This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy links (9/12/21)

Welcome to this week's round-up of what I found on line this week!  Please let me know if I missed your post, or a post about your book.

The Reviews

Alone, by Megan E. Freeman, at Not Acting My Age

Amari and the Night Brothers, by B.B. Alston, at The Mary Sue

The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo, ill. Sophie Blackall, at Fuse #8

The Bewitching of Aveline Jones, by Phil Hickes, at Book Craic

The Book of Pearl, by y Timothée de Fombelle at YP

The Cursed Carnival and Other Calamities, by Rick Riordan et al., at The Bookwyrm's Den

Dark Waters, by Katherine Arden, at Puss Reboots

Egg Marks the Spot (Skunk and Badger #2) by Amy Timberlake, illustrations by Jon Klassen, at Log Cabin Library

The Hideaway, by Pam Smy, at Charlotte's Library

Homer on the Case, by Henry Cole, at Rosi Hollinbeck

Legend of the Storm Sneezer, by Kristiana Sfirela, at Charlotte's Library

Kiki Kallira Breaks A Kingdom, by Sangu Mandanna, at and other tales

Lightning Falls, by Amy Wilson, at Library Girl and Book Boy

The Monsters of Rookhaven, by Padraig Kenny, at Valinora Troy

On These Magic Shores by Yamille Saied Mendez, at Colorful Book Reviews

Once Upon a Camel, by Kathi Appelt, at Geo Librarian, proseandkahn, Always in the Middle, and Log Cabin Library

Pahua and the Soul Stealer, by Lori M. Lee, at The Bookwyrm's Den, Book-Keeping, and Ms. Yingling Reads

Pax, by Sara Pennypacker, at The Children's War

SHADOWGHAST by Thomas Taylor, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

Stowaway, by John David Anderson, at The Neverending TBR

A Touch of Ruckus, by Ash Van Otterloo, at Say What?

THE WIZARD IN MY SHED, by Simon Farnaby, at Twirling Book Princess

Two at A Bit About Books--The Shadow Prince by David Anthony Durham and The Nightsilver Promise by Annaliese Avery

Authors and Interviews

B.B. Alston (Amari and the Night Brothers) at Fictitious (You-Tube)

Sarah Albee (Scientifically Ever After) at Nerdy Book Club

Kate DiCamillo (The Beatryce Prophecy) at MG Book Village

Angharad Walker (The Ash House) at Library Girl and Book Boy

Other Good Stuff

New in the UK, at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

The 2021 Dragon Awards have been announced; here's the bit that's relevant to this round-up:

Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel

• WINNER: A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher (Argyll)

• The Scapegracers, Hannah Abigail Clarke (Erewhon)
• Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
• A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
• The Tinderbox: Soldier of Indira, Lou Diamond Phillips (Aethon)
• A Peculiar Peril, Jeff VanderMeer (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)

and finally, isn't this Vietnamese bridge fantastic!

The Hideaway, by Pam Smy, with giveaway!

If fall puts you in the mood for haunting stories of old graveyards and ghosts, with perhaps the power of love to transcend death if only for a snatch of time, do try The Hideaway, by Pam Smy! You'll be rewarded not just with atmospheric spookiness, but with a chance to weep in public (or now that you have been warned, in private) over a sharply drawn portrait of a more ordinary sadness--this is also a story of domestic abuse.  It's told in two points of view, that of a boy, Billy, on the run from a home made toxic by his mother's abusive boyfriend, Jeff, and Billy's mother, searching for him with the help of neighbors and the authorities.  

Billy can no longer stand being helpless in the same house as Jeff any longer.  To the familiar soundtrack of  invective being spewed at his mother, with the threat of violence always present, Billy gathers together clothes and provisions (and all the sharp kitchen knives) and leaves.  Following a route he's taken in his mind a thousand times, he heads through the autumn rain for the shelter he's found for himself--an abandoned military pill box in an old cemetery.  Cold and wet, he curls himself up.

The next morning he finds he's not an alone; an old man is pottering around the grave stones.  The man, recognizing Billy as the desperate runaway he is, strikes a deal with him--if Billy will help cleaning up the overgrown graves, the man will give him a few days grace before alerting the authorities.

Meanwhile, when his mother realizes Billy has missed school, and isn't quietly up alone in his room as usual, she takes action, regardless of the consequences.  She finds help and support in the neighbors from whom she'd previously been isolated, and a search begins.

So does a chance for Billy's mum to break free from her trap, and a chance for Billy to start healing from the trauma.  And the story moves towards a heartbreaking ending when the purpose of the old man's graveyard cleaning becomes clear on All Souls day, and the dead are reunited with each other, and with the living (this is the part where I cried).

The story wraps up tidily with Jeff's arrest, and the old man's story is tied into that of Billy's family, so there's considerable hope that things will go better now (although one worries of course that Jeff, out of prison, will come back with murder in his heart...).

But in any event, slightly too tidy ending aside, it is an emotional journey of a book that I loved! So many feels.  It's being marketed as middle grade, for kids 10-13 ish (Billy's age), and though I wouldn't give it to a kid any younger than that, I can easily imagine older readers clicking with it.

The Hideaway is illustrated by the author throughout with black and white drawings, with double-page spreads at the climax of the story.  Pam Smy is a whiz with tonal and texture.  The images are melancholy, spooky, sharp with anxiety, fading into more peaceful mist. 

And here's the trailer.

A bit about the author:

Pam Smy studied Illustration at Cambridge School of Art, where she now lectures part-time. Pam has illustrated books by Conan Doyle, Julia Donaldson, and Kathy Henderson, among others; visit her instagram account for lots eerie goodness! Her first novel, Thornhill, was a critical and commercial success, shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the UKLA Book Awards, the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2018, and winning the 2018 British Book Design & Production Award for Graphic Novels. She lives in Cambridge, UK.

And now the Giveaway!

5 winners will receive a hardcover of The Hideaway!
US/UK, Giveaway ends 9/19 at 11:59pm ET

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(disclaimer: review copy and promotional links received from Media Masters Publicity)

Legend of the Storm Sneezer, by Kristiana Sfirlea, for Timeslip Tuesday

This week's timeslip story, Legend of the Storm Sneezer, by Kristiana Sfirela (middle grade, May 2020 Monster Ivy Publishing) is one that will please the young reader who likes magical heroines that are easy to cheer for in rule-bending mystery solving!

When Rose was just a baby winged angel (like everyone else around her, not babies, that is, but people with wings), her innate magic manifested when she sneezed out a storm cloud.  The cloud, Stormy, was her best friend, and living with rainfall and electrical sparking as she chased legends in the woods near her home was fine.

Until it wasn't anymore.  

When Stormy was deemed too dangerous and just plain wrong for a girl who was the heir to the Commander of her town, Rose's father paid a witch doctor to trap her magic deep inside her, unable to manifest beyond a few sparks.  That was still too much for her family, though, and so Rose is packed of to Heartstone, an asylum for those with unstable magic are looked up.

Happily Heartstone turns out not to be a fearful prison, but instead is more like a magical boarding school, where its inmates, though still unfree, can live happy lives, and learn, and create.  And even make friends. 

But Heartstone is in danger.  It was built on the site of a long-ago battle between angels and wolf-like wargs, and the ghost of both sides are pressing closer and closer to its walls, in violate of the old agreement made by the asylum's founders.  

Rose, her spirit unbroken by the trauma inflicted on her, is determined to find out what is happening.  Fortunately, she doesn't have to do it on her own; she has good friends and a loyal, ghost-spotting, dog on her side.  She also (and this is where the time-slippness comes into the story) is getting letters from her future selves, that don't offer direct advice, but do have useful clues.  And Stormy, too, isn't quite gone...which is good, because the ghosts aren't the real problem.  The real problem is much worse.

I had reservations when I started the book--I really don't like intrusive narrators breaking the fourth wall, and it starts with an eyeful of that.  And I was a bit concerned that it would fall too far into fantasy whimsy for me to enjoy.  But once Rose gets to Heartstone, the story rips along very nicely indeed, and I was able to start sincerely enjoying her adventures!

And I was rewarded with a story that became bigger in scope as it went on, the sort of story I like even better than just magical school stories, one where past wrongs much be come to terms with or else the present will be destroyed.  So although I never stopped being bothered by breaks in the fourth wall (like getting poked while peacefully reading, and kicking me out of the story), I ended up enjoying this very much.  

(one thing that did strike me as distractingly odd is that although all the angel folk have wings and can fly, there is very little flying, and none of it particularly advances the plot.  The wings could have been left out, and nothing would have been appreciably different....and I think I'd have enjoyed it more if they'd been just people and not angels; "angel" comes with so many religious connotations in our world, although not in this fictional world, that it was distracting.)

nb re time travel--a future Rose does come back in person a few times, making this slightly more time-travelly than just the letters would have been.  But it still could have functioned as  story just fine with out the time travel element, which I found slightly disappointing...until I got to the end, with its strong and welcome hints of more time-travel-ness to come!

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (9/5/21)

Hi all!  Here's what I found this week; please let me know if I missed your post.

First--the deadline for applying to be a panelist for this year's Cybils Awards has been extended to 9/10, and I would be so happy to welcome new folks to the category I chair, which is Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction!  Anyone who talks about books on line, on whatever platform they choose, is welcome to apply.

The Reviews (only 1 from me this week, but I'm determined to get my groove back next week...)

The Battle for Roar, by Jenny McLachlan, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

Dark Waters, by Katherine Arden, at Pages Unbound

The Die of Destiny, by Frank L. Cole, at Geo Librarian

The Dollhouse: A Ghost Story by Charis Cotter, at Lazy Day Literature

A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans (Dragon’s Guide #1) by Laurence Yep and Joanne Ryder, at Colorful Book Reviews

Dragon War (Dragon Quartet #4) by Laurence Yep, at Colorful Book Reviews

The Cursed Carnival and Other Calamities: New Stories About Mythic Heroes, by Rick Riordan, at Rajiv's Reviews

Freeze, by Chris Priestly, at Library Girl and Book Boy

Healer of the Water Monster, by Brian Young, at alibrarymama

Jukebox, by Nidhi Chanani, at Time Travel Times Two

Kingston and the Magician’s Lost and Found by Rucker Moses and Theo Gangi, at alibrarymama

The Last Fallen Star (Gifted Clans, Book 1) by Graci Kim, at Rapunzel Reads

Maya and the Return of the Godlings (Maya and the Rising Dark #2), by  Rena Barron, at Evelyn Reads

The Midnight Brigade, by Adam Borba, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Once Upon a Camel, by  Kathi Appelt, at Cracking the Cover

Pahua and the Soul Stealer, by Lori M. Lee, at Rajiv's Reviews

Prince Dustin and Clara: Legends of the Black Forest by Daniel Lee Nicholson, at Log Cabin Library

River Magic by Ellen Booraem, at Jean Little Library

The Serpent's Secret, by Sayantani DasGupta, at Dead Houseplants

Shadowghast, by Thomas Taylor, at Book Craic

Sisters of the Neversea, by Cynthia Leitich Smith, at A Kids Book A Day

The Wild Way Home, by Sophie Kirtley, at Charlotte's Library

The World Between Blinks, by Amie Kaufman and Ryan Graudin, at Children's Books Heal

Two at Ms. Yingling Reads-- Mine, by Delilah S. Dawson, Delilah S., and The Thirteenth Cat, by Mary Downing Hahn

10 (!) mini reviews at Golden Books Girl

Authors and Interviews

Emma Mylrea (Curse of the Dearmad) at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

Amy Wilson (Lightning Falls) at A little but a lot

Sara Pennypacker (Pax-Journey Home) at Middle Grade Ninja Podcast and MG Book Village

Christian McKay Heidicker (Scary Stories for Young Foxes-the City), at Publishers Weekly

Sophie Blackwell (illustrator of The Beatryce Prophecy), at The Children's Book Review

Chris Baron (The Magical Imperfect), at MG Book Village

Betty Fudge (Norm and Ginger Enter the Hidden), at MG Book Village

Cynthia Leitich Smith (Sisters of the Neversea), and Brian Young (Healer of the Water Monster) at SLJ

J. Scott Savage (The Lost Wonderland Diaries) at Leading Edge Magazine

Other Good Stuff

35 Canadian middle-grade books to watch for in fall 2021, including a number of enticing MG SFF, at CBC

I just read about a really cool reading challenge via Silver Button Books--sounds like it's right up our mg sci/fi fantasy alleys!

The Wild Way Home, by Sophie Kirtley, for Timeslip Tuesday

I subjected The Wild Way Home, by Sophie Kirtley, to one of the harshest tests known for a book--I read it on an airplane that took off at 5:40 am, and then finished it in a busy international airport.  It passed this test with flying colors; it was a riveting and moving read!

Charlie  regularly adventures in the scrappy bit of woods near home; it's a far cry from the ancient forests of Ireland, but its landmarks are a huge part of their emotional geography.  When Charlie's much anticipated little brother is born with a heart problem, and everything becomes too unknown and scary to cope with, Charlie runs into the woods....

But though the major landmarks are still there, the woods are not the same familiar place.  

Then Charlie sees an injured boy face down in the stream, and sets to work rescuing him  But the boy is confused, and can't remember what's happened to him.  Communication is difficult; the boy, called Harby, speaks a strangely broken English, and can't understand much of what Charlie is saying.  And so Charlie realizes that time has slipped backwards--these are the woods of early Neolithic Ireland, and Harby is a Stone Age boy.

As his memories begin to come back to him, Harby manages to communicate his desperation to find and save his little sister, and Charlie's thoughts circle around similar anxieties for the little baby in the hospital at home.  The two kids work together to stay alive (there are wolves in the woods, and food must be worked for), and at last Harby is reunited with his sister and father, and Charlie finds the way back home, with a sturdier mindset about the little brother waiting there.

It is a vivid picture of prehistoric life, the friendship and trust that grows between the kids is convincing, and the mechanism of time travel (a deer tooth Charlie has picked up, which turns out to be Harby's most meaningful talisman) is satisfactory.  The mix of contemporary realism and the Stone Age past works really well, and there's enough adventure in the past to keep things moving nicely. What makes the book really sing though is how moving it is.  I was so emotionally invested that I grew teary toward the end, and thought loving thoughts about my own family...(which I do regularly, but not always with such heightened emotion).

And now I look forward lots to reading the follow up story, The Way to Impossible Island, which features Harby's little sister and Charlie's little brother several years later....

(The story is told in the first person, and I read in someone else's review that Charlie is not identified specifically as boy or girl, which I hadn't noticed, and so I've avoided using pronouns here!)

This week's roundup of mg sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (8/29/21)

 Welcome to this last MG sci fi/fantasy round up of summer! (I know it is the end of summer because I am a Keen Observer of signs of seasonal change--my neighbor's "summertime fun" display, which included a giant inflated hotdog, mercifully with bun, has been replaced by "back to school" featuring an enormous inflated crayon, and other scholastic sundries....)

As always, please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

Airman, by Eoin Colfer, at Say What?

Cattywampus by Ash Van Otterloo, at Colorful Book Reviews

Dark Waters, by Katherine Arden, at silverbuttonbooks.com

Fireborn by Aisling Fowler, at Book Craic, The Quick and the Read, and rosegold reports

Hatch (The Overthrow #2), by Kenneth Oppel, at Say What?

The Hiddenseek, by Nate Cernosek, at Jill's Book Blog

How I Saved the World In A Week, by Polly Ho-Yen, at Nayu's Reading Corner

The Imaginary Veterinarian #1: The Sasquatch Escape by Suzanne Selfors, at Say What?

Legend Keepers: The Chosen One, by Bruce Smith, at Kid's Lit Book Cafe

Secrets of the Stars, by Maria Kuznia, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

The Smashed Man of Dread End, by J.W. Ocker, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Starclimber (Matt Cruse #3), by Kenneth Oppel, at Say What?

Stowaway, by John David Anderson, at Maria's Melange, Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers, and alibrarymama

Sugar and Spite, by Gail D. Villanueva, at Your Tita Kate

Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff, at proseandkahn 

The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez, by Adrianna Cuevas, at The Book Search

Under the Whispering Door, by T.J. Klune, at Hidden In Pages

Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep, by Philip Reeve, at Big Bearded Bookseller

Warren the 13th and the Whispering Woods, by Tania Del Rio, illustrated by Will Staehle at Silver Button Books

Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom by Louis Sachar at Geo Librarian

When You Trap a Tiger, by Tae Keller, at Colorful Book Reviews

A Wilder Magic, by Juliana Brandt, at Charlotte's Library

The Wolf's Curse, by Jessica Vitalis, at Class of 2K21

Two at orange marmalade--How to Save the Universe Without Really Trying, by John Cusick, and Malamander, by Thomas Taylor

Authors and Interviews

Jamie Russell  (Skywake Invastion), at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

Lindsay Eagar (The Patron Thief of Bread) at Pop! Goes the Reader 

Piers Torday (The Wild Before) at A little but a lot

Alysa Wishingrad  (The Verdigris Pawn), at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

Other Good (but also a little sad) Stuff

Jill Murphy, children’s author and illustrator, dies aged 72, at The Guardian

A life well-drawn: illustrations by Jill Murphy – in pictures, at The Guardian

‘The Mysterious Benedict Society’: Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay’s Excellent Adventure With Disney+ Series, at Nerdophiles

and finally, the deadline for applying to be a Cybils Judge ends Sept.1--come join me in reading all the best elementary/mg speculative fiction of the past year (books published between Oct. 16, 2020 to Oct. 15, 2021)

A Wilder Magic, by Juliana Brandt

I have been so tired and distracted these past few weeks, getting two kids off to school (one in Ireland, one in New York), which has involved a great deal of effort, fuss, and soul-killing worry...so though I've read a lot of great books recently, I haven't gotten to writing reviews for a while.  Which is distressing, because they were great books!  So I am turning from all my usual distractions to actually write a post for one I haven't seen any other blog reviews of yet-- A Wilder Magic, by Juliana Brandt (middle grade, May 2021, Sourcebooks).

Sybaline's family has lived in their Appalachian valley for generations.  It's no ordinary valley, but one infused with magic that has become entwined with the family.  They draw on the magic to help the course of nature along, working with it to grow and to heal.  But their valley is doomed.  The Tennessee Valley Authority is building a hydroelectric dam that will flood it, and they must move.  This won't just destroy their homes and cemeteries and other beloved places, but will sunder them from the magic...

And so Sybaline says no.  

Drawing on magic to work against the course of nature has consequences; serious ones, that ended up turning her grandfather into a tree, for instance.  But Sybaline is blinded by desperation, and so instead of leaving, she goes down into the valley and raises a wall of water around it, creating a place where she and her cousin Nettle can live.  

Things don't go as Sybaline expected.  At first there is food and shelter, but as the water keeps rising, a design flaw emerges.  Sybaline has magiced up not walls, but a dome...and when the water covers the dome, the two girls are plunged into the darkness one finds at the bottom of a deep lake.  They are not in a sanctuary, but in a trap, and to make matters worse, three other kids got stuck inside too.

Stuck in the dark, with a limited food supply, water being pushed up by the outside pressure through the ground, and the cold becoming increasingly severe, it is clear that they must escape.  But in order to break the magic, Sybaline and Nettle must draw on all the magic of the valley they can, even though there already signs that the magic is transforming them...

I am a huge fan of survival stories, and though "survival story" is perhaps not the main point of the book, it is still one that will appeal lots to fellow fans. All the elements I enjoy are here--the food foraging, the group figuring out how to work together, the growing anxiety and desperation...and the magical twist that has put the kids into this situation makes it especially interesting!

Thematically it is more than "survival story." It's a story of growing-up, of learning to be answerable to your powers, to face fears and uncertainties instead of running backwards to avoid them.  It hurt to see Sybaline dealing with the lose of childhood security (made even more painful by her father being off in the war), but this hurt was soothed by her arrival at acceptance, and a reassurance that family was still family.  It's also a story of living in balance with the natural world (complicated in this case by the natural world being magic).

I enjoyed Julian Brandt's debut, The Wolf of Cape Fen (my review), very much, and this one did not disappoint!

nb:  A Wilder Magic is one of the many great elementary/middle grade specultative fiction eligible for the Cybils Awards this year; come join the Cybils team as an EMG Spec Fic panelist to read lots of them and try to pick which ones have the most kid appeal and literary merit combined in one package!

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs etc (8/22/21)

I type this in Rhode Island, wondering if Henri is going to offer more than gentle rains and a light breeze, and still recovering from the excitements of the past two weeks (tagging along with my oldest, who will be in Ireland for the semester, on a jaunt through that pleasant country, and then coming home and getting my youngest to college for his freshman year, and then of course making sure my house was hurricane ready....).  So I have no reviews to offer.

But I do have something--a post urging all of you who read these Sunday posts to consider applying to be panelists in the Cybils Awards!  It really is worthwhile.

The Reviews

The Clockwork Crow, by Catherine Fisher, at The Children's Book Review

Da Vinci's Cat, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, at Fantasy Literature

The Dog Who Saved the World, by Ross Welford, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Escape From Aurora (Frostheart #2), by Jamie Littler, at Evelyn Reads

Fireborn, by Aisling Fowler, at lousbookstuff, Tessa Talks Books, dinipandareads, Read to Ramble, Becky's Book Blog, and Sifa Elizabeth Reads

Ghost Girl, by Ally Malinenko, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Girl and the Witch’s Garden, by Erin Bowman, at Pages Unbound 

Gloom Town, by Ronald L. Smith, at Colorful Book Reviews

Much Ado About Baseball, by Rajani LaRocca, at The New York Times

The Other Side of the Whale Road, by K.A. Hayton, at Elli Mai Blogs and Rajiv's Reviews

Root Magic, by Eden Royce, at proseandkahn

Skybreaker (Matt Cruse #2),  by Kenneth Oppel, at Say What?

The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel, by Sheelah Chari, at Say What? 

Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye, by Tania Del Rio, illustrated by Will Staehle, at Silver Button Books

Well Witched, by Frances Hardinge, at Pages Unbound

When Days Tilt (Time Catchers #1), Karen Ginnane, at The Book Muse

The Wild Before, by Piers Torday, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads 

Willodeen, by Katherine Applegate, at Beagles and Books

The Year I Flew Away, by Marie Arnold, at The Washington Post

Authors and Interviews

Stephanie Burgis (The Raven Heir) and Amy Wilson (Lightning Falls) in conversation with The Reader Teacher (on You Tube)

Christyne Morrell (Kingdom of Secrets), at Literary Rambles (with giveaway)

Mahtab Narsimhan (Valley of the Rats), at Middle Grade Book Village

Five reasons why you might want to apply to be a Cybils judge in elementary/middle grade speculative fiction!

The call for this years Cybils Awards panelists has gone out, and anyone who reviews or talks about kids and ya books on line (blog, you tube, Goodreads, etc.) is welcome to apply to be part of the fun and excitement!

The Cybils Awards includes many different categories of books (ranging from picture books to YA fiction), and each category has it's own set of panelists. The first round panelists narrow all the nominated books down to a shortlist of 5-7 books, and then a second group had to pick the final winner. Anyone in the world can nominate a book in each category; some categories end up with lots of books and some with fewer (elementary/middle grade speculative fiction is around 110-130, on the higher end).

So in essence, the first round involves lots and lots of reading, and lots of emails exchanged with co-panelists chatting in a friendly and companionable way about what we like, what we don't like, what we find amusing, what we find irritating, and how hard it will be to narrow it down to seven books. In the second round, with only seven books, there's less banter and more intense thought about the relative merits of the books. The two criteria we use in judging are good writing and lots of appeal for the target audience (diversity is not a explicit criteria, but does factor in to the target audience appeal).

I'm the category chair for elementary/middle grade speculative fiction (roughly books for 8-12 year olds), and if you are reading my blog, this might well be the group of books that you enjoy the most too! I am always so happy to welcome new folks into the judging, and so to encourage you who haven't done it before, I offer--

Five reasons why you might want to apply to be a Cybils judge in elementary/middle grade speculative fiction!

1. The books are really really good this year. (I say this every year, and every year it is true, but this year they are perhaps even really, really, really good).

2. It makes fall a lot more fun when you are a first round panelist. I love the excitement of the nomination period, the fun of marking books read in the spreadsheet, the wild placing of library holds  and the arrival of review copies (mostly digital these days, but some still physical). I love having a forum in which I can honestly share with no holding back what I really think about books; it is very companionable.

3. You will find new authors to love, and you will become extremely knowledgeable about the middle grade spec. fic. books of the past year.

4. You will make new friends and quite possibly be inspired to review more.

5. As the category organizer, assembling the panels is part of my job, so this reason why you should apply is somewhat selfish. I want lots and lots of people to apply so that I can have new participants along with reliable veterans, and so that the panels can have lots of different view points represented. I take up one of the seven available slots in the first round because I'm the Lead Reader, but that still leaves six, and five more for the second round....

If you still have doubts, let me reassure you that it is less work than you might think!

There will probably be around 120 books nominated in EMG Spec Fic. This might seem like a lot of books to read, but remember, you'll probably have read a fair number of them already (if you haven't, you must not like MG spec fic, so you wouldn't be applying). Also each book only Has to be read by 2 panelists, and since I plan to read all the books, that takes pressure off of others. And also if it is clear to you before finishing a book that you could not support it being shortlisted, you don't have to finish it but can still mark it as read.

Though the nominating period ends October 15, you can start reading just as soon as you get the invitation email from me in mid September, giving you three and half months for reading (the shortlists must be assembled by the end of December). On the other hand, if you are having a baby, starting a new job, planning on spending the month of December snowbound with no internet access, or moving house this fall, the second round might be a better fit for you!

Things that I look for when gathering panelists:

Obviously, I really want people who know and love EMG Spec Fic; this is the most important thing to demonstrate when you apply! (Do not include a link to a review in which you say "I don't really like middle grade fiction, but I liked this book" or some such, which really has happened a few times in the past). I want a mix of parents, educators, librarians, and authors. I want a range of viewpoints; I'd love diverse panelists. . And I want panelists who are able to think clearly and critically about what makes for a good mg spec fic book and who are willing to enjoy sharing their opinions.

So here's the link to the application page on the Cybils website. Please apply! (you get to put three categories you're interested in, ranked...you could put EMG spec fic for all three if you wanted.  Nb--picture books are the most popular first pick; graphic novels and High School non-fiction always would welcome more applicants.  EMG spec fic is somewhere in the middle....

If you are on the fence about applying, please feel free to email me at charlotteslibrary at gmail.com with any questions or concerns.

This week's round-up of mg sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (8/15/21)

Nothing from me this week, except this picture of the mg sci fi/fantasy book I bought in Ireland last week (it is so much fun to see all the different books for sale in other countries!)

Happily other folks wrote about emg sff!  As always, please let me know if I missed your post and I'll I'll put it in.

The Reviews

Arcade and the Triple T Token (Coin Slot Chronicles #1) by Rashad Jennings, at Colorful Book Reviews

Dog Squad, by Chris Grabenstein, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Fireborn, by Aisling Fowler, at The Bewitched Reader, Rajiv's Reviews, The Bookwyrm's Den, and Hair Past a Freckle

Fly by Night, by Frances Hardinge, at Pages Unbound

The Gilded Girl, by Alyssa Colman, at Mom Read It

The Girl and the Witch's Garden by Erin Bowman at Jean Little Library

Homer on the Case, by Henry Cole, at Redeemed Reader

The Last Shadow Warrior by Sam Subity, at Say What?

Mission Multiverse, by Rebecca Caprara, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Other Side of Luck, by  Ginger Johnson, at Cracking the Cover

The Plentiful Darkness, by Heather Kassner, at The Bookwyrm's Den and Eli to the nth

Rea and the Blood of the Nectar, by  Payal Doshi, at  A Dance With Books 

When the Sea Turned to Silver, by Grace Lin, at Colorful Book Reviews

The World Between Blinks, by Amie Kaufman and Ryan Graudin, at Middle Grade Mojo

Two at alibrarymama--Much Ado about Baseball, by Rajani LaRocca, and Ophie's Ghosts, by Justina Ireland

Authors and Interviews

John David Anderson (Stowaway) at Middle Grade Ninja and Nerdy Book Club

Jessica Vitalis (The Wolf's Curse) at MG Book Village

Other Good Stuff

What's new in the UK, at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

The New Zealand Book Award Winners have been announced, and the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year is  Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature from the Sea, by T K Roxborogh

The Dragon Awards Finalists for YA/MG--

• The Scapegracers, Hannah Abigail Clarke (Erewhon)
• A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher (Argyll)
• Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
• A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
• The Tinderbox: Soldier of Indira, Lou Diamond Phillips (Aethon)
• A Peculiar Peril, Jeff VanderMeer (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)

on vacation this week...

 ....bookshopping in Ireland, so no round-up!  I'll try to do one for next week.

Yesterday Is History, by Kosoko Jackson, for Timeslip Tuesday

This week's time travel book is Yesterday Is History, by Kosoko Jackson (February 2021, Sourcebooks Fire).  It's a very readable and enjoyable gay YA romance, in which time travel serves to complicate a black teenager's life and loves.

Andre has come through cancer, with a new liver received from a young man who died in a car accident.  He's ready to charge back into his life of academic success, complicated by all the school he missed.  But along with the liver, he got something he couldn't have predicted-- a trip to his childhood home back in the 1960s.  There he meets Michael, a guy a little older, friendly, cute, and insightful as heck.   Andre has no clue how this has happened, until the family of the liver donor reaches out.  

Turns out that young man was a time traveler, from a family of time travelers.  And now Andre is one too.  Blake, the younger son, didn't inherit the gene, but his parents assign him to teach Andre the rules of time travelling.  This is a heck of complicated situation for Blake, for a variety of understandable personal reasons, and it's further complicated when he finds himself falling for Andre..

But Andre has been going back to the past to meet Michael again, and they fall in love.  And even though he could imagine easily falling for Blake, what he shares with Michael can't just be dismissed.

Andre wants to make everything ok for Blake (hurting in the present) and for Michael (hurting in the past), but that's impossible, even with time travel. And after lots of internal struggle and another brush with death, he sets out to live his best life in the present.

So time travel is a mechanism for the romance plot, and that's fine, but it's a bit disappointing that except for one hop back to the Titanic, which we don't even get to experience through Andre's point of view, there's just trips back to see Michael (and it was really frustrating that Andre doesn't get Michael to promise always to use a condom, though mercifully we find that Michael doesn't die of AIDS).  

Andre grows up a lot because of his experience in the past though, realizing that instead of just drifting along with parental expectations (in this case, medical school), it's better to find your own passion.  Believably, he doesn't in fact find his (except romantically), but it's a good message for teens regardless. 

It was really nice to read about a likeable gay boy supported by his family finding love!  So read it for that, not because you like time travel, which exists here primarily in the service of romantic entanglement (that being said, the time travel did a good job making the entanglement interesting!)

This week's round-up of middle grade science fiction and fantasy from around the blogs (8/1/21)

Happy August to us all....

Here's what I found in my internet searching this week; please let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews

15 Minutes, by Steve Young, at Charlotte's Library

The Beatryce Prophecy, by Kate DiCamillo, at Rosi Hollinbeck

Begone the Raggedy Witches, by Celine Kiernan, at Rajiv's Reviews

Bridge of Souls, by Victoria Schwab, at  The Zen Leaf

The Broken Raven (Shadow Skye #2), by Joseph Elliott, at Log Cabin Library

Cogheart, by Peter Bunzl, at Rajiv's Reviews

The Crackledawn Dragon, by Abi Elphinstone, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

Crowfall, by Vashti Hardy, at Library Girl and Book Boy

Dead Wednesday,  by Jerry Spinelli, at Susan the Librarian

Edie and the Box of Flits, by Kate Wilkinson, at Book Craic

Homer on the Case, by Henry Cole, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Josephine Against the Sea, by Shakirah Bourne, at WOC Read

The Library of Ever and Rebel in the Library of Ever, by Zeno Alexander, at AMB

The Magic Factory (Oliver Blue and the School for Seers #1) by Morgan Rice, at Say What?

The Nightmare Thief, by Nicole Lesperance, at Pages Unbound

One Jar of Magic, by Corey Ann Haydu, at Not Acting My Age

Ophie's Ghosts, by Justina Ireland, at Charlotte's Library

A Problematic Paradox, by Eliot Sappingfield at Puss Reboots

The Raven Heir, by Stephanie Burgis, at Read and Reviewed

The Remarkables, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, at Say What?

Shadowghast, by Thomas Taylor, at Library Chicken

Stowaway (Icarus Chronicles #1), by John David Anderson, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Weird Kid, by Greg Van Eekhout, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Willow of Dark Hollow, by Robert Beatty, at Rachel A. Greco

The Wolf’s Curse, by Jessica Vitalis, at Pages Unbound

The Way to Impossible Island, by Sophie Kirtley, at Book Craic

Five Mg Fantasy books, at Beautifully Bookish Bethany (you-tube)

Authors and Interviews

Ben Gartner (People of the Sun) at MG Book Village

John David Anderson (Stowaway) at Fuse #8

Greg Van Eekhout (Weird Kid) at Whatever and Fuse #8

Ophie's Ghosts, by Justina Ireland

Ophie's Ghosts (May 2021 by Balzer + Bray) is Justina Ireland's first middle grade book, and it is a lovely immersive read, blending ghosts and a murder mystery with the daily life of a very real and relatable girl. 

Ophelia's life was upended in November, 1922, when her home in Georgia was burned by a white mob, and her father killed; he'd voted, which in the Jim Crow south was a dangerous thing for a black man to do.  But Ophie and her mother escaped unharmed, thanks to her father coming to her as a ghost to warn her.  She didn't know he was a ghost till later...and she didn't know that she'd start to see other ghosts.

Moving in with Aunt Rose and a family of cousins up north in Pittsburgh was the only think Ophie's mother could do, and now Ophie has to go to work instead of school.  Her job is to look after a demanding and unpleasant rich white woman in her grand home, Daffodil Manor.  It turns out the manor is full of ghosts, some self-absorbed, others with whom she can speak.  Once of them, Clara, even becomes a friend....But Aunt Rose can also see haints, and warns Ophie against ever trusting one.  

Ophie's desire to help her ghostly friend is so strong, though, that she sets out to uncover the mystery of her death.  She finds a story of passion, racial prejudice, and, she begins to suspect, murder...and unwittingly she gives Clara herself the power to take matters into her own ghostly hands.  But a ghost with power, as Aunt Rose warned, is a danger to everyone around it....and things get scary.

I sat down to start reading, and when I got up again I'd been sitting so long in one position it was hard to walk, a sign of a very good read!  With books like this I kind of forget I'm actually reading, because the words are going into to my head so fast and seamlessly that I am seeing the story not the typed letters.  Ophie is one of those fictional characters who seems truly real.  I warmed to her innate compassion, and my heart ached for her at many points in the story as she dealt with the racist realities of her life, her grief over her father and her lost hope for an education, and her worries for her mother.  The book is full of minor characters, dead and alive, who have their own vivid bits of story, adding considerable interest, tugging the heartstrings, and even providing a bit of light relief.

It's not a "horror story" (the real horror being not ghosts, but the human evil with which the story begins), and things only get  supernaturally scary at the climax towards the end.  But it is very spooky, and the horrible house full of ghosts is a ghastly place, so there's probably enough to satisfy young readers who love atmospheric creepiness.   Offer it to readers who enjoyed Victoria Schwab's City of Ghosts, or readers who like stories of plucky orphans in horrible jobs (of course, Ophie still has a mother who loves her, but one who's withdrawn from her somewhat because of grief and worry, so she felt orphan-adjacent to me, and the cover has this vibe too), and since it's top notch historical fiction as well as a ghost story, it's a great educational introduction to racism in the US in the 1920s (I learned more history from children's books than I did in the classroom, though mostly about Roman and medieval England....I'd love to be able to offer this one to 10 year old me, who also liked orphans and ghosts...and who knew nothing about racism in America in the early 20th century).

short answer--highly recommended, and I hope Justine Ireland writes more middle grade!

15 Minutes, by Steve Young, for Timeslip Tuesay

This week's Timeslip Tuesday, 15 Minutes, by Steve Young (HarperCollins, 2006), is one for the younger middle grade set (10-11 year olds).  It's very much aimed at that group in its humor and plot twists, and though I'm happy to recommend it to Wimpy Kid fans, for instance, this means that I didn't personally enjoy it all that much.

Casey Little is pretty ordinary, although his talent for being late is remarkable.  He has a few friends, he is bullied at the normal level for his school (which is considerable), and he longs to be one of the admired, popular kids.  But when, rummaging in the attic, he finds an old watch that used to belong to his grandfather, ordinary goes out the window.

The watch can take its wearer back in time, but only for 15 minutes.  No one else realizes, so there's freedom to try again, this time getting it right.

This re-do ability is convenient for a kid, like Casey, who's a bit of a klutz and who embarrasses himself a lot.  And by fixing all his mistakes he is, in fact, able to attract the attention of one of the popular girls and even excel at football (a game where it helps to know in advance which way everyone's going to go).  But the watch has a mind of its own, and sometimes time goes back when the watch thinks it should, complicating things.

As Casey tries to achieve his (flawed) ideas of perfection, he drifts away from his old friends, and when he realizes that the worst of the bullies, the football star of the school, is in fact the victim of bullying from his own father, he quits the cycle of do-overs, and finds peace in the present. It's a rather abrupt change of heart, but still a nice ending.

I myself don't have much patience for middle school kids who are thoughtless and self-centered, and so didn't like Casey at all for most of the book.  There's a lot of humor that will appeal to Wimpy Kid fans, which means that it's not humor I find all that funny, and the number of times kids get their heads flushed by the bullies is ridiculous.  So not a book for me.

But it is quick read, and an interesting premise, and the final point of the story is a valuable one (about compassion, not making judgements, and a touch of trying to be  one's authentic self) and so I'm sure there are kids out there for whom it is the right book....

Hi all!  Here's what I found this week; let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

Dark Waters (Small Spaces #3), by Katherine Arden, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Dead Wednesday, by Jerry Spinelli, at Book Page

Dragon Pearl, by Yoon Ha Lee, at Children's Books Heal

Into the Tall, Tall Grass by Loriel Ryon, at Colorful Book Reviews

The Legend of Podkin One-Ear, at Big Bearded Bookseller

The Little Door by Stormy Lyn, at Raine August

Nightingale, by Deva Fagan, at Geo Librarian

The Nightsilver Promise, by Annalise Avery, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

No Ordinary Thing, by G.Z. Schmidt, at Charlotte's Library

A Pinch of Magic, by Michelle Harrison, at Pages Unbound

Relatively Normal Secrets, by C.W. Allen, at Say What?

Secondhand Dogs, by Carolyn Crimi, at Geo Librarian

Sisters of the Neversea, by Cynthia Leitich Smith, at Charlotte's Library

 A Small Zombie Problem, by K. G. Campbell, at Middle-Grade Mojo

The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #1), by Jessica Townsend, at GoodeyReads

The Verdigris Pawn, by Alysa Wishingrad, at Feed Your Fiction Addiction

When You Trap a Tiger, by Tae Keller, at Leaf's Reviews

Wrath of the Dragon King (Dragonwatch #2), by Brandon Mull, at J.R.'s Book Reviews

Two at The Book Search--The Verdigris Pawn, by Alysa Wishingrad, and Weird Kid, by Greg van Eekhout

Authors and Interviews

Alysa Wishingrad (The Verdigris Pawn) at Literary Rambles

Alex London (Battle Dragons) at From the Mixed Up Files

Gabriella Kikwaki  (A Link Between Two Worlds series), at Lisa Haselton

L.D. Lapinski (The Strangeworlds Travel Agency) on world building, at Writers & Artists

Melissa Marr  (The Hidden Knife) “Give a girl (or a forty-year-old woman) a sword," at Nerdy Book Club

Sisters of the Neversea, by Cynthia Leitich Smith

It sure was fun to revisit Peter Pan's Neverland in Sisters of the Neversea, by Cynthia Leitich Smith  (Heartdrum, June 2021)!  It plunges headlong into reworking the original racist and sexist story, and although it didn't quite work for me, I appreciated and enjoyed it lots! (And it had the added poignancy of a lovely cover by the late, great, and sadly missed Floyd Cooper). 

Wendy Darling and Lily Roberts are stepsisters, tremendously close to each other.  Wendy's site of the family is white, from England, and  Lily's is Muscogee Creek.  They share a little brother, Michael, who they both adore.  But Wendy's dad is moving back to New York city, taking Wendy with him, and the girls are terrified that their family won't survive.

Enter Peter Pan, looking for his shadow, accompanied by his fairy friend, Belle.  

Peter plays Wendy and Michael like the expert manipulator he is, and they fly off with him to Neverland.  Lily sees through him, but can't let her siblings go off with out her, so she follows after them on her own.  When they reach Neverland, Wendy and Michael are taken in to the community of the Lost Boys, and Lily finds the other Native kids.  Soon Wendy realizes that Peter Pan is a tyrannical braggart, and that Neverland, though it is a place of wonders and magic, is no place she wants to stay.  Belle the fairy is herself having grave doubts about Peter, who, having defeated his pirate nemesis, is savagely killing the native fauna for sport and to show off.   

But the Darling-Roberts family is up for the challenge of finding their way home again, and even Peter, in the end, finds a most unlikely family.

There's lots to like here, most notably the power of family.  The bonds between the siblings not only held them together, but tied all the threads of adventure and magic into a moving story.  And it sure was great to see the problematic issues of the original destroyed!

One aspect of the didn't work for me was the style in which it is written.  There are frequent authorial intrusions, and some jarring ways of talking about the characters that threw me out of the story--at one point well into the book, for instance, Wendy is referred to as the "Darling girl."  Additionally, there were many point of view shifts amongst the primary, secondary and even tertiary characters.  Some were simply brief flashes, others lasted for longer chunks, and quite a few included back-story thoughts, and this made the story flow a little roughly for me.  I don't like it when I'm constantly made aware that an outside person is telling the story; it makes the characters feel more like puppets than part of a reality I'm absorbed in (wondering, as I type this, if introverts are bothered more by intrusive narrators than extroverts?)

That being said, this is definitely worth a read! (Kirkus thinks so too, for what that's worth....and their review appreciated "the wry voice of the omniscient narrator."

No Ordinary Thing, by G.Z. Schmidt, for Timeslip Tuesday

 

As readers of my blog know, I'm a sucker for good middle grade time travel, and No Ordinary Thing, by G.Z. Schmidt, was a very nice one indeed!

When his parents died when he was very young, Adam went to live with his uncle.  Life in the Biscuit Basket, his uncle's bakery, is (literally) sweet, but Adam is withdrawn (never talking at school unless he has to, and with no friends) and worried about his dying pet mouse.  Business is very bad indeed, and the bakery's future looks grim.

Then a stranger arrives, and greets Adam as if they know each other, pulling out a lovely snow globe in which is the cityscape of Manhattan.  He offers no explanations, just the  enigmatic words "great things are in store for you" and "Tonight, go up to the attic."  Adam does, and finds a snow globe of his own.  But there is nothing in it other than a layer of snow.

This soon changes, and when the cityscape appears in it, Adam is transported back in time to a winter's day in New York of the 1930s.  Other journeys await, falling within the years between the first journey and Adam's present of 1999, both within the city and to a smaller town some ways away. The people Adam meets are all connected to the time magic of the snow globe, and to two other talismans of time, one tied to the present, the other to the future...

Life for Adam is now full of mystery, danger from an enemy who wants the magic for his own greedy purposes, and snatched friendships in other times.  And with his adventures in time, his desire to fix things, not just for himself but for those he meets, grows.  But the gifts of time magic are tricky things....

So clearly I'm not going into lots of detail here.  Suffice to say--good characters, good mystery to be unraveled, lots of difficult choices, interesting visits to the past, and an a satisfying (though somewhat rushed) ending.  I especially liked Adam's connection to Victor, one of the homeless men in the nearby shelter where Adam takes unsold baked goods--Victor was once a mathematician, and I like his thoughts about time lots (Victor is also the hero of the final confrontation....).  The time travel is interesting--Adam never stays very long in any place or time, and his visits to the same places are sometimes out of chronological order.  I'm not quite sure why the snow globe took him when and where it did, but it all ties together (clever snow globe!).

If you love time travel stories that are centered on making meaningful connections across time, this is one you'll like lots!

note re diversity--Adam's mother was from China, and the author likewise was born in China but grew up in the US.