this week's roundup of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (10/1/23)

Happy October!  Today is the first day of the Cybils Awards nominating period--nominating books is a great way to show love for them.  Eligible books are those published between Oct 16 2022 and Oct 15 2023;  I've starred the books in today's round up that are eligible.....as always, let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

*Alex Wise vs the End of the World by Terry J. Benton-Walker, at  Take Me Away…

Baby Unicorns (The Magical Unicorn Society #3), by Anne Marie Ryan, at Twirling Book Princess 

*Book of Screams, by Jeff Szpirglas,  and Steven B. Hughes,  (illus.). at Ms. Yingling Reads

Dragon Force – Infinity’s Secret, by Katie and Kevin Tsang, at Valinora Troy

Dreamweavers: Night of the Scary Fairies , by  Annabelle Sami, at  Book Craic

Eedoo: Book 1 (Eedoo Trilogy 1) by W.W. Rowe, at Mark My Words

In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen (Geomancer Book 1), by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, at Book Craic

Island of Whispers, by Frances Hardinge, illustrated Emily Gravett, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

*Kingdom Over the Sea, by Zohra Nabi, at A Library Mama

*The Lost Library, by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass, at Redeemed Reader

*Nightmare King, by Daka Hermon, at Ms. Yingling Reads

*Perfect Villains (Bad Princesses #1) by Jennifer Torres, at She's Got Books on Her Mind 

Podkin and the Singing Spear (The World of Podkin One-Ear #7), by Kieran Larwood, at  Book Craic

*Princess Betony and the Unicorn, by Pamela Freeman, illustrated by Tamsin Ainslie, at Log Cabin Library

*Rewind, by Lisa Graff, at Charlotte's Library

River of Crows (The Arcanium #1) by N.P. Thompson, at Mark My Words

*Scream for the Camera (Graveyard Girls #2), by Lisi Harrison and Daniel Kraus, at Bookworm for Kids 

*Serwa Boateng's Guide to Witchcraft and Mayhem, by Roseanne A. Brown, narrated by Soneela Nankani, at Sharon the Librarian (audiobook review)

The Silver Road, Sinéad O’Hart, at  Sifa Elizabeth Reads  

*Vivian Van Tassel and the Secret of Midnight Lake, by Michael Witwer, at The Miramichi Reader and  Bookworm for Kids

What Came From the Stars, by Gary D. Schmidt, at Redeemed Reader

Two at Ms. Yingling Reads--*Zombie Season, by Justin Weinberger, and *Arazan's Wolves (Ranger's Apprentice: The Royal Ranger, #6), by John Flanagan

Three more at Ms. Yingling Reads--*The Shape of Time, by Ryan Calejo,  *The Longest Night in Egypt (The Shadow Prince #2), by David Anthony Durham,  and *The Memory Thieves (The Marvellers #2), by Dhonielle Clayton

Two featuring indigenous tweens at SLJ--*Tiger Lily and the Secret Treasure of Neverland, by Cherie Dimaline, and *The Storyteller, by Brandon Hobson

Authors and Interviews

Peter Brown (The Wild Robot Trilogy) at The Yarn podcast

Other Good Stuff

Coming Soon(ish): The Wild Robot Animated Film, via  100 Scope Notes 

18 Zombie Books for Kids & Teens, at Literacious