Thief, by Malorie Blackman (adding color to my son's bookshelf, also 48 HRC)

Good morning, everyone. I was up at ten to four today, to keep reading for the 48 hour reading challenge. This morning's book: Silksinger! It arrived yesterday, which was perfect timing.

Here's one I read yesterday--Thief!, by Malorie Blackman. This was recommended to me when I was searching for fantasy/sci fi books for young middle grade readers that had people of color in/on them.

Lydia's family has just moved from London to the north of England, and she is having a pretty darn darn rough time at the school she's just started. A malicious girl has set her up to look like a thief, and now stories are spreading that Lydia has done something even worse. Full of hatred and despair, she takes a desperate bus trip to nowhere in particular, and finds herself out on the moors, watching as a strange swirling storm approaches.

Ten minutes later, the Night Guard are firing at her for breaking curfew. The storm has swept her 37 years into the future, and her town has become a dystopia, under the rule of a cruel dictator.

In order to change the future, she must confront her own past-or she can never go home again.

This one is a good First Dystopia for 4th-6th graders It is a fairly simple story with lots of action, fairly simply told. I found it a tad didactic myself (hatred is bad, anger can have terrible, long lasting consequences), but I don't think I would have minded that when I was 9 or 10.

Viz diversity: the cover is the only thing that establishes Lydia as a person of color (sorry it's  crummy picture). This is, I think, good --inside the book, she is simply a person. But it led me to a thinking point about race. Racism is not given as a reason for the antagonism of her schoolmates, not even hinted at as a possibility, which seemed to me (not that I know squat about racism in the north of England in 1995) to be (perhaps?) wishful thinking...but I also am thinking it is a good thing to have people being mean to a person of color, and making false accusations about her, just because they are mean people, with nothing to do with race.

It is also 5 in the morning, and my mind is fuzzy. I decide I don't know if its wishful thinking or not, and that without any shadow of doubt Malorie Blackman knows infinitely more, because she is a black Brisith woman, and so I leave it in her capable hands.

Speaking of hands. Here is the current UK cover. You will notice that the black girl has been replaced by an ambiguous hand (uncolored, ungendered, unembodied).



Sigh.

Blackman is best know in the US, perhaps, as the author the Noughts and Crosses series (now up to 4 volumes).

Once Dead Twice Shy (48hrc)

Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery, Book 1), by Kim Harrison (Harper Collins 2009, 232 pp, YA)

Madison's life hasn't been the same since she died in a car accident. Perhaps if it had an been an ordinary car accident, things would have been different. But it wasn't. After the Dark Timekeeper who had planned it put the finishing touches on her death with his scythe attack, Madison ended up with his amulet, and that lead to four months of time spent with a Light Reaper, trying and failing to teach her a whole new light vs dark skill set. The light guys support free will, the dark guys are the agents of fate, nipping humans in the bud, as it were, before they have a chance to do unfated things.

Confusing at first.

This book is the continuation of a short story in the Prom Nights From Hell anthology, and feels very much like a sequel. I wish the story could have been included in this book, because there's a lot of ground to establish before Once Dead, Twice Shy hits its stride.

But after some initial uncertainty, I enjoyed this quite a bit. Madison, after all, is confused too...and I liked her, and wanted to know what happened. What happens is a lot of rushing around, with Madison trying to keep herself as alive as a dead girl can be, while protecting herself and her friend Josh from the Black Wings (bad soul sucker critters) and from other more powerfully manipulative forces. It's fast (once you get settled in it), it's interesting, and it has funny moments and action packed moments (lots of these), a rather pleasant side trip into photography, and a smidge of teenage romance and highschool angst.

An excellent choice for a 48 hour reading challenge (which is why I read it)!

48 Book Challenge --Pocahontas

It has been a peaceful day here at work, affording much time for reading. I have, however, only finished one book--Pocahontas: Medicine Woman, Spy, Entrepreneur, Diplomat, by Paula Gunn Allen (305pp). Allen, herself Native American, brings Pocahontas to life a Native American woman, whose life was so very much more than the words of the English colonizers that have been the basis for most studies of Pocahontas.

It is a really good book for anyone interested in world building, and how different ways of being in the world, and different metaphorical schema and ways of knowing shape the reality that people live.

It took me a long time to read it because it's a topic I know something about, so I had to keep stopping, and thinking, questinging my own ideas about reality, and arguing and agreeing with the text! Fun.

Sylvia Townsend Warner's sleeping beauty for poetry friday; Ursula Le Guin's new non-fiction book for 48 hour challenge

I chose to go with non-fiction for the busy morning getting out the door and read in the car part of the day (pancakes can be made while reading. I only got a little batter on the counter, the stove, and the floor).

So I have now read:

Ursula K. Le Guin Cheek by Jowl: talks & essays & why fantasy matters (sic) (2009, Aqueduct Press).

And it has even given me a poem, by Sylvia Townsend Warner (Collected Poems, p 249)

The Sleeping Beauty woke:
The spit began to turn,
The woodmen cleared the brake,
The gardener mowed the lawn.

Woe’s me! And must one kiss
Revoke the silent house, the birdsong wilderness?

Oh my gosh does this ever speak to me. I am outside by around 5am once the weather gets warm, and every day I feel a little sad when it is time for the others to get up (much as I love them).

Anyway, everyone who likes fantasy and children’s books should go get Cheek by Jowl because there is absolutely a ton of wonderful, thought provoking stuff in it that is completely relevant to our reading lives.

And also it is good reading, and Le Guin is funny.

“But then, should a chipmunk have to act out a tragedy?” p 71

Am now at work, and must engage with matters pertaining to the archaeology and history of Rhode Island.

Incidently, I noticed that my home computer records the time an hour behind EST, in case anyone was confused. I think this one will be the correct time...

48 hours of reading, post 1

When 7 o'clock came, and my clock officially started ticking, I was already reading--Alice in Wonderland out loud to my boy, who had decided the night before that his life would be incomplete without it. In fact, it is what compelled him to get out of bed so unseasonably early....

5 minutes, however, have been spent not reading.

Next up, Knife.

48 Hour Book Challenge Eve

At 7am tomorrow morning, I'm going to start reading. It is THE 48 HOUR READING CHALLENGE!!!!

I have a pile of 46 (forty six) books assembled, books I really want to read. I meant to put a picture up tomorrow morning, but typically I left the camera card at work. Sigh. So I'll have a picture up on Monday.

Obviously, it will make my life better once I have read these 46 books, and I can either put them away (not that there's shelf space), or take them to the library (donations and returns). But there are also the Prizes, not least of which is an ARC of Catching Fire....

Tomorrow, part of my reading time will be some work related books (I worked extra hard on the paperwork part of my job today, so that there is nothing to speak of on my desk that needs tending to). And then, reading till late Friday night, getting up early on Saturday, and reading as far as I can keep my eyes open till 7am on Sunday....tra la la.

But this year, unlike years past, the number of pages is irrelevant. So I shall be enjoying. I hope.

And I will be blogging periodically (this is countable for total time), and my 8 year old will be posting periodically for me on Saturday, so do come cheer me on!

Mind-Rain: Your Favorite Authors on Scott Westerfeld's Uglies Series

Mind-Rain:Your Favorite Authors on Scott Westerfeld's Uglies Series, edited and with an introduction by Scott Westerfeld (2009, BenBella Books).

This compilation of essays is a true gift to those who love this series. Imagine the most thoughtful, articulate writers you know, all focusing their considerable talents on a discussion of your favorite books. That's the reality of this collection of essays. Plenty of insights about the books that I had never thought of, some things to disagree with, some wonderful oh yes moments...

My favorite essay argues that Shay is the real hero of the series--"Best Friends for Never," by Robin Wasserman. Wasserman digs behind the actual words of the books to follow trains of thought and lines of evidence that lead to new and interesting conclusions. If this were an essay I was grading, I would give it as high a grade possible based on the clever and insightful analysis of what isn't explicitly said. Westerfeld, who has written introductionlets for each essay, muses that after reading this one, he might have to re-write the story from Shay's point of view.

Does Shay want more than friendship from Tally? In "Team Shay," Diana Peterfreund argues that yes, she does! Then there's Team David vs Team Zane, discussed in "Two Princes," by Sarah Beth Durst. On a more serious note, some essays touch on the issues of beauty and conformity, discussions for which the Uglies series provides a most excellent springboard.

And as a final bonus, there are Ted Chiang's short story "Liking What You See," and Charles Beaumonts "The Beautiful People," both of which Westerfeld credits as inspiring his own creation.

If I were teaching a lit crit class, I might be tempted to use these essays as examples of how different people can visit the same world, and all find some compelling aspect to explore more deeply. That being said, I've never taken, or taught, a lit crit class, except for a class about Chaucer, but I have taken plenty of history classes where the group was asked to read and write about the same primary source, and each of us found something of our own to say, as did the authors of these essays.

I feel, however, certain that fans of the series will love this book. How can you not love chatting about books you love with smart, insightful, people?

Here's another look at Mind-Rain at Becky's Book Reviews.

RIP David Eddings

I just read here that David Eddings has died. I know him through his first two series--the Belgariad and the Mallorean, which I started reading when I was about 12. Even though I found his treatment of gender and race vexing, I kept on going, finding the books strangely fascinating and very good escapist reading.

I last read the series a little more than nine years ago, at a time when I badly needed comfort reading that would go on and on and on, making few demands of me as a reader. In the space of two weeks, I had a new baby and brain surgery, in that order, and in the days that followed I found great solace in my Eddings re-read.* I still have all the books...I figure that when I'm about 99 or so, in a nursing home somewhere, they will be just the thing.

So, sigh. RIP David Eddings.

*on my maternity leave with my second child, and with no nasty other things to deal with, I read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. And then, so help me, I started re-reading the Xanth books. Talk about sexism. I guess I just wasn't in the mood for feminist classics, like The Awakening, or The Yellow Wallpaper.

Waiting on Wednesday: The King Commands, sequel to Northlander, by Meg Burden

Northlander (Tales of the Borderlands), by Meg Burden (Brown Barn Books, 252pp) was a Cybils finalist in the 2007/2008 Cybils, in the YA Science Fiction and Fantasy category, so I was expecting it to be good. What I was a bit surprised to find, however, was that it was a lovely comfort read, and (maybe I'm shallow), it made me feel very much like my teenage self, more interested in which of the very cute and engaging suite of boys the heroine would end up with than the possible patches of thin ice in the plot.

Ellin is a Southlander, despised by the people of the Northlands. Even though she and her father have saved the life of the Northlander king, they have been cast into prison. Escaping home to the south doesn't end Ellin's problems. Now she's on the run from mysterious Guardians, determined to eliminate everyone who shows the slightest trace of magical gifts. And Ellin's own gifts have proved much more than slight....

Her escape from the Guardians take her north again, where she must determine where her loyalties lay--to her friends, the Northlander princes, or to those who helped her, but who are plotting deadly schemes of their own. Schemes that only Ellin can foil.

Amazon says that this is for 9-12 year olds. I disagree--the main characters are young adults, and there's a kiss that is more suitable for older kids.

Excerpt from Northlander, blithely lifted from the publisher's website:

It is only when Father and I are back out on the road, getting wet again now that it has begun to rain in earnest, that I allow myself to let my breath out in a whoosh. It's ridiculous, but I feel as if I've been holding it in since I heard about the Guardians.
"You knew about the Guardians?" I ask after a moment, squinting to see him in
the light of the small lantern we borrowed from the Alders.
Father doesn't look at me. "Wait 'til we're home," he says shortly, quickening his pace with an audible squelching of mud.
I sigh. "But--"
"Ellin!" he snaps. "Be still, and obey me without questioning, for once."
I nod and look at the ground, stung until it occurs to me that it wasn't anger I heard in his tone, but fear. The idea of my father being afraid makes me shiver. It takes quite an effort not to look over my shoulder or jump at shadows and regular nighttime noises.
The walk home seems to take longer than it ever has, and I breathe another sigh of relief when Father unlocks the door and we step inside. I don't even have time to enjoy being out of the rain, though, before he speaks.
"Yes," he says, sounding tired and holding his coat in his hands as if he's forgotten where to hang it. "I knew about the Guardians. I had hoped I wouldn't have to tell you yet."

Until I read this excerpt, I had forgotten that this was written in the first person present, something I often find jarring. I guess it works here!

Other bloggers who had something to say about Northlander: Bookshelves of Doom, and Wands and Worlds.

The Waiting on Wednesday part: Book Two in the Tales of the Borderlands series, currently titled The King Commands, is scheduled for release in Fall/Winter 2009. Goody!

Although, if you are the sort who doesn't like reading first books without the second in hand, don't worry about this one. Northlander is a complete story in itself.

June 2 releases of fantasy/sci fi for kids and teens

Here are the books that were released yesterday, taken from Teens Read Too, with help from Amazon and Booklist.

The 39 Clues: Beyond the Grave, by Jude Watson. "A Clue found in Book 3 sends Amy and Dan jetting off to find out just what's behind the fierce rivalry between the Tomas and Ekaterina branches of the Cahill family. Was a Clue stolen from the Tomas branch? Where is it now? And most important, can Amy and Dan get their hands on it before their rivals do? It's a wild race that will take Amy and Dan deep into the bowels of the earth . . . and right into the hands of the enemy."


The Dragons of Ordinary Farm, Tad Williams & Deborah Beale. From Booklist, quoted on Amazon: "...two siblings [are] shunted off to spend a summer with an odd, distant relative who is up to all manner of mysterious goings-on but flies off the handle when the kids naturally get a little curious. Tyler and Lucinda discover that their great-uncle Gideon is raising dragons, griffins, unicorns, and stablefuls of other mythical beasties." Time travel and alternate reality adventures await the two children....

Return of the Homework Machine, by Dan Gutman. From Booklist: From the Homework Machine series, this volume picks up the story with the same four main characters. Now sixth-graders, they discover that the creepy villain from the previous volume is searching for the mysterious computer chip that powered the homework machine.



Oath Breaker: Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #5: Oath Breaker, by Michelle Paver, illustrated by Geoff Taylor. "When he was outcast, Torak was the hunted one. Nine moons later he becomes the hunter, when he vows to avenge the killing of one of his closest friends. Racked by guilt and grief, he follows the killer into the Deep Forest, where the World Spirit stalks the hidden valleys as a tall man with the antlers of a stag. But there is a rottenness at the heart of the Forest, for its clans have succumbed to the lies of the Soul-Eaters. Here Torak must face fire, war, and overwhelming evil"

YA:

Carpe Corpus (Morganville Vampires, Book 6), by Rachel Caine. "In the small college town of Morganville, vampires and humans lived in (relative) peace—until all the rules got rewritten when the evil vampire Bishop arrived, looking for the lost book of vampire secrets. He’s kept a death grip on the town ever since. Now an underground resistance is brewing, and in order to contain it, Bishop must go to even greater lengths. He vows to obliterate the town and all its inhabitants—the living and the undead. Claire Danvers and her friends are the only ones who stand in his way. But even if they defeat Bishop, will the vampires ever be content to go back to the old rules, after having such a taste of power?"

The Demon's Lexicon, by Sarah Rees Brennan. From the Booklist: "What if the bad-boy hunk in your class was actually a sword-wielding demon slayer? That’s the enticing scenario offered up in Brennan’s debut, and although the results are periodically workmanlike, they will satisfy the legions currently clamoring for this brand of dark fantasy. Nick (the aforementioned hunk) lives with his empty-shell mother and older brother Alan, but they’re constantly on the move as they hunt—and are hunted by—evil magicians and their conjured demons. Their brutal routine is interrupted by the arrival of two teen siblings in need of help, one of whom has been “marked” by a demon for certain death and the other of whom fosters a growing desire for one of the brothers."

Elyon (The Lost Books), by Ted Dekker and Kaci Hill. "A continuation of the Circle Trilogy. "Darsal is trying to love the Horde as Elyon asked her to, but she's torn between this new mission and her original one . . . especially now that Johnis and Silvie no longer seem to be on her side. The Chosen Ones are facing their greatest threat--extinction--and only by Elyon's grace will they survive to tell the tale."

And also in the same series: Lunatic (The Lost Books): "Johnis, Silvie, and Darsal found the Books of History, and now it's time to return home--but five years have passed at home, and nothing is as it was. The Horde has taken over Middle, Thomas and the rest of the Forest Guard are in hiding, and a strange new force is challenging everything they thought they knew. Should the Chosen One continue to follow his heart . . . or is his heart finally leading them astray?

Emily the Strange: The Lost Days, by Rob Reger and Jessica Gruner. Not sure if this is exactly fantasy or not, nor am I sure I believe Amazon when they say it's YA. From Booklist: "Reger’s gothy cult heroine, who began life as a sticker for skaters and other underground types before moving into comics, now makes the leap into full-fledged YA noveldom. But not to worry: this is anything but a sellout. The book (structured as the girl’s diary) opens with Emily coming to with a fresh case of plot-device-grade amnesia. As she tries to figure out who she is, where she is, and just about everything else (aside from remembering an affinity for cats and the number 13), Emily gets involved in a power struggle among a cast of shady characters in the town of Blackrock."

The Waters & the Wild, by Francesca Lia Block. From the Booklist review: "...the perplexing and ethereal story of Bee, a 13-year-old who has begun seeing her own doppelgänger. “You are me,” her twin says before disappearing into the dark. She befriends two other kids who exist on the fringe: Haze, a stuttering loner who thinks he is the offspring of an alien, and Sarah, who believes she is the reincarnation of a slave from the 1800s. Together they work out that Bee must be a changeling, a “hideous elf” who was switched at birth with the real Bee."

And here's the new release from June 2nd I most want, even though its not sci fi/fantasy: The Locked Garden, by Gloria Whelan. From Booklist: "When her father, a well-known psychiatrist, accepts a position at a remote asylum in northern Michigan, Verna is reluctant to leave their home, which holds happy memories of her mother, who died two years earlier in 1898. Once settled into their cozy new house on the asylum grounds, though, Verna and her younger sister welcome their new life, particularly after the arrival of their young maid, Eleanor. Although she is a melancholia patient, Eleanor brings a warmth that contrasts sharply with the girls’ guardian, Aunt Maude, who can be “as menacing as a hornet’s nest.” Tensions rise as Aunt Maude grows furiously jealous of the affection Eleanor shares with the girls, who, in turn, plot to send Maude packing. Descriptions of the sprawling, grand asylum and its mysteriously locked wings may lead readers to suppose that they’ve begun a gothic novel. They’ll quickly realize, though, that the evocative setting is a backdrop to the sensitive, sometimes comedic family story filled with character lessons for Verna and compassionate questions about mental illness and its treatment. Grades 3-6."

Time to Go Back, by Mabel Esther Allan for Timeslip Tuesday

Time to Go Back, by Mabel Esther Allan (1972, 134 pp, upper middle grade to YA)

Mabel Esther Allan was an incredibly prolific English writer of the mid-twentieth century, who wrote adventure/mystery stories, but with a considerable smattering of other types (this was her 113th book). Time To Go Back is one of her very few time slip stories, which draws heavily on her own experiences as a teenager during the bombing of Liverpool and Mersyside in WW II.*

16-year old Sarah, living in London in the 1960s, is doing her best to be a rebellious activist teenager. After a protest turns ugly, and she is arrested, she falls ill. Her lonely time at home convalescing is made more interesting when she discovers the poems of her mother's sister, Larke, who had died in the bombing of Liverpool in WW II.

When Sarah's mother suggests a long visit to her grandmother, still living in Mersey (across the river from Liverpool), Sarah is surprisingly keen to go--she finds Larke intensely fascinating, and wants to get to know her better. But when Sarah finds the old house, where her mother and Larke lived during the war, her quest to find Larke takes her back into the past. She finds herself in the air-raid shelter in the back garden, listening with the girl who will be her mother to the bombs falling, waiting for her aunt to come home.

For the next few weeks, Sarah travels back and forth between present and past, getting to know Larke and her own mother better than she could have imagined. Her eyes are opened as well to the horror of war, as the bombs keep falling. And there in the past she has her first kiss...

Story-wise, it's pretty interesting. WWII is brought vividly to life, in an uncommon setting. There is danger, adventure, and destruction, and, which is perhaps the strongest part of the book, well-described people trying to just keep on going through it all.

Sarah is anxious and questioning enough about her time travel experiences to satisfy me (I am irked, sometimes, by overly blithe time travel), and her time in the past, and the people she meets, clearly help her grow wiser. Her growing up involves casting off the shallow, false activism of her erstwhile friends, becoming more meditative and appreciative of the past. A tad didactic, and not quite fair to teenagers of the 1960s, but there it is.

However. Allen's writing in this book is not her best. There's an over consciousness to it that I don't much care for. Here's an example, from when Sarah has just found her aunt Larke's poems, before she has gone back in time, and has realized that Larke and her mother were real people in a real war:

"That old war! It was always on television in one way or another, but I always thought of it as just part of history. Suddenly it was much more real, just because one girl, who might have lived to know me, had been able to put her joys and longings and fears into words. Other people must have done it, of course, but she had somehow caught my imagination.

There were around two dozen poems, many of them only two or three short verses. But line after line sprang out of the pages to stab me with a strange, shared pain and knowledge:

Am I to know the shivering futility
Of holding only pictures in my mind...."

Larke is just to good to be true. Not only does she write poetry, but she is deeply in love, in a more tender and true relationship than Sarah has ever dreamed was possible (me too). Sarah knows from the get go that she didn't make it through the war, and never lets her leave her pedestal of perfection (although really it's Mabel's fault).

And then there's the rather twisted romance aspect--in the past, Sarah meets a nice young man, there is some pleasant frisson, and her first kiss. Fine. But I am very disturbed that she meets that man's son and falls in love with him too! It is rather incestuous, although it didn't bother me when I was younger...

So, if you really like timeslips, and want to go somewhere interesting and moderately unusual (the blitz has been done, Liverpool not so much) in your time travel , this is a fine choice. If you are looking for a great book, perhaps not. Unless you are a young reader, perhaps a writer of poetry, perhaps more likely than the cynical older reader (me) to find Sarah's hero worship of Larke believable.

Time to Go Back ended up in a lot of American Libraries, so it might still be kicking around. Mine is the last in Rhode Island to still have its copy. I just checked it's used availability, and there are a number of 1 cent ex-library copies around.

*Since I last read this, years ago, I married someone who lived down the street from the places in the book, and was taken there and given the grand tour. It added interest!

Sorry that I have not been as diligent as might have been with my Timeslip Tuesday posts-- I do, however, have a queue of five in the works, so it should be more regular in the next few weeks, d.v.

Mainly about the best science fiction/fantasy for YA in New Zealand

Over at Bookshelves of Doom, I saw that the finalists for the Mythopoeic Awards had been announced. No surprises there, although this is the first list I've seen with House of Many Ways on it. Here are the children's books:

Kristin Cashore, Graceling (Harcourt Children’s Books)
Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins)
Diana Wynne Jones, House of Many Ways (HarperCollins)
Ingrid Law, Savvy (Dial)
Terry Pratchett, Nation (HarperCollins)

So I decided to check to see what else I had missed, award wise, and found that the list of nominations for the Julius Vogel Awards had just been announced too--this one is given by the New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy Association to a New Zealander. Here are the YA titles:

Thornspell, by Helen Lowe. A Sleeping Beauty re-telling, from the prince's point of view. I've read this one, and enjoyed it in a mild way.

Anywhere but Here by Ella West. Teens who can transport themselves through space are on the run from the sinister Project that kidnapped them. Sounds like fun, but since this book, and the one before it (Thieves) are unavailable here in the US, or in the UK, it's a moot point for now.

The Magician of Hoad, by Margaret Mahy --from Amazon: "a boy with magical powers grows into a young man in a majestic, faraway land." This one is coming out in the US in November.

Juno of Taris By Fleur Beale Not available in the US. But here's the description from Amazon UK (where it's for sale as an Australian import): "Juno is young; she has no authority, no power, and to question the ways of Taris is discouraged. She knows what it's like when the community withdraws from her - turning their backs and not speaking to her until she complies. The Taris Project was the brainchild of a desperate twenty-first-century world, a community designed to survive even if the rest of humanity perished. An isolated, storm-buffeted island in the Southern Ocean was given a protective dome and its own balmy climate. And now Juno is one of 500 people who live there - but what has happened to the outside world in the years since Taris was established? The island has not been in contact with Outside since the early years of its existence. Juno yearns to know about life Outside, just as she yearns to be allowed to grow her hair. It is a rule on Taris that all must have their heads shaved bare. But is it a rule that could be broken? Danger awaits any who suggest it."

What? If they are so against hair, in this futuristic distopia, shaving seems kind of a low tech solution. But maybe it's a Religious Issue. I am both dubious and curious.

The Spiral Chrysalis By Glynne MacLean. This one isn't available here in the US either. "When Nareen finds a spiral-shaped chrysalis in her backyard she is sure it's the magical chrysalis her gran told her about. Nareen, her brother Carl and best friend Kelly are soon drawn through the spiral into another world. They have a week to find their way out before they are trapped for ever. "

And in case you are frustrated that you cannot go charging out to buy The Spiral Chrysalis, unless you are one of my New Zealand/Australian readers (who should leave comments if they have read any of these),

here's Colleen's (aka Chasing Ray) May column at Bookslut, all about fantasy books, which I somehow had missed...

June 1 releases of childrens/YA science fiction/fantasy

Taken from Teens Read Too, with help from Amazon.

9-12 year olds:

The Red House (The Haunting of Derek Stone, Book 3), by Tony Abbott. “Derek didn't ask for this. It's bad enough that his brother's body is hosting a dead soul. Then there's that whole business of the evil dead waging war. And don't even get him started on all the weird voices rattling around inside his head. But like it or not, the war is on. The Legion is back in full force, and they're heading for the mysterious, long-abandoned Red House. It holds a secret that could change everything. Derek doesn't know what they're after --- but he knows he has to find it first. “

Deltora Shadowlands: The Complete Series, by Emily Rodda. "The Shadow Lord's evil tyranny over Deltora has ended. He and the creatures of his sorcery have been driven back across the mountains. But thousands of Deltorans are still enslaved in the Shadowlands. To rescue their friends and families, Lief, Barda, and Jasmine, heroes of the quest for the Belt of Deltora, must find a weapon powerful enough to combat the Shadow Lord's magic on his own ground. For the first time, all three books in this follow-up to the bestselling Deltora Quest fantasy series are brought together in one action-packed hardcover volume."

The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival, by Dene Low. I’m not sure if this is, strictly speaking, fantasy, but it sounds like fun! “You would think Petronella’s sixteenth birthday would be cause for celebration. After all, fashionable friends are arriving at her country estate near London, teas are being served, and her coming out party promises to be a resplendent affair. Everything is falling nicely into place, until, suddenly—it isn’t. For Petronella discovers that her guardian, Uncle Augustus T. Percival, has developed a most unVictorian compulsion: He must eat bugs. Worse still, because he is her guardian, Uncle Augustus is to attend her soiree and his current state will most definitely be an embarrassment.During the festivities, when Petronella would much rather be sharing pleasantries with handsome Lord James Sinclair (swoon), important guests are disappearing, kidnapping notes are appearing, many of the clues are insects, and Uncle Augustus is surreptitiously devouring evidence. It’s more than one sixteen-year-old girl should have to deal with. But, truth be told, there is far more yet to come . . .”

I want this one! Here are two reviews (at Bookends and The Happy Nappy Bookseller) that makes me want it more!

Mugglenet.com's Harry Potter Should Have Died: Controversial Views from the #1 Fan Site, by Emerson Spartz & Ben Schoen.




YA:

Girl #3, by Nichole McGill "From the outside, 14-year-old Syd Johanssen seems like a typical teenage girl — busy delivering newspapers, training with her high school track team, and hanging out with her friends. Under the surface, though, things aren’t what they seem. Her family life leaves a lot to be desired: her workaholic mom turns up her nose at Syd’s offbeat tastes, and she hasn’t seen her dad in months. Even more troubling, Syd can’t shake her fascination with the highly publicized kidnappings and murders of two local girls. Her friends think she’s nuts to obsess over such a morbid subject, and Syd’s afraid to tell them she’s started having visions of the murdered girls. Syd’s obsession turns to terrifying reality when she realizes she’s being stalked on her paper route. Tense and fast-paced, Girl #3 is a vivid portrayal of the dangers girls have to watch out for, and how, in the darkest of hours, a friend can be found in the most unlikely of places."

Mind Rain: Your Favorite Authors on Scott Westerfeld's Uglies Series, edited by Scott Westerfeld. My review coming soon!






Sea Change, by Aimee Friedman. "16-year-old Miranda Merchant is great at science...and not so great with boys. After major drama with her boyfriend and (now ex) best friend, she's happy to spend the summer on small, mysterious Selkie Island, helping her mother sort out her late grandmother's estate. There, Miranda finds new friends and an island with a mysterious, mystical history, presenting her with facts her logical, scientific mind can't make sense of. She also meets Leo, who challenges everything she thought she knew about boys, friendship...and reality. Is Leo hiding something? Or is he something that she never could have imagined?”

Gosh, perhaps the name of the island is a subtle clue.

The Secret of the Dread Forest: The Faire Folk Trilogy Book 3, by Gillian Summers. "In the third book of the popular and critically acclaimed Faire Folk Trilogy, sixteen-year-old Keelie Heartwood reluctantly joins her father in the Dread Forest, home to the elves and her fearsome elf grandmother. Keelie's budding romance with Sean is dashed, her "real" friends are gone, and her dad is preoccupied with the responsibilities of being Lord of the Forest. Except for her impossible guardian cat Knot, and Alora, a demanding and bratty little princess tree, Keelie has no one to hang with—unless you count the nasty elf-girl Elia, who suddenly wants to be Keelie's friend (or frenemy). Then Keelie discovers a mysterious boy in the woods...Both humans and dark magical forces encroach on the elves' enchanted realm, threatening to destroy the Dread Forest and all who dwell within it. Meanwhile, an age-old rift within her family and among the elven community reaches a dangerous climax."


Note:
WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON by Grace Lin, originally scheduled for release today, has been pushed back to July 1…my review will be coming soon!

Misc Things

Here's a link to an article from the Mormon Times, to an article about three excellent writers of fantasy.

This weekend is the 48 Hour Book Challenge, the amazing event that Mother Reader puts on every year!

And I got an award from the wonderful Melissa of Book Nut:


It's for "energizing and inspiring readers."

And I'm very happy to pass in on to Tasha at Kids Lit, and all the folks at I.N.K. (Interesting Non-fiction for Kids), both of whom energize and inspire me!

Any chance you could help make me, and my mother, and my husband, and my friend Els very happy?

FINAL UPDATE: The winner is San, who is thirteen years old and a moderator on the Hunger Games Unofficial Forum, and so is an excellent person to have won! Congratulations San!

If you by any chance feel that you could do a small thing that would make me and my mother and my husband and Els, aka Librarian Mom, very happy, maybe you could go leave a comment on this post at LibrarYAn (saying I sent you) and help us get an ARC of Catching Fire to read? If you haven't read it yourself, and want to, we can add you to the mailing list should I win...It ends at midnight on June 1st, which seems to mean in six hours....

LibraYAn has been on my blogroll for ages, by the way, and I enjoy reading what she has to say. So do take a moment to check out her blog!

Update at 7:56: I am two comments behind.

Update at 8:41: Aerin has just let me know there's another copy being given away by Reviewer X. A third party is now in the running. I am behind by one.

Update at 9:35: it is too close to call. But I have called my mother. This should help.

And even if I don't win, THANKS to all of you who helped my cause! You are the best.

Update at 6:16 am, Monday: Well, in the last few hours it turned into a contest between the two other people, essentially to see which of them was tied into a larger social network. So, although I didn't read and count all 432 comments, I'm pretty certain I didn't win....Oh well. I think I'm the winner in the sense that Alicia meant--sending most potential new readers her way! And it was very comforting to see readers of this blog going over and commenting for me. Thank you again! If I ever were to get my hands on an arc, I'd lend it to all of you.

Magic Keepers, Book 1: The Eternal Hourglass

Magickeepers: The Eternal Hourglass, by Erica Kirov (Sourcebooks-Jabberwocky, 2009, middle grade, 231pp).

Maybe you've read a few books already that tell of a boy, who, just as a significant birthday happens, discovers he is part of a magical clan who is entrusted with great powers that the dark side wants, and maybe you think that plot has been done to death. But I was quite impressed with the fresh life that Kirov has brought to it in her page-turning story.

In this case, the boy is Nick Rostov, who's spent his life living with his third (or even fourth)-rate magician father in crummy hotels in Las Vegas. On his thirteenth birthday, he discovers he is part of a great family of Russian magic keepers, disguising themselves in plain sight as the greatest performing magicians Las Vegas has ever known. He is whisked away from his father, and, ensconced in a hotel full of Russian cousins he's never heard of, he begins to learn real magic. He also begins to learn, in a much more immediate way than he would have liked, that as well as the Magic Keepers, charged with finding and protecting great talismans of power, that there are Shadow Keepers as well. Led by the insane Russian monk Rasputin, the Shadow Keepers are determined to take from Nick the magic of the Eternal Hourglass that his mother died to protect. Except that Nick has no clue what the hourglass is...

With her world of Russian magicians and Las Vagas magic shows, untamed horses and polar bears (it's a big hotel), crystal balls, and flashbacks to the life of Houdini, Kirov makes a fresh and fun story of Nick's introduction to his magical heritage. It's a fast-paced and detailed adventure, that I imagine will be enjoyed by many middle-grade readers.

But not, exactly, by everyone. Perhaps caught up by her interest and involvement with setting and story, Kirov doesn't quite develop her characters into people with whom one can empathize. Nick is not in the least an introspective, thoughtful character, and this kept me from truly enjoying the story. Why, for instance, doesn't he stop to think at all about his father, left behind in his crummy hotel? He misses pizza, but not his dad, and this seemed rather sad and inexplicable to me.

In short, a bright, entertaining book, which I think would be a great summer pick for a middle school kid (perhaps more boy appeal than girl), whose sequel I will happily read. But not one that I quite took to my heart.

Here's an interview with Erica Kirov at The Enchanted Inkpot, and here are some other reviews: Eva's Book Addiction, Cafe of Dreams, Booking Mama, The Reading Tub, The Written World, Joe Barone's Blog, and YA Books Central.

The best ghost post ever at Jenny's Wonderland of Books

I am mucking around in photoshop all day today, getting my images in order for a paper I'm giving this weekend (waves sadly to those people who didn't have papers to give and who got to go to BEA).

So I'm not posting today myself.

But, if you are looking for something really good to read, here is the best blog post ever about ghosts in children's books, at Jenny's Wonderland of Books!

No-one has ever seen ghosts at the site I'm going to be talking about, but I wouldn't be surprised. It's a 17th-century Native American fortified settlement, that was made into a monument to the Narragansett Tribe when the state decided to declare the tribe "extinct" in the 1880s.

The Treasures of Weatherby, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Isn't it nice when you go to your local library, where you've been a hundred times before, and happen across books that you really want to read, that suddenly poke their spines out at you? This happened to me last week, when I found The Treasures of Weatherby, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder* (2007, Atheneum Books, 213pp, middle grade).

It promised an old, enormous house, with an overgrown garden (I'm a sucker for overgrown gardens), and lost treasure, where a lonely boy (Harleigh J. Weatherby IV) wanders at loose ends among eccentric relatives until one day a girl flies over the wall...

Well, Allegra doesn't actually fly, in the fantastical sense of the word. But her fascination with Harleigh's extraordinarily huge and ornate house, and the thought of the lost family treasure, awaken a like interest in his mind. The only problem is that his great-aunt Adelaide has forbidden any of the relatives to ever have visitors. This does not deter Allegra, who, Harleigh is somewhat dismayed to find, will stop at nothing to enter the house.

Before Allegra, Harleigh's life was pretty empty. His heart condition had stunted his growth, and he was tormented at pubic school as a result. Homeschooled by an elderly uncle, neglected by his globe trotting father, he wandered the huge house like a disinterested ghost. Allegra's enthusiasm for both the house and its inhabitants, however, is contagious, and soon the two children are racing to solve the mystery of the family treasure before a sinister, metal-detecting cousin can get his hands on it.

It's a satisfying story, interesting in its plot, characters, and setting. Hareligh's evolution from self-centered withdrawal to engaged awareness is very satisfying, and the mysteries of both the treasure and Allegra's identity keep the pages turning at a brisk pace. A good one, perhaps, for the kid who loved the A-Z mysteries last year and now has the confidence to tackle weightier stuff. Which is to say, I'll be giving this one to my oldest next year, when he's in fourth grade.

(I thought, at first, that the jacket of the book said "illustrated by Lemony Snicket." Checking more carefully, after failing to find any pictures inside, I see that it actually reads: "Loathed by Lemony Snicket." I am not quite sure what to make of this).

Exciting News for Snyder Fans: Three of her early books, The Velvet Room, The Changeling, and Black and Blue Magic, are back in print. So is her science fiction trilogy, which I highly recommend- Below the Root, And All Between, and Until the Celebration.

My Rathersting Warriors

My boys have joined the clan of Rathersting Warriors! Laini Taylor sent us these tattoos to celebrate the upcoming release of Silksinger, the second book of her Dreamdark series that began with Blackbringer (now out in paperback).

My older son represents Blackbringer (he chose first). My younger son has Silksinger (or, as he calls it, Silkstinger). They took their characterization as Fairy Warriors very seriously (until they cracked themselves up).

May 26 releases of science fiction and fantasy books for kids and teens

A rather nice day.

My information comes from the list at Teens Read Too; blurbs are from Amazon unless otherwise mentioned.

For 9-12 year olds:

Any Which Wall, by Laurel Snyder. Here's what I said in my review: "Henry and his little sister Emma, Henry's best friend Roy and his big sister Susan (who has to "look after" the others) are not particularly looking forward to a long, hot, Iowa summer. Then they find the Wall, a wall in the middle of a cornfield, a wall that isn't walling anything...a wall that is magic, and will take them to any other wall that ever might have been. Wizards, pirates, outlaws, a lovable, and enormous dog who needs a home, and more, await them, in a splendiferously fun journey through time and space in the best Edward Eager tradition of great characterization, brisk writing, and snappy dialogue among the children."

The Deep, by Helen Dunmore. "Sapphire lives in two worlds. On land she walks the rocky shores of the Cornwall coast—but under the sea she can swim like a seal by the side of her Mer friend Faro. Now both of Sapphy's worlds are threatened. In the profound depths of the ocean, where the Mer cannot go, a monster called the Kraken is stirring. He has the power to sweep Ingo away and shake the land from its foundation."


The Dragon Diary: Dragonology Chronicles Volume 2 (Ologies), by Dugald A. Steer. "Fresh from recovering the Dragon’s Eye, apprentice dragonologists Daniel and Beatrice Cook eagerly await the hatching of the dragon’s egg in their care. But just as the shell begins to crack, their mentor, Dr. Ernest Drake, is called off to India to look for their missing parents and tend to the gravely ill naga dragons they’ve left behind. Meanwhile, the siblings receive a tip that the secret to curing dragons may lie in an age-old Dragon Diary, if only they could decipher it!"

Oracles of Delphi Keep, by Victoria Laurie. "Along the southern coast of England, atop the White Cliffs of Dover, stands a castle. And at that castle’s old keep is an orphanage. Delphi Keep has seen many youngsters come and go through its gates, and Ian Wigby and his sister, Theodosia, are happy to call it home. Life has always been simple at the Keep, and the orphanage safe, until one day, Ian and Theo find a silver treasure box. And within the box, a prophesy."


The Warlock Diaries vol. 1 (Avalon: Web of Magic), by Rachel Roberts. A manga adaptation of the Web of Magic novels. "Teenage mages, Emily, Kara, and Adriane have their hands full monitoring the portal at the Ravenswood Preserve. The portal has become the "Grand Central Station" of the Magic Web, with magical creatures and animals stopping by on their way to otherworldly destinations. But matters become really complicated when a new student, a handsome young warlock named Donovan, shows up at Stonehill High. When monsters start attacking Ravenswood looking for Donovan, the mages realize he may be trouble. But Donovan shows them what he has brought, a fairy map with the portal sequence that will lead the mages right to Avalon, the source of all magic."

YA:

The Twilight Zone: Deaths-Head Revisited, by Rod Stirling and Mark Kneece, illustrated by Chris Lie. "[This] entry in the Twilight Zone series of graphic novels follows former SS captain Gunther Lutze as he returns to Dachau to visit the concentration camp where he murdered hundreds decades earlier. He is soon met with the ghosts of the persecuted, who try him for his crimes."

And another Twilight Zone graphic novel, The Twilight Zone: The Midnight Sun (Rod Serling's the Twilight Zone).

Gorgeous, by Rachel Vail. "...when the devil shows up and offers to make her gorgeous, Allison jumps at the chance to finally get noticed. But there's one tiny catch, and it's not her soul: The devil wants her cell phone. Though her deal with the devil seems like a good idea at the time, Allison soon realizes that being gorgeous isn't as easy as it looks. Are her new friends and boyfriend for real, or do they just like her pretty face? Allison can't trust anyone anymore, and her possessed phone and her family's financial crisis aren't making things any easier. Plus, when she finds out that she might be America's next teen model, all hell breaks loose. Allison may be losing control, but how far is she willing to go to stay gorgeous forever?" Sequel to Lucky.

Hunger: A Gone Novel, by Michael Grant. "It's been three months since everyone under the age of fifteen became trapped in the bubble known as the FAYZ. Three months since all the adults disappeared. Gone. Food ran out weeks ago. Everyone is starving, but no one wants to figure out a solution. And each day, more and more kids are evolving, developing supernatural abilities that set them apart from the kids without powers....But a larger problem looms. The Darkness, a sinister creature that has lived buried deep in the hills, begins calling to some of the teens in the FAYZ. Calling to them, guiding them, manipulating them."

Jennifer's Body, by Audrey Nixon "...after that night in the woods, Jennifer was different. She looked different. And then the killings began. . . .A lot of people ask me if I'm sorry I did it. I'm only sorry I didn't do it sooner." Jennifer has been possessed. Based on the screenplay of the movie by the same name.

Killer Pizza, by Greg Taylor. "Learning to cook pizzas is one thing, but killing hideously terrifying monsters? That’s a whole other story. Still, if Toby quits Killer Pizza, will monsters take over his town?"

Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery, Book 1), by Kim Harrison. From the Booklist review: "Madison is dead. After she fled her prom with a mysterious guy and ended up in a crashed car—only to survive and then be struck down by this guy’s magical sword—she has existed in a curious state of purgatory. She still walks around, interacts with others, eats, and sleeps, only now she does so in the company of Barnabas, a light reaper—a kind of angel who fights off dark reapers trying to harvest the souls of people about to make fate-altering decisions."

The Sorceress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel), by Michael Scott In the third book of this series, Nicholas Flamel, the immortal alchemyst, and human twins Sophi and Josh, are "confronted with a demonic bounty hunter that immortal magician John Dee has sent their way. At the same time, Dee's occasional cohort, Niccolo Machiavelli, decides to focus his energy on Perenelle Flamel, the Alchemyst's wife, who has been imprisoned at Alcatraz since the beginning of the series. In this book, Perenelle gets a chance to show off her sorcery and resourcefulness, fighting and forging alliances with ghosts, beasts, and the occasional Elder to try and find a way out of her predicament and back to Flamel."

Vacations from Hell, by Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Claudia Gray, Maureen Johnson, & Sarah Mlynowski. "...supernatural tales of vacations gone awry. Lost luggage is only mildly unpleasant compared to bunking with a witch who holds a grudge. And a sunburn might be embarrassing and painful, but it doesn't last as long as a curse. Of course, even in the most hellish of situations, love can thrive. . ."