Old Magic, by Marianne Curley, for Timeslip Tuesday

Old Magic, by Marianne Curley (2001, Simon and Schuster, YA) caught my eye when Tirzah over at The Compulsive Reader posted about its re-release with new cover art (shown at left). She described it as "romance with some time travel action", so I was sold.

Kate has had a strange childhood, raised in a remote Australian village by her grandmother, who is a witch. Not your brewing small children in a pot witch, but more a wise woman, who knows old magic...still, when you combine having such a grandmother with having strange powers yourself, it can make for high-school awkwardness. Especially in Kate's case--although her class is very small, her classmates slot themselves neatly into the stereotypes of unpleasant teenagers, with Kate as the outcast.

Then, enter Jarrod, a new kid, strangely mesmerizing, strangely klutzy. Kate knows he has powers of his own, but he denies that magic even exists. But then he is confronted with overwhelming evidence that his family is cursed, and he is forced to accept that magic is real. The only way to break the curse is to travel back to when it began, the middle ages. So Kate's grandmother sends them back in time...to face the evil that awaits them there.

I have to admit to some disappointment here. I never warmed to Jarrod, despite his mesmerizing green eyes, and the romance between him and Kate left me cold (although perhaps if I had read this when I was younger I would have felt differently).

The time travel part of the book was even more disappointing--this is not a convincing picture of life in the middle ages, and my credulity was strained past breaking point. The cliche of miserable peasant existence is in full force:

"The cottages were full of life. It's incredible to think they are filled with people who know nothing of computerised technology, nor even running water, sewage systems, or electricity. And yet here they live. Surviving." (page 167 of 2001 edition)

And Curley's portrayal of life in the castle was not much more nuanced. Not to mention the utter thin-ness of the story Jarrod and Kate use to explain their arrival at the castle door. Oh well.

What this book does have, however, is the most extraordinarily detailed description of the magic Kate's grandmother prepares to bring them back to the present. It involves scrapping a dying marsupial mouse off the side of a vehicle, extracting two dead marsupial mouse foetuses from it, and making them into charms...most odd.

So anyway, this one might be enjoyed by fans of magic and romance who are willing to suspend their disbelief, but I can't recommend it as a time travel book.

Here's the old cover. It is a good thing that it got changed, because it was whitewashed. In the book, much is made of Kate's long, straight, black hair, and the possibility is raised that her father (who didn't stick around) was Asian. The girl on the cover does have long hair (rather unwashed looking), but is white as all get out.

New releases of fantasy and science fiction for children and teenagers-the middle of February, 2010

Here are the new releases of fantasy and science fiction for kids and teenagers from the middle of February. I get my information from Teens Read Too, with help from Amazon, and, since I haven't actually read all of these, sometimes I have to guess whether a book is fantasy/sci fi or not...please let me know if I'm wrong, or if I've left a book out!

DRAGON: THE FIVE ANCESTORS by Jeff Stone. "Long, the dragon-style warrior, saw his temple burned, his brothers killed, and his novice siblings fleeing to the four winds. But that was many months ago. Now the five young warriors have reunited with Ying, the redeemed renegade who put all of these events in motion, and ShaoShu, the mousy street thief, to prevent the wily mantis Tonglong from taking over China. Time is short and distances are great, and the future of China lies in the hands of five young monks."

HEART OF THE MUMMY: SCREAM STREET by Tommy Donbavand. "Deadstock, the world’s greatest zombie rock festival, is coming to Scream Street! Too bad Sir Otto Sneer is not in the mood for dancing—and when he banishes the concert’s headliners, the fleshmetal band Brain Drain, to the evil Underlands, he causes a riot. Now if Luke and his pals want to restore peace to the neighborhood (and find the fourth relic they seek), they have no choice but to follow the band . . . into the darkest depths of the earth."

THE LAST WILDERNESS: SEEKERS by Erin Hunter. "Is this journey's end . . . or just the beginning? Toklo, Kallik, Lusa, and Ujurak have finally reached the Last Great Wilderness, the legendary bear paradise they've been searching for. But while his companions think they've come to the end of their long journey, Ujurak feels a deep unrest. Is this truly where they're meant to be? In the Last Great Wilderness, one by one the bears begin to remember their true natures. Toklo feels the urge to hunt caribou and mark his territory as a brown bear should, and Kallik feels the pull of the ice within her. It's only Lusa, happy just to be in the wild, who fears the day when her friends will leave her to follow their own paths. As the bears adjust to this new life, disaster strikes. The friends are forced to venture into the world of the flat-faces to save the life of one of their own. Once there, the end of their journey seems farther away than ever, as a new path spreads out before them."

LEGENDS OF THE SHADOW WORLD: THE SECRET COUNTRY, THE SHADOW WORLD, & DRAGON'S FIRE by Jane Johnson. "Magical creatures are at war with the Dodman in the Shadow World. It is up to the Arnold children to save their family and this world from his evil."



THE LOST CHILDREN by Carolyn Cohagan. "Josephine Russing owns 387 pairs of gloves. She's given a new pair every week by her father, a sullen man known best for his insistence that the citizens in town wear gloves at all times. A world away, the children of Gulm have been taken. No one knows where they might be, except the mysterious and terrifying leader of the land: The Master. He rules with an iron fist, using two grotesque creatures to enforce his terrible reign. When a peculiar boy named Fargus shows up on Josephine's property and then disappears soon afterward, she follows him without a second thought and finds herself magically transported to Gulm. After Fargus introduces her to his tough-as-nails friend Ida, the three of them set off on an adventure that will test everything Josephine has ever thought about the rules of the universe, leading to a revelation about the truth of the land of Gulm, and of Josephine's own life back home."

MY UNWILLING WITCH GETS A MAKEOVER: RUMBLEWICK'S DIARY by Hiawyn Oram. "Witty Rumblewick the cat is back, writing about even more hilarious hijinx with his unwilling witch in Book 4 of the series. Rumblewick is Haggy Aggy's right-hand cat, contractually bound to shape her into the best witch she can be. The problem? Haggy is willfully unwilling, and she much prefers nail polish to broomsticks. Now Haggy says black is out and pink is in. What sort of witch wears PINK?! As if that weren't enough, she's on her way to get a makeover to jumpstart her modeling career-and on Fright Night, no less!"

THAT'S LIFE, SAMARA BROOKS by Daniel Ehrenhaft. "Is playing blackjack in the school cafeteria that bad? Samara Brooks doesn’t think so. She isn’t out to hurt anybody. She just wants to create some drama. And she does. Drama . . . and trouble. When the principal threatens to call her parents, Samara proposes a way to save herself. She’ll prove she’s not a bad person by conducting a scientific experiment to show that she has the same DNA as one of the friendliest girls at school: class president Lily Frederick. But then Nathan Weiss, a kid obsessed with UFOs and mysterious codes, gets involved. And things get really weird. Samara’s DNA looks exactly like the eye symbols in the Phaistos Disk and the Voynich Manuscript, a six-hundred-year-old riddle that nobody can decipher—not even professional cryptologists. Does that mean Samara’s an alien? Is it a coincidence? Or does it prove something that has never been proven before?"

TOKLO'S STORY: SEEKERS by Erin Hunter. "Grizzly cub Toklo dreams of one day being a great big bear who will rule the forest. He will mark his wide territory and hunt the biggest game, and his brother, Tobi, will forever be at his side. Other grizzlies may stalk the forest alone, but Toklo and Tobi will always have each other. Yet for now, they're too little to defend themselves, and when a terrifying grizzly demands they leave his territory—or else—they have no choice but to abandon the only home they've ever known. Will Toklo be able to help his family find a new home—or will he just get them into even greater trouble?"

WHISTLE BRIGHT MAGIC: A NUTFOLK TALE by Barb Bentler Ullman. "It has been twenty years since the time of The Fairies of Nutfolk Wood, and grownup Willa has returned to Plunkit with her daughter, Zelly. Willa can't see the fairies anymore, but Zelly can, and she meets an unusual boy—the last remaining fairy child living in Nutfolk Wood, Ronald Whistle Bright. Hard times have befallen the fairy town of Nutfolk Wood, but Whistle Bright is determined to stay in his forest village, even though humans are sure to destroy it. And Zelly wants to stay in the small town of Plunkit, even though her mother insists that they return to their lives in the big city. Zelly is convinced that she belongs in Plunkit, and only there will she find out more about her father, who disappeared when she was three. In their quest to stay in the place that they love, the tiny Nutfolk boy and the human girl become allies, and both are surprised by the unexpected things that can happen in life."

Young Adult:

ELEVENTH GRADE BURNS: THE CHRONICLES OF VLADIMIR TOD by Heather Brewer. "Eleventh grade at Bathory High is draining Vladimir Tod. Joss, a professional vampire slayer and Vlad’s former friend, has moved back to town. The powerful vampire Dorian has an overwhelming desire to drink Vlad’s blood. And his arch enemy, D’Ablo, has brought Vlad’s Uncle Otis to trial for crimes against vampires. So much for dating. When the tables turn on Vlad, he has just enough time to return to Bathory for his final good-byes . . ."

FINNIKIN OF THE ROCK by Melina Marchetta. "Finnikin was only a child during the five days of the unspeakable, when the royal family of Lumatere were brutally murdered, and an imposter seized the throne. Now a curse binds all who remain inside Lumatere’s walls, and those who escaped roam the surrounding lands as exiles, persecuted and despairing, dying by the thousands in fever camps. In a narrative crackling with the tension of an imminent storm, Finnikin, now on the cusp of manhood, is compelled to join forces with an arrogant and enigmatic young novice named Evanjalin, who claims that her dark dreams will lead the exiles to a surviving royal child and a way to pierce the cursed barrier and regain the land of Lumatere. But Evanjalin’s unpredictable behavior suggests that she is not what she seems — and the startling truth will test Finnikin’s faith not only in her, but in all he knows to be true about himself and his destiny."

GONE: WAKE by Lisa McMann. "Things should be great for Janie--she has graduated from high school and is spending her summer with Cabel, the guy she's totally in love with. But deep down she's panicking about how she's going to survive her future when getting sucked into other people's dreams is really starting to take its toll. Things get even more complicated when she meets her father for the very first time--and he's in a coma. As Janie uncovers his secret past, she begins to realize that the choice thought she had has more dire consequences than she ever imagined."

JUGGLER IN THE WIND: THE WAND BEARER TRILOGY by Wim Coleman & Pat Perrin. "When a ragtag circus shows up in the town of Buchanan, Kansas, fourteen-year-old Randy Carmichael faces a deep mystery. Why is his alcoholic mother so troubled by the troupe s arrival? What does Circus Olympus mean to her past and to Randy s future? Voices summon him, a godlike figure appears in his dreams, and supernatural adversaries lay in wait for him as he embarks on a dangerous quest that will take him beyond mortal reality."

A SMALL FREE KISS IN THE DARK by Glenda Millard. "Two young boys, an old tramp, a beautiful teenage dancer, and the girl's baby--ragtag survivors of a sudden war--form a fragile family, hiding out in the ruins of an amusement park. As they scavenge for good, diapers, and baby formula, they must stay out of sight of vicious gangs and lawless soldiers. At first they rely on Billy, the only adult in the group. But as civil life deteriorates, Billy starts to fall apart. Skip, who is barely into his teens, must take over and lead them on a search for sanctuary. This complex and haunting exploration of life on the edge and what it takes to triumph over adversity is a story about the indomitable nature of hope."

TOKEN OF DARKNESS by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. "Cooper Blake has everything going for him—until he wakes from a car accident with his football career in ruins and a mysterious, attractive girl by his side. Cooper doesn’t know how Samantha got there or why he can see her; all he knows is that she’s a ghost, and the shadows that surround her seem intent on destroying her. No one from Cooper’s old life would understand what he can barely grasp himself. . . . But Delilah, the captain of the cheerleading squad, has secrets of her own, like her ability to see beyond the physical world, and her tangled history with Brent, a loner from a neighboring school who can hear strangers’ most intimate thoughts. Delilah and Brent know that Cooper is in more trouble than he realizes, and that Samantha may not be as innocent as she has led Cooper to believe. But the only way to figure out where Samantha came from will put them all in more danger than they ever dreamed possible."

A WISH AFTER MIDNIGHT by Zetta Elliott. "Genna is a fifteen-year-old girl who wants out of her tough Brooklyn neighborhood. But she gets more than she bargained for when a wish gone awry transports her back in time. Facing the perilous realities of Civil War–era Brooklyn, Genna must use all her wits to survive. In the tradition of Octavia Butler’s Kindred and Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, A Wish After Midnight is the affecting and inspiring tale of a fearless young woman’s fight to hold on to her individuality and her humanity in two different worlds."

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope

There are some books that so powerfully fill the gaps in one's knowledge of the world that, after reading them, you want to recommend them to just about everyone you know. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope, by William Kamkwamba and Brian Mealer (William Morrow, 2009, 288pp) is such a book.

William Kamkwamba's childhood in Malawi was happy--his family was loving and supportive, there was enough to eat, there was school to go to, there were many interesting things to do. But then the rains failed, and the government failed, and there was famine. School was no longer possible, and every day there was less to eat...

14-year old William turned to the library to continue his education on his own, and, inspired by a book he found that described wind energy, he set out to create "electric wind." With electricity, he hoped to bring water up from the ground to prevent famine, and he hoped to make a way for his mother and sisters to cook without spending their lives scavenging for wood and choking on smoke. And his windmill, made of salvaged bits and pieces, worked, and brought light and hope to his village. Word of his windmill spread, and brought international attention to William, opening the way for him to continue his education.

Kamkwamba and Mealer make a most excellent storytelling team. You can hear Kamkwamba's voice vividly, bringing his childhood to life almost as if he is telling his story out loud to the reader. They do not rush too quickly to the building of the generator, but instead allow the story to unfold gradually, bringing the place and its people to life. Science geeks in particular will enjoy the detailed descriptions of windmill building, and even I, who am made nervous by fuses, was fascinated by the process of turning "trash" into a working wind generator.

Although boys aren't the only audience who will appreciate this book, it is a quintessentially "boy" story--about boy friendships, and building toy cars, and cool experiments with electricity, and worrying about little sisters. I think it should appeal greatly to teenaged boys here in the US, and I will certainly be giving it to my own boys to read when they are older.

Beautifully written, with absolutely no patronizingly admiring Western Outsider feel to it, astoundingly educational on so many levels--I am glad I read it. I did so after reading Tricia's review of it at the YaYaYas, in which she said: "Just go and read this book now. It’s amazing, awesome, inspiring, and I can go on with the adjectives if you want me to, but I’ll stop for now."



Non-fiction Monday is at The Art of Irreverence today!

For Valentine's Day, a very funny love story starring Emma Thompson and Stephan Fry

Here is one of the more romantic literary love stories of the 19th-century, that of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, reinterpreted by Emma Thompson and Stephan Fry. My own dear husband shared this with me when I was poorly last week, and it added considerably to our own banter....

This week's roundup of middle-grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogosphere--Cybils winner edition!

Welcome to this week's round-up of things middle-grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogosphere (and please do let me know if I have missed your review or interview or exciting news....)

The first and most exciting news is that the winners of the fourth annual Cybils Awards have been announced! And the winner for middle grade science fiction/fantasy is:

SILKSINGER, by Laini Taylor. Congratulations, Laini! (here's my review)

The YA winner was Fire, by Kristin Cashore.

In case you aren't familiar with the Cybils--these awards are given each year by bloggers in a wide range of book categories. Books are chosen on two criteria-their quality and their kid-appeal. Anyone can nominate a book during the first two weeks of October, and the shortlists and winners are selected by panels of bloggers. If you are a blogger who'd like to take an active role next year, check in closer to October to find out how you can put your name forward.

Please click on the Cybils link above to see the other fantastic winners!

And now for this week's reviews:

Archer's Quest, by Linda Sue Park (2006), at Charlotte's Library.

Dragonbreath: Attack of the Ninja Frogs, by Ursula Vernon (2010) at Dwelling in Possibility.

The Ever-Breath, by Julianna Baggot (2010) at Parentdish and at Book Aunt.

Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware, by M.T. Anderson (2009), at Book Aunt.

Maskmaker, by Jane Johnson (March 1, 2010) at The Book Zone (for boys).

Mortlock, by Jon Mayhew (April 5, 2010--UK), at The Book Zone (for boys).

The Sixty-Eight Rooms, by Marianne Malone (February 23, 2010) at Book Aunt.

Song of the Wanderer: Unicorn Chronicles 2, by Bruce Coville (2008), at A Fangirl's View.

Toby Alone, by Timothée de Fombelle (2009) at Books4yourkids

Waterslain Angels, by Kevin Crossley-Holland (2009) at Charlotte's Library (which actually might not technically be fantasy, but which has fantastical elements).

A Web of Air, by Philip Reeve (April 2010) at Mr. Ripley's Enchanted Books.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin (2009), at Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind, and at Becky's Book Reviews.

N.D. Wilson is Blog Touring to promote his new book, The Chestnut King, 3rd in the series that began with The 100 Cupboards. It is one of the more interesting blog tours I've read, with descriptions of previously unexplored cupboards and more...

2/8 Mundie Moms
2/9 Book4yourkids
2/10 The Reading Zone
2/11 Eva's Book Addiction (and here's her review of The Chestnut King)
2/12 Becky's Book Reviews, where there is also a guest post by N.D. Wilson.
2/12 Fireside Musings

And finally, here's Slate's review of The Lightning Thief movie.

Like I said above, please let me know (at any time) if you have reviews of mg sff to add to this or future lists! I pull reviews from the blogs in my reader, and every week I do google searches on "children's fantasy book" and "middle-grade fantasy" (and science fiction), as well as sporadic searching for reviews of specific books I know are just out, but I am sure I am missing lots...

Waterslain Angels, by Kevin Crossley-Holland

Waterslain Angels, by Kevin Crossley-Holland (Orion Books, 2009, 192 pp)

When Oliver Cromwell's men rampaged through England, smashing to pieces the works of art that decorated the countries churches, the angels of the small Norfolk village of Waterslain were lost.

Waterslain in the 1950s is still a small village, but the fate of the angels has faded from local memory. Then a carved wing is found during a clear-out of the vestry attic. Two children, Annie (10) and Sandy (11), become convinced the angels weren't destroyed, and set out to find them.

The almost illegible words they discover carved on the church's wall give them a clue--

Between her Will
And his Wall
Waterslain
We Lie Waiting

But someone else wants the angels. The shady tough guy of the village is hunting them down too, to sell them. Annie and Sandy must find the waterslain angels and bring them back to the empty places waiting for them in the church before they are lost to the village forever.

As Annie searches, her dreams are full of the rough voices of Cromwell's men, and visions of the angels, urging her to find them where they lie waiting. For Sandy, whose father, an American in the air force, was recently killed in a flying accident, and whose mother has just come home to Waterslain, the quest for the angels brings comfort. And the angels bring the two lonely children together in the strong bonds of a friendship forged by the mystery they are unravelling (and a satisfyingly believable mystery it is, too).

Waterslain Angels is an utterly lovely mix of the detail of everyday life and the power and beauty of dreams. It is a fascinating mystery, a historical treasure hunt, a story of friendship, a lovely evocation of place, and a little bit a fantasy (Annie's dreams) It is beautifully written-- I would be hard pressed to find words to edit out. All in all, an excellently satisfying book that is most definite keeper for future re-reading.

Here are other reviews, at the Falcata Times, Achockablog, and Read Plus.

Waterslain Angels hasn't been published in the US yet, but copies can be found for under $10.

Captivate, by Carrie Jones

Captivate, by Carrie Jones (2010, YA, Bloomsbury)

This sequel to Need (2008) continues the story of Zara, daughter of a Pixie King, and her friends. Chief among these is Nick, her werewolf boyfriend (and a hot and steamy relationship it is). The entrapment of the pixie king and his people had solved the immediate problem of pixie predation on the human population, but the power vacuum that resulted is drawing other, more malevolent, beings to this small town in Maine. And Zara, with her legacy of Pixie blood, is a focal point in the brewing power struggle. Things are about to get desperately, tragically, serious...

Paranormal romances aren't really my thing. No matter how cute the werewolf. And the whole Valkyrie subplot (yes, Valkyries, Pixies, and Were-creatures in one book) seemed odd to me.

But I wanted to read Captivate, despite its paranormal romanticness, because I am in love with Carrie Jones' writing. Her voice is more companionable than anyone else's that I can think of. Friendly. Funny. Quirky. A Carrie Jones heroine is no little Miss Perfect, but rather is someone to whom I can relate, someone who might slightly misjudge the location of the door frame when trying to leave a room, for instance (although I don't remember anyone actually doing this in one of her books).

Here is a rather longish extract, which I hope conveys a little bit of what I mean. By way of background, Zara and Issie have just tied up Zara's pixie king dad and stuffed him in the back seat of Zara's car.

"Girls..." comes the voice from the back of the car.

"Do not talk!" I yell. "If you talk I will just haul you back to the house and put you inside, got it?"

"You plan to do that no matter what I do," he says.

Issie's hand twitches on the door handle. "He has a point."

(a few lines cut here for brevity)

"We don't have to do this," Issie whispers. Her hand grabs my coat sleeve.

I take in a deep breath. "He said that Nick was in danger."

"He could be lying."

"He might not be."

"True. But I'm not in a super trusting mode since he is Mr. Evil Pixie Man."

"He let us tie him up," I argue.

"True." Issie lets go of my arm. "But maybe he knew we sucked at knots." (page 41)

This scene takes places before things really start to happen, and the story goes on to become much more dark and serious, and thought provoking (in a good way), and perhaps a bit much for non-paranormal fans like me. But even then, the bright flashes of snark/character self-awareness manifested in zippy one liners continue...

(Typing this small and wholly inadequate extract, I have decided that one reason I like Carrie Jones' writing so much is that she knows when not to use contractions....)

(ARC received from the publisher at the Boston ALA meeting)

Viruses and Awards

Today I considered bringing my little one's stuffed rabies virus to work with me, hung on a string around my neck, to warn my co-workers that I was a Vector (not, mercifully, carrying rabies--just a bad cold. But still). Rabies (book related) came into my mind later today as I held bigger one's hand as his gums were cauterized for orthodontic reasons, and I distracted him by recounting Emily Bronte's dog bite and subsequent red hot poker treatment of same....

But on a happier note, I was recently awarded one of the Inaugural, very first ever given, Manly SWEATY Doll Blogger Awards!


The guys over at Boys Rule Boys Read! weren't sure that the "Sugar Doll" award that they had just gotten really spoke to who they are, so they made up this award of their own, and I was one of the recipients! (Thanks!)

From what they say, I did not get this award because my blog embodies a robust masculinity. And indeed although I have operated a back hoe and shot a gun etc etc I did not Enjoy these very manly things. Not so as to want to do them again. But I shall try to fulfil my end of this particular award bargain:

Tell a couple of things about yourself: see above
The name of your favorite guy book: Dragonbreath, by Ursula Vernon
Your favorite sports moment: My best friend and I won the three-legged race on Game Day when I was seven
Favorite MANLY MAN movie: The Man Who Would be King
Favorite manly music: Jupiter from Holst's The Planets
Your Favorite Food With No Nutritional Value: candy corn

No blog is leaping gazelle-like to mind as being worthy of this award. I shall have to think about it....

The Great Hamster Massacre wins the Waterstone's book prize

From the Waterstone's website: "The winner of the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize 2010 is The Great Hamster Massacre by debut author Katie Davies. The Great Hamster Massacre is an endearing tale of a young girl's life and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the untimely death of her beloved pet."

This award is given every year by the booksellers of the UK to a book published the previous year by a newish children's book author.

Ask Charlotte

I am keenly interested in the questions typed into google that bring readers to my blog. If I have answers, I'm happy to share my knowledge, and so "Ask Charlotte" was born.

Today's burning question: "Is Charlotte the smartest girl in the world?"

Answer: Sadly, no. Charlotte, although plenty smart, is only ranked fourth at Number Mix, one of the games Harper Collins is using to promote its new books. If Charlotte were really smart, she might well have been doing other things with her time anyway......

Today's queries also include one from a reader wondering when the new American Girl book by Laurence Yep (!!!) was coming out. I cannot answer this.

Archer's Quest, by Linda Sue Park, for Timeslip Tuesday

Archer's Quest, by Linda Sue Park (Clarion Books, 2006, middle grade, 159 pp)

Kevin is home alone, trying to muster enthusiasm for his homework, when...THWOCK! An arrow lifts off his baseball cap, and pins it to the wall.

"My arrow would end your life before you took a single step," says the strange man who has suddenly materialized in his room. "Do not even think of fleeing. And if you are armed, place your weapon on the floor. Now." (dialogue from p. 5)

Kevin, being a typical middle school kid, is not, in fact, armed. Even if he were, he would stand no chance against this stranger, who is none other than Chu-mong, founder of the largest of the ancient kingdoms of Korea, and one of the greatest archers of all time. Chu-mong had not intended to visit Kevin's house--some strange twist of chance and magic has brought him into the present. And now Kevin must help him return home, before the Year of the Tiger comes to an end the next day.

Kevin scrambles to use math, the Chinese Zodiac, his grandparent's stories of Korea, and a visit to a tiger in the zoo and to the local museum to help the archer return home, all the while guiding Chu-mong through the perils of 21st-century life. And Chu-mong in turn gives Kevin not only a tangible connection to the land of his ancestors, but the more practical ability to focus that underlies his own skills as a warrior.

Fast-paced (it all takes place in less than one day) and told with considerable humor, this story combines puzzle solving, history and legend, and the workings of the middle-school boy mind to great effect. Because it's set in the present, it is, I think, a more accessible type of time travel story than the sort where modern kids travel back to the past. The reader can easily imagine himself in Kevin's position, for instance, as Kevin tries to explain the workings of cars to the strange visitor who has just jumped behind a hedge on first seeing one.

I'd especially recommend this to the middle-grade kid who doesn't necessarily read fantasy. The ones who do read fantasy might well like it lots too, but they might feel that they are getting something more realistic than they had bargained for. This a testimony to Park's writing, in as much as she has made an impossible situation seem strangely convincing.

I'd also like to recommend this one to kids who are considering taking up archery. It should inspire them nicely.

(for anyone looking for other time slip reviews, I noticed two others today--Liz at A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy has A Wish After Midnight, by Zetta Elliot, and Jennifer at Jean Little Library has Don't Know Where, Don't Know When, by Annette Laing. And, as an added bonus, both are also books, like Archer's Quest, with non-white protaginists).

Zombies vs Unicorns, the trailer for A Conspiracy of Kings, fun with Harper Collins, and a blog award

I have four cool things to share.

Cool thing 1: The cover of short story anthology Zombies vs Unicorns has been unveiled, and the Unicorns are clearly kicking lots of undead butt. Go Unicorns! This is the picture that is actually on the book; the actual cover hides part of it, but is also cool. Visit Unicorn Team Captain Holly Black's website for more info. (picture gets bigger when clicked)




Cool Thing Number 2: I just reminded at my last visit to Liz's place (Tea Cozy) that Greenwillow has unveiled the trailer for Megan Whalen Turner's new book, A Conspiracy of Kings!



They also have made a very cool trailer for The Thief, which I think I like even better.



(cool thing 2.5: this is the first time I've ever posted a trailer; we just got a new computer, which means that not only can I put trailers up but I can watch them, which I wasn't able to before).

Cool Thing 3: Harper Collins has set up a game arcade to publicise their new releases where, amoung other things, you can play this really cool game for a chance to win cool prizes!

Cool Thing 4:

Kate at Book Aunt was kind enough to pass along the Prolific Blogger Award--thank you, Kate! Kate herself goes in for quality--her long and lovely posts are a must read (although her shorter posts are good stuff too!). I'm just going to pass it on to one person:

Jennifer, whose blog, the Jean Little Library, I enjoy lots, and who I think of as a kindred reading spirit (a reading kindred spirit?).

Enchanted Glass, by Diana Wynne Jones

Enchanted Glass, by Diana Wynne Jones (2010, Harper Collins, 332 pp).

30-something Andrew Hope had spent his summers having, literally, a magical childhood at his grandfather's home off in the English countryside. But as he grew older, and went into academia, his memories of the magic faded. When he finds he's inherited both his grandfather's house and its accompanying "field of care," he's not sure just what he's supposed to do. What he wants to do is to write his book, but this is going to prove difficult.

A cast of characters, strange and distracting enough to keep anyone from their work, enter his life. There are the two very idiosyncratic servants who come with the house (who use giant vegetables and cauliflower cheese as subtle weapons in their power struggles). There's the orphaned boy seeking shelter from menacing demonic creatures, the beautiful and crisply practical local girl who becomes Andrew's secretary (and predicts the future by reading the results of horse races), the young giant living in the garden, and the one-legged jockey whose magic mainly manifests itself in rose growing. And more.

Character after character arrives on stage, all fascinating, all very Diana Wynne Jones-ish....and yet, very little Plot happens. Lots of Mysterious Things, lots of beautiful details to make pictures in the reader's mind, but no clear story (other than that of the characters trying to figure out just what is going on). "Plot" does eventually emerge, but comes rather late, and almost as an after thought to Jones' focus on other things. For instance, even in the throes of the climactic action sequence, the fate of the random child dressed as a tube of toothpaste and the giant vegetable marrow flying through the air distract one (in an chuckle-out-loud way) from the fate that may or may not be about to overtake the main characters.

In short, this is a book more fun for its dreamlike creation of people and place, brilliantly three-dimensional and extremely diverting, rather than fun for its story qua story.

note on age: there is nothing content-wise that would make Enchanted Glass unsuitable for a middle-grade reader, and one of the central characters is a 12 year-old boy. But I think that the people that would most love this book aren't defined by age, but by what type of reader they are. So I will put both mg and YA in the labels, and if I had an adult label too I'd put that in.

note on release dates: Enchanted Glass is slated to come out in the US on April 6. I decided I couldn't wait that long, so I ordered from the UK, where it is already out, through The Book Depository (where you can order books from around the world and not pay shipping). I ended up paying a few dollars more than I would have if I'd waited, but it was worth it. It's out in Canada, too, btw.

This Sunday's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction reviews etc from around the blogosphere

Welcome to another compilation of reviews of middle-grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogosphere. Please let me know if I missed yours!

Attack of the Ninja Frogs, by Ursula Vernon, at the Jean Little Library.

Barnaby Grimes: Curse of the Night Wolf, by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell at Once Upon a Bookshelf.

Blackbringer, by Laini Taylor, at The Book Smugglers.

Forest Born, by Shannon Hale, at Teacher Girl's Book Blog.

The Hanging Hill, by Chris Grabenstein, at Jen Robinson's Book Page.

The Museum of Mary Child, by Cassandra Golds, at Eva's Book Addiction.

The Navel of the World, by P.J. Hoover, at Charlotte's Library.

The Night Fairy, by Laura Amy Shlitz, at Charlotte's Library.

Odd and the Frost Giants, at Bibliophile

Powerless, by Matthew Cody, at A Year of Reading.

The Secret of Zoom, by Lynne Jonell, at Eva's Book Addiction.

Spellbinder, by Helen Stringer, at Books and Movies.

The Thirteenth Princess, by Diane Zahler, at Rebecca's Book Blog, and at Charlotte's Library.

Trail of Fate, Book 2 of The Youngest Templar series, by Michael P. Spradlin, at Fantasy Book Critic.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin, at Book Nut.

From Boys Rule Boys Read come an assortment of capsule reviews of fun stuff--here and here, including Copper, Missile Mouse, The Glitch in Sleep, Only You Can Save Mankind, and more.

More Princessly goodness: Kate Coombs of Book Aunt takes a look at retellings of the 12 Dancing Princess, including The Thirteenth Princess. And in the newest issue of Hunger Mountain (the Vermont College of Fine Arts Journal) there's an article by mg sff author Deva Fagan (Fortune's Folly and the forth-coming The Magical Misadventures of Prunella Bogthistle) on Proactive Princesses.

The Night Fairy, by Laura Amy Schlitz

Imagine, if you will, a book that's The Flower Fairies meets Hatchet (Gary Paulson), but a book that's much more character driven and with much more lyrical writing than either. That's the feeling I got from The Night Fairy, by Laura Amy Schlitz (Candlewick, Feb. 23, 2010, 117 pp in ARC form).

I loved it, and I highly, highly recommend it, particularly for 8 or 9 year old girls who are still gaining confidence in their reading. It's simple, yet engrossing (and beautiful, with full color illustrations by Angela Barrett).

The Night Fairy tells of Flory, a fairy child still growing into her wings. One night when Flory (being a night fairy) is out and about a little brown bat makes a mistake that costs her dearly. With her wings crunched up by bat teeth, Flory is trapped, alone and terrified of the bat-bringing dark. So she decides to be a day fairy, fiercely determined to survive alone in a strange and alien world.

And that includes becoming a part of it--making an alliance, of sorts, with a squirrel (who's motivated by his constant desire for tasty snacks), and then, in a rather lovely coming of age experience, saving two little hummingbird eggs when their mother is ensnared by a spider's web.

"She pressed her palms flat against the shells and began to sing. She sang a spell of comfort for small living things. As she sang, she thought of the warmest things she knew....

By the time she finished singing, the two little eggs hummed with life. Flory pushed them together and tucked the grass quilt over them. "Now," she said, "you must stay warm until your mother comes home." She stopped down and kissed the quilt twice. "I'm going to bring her home soon," she added, "but you'll be warm through the night."

She felt to make sure her dagger was still at her side. Then she wrapped both hands around the nearest barberry twig, kicked off from the nest, and swung herself down through the branches." (pp 72-73 in ARC form).

Sweet, yet tough (she makes her own dagger! Takes on insect monsters!), vulnerable, yet self-reliant--Flory is a superb addition to the fairy repertoire of younger middle grade readers. I can't wait to see the book in its finished form, with its final illustrations.

One reason why I am particularly curious to see the final illustrations is to be certain that I can legitimately promote this book as a Reading in Color title. I think that Flory, as shown on the cover and interior illustration available in this online excerpt, looks like she is Black. Doret, of The HappyNappyBookseller, thought the same. So I'm going with it...

Other reviews: As well as Doret's comments linked to above, Betsy at Fuse #8 has a review of the final book.

(disclosure: I received an arc from the publisher)

D.A. by Connie Willis

D.A., by Connie Willis (2007, Subterranean Press, 76pp) is a short, snappy, and funny science fiction novella for teenagers. When I first got my copy back in the day, I put off reading it for a while because I vaguely thought D.A. stood for District Attorney. Happily, it does not.

A Special Assembly is called at Theodora's high school. It appears that a student has been selected for the incredibly great honor of becoming an IASA space cadet--one of the chosen few who will head off beyond the earth...Theodora isn't too interested--she has no interest in space travel, and was deliberately rude and provocative to the recruiter. But then her name is called.

Frantically Theodora tries to tell someone it was all a mistake. But before she knows it, she's one of a happy band aboard a space craft.

She's not going to take it lying down. And fortunately she has a friend back on earth who's one of the best computer hackers around....

I already called this short, snappy, and funny. I'll add smart, fast, and fun as all get out. Willis is on top of her form here, and I just wish the book had been longer....

Thanks to Colleen for mentioning this in the comments of a post over at Finding Wonderland--I'd read it when it came out, and was glad to be reminded of it again.

To heck wth unicorns--here's the cover of Pegasus

Lifted shamelessly from Robin McKinley's blog--isn't it cool!



Coming this fall...with a sequel (assuming all goes well) in the works.

(minor quibble: I myself would wear something a little less trailing for meadow rambling)

The Thirteenth Princess, by Diane Zahler

The Thirteenth Princess, by Diane Zahler (Harper Collins 2010, middle grade, 256 pp)

What if, instead of only twelve princesses, there was a thirteenth sister born to a king who desperately wanted a son? What if her mother, adored by the king, died giving birth to her?

In Zahler's revisiting of the familiar tale of the Twelve Dancing Princess, Zeta is that child, pushed from the royal family into life below stairs with the servants. Brought up by the cook, Zeta watches her royal sisters from afar...until she finds out that she is a princess too, and a clandestine affection grows between the 13 of them.

But then the twelve princesses fall mysteriously ill, until they are too weak to leave their beds. They never leave their room, and yet their slippers are worn to shreds each morning. Zeta is the only sister unaffected, and it's up to her, with the help of a stable boy, a soldier, and a friendly witch, to foil the dark magic that is draining her sisters' lives away...

This is a lively retelling of the familiar story that sticks closely to the original while making it very middle-grade girl friendly. Zeta is an engaging young scullery maid/princess, and her strange situation makes for fun reading. The enchantment doesn't kick in until about half-way through the story, giving the reader time to get to know her before she must follow her sisters on the path to their midnight revels. (Separating Zeta from her sisters also lets the author avoid, to some extent, the problem of having so many girls to characterize--we mostly see the princesses from a distance).

I enjoyed Zahler's story telling--she has brought an old chestnut of a story to fresh and vigorous life. Her take on it is mysterious enough to be interesting, without being so dark as to disturb younger readers. I'd strongly recommend this one to young readers who loved Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine, The Runaway Princess, by Kate Coombs, or Fortune's Folly, by Deva Fagan -- all fairy-talish stories of resourceful girls beating the odds (both magic-wise and society-wise) against them.

For the older reader (ie, me), there's some disbelief to suspend. At the specific level, I wondered, for instance, how Zeta, let alone her stable boy friend, learned to read and write. At a more general level, the relationship between Zeta and her father the king was on the one hand complex and interesting, and, on the other, not entirely convincing.

That aside, this is a book that I think will be loved by fourth and fifth grade girls (who are, after all, the target audience)--there's mystery, magic, a bit of romance, and quite a few beautiful dresses...

Here are some other reviews (all glowing) at Rebecca's Book Blog, Bloody Bad, and A Sea of Pages.

(disclosure: I received an ARC from the publisher)

In a Heartbeat, by Loretta Ellsworth

In a Heartbeat, by Loretta Ellsworth (2010, Bloomsbury, YA, 208 pp)

One heartbeat is all it takes for sixteen-year old Eagan to make a mistake while performing a difficult jump in an ice skating competition. A mistake that ends her life.

Each painful heartbeat might be the last for fourteen-year old Amanda, waiting for someone to die and give her the gift of a new chance at life.

Amanda receives Eagan's heart. But Eagan is not gone. She lingers in limbo, reflecting on her life--her intense focus on skating, her difficult relationship with her mother, and the growing love she had for her first boyfriend. And Amanda finds that she has changed--more than just her new found strength, she feels that the heart inside her has given her part of another personality. She dreams of figure skating, snaps at her own mother, and becomes convinced that she must find out more about the girl whose heart now beats inside of her.

The story alternates between the viewpoints of the two girls, one living, one dead. Eagan's story is the more detailed of the two, told in a series of lengthy, detailed flashbacks (it's almost enough to be its own YA book). In contrast, Amanda's past is essentially left out of the story--we meet her just as she is heading to the hospital. This works rather nicely, because it is Eagan's past that is going into creating the new Amanda. Eagan is older than Amanda, in attitude as well as age, and so, in several senses, Amanda's coming of age is a legacy from Eagan.

The intersection of their two lives makes for a fascinating book--how much of Eagan is in fact still alive in Amanda, and how will this change Amanda's life? Yet the fantasy element, although very essential to the story, doesn't overshadow their individual situations; it drives the plot, but doesn't distract from the familiar YA themes of growing up, separating from parents, and deciding who you want to be that are at the center of the book. Which means that this is one that will probably appeal more to readers of YA who like fantasy on the side than it will to readers of Fantasy who like YA, if you know what I mean. I am almost tempted not to label this fantasy at all, in fact (and the cover is totally YA), but feel I can't not, in as much as it is....kind of.

This is a rather young YA--even though I think Eagan gets more page time, it is the younger girl, Amanda, whose point of view dominates. And the romance aspect of the plot is Suitable for Younger Readers.

You can read an interview with Ellsworth here at Elizabeth Dulemba's blog, where you can also see the trailer for the book, and find the links to the other bloggers taking part in her book tour.

(note: ARC received from the publisher)

A more anthropologically minded post than I usually write, inspired by Diana Wynne Jones' new book

Diana Wynne Jones' new book, Enchanted Glass, arrived yesterday. From the jacket: "When Andre Hope's magician grandfather dies, he leaves his house and field-of-care to his grandson..."

I haven't read more than a few chapters, and I'll be writing a real review later. But I just wanted to share how tickled I was to find that Jones and I have both been thinking about the same thing. My own work as an archaeologist is very much concerned with the concept of "fields-of-care," as discussed in the brilliant, and very readable, Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience, by Yi-Fu Tuan (1977).

“A house is a relatively simple building. It is a place, however, for many reasons. It provides shelter; its hierarchy of spaces answers social needs; it is a field of care, a repository of memories and dreams" (Tuan: 1977: 164).

It's harder to pin down the memories and dreams held by an archaeological site than it is to dig up the post holes that show where the houses stood. But if you want to tell a story that matters, I think you have to try.

Here's another favorite quote of mine from Tuan that should appeal to writers and readers of fantasy: “Countries have their factual and their mythical geographies. It is not always easy to tell them apart, nor even to say which is more important, because the way people act depends on their comprehension of reality, and that comprehension, since it can never be complete, is necessarily imbued with myths.” (Tuan 1977: 98).

And now I am toying with the idea of the book blogosphere as a field of care, where the lived experiences (aka the blog posts) of the inhabitants change and shape the geographies of the book reading worlds in which they live. An example of such a post is Colleen's recent column on diversity at Book Slut.