The Oracle's Door, by Zetta Elliott

The Oracle's Door, by Zetta Elliott (September 14, 2024), is a prequel to her Dragons in a Bag series, and though it stands on its own, it will bring most joy to readers already familiar with the magical world of Palmara!

In Dragons in a Bag, we meet Ma, the most powerful witch in Brooklyn, through the eyes of her grandson Jaxon.  Now we get to meet her when she was Vinny Robinson, living in the South Side of Chicago in 1919, pushing back against her mother's efforts to keep her spunkiness and curiosity in check.  And we journey with her and her best friend L. Roy Jenkins through magical portals into the beautiful land of Palmara, where they meet Sis, its draconic guardian, and try to save a newly hatched (and adorable) dragon.  

Though this is all wonderful, the baby dragon is failing to thrive, and Vinny and L. Roy grow increasingly frustrated that they can't do more to help.  And back in Chicago, tension grows between Vinny and her mother, and racial tensions are growing in the city as well.  When Vinny meets the mysterious Oracle of Palmara, she receives a frightening prophecy of fire...and when a bloody riot engulfs the city, putting Vinny and her mother in terrible danger, Vinny makes a choice that she will second guess for the rest of her life....

It is of course lovely to revisit Palmara, and lovely as well to see what Ma was like as a young girl (and to get reflections from her as an old woman, looking back at events in sections sprinkled in the main story).  But though this works beautifully as a portal fantasy and a look at a slice of the past that will be new to many readers (me included), I did have one little bit of let down.  I felt that more could have been done with some of the emotional beats within the magical world, especially one key event, which instead of being deeply powerful was quickly lost in what was happening in the real world (slight spoiler of explanation--the baby dragon and Vinny were linked together, with the well-being of one affecting that of the other, but this bit of the story didn't get developed quite enough to satisfy me....)

That being said, this is an engrossing story of black girl magic that will delight fans of the series.

disclaimer: review copy received from the author

The Ship in the Garden, by Zetta Elliott, for Timeslip Tuesday

The Ship in the Garden, by Zetta Elliott (middle grade, 2023, independently published, 104 pages), this week's Timeslip Tuesday book, is many things in one--a fantasy story with magical beings, a story of 13 year old Scottish kids with non-magical worries, a story about the slave trade in Scotland, and a time travel story that sends one of the kids back in time into enslavement on a Caribbean island.

It starts with a school field trip to Pollok House, build by an 18th-century Glasgow merchants whose fortune was based on slavery.  The day is marred for Kofi when he's paired with Gavin, a racist tough who is determined to make him miserable.  Kofi is also a new kid, followed by rumors about what he did to get suspended from his previous school, and he's also a kid living with the sadness of his beloved Ghanaian grandmother's sickness.  

So things are already a lot for Kofi when the tour of Pollok House is full of weirdness with no logical explanation, including a shadowy doppelganger and sounds no one else hears (this part is great haunted house reading!).  Then he explores outside and finds a book Gavin nicked from the house's library, smeared with blood, lying on the ground near the replica of an 18th-century merchant ship. And then Gavin doesn't show when it's time to get back on the bus to school.

Kofi shares his worry that something's happened to Gavin with a Kaylee, a black classmate who seems like a possible friend. But Kaylee, who Gavin has also targeted because she is trans, refuses to care.  So Kofi goes back to the garden alone....and meets an urisk, a strange and lonely Scottish magical creature.  The urisk is trying to bring back his one friend, a Caribbean boy who was the enslaved page boy of the 18th century family.  Gavin was the offering he used to try to make this happen....

And though I could go on and on synopsizing, because there's a lot of story in this relatively slim book, suffice it to say that Gave has travelled back in time into enslavement in the Caribbean, and Kofi is determined to bring him back (partly because he doesn't want the other enslaved people to have to deal with a racist young Nazi bully in their midst, but a bit also because he is horrified by the wrongness of the whole thing).

But to save Gavin, Kofi must resist the urisk's schemes and deflections, and he must be brave enough to face the great Water Mother herself and make a sacrifice that tears at his heart.....all for a racist bully, who, it turns out, is furious about being saved....

Although most of the story is Kofi's first person point of view in the present, we also get glimpses of Gavin's life in the past.  It is tragic and grim, but it does give Gavin the chance to feel connection such as he lacked in the present.  It's not a redemption arc in which Gavin is magically en-nicened, but an explanatory arc with hope for change.  As for Kaylee, she's such a strong and vibrant character that when she's on the page we don't need to be in her head.   

Like I said, there's a lot of story here, and it kept me reading past my bedtime with much interest and enjoyment. Older middle grade fantasy readers will probably do the same, and they'll get some learning of Scottish and Carribean history in the process, and have thoughts provoked about the present as well. There's weight here of past and present sadness, but the fantastical elements, likeable main character, and the vivid pictures created by the fine writing relieve enough of the pressure to make it a (thought-provoking) pleasure for the reader (me).  I wish, though, (and this might be a matter of personal taste) that it had been less brisk and gripping, with more moments of inflection and reflection, smoothing the transitions, and giving space for the powerful moments to reverberate more clearly. 

For more about Zetta Elliott and how she came to write this particular book, here's a talk she gave over at her website--“‘I AM MYRTILLA’S DAUGHTER’: WEAVING SCOTLAND, SLAVERY, AND SITHS INTO HISTORICAL FANTASIES”  (well worth reading!)

Throwback, by Maurene Goo, for Timeslip Tuesday

This week's time travel book, Throwback, by Maurene Goo (YA, April 2023, Zando Young Readers), sends Samantha, the daughter of Korean immigrants, back in time to the 1990s, where she has to play the role of an ordinary high school kid until she figures out what she needs to change back in the past in order to get home again.

Sam is kicking hard against her mother's expectations and aspirations.  We first met her when she's deliberately being obnoxious during her parents' country club membership interview (and yes, I share Sam's views about country clubs and their grass maintenance issues, but still it was hard to like her at first).  She and her mother, Priscilla, are clashing at every turn, and it comes to a head when Priscilla's mom, Sam's beloved Halomi, is hospitalized and in a coma.  No, Sam doesn't want to be taken shopping for a Homecoming dress the next day.  And tells her mother she hates her (and yes, I see where Sam is coming from, and there are failures of communication on both sides, but it strengthened my feelings about Sam being self-centered).

In any event, she has to find a ride back to school....and the driver who comes to pick her up ends up taking her back to the past.  

So there's Sam, in the 1990s, in her mom's high school.  Her mom is in the running for homecoming queen, and Sam knows she didn't win, and that somehow this situation soured the relationship between her and Halomi.  Maybe this is what she needs to change...so she makes herself Priscilla's campaign manager.

The culture shock is real--Sam has never been more conscious of being Korean and is appalled by the racism her mom had/has to deal with daily.  There's also the casual misogyny, lack of environmental awareness, and lack of technology.  But sticking to Priscilla like glue, she finds her understanding of her mother deepening, finds her grandmother wasn't nearly as wonderful as a mother, and finds that they are actually becoming real friends.  And on top of this, she finds herself falling by another new kid, a boy who seems almost as out of place as she is....

I never did quite warm to Sam, who I found too pushy and thoughtless, but I did very much appreciate the way she becomes more aware of what her mother is really like as a person, and more understanding of the circumstances that made her who she became.  This is really well done.  And I found the romance sub-plot fun as well (and was glad to see Sam doing some critical thinking about her boyfriend back in the present; there were many red flags that she was ignoring).  What was the most fun though were the trials and tribulations of being a modern girl back in the 1990s, and the target audience should get a kick out of this as well. 

In short, an engrossing read with enough thought-provoking-ness to keep it from being just fluffy fun, and more than enough fun to make it more than an emotionally heavy mother-daughter relationship story.

Time travel wise--Sam lucked out here.  She finds a place to stay with a kind woman who she knows in her own time as an assisted living resident with dementia, and this woman not only gives her food and shelter but also money.  The mechanics of the time travel were satisfactory, and the changes made in the past did have ripples, but the biggest change was in Sam's greater understanding of her mother, her grandmother, and her (now ex) boyfriend.

Too Many Interesting Things Are Happening to Ethan Fairmont, by Nick Brooks

I very much enjoyed meeting Ethan Fairmont and his friends, including the alien they call Cheese in his first outing (my review) so I dove into Too Many Interesting Things Are Happening to Ethan Fairmont, by Nick Brooks, (middle grade, November 2023, Union Square Kids), with pleasure, and was rewarded by a good read.

Ethan is happily planning interesting inventing and pleasant hanging out at the old industrial building now turned maker space where he met Cheese, and foiled the other hostile aliens hunting down Cheese and his people.  And he's happily looking forward to the start of sixth grade.  Less happily, he misses Cheese lots, and he and his family are still cooping from the trauma of the local police and the feds threatening the black community of Ferrous City and his family in particular.  And then school gets off to a rocky start, when a new girl, Fatima, threatens his self-worth with her own inventor smarts, and Ferrous City is experiencing a population boom that's raising real estate prices, and Ethan's parents, who are doing fine but aren't well off, are considering cashing in. On top of all this, the feds are back in town (and what are they up to?)

Turns out, though, that Fatima is just the new team member Ethan needs to re-establish communication with Cheese.  And Fatima is even more needed when the evil aliens renew hostilities....

It's not a comfort read; as the title suggests, too many interesting (and not very joyous) things are going on in Ethan's life.  But it's a gripping read, and a thought-provoking one, and I enjoyed it. The young characters are believable and very relatable, as is Ethan's growing maturity about teamwork and living in the moment instead of what if-ing, the tension builds at a nice pace, and the ending is satisfactory!  The social justice theme of the first book is here as well, as is an age-appropriate romance.  And of course a lovely alien friendship! 

If there is a third book, I'm there for it!

Omega Morales and the Curse of El Cucuym by Laekan Zea Kemp

It was a pleasure to revisit Omega Morales in her second adventure--Omega Morales and the Curse of El Cucuy (Omega Morales, 2) by Laekan Zea Kemp (October 2023, Little Brown).  A new monster, the legendary Mexican boogeyman El Cucuy, has come to town, and he is kidnapping children, and sending adults into an enchanted sleep.  Omega, her cousin Carlito, and Clau, her ghost friend, are determined to defeat him, but the game he is playing with them has twists and turns that seem to make this almost impossible.

Fortunately Omega has a new magical creature friend at her side, who is both cute and brave, as well has help from other kids in town.  And although most of the adults in her family are asleep, she can still find some help through dreams with them, and those who aren't asleep try to help (with little success, though).  In the end, as was the case with the first book, it is understanding and empathizing with the monster that lets Omega put an end to his reign of terror.

As I said in my review of the first book in the series, Omega Morales and the Legend of La Lechuza, "it never ceases to amaze me how the familiar middle grade themes of navigating family and friends and one's own changing self can be explored in so many different magical ways."  And as was the case with the first book, Omega isn't just dealing with a monstrous external threat but is also struggling to understand her own magic and how it is manifesting.  As was the case in the first book, her mother and grandmother are not helpful in this regard (even when awake), and I continue to be displeased with them.  On the plus side, though, this sequel doesn't have the disturbing bullying Omega experienced in the first book.

It is a book dense with magic, dangers, and Omega's relationships with a swirl of other characters (lots of minor characters)--it pays to read it slowly, because if you are a fast reader like me, you might from time to time become unsure of the particulars of what's happening and who is involved.  And be warned--it ends with a cliffhanger.  But those two caveats aside, it's an engrossing and entertaining story!

Ways to Build Dreams, by Renée Watson

Though I mostly review middle grade sci fi/fantasy here, I do actually read other genres too! And Ways to Build Dreams, by Renée Watson, illustrated by Niña Mata (October 17th 2023, Bloomsbury), was just the right heartwarming read for this difficult week.

This is the fourth story about Ryan Hart, and in this outing she is on the cusp of change.  Starting middle school next year, quite possibly without her best friend at her side, is a daunting prospect.  And it feels like she's being pushed to figure out not just who her future self will become, but how she will make change for good in the world.

The story is full of lots of small moments in ordinary life; there's nothing dramatic, but it's all interesting, and there's enough going on, and enough food for thought, to invest the reader in Ryan's world. 

But most of all the story is full of love --from her parents, from her friends (with empathy even coming from a boy she hadn't before been able to quite trust), from her teacher, and from herself--not just love back to all those people, but loving herself, and believing, as the title promises, that she will keep on building dreams. Though the honor of being her class valedictorian comes with the horror of public speaking, Ryan rises to the challenge.  And her speech, which brings this part of her life, and the book, to a close, says something many of us need to be reminded of--

"So, instead of telling you to dream big and change the world, I want to say, go change your world--your family, your neighborhood, your community.  I've learned that it's not only important to dream of doing big, big, big, things, it's also important to dream of simple, everyday things we can do to make the world a better place."

Yes. I needed to hear that.

disclaimer--review copy received from the publisher.

Abeni's Song, by P. Djèlí Clark

It's almost time for me to post my regular Sunday round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi, but I am sneaking in a quick review of Abeni's Song, by P. Djèlí Clark (July 25, 2023 by Starscape) , so that I have something to contribute (and also because I think this is a book that deserves more attention than I've seen it getting in mg sci fi/fantasy circles).

Abeni's life growing up in a remote West African (fantasy version) town has been one of mundane concerns and small triumphs as she moves towards being a grown-up member of her community.  But then horror strikes, when a mysterious piper leads all the children but her off into who knows where, and a supernatural force destroys the town, capturing all the adults. Abeni is saved only because the local witch/wisewoman saves her.  

Safe (but trapped) in the witch's compound, Abeni burns with grief and fury, and is desperate to do something for all those loved and lost.  She tries to run, but outside the compound are magical dangers and she cannot find a way home.  Gradually she accepts that the witch has much to teach her, both magical and practical skills.  And gradually, too, her feeling of being trapped turns into a feeling of being at home (though her despair and anger simmer on a back burner of her mind).

And what a home the witch's compound is!  The first half of the story is set here, and it was an utter joy for me as a reader who loves houses of many doors, leading to magical strangeness.  But this interlude does not last; even the witch, who we are learning is much more powerful than your ordinary wise woman, can't stand alone against the dark forces of destruction.  

The compound is attacked, and the witch defeated.  But she isn't killed--rather she is reborn as a small girl, who remembers almost nothing of practical use.  Now Abeni must be the teacher and take her small (but still powerful and wise in spots) charge on a journey to find the witch's sister....

And so the second part of the book is a quest fantasy, in which Abeni and the child are joined by two other magical comrades, and almost impossible danger is faced and overcome.  This was solid mg fantasy as well, and readers who aren't me might even like this more action and adventure part better than the slower first half.  Abeni's character really shines in the face of the daunting obstacles she faces.

The ending is a fine place to stop book 1, but clearly there is lots more for Abeni to do!  Read this if you like found family, brave girls learning what they are capable of and facing seemingly impossible odds, and West African infused family (as well as magical houses of many rooms....).  The story, though set in a fictional Africa, reference the real world--it is impossible to miss evocations of the Atlantic slave trade, child soldiers in Africa, and the exploitation of African resources. 

The Destiny of Minou Moonshine, by Gita Ralleigh

I first heard about The Destiny of Minou Moonshine, by Gita Ralleigh, when I was compiling a list of debut middle grade fantasy books for 2023, and I immediately wanted to read this historical fantasy set in an alternate India!  I was fortunate to have that pleasure this weekend, and it was a lovely read!

Minou is a foundling who has lived for all her 13 years with her adopted grandmother in a ramshackle boathouse shelter in Moonlally, a queendom colonized by foreigners (the British Raj with different names, and slightly different culture and technology...).  Her grandmother has raised her to be fierce, smart, and respectful of the Dark Goddess who, despite the efforts of the colonizers, continues to be worshiped by the local people.  Thirteen years ago, the last Queen died, and now a wicked General rules by fear and force.

When her grandmother is killed in suspicious circumstances, Minou joins the rebels bent on overthrowing the General....and so her adventures begin, taking her into the secret heart of the old palace, the jungles beyond Moonlally, and even the skies above it in the general's own airship.  The Queen still lives, and can, perhaps, be found.  With true friends at her side, a marvelous mechanical elephant to help considerably with travel through the jungle, and only a few derailments when her kind and generous heart threatens the quest to find the Queen, Minou succeeds in her quest...only to find that she's also found her own unexpected path forward.

A great read for middle grade readers who love stories of plucky girls vs tyrants, with action that zips briskly along.  Sometimes the resolutions to dangers seemed too easy to me as an adult reader, but this I think actually adds to the appeal of the book to those of its target audience who are in the market for fun reads and not doorstoppers.  Even so I found the adventure part of the story to be lots of fun, especially the steampunk-esque elements, and Minou is certainly a character to cheer for.  

That being said, what I enjoyed most were the pictures the words made for me.  It was a lovely trip to an alternate India!  

Out now in hardcover in the UK from Zephyr, an imprint of Bloomsbury, available also as an ebook in the US.  

The Rhythm of Time, by Questlove and S.A. Crosby for Timeslip Tuesday

Yay me, for getting my Timeslip Tuesday act back together!  With a good one, no less- The Rhythm of Time, by Questlove and S.A. Crosby (middle grade, April 18, 2023, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers).

Rahim's parents are pretty strict when it comes to screen time (as in, there isn't any), but fortunately his best friend Kasia lives nearby, and is happy to share not just her computer but the brilliant gadgets she invents.  Like the cell phone she's built just for him, which though it looks like a clunky brick will still let Rahim check out the 20th century rap music he loves.

But it is much more than it seems.  In fact, it is linked to a secret government satellite, and interfaces with technology the feds definitely don't want falling into the hands of a couple of kids, and it sends Rahim back in time to 1997.  Before Kasia can figure out how to get him back, her house is raided by government agents who confiscate all her devices...

She's able to get them back (being brilliant), and tells Rahim, via the phone, not to make any changes to the timeline while she figures out how to get him back too.  But when Rahim makes friends with the kid who will grow up to be his own dad, changes come thick and fast.  Temporal collapse begins, with extinct animals and historical characters taking over the streets of 1997 Philadelphia....

It's a fun juxtaposition of Rahim anxious about getting home while having adventures with his dad to be like sneaking out to a rap concert and taking down a bully, and Kasia outwitting the feds back home.  But the timeline gets drastically altered, and when Rahim does return, his life has changed for the worse...and Kasia must work frantically to fix it and prevent utter temporal collapse with government agents breathing down her neck.  

It's lots of fun!  Rap music, a black girl STEM genius, dodos etc., and family dynamics make for a great combination!  The time travel goes down nice and easy, with a lovely combination of stress and humor.  The immediate problems may be solved by the end of the book, but there's set up for a sequel, which I'd love to happen.

The Rhythm of Time is eligible for the middle grade speculative fiction category of the Cybils Awards, so keep it in mind when the public nomination period opens in October.

The Enchanted Bridge (Dragons in a Bag #4), by Zetta Elliott

The Enchanted Bridge (Dragons in a Bag #4), by Zetta Elliott (January 2023, Random House Books for Young Readers), sends Jaxon and his friends the magical other world of Palmara, where they must convince its magical guardian to reopen the link back to our world, so that the magical creatures rescued and sent to Palmara in the previous books can return if they wish too.  They must also convince the guardian to help end a magical sleeping sickness that is afflicting the real world people.  On top of that, Jaxon also needs to find and rescue his grandfather.  

This is a lot for a group of middle school kids.  But the stakes quickly get higher, when the kids realized the guardian's brother is unleashing an even more catastrophic danger that could consume both worlds. 

Jazon and his friends are all discovering their own magical powers, but can they learn to use them to their full potential in time?

It's an exciting portal fantasy, full of strange and creative adventures.  Those who have read the first three books, and appreciated the chance to read real world urban fantasy staring kids of color might be disappointed by the direction the series has taken, but I loved it!  The high stakes and challenges (both the in your face kind, and more philosophical conundrums) faced by the kids make for great reading! 

I subject this book to a rather unhappy morning getting my car fixed, and it passed with flying colors! If you like magical adventures in which friendship and mutual support is just as important as wild powers, you'll love it too, and join me in eager anticipation of the next installment.

nb:  The Enchanted Bridge is eligible for the upcoming cycle of the Cybils Awards!  Nominations open in October...and in the meantime, maybe you'd like to be one of the panelists who get to read and discuss all the nominated elementary/middle grade speculative fiction books to pick the shortlist of seven in the first round, or pick the one winner in the second round?  This year the Cybils is having an early call for panelists, so that the summer can provide a head start for the reading and discussing part.  The deadline for applying is June 14--read more here!

Kingston and the Echoes of Magic, by Rucker Moses and Theo Gangi, for Timeslip Tuesday

Yay for me!  I have a Timeslip Tuesday offering, and happily it was a book that was such a fast fun read that I was able to get it read between coming home from work and now---Kingston and the Echoes of Magic, by Rucker Moses and Theo Gangi (October 2021, G.P. Putnam's Sons).  

It's the second of a duology, and if you haven't read book 1 (Kingston and the Magician's Lost and Found) you will want to before opening this one, because otherwise you will probably flounder not knowing who everyone is, and all that happened before this one starts--in a nutshell, Kingston, his cousin Veronica, and their best buddy Too Tall saved Brooklyn from a magical catastrophe involving a portal to an alternate dimension, but couldn't rescue Kingston's dad, who remains trapped there.

Life is going on after those adventures....or maybe not.  Kingston and Veronica realize they are stuck in a time loop, repeating the same day over and over again.  And when they start hunting for an explanation, they find that the looping is tied to a plot to rewrite the timeline of the world, destroying all the reality they love.  Hints and strange helpers lead them on a path through time, as they slip into different pasts trying to find a way to stop the magician mastermind who is behind it all.  They spend time with their teenaged dads, for instance, and a fascinating visit to ancient Egypt is key to saving their world.  

Though it's said several times in the book that it isn't time travel, per se, it certainly was time slip, and very entertaining slipping it was.  And the authors did a great job making it all complicated, but easy to accept without fuss.  The kids are great characters, though I wish Too Tall, the only one without magic, had had a Moment of Helping that wasn't just him being tall enough to get out of the lap of a giant Pharoh statue and such.  He deserved more than just being the tall sidekick.

These are great books for kids who like arcane secrets, riddles, and magic tricks, kids who want books about city kids with magic, especially black urban kids who will get to see themselves here, and for grownups like me who enjoy good magical time slipping.

Speculation, by Nisi Shawl

My recent middle grade fantasy reading has been mostly mythology infused quests, and although it's great to have such a wealth of diversity, it was refreshing to read Speculation, by Nisi Shawl (Feb 2023, Tu Books), set firmly in our own world, albeit back in 1962.

I fell hard for Winna, the young heroine, who when we first meet her is reading Edward Eager, a favorite fantasy author of my own youth, and dreaming of magic.  I  thought how very nice but odd it was to see a contemporary character reading vintage books, and it wasn't until it was spelled out for the reader that this was 1962 that I realized I was reading a historical fantasy.  Indeed I also had been struck by Winna's grandfather using the term "colored" in relation to the family, who are Black, but being engrossed I didn't stop to think about it.  But in any event, I knew I'd enjoy spending time with her, and I did.  

Winna and her little sister are at their grandparent's house while their mother is in the hospital.  When her sister breaks her glasses (by accident), Winna is crushed; new glasses are both expensive and inaccessible.  So her grandfather gives her a pair that belonged to her great aunt Estelle. The glasses make her vision even sharper than her old ones, and there's a glimmer to what she sees...and so on the off chance that it's magic, she speculates-what if they show her ghosts?  And they do.  Generations of ghosts, including Estelle, haunt the family cemetery.  

Winna learns from Estelle's ghost about the curse on her family.  Winona, Estelle's mother, escaped slavery and while still moving toward freedom, gave birth to a baby boy, Key.  But Key vanished, or was taken from her, and Winona's grief stayed with her all her life.  So much so that when dying she unintentionally cursed her family, a curse that can only be broken if she and Key can be reunited.

Winna is sure her mother, getting worse in the hospital, is a victim of the curse.  So joining forces with a boy cousin she can't stand, she sets out to solve the mystery of what happened to Key.....and if he's still alive, to bring him back to the family. 

It's a great story, full of dualities that balance each other beautifully-- past and present, magic and reality, the loving family and the racist world.  I loved the historical and genealogical research that Winna and her cousin undertake, I loved how the magic wasn't just seeing ghosts with magical glasses but was aided and abetted by Winna's grandfather's affinity for African infused magic (for lack of a better word) of his own.  And of course I hated the racism that Winna and her family face, and hated too that this part of the book didn't read as much like historical fiction as it should.

Spoiler-- Key was raised as white, with a white family.  And so one of the horrors of chattel slavery, rape, is there in the story, not explicitly discussed by name but an unavoidable fact of what happened.  I'm all in favor of fiction that kids to think about the painful parts of the past and how they affect the present, and sure do hope this one gets to stay on the shelves....

,

two excellent middle grade books in which Black kids meet aliens

One of the reasons I enjoy reading for the first round of the Cybils Awards is that it puts books in my hands that I might otherwise not have read and enjoyed, such as these two excellent books in which Black kids meet aliens...and their real-world lives are turned upside down.

Ruby Finley vs. the Interstellar Invasion, by K. Tempest Bradford, feels like realistic middle grade fiction for about the first half of the story, but the signs are there that it is anything but. Eleven-year-old Ruby is young scientist in training, fascinated by insects, hanging out with her friends, leading an ordinary life. But when she captures a bug she's never seen before, her life becomes very unusual indeed. The bug escapes, burning a hole through her window. Then government investigators show up looking for it, disturbing and disrupting the neighborhood. Ruby and her friends (all of them very smart in their own different ways) are looking for answers too, and though there is no interstellar invasion, the "bug" is indeed an alien, in trouble and far from home. And Ruby is determined to help....

A lot of the story, even after the alien plot begins to be revealed, is real world happenings (including racism, most notably dealing with an unpleasant white science teacher who won't believe Ruby is capable of the science fair project she's been planning), and this is where the book is strongest. The sci fi part takes the better part of the book to really get going, and then wraps up in a mad rush of excitement at the end (like a fireworks show). Kids who come for an interstellar invasion might well put it down halfway, which is too bad, because it all comes together in the end to make for a fun sci fi read, full of science, mystery and great team work.  

Since this is gift giving season, pair this with a magnifying glass and a guide to insects for the science loving kid in your life.

Nothing Interesting Ever Happens to Ethan Fairmont, by Nick Brooks, was subjected to the daunting task of sustaining my interest while horribly expensive repairs were happing to my car, which I needed for a six hour drive the next day....and it came through with flying colors. Ethan's home town of Ferrous City used to be an industrial powerhouse, but those days are gone, leaving behind a huge abandoned factory and lots of junk. Ethan's an inventor, and this junk is the raw material for his creations (along with the family vacuum cleaner, which did not go over well with his parents), and so he visits the factory often, even though it's forbidden. On one such expedition, he and the new kid in town, Juan Carlos, find a big silver ball that seems to have crashed into the factory.

It is an alien space craft, and its occupant is desperate to get home again. Communication is difficult and choppy, but Ethan is determined to help the alien, nick-named Cheese (its first English word) repair its vessel. There are complications. Ethan's former best friend, and school bully and his sister who he's now pals with, find out about the alien, and get involved in trying help (there's a nice bit of real world friendship tension sub plot I liked lots here). The other complication is worse--the feds have come to town, working with the local police to track the space ship down, and Ethan's Black community is threatened, with his father getting arrested. (This is the first middle grade sci fi/fantasy book that I have read that shows police brutality to people of color right there front and center, and the first in which the parents have to have the Talk with their son....).

Nick Brooks strikes a lovely balance between the entertaining story of "boy meets alien" (it's lots of fun, sometimes goofy--note, for instance, Ethan's hamster on the cover--but never ridiculous) and the more serious aspects of book. I truly enjoyed it.

Could be paired as a Christmas gift with the box of miscellaneous bolts you have in your garage and/or a gently used vacuum cleaner.....or more reasonably a lego spaceship (safer except when you step on them...)

Omega Morales and the Legend of La Lechuza, by Laekan Zea Kemp

So the bulk of my reading these days is middle grade fantasy/sci fi for the Cybils Awards, and it never ceases to amaze me how the familiar middle grade themes of navigating family and friends and one's own changing self can be explored in so many different magical ways.   Yesterday I finished Omega Morales and the Legend of La Lechuza, by Laekan Zea Kemp (September 2022, Little Brown), and this story of a Mexican American girl in a magical family does a lovely job with these threads of story!

Omega's town of Noche Buena is split between those who have magic, like her family, who were there first, and the mundane newer families, existing in slightly uneasy harmony.  But when the towns cats begin to go missing, suspicion and hostility towards  Omega's family begins to grow.  Omega's former best friend is part of this movement.

Omega and her cousin Carlito are lonely outsiders, hanging out just with each other and with the ghost girl who lives with them.  Adding to Omega's unhappy state of mind is her worry that her magical gifts will never amount to much. As it is, her out-of-control empathetic ability overwhelms her, sometimes to the point of physical collapse.

And then La Lachuza, a legendary owl/woman monster, comes to town.  She seems particularly interested in Omega...and Omega, though terrified, senses something in her that speaks to her.  But can Omega fight her way through the secrets and lies her own family has woven around her to save herself, her town, and possibly even the monster?

It's a good mystery, and I was drawn in tighter and tighter as more of La Lachuza's story was unfolded with all its intergenerational trauma; the pages turned quickly, and Omega became a beautifully clear character in my mind.  Her exploration of her own particular twist on empathy was very satisfying, her fascination with La Lachuza gripping, and I was happy to cheer her on.

A few things did bother me though. I got really frustrated with Omega's mother and grandmother. They thought they were doing the right thing by trying to keep her safe, but mostly did it with fierce anger and obfuscation, which I didn't appreciate.  For a family of empaths, they aren't very empathetic in their nurturing--when Omega's ex-friend draws on her face with permanent mark after she passes out from emotional overload, Omega's mom tells her to be forgiving and get over it, becoming a stronger person. Not helpful!  

I was also frustrated that Omega's cousin Carlito didn't get any character arc or any particular role in the plot.  He could have been cut from the book and it would have been barely noticeable.  Balancing that, the ghost girl is a great character who added both entertaining ghostly shenanigans and moving emotional weight.

(There's also a magical library, talking trees, and an attic full of family history--all pluses for me, and a sweet little nascent romance, a plus for the target audience)

And so my final thought is that although I didn't quite end up loving it to pieces, I did like it lots and was glad to see it ended with a tease for more to come!

me and Kirkus are pretty much on the same page--here's their review

You Only Live Once, David Bravo, by Mark Oshiro

I really loved The Insiders, Mark Oshiro's 2021 queer, magical, middle school story (my review).  So I was very happy when You Only Live Once, David Bravo (September 2022, HarperCollins), got nominated for the Cybils and was a time slip book--reading it was three birds (1 pleasure, 2 happy duty), with  two curled up sit-downs.  It is also a queer, magical, middle school story, but with time travel!

David Bravo and his best friend, Antoine, are starting middle school together.  But they are on different schedule tracks, and 15 minutes of lunch together, plus cross country practice, is all they get.   His first assignment also discourages him greatly--a presentation about family culture and heritage is fraught when you are adopted, and complicated when you are Latinx, your dad is Mexican Brazilian American, and your mom Japanese American.  And he feels he really messed it up.  But worst of all he causes Antoine to have an accident that keeps him from running.  Antoine's father is set on making him a world class runner, and now David has derailed this, and maybe ruined their friendship.

So all he wants to do is just lie on the floor at home forever, wishing he could restart middle school. 

His wish is granted, in the shape of an annoying talking dog who says she's been sent by the powers that be to help him undo whatever mis-step it was that wrecked everything.  Fea (which means ugly in Spanish), sets right to work.  But each do-over just seems to make things worse.

Then it occurs to Fea that maybe it's not the past that needs fix, but the future that needs saving. Fea wasn't always an pushy time travel guide--she was once a young woman, back in the mid 20th century, who blew her own future.  She takes David back in time to see it  happen--the day Fea couldn't bring herself to say yes to the love of the girl who was her own best friend, and ended up with a broken heart.  And maybe if David realizes he'll only live once, it will give him the courage to acknowledge a truth--that Antoine too is more than just a friend.

There was a lot that awfully sweet here.  David's parents are just the best in so many ways.  Fea, who annoyed me lots at first, became someone to care about.  And David and Antoine are loveable (grown-up perspective), and relatable (mg school kid perspective)--both are figuring out who they are, in Antoine's case being honest with his dad about not actually wanting to be a world class runner, and in David's case, questioning his identity as an adopted child).  And of course figuring out what they feel for each other.

Since this is a time slip Tuesday post, I feel compelled to note that the time travel was very satisfactory and coherent, and was made even more enjoyable when Antoine got included.  I liked the trip back to the far past of the mid 20th century best, because it was such a nicely contrasting use of Fea's abilities (and also because it was a fresh scene, that added depth to the story).

The ending has a surprising and joyful twist as an added bonus (although I thought it was perhaps a bit too much of a good thing....like extra frosting)

Children of the Quicksands, by Efua Traoré

Children of the Quicksands, by Efua Traoré (July 2022 by Chicken House in the US, June 2021 in the UK), is a very excellent mg fantasy set in Nigeria.  It was nominated for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize in the UK, and really deserves more attention here in the US.

13-year-old Simi is an overprotected city child; Lagos is all she knows.  So she's upended when her mother announces that because of an essential work trip, Simi will be sent to spend the summer with the grandmother she's never met in the remote village of Ajao. Her parents are divorced, and his father is too busy with his own work to look after her.  Simi does not relish the prospect of a summer without modern technology and creature comforts, but doesn't get a choice.

Her mother and grandmother are estranged, and her mother is very anxious that Simi not be exposed to her grandmother's stories and beliefs about the Yoruba gods and goddesses....but when Simi almost immediately follows a forbidden path into the forest, she finds herself exposed to this reality with a vengence.  A golden bird leads her into a lake of quicksand, and she is sucked down into a magical bubble world, home to other children who have been drawn into the quicksand.  Although she makes it out again, she's haunted by the experience.

Gradually she learns the story of the lake, and it's connection to the tragedy in her own family that was the reason her mother left for Lagos and never came back.  And she learns her grandmother is linked to the Goddess Oshun, who created the lake.  When the larger community, fed up with children being lost to the quicksands, decides to fill in the lake, Simi feels compelled to try to save the children trapped there....can she set things right in this bubble world, or will she become one of the lost children too?

That's the fantasy side of the story, and it was good--solid and compelling, believably resolved.  I appreciated that Simi is only able to set right the distortion of Oshun's original creation to what it was meant to be because of her grandmother's connection to the goddess--she doesn't have special powers of her own (unless bravery counts).

But what I liked even better than the fantasy plot was the real world adjustment of a city girl to a rural village.  She is a fish out of water, but her grandmother starts teaching her useful skills (like starting a fire, cooking, existing without running water), and gradually Simi starts to take part in the vibrant life of her grandmother's community, make friends, and feel at home. I really loved all the details and vivid descriptions that bring this part of Nigeria to life!  I would have been happy with just this story, but was even happier to  have it mixed with compelling fantasy.

Very highly recommended.  Also--not yet nominated for this years' Cybils Awards in Elementary/Middle Grade speculative fiction--today is the last day for public nominations and I sure hope it gets its nod!  Here's where you go to nominate--Cybils Awards Nomination Form and if you would like to browse a selection of other great books still waiting, here's a slew of them--EMG SpecFic Recommendations #Cybils2022 (padlet.com)  I can't nominate every book I love myself!

Eden's Everdark, by Karen Strong

Eden's Everdark, by Karen Strong (September 6th 2022,Simon & Schuster), is a creepy ghostly middle grade horror story; but that being said, it is also a story of love and grief, family and history.

Eden's mother never took her to visit Safina Island off the Georgia Coast, home to generations of her family who were first enslaved there and then made it their own place, where they owned land and became a strong community.  But after her mother dies, her father takes her to see her family there.  Not only does Eden find love from her kin in this beautiful island full of history, but discovers it's dark side, a darkness that was the reason her mother and grandmother left when her mother was still a girl.

Her mother left behind a sketchbook full of terrifying images--monsters, strange and spooky children, and more.  And Eden discovers these weren't drawn from imagination, but from real life.  When she finds a rift into the darkness, she feels strangely drawn to it, and goes through.  Just as the witch who rules this land of ever darkness, where the sun never shines, wanted.

The Everdark is a spectral overlay on the real world, and in the grand house built by the descendants of the plantation owners, the witch, who calls herself Mother Mary, exercises near total control of the ghosts she's captured.  Two ghost girls have been made her children, and she want's Eden to be her third dear daughter.  Eden is still alive, though...though possibly not for long....and she's determined to escape.  

But getting free means figuring out the sources of Mother Mary's power, and how to break it before she herself is broken.  And it means uncovering the secret of her mother's magic--the family gift of making things grow--and finding it with herself as well.

The warm and loving first section of the book is a sharp and very effective contrast to the horror of the Everdark, with its creeping rot, trapped ghosts, Mother Mary being terrifying inside, and monsters lurking outside.  But her survival and ultimate escape comes in no small part from the warmth and love in her own self.  Added interest comes from the identities of all the ghosts (who come from many different times) that Eden meets. Mother Mary's backstory packs an especially intense punch--she isn't just a cardboard villain, but someone who was badly wronged who really does want her "children" to love her.

There's no miraculous end to Eden's grief as a result of her sojourn among the dead, but the story does end back in a place of warmth and light.  It's gorgeously atmospheric and enthralling, so much so it kept my mind firmly its grip, which is especially noteworthy because I read it in a single sitting while my car was failing inspection and The Price is Right blared very loudly over my head.....

A Taste Of Magic (Park Row Magic Academy #1), by J. Elle

This year has been absolutely stellar for magical middle grade school stories; each one I've read has surprised me with its twists of the genre!  And A Taste Of Magic (Park Row Magic Academy #1), by J. Elle (August 30th 2022, Bloomsbury) is no exception--it is a fresh, delightful read!

12-year-old Kyana is pretty happy with her life in her neighborhood of Park Row.  Sure, her mom has to work way to hard because money is tight, and she's under pressure to well at school, even at math...but she has her very dear best friend, Nae, to make school better, and her very dear grandma to love and cook with at home.  Then she discovers she has magic, and she has to spend every Saturday at Park Row Magic Academy, even though the first day of class there is Nae's birthday party....and she can't tell anyone about the magic.

Kyana is determined to excel at magic, especially the Charms part of it, which seems most likely to help her mom out financially.  But even as she gets better at magic, she gets deeper into a web of lies with Nae about where she is on Saturdays, pushing their friendship to the breaking point.  To add to her worries, her grandma's mind is slowly being swallowed by Alzheimer's.  And then the bomb drops--the Park Row magic school is going to be closed due to lack of funding.  The other city magic schools, in whiter and richer neighborhoods, will stay open, and if Kyana can come up with several thousand dollars, she can finish her initial training at one of them.  If she can't (and her mother can't work any harder than she does, so it seems impossible) she'll loose her magic, just as she's finding out what her own special gift is and overcoming her self-doubt.

So wining a city wide baking contest with a sweet cash prize seems to be the obvious answer, and her grandma's recipes, which have a magic of their own, are perfect for it. But when Kyana inadvertently contaminates her first round entry of cupcakes with inadvertent magic, she creates a problem she can't fix alone.  She'll need every friend she has--old, new, and unexpected--and a bit of help from magical (and adorable) cat-like beings to fix things.  And she has to keep on baking, because she's not about to loose hope.

The various very relatable tensions in Kyana's life, with their real world echoes made me anxious at times.  But they are lightened beautifully by the wonder of her entry into a world of magic, by friendship and love, by delightful cooking, and of course magical "kittens."   And I was left feeling  warm and cozy, so excited by the #1 in the title -- I can't wait for more!

A sweet treat of a book!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Charlie Hernández & the Golden Dooms, with an interview by author Ryan Calejo

No MG sci fi/fantasy round-up today, as I am on vacation.  But I'm thrilled to have author Ryan Calejo visiting me here today!

Charlie Hernández & the Golden Dooms, by Ryan Calejo (September 13, Aladdin), is the third installment of the adventures of an ordinary kid who finds that all the many magical stories from the Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries his grandmother told him are true.  Not only that, but he has a starring role in an epic clash between order and malevolent chaos, he has the power to morph into animals, and he has no clue how to control his power or even, really, what he's supposed to be doing.  Happily, he has his friend Violet, a keen young journalist who more than pulls her weight figuring things out.  He also has the powerful witch Queen, Joanna of Castile (who you might know as Joanna the Mad), leader of the League of Shadows who try to keep the world from being overrun with monsters, on his side. 

If you enjoyed the wild ride of the first two books, full of mythical monsters that sent Charlie and Violet bouncing on perilous adventures, this one will not disappoint.   Its small, relatively mundane beginning in which Charlie is trapped by a skeletal girl begging for his help in the girl's bathroom of his middle school moves steadily on to its full blown mythologically murderous monster chaos of an ending, when Charlie and Violet must defeat a truly formidable foe in order to keep the border between life and death secure.  And all the while, in a rather endearingly clumsy middle school way, Charlie and Violet are falling for each other, Charlie's mother is going ballistic, and the reader gets a trip to Florida like no other!

Highly recommended to kids who enjoy mythological adventures, particularly because the myths and stories that come to life here I haven't seen in anywhere near so much detail and diversity in any other book series!

Not recommended to those traumatized by crocodilians....

And now it is my pleasure to welcome Ryan Calejo to my blog!

1. How did the idea for Charlie and his adventures first come to you?  Did you have any idea that this would be the start of a series, and if yes, how far into it could you see?

Folklore and legends have always fascinated me. I like to think of them as the original Latinx superheroes/supervillains. So that was where the inspiration came from. My idea for the series was basically to create a big superhero royal rumble—something like the Avengers movies. I wanted to bring together all the coolest legendary beings/creatures, and just let them run wild down here in South Florida, because I was really excited to see how a story like that would play out. And one of the main reasons the idea appealed so much to me is because most of these characters originated in different countries and at different periods in time, and almost all of them only appear in their own stories, meaning there’s hardly any crossover. So that crossover potential, the idea of these legendary characters running into other legendary characters and trying to one-up and outsmart one another, I thought would be a lot of fun. When the idea first came to me, I was very hopeful that it would be the start of a series. I knew there was just no way I could cram all these wonderful characters into a single book! I always had a loose outline in my mind of what the overall series might look like. But the more books I’ve written, the more concrete the ideas for the future books have become.

2. Did you yourself grow up, like Charlie, with stories of the folklore and legends of South and Central America and the Iberian peninsula? If yes, did you have a childhood favorite? Or one that terrified young you the most?

 As a matter of fact, I did! Growing up, my abuelitas (my grandmothers) taught me all the same stories that Charlie’s abuelita taught him. It was my grandmothers who helped cultivate in me a love of legends and folklore—and even of reading. See, back then I wasn’t exactly the most well-behaved kid on the planet. (I’m being generous here.) And the only way they could keep me from running wild was to entertain me by telling me stories—all these wonderful legends and folktales they’d heard as children. There were definitely some terrifying ones, like El Coco and La Llorona. But if I had to pick my absolute favorite, it would probably have to be El Cadejo. It’s a sort of guardian angel that takes the form of a huge dog. When I was little, one of my neighbors had this ginormous German Shepherd that my grandmothers managed to convince me was the actual legendary Cadejo. And the funniest part was that whenever I rode my bike around the neighborhood that dog would always follow after me like it was protecting me, which made it pretty difficult to argue against my grandmothers’ claim. 

3. Your descriptions are incredibly vivid, and I’m curious about how this ties in to your writing process--do you see it all in your mind's eye in advance?

Thank you so much! Yes, I do usually see the story playing out in my mind’s eye. I’ve always had a pretty vivid imagination. I was most definitely a day dreamer growing up! I can’t even begin to count how many times someone had to snap me out of a daydream in the middle of math class (math and me don’t really get along). But that’s always been a big part of the fun for me—seeing the characters and story in my imagination. 

4. Places that are the foci of legends and myths are immensely important in Charlie’s adventures.  I just paid an online visit to the ancient monastery where Charlie first meets up with the League of Shadows.  Was that near to where you grew up? Have you visited any other real world places that appear in your books?

 The monastery was kind of close to where I grew up. Maybe half an hour away. In fact, almost all the south Florida locations in the books are places I loved to visit or hang out at when I was about Charlie and Violet’s age. For example, in the latest book, Charlie, Violet, and a friend sneak into the Venetian pool, which is one of the coolest public pools on the entire planet, and one of my favorite local spots. I love it when I get a chance to include little bits of my childhood in my books. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to visit all the Latin American countries that appear in the series, but I definitely hope to!

 5. What are you working on now?  And will there be more stories about Charlie and Violet?

 I’m thrilled to say that there will be more stories! Simon Schuster’s Aladdin imprint has always been one of my favorite imprints, and my editor is absolutely WONDERFUL! I love working with her. So get ready for new adventures!

 I’m also working on ChupaCarter, which is a super fun series I’m co-authoring with the one and only George Lopez. The story follows the adventures of a spunky 12-year-old boy named Jorge who discovers a chupacabra living on his grandparent’s farm. I hope readers will enjoy that series as well!

Thank you so much, Ryan!  I will look forward to your next books!

Valentina Salazar is Not a Monster Hunter, by Zoraida Córdova

Valentina Salazar is Not a Monster Hunter, by Zoraida Córdova (June 28, 2022, Scholastic) is a fun new middle grade fantasy perfect, just perfect, for kids who have outgrown the elementary magical creature befriending books.  Here we have magical creatures galore, and even rainbow unicorn poop, but there are serious family issues driving the plot, and serious questions about ethical choices.  There's also a wild car trip in a very wild vehicle, a visit to an alternate world where magical creatures live, an evil powerful organization that must be infiltrated, and a kick-ass mom who gets to help (which I appreciated).

Val has grown up in a family of monster protectors, dashing across the country with her parents and three older siblings whenever they hear of a sighting.  Her father was raised to be a monster hunter, dealing with incursions by killing the monsters, but rejected that. Instead, he has taught his family to trap the creatures and send them back to their home world.  But when he's killed by an ora puma (a mountain lion with wings and a scorpion tail), her mother takes the family to a small town where they can have a normal life.  Andie, the oldest sister, leaves home almost immediately to join the monster hunters in a betrayal Val can't wrap her head around.  Lola and Rome seem to be cool with going to school.  But Val is a frustrated, miserable mess, and gets herself into heaps of trouble when she tries to deal with monsters she thinks she sees at school.

But on the last day of school, there really is a fire breathing lizardish chipmunk up a tree...and the situation that ensues not only gets Val one last detention, but it brings her and her siblings a little bit closer.  Then Val sees an online clip of a kid showing off his "dragon" egg, and recognizes it as an ora puma egg.  Determined to live up to her family's creed, she decides, in good middle grade fashion, that she will drive the family monster hunting van cross country to get hold of the egg, and send it back where it belongs.

Fortunately, Lola and Rome aren't going to let her go alone.  

And this is really where the book gets going!  Lots of adventures, new friends, narrow escapes, magical creatures, and more, and it is all most satisfactory. Val's determination and zeal might get her into trouble at school, but it is just what is needed to not only bring her family back together and hold them to the ethical standards by which they were raised, but also to take down a nasty organization that wants to profit from monsters, and will stop at nothing to do so.

Sweetening the pot for the target audience is Val's guilty secret.  She has befriended a cute little sugar loving monster instead of sending it home, and it is rather adorable.  

In short, lots of magical creatures and lots of heart! I enjoyed the whole ensemble lots, especially once the road trip started.

disclaimer: review copy received (aka snatched by my greedy little paws) at ALA for review.