The Fantastic Dinosaur Adventure, by Gerald Durrell, for Timeslip Tuesday

I started reading Gerald Durrell when I was about 11 with The Talking Parcel (a lovely middle grade fantasy I still reread) and My Family and Other Animals (read to pieces), and my mother gradually offered me more as I grew older.  He was a huge influence on me.  But though his writing, at its best, is gloriously entertaining, vivid, and exciting, he did not write because he enjoyed it.  Instead, he said that "To me [writing] is simply a way to make money which enables me to do my animal work, nothing more."

And sadly this seems to be the raison d'etre of today's Timeslip Tuesday book,  The Fantastic Dinosaur Adventure (1989).  I was so happy to have found it by happenstance in a used bookstore I was visiting for the first time (Bennett's Books in Connecticut, well worth visiting), and then so disappointed when I read it.

It is the second adventure of the three Dollybutt children (and no, I do not find their last name amusing....) and their whacky great uncle Lancelot, who has a wonderous balloon.  He now has equipped his balloon with a time machine....but evil Sir Jasper and his goon, Throtlethumbs (I again did not chuckle), have stolen a copy of it!  They have gone back to the time of the dinosaurs, to collect babies and bring them back for fame and profit.  And so Lancelot asks the children if they'd care to join him in going back to dinosaur times as well to thwart this plot.

Off they go, and wondrously the dinosaurs can all talk! The kids and the reader meet lots of different species (a bit instructional and not particularly fun reading), dangerous things happen, the bad guys are thwarted with dinosaur help, and they return to their own time not only with the bad guys but with a baby Gnathosaurus and a baby Diplodocus without any troubling ethical questions (although both wanted to go on the journey, I don't think they'd reached the age of consent).

So basically we have 96 pages of an ethical lesson that animal poaching is bad because it is bad, and some now out of date dinosaur instruction.  No character development, no depth to the story, and no sparkly wit.  And I did not care for the villainization of the T Rex (surely a naturalist should appreciate apex predators?), but I did learn Gnathosaurus existed which is some small gain....

Sigh.  It kind of makes the Magic Treehouse books look really great.

1.  Gerald Durrell: The Authorized Biography By Douglas Botting, 1999, p. 261 

This week's round-up of Midde Grade Sci Fi and Fantasy from around the blogs (2/26/23)

Happy (almost) end of February!  Here's what I found this week; let me know if I missed your post.

Reviews

The Adventures of the Flash Gang: Episode 1: Exploding Experiment, by M.M. Downing & S.J. Waugh, at  Mark My Words

The BigWoof Conspiracy, by  Dashe Roberts, at Twirling Book Princess

The Carrefour Curse, by Dianne K. Salerni, at Charlotte's Library

Children of the Quicksands, by Efua Tratore, at Dead Houseplants

Deadlands: Hunted, by Skye Melki-Wegner, at Geolibrarian

Desert Creatures, by Kay Chronister, at  Mouse Reads

The Edge of the Ocean, by L.D. Lapinski, at Charlotte, Somewhere 

Fear Ground, by Jennifer Killick, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

Field Guide to the Supernatural Universe by Alyson Noel, at  Kiss the Book 

The Girl from Earth's End, by Tara Dairman, at  Log Cabin Library

Into the Faerie Hill, by H S Norup, at Through the Bookshelf

Like a Curse, and Like a Charm, by Elle McNicoll, at Magic Fiction Since Potter: 

No One Leaves the Castle, by Christopher Healy, at Pages Unbound 

The Nowhere Thief, by  Alice M. Ross, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books 

One Giant Leap, by Ben Gartner, at  Ms. Yingling Reads

The Rescue of Ravenwood, by Natasha Farrant, at  Book Craic

The Search for Synergy (Talisman 1), by Brett Salter, at Mark My Words: 

The Town with No Mirrors, by Christina Collins,  Ms. Yingling Reads

The Worlds We Leave Behind, by  A.F. Harrold, at Cracking the Cover

Authors and Interviews

"Rick Riordan previews Percy Jackson and Chalice of the Gods" at  EW.com

Lindsay Currie ((It Found Us) at Middle Grade Ninja

Payal Doshi (Rea and the Blood of the Nectar)  Middle-Grade Craft: Insights --  From The Mixed Up Files

Other Good Stuff

Watch the Trailer for The Magician’s Elephant at 100 Scopenotes

The Carrefour Curse, by Dianne K. Salerni, for Timeslip Tuesday

This week's Timeslip Tuesday book is The Carrefour Curse, by Dianne K. Salerni (middle grade, January 31, 2023, Holiday House), and it's a great one!

Take an old family house, full of secrets, most of them disturbing, some downright horrific.

Populate this house with an extended family who have elemental magic gifts, some powerful, some pleasant, and (again) some horrific.  (lots of twists and turns to appreciate!)

Send a girl, Garnet, to the house, who has never been there before, as her mother wanted to raise her away from all the trauma she herself had experienced there.

Trap Garnet, along with all the other family members, inside this magic filled house, until the house choses which of them should be the new head of the family.

And then add time travel, and journey along with Garnet through the whole magical, twisted story of the Carrefours past and present as she not only discovers hidden truths, but sets things right that had gone horribly wrong...with the help of time travelling....

The result is a beautifully gripping middle grade fantasy, full of memorable characters, mysteries, and intriguing magic!

The time travelling came as a pleasant surprise, and provided Garnet with key pieces of information that she was able to piece together to figure out how choices made in the past had shaped the confusing and dangerous present she found herself in.  She goes both to her own mother's past as a teenager, but further back down her family's history as well.  Almost trapped in a hideous magical work of an ancestor a few generations back, she's able, with help from another time travelling ancestor, to break the abominable magical working and set the house and its family on a more wholesome track.  It all builds gradually and inexorably up to a final climax that turns into a very satisfactory ending!

Highly recommended--there's enough horror for the young horror fans, enough fantastical detail for the fantasy lovers, and enough non-fantastical family dynamics and mystery for readers who aren't quite either of the above.

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction (2//19/23)

Good morning all!  Here's what I found this week.

The Reviews

Bastille Vs. the Evil Librarians (Alcatraz Vs. the Evil Librarians #6), by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson, at Carstairs Considers

Children of the Quicksands, by Efua Traore, at Mark My Words

The Clackity (Blight Harbor), by Lora Senf, at Mark My Words

Etta Invincible, by Reese Eschmann, at Log Cabin Library

The Grace of Wild Things, by Heather Fawcett, at Cracking the Cover

Into the Windwracked Wilds, by "A. Deborah Baker," at Puss Reboots

Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom, by Nina Varela, at Dinipandareads

Like a Curse, and Like a Charm, by Elle McNicoll, at Magic Fiction Since Potter: 

The Magic Hour, by David Wolstencroft, at Scope for Imagination

Midwinter Burning, by Tanya Landman, at Charlotte's Library

The Pearl Hunter, by Miya T. Beck, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Rainbow Grey: Battle for the Skies, by Laura Ellen Anderson at  Bellis Does Books 

Speculation, by Nisi Shawl, at Ms. Yingling Reads: 

The Stickleback Catchers, by Lisette Auton, at Book Craic

Sweep - The Story of a Girl and her Monster, by Jonathan Auxier, at Eustea Reads 

Where the Black Flowers Bloom, by Ronald L. Smith, at  Pages Unbound 

The Whispering Pines (EXIT 13, Book 1), by James Preller, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Willow Moss and the Magic Thief, by Dominique Valente, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads 

Winston Chu vs. the Whimsies, by Stacey Lee, at  A Library Mama

Wretched Waterpark, by Kiersten White, at Pages Unbound

Two at A Library Mama--Children of the Quicksands, by Efua Tratore and Eden’s Everdark, by Karen Strong 

Author and Interviews

Sinéad O’Hart (The Time Tider) at Library Girl and Book Boy

Shawn Peters (Logan Foster and the Shadow of Doubt) at  Literary Rambles

Laurel Snyder (The Witch of Woodland) at Watch. Connect. Read.

Nina Varela (Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom) at Writer's Digest 

Other Good Stuff

Congratulations to all the Cybils Awards winners, in particular Mirrorwood, by Deva Fangan in Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative fiction!  If you want to join the fun being an EMG Spec Fic Cybils judge, keep reading the books and keep your eys open for the call for judges later this year!

20 Best Dystopian Books For Tweens, at Imagination Soup 

"The Power of Possibility: How Reading Fantasy and Science Fiction Can Help Your Child Grow" at W. Bradford Swift 

Midwinter Burning, by Tanya Landman, for Timeslip Tuesday

This week's Timeslip Tuesday book,,Midwinter Burning, by Tanya Landman (November 2022 in the UK, Walker Books), was brought to my attention by this review at Magic Fiction Since Potter.  Ever since I discovered this blog I've been buying books from the UK recommended here as briskly as funds allow from  Blackwells (free shipping that doesn't involve Amazon).  This story, promising much that I enjoy in English fantasy, was my most recent purchase, and although my hopes were perhaps a bit too high, I read it in a single sitting with much enjoyment.

Alfie, evacuated from London in World War II, arrives at a safe haven not just from the threat of war, but from his unloving mother. Welcomed at a small farm in southwest England, he can hardly fathom the kindness with which the motherly woman of the farm showers him.  Even having one of the bullies from his school in London end up in the same village isn't enough to squash the happiness he finds in the animals, the country side, the marvelous ocean, and his growing confidence that he is settling into a peaceful grove at the farm.  

All he is missing is a friend...and then, out of the corner of his eye, a boy appears; another lonely one like himself (the reader has met this boy already in the preface of the book set in prehistoric England, so knows what's happening...).  They speak different languages, but manage to communicate nonetheless, and Smidge becomes the best friend Alfie could have imagined.

But always the standing stones overlooking the ocean pull at him disquietly, and stories of the midwinter burning that has been a community tradition even in recent times disquiet the reader...The land is old, and the stones have a dark history.  

And when time slips more directly, Alfie and Smidge hit that darkness head on.  In the present Alfie, still wearing his angel wings from the village nativity play (not a successful production....) and desperate to save Smidge from an evil fate back in his own time, is beset by bullies, pursued by them over a landscape where past and present are colliding, until he slips back into Smidge's time himself.

This is a fantastic part of the book, beautifully strange and evocative, and although the book as a whole didn't quite reach the heights of numinous terror with the darkness of past and present colliding that  I think it could have, it came awfully close.  There was one thing in particular that struck a false note for me.  I felt slightly cheated when it was revealed quite a ways into the book that time had always been a slippery thing for Alfie--even in London he'd seen the past playing out in the present.  This was something of a casual aside, and I felt it badly weakened the power of this particular place and this particular story, making Alfie the special thing and not the land and the memories of ancient darkness it held.

Still, come for a pleasant WW II evacuee story, stay for the threat of human sacrifice....highly recommended,

This week's round up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (2/12/23)

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

The Reviews

Alice the Cat, by Tim Cummings, at Bookworm for Kids

Aranika and the Syamantaka Jewel, by Aparajita Bose at Bookgeeks

The Carrefour Curse, by Diane K. Salerni, at Ms. Yingling Reads (scroll down)

The Dream Hoarder, by David Oates, at Scope for Imagination

Hamra and the Jungle of Memories, by Hanna Alkaf, at Islamic School Librarian

Hummingbird, by Natalie Lloyd, at That's Another Story

The Last Straw, by Margaret Baker, at  Charlotte's Library

Marina and the Kraken (The Mythics #1) by Lauren Magaziner, at  GW Chronicle of the Yawp

Pony, by R.J.Palacio, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

Skyriders by Polly Holyoke, at Mark My Words

 Spark, by Sarah Beth Durst, at Suzanne Warr

The Talent Thief, by Mike Thayer, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Time Tider, by Sinéad O’Hart, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads  and Scope for Imagination

Winston Chu and the Whimsies, by Stacey Lee, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Authors and Interviews

Brett Salter (The Search For Synergy) at Armed with A Book

Elle McNicoll (Like a Curse) at United By Pop

DaVaun Sanders (Keynan Masters and the Peerless Magic Crew) at Fuse#8

Sinéad O’Hart (The Time Tider) at Book Craic

Mari Lowe (Aviva Vs. the Dybbuk) at Fuse #8

Liz Flanagan (Wildsmith) at Library Girl and Book Boy

Sofiya Pasternack (Black Bird, Blue Road) at From the Mixed-Up Files

The Last Straw, by Margaret Baker, for Timeslip Tuesday

 

The Last Straw, by Margaret Baker, is a lovely little vintage (1971) time travel story.  It starts with a fire that engulfs the London home of the three siblings who are the main characters.  Rose, Guy, and Bell are saved by their quick thinking baby siter, but their parents, finding the house on fire when they get home, are injured trying to get in to save them.  With no handy relations to take the kids in while the parents are in hospital, the baby siter comes to the rescue again, arraigning for them to be paying guests at her parents small farm in the south west.  

It is winter, with little to do, but exploring up in the attic one day Bell is thrilled to find a dusty straw doll (she is grieving the loss of all her own dolls in the fire).  This is no ordinary doll--she is alive!  The kids take this in their stride remarkably well, accepting a talking straw doll without question.  Bell names her Poppy...and the adventures begin.

Talking is only the start of Poppy's magic.  She is a creature of an old harvest ritual, once made anew every year but now almost forgotten.  But she still has power, and she takes the children away from winter into summers years and years gone by.  Their first trip is to the farm as it was in World War II, the second to Victorian times, and though in the later there is some tension when Poppy is lost to them, there is never real danger.  The kids they meet in the past knew Poppy in their own times, and she took them on much wilder adventures, but this group of kids has only mild adventures.  But then they ask Poppy to take them to the future, and what they see dismays them badly.  

Does Poppy have enough of her old harvest magic still in her dusty straws to change what is to come?

I find that Baker doesn't quite hit emotional tension quite hard enough to be brilliant, sometimes coming close enough to be frustrating but not quite getting there.  That being said, I am enjoying working my through her books (though the ones that interest me most are hard to find.  I am annoyed that they did not come my way when I lived in the Bahamas as a child in the 1970s, with a small school library full of this sort of book).  But be that as it may, even at this point in life I found this one a pleasant summer-full read,  just what I needed in this past weekend's cold snap!

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (2/5/23)

Still have home renovations to do, but they are not pressing and the kids are back at college, so my Sunday round-ups resume!  Please let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews

The Carrefour Curse, by Dianne K. Salerni, at Valinora Troy

Elsewhere Girls, by Emily Gale and Nova Weetman, at Charlotte's Library

Haarville, by Justin Davies, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

The Healing Star, by A. Kidd, at Children's Books Heal 

Kelcie Murphy and the Hunt for the Heart of Danu, by Erika Lewis, at Log Cabin Library: 

Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Being Good, by Louie Stowell, at Kiss the Book

Lonely Castle In The Mirror, by Mizuki Tsujimura, at Mouse Reads

Nothing Interesting Ever Happens to Ethan Fairmont, by Nick Brooks, at  Bookworm for Kids

The Pearl Hunter, by  Miya T. Beck, at Cracking the Cover 

The Song Walker, by Zillah Bethell, at Book Craic

The Storm Swimmer, by Clare Weze, at Scope for Imagination

Valentine Crow and Mr. Death, by Jenni Spangler, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

Warriors: A Starless Clan: Sky (#2), by Erin Hunter, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Willow Moss & the Vanished Kingdom (Starfell #3), by Dominique Valente, at Mark My Words

Windswept, by Margi Preus, at Redeemed Reader

Winnie Zeng Unleashes a Legend, by Katie Zhao, at A Library Mama

Where the Black Flowers Bloom, by Ronald L. Smith, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Two at The Book Search--The Grace of Wild Things, by Heather Fawcett, and Where the Black Flowers Bloom, by Ronald L. Smith

Authors and Interviews

Mark Leiknes (Quest Kids series), at Smack Dab in the Middle

Other Good Stuff

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