of the privileged (with the sisters are most definitely not), and disaster is striking one magically built building after another, extinguishing the magic holding them together.  And on top of this, house dragons (basically cats with magic) are going missing.  In order to save their school, and the right of poor kids to spark their magic and learn to use it, the girls must figure out what is going on and put a stop to it.

So that's a fine plot, but what I really loved was how Maeve finds a secret magical garden, and makes it grow and come alive again with her magic, learning how to use just as much as she needs without it getting carried away.  And in the garden there are three little house dragon kittens, who are adorable, who's mother left them there under magical protection.....and a boy shut up in an apartment overlooking it, who's mother won't let him out lest he gains magic too.

A really delightful story, with the charming magic given weight by the sibling relationship and by the inequality of the society in which they live.  My enjoyment was heighted by my familiarity with The Secret Garden--there were lots of echoes that I loved.

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (8/7/22)

Here's what I found this week;  please let me know if I missed your post!

First-- one of the things that most gladdens my middle grade speculative fiction loving heart is being part of the Cybils Awards, and spending my fall doing a deep dive (even deeper than usual) into all the elementary/middle grade books published in the past year (which for the Cybils is Oct 16-Oct 15).  You can be part of this too!  (in categories other than EMG spec fic too!).  Here's why I think being a Cybils judge is a wonderful thing, and new folks are enthusiastically welcomed. 

Call for Judges: 17 August thru 9 September. (I'll be sharing the link when it goes live)

Announcement of Judges: 21 September
Public Nomination period: 1 October thru 15 October.
Publisher/Author submission period: 17 October thru 26 October.
Finalists announced Jan 1, winners announced Feb 14.

The Reviews

Alex Neptune, Dragon Thief, by David Owen, at  Book Craic

Alliana, Girl of Dragons, by Julie Abe, at The erudite labyrinth, A Cat, a Book, and a Cup of Tea, and Charlotte's Library

Beast of Stone, by Linda Sue Park, at Colorful Book Reviews 

The Beatryce Prophecy, by Kate DiCamillo, at goodreadswithronna

The Blackthorn Branch, by Ellen Caldecott, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

David Massie and the Hidden Underworld, by Andrew M. Nehring, at Say What?

The Devouring Wolf, by Natalie C. Parker, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Fenris and Mott, by Greg van Eekhout, at Cracking the Cover,  alibrarymama, and Ms. Yingling Reads

Freddie vs the Family Curse, by Tracy Badua, at Eye-Rolling Demigod's Book Blog 

The Girl, the Ghost and the Lost Name, by Reece Carter, at Scope for Imagination

A Girl's Guide to Love and Magic, by Debbie Rigaud, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Gravebooks, by J.A. White, at Say What?

Hana Hsu and the Ghost Crab Nation, by Sylvia Liu, at Say What?

I, Cosmo, by Carlie Sorosiak, at  Rosi Hollinbeck

The Monster in the Lake, by Louie Stowell, at Valinora Troy

The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne, by Jonathan Stroud, at Miss Print

Pilar Ramirez and the Curse of San Zenon (Pilar Ramirez Duology #2), by Julian Randall, at Say What?

Race to Fire Mountain (Future Hero #1), by Remy Blackwood, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Spark, by M.G. Leonard, at Scope for Imagination

The Treekeepers, by Kieran Larwood, at The Firebird's Bookshelf

The Way to Rio Luna, by Zoraida Cordova, at Colorful Book Reviews

What Lives in the Woods, by Linday Currie, at The Bookwyrm's Den

The Wizard in the Wood (The Dragon in the Library #3) by Louie Stowell, at Say What?

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, by T. Kingfisher, at The Book Nut

Authors and Interviews

Tom Huddleston (Flood World Trilogy) at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

Other Good Stuff

New in the UK, from Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

10 MAGICAL WITCH BOOKS FOR MIDDLE GRADERS, at Book Riot

Alliana, Girl of Dragons, by Julie Abe

Alliana, Girl of Dragons, by Julie Abe (August 2, 2022, Little Brown), is a prequel to the utterly delightful Eva Evergreen series.  Though I very much enjoyed Alliana's adventures, I can't quite call it delightful--it's a Japanese-infused Cinderella story, and it was hard for me to read about Alliana being tormented by her stepmother and stepbrother.  They are truly awful to her, and she is trapped by debts she'll never be able to pay off, no matter how hard she works in the family inn.  Her one hope is to be chosen for the Royal Academy, but her stepmother will stop at nothing to keep her from leaving....

Alliana does have one person who loves her--the grandmother who lives up at the top of the inn, sewing tapestries and always ready with stories of myths and legends.  When the grandmother dies, Alliana's life seems even more hopeless, but magic is real in her world, and so are dragons....

Gathering plants as far as she can get from her stepmother, Alliana saves a baby nightdragon, and they form a strong and loving bond, though she can't possibly take it home with her.  And chance also brings her the friendship of a young witch, Nela.  And then chance pushes even harder at Alliana's life, forcing her to confront a magical danger that is threatening even the most powerful witches of the land.  She realizes, with the help of her friends, that she's a person of value, and is instrumental (along with the dragon) in setting things right.

Great for young readers who:

like kids in unhappy circumstances who not only get magical endings (this isn't a Cinderella story where the girl marries the prince, but the beautiful dress problem, which I always appreciated as a kid, is here!) but who also survive trauma and end the book starting to heal with the help of people who love them.

like stories of kids loving and caring for magical creatures

want to be friends with a witch their own age who will give them broomstick rides!

loved Eva Evergreen! (which I now want to reread* possibly then moving on to re-reading this one, which I will enjoy more than the first time around because of not being sad and anxious for Alliana. )

*I'm glad to have a solid tbr pile because there were dark years when I didn't have enough to read, but I also miss the re-reading I did back then.....

Disclaimer: review copy received at ALA

See You Yesterday, by Rachel Lynn Solomon for Timeslip Tuesday

See You Yesterday, by Rachel Lynn Solomon (YA, May 2022, Simon and Schuster) is a very entertaining and rather moving ground-hog day sort of time slip story.  It's Barrett Bloom's first day of college, and she is eager to put the heavy weight of high school behind her, and start afresh.  But she wakes up to find that she has a new room-mate--a girl she was once friends with in high school, who turned into an enemy.  And her day doesn't get any better--humiliated by Miles, a smart aleck boy in Physics class, flubbing her chance to get a position on the college newspaper, and culminating with setting a frat on fire.  Not the first day she wanted....but it isn't her only chance.

When she wakes up the next day, it is the first day all over again.  And Barrett can't do anything about it but try to do better (and successfully avoid the frat fire).  Then Miles seeks her out--he has also been stuck in a repeating first day loop, in his case for weeks already, and he's glad to have a potential ally in figuring out how to get unstuck.  Gradually Barrett and Miles, thrown together day after the same day, start to appreciate and trust each other, taking advantage of their situation to seize the day and do all sorts of fun and whacky stuff (like treating all 15 dogs in the shelter to a grand day out, wildly spending money on adventures and free ice cream for everyone on campus, and more).  And gradually they open up to each other, sharing their secrets and past traumas.  And as day follows the same day, they fall in love....learning each other, delighting in each other, treasuring each other.

But if time starts flowing like it should again, will their love last?

There's lots to like here.  Barrett isn't a standard sexy YA heroine--she's plus sized, abrasive, prickly, and impulsive.  A lot of the prickly and abrasive part comes from the trauma of her high school experience, which includes a really horrible episode in which the guy who asks her to prom, and then has (consensual, though not great) sex with her, turns that into a public humiliation nightmare for her. She wants to be someone different, but it turns out that Miles loves her for who she is, and she is just the right person to pull him out of his reserve into the flow of life and laughter. Barrett is Jewish, and Miles is Japanese Jewish, and their shared Jewish-ness is a part of their growing relationship, and Barret's mom is about to marry her girlfriend, which also makes this story have a nice outside the standard mold taste to it.

But mostly the fun and interest comes from Barrett and Miles making each new/same day different and extraordinarily, days in which they are able to grow and change.

I'm not sure it needed to be over 400 pages long, but I am sure that YA readers who want entertaining cute and introspection-provoking romance will not care.

A nice time travel touch was Barrett and Miles seeking out a physics professor who was basically forced to resign after her high level course on Time Travel outraged parents.  She wasn't able to give them a magic solution, but did nudge them toward the exit point of their loops, and I liked how the time travel was neither entirely fantastical or entirely scientific, but a bit of both.  I also liked the lost sock that was an important key to it all....lost socks are powerful, mysterious entities!