The Wells Bequest, by Polly Shulman, for Time Slip Tuesday

The Wells Bequest, by Polly Shulman (Nancy Paulsen Books, June 2013, MG).  

Imagine a library that's a repository of things--old things, fascinating things, mundane things--that you could check out.  That's the New-York Circulating Materials Repository, where a teenager named Leo has come to study the history of robots (and how cool is it that the library has the actual early automatons and proto-robots in the flesh, as it were?). But Leo is interested in more than robots--he's also more than a bit curious about time machines.   He has good reason--he just saw one in action.  And it was in his room, and tiny, and he was in it, shrunk down, with a beautiful girl.  Neither time travel nor girls are part Leo's normal life, spent tinkering with gizmos and playing computer games, the youngest, and least stellar (or so he thinks), kid in a family obsessed with scientific accomplishments.

There at this strange and wonderful library Leo meets the girl he's going to travel through time with--Jaya, the head page.  Leo begins to wonder what this wonderful library might have in the way of time-travel devices....and finds his way to the Wells Bequest, and H.G. Well's tine-machine.  Because this library contains fictional devices, and the Wells Bequest is one of many collections from stories here in our world for real.

Leo knows he and Jaya are going to time travel....but he doesn't know why, and the time-machine in the library has never worked.   But when one of the other library pages turns twisted, and starts threatening to use Nikola Tesla's death ray to destroy New York, obviously Leo and Jaya are going to have to find a way to go back to Tesla's time, and keep the secret of the death ray from being stolen.

A dash to London, to recover the miniature working model of Well's Time Machine as it materializes on its trip from the past, back to New York in Jule's Verne's miraculous steampunky ship, the Épouvante (from Master of the World), then off to 1895 New York, with the help of a handy shrink way....and then they must find Tesla while navigating the strange city of the past.

It is an excellent book, and pretty much has it all--the appealing, believable characters (not the bad guy so much, but Jaya and Leo), the really really cool premise of fantastical objects being real, and the shear fun of the way the premise and the plot combine.   There's a bit of romance, which Leo angsts believably about, there are grown-ups actively involved (which makes the plot more believable), but not taking over from the smart young protagonists, and there's Mark Twain. 

And Jaya's family is from India, making this multicultural sci fi/fantasy!

What more can one ask for?  Indeed, right from the first chapters, I was pretty sure this was going to be a good one, and I wasn't disappointed.

The Wells Bequest is a companion to The Grimm Legacy, which first introduced the Circulating Materials Repository, and one of its more magical collections.  But there's absolutely no need to have read that one first.

Disclaimer:  review copy received from the publisher

The Hidden Kingdom (Wings of Fire, Book 3) by Tui T. Sutherland

It was a bit touch and go as to whether I would get a chance to read my review copy of The Hidden Kingdom (Wings of Fire, Book 3, Scholastic, May 2013) by Tui T. Sutherland.  My ten year old and his classmates are huge fans of this series, and after my son devoured this one, it disappeared into his extensive reading circle*, and made many children happy**.  Fortunately I remembered before the end of school that I needed it back, and so it returned to me, and I finally got to read it.  And I enjoyed it very much too.

So the basic premise is that the various clans of dragons are at war, and there's a prophecy that five dragonets will bring peace.   The Dragonets of Destiny, as they are known, were taken as eggs to a secret cave, and raised by The Talons of Peace...until they escaped, to try to find their destiny (and their families) for themselves.

Each book focuses on a different young dragon, and The Hidden Kingdom is Glory's book.  Glory has had a harder life than the others-- She's a RainWing, thought to be lazy and worthless by the other dragon clans,  and she isn't actually in the prophecy.  There were problems with the SkyWing egg that the prophecy had called for, and her egg was a last minute substitute.  So all her life she's been bullied by the Talons of Peace, and told she's worthless, so she feels angry and defensive.   But now she and the other four have reached the kingdom of the rain dragons, and she'll see for herself just what her people really are like....

But though the life of the RainWings is peaceful and rather lovely, it has a darker side.   RainWings have been disappearing, and no one is doing anything about it.   And so the Dragonets find themselves on a desperate rescue mission that takes them into an adventure just as dark and dangerous as anything that's ever happened to them.

So yes, there's some violence, but it's not something the characters take lightly.  Glory has used her RainWing venom on other dragons to save herself and her friends....something she finds no RainWing would do.    But once again, she's faced with no alternative...

New characters are introduced, and the existing characters continue to work out their dynamics, and new and fascinating world-building takes place (raising interesting questions---is a society of peaceful inaction acceptable?).   It's a fine, page-turning addition to the series, and if you haven't offered these books to your handy fourth grader (boy or girl), do so tout suite!  And read them yourself because if your fourth grader is like mine, he or she will want to talk about them with you, and also because you might, like me, find them fun light reading for your own pleasure.

The Hidden Kingdom ends on a cliffhanger, and both of us want to be the first to read The Dark Secret (coming in October).  I will probably be forced to model gracious unselfishness.  Sigh.

Here are my reivews of the first two books:  The Dragonet Prophecy, and The Lost Heir.   The Hidden Kingdom is my personal favorite so far.

* I am so jealous of this aspect of my son's childhood.  There are about twelve truly avid readers of fantasy in his class, boys and girls, and they recommend and share and play imaginary book based games like crazy.  They even call and text each other to talk about books.

**I feel compelled to let Scholastic know that their book sales have not been undercut--the kids have all been buying their own copies at the school book fair.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher.

An interview with Diana Wynne Jones from 2008, now online

A quick just to say:

Emma Jane Falconer just shared with the Diana Wynne Jones list that an interview she did with Diana back in 2008 is now online--here at Emma Jane's blog.  I was very pleased to see that DWJ loved a book I did too--The Hotel Under the Sand, by Kage Baker (my review). 

But now I am sad, reminded again that both DWJ and Kage Baker have left us....

This week's Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction round-up (6/16/13)

I think this might be the most reviews I have ever rounded-up!  I was particularly diligent/obsessed in my hunting this week, because it seemed like I might be able to make a dream come true--a review for every letter of the alphabet.  Sadly, no Y review ever materialized, and I wasn't able to get a hold of a Y book in time, so I am saving my precious X review for another week....

Please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews:

The Apprentices, by Maile Meloy, at Charlotte's Library and A Reader of Fictions

The Borrowers, by Mary Norton, at Tor

Chase Tinker and the House of Secrets, by Malia Ann Haberman, at Im's Book Shelf

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time, by Frank Cottrell Boyce, at Charlotte's Library

City of Lies, by Lian Tanner, at The BiblioSanctum (audiobook review)

The Clockwork Three, by Matthew Kirby, at Sylvia Liu Land

Counterclockwise, by Jason Cockcroft, at Time Travel Times Two

Doll Bones, by Holly Black, and Lace and Fog Autheress and Reading Rumpus Book Reviews 

The Emerald Atlas, by John Stephens, at New, Borrowed, Used 

Flora and Ulysses, by Kate DiCamillo, at Fuse #8 

The Girl Behind the Glass, by Jane Kelley, at Kiss the Book

The Glitter Trap, by Barbara Brauner, at Small Review

Handbook For Dragon Slayers, by Merrie Haskell, at Bibliophilic Monologues

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, by Christopher Healy, at Cari's Book Blog (audiobook)

The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle, by Christopher Healy, at Lori Calabrese Writes!

The Hidden Gallery, by Maryrose Wood, at Sonderbooks

Hit the Road, Helen (Myth-o-mania#9), by Kate McMullen, at Ms. Yingling Reads 

Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones, at Karissa's Reading Review (audiobook)

The Ifs, by J.D. Pooker, at Sapphyria's Book Review (there's a large excerpt, and then the review)

In a Glass Grimmly, by Adam Gidwitz, at Becky's Book Reviews

The Infinity Ring series, books 1 and 2, at Great Books for Kids and Teens

Island of the Aunts, by Eva Ibbotson, at Here There Be Books

Jinx, by Sage Blackwood, at alibrarymama  and Kid Lit Geek

Keeper of the Lost Cities, by Shannon Messenger, at Fiction Freak

The Key and the Flame, by Claire Caterer, at Book Nut

Larklight, by Phillip Reeve, at alibrarymama (audiobook)

Loki's Wolves, by K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr, at On the Nightstand

The Lost Heir, by Tui T. Sutherland, at Challenging the Bookworm

Lupus Rex, by John Carter Cash, at Tor

Mirage, by Jenn Reese, at The Book Smugglers

My Very Unfairy Tale Life, by Anna Staniszewski, at Michelle I. Mason  (giveaway)

New Lands, by Geoff Rodkey, at Easy as Pie

North of Nowhere, by Liz Kessler, at Akossiwa Ketoglo

The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate, at Staircase Wit

Pi in the Sky, by Wendy Mass, at Pub Writes

The Planet Thieves, by Dan Krokos, at Watchamacalit Reviews

The Quirks: Welcome to Normal, by Erin Soderberg, at Secrets and Sharing Soda

The Raven Mysteries series, by Marcus Sedgewick, at Wondrous Reads

Remarkable, by Lizzie K. Foley, at Temre Beltz 

The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic, by Jennifer Trafton, at The Book Smugglers

Saranormal, books 6 and 7 (Giving Up the Ghost and The Secrets Within), by Phoebe Rivers, at Charlotte's Library

Shadow Breakers, by Daniel Blythe, at Books Beside My Bed

Shadow Chaser, by Jerel Law, at The Write Path

The Suburb Beyond the Stars, by M.T. Anderson, at An Obsolete Child

Summerkin, by Sarah Prineas, at Charlotte's Library

The Trouble with Toads, by Danyelle Leafty, at Sher A Hart 

Tunnels, by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams, at Log Cabin Library

Unlocking the Spell, by ED Baker, at  Sharon the Librarian

The Unseen Guest, by Maryrose Wood, at Sonderbooks

Verdigris Deep, by Frances Hardinge, at things mean a lot

The Wells Bequest, by Polly Shulman, at Ms. Yingling Reads and A Reader of Fictions

What We Found in the Sofa and How it Saved the World, by Henry Clark, at For Those About to Mock

The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop, by Kate Saunders, at books4yourkids

A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L'Engle, at Book Nut (audiobook)

Zombie Mommy, M.T. Anderson, at Sticky Books

Four reviewlets at Random Musings of a Bibliophile--In a Glass Grimmly, Rump, Tilly's Moonlight Garden, and The Vengekeep Prophecies.

Authors and Interviews

Marissa Burt (Story's End) at Literary Rambles (giveaway)

Melanie Crowder (Parched) at Smack Dab in the Middle

Philip Reeve (writing about gender and romance in fantasy) at Cynsations

Mary G. Thompson (Escape From the Pipe Men) at The Enchanted Inkpot

Dan Krokos (The Planet Thieves) at My Shelf Confessions

Mikey Brooks (The Dream Keeper) at Shirley Bahlmann Biz

Kelly Light (on illustrating The Quirks) at inkygirl

Barry Wolverton (Neversink) at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

Andrea Offermanm (illustrator of many middle grade covers, as well as picture books) at Writing and Illustrating

Other Good Stuff

A nice list of mermaid books for girls, at Readatouille

Scholastic is celebrating the 15th anniversary of the year Harry Potter arrived in the US, and the forthcoming paperbacks with Kazu Kibuishi covers.  Plan a Harry Potter Celebration for you library, and be entered to win a party prize pack.  Here's more information.

And just because I think its a Good Thing, here's something cool from io9--how ordinary people can become citizen scientists.

And finally, if you want to come play with me at this year's US Discworld convention, the conference hotel rate has been extended until June 19th....

The Apprentices, by Maile Meloy

The Apprentices, by Maile Meloy, begins two years after the end of The Apothecary.  It's 1954, with the threat of atomic warfare (a bit part of the first book) hanging over the world...but Janie, now 16, is distracted by other things. Like getting expelled from school on a false charge.  Like Benjamin, the companion of her first magical adventure who she hasn't seen since it ended, finding a way to communicate with her through alchemical telepathy.   Like being kidnapped, and held prisoner by a power-hungry millionaire who wants alchemical help developing new weapons of mass destruction.

Benjamin, in the meantime, has been spending his teen years in the jungles of Asia-- his idealist father, the Alchemist of book 1, is devoting his life to tending the victims of war.  But when Janie is kidnapped, he heads off to to the Pacific island where she's being held, travelling in the form of a bird.  And basically everyone else who played a role in the first book converges on this island, to confront the bad guys and free Janie.


After the slowish start of Janie's school difficulties, it's all very adventurous.  But I  liked the mundane beginning--the chemistry experiment, the school dynamics, etc.--much more than the magical happenings, and unfortunately the book as a whole didn't work that well for me, for a variety of reasons. 

The story is told from the multiple view points of the various characters travelling around the world.   There were some episodes that I felt didn't move the story forward much at all, and some that just seemed like awkward story telling, like a surprising chapter from the point of view of one of the bad guys at the end.  Because many of these points of view weren't those of the primary young characters, I had trouble sustaining any emotional connection to Janie and Benjamin.  And this disconnected was exacerbated by the fact that the kids, Janie in particular, didn't play quite as much of a role in the resolution of the plot as I'd been expecting--there was adult intervention that felt a bit like a swiz.

I could also have done without the encounter with Pacific Island cannibals (of a "now we'll boil the white person in a stew pot!") which seemed like an unnecessary and unpleasant cliche.

So no, not one I loved, and indeed, The Apothecary wasn't either.  But lots of people did like The Apothecary lots, and mine is the first unenthusiastic take on The Apprentices, so if you are the exciting magical adventure type, don't be put off by my opinion!

For instance, here's another review at A Reader of Fictions

And here's what Kirkus said.

Note on age of reader: the main young characters are now teenagers, and there is some developing romance.  It's perfectly suitable, though, for kids as young as ten or so.

Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Summerkin, by Sarah Prineas

In Winterling, Fer (short for Gwynnefar, or Jennifer, as her father's mother calls her) saved a magical land from a wicked queen whose rule threatened to cast it into endless winter.  Fer learned that her mother had once been the lady of this land, and that first book ended with Fer becoming lady herself.

In Summerkin (HarperCollins, April, 2013), Fer returns to the land...but there are those who think that because she is human, she cannot be the true Lady.   To prove that she is, Fer must compete in a challenge organized by the High Ones--and they aren't explaining the rules.  All she knows is that if she looses, her Summerlands are once more in danger.  Three will compete against her for the crown--a magical girl from a desert land, a Lich boy of the damplands, and a third from the High Ones realm, whose beautiful appearance belies a dark heart.

And in the meantime, Fer must figure out if she can truly trust Rook, the shape-shifting, surly, mischievous puck boy she thinks of as her best friend...and Rook must figure out if he can still be a wild, untamed puck and still be a friend to Fer.  The story is told from their alternate perspectives, making this tension an integral part of the story.

The contest for the crown is no Hunger Games, and indeed these books are perfect for the kid whose still a few years too young for the violence of that series (ie, the fourth grader, give or take a year).  Instead, Fer proves herself worthy not through physical prowess, or violence, but by being a good, caring, person.  Which is not to say that it's not exciting, because it is.

The main interest for me, though, lay not in the action-full elements of the competition, but in Fer's struggle to figure out what sort of rular she wants to be, and her relationship with Rook.  There's enough going on throughout the story to keep things from being bogged down in too much introspection, but enough of this character-centered element to the story to make it one I enjoyed lots.

If, like me, you want the boys in your life to read books with strong girl central characters, these are spot on--there are many mythological creatures and fantastical beings (a good hook for the young fantasy lover), set in a compelling, brisk story.    My own boy (now 10) loved Prineas' Magic Thief books (me too), and so I should have no problem convincing him to try Winterling...

Here's another review of Summerkin at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.

Me at the North American Discworld Convention! (and what YA would you recommend to Pratchett fans?) + a list lof letters I need for Sunday

I have been reading a lot of Terry Pratchett of late...and there is a good reason!  For I am going to the North American Discworld Convention in Baltimore the first weekend of July, and I will be on two panels!  One will be talking about time travel in the Discworld books, with specific reference to Thief of Time and Night Watch, and the second (beautifully appropriate to the conference them of L-space) is a panel on helping YA reading fans of Pratchett find more books to read.  And the exciting-est part of that panel is that Tanita Davis and Sheila Ruth are on the panel too (fun!), and we are also being joined by Anne Hoppe, Pratchett's US YA editor.

So what YA books would you recommend to a Pratchett fan?  We're looking for books that are exciting, vivid, with memorable characters, lots of fun, and deeply moving....

And in the meantime, I am busily continuing reading every one of Pratchett's books.  When I was asked to be part of this last fall, I had read just enough Discworld to say yes please....but that left a lot of books still to be enjoyed.......



And on a completely different note, I have Great Hopes for this Sunday's Middle Grade Science Fiction/Fantasy round-up--I really think I will have a book for every letter of the alphabet!  Here are the (very few) letters I'm missing, with a few suggestions if you feel like making my dream of alphabet entirety come true!

N

Update--I have my N!

O

 Odd and the Frost Giants, by Neil Gaiman
 Oddfellow's Orphanage, by Emily Winfield Martin
 The Ogre Downstairs, by Diana Wynne Jones
 On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave, by Candace Fleming
 Once Upon the End, by James Riley
 The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate
 Ordinary Magic, by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway
 The Orphanage of Miracles, by Amy Neftzger

V  UPDATE--I have my V!

X  (I actually have an X on hand, but would be happy to save it for another week!)

Y
The Year of Shadows, by Claire Legrand
You Only Die Twice (The Genius Files), by Dan Gutman
Young Fredle, by Cynthia Voight
You Can't Have My Planet, But Take My Brother Please

Saranormal, Books 6 and 7--Giving Up the Ghost, and The Secrets Within

There are a number of middle grade books out there whose central premise is a girl who sees ghosts/has psychic powers.  But it's a fine premise, and if nicely done, the result can be extremely readable, age-appropriate, supernaturally mysterious fun.  Such is the case of the Saranormal series, of which I just read books 6 and 7 in what was (as much as circumstances allowed) a very quick single sitting.  And  so help me, if I had the eighth book on hand, I'd be reading it now, reviews be hanged....

But I don't.  So here's a quick look at Giving Up the Ghost, and The Secrets Within, by Phoebe Rivers (Simon and Schuster, MG, 2013)

So I started in the middle of the series, but it wasn't a problem.  In these books, Sara is still  finding her feet both as a newcomer to her great-grandmother's home on the Jersey shore, and as a 12 year-old psychic with supernatural gifts that just won't stop appearing.   It runs in the family--Sara's great-grandmother  Lady Azura, is a professional psychic.  But though Sara has always been able to see ghosts, in Book 6 (Giving Up the Ghost) she develops the power to read minds (not fun!  not fun at all!), and in Book 7 (The Secrets Within) she finds she can read the past lives of objects (also disturbing).

In each book, Sara must struggle not to be overcome by the supernatural floods of information that beset her, she must solve ghostly mysteries, and she must navigate the challenging waters of middle school friendships.   There's enough substance in the  character relationships to make the stories more than fluff, and Sara's struggles are compelling.  The ghosts are creepy, in a mild way, and there are many nice touches of material details that made Sara's world come alive.

And now I am at the point where Sara is about to meet in real life a boy she's seen pictures of in her mind...a boy who might have supernatural gifts of her own...and I am really curious to see what happens!

Highly recommended to the upper Elementary/lower Middle School reader (ages 8-10, in other words) who wants her supernatural and her real life world in one entertaining package.

(That being said, Sara's voice and point of view are, understandably and unsurprisingly  perhaps a bit young for most grown-up readers of MG sci fi/fantasy, especially at the beginning of Book 6, so I wouldn't push this in the hands of those readers.  Some things we just aren't the target audience for, although I did enjoy these myself!)

(possible bias--Sara lives in a big old rundown house with interesting stuff in it.  Although the stuff doesn't play as much of a role as I'd like in Book 6, it's very much there in Book 7, and I am a sucker for old houses with stuff in them).

Disclaimer:  review copies received from the publisher

Waiting on Wednesday--The Shadowhand Covenant, by Brian Farrey

The Vengekeep Prophecies, by Brian Farrey, came out last October, and was reviewed by Betsy at Fuse #8 with great enthusiasm, and by me with slightly less enthusiasm, but certainly with enough to be looking forward to the sequel. 

And I just found the sequel, The Shadowhand Covenant (HarperCollins) is coming out this October!

"With more twists and turns than a palace vault and one unforgettable family of thieves, this second book in Brian Farrey's epic Vengekeep trilogy will leave you breathless.

The Vengekeep Prophecies was termed a "rich fantasy" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) featuring a family of thieves that "couldn't be more likable" (Kirkus Reviews).

Now, in this exciting sequel, Jaxter Grimjinx is back. Trouble is brewing in the Five Provinces. Mysterious magical artifacts have gone missing from the royal vaults. Master thieves from a secret society known as the Shadowhands are disappearing. And without explanation, the High Laird has begun imprisoning the peaceful Sarosan people.

Jaxter Grimjinx suspects all these things are connected, but after the tapestry fiasco that nearly destroyed Vengekeep, he knows better than to get involved. Then he and his parents receive a summons from the Shadowhands—a summons that they would be foolish to ignore—and Jaxter is thrust into the heart of the conspiracy. With the help of a few new friends and an old friend he would rather forget, Jaxter will have to delve deep into some long-buried and dangerous secrets."

(This would be a good week for someone to review The Vengekeep Prophecies.  I need a "v" title to achieve my goal of having a Middle Grade Sci Fi/Fantasy round-up with something for every letter of the alphabet, so if you do, please let me know.  I also need e, g, i, n, o, and y books please).


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

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time, by Frank Cottrell Boyce, for Timeslip Tuesday

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time (Candlewick, March 2013) is Frank Cottrell Boyce's second book about what happens when a modern family rebuilds the famous flying car, which takes them one fantastical adventures during which they must a powerful, twisted villain (Tiny Jack) who wants Chitty for himself.

The first book (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again, my review) ended when Mr. Tooting accidentally yanked Chitty's chronojuster, sending the family hurtling back into the Cretaceous.  Little Harry, the baby of the family, is thrilled to see his first T-Rex, but his sibling, Lucy and Jem, join their parents in a more adult reaction--terror.  Fortunately they escape, but Chitty doesn't take them home to England....she has an agenda of her own, and takes them to New York in the 1920s.

There she seems determined to compete against her maker's newer, shinier car in a cross-continental road race.  And the Tootings have no choice but to enjoy the ride, even when it takes them to the lost city of El Dorado in the Amazonian jungle...but in the meantime, the stage is being set for Tiny Jack to reveal his true, twisted, identity....and will the Tootings ever get home again? (and will Chitty win her race?).

In a nutshell:  fun time-travelling adventure.   Adjectives that could be used include "fresh" "bright" "zesty" and "absurd."  It is pleasantly absurd, without coming close to farce, even when little Henry's T-Rex egg hatches in New York city.  Numerous black and white illustrations add to the fun--I love the one of Chitty flying through the skyscraper canyons of Manhattan.

What makes this book particularly nice is that the Tootings are a family who care about each other--rare is it to see the mother and father along for the ride.  It's also nice that the Tootings are a multi-racial family.  This isn't mentioned in the text, and has no bearing on the story, but they are shown as such in the interior pictures.

This isn't clear on the cover though, where Mrs. Tooting is only a teensy bit browner than her family--pity.

So if you are looking for fun fantastic adventure to share with a 7-10 year old who hasn't lost his heart to to High Fantasy/Talking Animals on Quests/Mythological Creatures (naming no names, but looking right at my own 10 year old), you could do far worse than to fly through time and space with Chitty!

The Summer Prince, by Alaya Dawn Johnson

The Summer Prince, by Alaya Dawn Johnson (Arthur A. Levine, March 2013) is a rather rare thing in the YA speculative fiction genre.  It's set on a future earth, that has been pushed to the brink of destruction by warfare and climate change (this is not uncommon), and there's high tech sci fi stuff (also not uncommon), and the particular bit of the world that we focus in on has elements that could be considered dystopian (common as mud).  And, as is to be expected in a YA book, two teenagers, our heroine, June, and Enki, the titular Summer Prince, bring about much needed change.

So what makes it different?   Answer:  it's not actually a future dytopia, it's a sci fi book about what constitutes civilization in a world where civilization was almost destroyed, and where the tension between humanity and technology, in keeping "civilization" going, is a primary issue, along with tension between the old and the young, in a world where people live decades (if not centuries) longer than they live today.   So it's much more true sci fi set on earth than most YA today.

The future city of Palmares Tres is functioning fairly well--an island of civilization where there have been years of calm prosperity.  June, our heroine, is a high status resident of this city, happily planning her future as an artist, and  not suffering any privation in the least.   But there's a twist or two to Palmeres Tres.  This city depends on the fields of algae, tended by a lower class who must live with its fetid smell, who have few opportunities for advancement in society.   And the matriarchal government of Aunties shares power with the Summer Prince--a man chosen each year, allowed to share in the government, and then killed as he chooses, every five years, the next Auntie who will be Queen.

When Enki, a miraculously charismatic man from the lowest social rank of the algae tenders becomes chosen as king, June's life and that of her city are changed.  Because Enki isn't afraid of technology.  And Enki wants the City to be a different place.   And because June, and her best friend (but not boyfriend) Gil both love Enki.   When June enters a partnership with Enki to create public art on a vast scale, she has no idea how far her art is going to take her and her city.   Nor does she know how she can stand to watch him die when his time as the king comes to an end.

So this all is just fine.  It's a nicely diverse society in Palmeres Tres, with a blending of races and same-sex relationships being totally unremarkable.  The sci-fi elements were nicely imagined, and I like books centered on societal tensions, as opposed to paranormal menaces.

But somehow it fell flat for me.  I think it's that I never quite cared for the characters.  June in particular was unsympathetic-she has been brought up in comfort and has nothing to worry about, and never hits any truly tense notes of emotional resonance.  Mostly she seems kind of whinny, and focused on her personal relationships with the two main boy characters, and her personal success as an artist, to the exclusion of much else.  Though she has a sad bit of backstory related to the death of her father that has created great tension between her and her mother, and her mother's new wife, we aren't told about it until near the end (when it was so unimportant to the larger story as to be a let-down).  In short, June kind of felt like an ordinary spoiled brat for most of the story, and I was never entirely on her side.

Enki, on the other hand, is perhaps too extraordinary--he is more than human, and we keep getting told how marvellously charismatic he is, and having to take that on trust, so I wasn't ever entirely empathizing with him either.   So it didn't quite work for me as well as I had hoped.

Here's what distracted me as I read:  when you have character named Gil (from the high status world of the city) and a character named Enki (from the low status wilder part of the world) in love with each other, you expect the myth of Gilgamesh and Enkidu to somehow be worked into the story in at least a metaphorically referential way.  For the life of me, I wasn't able to see any the myth being played out, primarily because Gil is offstage most of the story, and June is no Inanna/Ishtar.

Other reviews:

Finding Wonderland
Down for the Barbeque
Oyceter

48 Hour Reading Challenge finished!

I am finished with my reading for the 48 Hour Reading Challenge!   Thanks every one who stopped by with encouragement, and thanks to Ms. Yingling for hosting it!

Total of pages read/listened to:  3086  

Total time read:  23 hours and 32 minutes
(there were Demands on my time.  Some polite requests too).

Plus three hours (ish) of social media

Books finished: 11.  Books being actively read: 1
 (clearly I need to do this every weekend.  This is not even a drop in the bucket.  I listened to a long audiobook for much of my time, which was fun, and allowed me to work outside, but it cut down on my book count lots)

Here's what I read, broken down  by category (mainly for my own interest)
 (I started with 5 each in 6 categories).  I am pretty happy with all the books I read; In the Shadow of Blackbirds was particularly good, as was Hat Full of Sky.

Bought:

The Summer Prince

Given:

Crocuses Were Over, Hitler Was Dead, by Geraldine Symons


Library:

In the Shadow of Blackbirds
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time
Interesting Times and Hat Full of Sky, by Terry Pratchett

Picked up on the cheap/free (mostly through library booksales)

The Children's Blizzard
Mooncoin Castle
Counting Stars, by David Almond

Paperback Book Swap

Canary in the Coal Mine, by Madelyn Rosenberg

Daughter of the Forest


Books for Review:

194 pages of The Apprentices, by Maile Meloy

This week's Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction round-up (June 9, 2013)

 Enjoy!  And as always, let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time, by Frank Cottrell Boyce, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Cloneward Bound, by M.E. Castle, at Xander's Middle Grade Book Reviews 

The Cup and the Crown, by Diane Stanley, at alibrarymama

Doll Bones, by Holly Black, at Waking Brain Cells, Kid Lit Frenzy, By Singing Light, Book Nut, Bookshelf Fantasies, and Back to Books 

The Fallen Pharaoh, by S.W. Lothian, at Mother Daughter Book Reviews

The Farwalker's Quest, by Joni Sensel, at Deb A. Marshall

The Fire Chronicles, by John Stephens, at Sonderbooks

Frogged, by Vivian Vande Velde, at Kid Lit Geek 

Ghost Knight, by Cornelia Funke, at Books YA Love

Goblin Secrets, by William Alexander, at The Ninja Librarian 

The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman, at Akossiwa Ketoglo 

Haunters, by Thomas Taylor, at Charlotte's Library

The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley, at Tales of the Marvellous

The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle, by Christopher Healy, at Small Review and Geo Librarian

Heroes in Training books 1-3, by Joan Holub & Suzanne Williams, at Back to Books

House of Secrets, by Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini, at Log Cabin Library

In Search of Goliathus Hercules, by Jennifer Angus, at Ms. Yingling Reads 

Iron Hearted Violet, by Kelly Barnhill, at Challenging the Bookworm

The Key and the Flame, by Claire M. Caterer, at Maria's Melange

Magic by the Lake, by Edward Eager, at Nerdy Book Club 

New Lands, by Geoff Rodkey, at Charlotte's Library

The Planet Thieves, by Dan Krokos, at Bookyurt 

Popular Clone, by M.E. Castle, at Xander's Middle Grade Book Reviews 

The Runaway King, by Jennifer Nielsen, at Leaf's Reviews

Through the Skylight, by Ian Baucom, at Cracking the Cover 

The Tiger Thief, by Michaela Clarke, at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

The Time-travelling Fashionista at the Palace of Marie-Antoinette, by Bianca Turetsky, at Sonderbooks

Tuesdays at the Castle, by Jessica Day George, at Reading Nook

The Watcher in the Shadows, by Chris Moriarty, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Wednesdays in the Tower, by Jessica Day George, at Greg Hill

The Wells Bequest, by Polly Shulman, at I Read To Relax 

The Wizard of Dark Street, by Shawn Thomas Odyssey, at Geo Librarian

a two-for-on at The Book Smugglers--Millicent's Gift, by Ann Rinaldi, and Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine


Authors and Interviews

Merrie Haskell (Handbook for Dragon Slayers) at Literary Rambles (giveaway)

Jennifer Nielsen (The Runaway King) at In This World of Books

Middle Grade debut authors talk "Mad for Middle Grade" at One Four Kidlit

Jennifer Angus (In Search of Goliathus Hercules), at A Patchwork of Books, The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia,  The Fourth Musketeer, and The Midnight Garden (all giveaways)

Melanie Crowder (Parched) at Cynsations

Kimberley Griffiths Little (When the Butterflies Came) at Michelle I Mason (giveaway)

Ian Johnstone (The Bell Between Worlds) at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books


Other Good Stuff

Here's a nice little list of MG/YA Time Travel books at Readatouille, if you want to dip in to that sub-genre.

And The Book Smugglers have assembled a nice list of gateway fantasy for younger readers at Kirkus (MG and YA).

Romance in MG--Finding the Balance, at Project Mayhem

I was very happy to see Malorie Blackman appointed the new children's laureate of the UK.   I've reviewed her middle grade time travel book, Thief, and here's a review of her most recent book, Noble Conflict, at the Guardian.

Zoe at Playing by the Book has a lovely list of links to 22 children's book inspired doll houses.

48 Hour Book Challenge updates--Saturday

8:41 pm update: read and listened for five more hours between 1 and now... my body betrayed me and demanded a nap.  Pathetic. 

Drove 10 year old to birthday party listening to Hat Full of Sky, his first Pratchett.  His enjoyment was gratifying.  I'm now about to start disc 4 of 7.

Read two more books  Crocuses Were Over, Hitler Was Dead, an older UK time travel story, and The Summer Prince; will be reviewing both of these later.

Morning:

Up with the larks (not that there are any hereabouts) at 5:30, ready for more reading...It is cold and rainy here in southern New England.  A good day for reading with a warm blanky.   But there was a saddness--no tasty food.  For some reason I though my husband had just gone to the grocery store yesterday.  I was so wrong.  So wrong.

Miday Update update:

Read for three more hours  (and went to the grocery store).  Among other bits of reading, Finished The Children's Blizzard.  Now know lots more about late 19th century weather forecasting.   It fell a tad shy, though, of being a really interesting book.  295 pages of which I read 70 yesterday. 


Total of pages read (not counting books in progress)  1541 plus Crocuses
Total time read:  13 hours and 32 minutes
Books finished:  7.  Books being activly read:2

Books broken down by category (mainly for my own interest)
 (I started with 5 each in 6 categories)

Bought:
The Summer Prince

Given:
Crocuses Were Over, Hitler Was Dead

Library:
In the Shadow of Blackbirds
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time
Interesting Times

Picked up on the cheap/free (mostly through library booksales)
The Children's Blizzard
Mooncoin Castle

The books being activly read are from the remaining two catgories of Paperback Book Swap and Review Copies, so that's good.

In the Shadow of Blackbirds, by Cat Winters

In the Shadow of Blackbirds, by Cat Winters (Amulet, 2013) is a page-turning mystery/horror/romance/ghost story of great riveting-ness.   Set in California toward the end of WW I, the Spanish Influenza is an overwhelming nightmare, boys are coming back from the war horribly maimed and shell shocked, and 16 year old Mary Shelley Black's father has just been arrested for helping boys dodge the draft.

Her aunt Eva takes her in--not an old fussy aunt, but a 26 year old working making battleships, grieving for her dead husband (tb) and her lost youth, and rather fascinated by the work of a young spirit photographer, Julius.   Who Mary hates.  Mary loved Julius' young step-brother, Stephan, and they had one all to short sweet bit of passion before Stephan went to war.....and now Julius is there, and Stephan isn't.

Mary's hopes that Stephen is still alive proof unfounded.  He is dead.  There is his coffin.

And then she gets struck by lightning, and all supernatural heck breaks loose.

Because Stephen begins to haunt her.  And Stephen is suffering the tortures of the damned.

Mary cannot find peace until she can help him, and so a dark unwinding of fact and spirit and treachery and death begins....

I would have read this in a single sitting even if I hadn't been reading it for the 48 Hour Challenge.   I am not sure if I blinked as much as I should have.   Huge emotional punch, huge emotional wrenchings, great characters, and fascinating plot.  At least I think there was all that, but I was so busy reading I wasn't thinking.  Just feeling.

I'll leave it at that.  

48 Hours of Reading Fun

I started reading for the 48 Hour Reading Challenge at 4:53 pm today.  It is now 6:20, and I have just finished my first book, In the Shadow of Blackbirds (as Liviania advised me too, when I posted the pictures of the books I wanted to read). 

Here are my Saturday updates.

Stats from Friday

Time:  6:20 pm   1:28 hour/minutes read.  One book, In the Shadow of Blackbirds, finished (my thoughts).  387 pages read.

Time: 6:45.  Have used up 25 mins of precious social media time on review and this intro. 

8:15 now.  1 hour and 24 minutes more reading.  One more book finished--Interesting Times, by Terry Pratchett.  It's 295 pages, but I was on page 110 when I stared, which makes 195 more pages for my total.

8:35 now.  20 more mins of social media time used.  Circa 10 Friendly Comments left on participating blogs.  One book requested from Paperback Book Swap where partipator MAD Hoydenish had just posted it.

10.05 1 hour and 20 more minutes read.   Read Mooncoin Castle, a nice kids' fantasy from 1970- a jackdaw enlists the help of a ghost and a witch to help save his ruined Irish castle home from being demolished to make way for a supermarket.   I might offer it to my ten year old...141 pages.  Read the first 70 pages of the Children's Blizzard, by David Laskin.   He gets Laura's sister Mary and Mary Power confused when talking about the Lond Winter.  I sneer at him for this.  Still, it's rather interesting, though a bit slow--at this point we've met the immigrant families whose kids are about to die, and seen them starving on the prairie for a while (I know much more about Mennonites than I did at 9:05).   I'm just at the point where the titular blizzard is about to hit...

10:16  11 mins more social media time.

But I am sleepy, and am calling it a night.  Much as I love a good reading challenge, I don't feel compelled to suffer.

Totals for Day 1:  4 hours 12 minutes read,  56 mins. social media time.   I did really well at reading while doing other things.   These did not include cooking.  Thanks, Patrick.

New Lands, by Geoff Rodkey

New Lands, by Geoff Rodkey (Putnam, May 2013), is the second book of the Chronicles of Egg.  In the first book, Deadweather and Sunrise (my review), we were introduced to a fictional version of Caribbean/Central American colonialism, in which a boy named Egg (short for Egbert) finds himself (after various adventures) the only person in the world in possession of a map that leads to an ancient, magical treasure of one of the native tribes on the continent (he memorized it, and destroyed the original to keep it safe).  And an unscrupulous colonial oppressor type, Roger Pembroke (the sort that has native slaves working in his silver mines) wants the treasure. 

New Lands sees Egg and his comrade Guts (they became friends on a pirate ship) setting off for the continent, to find the Okalu tribe who can interpret the map.  But when they reach the mainland, they find that the Okalu have been almost destroyed by slave trading at the hands of a rival tribe...the mission seems hopeless.

Then they meet Kira, one of the lost Okalu.  She can't interpret the map, but she can lead them to her homeland.   But Pembroke is after Egg, and will stop at nothing to capture him.  His daughter, Millicent (love of young Egg's life) has followed Egg to the mainland to warn him.

Now Egg, Guts, Kira and Millicent are racing to find the Okalu, hotly pursued and in danger of their lives....can they find the lost treasure, which can bestow tremendous power on the one who possesses it, before the evil Pembroke finds them?

It's character rich adventure of an exciting sort, with a nice mix of suspenseful bits and amusing bits.   And though there's no actual magic, the alternate world is a fascinating place, though perhaps to close to real world colonialism to make for comfy reading...

Rodkey does a good job, I thought, at portraying the native peoples--they have agency, and aren't just passive victims of the colonial encounter.  And Kira is a very fine example of a stalwart, skilled, brave girl; she is far more than a stereotypical native guide, and she saves the day on many occasions in very practical ways.   Ethical questions about colonialism and slavery are raised, making the reader stop and think, but they don't weigh the story down.

My favorite character by far was Guts--I can't think of any other fictional boy quite like him.  Though he lost a hand to a brutal pirate, he doesn't let that stop him--whether it's saving the day through his mad guitar skills (strumming with his hook), or keeping things humming with his defiant, in your face attitude, he adds considerable zest to the story.  Millicent, my favorite character from the first book, plays only a minor role here, but it's interesting to see the development of her relationship with Egg (will young love triumph over societal expectations?  Can Millicent, daughter of the bad guy, really be trusted?).   I think Rodkey is a bit to quick to forgive some unsympathetic characters from the first book, but that's my only real quibble with regards to character.

I didn't love it for myself as a reader--I'm not really the non-stop adventure, here we go escaping death over and over as we crash through unknown lands, type--but I did find it a brisk and entertaining read.  And it's easy to imagine the target audience enjoying the series lots.  Clearly there's more to come, but this book stops at a good stopping point.

Question:  can one count New Lands as an example of diverse speculative fiction for kids?   Kira, who's Okalu, is such a strong, central character that I want to count her.   Rodkey doesn't make racial prejudice part of his narrative, so there's no dark skinned/light skinned dichotomy thing going on--Kira is not a clear "character of color."  On the other hand, its clear that in this world, as in ours, "civilized" people from far away are exploiting the native people, like Kira's tribe.  So does this make Kira, by extension, a diverse, non-white, non-European character????

disclaimer: ARC received from publisher