This Sunday's Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy round-up

Here's this Sunday's round-up of blog posts about middle grade science fiction and fantasy! Please let me know what I missed!

Reviews:

The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future, by Dav Pilkey, at The Excelsior File

Come Fall, by A.C.E. Bauer, at Charlotte's Library (now with new and improved spelling)

Crossing Over (Suddenly Suppernatural) by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel, at Jean Little Library.

Haywired, by Alex Keller, at The Book Zone (for Boys)

Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, by Barry Deutsch, at Educating Alice.

The Indian in the Cupboard, by Lynne Reid Banks, at Middle Grade Ninja.

Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow, by James Rollins, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

Karma Bites, by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas, at Welcome to My Tweendom

Lost, by Sarah Prineas, at By Singing Light.

Magic Below Stairs, by Caroline Stevermer, at By Singing Light.

Stoneheart, by Charlie Fletcher, at Bow. James Bow.

Taran Wanderer, by Lloyd Alexander, at Stella Matutina

Tower of Treasure, by Scott Chantler, at 100 Scope Notes

The Toymaker, by Jeremy de Quidt, at Charlotte's Library

Witch Baby and Me On Stage, by Debi Gliori, at Nayu's Reading Corner.

The Witchy Worries of Abbie Adams, by Rhonda Hayter, at Becky's Book Reviews

and at KidsBooksNZ, here are three mini reviews of new releases of a spooky/fantastical sort--Organ Music by Margaret Mahy, Boy Zero, Wannabe Hero: The petrifying plot of the plummeting pants, by Peter Millet, and A crack in the sky by Kyle Mewburn


Interviews:

Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson (The Familiars), at YA Book Shelf, Brimful Curiosities, and The Book Smugglers.

Lukas Ritter (Monster Slayers) at Nina Hess.

Nick Ruth (The Dark Dreamweaver) at Shemika Eurton.

Briony Stewart (Kumiko and the Dragon) at Pardon My Ducks

Miscellany:

At Fuse #8 you can find The Hero Project: A Children's Literature Perspective, and at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles there's A Word About Witches.


I read with interest at Bibliolore (the best musicology blog I know of) that a new journal has arisen (possibly from the undead)--Horror Studies. The first issue includes such articles as this:

“Of submarines and sharks: Musical settings of a silent menace” by Linda Maria Koldau, an essay that explores how film composers have depicted the primal fear of the silent monster stealthily approaching from the depths."

And I can't resist borrowing Bibliolore's illustration of a WW II German submarine.

The Children's Book Council of Australia 2010 Book of the Year announced--and one my favorite books of the year wins!

It is so very nice when a book one loves, a book one thinks is just the cat's pajamas, gets a major book award. Darius Bell and the Glitter Pool, by Odo Hirsch (my review), which comes out here in the US in September, just won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year award.

Here are all the winners.

Come Fall, by A.C.E. Bauer

Come Fall, by A.C.E. Bauer (Random House 2010, middle grade, 229 pages)

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Titania and Oberon are in the midst of a bitter quarrel over a human changeling--each of them wants the boy. Titania says, of the child's mother:

"But she, being mortal, of that boy did die.

And for her sake do I rear up her boy;

And for her sake I will not part with him."

What if, Bauer asks, this changeling boy were a modern child, living in Bridgeport, Connecticut? What if the quarrel of the fairy king and queen spilled over into our 21st century world?

Enter Salman Page, a foster kid living in a trailer near the town line, working hard in the garden under the firm hand of his "mother," and threatened by his unpleasant foster "father." He's determined to fly under the radar of his new school, sitting with his back to the wall in the cafeteria where his dark skin and hair will blend with the darkness of its paint.

His plan doesn't work. He's been assigned a mentor--a lonely, kind girl named Lu, who soon moves from "designated buddy" to real friend. And joining them at the lunch table is Blos--a kid so literal, so set in his ways, so odd--that he is shunned by most of the kids at school; only Salman and Lu have the understanding to accept him for who he is. And Salman has a third friend--Bird, a great black crow, who keeps attendance on him. With friends like this, it is hard to stay invisible (especially when your crow flies up to bring you something shinny, right where everyone can see it).

This unlikely trio (quartet, if you count Bird), aren't going to be left in peace. Because Oberon and Titania are engaged in a power struggle, and Puck has been charged by Oberon to sow mischief in Salman's path. Gradually, things become harder for the kids, as their classmates turn against them. For Lu, who's never been an outsider, it's especially incomprehensible. But then Puck is ordered to turn his attentions to Salman's foster father...and things get worse.

In essence, this is a middle grade story of friendship, one of negotiating the complexities of growing up and being true to one's self. And it's a fine example of that genre. The magical underpinnings are unobtrusive, linked to the events of the "real" world, but not so much as to make the kids' story, in itself, a fantasy. In fact, the story of Salman, Lu, and Blos could stand alone without the fairies.

But Titania, Oberon, and Puck add a dimension to it that gives it a special zest, a magical intrigue that makes a fairly predictable story into something more. I wish, myself, that there had been even more magic spilling into the mortal world. In general, the fairies are kept confined to their own short sections of text, which disappointed me (fan of magic in the real world that I am). But still, an excellent book full of vivid characterization (although I think it might be enjoyed by fans of realistic fiction more than by fans of fantasy).

Here's Bauer talking about how Come Fall came to be, at John Scalzi's Whatever.

For those interested in diversity in kids' fantasy--Salman is shown front and center on the cover (they're all tiny, but he's in front). He isn't certain of his own ethnicity (since his parents are an unknown quanity to him) but the assumption made about him is that he's South Asian, and this is supported by Titania's recollections of his mother. Blos is a fine addition to the growing group of kids in mg fiction with Asperger's/autism spectrum. (Lu isn't "diverse", but she is one heck of a nice girl).

The Toymaker, by Jeremy de Quidt

The Toymaker, by Jeremy de Quidt (Random House 2010)

There are a number of books and movies, many of them very good indeed, that I wish I hadn't read. Bits of Joan Aiken's horror stories, for instance, are in my mind to stay, appearing in vivid detail at odd intervals. As I get older, I seem to be getting less sensitive...but I am still not at all sure that I was quite old enough for The Toymaker. And I'm really really glad I didn't read it when I was little. Because the titular toymaker makes automatons come to life by wiring their clockwork to living hearts. Sparrow hearts, to start with...they're easy to come by.

And that's where the book begins. The focus, however, soon shifts to Mathias, an orphan enduring the uncertain care of his grandfather, the magician of a second-rate carnival. The grandfather has been hiding a deadly secret for years; when one night he suddenly dies, Mathias finds that an extraordinarily villainous doctor and his even more alarmingly villainous henchmen are quite prepared to use any heinous technique they can think of (and they can think of many) to find that secret...and Mathias is their target. In his mad scramble to escape, Mathias finds surprising allies--a young kitchen girl, Katta, with her own tangled past; Koenig, a pistol wielding smuggler who thinks a secret that's worth killing for might well be worth trying to find himself; and Stefan, a sullen young charcoal burner whose past is entwined with Katta's....

Through the snowy, wolf-filled woods Mathias and his companions hurry, pursued all the while by something worse than any wolf. They do not know not what they will find or where it lies....until they get there, and they discover a horrible truth.

And something utterly awful happens, that upset me lots, and then...the book ends.

If you like somewhat gothic-y horror, where likable children (Katta and Mathias) are victims of circumstances beyond their control (circumstances as unclear to them as they are to the reader), if you like desperate races between good guys and bad guys, and if you do not mind lots of violence (both of a generic and of an extraordinarily horrific kind), you will like this book. It is tightly plotted, well-written, original, atmospheric--all that sort of good stuff.

If you don't, you still might, like me, find yourself reading, all anxious to find out if they escape alive....or not. And then kind of wishing you hadn't read the ending...

It was shortlisted for the 2010 Waterstone’s Childrens prize, and it's ostensibly for children 9-12. But the amount of violence is great enough that I'd be cautious of giving it to an empathetic, easily-bothered child. Fortunately, the US cover shown above is disturbing enough that it should help self-select its audience. The UK paperback cover, at right, is creepy, but more appealing, I think...

Here are other reviews, at Wandering Librarians, Fantasy Book Critic, Vuples Libris, and Graeme's Fantasy Book Review.

Along the River, a Chinese Cinderella Novel, by Adeline Yen Mah, for Timeslip Tuesday

Along the River: a Chinese Cinderella Novel, by Adeline Yen Mah (Random House, Sept. 14, 2010, YA, 208 pages)

In WW II China, a girl nicknamed CC and her grandmother are about to smuggle some downed American pilots out of the country. When CC, shopping for provisions in the marketplace, thinks they've been discovered, she runs...and falls from the roof of a building. After lying in a coma for three weeks, she opens her eyes again, but instead of moving toward full recovery, she's trapped in a jumble of waking dreams, full of sights and sounds of people and places she can't quite remember. For hours she compulsively stares at the painting that seems to be triggering these almost memories--one of China's most famous works of art, Along the River at the Qing Ming Festival.

Through hypnotherapy, the story that is haunting CC emerges, and she tells of her life 800 years ago as Mei Lan, a book-loving daughter of privilege. In that time, Mei Lan's greatest happiness comes from her forbidden friendship with Ah Li, the gardener's assistant, but both know it is a fragile relationship. Mei Lan's stepmother schemes to make for her the most advantageous match possible--and Mei Lan is miserable at the prospect. And Ah Li is trapped as well--he is a brilliant artist, whose work has come to the attention of the emperor himself. And now the emperor wants to add him to his menagerie of artists, all of whom are eunuchs.

In his greatest painting, Ah Li had captured a perfect day the two had stolen along the river at the Qing Ming Festival. And it is at the same river where their lives will hang in the balance, when they chose to cast off the places their society has prepared for them...or not.

Mei Lan's story is a fascinating piece of historical fiction. It falls into the "spirited girl rejecting cultural norms in favor of a more 21st century outlook on life" sub-genre, but the interest provided by the characters and their time and place helped me suspend disbelief in that regard. Those who like their YA historical fiction with a generous dash of forbidden romance should enjoy this book just fine. It's full of detail, and color, and the sort of lively small happenings that bring the past to life.

However, the subtitle of the book "a Chinese Cinderella Story" is misleading. Adeline Yen Mah is the author of a YA memoir, Chinese Cinderella, and the CC of this book is that autobiographical self, having a fictional adventure. There's a stepmother, a minor glass slipper parallel with foot binding, and a romance, but it's not enough to make this a re-telling of the Cinderella story. So those looking specifically for fairy tale stories might find their expectations unmet.

It is not at all clear to me why the author felt it necessary to include CC at all. There's an earlier book about CC's adventures in WW II-- Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society (which sounds quite fun), but in this book, CC's little bit of story serves only as a framing device, and isn't connected in any obvious way with the events of the Song Dynasty era. Mei Lan's narrative could easily have been a stand-alone story. Conversely, Mei Lan's life reverberates in CC's mind, but very little page time is actually given to CC--she never gets to have a real story of her own. She doesn't actually travel through time, or have her life changed by remembering Mei Lan, and so her presence in the books seems kind of pointless to me.

So in essence, Along the River doesn't read as a time-travel book, let alone a fantasy, but it does contain a perfectly reasonable YA historical fiction book inside itself. And now I'm slightly conflicted--I guess I'll label this post time travel, fantasy, and fairy tale retelling (because people might well think it is these), even though I've just said it isn't (unless remembering past lives through hypnosis is fantasy?).

Incidentally, the book came out in the UK last year, entitled Chinese Cinderella--the Mystery of the Song Dynasty Painting, and I don't think the Chinese Cinderella part adds much to that title either.

(ARC received at ALA)

New Releases of Science Fiction and Fantasy for Kids and Teens--the middle of August edition

Here are the new releases of sff for middle grade and YA readers from the middle of August. Do not worry, YA fans--even though there are only two on this list, there are many books to come at the end of August, not least among which is, of course, Mockingjay. As usual, I get my release date info. from the Teens Read Too website, and lift the blurbs from Amazon or the publishers.

Middle Grade:

BRAINS FOR LUNCH: A ZOMBIE NOVEL IN HAIKU?! by K.A. Holt The difference being that this middle school novel is written entirely in Haiku. Loeb, its zombie protagonist has a problem: the object of his affection, Siobhan, is a lifer (i.e. human). What to do? In scenes set around a lunch table (the menu: brains) and around the school, eyes roll and jaws drop (literally). Also featured in the cast of characters is Carl, a chupacabra (bloodsucking critter) and Mrs. Fincher, a sympathetic and seductive librarian.


CURSE OF THE BIZARRO BEETLE: SPLURCH ACADEMY by Julie Gardner Berry With Cody's archnemesis, Headmaster Farley, banished from the school, Cody should be celebrating . . . but something is bothering him, eating at him . . . literally gnawing on him. Dark forces are on the rise at Splurch Academy and Cody Mack isn't sure which side of the battle he's on.

THE RAT BRAIN FIASCO: SPLURCH ACADEMY by Julie Gardner Berry When Cody Mack is called to the principal's office yet again, he finds something far worse than detention awaiting him: Splurch Academy, a frightfully sinister boarding school for disobedient children run by a group of monstrous teachers.



KARMA BITES by Stacy Kramer & Valerie Thomas Life seems to have it in for Franny Flanders. Her best friends aren’t speaking, her parents just divorced, and her hippie grandmother has moved in. The only karma Franny’s got is bad karma. Then Franny gets her hands on a box of magic recipes that could fix all of her problems. It could even change the world! Finally, life is looking up. But Franny is about to learn that magic and karma aren’t to be played with. When you mess with the universe, it can bite back in unexpected ways. Ouch!

NINTH WARD by Jewell Parker Rhodes Abandoned by her peers because of her ability to see spirits, Lanesha longs for connection despite the strong love of her adopted grandmother, Mama Ya ...more Abandoned by her peers because of her ability to see spirits, Lanesha longs for connection despite the strong love of her adopted grandmother, Mama Ya-Ya. As hurricane Katrina approaches and her neighbours flee, Lanesha must stay and brace for a storm of epic proportions. As the levees break, Lanches must find a way to survive the floods on her own...



SCUMBLE by Ingrid Law Nine years after Mibs's Savvy journey, her cousin Ledge has just turned thirteen . . .

But Ledger Kale's savvy is a total dud--all he does is make little things fall apart. So his parents decide it's safe to head to Wyoming, where it's soon revealed that Ledge's savvy is much more powerful than anyone thought. Worse, his savvy disaster has an outside witness: Sarah Jane Cabot, reporter wannabe and daughter of the local banker. Just like that, Ledge's beloved normal life is over. Now he has to keep Sarah from turning family secrets into headlines, stop her father from foreclosing on Uncle Autry's ranch, and scumble his savvy into control so that, someday, he can go home.

THE UNSINKABLE WALKER BEAN by Aaron Renier Walker Bean never wanted to be a high-seas pirate waging a pitched battle against the forces of the deep. It just worked out that way. Mild, meek, and a little geeky, Walker is always happiest in his grandfather’s workshop, messing around with his inventions. But when his beloved grandfather is struck by an ancient curse, it falls on Walker to return an accursed pearl skull to the witches who created it—and his path will be strewn with pirates, magical machines, ancient lore, and deadly peril.





Young Adult


THE BROKEN LAKE: THE PACE SERIES by Shelena Shorts In the aftermath of Sophie's ordeal, Weston will make some uncharacteristic decisions to distance himself from the past in an attempt to change the future. But, while venturing into the improbable, the present sneaks up in a chilling way that will lead to Wes' unexpected submission. Suddenly, Sophie will find herself watching as both his immortal secret and his own existence are threatened.



RISE OF THE HUNTRESS: THE LAST APPRENTICE by Joseph Delaney Things can never be the same again. The Spook and his apprentice, Thomas Ward, have returned to the county after a long journey and a hard battle. But their troubles are far from over. Their home has been over-run by enemy soldiers. The Spook's house is in ruins, the boggart protecting it has fled, and the malicious witches imprisoned in the gardens have escaped. Tom, Alice, and the Spook must flee, too, across the ocean to the island of Mona. And it's on Mona that this small band fighting against the dark will face an old enemy grown terrifyingly powerful. Will they be able to vanquish an evil that crawls beneath the ground itself? At what cost? Will Tom and the Spook ever be able to return home?

Revised and expanded mg sff round-up

I published my first take on this week's round-up on Friday, just as I was about to head south to Mississippi for a family reunion of sorts....turns out, the hotel does have a free computer, so here's the updated version! But if I still missed your post, let me know!

The reviews:

13 Treasures, by Michelle Harrison, at Books & Other Thoughts.

Alex and the Ironic Gentleman, byAdrienne Kress, at Read in a Single Sitting.

Boom!, by Mark Haddon, at Jean Little Library.

The Brimstone Key (Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles), by Derek Benz and J.S. Lewis, at Jean Little Library.

Fairy School Dropout Undercover, by Meredith Badger, at TheHappyNappyBookseller.

Falcon Quinn and the Black Mirror, by Jennifer Finney Boylan, at Welcome to My Tweendom.

The Girl Who Could Fly, by Victoria Forester, at The Infinite Shelf.

The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale, at Middle School Book Reviews.

The Grimm Legacy, by Polly Shulman, at BookKids

Haywired, by Alex Keller, at Mr. Ripley's Enchanted Books

Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, by Barry Deutsch, at Fuse #8

Karma Bites, by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas at Bookworming in the 21st Century and Book Faery.

Kid vs Squid, by Greg Van Eekhout, at Tor (reviewed by Elizabeth Bear; missed it last week)

Kneebone Boy, by Ellen Potter, at Welcome to my Tweendom (although this might not be fantasy, qua fantasy.)

Knightley Academy, by Violet Haberdasher, at Becky's Book Reviews.

Middleworld (Jaguar Stones Book 1), byJ & P Voelkel, at Books & Other Thoughts.

The Night Tourist, by Katherine Marsh, at Biblio File.

The Ninth Ward, by Jewell Parker Rhodes, at TheHappyNappyBookseller and A Patchwork of Books.

The Pharoah's Secret, by Marissa Moss, at books4yourkids

Raggie Maggie (Invisible Friends), by Barry Hutchison, at The Book Zone (for boys)

Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus, by R.L. LaFevers, at Fantasy Literature.

Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos, by R.L. LaFevers, at Read in a Single Sitting.

Troll's Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales, edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, at Fantasy Literature.


Interviews:

Erica Orloff (The Magickeepers), at In Search of Giants.

Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson (The Familiars), at YA Fresh.


Etceteras:

A look at Doll Books, old and new, at Book Aunt.

A report on Artemis Rocks from Margo (The Fourth Musketeer, guest posting at Green Bean Teen Queen)

Paranormalcy, by Kiersten White

Paranormalcy, by Kiersten White (HarperCollins, August 21, 2010, YA) is a cracking good read, one that should delight fans of the YA paranormal romance/thriller genres.

Evie has been a ward of the International Paranormal Containment Agency ever since she was eight. Her unique ability makes her an invaluable member of the global force dedicated to tracking down and neutralizing paranormal beings--vampires, werewolves, hags, and the like. Being the only teenager who lives in the agency is kind of lonely; her best friend is a mermaid who lives in a glorified holding tank. Still, at least it's home, and there's always online shopping....even if she knows she'll never get to go to high school.

Then the relative peace of the Agency is shattered. A shapeshifter infiltrates the enclave, while in the outside world, paranormals are suddenly being, not neutralized, but killed outright. To make things more complicated, Evie's would be faerie lover is back, and turning the charm on as only a faerie can. And the young shapeshifter, now a prisoner of the Agency, is working charms of his own on Evie's lonely heart...


And things start getting really exciting.


I'm not, so much, myself a paranormal romance fan, but I was hooked by the light, sassy tone of this plucky and lonely heroine. I was gripped by the desperate mystery in which she finds herself the key player, and I was rather interested in the romance (it was kind of obvious where that was going, so I wasn't tremendously anxious about it)...Although the ultimate solution left me confused as to the motivations of the puppet masters involved (there are two more books planned, in which more presumably will be made clear), it was a fun, diverting read that kept me hooked despite reading it in the same house as six children ten and younger, five of them boys.*

In short, it had zing.

Age wise--lots of paranormals go down, but don't die horribly on stage, the romance is understated and nascent (although the faerie dude, and the glamour he wields as he tries to take possession of Evie, is Not Nice at all), and the language is clean--but it's still is most definitely 12 and up plot, theme, and character-wise. A good one, I think, for a reader who might not be quite ready for Melissa Marr or Holly Black, but certainly fun for any age.

(final thought--I think the title is a lovely play on words--Evie longs to try "normalcy", but can't escape the "para" part of her life...)

Here are two giveaways--at Bookantistas or here at Reading Teen--and here are some reviews from Imagination in Focus, My Brain on Books, The Sparkling Star, and Book Aunt.

*which is why posting has been sparse. Too much competition for the computer. Too little time for peaceful thought.

My very own YA Fantasy Showdown Battle (Hermione vs Chrestomanci) is up and running!

The YA Fantasy Showdown is underway, and my very own battle (Hermione vs Chrestomanci) is up! It is both tender and witty (or something).

I tickled myself very much by making up a new spell (the second one), just so that Hermione can hit Chrestomanci where it hurts:

"Teeth set, she set her mind to the spells that she knew would hurt him more than any others--”Diffindo!” she cried with every fiber of her being. Her wand shot out a shower of sharp sparks, and the seams of his jacket split. “Lutulentum Vestimentum!” and specks of mud appeared on his snow-white shirt. At least his clothing was vulnerable, even if her spells weren’t reaching the man himself."

The Latin translates (I hope--it's been years since I studied Latin) as "sullied clothing."

House of Dolls, by Francesca Lia Block

House of Dolls, by Francesca Lia Block, illustrated by Barbara McClintock (2010 HarperCollins, middle grade, 61 pages).

In her apartment in the city, Madison Blackberry has a dolls' house, a lovely one, full of beauteous small things made and collected by Madison's grandmother. And Madison's grandmother still loves it much more than Madison does--lavishing more attention on the dolls, it seems, then she does on Madison. Madison's parents are even more inattentive.

Bored and resentful, Madison turns on the dolls. But the dolls that live in her doll house are not simple toys. They have feelings--they love, and think, and are people in their own right. Wildlower, Rockstar, and Miss Selene are the three girl dolls, Guy and B. Friend, a stuffed bear, are the boyfriends of the first two. When Madison, like an angry god, takes Guy, and B. Friend from home, the lives of the dolls are cruelly shattered by the pain of war, and the agony of loss. Even crueler is the fate Madison visits on Miss Selene...

All comes right in the end, although too handily for my taste--suddenly her grandmother shows Madison affection, so she is able to reciprocate and restore the lives of her dolls to their former happy stasis....and then, bang, her parents are being affectionate to her too, and "the war is over."

House of Dolls is told partly from the point of view of the dolls, partly from Madison's point of view, in distinct segments. This change in perspective made the story seem a little distant--the lives of the dolls became, perforce, less real when Madison was the story's focus (even though the author still inserts their perspective, and specifically asks the reader to identify them). And the distance I felt from the story was reinforced by the somewhat self-conscious authorial voice, and the underlined Points.

"The combination of boredom and jealousy is a dangerous thing. Especially when the person feeling these things is so many times larger than you are." (page 23)

It's not un-moving, I loved the descriptions of the doll house, and the illustrations added greatly to the charm, and I had no quarrel with the writing qua writing....but somehow it didn't quite work for me. It felt a like an adult fable, and not so much like a book for children.

Added bonus feature: As far as I know, this is the first book about sentient dolls to feature an inter-racial couple--Guy, the soldier doll who is Wildflower's boyfriend, is a doll of color (a point that is underlined with a slightly heavy hand):

"Wildflower was a celluloid doll with long black braids of real hair, pale skin, and big brown eyes with painted on eyelashes. Guy was a dark-skinned plastic doll in army fatigues. It did not matter that they looked nothing alike. The first time Madison Blackberry lay them down next to each other in the white lace canopy bed and their arms brushed, Wildflower and Guy knew they never wanted to be separated." (pp 6-7)

And Barbara McClintock is faithful to this description in her illustrations.

Space, and The Human Body (One Million Things series) from DK

Space, by Carole Stott, and The Human Body, by Richard Walker, are two of the four books in DK's new One Million Things series.

These books are just as fact-filled as one expects from a DK book, with all the bright pictures illustrating said facts that DK does so well. However, with this series, DK has gotten more than somewhat quirky design-wise. The pictures illustrating the facts do not float in the empty space of the page--rather, they are contained within images and contexts from the everyday world. The gas giants in Space, for instance, become hot air balloons. Body languague, in The Human Body, is illustrated by a bunch of ordinary folks in a movie theater, not the isolated examples of happy, sad, cross that one commonly sees, and rather cleverly, blood circulation is shown as a banner advertizement in a subway station, and the heart is the engine of a car with its hood up. And really cool are the "Defenders" --the infection fighters of the body. They are shown as trading cards.

The result is, I think, a series of books that rather perfect for the reader who thinks best with visual metaphors, although I think their appeal is more univeral then that. The pictures that don't work as well are easy to ignore; the ones that do cleverly reinforce the facts presented. And, speaking from personal experience, this approach to illustration adds an extra layer of puzzle solving for the reader and the child being read to. Me, in all sincerity: Why is there a football on this page (p. 121 of Space) about rockets? Seven year old: it's a kid's room and the rockets are toys too! Me: duh. (followed by musing about whether rockets should be lumped with toys...and what that might say about our society etc etc.) Seven year old: It's just a picture.

Although Space is a bit more metaphorically random than The Human Body, both are fun additions to one's non-fiction library--they are much more interesting that most non-fiction encyclopedia type books around.

The Non-Fiction Monday round-up is at Moms Inspire Learning today!

This week's round-up of middle grade science fiction and fantasy fun

Big News First: The Golden Duck Awards, for excellence in science fiction for children, have been announced (thanks to Science Fiction Awards Watch for the news). The winners are:

• Picture Book Award: Swamps of Sleethe by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Jimmy Pickering (Knopf)
• Eleanor Cameron Middle Grades Award: ZRex by Steve Cole (Penguin)
• Hal Clement Young Adult Award: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
• Special Award: You Write It: Science Fiction by John Hamilton (Abdo)

This week's reviews:

The Book of Three and The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander, at Stella Matutina (here and here)

Boom, by Mark Haddon at The Excelsior File.

Don't Know Where, Don't Know When, by Annette Laing, at Lucy Was Robbed.

The Giver, by Lois Lowry, at Rhiannon Hart.

Into the Land of the Unicorns, by Bruce Coville, at The Book on the Hill

Karma Bites, by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas, at A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy

Magic Below Stairs, by Caroline Stevermer, at Bookends.

Nick of Time, by Ted Bell, at Maltby Reads!

The Shifter, by Janice Hardy, at Let the Words Flow.

A Tale Dark and Grimm, at Becky's Book Reviews.

Thresholds, by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, at Fantasy Literature.

Zombiekins, by Kevin Bolger, at Book Aunt.

The Zombie Chasers, by John Kloepfer at Book Aunt.

Jenny's Books hosted a week celebrating Diana Wynne Jones-- here is Part 1 of the links to reviews, and here is Part 2.

It was also Once Upon a Time Week at Today's Adventure, and here's the round-up of all the links from that fairy tale filled extravaganza.

I don't, generally, include picture books in these round-ups. But for this one, I make an exception--The Shadow, by Donna Diamond, at Book Aunt. I have made the picture big so that you can see for yourself why this isn't, necessarily, a book your want to give to little kids....

Interviews:
Grace Lin (Where the Mountain Meets the Moon) at Book Dragon

Jill Vanderwood (Through the Rug) at Celina Reiling

And a piece of fun news to end with:

The YA Fantasy Showdown begins tomorrow! But do not worry, fans of MG--many mg favorites are going up against the big kids (I myself had the very great pleasure of writing Hermione vs Chrestomanci). This event is the brain child of Heather at The Secret Adventures of Writer Girl, where you can read more about it.

If Chrestomanci wins his round, he's up against either Katnis or Edward. My money is on Katnis, but part of me hopes Edward wins....Chrestomanci vs Edward would be very amusing, and lots of fun to write.

(and as a postscript I just want to stick in a link to a mg review of my own of a book I loved that isn't fantasy, but which is beautifully fantastical-- Darius Bell and the Glitter Pool, by Odo Hirsch)

Please let me know if I missed your post!

The Game, by Diana Wynne Jones

During the course of Diana Wynne Jones Week, hosted by Jenny's Books, I realized that I am not alone in finding many DWJ books more fun the second time through. Which is very strange--I can honestly say both, "I love DWJ," and also "I didn't like many of her books all that much the first time I read them."

A case in point is The Game (2007), which I just finished reading. It opens with young, orphaned Haley being sent off to Irelend after displeasing her grandmother. Suddenly she is thrown into a confusing throng of family, and when asked what she did to displease her grandmother, she answers" "...she said I was bringing the strands here and destroying all Grandad's work." At which point the first time reader might have reason to think "????????"

A flashback to Haley's childhood doesn't explain much, but it does introduce the Mythosphere--a celestial layer of story strands, containing every tale ever told. And it seems that Haley's family can all travel along these strands. The favorite game of her cousins, in fact, is Mythosphere scavenger hunt. So Haley is whirled through a tumbling panoply of story and myth, and it becomes clear that her family are rather, um, extraordinary. Only the malevolent, jealous power of her womanizing uncle keeps them bound on earth at all....

It's a beautiful wild romp of a story, that I didn't much care for the first time through because I Had No Clue what was happening. Nothing is ever explained. DWJ never once steps back from her story to hold the reader's hand in a reassuring authorial way. It's sort of like trying to identify wildflowers while running full tilt down a mountain--the story goes so fast, you can see the flowers are there, but you can't stop to appreciate them.

Until, that is, you read it again...and comprehension lends enchantment to the view. Or familiarity breeds content. Something like that.

Note on age: Publisher's Weekly, in a starred review, said 12 and up. School Library Journal said grades 5-8. I'm going to go with SLJ-- I don't think there is anything here, thematically or substantivly, "young adult." And I am wondering if reading a book like this comes more easily to the young; there was so much I didn't understand when I was a child, and I was so used to letting confusion wash right over me, that maybe it didn't bother me if I didn't have a clue what was happening in a story, as long as it was making pictures in my mind. And what ever her weaknesses, DWJ is brilliant at making pictures in the mind....

And I hope she gets the chance to make many more for us. As of May 15, she was about halfway through a new book, with the ideas in place for the next one...)

This concludes DWJ Week --thanks Jenny!-- but since it was so much fun, I have joined the DWJ discussion group. See you there?

Fairest of All, A Tale of the Wicked Queen, by Serena Valentino

In honor of Once Upon a Time Week, here's a (slightly expanded) reprise of a book I wrote a quick review of, that got buried in a post that was full of other books.

Fairest of All, A Tale of the Wicked Queen, by Serena Valentino (Disney Press, 2009, 250 pages). Valentino pulls off quite an accomplishment with this book--she tells the story of Snow White from the "evil" stepmother's point of view, making the Queen a sympathetic character. For the Queen was not always evil--once she was the young bride of the king, finding in her love for him and his little girl happiness that had escaped her growing up under the shadow of a truly evil father. But her father, even though ostensibly dead, still casts a shadow over her life, lingering in the sinister magic mirror that haunts her. The mirror's twisted messages to her, combined with the malevolent doings of three old women, distant cousins of the king, gradually drive the queen to madness and cruelty toward her beloved step-daughter.

She is as much a victim as Snow White, caught in an evil magic not of her own making, and her story is a compelling one, full of vivid imagery and tense emotional drama.

The cover, I think, is rather horrid. It does the book an injustice--although plenty dark toward the end, much of the book is not so black as the cover would suggest, and the Queen is, as I said, a sympathetic character. I would have chosen a cover showing her in a beautiful dress, in a brightly lit room, with the mirror front and center. Recommended highly to fans of fairy tale retellings.

(review copy received as part of my involvement with the Cybils Awards last year)

A poll, to test my hypothesis that there is a negative correlation between liking Diana Wynne Jones and liking Mervyn Peake

My husband and I overlap in our feelings about many books--we both love Ursula Le Guin (when we met, we both had the same Le Guin on our nightstands), and he enjoyed Megan Whalen Turner's books very much (a good thing for our marriage). But there are rifts in the lute.

Leaving aside Red Shift, by Alan Garner (him-brilliant, me--runs sobbing from room to throw self off cliff), the foremost significant disagreement we have is regarding Mervyn Peake's Titus Groan series (him--brilliant, me--I cannot appreciate the brilliant writing because I am drowning in a wasteland devoid of any spark of human comfort). The secondmost significant disagreement is regarding Diana Wynne Jones--I have tried him on several, and he did not care for them and won't read any more.

So, being a social scientist, I would like to collect data with which to test my hypothesis that there is a negative correlation between liking Titus Groan and liking Diana Wynne Jones.

Titus Groan or Diana Wynne Jones?

• I like/love Titus Groan, but not DWJ
• I like/love DWJ, but not Titus Groan
• I like/love them both
• I do not like either
• My feelings are so muddy that I can't pick one of the above
• The premise is so flawed that I won't pick
• Red Shift is better than anything Peake or DWJ ever wrote

View Results
Create a Blog Poll

Ship Breaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi

Ship Breaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi (Little Brown, 2010, YA, 323 pages). In a future earth, the oceans have risen, cities have drowned, and fossil fuels are becoming obsolete. But some things are much the same as they are today--there are workers compelled by poverty and desperate circumstances to labor in hideously unsafe conditions, breaking up derelict hulks on the beaches. It is on such a beach, inside such a hulk, that we meet the central character--a boy named Nailor--and the crew of kids who work with him.

The ship breakers live desperate lives, but they are not without hope--everyone dreams of making a "lucky strike," and finding salvage worth enough to raise them a few rungs, at least, in the vicious pecking order of the beaches. When Nailor and his crewmate Pima find a clipper ship (a vessel that uses marvelous technology to harness the winds and fly infinitely faster than ships of today), they think their day has come. It is filled with riches. But on board they find Nita, the wealthy girl whose vessel it was, and she is still alive. She promises them that she is worth more living then dead, but there are many things she isn't saying. Like why her ship was wrecked on this bit of reef...and just who is it that its going to come looking for her. And when Pima and Nailor's lucky strike is discovered by the other salvors of the beach, including Nailor's father, the most dangerous of them all, what seemed like a gift from the gods turns ugly fast.

Nailor decides to throw his lot in with the wealthy girl. In a desperate effort to get he to safety, they jump a freight train headed toward drowned New Orleans. There they might find her friends...or they might not. Accompanying them is Tool, a half man/half dog -- one of many such beings, genetically altered to serve the rich. But Tool is nobody's servant...

And I'll stop with the summary now, and just say, for those who might think this sounds rather unbearably dark, that it becomes a fast-paced adventure and the ending is not without hope.

Which is a good thing, because for the first 80 pages or so, I wasn't sure I could finish this one, because the beginning is so very dark and gritty and sad, focusing, as it does, on the human suffering entailed in ship breaking. Which is not something futuristic and dystopian, that we, sitting comfortably with a good book, don't have to worry about. It goes on today--here's a current report on ship breaking in Bangladesh that describes almost exactly the ship breaking in this fictional "dystopia." As in today's world, those who do not have to worry about starving to death are comfortably insulated from what happens to those who live in dire poverty. And so this book wasn't reading as "fantasy" or "science fiction" for me (despite the half-men and the clipper ships). It was reading as gritty, heart-breaking realism (and I am disappointed that the author chose not to make clear that the pretty darn awful life he wrote for his characters is being lived by people in our own world; he does, however, include information about real-life ship breaking at the book's website).

However. Once the story, and the characters, get going, the book became much more readable (for wimpy me). For the most part, it's fairly standard kids in danger stuff; well-written and engaging, but not extraordinary. That being said, the plot of poor boy and rich girl forced to work together and critically consider their assumptions about each other and their world is deftly handled. The moral implications of choices made by characters are considered, which adds considerable depth to the story. But the main reason I kept reading was Tool--an utterly fascinating character who is the most science-fictiony part of the book, what with being a product of genetic manipulation. There is clearly more of his story to tell--I hope it plays a large part in the sequel, coming out sometime next year.

Question: when an author presents in a work of speculative fiction a specific, horrible thing that is present in our own world, but which isn't necessarily very well known, does he have any obligation to tell his readers about the real world part of things? Does it make the book stronger for you when he or she does, or do you find it not particularly relevant to the reading experience of the fictional work?

Edited to add: I'd forgotten to add this to my list of multicultural/multiethnic fantasy. Nailor is a mix (his hair and skin are dark, his eyes are blue), other central characters were more clearly identified as black and brown, and Nita's family names are Phatal and Chaudhury (although, since it's the future, these names might not be as clearly indicative of anything as they would be today). (thanks to Liz at a Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy, for the details she provides--I myself returned my copy to the library without checking to see what the author actually said).

A sample of other reviews (of which there have been many): Presenting Lenore, Fluidity of Time, Book Ends, Kids Lit, Fantasy Book Critic, and io9. Lenore also has an interview and a giveaway!

(Anyone reading this who might want to do their gift giving in a way that can help real-world kids forced to live in dangerous misery might consider buying from Hiefer International or from SERRV--fair trade, hand-made, non-profit. This ornament is one of many affordable gifts you can buy to support the women of Bangladesh).

Spinners, by Donna Jo Napoli and Richard Tchen

Every time I go to my local public library, I try to take out at least one YA book, whether I need it or not (to improve the YA stats, and to make room on the shelves. I'm not allowed to donate any more YA books to the library, it's so full, and that hurts). Last night I was looking for a fairy tale retelling, to share for Once Upon a Time Week, and I came home with Spinners, by Donna Jo Napoli and Richard Tchen (1999, Penguin, YA, 197 pages in paperback)-- a retelling of the story of Rumpelstiltskin.

I love (with exceptions) fairy tale retellings. I love the twisty paths the authors take as the stories behind The Story unfold, making the unbelievable and often inconsistent parts of the original into a coherent narrative in which motivations make sense. And in the best sort of fairy tale retelling, the larger world of the new story will be filled with a magic of its own--with new enchantments built on the old.

For the first half of this book, I was afraid that Spinners wasn't this type of book. For one thing, it has, in my mind, three handicaps--it's told in the third person present, and it takes place over a period of 15 years, and it has two points of view. So for the first half of the book, I felt detached from the characters, seeing them as if from great distance. I watched as a young tailor made a terrible, morally reprehensible choice in a desperate effort to win the girl he loved by spinning straw into gold, a choice that led to his becoming a crippled outcast. I wasn't sure I cared. I watched as his daughter, believing the miller to be her father, lived a difficult life in his drunken shadow. My worry that I would not find the book reviewable grew.

But then I reached the halfway point, and the daughter, Saskia, began to spin, and her spinning became more and more elaborately narrated and fantastically beautiful. And by the time the miller made his drunken boast to the king, and Saskia found herself shut up in the first room full of straw, facing death unless she could spin it into gold, I was hooked.

Napoli and Tchen had hit their stride, and the motivations of the characters--crippled spinner, the beautiful and talented girl, and the greedy (yet not altogether loathsome) king were falling into place, making the story captivating enough so that the last seventy five pages flew by in tense and engaged reading, even though I knew the ending. Because, as is the case with all good fairy tale retellings, it's not the ending that matters, but how you get there....(or something like that).

This marks another addition to my compendium of Textile Fantasies. Reviewed to date are:

Avielle of Rhia, by Dia Calhoun
The Spellcoats, by Diana Wynne Jones
Tom Ass, by Ann Laurence
Brightly Woven, by Alexandra Bracken
Silksinger, by Laini Taylor

Puss in Boots, re-told by Diana Wynne Jones

Combining Diana Wynne Jones Week seamlessly with Once Upon a Time Week is DWJ's re-telling of Puss In Boots. It is a slim book, with only 86 large-fonted pages in the version I have (Scholastic, 1999), and it sticks very closely to the original story. Yet, this being DWJ doing the re-telling, it is smart, and brisk, and dotted with touches of humor.

"I don't think I have any brains," the miller's son said sadly. "I shall be a miller's assistant all the days of my life. All I shall ever be is District Wrestling Champion."

"You're not that much of a fool," said the cat. "But it doesn't matter because I have brains enough for both of us. The question is, do you have brains enough to trust me and do exactly what I tell you to do?"

"I think so," said the miller's son. "I've always admired the cunning way you hunt."

"Good," said the cat. "Then your sorrows are over. Save up your money until you can afford to buy me a pair of boots and a strong leather bag to match them."

"Boots!" said the miler's son. "Whatever for?"

"Uh-huh!" said the cat. "I said trust me. But if you must know, I get frustrated when I hunt out of doors. There are so many brambles." (page 9-11 of my edition).

It's not a book that hard-core fans of DWJ are going to want to seek out (unless they are completing their collection), but it is an awfully fun version of this old chestnut, great for reading aloud to the younger child, or for young reader to read alone.

A book I can't imagine reading--The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Undead

I think I will pass on reading this one (found via Graeme's Fantasy Book Review)


In the tradition of the blockbuster sensation Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Tor is proud to offer up The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Undead. Taking the original coming of age classic, Don Borchart has inflicted it with a taste of the macabre, as the world has been overrun by a Zombie epidemic that in the South has been dubbed "Zum." Where in the original text you would find Tom Sawyer duping his friends into whitewatching [sic] the fence, now in that same scene, Tom and his friends sharpen the edges of the fence to ward off Zombie approaches. Where Tom Sawyer doesn't have to fake his dealth [sic], just merely pretends to be a Zum. The murderous Injun' Joe is the first of the rising self-realized zombies, who know what they are and are even more vicious for it...

Tom Sawyer doesn't need zombies. And "Injun' Joe" is a problematical enough in the original, without being a zombie.

On the other hand, Dickens could use a few vampires. Like Estella in Great Expectations--she is pretty much un-dead already.

Darius Bell and the Glitter Pool, by Odo Hirsch

Here's a lovely book that isn't fantasy, although it is certainly fantastical--Darius Bell and the Glitter Pool, by Odo Hirsch (Kane Miller, 2010, middle grade, 214 pages). This one's an Australian import, already out there and coming to the US in September.

Darius Bell is the younger son of a proud family that has fallen on hard times. A long ago Bell ancestor did his city such a service that he was given a large land grant, and on that land, the Bell's constructed a vast estate, whose centerpiece was a huge, fantastical house (really huge and really fantastical--I loved it!). There was one requirement of the grant--every twenty five years, the Bells must give a gift, any gift, back to the city (which is now full of edifices of past Bell generosity).

It is almost time for the Bell's to give their gift again. But Darius' father has no money. The house is falling to pieces, and the only way the Bell's manage to stay there at all is through a network of families who work the land and harvest trees and fish the ponds in exchange for tithes. Darius, unlike his older brother Cyrus (who wants to leave the decaying grandeur of home to make a life for himself as an engineer named Robert), loves the Bell estate, and would do anything to save it. So when it becomes clear that his father is in deep denial viz gift giving (too proud of the family name to admit to poverty, too impractical to come up with a "worthy" gift), Darius sets out to find the perfect thing himself.

When an earthquake opens the way to an underground lake, a place of extraordinary beauty, Darius thinks he might have found the answer to his family's problems...but gifts, especially those with lots of legal strings attached, are tricky things.

The quality of Hirsch's writing is just lovely. It's full of description--the residents of the Bell estate, and the place itself, come to magical life. Those who love children's books about old, decaying houses full of endless rooms and follies will love this one. And all the description is merged beautifully with the story, so that my eyes never bounced of off unread adjectives in their haste to see what happened next.

Darius is a most lovable character--determined and plucky, despite being squashed somewhat by his older brother. I was firmly on his side from the get go, and he is one of my favorite fictional boys of the year. (Can't say the same, though, for his somewhat annoying proverb-mangling friend). Cyrus (aka Robert) grew on me considerably, and Darius' parents, even though they might seem ineffective (needing, as they do in Darius' mind at least), a lot of help, are not without dignity. And it is this dignity that comes to the fore toward the end of the book, when the author explores what really constitutes a good Gift (there's a fine lesson here, not made into a Moral with a capital M, but still very much present).

This is a wonderful book for the grown-up aficionado of middle grade children's literature- but I think there is more than enough scheming and exploring and imagining to enthral the young reader too.

added bonus 1: an interesting geology lesson
added bonus 2: lots of good things to eat

Here's another review from Australian Women Online that echoes my sentiments exactly.

Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher at ALA in DC this summer, and now I have to decide whether to pass it on to the library as planned or selfishly keep it because I enjoyed it so very much. But since the book is so focused on giving, it would be hard to do the later...I don't think I could meet its eyes on my own shelves, as it were.

A Tale of Time City, by Diana Wynne Jones, for Timeslip Tuesday

A Tale of Time City, by Diana Wynne Jones (1987)

Vivien Smith was being evacuated from London in WW II when her trip to the country turned out to be much more than she bargained for--she ended up kidnapped by two boys from the future, and whisked off to Time City. There, far from the familiarities of home, she finds herself in a pickle of twisted time, and Jonathan and Sam, would-be-heroes, find they have the wrong Vivien Smith. She's just an ordinary girl, not the powerful twister of time they had hoped to capture.

Vivien can readily accept that the twentieth century was unstable, time-wise; but it's a bit harder to grasp that Time City itself, with its elaborate edifices and artifacts accumulated over the centuries, is about to collapse. To try to keep that from happening, Vivien, the two boys, and a helpful android set off to whisk through the ages, searching for the lost artifacts that will stabilize Time City, and, in a temporally rippling way, all of the past...but someone is to be working against them, and none of their plans are working out....

Oh dear. This is my least favorite Diana Wynne Jones; I had hoped, this second time through it, that I would fall for it, but it was not to be. There is just too much detail. Too much Happening. To many things, and people, and little bits of plot that never coalesce to make magic happen. And time travel-wise, it's a bit of an amusement park ride, rather than a finely wrought immersive experience. I never quite grasped the whole Point of Time City's existence, or why people traipsed around through time...and so, time travel-wise, it didn't engage me, and by the time the Exciting Final Showdown happened, I wasn't all that sure I cared.

Yet. If you like lots of detail, if you don't mind not having a clue for much of the time, if you can appreciate great inventiveness, you might like this one....especially, judging by Stella Matutina's review, if you are a child....I was a grown-up when I read this for the first time, and am still a grown-up, so I never got to read it with the (cliche alert) bright wonder of the child mind. There are bits that almost sing, but.