Review and Giveway of Spaceheadz, by Jon Scieszka and Francesco Sedita

Thanks, everyone who entered the giveaway! The winners were Parker and Rosemary--congratulations!

Spaceheadz, by Jon Scieszka and Francesco Sedita, illustrated by Shane Prigmore (Simon and Schuster, 2010, middle grade, 161 pages, but since several are written in Hamster, etc., it's a slightly shorter book in actual fact)

Poor Michael. It's his first day of fifth grade at a new school, and he's been stuck (horribly, irrefutably stuck in the way that only bad classroom luck can stick you) with the other two new kids, Jennifer and Bob. And Jennifer and Bob are more than just your standard playground albatrosses of social misfortune. They claim to be aliens on a mission to save Earth by signing up 3.14 million and 1 kids to be SPHDZ (whatever that means). And to add to the sense of overwhelmingly insane incomprehension Michael is experiencing, their leader is a hamster (see above).

Poor Anti-Alien Agent Umber, one of an elite force whose mission is to protect the Earth from extra-terrestrials. His desire to serve is great, his luck abysmal. The embarrassing "Fried Santa Incident" still haunts him, and he's mortified that he, of all the agents, got stuck with a pickle phone. But when he receives news that aliens have been detected in his territory, he's determined to bring them down....

Jennifer and Bob, whom Michael can't seem to shake, lead him on a nightmarishly dance of commercial-driven consumerism--for some reason, they are obsessed by the advertisements of particular products. Michael, observing their alien behavior, begins to wonder if their story is true, and that tv waves beamed from Earth have become entangled with life on another planet. Once he starts thinking along those lines, it's only a short step to believing the rest of their story--that Earth will turned off, like a boring tv program, unless the 3.14 (and one) SPHDZ can be recruited....

Copious illustrations, full page breaks from the story to explain relevant bits of science in humours diagrams, and a friendly hand-written font give this the feel less of a "straight chapter book" and more the feel of a "straight chapter book meets a graphic novel for kids." In short, it's a very kid friendly book, with a very kid friendly story, and lots of laughs (and as an added bonus (?) there is no potty humor).

My one reservation about this book is that it relies heavily on the audience being media savvy, and I think that to appreciate it fully, the reader needs to have watched lots of commercials. My ten year old test read hasn't (just a few, at grandma's house, which is a good thing, because that one commercial about athlete's foot he saw came up in conversation for the next three months), and so he didn't quite get the point of this book.

That being said, he still enjoyed it, as did I. And we both enjoyed visiting the websites of Bonus Material:

At sphdz.com, you can sign up to be a SPHDZ and help stop the Earth from being turned off.

At antialienagency.com, you can see what the government is doing to protect the Earth from the alien menace.

At mrshalleyscomets.com, you can see Michael K.'s fifth-grade class website.

(and, according to Madigan Reads, with sufficient poking, you can apparently find more information about the Fried Santa Incident. I must go back and poke further!)

GIVEAWAY!

Thanks to the publisher, I have two copies of Spaceheadz to give away! The lucky winners will also each receive a neon Spaceheadz pencil! Please leave a comment (making sure there's a way to get back to you) by midnight (EST) on Monday, September 6th! (US only).

Once you have read book 1, you will want to find out what happens next. Happily, Spaceheadz book 2 is on it's way this December; here's the blurb:

"The campaign is going well. The SPHDZ word is getting out. 1000's of kids have signed up to say they are SPHDZ. But things haven't gotten any easier for Michael K. The SPHDZ are still trying to blend in to our Earth culture, but not very successfully. They're still mixing up Thanksgiving, cartoon plots, holidays, and commercials. This makes it especially hard for Michael K. to both hide the SPHDZ from Agent Umber and accomplish the SPHDZ Mission. He's forced to enlist the help of fellow fifth graders, Venus and TJ.
When they (Michael K. and the SPHDZ) are given the assignment to write and perform the school play, Umber thinks he's closing in on the aliens...the kindergartners playing the turkeys."

This Sunday's Middle Grade Fantasy/sci fi round-up

Here's another week's worth of middle grade fantasy/science fiction reviews and news! Enjoy, and let me know if I missed your post.

Reviews:

The Celestial Globe, by Marie Rutkoski, at Books your mother would approve of.

Charlie Bone and the Red Knight, by Jenny Nimmo, at Fabulous Reads.

A Crack in the Sky, by Mark Peter Hughes, at Middle Grade Ninja.

The Dragon Whisperer, by Lucinda Hare, at Fantasy Book Review.

Fablehaven, by Brandon Mull, at books3yourkids.

The Golden Acorn, by Catherine Cooper, at Nayu's Reading Corner

The Grimm Legacy, by Polly Shulman, at Maltby Reads.

House of Dolls, by Francesca Lia Block, at Jean Little Library.

Jack Blank and the Imagine Nation, by Matt Myklusch, at 5 Minutes for Books.

The Limit, by Kristen Landon, at Presenting Lenore

A Matter of Magic, by Patricia C. Wrede (an omnibus of Mairelon the Magician and The Magician’s Ward), at The View from the Foothills.

The Night Fairy, by Laura Amy Schlitz, at Madigan Reads.

The Shadows (Books of Elsewhere 1), by Jacqueline West, at Read Schmead: Tales from the Book

The Shifter (Healing Wars Book 1), by Janice Hardy, at Beyond Books

Skellig, by David Almond, at Random Acts of Reading.

The Stonekeeper (Amulet Book 1), by Kazu Kibuishi, at Let the Words Flow

Timothy and the Dragon's Gate, by Adrienne Kress, at Read in a Single Sitting.

When You Reach My, by Rebecca Stead, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.

Interviews:

Susannah Applebaum (Poisons of Caux: The Tasters Guild), at Fantasy Book Critic, Teenreads, Suvudu, Cleverly Inked, and Random Acts of Reading.

Mark Peter Hughes (A Crack in the Sky) at Middle Grade Ninja.

An interview with Tove Jansson's (Moomins!) niece Sophie at Bookwitch (and Moomins are featured in strange video form at Fuse #8 today)

Other news:

Katherine Langrish continues her series on witches in children's literature with Witch Queens and Crones.

The Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts has just issued their call for papers from their March 2011 meeting. The theme is The Fantastic Ridiculous, and there's a Children's and YA Division.

I've just sent in my registration for this year's Kidlit Con--you can find the information on how to do so here. I'm looking forward to seeing friends from last year, meeting other bloggers for the first time, and listening to keynote speaker Maggie Stiefvater!

It's Cybils time again--the call for panelists/judges has now gone out! It is incredibly worthwhile to be part of this process, so, fellow bloggers, do consider throwing your name in! Authors are welcome to take part, as long it is a genre in which they haven't published a book in this past year (October to October). You don't have to live in the US, either.

And finally, just because I think they're really cool, I'm passing on the news that a set of Science cookie cutters is being given away at Not So Humble Pie (enter by tomorrow). Although I think I would have made different frosting choices.

Bone and Jewel Creatures, by Elizabeth Bear

Bone and Jewel Creatures, by Elizabeth Bear (Subterranean Press, 2010, 131 pages)

I shall start by saying flat out that this is a book for fans of Patricia McKillip (like me). Which is to say--this is a book where language and description and things hinted at in the shadows and old histories hanging between characters are of paramount importance, and plot and character motivations aren't spelled out in obvious ways. I loved it.

Bijou lives surrounded by the creatures of her magical artifice--skeletal creatures whose bones she has bound together with jewels. She has grown old in the making of them, and now they fill her house--Hawti the elephant (its trunk given shape by the bones of a boa), the sloth, Lazybones, Lucy the gorilla, and more....But her peaceful labors are disturbed when her former apprentice, Brazen, shows up on her doorstep, bringing with him a strange gift, a child with a badly wounded hand.

"It doesn't talk," Brazen said. "It is a feral child. If you cannot save it, I thought you could use the bones." (page 13).

Bijou, not quite sure of her own motives, takes the child into her pack of strange creatures, and prepares to make for it, of its own amputated bones, a magical jeweled hand....And the child lives, and is named Emeraude, and learns about life lived by people/bone creatures.

Pause in the summary here, to make it clear that the bone and jeweled creatures are lovely magic, not grotesque at all once you get to know them; in fact, rather charming and full of craft, caring and even heroic, and it is rather a lovely change to have an old woman be a great Magical Craftsperson, working with lots of tools etc. The picture of the bone hand on the cover is grotesque and vaguely robotic; it's not like that in the book. So don't be put off. Back to the summary--

But the necrotic wound that had sickened the child was no mere chance; it was the work of a necromancer, one whose past is intimately entwined with that of Bijou. As he readies himself to move against Bijou and Brazen, he sets in motion a necromantic plague--all over the city, animals and people begin to fall prey to similar putrefying infections that leave them in a state of hideous un-deadness. And that is all I am going to say.

My summary might make this sound like a Good vs Evil battle-type book, but actually, it is not action-packed (although exciting(!) things happen). It's thoughtful, concerned with interesting characters fully living in their world, with pasts that are gradually unveiled, with complex geographies, histories, and mythologies present in the background. There is no romance. None is needed.

It is rather refreshing, after the heat of the first person immediacy and non-stop action/emotion of the last book I read (Mockingjay), to read a much cooler book, a third-person past-tense book that never lets us entirely into the heads of the central characters, one in which there are spaces for the reader to pause, and wonder, and reflect. That being said, much of the story is told from the present-tense (yet still third-person) perspective of the feral child. This was one of the most interesting, yet problematic, parts of the book for me--although I enjoyed, uncritically, the feral child's point of view, I had to be careful not to pull myself out of the book and start questioning whether a feral child could, in fact, be thinking what Bear said it was.

The book is short, at 131 pages, but the quality of Bear's writing is such that it seems much longer (it reminds me of some of Kelly Link's longer short stories in this regard). Part of me wants to whine for more--more backstory, more future story, more in general, but the mature part of me (small though it is) appreciates that this book is a gem--bone and jewels indeed--and more verbiage is actually not necessary

(although I think a few more words would have helped me personally, because thinking it over as I write this, I am not sure I understand what was motivating the bad guy--he went to a lot of trouble making zombie sparrows etc. and I'm not sure what it did for him. But quite possibly I missed something subtle. After all, I fall firmly into the "I don't understand the ending of Fire and Hemlock" (by Diana Wynne Jones) camp and lots of other readers seem to be able to figure out what happened).

Anyway, this was a really good book and I think I might need to ask for my own copy for Christmas (btw, the publisher still seems to have the book in stock, so do not be alarmed by the high Amazon price).

Age wise: Amazon has it as 9-12. And indeed, there's no sex, or bad language. But it's not a kid's book. The vocabulary, style, pacing, plot, characters etc all say "grown up reader" to me.

This is another book for my multi-ethnic sff list, as Emeraude, the feral child, is brown skinned both in text and on the cover. Although I am not sure I want to include, as an example of a kid of color, a character who is essentially portrayed as a wild animal and whose gender we never learn.

CYBILS TIME IS HERE AGAIN!!!!!

That's the first time I've ever shouted a blog post title. But I am excited.

Any reader of my blog knows just how much I love the Cybils Awards. Not only does the awards process generate reading lists of really truly excellently great books (like these), but it also gives us bloggers a chance to come together as a community and be awarders ourselves, recognizing, in a very public way, the books we love best.

I have been a first round panelist for several years, and recommend the experience 100 percent. I have become friends with authors and readers, I have read many great books, and I've felt that my voice made a difference to the success of books I love. If you are a blogger (reader, author, librarian, teacher, parent) being a panelist or judge for the Cybils is, bar none, a tremendously rewarding experience.

The call has now gone out! Head over to the Cybils, read about what it entails, and throw your name into the hat! (by Sept. 15)

And another very important thing--the lists of nominated books are chosen by readers. ANY READERS. One book per category per reader, submitted the first few weeks of October. I'm now mulling over my lists of various categories--the easy readers, the picture books, the non-fiction, etc, to decide what books I'm going to put on the lists (extrapolating from what was the case last year, I imagine the books have to have been published from October 16th 2009 through October 15th 2010). My 10 year old loves this part of the process too, because who doesn't want the books they love to get their chance to shine?

(and anyone who, for lack of anything better to do, wants my personal take on what it all involves is welcome to contact me!)

Cloaked in Red, by Vivian Vande Velde

Here's a book that fans of fairy tale retellings will want to put on their wants list: Cloaked in Red, by Vivian Vande Velde (Marshall Cavendish, October 1, 2010, YA, 128 pages), a collection of short and snappy re-takes of the story of Little Red Riding Hood.
Vivian Vande Velde has Issues with Little Red Riding Hood. From the introductory Author's Note:

"There are different versions, but they all start with a mother who sends her daughter into the woods, where there is not only a wolf, but a talking, cross-dressing wolf. We are never told Little Red Riding Hood's age, but her actions clearly show that she is much too young, or too dimwitted, to be allowed out of the house alone.

But apparently Little Red's mom hasn't noticed this."

(I am strongly tempted to keep typing quote after quote from this deliciously snarky dissection of LRR...but will resist. Just one more....)

"I don't like to criticize anyone's family, but I'm guessing these people are not what you'd call close. Little Red doesn't realize a wolf has substituted himself for her grandmother. I only met my grandmother three times in my entire life, but like to think I would have noticed if someone claiming to be my grandmother had fur, fangs, and a tail.

But Little Red, instead of becoming suspicious, becomes rude."

So anyway. Vande Velde goes on to tell eight Little Red stories of her own imagining, taking girl, cloak, granny, wood cutter and wolf and twisting them in fascinatingly twisted ways. Different perspectives are offered-- granny's point of view, the wolf's point of view, and even, most intriguingly, the red cloak's take on things! A wide range of alternate circumstances--magical, economic, and personal--are thrown into the mix. And for fans of paranormal stories, there's even a werewolf...

The result is a collection of tasty stories, each with its own distinct flavor. Many I delighted in, others simply liked just fine, and I wish there had been more. It's clear that Vande Velde had great fun writing these, and I had great fun reading them!

Note on age: this is being marked as 12 and up, and I'm not sure why. Although some of the themes are "older" -- the relationship problems of a granny, for instance, and a rather strange story of thwarted motherhood-- there wasn't anything "older" in an explicitly described way (there's just one kiss, on page 46- "My, what firm lips you have!"). I am planning on passing it on to a ten year old girl of my acquaintance, and I'm putting middle grade in my labels, as well as YA.

Juggler in the Wind, by Wim Coleman and Pat Perrin

Imagine that the Greek gods now wander the Midwest as a third-rate circus troop, their powers, and memories of past glories, faded...that's the central premise of Juggler in the Wind (The Wand Bearer Trilogy: Part One), by Wim Coleman and Pat Perrin (Chiron Books, 2010, YA, 202 pages).

In the small town in western Kansas, where 14 year-old Randy lives with his single mother, life has a certain monotony to it. But when the Circus Olympus makes an unheralded arrival in town, and sets up their tent in an empty pasture near Randy's house, everything changes. Drawn to the motley circus by a powerful compulsion, and despite his mother's passionate conviction that he should stay away from it, Randy cuts school to see the show...and finds himself, almost without thinking about it, hitching a ride in one of the circus wagons and heading out of town.

Randy doesn't understand why his mother has taken such a scunner to the circus, but it's clear that it's out of the ordinary. As circus acts go, the performances might not, at first, seem all that great, but it becomes clear that extraordinary things are taking place, and that the performers are not what they seem to be. They are, in fact, the Greek gods and goddess, fallen on hard times.

Money is short in the circus, and to make matters worse, they've fallen afoul of the law. They push their old bus faster toward the west, not quite sure where to go. Nor are they at all certain, any more, who they even are themselves, and what they are doing with their immortal lives. As he travels with the ragtag crew of aging performers, Randy begins to dream, strange dreams that seem to come from Dionysus himself, and he begins as well to find that he has a preternatural skill for juggling. But Randy, too, is uncertain of his purpose, and the circus is falling apart. As the dry, hot winds blow, the gods fall into a stupor, and the law closes in...

And in the meantime, Randy's mother is desperately looking for him, finally ready to tell him the mystery of his own father, absent since the time of his conception.

It's a fascinating premise, explored in delightful detail. The descriptions of the Greek gods as down-on-their-luck circus performers were immensely diverting (the mythological adroit reader realizes that this is the case very early on, and then it's a fun game of "spot the god"), and I'm happy to recommend the book simply on the strength of this aspect of it. I especially enjoyed meeting Dionysus in the form of seedy lounge singer "Johnny Vine."

I was left, however, not quite convinced about Randy's role in all the goings on of the gods. It's clear that he's going to somehow save them, but here in Book 1, his special-ness plays out in a somewhat fuzzy way. In particular, I was bothered by the interventions of Dionysus that take place in Randy's dream life- Dionysus seems to have a power left to him that isn't in keeping with the premise of the book, and the central episode of Randy's own journey to "power" in a mysterious dream sequence didn't make all that much sense to me (and the juggling part of things wasn't quite successfully integrated into the story either. Unless I missed something). To be fair, these things don't make much sense to Randy either, and maybe more will be made clear in the subsequent books--this is the first of a trilogy, after all. But still, I myself found it a book to enjoy much more for the playing out of the great premise than for the particulars of Randy's story.

Recommended in particular to fans of Greek mythology, fans of fictional third-rate circuses, and those seeking books that are set, at least in part, in western Kansas. Randy, in this book at least, doesn't match Percy Jackson's wham bam god-like powers, and there are no monsters to kill, so it's not an automatic read-a-like to that series, although this might change in the subsequent books.

(disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher)

The stress of summer reading is now behind us

My boys went back to school today--2nd and 5th grades. And in the car, three minutes before we arrived at the gates, my oldest finished the last page of his summer reading (Fighting Ground, by Avi). "I don't like to read when I have to," he has said repeatedly for the past month, eschewing above-referenced book in favor, primarily, of a massive Asterix re-read. My younger boy finished his summer reading in a more timely fashion (ha ha) last night, when he read all three required books in 20 minutes. He had resisted because they were picture books, and "too babyish...." And truly, what child is there who can read chapter books who really wants to curl up with Rainbow Fish??? Not me.

But, on the other hand, older son decided he wanted two picture books for himself when we were at the library yesterday, getting younger son's books out --he pounced on Henry's Freedom Box and Precious and the Boo Hag, which made me happy.

Although one of his classmates was walking into school with his nose in the first of the Ranger's Apprentice series, and I couldn't help but wish that my boy was doing the same. It is so stressful, this raising a reader business. And if I, with so many resources at my disposal and so many books on hand, find it difficult, I can only imagine how hard it must be for others who aren't as fortunate (which is why I work my tail off for my local library).

The non-results of my Cybils sff poll, plus Waiting on Wednesday - Invisible Things, by Jenny Davidson and other Cybils sequels

A couple of days ago I threw up a poll to see which Cybils shortlisted sci fi fantasy book was the best beloved. The results were, as expected, inconclusive--only 41 of the 97 people who've looked at it to date were able to pick a favorite (I found it almost impossible to do so myself), and of the 40 books in the list, all but 15 have at least one vote. Because the votes are so scattered, no clear favorite has emerged--Graceling is in the lead, with 4 votes.

One of the books I would have voted for if I'd had a few more votes to scatter around was The Explosionist, by Jenny Davidson (my review). The sequel, Invisible Things, comes out this November (yay!). Here's what Davidson had to say about it back in February 2009 (goodness--what a long time ago that seems...)
"The book takes up with Sophie in Copenhagen at the alternate-universe version of Niels Bohr’s Institute for Theoretical Physics, which was possibly the most exciting of all possible places to be in our own world’s real historical 1930s, and follows her on a strange and stressful journey first to Sweden and then up north to Lappland and the island of Spitsbergen, where she encounters the Snow Queen in her ice palace. The story is very loosely based on the fairy tale of the same name, one of my favorite ones by the nineteenth-century Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen."

There are several other exciting sequels/follow ups/companions to the Cybils sff books coming out:

Ptolomy's Gate, by Jonathan Stoud, and Incarceron, by Catherine Fisher, each got more than one vote, and each has a prequel/sequel coming out this fall (The Ring of Solomon, in November, and Sapphique, in December respectivly). There's a new Skulduggery Pleasant out next month (enigmatically/portentously, the wikipedia entry for it says that it is "the first of the Skulduggery Pleasant novels to be published in a September"). Part three of D.M. Cornisth's Monstor Blood Tattoo series, Factotum, is out this fall (and it's on my tbr pile--yay!). Sarah Prineas has written a fourth book in the Magic Thief series (see this interview) , but I dunno if its been officially acquired by HarperCollins....I hope it has (note to self--write review of the third book of the series (which was very fun) for crying out loud). Scumble, the companion to Savvy, by Ingrid Law, just came out. (So did Mockingjay). And Bitterblue, the eagerly awaited companion/sequel to Graceling, is (according to wikipedia) coming out next April.

And even though this sequel has been out a while, I've been following this book's availability with great interest--The King Commands, sequel to Northlander, by Meg Burden (one vote) is up on Amazon again for its regular price of $8.95.

Did I miss any?

(Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine)

The Summer of Moonlight Secrets, by Danette Haworth

The Summer of Moonlight Secrets, by Danette Haworth (Bloomsbury--Walker Books, 2010, middle grade)

The Meriwether, a once grand hotel in Hope Springs, Florida, hides secrets--hidden rooms and staircases, as well entire floors kept from the view of the guests who still come to enjoy its faded grandeur and partake of its famous blueberry pancakes. No-one knows those ordinary secrets better than Allie Jo Jackson, the hotel-keepers daughter; after all, she's lived in the Meriwether her whole life. This summer she's sharing it with two other kids--a boy and a girl her own age who are ordinary friends that she hadn't expected.

But then Allie meets Tara...beautiful, mysterious, and with a strange fondness for swimming at night...Tara has a secret that is far beyond the ordinary. And she is in danger...someone is looking for her, to make her secret into his own fortune.

It's a lovely story of the fantastic and magical intersecting with the real world. The other-worldly setting of the old hotel provides a perfect setting for this type of story--it is almost unreal itself, the sort of place where anything could happen. The friendships that develop among the kids are as central to the plot as the magical side of things, making this a beautifully three-dimensional story. I imagine it will be enjoyed by a whole range of audiences-- fantasy loving kids, mystery loving kids, and kids who want stories about finding friends. And, of course, those of us who love books featuring mysterious, enormous, old buildings full of secrets....

Haworth does a lovely job with her story--she balances description, character-building, and clues to the mystery in a seamless way that makes for a great read.

Here's another review at A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea-Cozy, in which the author shares background on the creation of her grand hotel.

The Adventures of Ook and Gluk for Timeslip Tuesday

The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, Kung-Fu Cavemen From the Future-- The second graphic novel by George Beard and Harold Hutchins the creators of Captain Underpants (along with Dav Pilkey) (Blue Sky Press/Scholastic 2010, middle grade or whatever, 175 pages)

George and Harold have created two cave-boy alter-egos for themselves in this wham bam time-travel cartoon book/graphic novel--the titular Ook and Gluk. The boys are enjoying their life back in .... , running from, and then befriending, a dinosaur, pushing the envelopes of stone-age technology, and tormenting the bullying Big Chief Goppernopper. with their boyish pranks in true George and Harold style.

But when a time-travelling descendant of the chief arrives to pillage the natural resources of the past to fuel his corporate greed in desolate future of 2222. Ook and Gluk, along with the rest of the cave folk, find themselves enslaved. But all is not lost, for Ook and Gluk travel to the future! They bring with them their young, delicately stomached (ie it pukes a lot), very cute dinosaur (who plays an important role in the story)! They train as Kung-fu masters with a Wise Old Sensei! Grow into young cave men! They return to the past and battle robo dinos to save the day! They find (in the case of Ook) young love!

Not the, um, typical, deeply nuanced sort of time travel book I generally review, but heck, the time machine is at the heart of the plot, and it is a temporal paradox that handily resolves everything (in a completely contradictory way, but whatever). It is a lot of fun, and one's boys pounce on it. Even though it's not going to help their spelling, it's a pleasure to watch them enjoying it (and I liked it too).

But when is Dav Pilkey going to write the rest of the Ricky Ricotta books for crying out loud? Me want them for me boys (I studied the handy guide to cave talk at the end of this book).

(Gluk is a cave boy of color, making this book a nice addition to my list of diverse sci fi/fantasy for kids. Adding more diversity are Master Wong and his daughter (edited to add) Lan (when I went back through the book to look for her name, I couldn't find it, so thanks, Anon. commentor, for letting me know she had one after all!)

Howl vs Eugenides...the clock is ticking!

There's a little less than an hour to go in the Epic Battle of Howl vs Eugenides. Who will triumph in the YA Fantasy Showdown? Much as I love Gen, I think Howl would win...but Gen is currently ahead by a nose....

It was fun being part of this, even though I was only in it at the beginning. Thanks, Heather, for making the last few days while we waited for Mockingjay such fun!

And if you haven't explored the YA Fantasy Showdown site thoroughly, do check out the Author Fights--

Bree Despain in Jace vs. Daniel
Sherwood Smith in Alanna vs. Meliara
Kara Dalkey in Lessa vs. Goranu

Speaking of Mockingjay, I'm suddenly, and very belatedly, hit by the realization that maybe I should have re-read the first two this week...I can't exactly remember what happened in Catching Fire in enough detail to be certain I'll appreciate every nuance of this one. And now I don't know what to do...

Explore Rocks and Minerals! by Cynthia Light Brown and Nick Brown; also--geological sci fi?

Nomad Press has a lovely non-fiction series, Explore Your World, that combines information about a variety of topics (here's the full list). My kids and I have enjoyed those that we've read, and the most recent to make it into our home was no exception.

Explore Rocks and Minerals! by Cynthia Light Brown and Nick Brown, is a straightforward introduction to geology, beginning with the planet itself, proceeding thought the various types of rock, and concluding with fossils. I particularly appreciated the discussion of the atomic underpinnings of minerals and crystals, which most geology books for kids (to the best of my knowledge) don't include:

"If you could explore the inside of a mineral and see its atoms, you would see that the atoms are held together in patterns. The pattern could be in the shape of a cube, a HEXAGON, or another shape. Geologists classify those patterns into six different groups depending on their shape. The pattern of atoms is repeated over and over again to build a crystal." (page 17)

There are many more details included, but this gives an idea of the level of the writing--straightforward, but instructive.

Hexagon, by the way, is in caps to show that it's one of the Words 2 Know, listed at the bottom of the page--handy, because words like "clastic" are challenging (even for grown-ups with a basic knowledge of geology).

The book includes twenty projects that are much more explorations than "crafts," and they bring to life the principles discussed most excellently. For instance, a metaphor of the earth is provided by a hard-boiled egg--a tactile representation of crust, mantle and core. Likewise, one can make a model of a salt crystal with gumdrops and toothpicks, basalt columns with cornstarch and water, and a sandwich with sedimentary layers. Each activity includes a "Things to Notice" section, to encourage Thought.

In short, a most excellent geology book for the young. I dunno if I'll ever get around to making basalt columns, but next time we have hard-boiled eggs, I'll certainly be bringing geology into the conversation....

(Bringing this on topic blog-wise, just because that's where my mind went-- geology isn't the science most widely featured in science fiction, but it sure comes in useful when exploring strange planets, and I think exo-geology is one of the most fascinating fields of study open to a sci fi character...But now I'm trying to think of some examples of geology in sci fi, I can only come up with three--Anne MacCaffery's Crystal Singer books, David Brin's Startide Rising, and The Green Book, by Jill Patton Walsh...what other good geological sci fi is there????)

The Non-Fiction Monday Round-up is at Playing By The Book today!

(disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher)

A new poll--which Cybils sci fi/fantasy short-listed book do you love the best?

It is a chilly, grey evening here in southern New England; the rain, which made me happy at 6:00 a.m. (goodness knows we needed it), has overstayed its welcome. It cheered me no end, however, to see over at the Cybils blog the first stirrings of new life...with its promise of a new exciting season of book celebrating to come!

For those who don't know the Cybils, these are awards given by bloggers to books that combine quality writing and kid appeal. Since 2006, anyone who wanted to has nominated the books they loved best in a variety of categories, and panels of bloggers have created shortlists (I've been lucky enough to have been a panelist several times), and picked winners. The Cybils Shortlists are pretty much must read books in my opinion (many of them I Love, and there's only one I didn't enjoy at all. But not because it wasn't a good book).

And so, in an anticipatory spirit, I thought it would be fun to have a poll to see which, of all the books shortlisted in my favorite categories of sci fi/fantasy for middle grade and YA readers from 2006-2009, is the most best beloved! It's a long list--in 2006, there were only 5 books on the short list, but the astronomical increase in the number of books nominated meant that by 2009, middle grade and YA were two categories, with seven shortlisted books each.

Here's the poll; please vote for your favorite (incidently, when you look at the results, the grey bar goes with the book above it).

Which one do you like best?

• Ptolemy’s Gate by Jonathan Stroud


• Silver City by Cliff McNish


• Beka Cooper: Terrier by Tamora Pierce


• The Last Dragon, by Silvana de Mari


• Pucker, by Melanie Gideon


• Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale


• Incarceron by Catherine Fisher


• Northlander (Tales of the Borderlands) by Meg Burden


• Repossessed by A. M. Jenkins


• Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey


• The Chaos King by Laura Ruby


• Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst


• The Land of the Silver Apples by Nancy Farmer


• Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy


• The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex


• Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski


• Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman


• Lamplighter by D. M. Cornish


• Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas


• Savvy by Ingrid Law


• Airman by Eoin Colfer


• A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce


• The Explosionist by Jenny Davidson


• Graceling by Kristin Cashore


• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins


• Wake by Lisa McMann


• 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass


• Dreamdark: Silksinger by Laini Taylor


• The Farwalker's Quest by Joni Sensel


• Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman


• The Prince of Fenway Park by Julianna Baggott


• The Serial Garden by Joan Aiken


• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin


• Candor by Pam Bachorz


• The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan


• The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King


• Fire by Kristin Cashore


• Lips Touch by Laini Taylor


• Sacred Scars by Kathleen Duey


• Tiger Moon by Antonia Michaelis

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If that isn't a nice list of books, I don't know what is. And I am finding myself totally unable to pick just one, so maybe this whole poll thing was a bad idea....

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?