This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs

Welcome to another round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction posts from around the blogs! Every week I scour the web for posts, and this is what I found this time around.

Annother good round-up is Shannon Messenger's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday feature, where Shannon cheerleads an enthusiastic cabal of active contributors. I feel rather wistful that I haven't been able to generate the same excitement for my round-ups; out of all the links below, only one was sent directly too me, and because I look for posts written on any day of the week, I don't expect people to mention these round-ups when they review mf sff.

So anyway, feel free to send me links! You can even send me links to posts you didn't write! Authors--you are welcome to send me reviews your book has gotten from the past week! (I do, however, always reserve the right not to include reviews that are too brief or insubstantial to seem worth linking too, or which don't seem a good fit to me). My email address is charlotteslibrary at gmail dot com.

Feel free to review more new releases of mg sff! There are lots of books that get almost no blog coverage at all--I had time on my hands this morning, and looked for reviews of recent releases, and came up virtually empty.

Mentions of these round-ups are also appreciated--thanks all of you who've done so in the past!

The Reviews:

The 13th Horseman, by Barry Hutchison, at Mr. Ripleys Enchanted Books

Above World, by Jenn Reese, at Tripping Over Books

The Apothacary, by Maile Meloy, at books4yourkids

Ash Mistry and the Savage Fortress, by Sarwat Chadda, at The Book Zone

The Aviary, by Kathleen O'Dell, at books4yourkids

Bad Island, by Doug TenNapel, at Finding Wonderland

Benjamin Franklinstein Lives! by Matthew McElligott and Larry Tuxbury, at Charlotte's Library

The Cabinet of Earths, by Anne Nesbit, at Karissa's Reading Review

The Cheshire Cheese Cat, by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright, at Reads for Keeps

The Demon's Watch, by Conrad Mason, at Babbleabout (also an interview)

Enchantress from the Stars, by Sylvia Louise Engdahl (audio book review), at Sonderbooks

Entwinned, by Heather Dixon, at Jenny's Books

The Freedom Maze, by Delia Sherman, at The Book Smugglers

Henrietta Sharp and the Magic Lunchbox, by Jan Welborn-Nichols, at The Children's Book Review

The Humming Room, by Ellen Potter, at The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia, The Hollow Cupboards, and The Book Cellar

Kat, Incorrigible, by Stephanie Burgis, at Book Nut

The Lost Conspiracy, by Frances Hardinge, at Parenthetical

Peaceweaver, by Rebecca Barnhouse, at Karissa's Reading Review

Princess of the Wild Swans, by Diane Zahler, at Charlotte's Library

The Ogre of Oglefort, by Eva Ibbotson, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Scary School, by Derek the Ghost, at Charlotte's Library

The Secret World of Arriety, Vol. 1 (Film Comic) by Studio Ghibliat Back to Books

The Star Shard, by Frederick S. Durbin, at Crowding the Book Truck

The Sunbird, by Elizabeth Wein, at The Book Smugglers

Treasure of Green Knowe, by L.M. Boston, at Strange and Random Happenstance

Tuesdays at the Castle, by Jessica Day George, at One Librarian's Book Reviews

Under the Mountain, by Maurice Gee, at A Strong Belief in Wicker

When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, at things mean a lot and No Twiddle Twaddle

The Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, at Read in a Single Sitting

Wonder Show, by Hannah Barnaby, at The Alternative


Authors and Interviews and Editors and Illustrators

Ellen Potter (The Humming Room) at Kid Lit Frenzy

Merrie Haskell (The Princess Curse) at Literary Rambles (giveaway)

Joan Holub (Goddess Girls co-author) at The O.W.L. (giveaway)

Conrad Mason (The Demon's Watch), at Babbleabout (also a review)

How Oddfellow's Orphanage, by Emily Winfield Martin, came to be--a post by its editor at Random Acts of Reading

Sarvenaz Tash (The Mapmaker and the Ghost) at I Read Banned Books

An article from the Guardian in 1960 about Mary Norton (The Borrowers)

Laurisa White Reyes writes about "Finding Female in Middle Grade Fantasy" at Ellie Rowlins' blog

At Fabled Earth, Emily Fiegenschuh is showcasing the artwork she did for Frederick Durban's new book, The Star Shard, when it first came out, serialized in Cricket Magazine.

Other Good Stuff:

Derek Landry (Skulduggery Pleasant) shares his top ten villains at The Guardian

Jill at the O.W.L. has kicked off her March of Middle Grade Books

Not mg sff related, but still a good thing--it's Bloggiesta time! Head over here to It's All About Books to sign in to a weekend of blog improvement mania.

And also not directly mg sff related is the news (to me--I'm late to this party) that the POC Reading Challenge, which went quiet at the beginning of the year, is up and running!

And finally, here's a rather fetching writing prompt at io9

Textile fantasy books

I love craft fantasies--books in which the characters make things with their hands, books in which crafty creativity is the cornerstone of a character's being, or in which craft production drives the plot. A particular sub-genre of these that I love are textile fantasies--with weaving, sewing, knitting or other textile arts front and center.

I've just bitten the bullet and made a new "textile fantasy" label. There you'll find the following books:

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

and two that kind of stretch the boundaries of my definition:

Princess of the Wild Swans, by Diane Zahler (nettle shirts)
Princess of Glass, by Jessica Day George (lots of knitted charms)

Here are other textile fantasies that I haven't read/reviewed (many recommended by you all back when I started with this):

A Curse Dark as Gold, by Elizabeth Bunce
Weaveworld, by Clive Barker
Gathering Blue, by Lois Lowry
Dragon Slippers, by Jessica Day George
The Broken Thread, by Linda Smith
Sandry's Book, by Tamora Pierce
Crewel, by Gennifer Albin (I'm not sure this is going to count, since the textiles involved seem to be the fabric of time....)

Any other recommendations? Why aren't there more books with magical embroidery?

Someday I'll have a whole nother page up at the top of Craft Fantasies...glass blowing, metal working, pottery....feel free to pass on suggestions for any of those too! Not that I have time to read and review a fraction of what I want too, but still....

Princess of the Wild Swans, by Diane Zahler

Princess of the Wild Swans, by Diane Zahler (HarperCollins, 2012), is a retelling of one of my favorite fairy tales--The Wild Swans (which is just about the only Hans Christian Anderson story I actively enjoyed, as opposed to reading with kind of sick fascination) also known as The Six Swans in the Grimm version (which I read more often). It's the story of a princess who must save her brothers when they are transformed into swans by their evil stepmother. I found Zahler's version very pleasant indeed.

12 year old Meriel is the youngest child of king whose land is peaceful and prosperous, and she's had a happy life running a little wild, trying to get her five older brothers to pay attention to her, and ignoring her tutor. But when the king brings home one day a beautiful new wife, everything changes. Meriel intuitively distrusts the new queen, and small snippets of observation cause her feelings of foreboding to grow. For one thing, the queen didn't know about the five brothers...and is not at all happy that they exist. Meriel can't confide in her father, who is strangely besotted. Her fears prove justified when her stepmother transforms her brothers in swans.

Fortunately for Meriel (and the swan brothers) the evil stepmother is not the only witch in the neighborhood. With the help of one brother's sweetheart, who's half a witch, Meriel learns how she can break the spell. She must make her brothers shirts from stinging nettles. For one who has never done a day's hard work in their life, this is a daunting task. To make it worse, she must not speak until the transformation is broken.

A race against time ensues, as Meriel struggles to finish the shirts before winter comes, and before the queen suspects what she is doing. But soon it becomes clear that it is not only Meriel's brothers who are at risk. The queen is plotting to open wide the gates between the mortal and fairy realms. Already sinister creatures are crossing over. If Meriel can't break the queen's enchantment, her whole country will be lost...

The biggest change Zahler makes in her retelling is that the princess doesn't have to marry, whether she wants to or not, a prince who is besotted by her mute beauty, ending in the princess almost being burned at the stake by the prince's paranoid mother. This is a good change! Keeping the focus on the evil stepmother, without introducing complications, lets Zahler tell a tighter story, and removing the whole weird marriage element lets it stay nicely middle grade (there's a bit of hinting at a romance-to-be for Meriel, but it never directly manifests itself). It was also a wise move to cut six (or 1, if your using the Grimm version) of the original brothers. Five is plenty.

The whole story is set in and around the castle, and this gives it a rather homey feel. Instead of grand questy-ness, we get to meet brave commoners, and Meriel gains a new understanding of life outside the castle walls. The evil machinations of the bad queen play out nicely as an intrusion into the ordinary world, and the final struggle is grippingly fraught (but not so fraught as to horrify a sensitive young reader). It's easy to guess that Good will triumph over Evil, but it's rather refreshing to see that there's a price to be paid (in this case, Meriel's difficult and painful labor).

I finished the book well-satisfied that Zahler had done the story justice. I enjoyed her previous retellings--The Thirteenth Princess (12 Dancing Princess--my review) and A True Princess (the Princess and the Pea--my review), but not wildly so--both of those left me with small bits of dissatisfaction. Princess of the Wild Swans, though, didn't in the least, and is my hands down favorite! The story makes sense, both as a re-telling and in its own right, and I liked the characters and was happy to cheer for them. I'd recommend this without reservation to any young reader (I'd go with 9 to 11 years old) who loves fantasy with a strong young heroine.

Gender bias, my blog, and sci fi/fantasy books for kids

So I was reading an article about gender bias in book journalism over at The Guardian today, and shaking my head sadly about the fact that the the bulk of the book reviewers are men, and the majority of the books reviewed are by men.

And then I quite naturally wondered about the gender balance here on my blog. Obviously, 100% of the reviews are written by a female. But it turns out that I have a strong bias towards books by women. In the past year (Feb 2011-2012) I reviewed 131 books by women, 64 books by men, and 4 books jointly authored by one of each. Hmm. This is actually an improvement from the state of things when I asked myself the same question back in this post from June of 2010, when I concluded that I reviewed one male author for every four female ones.

Just as was the case in 2010, in 2011 almost all my reading has been science fiction and fantasy for kids. In that 2010 post, I tried to get a sense of whether my female bias was a result simply of the abundance of women writers in this genre, and I found some support for this in looking over a sample of my lists of new releases.

However, 2012 is a different story! It is the year in which men achieve publishing equity in mg sff! In my past five lists, 34 new middle grade sci fi/fantasy books by women, 40 by men. (maybe...I like my data, but am not wedded to it, and sometimes it's hard to know the gender of initials, and sometimes I count wrong. However, anyone who wants to count for themselves, please do! Let me know what numbers you get! I am almost tempted to do more counting, but will resist).

So I'm currently working on the assumption that I read more books by women because women tend to write more books that appeal to me. And since I do, after all, want to read books I like, the gender imbalance on my blog will probably continue. But I maybe will try to make it a little bit less unbalanced by this time next year...because I want my lists and such to be useful resources to all readers, not just Charlotte-reader-alikes.

Postscript:
7 of the 8 authors shortlisted for this year's Andre Norton Award are women. Last year was the first in which there was gender equity (4 and 4), and I am very glad that Terry Pratchett won. If it hadn't been for that year, I would be wondering if those whose votes result in the shortlist are guilty of unconsciously equating women's writing with children/younger readers, which is an awful thought.

The Blending Time, by Michael Kinch

The Blending Time, by Michael Kinch (Flux, YA, 2010, 264 pages)

In the year 2069, North America is pretty much a dystopian disaster for the bulk of its people. The cites are cramped pits of pollution, while drought has devastated Mexico and the south west. Turning seventeen in this world means receiving a mandatory work assignment--back breaking canal work for the least skilled, technology jobs for a lucky few, and a rather curious option for others--to go to Africa, as part of the Global Alliance's Blending program. And never to come back.

For Africa has been hit by its own particular disaster--one that left its people with genetic damage. The only hope for new children to be born is for new blood to be brought into the continent--teenagers from North America, matched most scientifically with new mates, and destined to procreate.

Jaym and D'Shay are city boys, one white, one black. Neither has had much of a life. Reya is a refugee from Mexico, whose life in what was basically a prison camp has been horrible. For the three of them, the Blending program promises hope of a better life. On board the ship that carries them to the east coast of Africa, they become friends...and vow to watch out for each other once they arrive. If they can...

This future Africa is, to all intents and purposes, not all that different from what you'd find in the poorer, war torn countries of today. Crowded, dirty cities, vicious bandit gangs outside the urban areas, who wield more power than government forces, who use rape as a weapon and are quick to use guns and machetes against those who resist, and villages where people manage to live close knit lives with little technology.

It is an Africa where Blenders from North America are not welcomed with open arms, and are, in fact, particular targets of the bandits. Jaym, D'Shay, and Reya are in immediate danger, and for Reya, in particular, the outcome is dire. Kidnapped by the leader of a particularly evil bandit group, she is raped repeatedly. But the three of them manage to find each other again, and, despite the dangers they face, the book ends with hope for the future.

Although a little slow to get started, once the teenagers arrive in Africa things pick up. It's gripping, it's interesting, it's horrifying, and is not for the faint of heart. It's multicultural, and one of only a handful of YA books set in a future Africa. Reya in particular is an interesting character; the boys, unfortunately, not so much.

But I had some problems with the book. To wit:

At a gut level, the idea of westerners being sent to Africa to save its people smacks, to me at any event, of colonialism. It made me uncomfortable, which is not necessarily a fault of the book. Related to this, I found it discomforting that this future Africa is something of a stereotype--violence, urban disasters, and timeless villages. Sure, this is an unpleasant future all round, but bits like the villagers with whom Jaym is settled having no clue about how to repair their solar array, and expecting Jaym to fix it, seemed unnecessarily patronizing. Africa isn't a timeless place, and a future Africa should be at least a little different from the present Africa (although god knows it sometimes seems like there is little reason to hope that things will become dramatically better in many countries anytime soon). I also would have liked more grounding as to which particular part of Africa the book is set, with more references to the particulars of geography and political history.

The premise on which the story was founded was not quite convincing. the Blending program was hard to swallow--all the work to match the participants seemed to speak of a level of organization that wasn't seen anywhere else.

Reya is never given any page time in which to deal with the traumatic shock of having been repeatedly raped. Although Kinch handled this part of his story carefully and well, the fact that it ceased being an issue in her particular story arc, understandably overshadowed by other concerns like staying alive, disappointed me a little.

So it didn't quite work for me, although I found it an interesting read. The sequel, The Fires of the New Sun, is out now...and Kirkus gave it a favorable nod-- "For some great action, this can't be beat." I'll probably read it, but not right away.

New releases of fantasy and science fiction for kids and teens--the first half of March, 2012 edition

Here are the new releases of science fiction and fantasy for kids and teenagers from the first half of March, 2012--my information comes from Teens Read Too, with blurbs from Amazon. I'm trying to decided if I want to read Froi of the Exiles or not....

(in case anyone wonders, the YA books don't have blurbs because my life is too short to put them in, and they get lots more press at other blogs)

ELEMENTARY/MIDDLE GRADE

THE BATTLE FOR ARGON FALLS: TOMO by Jim Krueger "ONE FINAL BATTLE BRINGS GLORY ... OR DESTRUCTION The war appears lost and Argon Falls is doomed, but Hana's friends still believe in the power of prayer. With their support, her faith is restored and Hana bravely rejoins the fight. But when the forces of good and evil face off once more, the final battle will determine the fate of Argon Falls ... forever."

CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG FLIES AGAIN by Frank Cottrell Boyce "When the Tooting family finds an old engine and fits it to their camper van, they have no idea what kind of adventure lies ahead. The engine used to belong to an extraordinary car . . . and it wants its bodywork back! But as the Tootings hurtle across the world rebuilding the original Chitty, a sinister baddie is on their trail - one who will stop at nothing to get the magnificent car for himself.

Fueled by wry humor , this much-anticipated sequel to the children's classic by Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond - fe aturing a contemporary family and a camper van with a mind of its own - is driven by best-selling, award-winning author Frank Cottrell Boyce and revved up by Joe Berger's black-and-white illustrations."

EXPLORER: THE MYSTERY BOXES by Kazu Kibuishi "Seven clever stories answer one simple question: what’s in the box?

Funny, fantastic, spooky, and suspenseful, each of these unique and beautifully illustrated short graphic works revolves around a central theme: a mysterious box and the marvels—or mayhem—inside. Artists include middle school favorites Kazu Kibuishi, Raina Telgemeier (Smile), and Dave Roman (Astronaut Academy), as well as Jason Caffoe, Stuart Livingston, Johane Matte, Rad Sechrist (all contributors to the groundbreaking comics anthology series Flight), and upcoming artist Emily Carroll.

GOBLIN SECRETS by William Alexander "In the town of Zombay, there is a witch named Graba who has clockwork chicken legs and moves her house around—much like the fairy tale figure of Baba Yaga. Graba takes in stray children, and Rownie is the youngest boy in her household. Rownie’s only real relative is his older brother Rowan, who is an actor. But acting is outlawed in Zombay, and Rowan has disappeared.

Desperate to find him, Rownie joins up with a troupe of goblins who skirt the law to put on plays. But their plays are not only for entertainment, and the masks they use are for more than make-believe. The goblins also want to find Rowan—because Rowan might be the only person who can save the town from being flooded by a mighty river."

GOING OVERBOARD!: KATIE KAZOO, SWITCHEROO by Nancy Krulik "With indoor mini golf, a chance to swim with dolphins, and her best friend, Suzanne, onboard, Katie's cruise vacation sounds like an ocean of fun! But, of course, the magic wind appears - twice in this Super Special - and blows everything off course! Young readers love the black-and-white illustrations that bring this fun chapter book series to life."

THE KEY OF BRAHA: AMOS DARAGON by Bryan Perro "Amos survived his first mission as Mask Wearer, but soon after that, an encounter with a mysterious girl brings his life to an end—and sends him on his way to Braha, the City of the Dead, where souls await judgment. To get there, Amos, now a spirit himself, boards a boat, on which he meets Jerik, a decapitated criminal who must carry his head everywhere. Jerik tells Amos that Braha is overcrowded with spirits; the gods have shut the doors that lead to paradise and to hell. A key is said to unlock the doors—but its whereabouts are unknown. Only someone who dies and comes back to life can find it. Will Amos be that someone? Will his ingenuity and intelligence be enough to restore order in Braha? Or will he unknowingly serve those who are using him for their own gain? Most importantly, even if Amos finds the key, will he ever return to the land of the living?"

MORDRED: THE DRAGONS by Colin Thompson "Arthur has been crowned King and peace and happiness have broken out all over Avalon. Life has never been more peaceful and everyone is living happily ever after—so why are so many people planning rebellion? On one hand, the Dragons are planning an uprising. On the other hand, King Arthur's revolting little cousin Mordred is planning an uprising. And on the other, other hand, Brassica, the deposed fake King Arthur, is also planning an uprising. It's lucky that Merlin, who has more than two hands, has everything under control—or does he?"

MUNCLE TROGG by Janet Foxley "A topsy-turvy fairy tale about a small giant on a big adventure! Let's get ready to grumble!

Mount Grumble is where the giants live. But (contrary to what you might think, maybe because of their name) not every "giant" (see?) is, um...big. In fact, Muncle Trogg is so SMALL that all the other giants make fun of him for being (uh-oh) people-sized. And toss him around like a football! Fed up, Muncle Trogg climbs down Mount Grumble to take a look at the Smallings (that would be humans) he supposedly looks like. What he discovers is...a sulky green dragon and a terribly sensible girl? But when Mount Grumble is put in harm's way, it's up to little Muncle to be the bigger smallest giant, prove that size doesn't matter, and somehow save his home!"


SEEDS OF REBELLION: BEYONDERS by Brandon Mull "After the cliffhanger ending of A World Without Heroes, Jason is back in the world he’s always known—yet for all his efforts to get home, he finds himself itching to return to Lyrian. Jason knows that the shocking truth he learned from Maldor is precious information that all of his friends in Lyrian, including Rachel, need if they have any hope of surviving and defeating the evil emperor.

Meanwhile, Rachel and the others have discovered new enemies—as well as new abilities that could turn the tide of the entire quest. And as soon as Jason succeeds in crossing over to Lyrian, he’s in more danger than ever. Once the group reunites, they strive to convince their most-needed ally to join the war and form a rebellion strong enough to triumph over Maldor. At the center of it all, Jason and Rachel realize what roles they’re meant to play—and the answers are as surprising as they are gripping."

SPY SCHOOL by Stuart Gibbs "Like many kids, Ben Ripley imagines life as a secret agent would be pretty awesome -- so when he learns he's been recruited to the C.I.A.'s top secret Academy of Espionage, it sounds too good to be true. And it is. From the moment he arrives -- and ends up in the middle of an enemy attack -- Ben finds Spy School is going to be far more difficult, dastardly and dangerous than he expected. Even worse, he soon discovers that he hasn't been recruited to become a top agent; instead, he's been brought in as bait to catch a devious double agent. Now, Ben needs a crash course in espionage so that he can catch the mole, prove his worth -- and get the girl. It won't be easy, but it'll be a very fun -- and very funny -- ride."

THEA STILTON AND THE SECRET OF THE OLD CASTLE by Geronimo Stilton "Geronimo's sister Thea Stilton narrates this action-packed adventure!

When the Thea Sisters' good friend Bridget has to return to Scotland to help her family repair their ancient castle, the five mice offer to help their friend in whatever way they can. Little do they know that Bridget will be kidnapped, and they'll have to rush to Scotland to help find her! Along the way, the Thea Sisters encounter Celtic legends, cryptic messages, and hidden treasures on a trip that's full of mysteries and surprises!"

TIME SNATCHERS by Richard Ungar "Caleb's blinders are off. The small group of orphans who were also "adopted" by Uncle used to feel like family, but the competition to be the top time snatcher and the punishment for failure has gotten fierce. Time traveling to steal valuable objects can be a thrill, but with bully Frank trying to steal his snatches, his partner Abbie falling for Frank's slimy charms, and Uncle's plans to kidnap innocent kids to grow his business, Caleb starts thinking about getting out. But Uncle's reach extends to any country in any time period, and runaways get the harshest punishment of all.

Caleb can steal just about anything from the past, but can he steal a family for the future?"

YOUNG ADULT

ANOTHER JEKYLL, ANOTHER HYDE by Daniel & Dina Nayeri
BALTHAZAR: AN EVERNIGHT NOVEL by Claudia Gray
BRAVE NEW LOVE: 13 DYSTOPIAN TALES OF DESIRE edited by Paula Guran
BURIED: A GOTH GIRL MYSTERY by Linda Joy Singleton
THE COMPELLED: THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, STEFAN'S DIARIES by Kevin Williamson & Julie Plec
DEAD IS A BATTLEFIELD by Marlene Perez
THE DESERTER by Peadar O. Guilin
EVERLASTING: KISSED BY AN ANGEL by Elizabeth Chandler
EYE OF THE SWORD: THE ANGELAEON CIRCLE by Karyn Henley
FROI OF THE EXILES: THE LUMATERE CHRONICLES by Melina Marchetta
THE GIRL WHO COULD SILENCE THE WIND by Meg Medina
THE GRAVE ROBBER'S APPRENTICE by Allan Stratton
KATANA by Cole Gibsen
ILLUMINATE: GILDED WINGS by Aimee Agresti
INFAMOUS: CHRONICLES OF NICK by Sherrilyn Kenyon
LUCY: DAUGHTERS OF THE SEA by Kathryn Lasky
PANDEMONIUM by Lauren Oliver
PERCEPTION: A CLARITY NOVEL by Kim Harrington
THE REPOSSESSION by Sam Hawksmoor
THE SAVAGE GRACE: A DARK DIVINE NOVEL by Bree Despain
SOUL BOUND: A BLOOD COVEN VAMPIRE NOVEL by Mari Mancusi
SPELL BOUND: A HEX HALL NOVEL by Rachel Hawkins
STARTERS by Lissa Price
TRAITOR'S REVENGE: CRYPT by Andrew Hammond
VAMPIRE'S KISS: THE WATCHERS by Veronica Wolff
VENOM IN HER VEINS: A FORGOTTEN REALMS NOVEL by Tim Pratt

Scary School, by Derek the Ghost

Scary School, by Derek the Ghost, illustrated by Scott M. Fisher (HarperCollins, 2011, upper elementary/middle grade, 256 pages)

Derek is not your usual school boy narrator, and Scary School, as its name suggests, isn't your typical intitution of learning.

"Last year when I was just eleven years old," [he explains], "I died in science class. On of Mr. Acidbath's experiments went horribly wrong (more about that later), but things like that happen all the time at Scary School, so nobody made a big fuss about it. right after class they simply wheeled out my charred corpse, ad the next class walked in without so much as blink. Scary School is a very strange place." (pp xii-xiii).

But Derek doesn't let death stop his development as a writer. He is determined to document all the very strange and scary things that happen at his school...and so he does, in a primarily episodic way.

There are, for instance, the teachers and staff--a collection of magically monstrous beings who make learning special, if you survive. Like Ms. Fang, an 850-year-old vampire, who only ate 12 kids last year, and Dr. Dragonbreath, whose track record for death is higher than that of any other teacher--it's almost impossible not to break his class rules, and rule-breakers don't walk out of class alive. And the students are a fascinatingly eclectic mix of the fantastic and the ordinary humans. The picture at the right, from the Scary School website, shows the nurse's office....

Derek is a somewhat distant narrator, providing a framing device more than being a complete character in his own right, and to a large extent the book is a series of vignettes, with the chapters focusing on different characters and events. Some narrative continuity is provided by the arrival of a new student- Charles "New Kid" Nukid, and his struggles to make sense of his new environment, and by the headmistresses excitement over the school's chance to host the annual Ghoul Games. If her students do well, her experiment of allowing humans into a scary school will be deemed a success...if they do badly, they die.

Despite all the deaths, it's light-hearted and silly fun, the sort of book that may well make a nine (or so) year old laugh out loud. Any kid who is drawn to the cover will love the book! And though I myself prefer more character-centered narrative, I can see this working very well for slower readers, who won't have to worry about loosing the thread of the story.

Scary School #2--Monsters on the March, comes out this June!

(disclaimer: review copy received from the author)

Waiting on Wednesday--The Spy Princess, by Sherwood Smith

A chance few idle minutes on the computer (not enough to do anything Pointful, like finish the taxes) led me (via Paperback Book Swap) to the happy discovery that Sherwood Smith has a new middle grade book coming out this August! (I really need more birthdays).

The Spy Princess (Viking, 400 pages, August 2)

"When twelve-year-old Lady Lilah decides to disguise herself and sneak out of the palace one night, she has more of an adventure than she expected — for she learns very quickly that the country is on the edge of revolution. When she sneaks back in, she learns something even more surprising: her older brother Peitar is one of the forces behind it all.

The revolution happens before all of his plans are in place, and brings unexpected chaos and violence. Lilah and her friends, leaving their old lives behind, are determined to help however they can. But what can four kids do? Become spies, of course!"

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

Benjamin Franklinstein Lives! by Matthew McElligott and Larrry Tuxbury, for Timeslip Tuesday

Benjamin Franklinstein Lives! by Matthew McElligott and Larrry Tuxbury (Putnam, 2010, younger middle grade, 128 pages).

Young Victor lives an orderly, scientific sort of life--calculating the odds of winning the science fair (volcano models statistically do well, especially if you make it Vesuvius and add screaming townsfolk), and creating a model for his mother on how to find the perfect tenant for the downstairs apartment of their house.

But his mother cares not a whit for Victor's model, and instead rents the apartment out to an eccentric gentleman dressed in 18th century garb who pays in gold---none other than Ben Franklin himself, awoken from suspended animation! After more than 200 years asleep in Victor's basement, Ben is back--and hungry for the electricity he needs to keep going.

Ben is convinced he's been revived for a reason by the Modern Order of Prometheus, the secret society that put him to sleep in the first place, but there is no sign that the order exists anymore. A daring mission to the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia comes up empty, and Ben begins to doubt whether he's been awoken for a reason, or simply, as Victor thinks, it was a freak electrical storm that woke him. But either way, Victor is stuck running interference as Ben copes with the modern world. And even more stressfully, he has to balance Ben's electrical intake--too much, and Ben's a raging monster; too little, and he's a Zombie fixated on finding "food," with disastrous consequences.

Ben proves to be a trooper when it comes to time travel, delighting in all the unfamiliar inventions around him. Of course, being Ben, his delight is sometimes an embarrassing inconvenience, attracting a bit too much attention, but all in all, he does quite well. It's especially interesting to see Ben trying to make sense of what he sees by linking it to 18th century science.

Filled with little diagrams and illustrations, this funny and fast-paced book is a great one to give to the science-minded fourth through sixth grader. But along with the science, it's an interesting study in character. Ben is big hearted, impulsive, and indefatigable---the opposite of Victor. It turns out that Ben is just what Victor needs to give him push out of the safe and familiar.

This one has been sitting around the house for some time--I wasn't sure it would be my cup of tea. Happily, I ended up finding it a pleasant diversion, and now will look for the sequel --Benjamin Franklinstein Meets the Fright Brothers (Sept 2011).

The Way We Fall, by Megan Crewe

The Way We Fall, by Megan Crewe (Hyperion, 2012, YA, 320 pages)

16 year old Kaelyn made a vow that this year she would be different. She would turn her attention away from studying the fauna of her Canadian island home, and try to find a place for herself in the world of her high school (saying "hi" to people is her first step). She would try to come to terms with her lingering grief over the loss of her best friend, Leo, who left to go to school in the US, who broke her heart (though he didn't know it), and to whom she never said goodbye.

But the fresh start that Kaelyn had hoped for never gets a chance to materialize. Instead, her island is hit with a viral epidemic of monstrous proportions. As the list of the dead grows ever faster, the island is quarantined by the government. In a new world of fear, looting, violence, and the inescapable reality of death, cut off entirely from the outside world, Kaelyn must indeed re-invent herself, and become someone strong, and brave, and capable--doing what she can to keep life going for her family, her friends, and for herself.

What struck me most is how ordinary much of the book seems (apart from people dropping like flies). It has to be classified as speculative fiction, because the viral epidemic hasn't happened, but it is so convincingly likely that it doesn't seem speculative at all! And the characters--Kaelyn, her family, the two new friends she makes, are all essentially ordinary people. Her society doesn't suddenly collapse into dystopia, but falls to bits in tiny increments, as "normal" ceases to have any meaning. It is the meeting of this realism, crossed with horror, that made the book grip me so very much.

And it helped that Kaelyn was an interesting person--she's biracial (I think her mother's family is the only black family on the island), and I wouldn't be surprised if she fell somewhere on the Asperger's spectrum. Even though she grows in confidence, and enteries into a really very nice romantic relationship (given the cirumstances), she never gets to triumph in YA loner heroine makes good style (mainly because most of her classmates die, but still). Because the story is told in the form of journal entries to her friend Leo, the reader gets to know her, and care about her, with a depth of focus that made her very real, and very believable.

The Way We Fall ends with a proper ending, but there will be more two more books--and it is rather anxious-making to imagine that the quarantine didn't work, and the virus is making its way across the mainland, destroying Kaelyn's hope that she'll have a chance to rebuild a normal life anytime soon...

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs

Here are the middle grade fantasy and sci fi posts I found in my blog reading this week; please let me know if I missed yours!

The Reviews:

The 13th Horseman, by Barry Hutchison, at The Book Zone

Above World, by Jenn Reese, at Library Chicken

Albrek's Tomb, by M.L. Forman, at Geo Librarian

Ash Mistry and the Savage Fortress, by Sarwat Chadda, at Fantastic Reads

Athena the Wise, and Aphrodite the Diva (Goddess Girls 5 nd 6), by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams, at Small Review

Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu, at Postcards from La La Land and The View From My Mind

Cold Cereal, by Adam Rex, at Geo Librarian

Crater Lake: Battle for Wizard Island, by Steve Westover, at Book Lovers Paradise

< span="">Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact, by A.J. Hartley, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Don't Expect Magic, by Kathy McCullough, at My Favorite Books

Fangbone! Third Grade Barbarian, by Michael Rex, at The View From My Mind

Goose Chase, by Patrice Kindl, at Madigan Reads

Hades: Lord of the Dead, by George O'Connor, at Back to Books

How to Make a Golem and Terrify People, by Alette J. Willis, at Bunbury in the Stacks

The Humming Room, by Ellen Potter, at A Patchwork of Books, Random Musings of a Bibliophile, and books4yourkids

A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness, at One Librarian's Book Reviews

The Mystery Boxes, by Kazu Kibuishi, at Waking Brain Cells

The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate, at Bookends and Good Books and Good Wine

The Order of Odd-Fish, by James Kennedy, at The O.W.L.

Princess of the Wild Swans, by Diane Zahler, at GreenBeanTeenQueen

Sabotaged (The Missing Book 3) by Margaret Peterson Haddix, at Bookworm Blather

Ship of Souls, by Zetta Elliott, at The Pirate Tree

So You Want to Be A Wizard, by Diane Duane, at The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia

Space Lizards Stole My Brain, by Mark Griffiths, at Wondrous Reads

Winterling, by Sarah Prineas, at Shannon Messenger

Wonder Show, by Hannah Barnaby, at Beneath the Jacket

2 travel books at time travel times two--The Power of Un, by Nancy Etchemendy, and 15 Minutes, by Steve Young

A foursome, including Princess of the Wild Swans and Cinder, at Book Aunt

Authors and Interviews

Diane Zahler (Princess of the Wild Swans) at GreenBeanTeenQueen

Jennifer Nielsen (The False Prince) at The Compulsive Reader

Ellen Jensen Abbott (The Centaur's Daughter) at From the Mixed Up Files

Sybil Nelson (Priscilla the Great) at The Enchanted Inkpot

Other Good Stuff

This year's African American read-in book is the lovely Ninth Ward, by Jewell Parker Rhodes (fantasy or magical realism--you decide). Stop by 133OV, TheHappyNappyBookseller, and Crazy QuiltEdi for a great discussion!

Tasha at Waking Brain Cells looks at a recent study on the reluctance of modern parents to read fairy tales to their kids.

A fascinating look at the translation of The Order of Odd-Fish, by James Kennedy, into German, at Sonderbooks.

Margo Berendsen breaks down exactly what makes When You Reach Me such a good book.

Voyages Jules Verne has created this marvellous info graphic of Journey to the Center of the Earth:

Tarot Card fiction--The Game of Triumphs, by Laura Powell

As something of a joke gift back in the late seventies, my father gave my mother a tarot deck--the Hoi Polloi 1970s re-envisioning of the classic Rider-Waite images. My little sister and I loved the pictures passionately, finding among them alter-egos, swoon-worth crushes, and pictures that just reeked of Story (that girl in the purple cloak, in particular, has always haunted me).

We had a game we played with them, in which they were split into warring factions of good and evil, which involved a lot of hiding tarot cards down the sides of sofa cushions, under rugs, and behind pieces of furniture. Needless to say, we no longer have a complete deck.*

My first foray into fictional fun with Tarot was The Greater Trumps, by Charles Williams, which I read when far too young. I remember it being very confusing, and the people not being likable.

My second foray, read yesterday and today, is The Game of Triumphs, by Laura Powell (out since 2009 in the UK, published in the US by Knopf, 2011), which I liked infinitly better (contermporary YA is just so much more Me than literary fiction of 1932). I found these characters somewhat more likeable, or at least interesting, and though the plot was confusing, I was able to make enough sense of it to enjoy it lots!

It's the story of Cat, teenage girl in London, who stumbles into a deadly game of fate and magic. The basic premise is that the magic of the tarot cards is real, their power is controlled by those who run the Game, and people die competing for the rewards offered by the major cards. Because Cat found the game by chance, she's not a full participant--merely an outsider who will be harshly penalized if she interferes in the quests of the players.

The Game that Cat sees is a distortion---its magic has been twisted, and, to her horror, Cat realizes that one particularly nasty bit of this twisted-ness was responsibly for destroying her family. With three other young "Chancers," all with their own dark stories of the Game (two boys and a girl), Cat embarks on a quest through the cards to restore the ancient balance.

To a reader like me, with tarot cards images burned into their brain, it was like meeting old friends in a strange, dark city. At first, to both Cat and me, all was confusion. But even though I do like knowing what the heck is going on, it was confusion of a rather intensely magical kind, that interested me and drew me ever deeper into the story (someone not familiar with the Tarot might well be more confused, and off-put).

In an event, I was gripped, and if you are looking for a real world city-based fantasy that doesn't involve elves, fairies, vampires, etc, do try this one! (It's hard for me to know, though, if I would have enjoyed this one so much without the pleasant nostalgia of the tarot cards, and having their pictures so very clear in my mind...)

Though I do wish the other three Chancers had been given more page time in which to become characters for whom I cared, Cat herself was satisfyingly real. Though this book ends with a proper ending, there's a second book (The Master of Misrule), published in 2010 in the UK, and coming out here in the US in June. I am as anticipatory as all get out to see what happens next, now that these four teenagers know each other and the stage is set (both for the next adventure and for romance). Another one for my Book Depository I-want-it-now wishlist!

*Back to my own tarot cards-- vexingly, this particular deck is out of print and collectible, and no other deck will do, because they aren't our people. So if any one sees a set of the Hoi Palloi deck (the back of each card is brown with a gold key) for sale at a reasonable price, let me know! I would like, once more, to look on the face of the Knight of Cups (who I think is still my standard for male beauty, but since his picture isn't on line, I can't confirm this).

ps: I am rather glad to have finally read The Game of Triumphs, because it almost got away from me. I put it on my wish list over a year ago, but in the following form:It took a public plea for help to decipher it, and now, having read and enjoyed it, I'm even more greatful to Trisha for reading my handwriting for me!

And thanks as well to Ms. Yingling Reads, whose review last month reminded me to actually get a hold of it!

An illustrated talk by Alan Garner

I have company at home, of the young nephew type, and their happy friskiness, when combined with that of my own boys, is such that my head has not been clear enough to write anything coherent.

Happily for my blogging peace of mind, my husband found for me this illustrated lecture by Alan Garner on the Legend of Alderly--the place where The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and its sequel, The Moon of Gomrath, are set.

I hope I enjoy it when I find a quiet time to actually watch it!

We took the boys to Alderly when they were young...it is a magical place.

Reminder: African American read-in of Ninth Ward

Just reminding anyone interested that Edi from Crazy Quilts, Doret from TheHappyNappyBookseller and Vasilly from 1330v are currently hosting a read-in of a lovely middle grade magical realism/ghost story--Ninth Ward, by Jewell Parker Rhodes (my review).

Vasilly had some great questions on Monday, Doret's are up today, and Edi's will come on Friday.

(I am reminded, posting this, of my dissatisfaction with the cover. Lanesha, the main character, is a girl of tremendous personality and verve and gumption--not a passive flower floater as shown).

Tempest, by Julie Cross, for Timeslip Tuesday

Tempest, by Julie Cross (2012, St. Martin's, YA, 352 pages) Never has a bus ride gone faster than last night's journey home spent reading this book (I almost missed my stop), and I was sad that once I got home I had to put it down and shoulder the burdens of domestic life (which is why this post is going up late in the day).

The gist of the story: Jackson discovered he could travel back in time one day in French class when he was 18--not back to distant pasts--just thirty minutes or so. But gradually, with the help of a geeky friend (who's scientific mind is having a blast studying Jackson), he's been pushing himself further back, and trying to make sense of what he can and can't do.

Then sense goes right out the window one night in 2009, when Jackson is 19. Armed men burst in on him and his girlfriend, Holly, and she is fatally shot. Instinctively, Jackson jumps back in time...and finds himself in 2007. And unable, for the first time, to jump home again.

Shaken not only by what happened to Holly, but by the difficulties of time travel logistics (his credit cards, which traveled back with him, haven't been issued yet), Jackson struggles to make sense of what's happened to him, and what the heck he's going to do living life as a 17 year old again (going back to high school is not an option). And then there's Holly, who is meeting him for the first time again, and who he still loves...and then there's his twin sister, Courtney, who died of brain cancer a few years ago, and who he has finally traveled back to see again...

But more to the point, there's the issue of the gunmen who attacked Jackson and Holly in 2009. Jackson gradually learns that they are just the tip of the iceberg, and he finds himself caught between two warring factions --time travelers, and those who seek to control them (whose ranks include Jackson's father). The story escalates wildly as Jackson struggles to find out who he can trust, struggles to find out who he is, and struggles to face his grief for his sister, his relationship with his father, and his love for Holly.

Yep, it was a fast bus ride! Tempest delivered both emotionally and suspense-wise, and was an utterly riveting page turner. I appreciated the fact that the tense mystery of the time traveling side of things (who are the good guys? who are the bad ones? What crucial clues are still hidden? Whose going to be shot next?) are neither overshadowed or overwhelm the character based side of things. Jackson's situation back in 2007 with regard to Holly is a unique twist on teenaged love--in Jackson's mind, he and Holly have already slept together, but she is meeting him for the first time.

It is a complex, twisty sort of story, almost too busy and frenetic at times for my simple reading self (I never did know what the heck was happening with the time travelling dudes with guns, and things get increasingly confusing up to the very end), but, since, the reader's perspective stays tightly aligned to Jackson's, his character and perspective served as an anchor. I am not sure whether I actually care all that much about Jackson, though---some aspects of his story, like his grief when his sister died, rang beautifully true, but the whole complicated business of his relationships with past and present Hollys didn't move me as much as I would have liked.

In short, I found it a very gripping read--perfect for the bus. I'm kind of glad, though, to have a break before the sequel. Even though I want to find out what happens next, I need a rest before charging into it.

The cover is, I think, misleading--Holly and Jackson look like angels (especially Holly, whose pose really ges on my nerves. I would never fall like that, nor would I want to), when really they spend most of the book either a. in danger, with guns involved b. very concerned with their relationship (sex happens).

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher