Elf Dog and Owl Head, by M. T. Anderson

Elf Dog and Owl Head, by M. T. Anderson, illustrated by Junyi Wu (April 11, 2023, Candlewick), is a truly delightful middle grade fantasy, especially for those who love dogs (but even cat lovers, like me, will still appreciate the titular dog lots!)

When we first meet this elf dog, she is part of the wyrm hunting pack of the Queen Under the Mountains.  A particularly cunning wyrm (a dragonish creature) leads the hunt out from under the mountains, into our world, and she doesn't make it back underground.  And then she meets a human boy, Clay.

Clay and his family are stuck at home during a global plague, and we know what that's like.  Clay and his sisters have to share one computer for school (not going well), and can't see their friends.  They are driving each other (and their parents) batty, and money is tight.  When Clay meets the elf hound in the woods, he is thrilled to find in her a friend and companion.  And after doing the responsible lost dog (with distinctive pointed red ears) efforts, his parents agree that Elphinore can stay (and isn't that a perfect elf dog name?).

Walks through the woods with Elphinore become magical, as she leads Clay through the boundaries of the other world.  A visit to the village of owl headed folk (who don't welcome human visitors) leads to a friendship with an owl head boy, and Clay's summer gets even better.  

But the fact remains that Elphinore is an elf dog, and Clay has taken possession of her, a dangerous thing.  The Queen wants her back.  The wyrm still prowls. And tensions and worries build at home.  The ending is a little bittersweet, but wraps up everything well, and, for those who are worrying, Elphinore and Clay get their happy ending of boy and dog together.

It is a really good story, with the real world and the fantasy balanced beautifully.  The characters and relationships are rock solidly constructed, and the places appeared in glorious technicolor, as it were, in my mind's eye.  I especially was pleased, in one memorable scene of a nighttime magical revelry, to be reminded of my favorite bit of Moominland Midwinter, which doesn't often happen; probably not the author's intention, but it made me happy.

I bet this would make a great read aloud; I'd have had a great time reading it to mine when they were nine or so.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher, and though the illustrations in my copy weren't final, they were still very effective, and I must remember to get ahold of a finished copy so I can appreciate them fully!

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (4/9/23)

Happy Easter, Ramadan Mubarak, Happy Pesach, and Happy Spring! May your daffodils be free from girls' heads, becuase who wants that.

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

The Reviews

Artemis Spark & the Sound Seekers Brigade, by Kimberly Behre Kenna, at Valinora Troy

The Deadlands: Hunted, by Skye Melki-Wegner, at  Mark My Words

Elidor, by Alan Garner, at Pages Unbound 

The Frights of Fiji (Alyssa McCarthy’s Magical Missions, #1), by Sunayna Prasad, at Boys' Mom Reads!

Ghosts, Toast, and Other Hazards, by Susan Tan, at Mark My Words

The Great Fox Heist, by Justyn Edwards, at Scope for Imagination

Hamra and the Jungle of Memories by Hanna Alkaf, at The Story Sanctuary and The StoryGraph

I Am the Walrus (N.O.A.H. Files #1), by Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman, at Mark My Words

Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy, by Angie Thomast, at The New York Times,   Always in the Middle… , BookPage, glorious reads, and Ms. Yingling Reads

Once There Was, by Kiyash Monsef, at  YA Books Central

A Rover’s Story, by Jasmine Warga, at PBC's Book Reviews 

The School Between Winter and Fairyland, by Heather Fawcett, at Dead Houseplants 

Skyriders (Skyriders #1), by Polly Holyoke, at The Plain-Spoken Pen 

The Sister Switch, by Debbie Rigaud and Sarah Mlynowski, at Ms. Yingling Reads  

Speculation, by Nisi Shawl, at Charlotte's Library

Spellstone by Ross Montgomery, at Book Craic

Windy City Ruins (Talisman, Book 3) by Brett Salter, at Baroness' Book Trove 

Wendington Jones and the Missing Tree, by Daniel Dockery, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books 

Wildsmith: City of Secrets, by Liz Flanagan, illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton, at Book Craic

Authors and Interviews

Kiyash Monsef (Once There Was), at Fuse #8

Shawn Peters (Logan Foster and the Shadow of Doubt) at MG Book Village

Other Good Stuff

A great LGBTQ+ Middle Grade Fantasy Book List, at alibrarymama

Speculation, by Nisi Shawl

My recent middle grade fantasy reading has been mostly mythology infused quests, and although it's great to have such a wealth of diversity, it was refreshing to read Speculation, by Nisi Shawl (Feb 2023, Tu Books), set firmly in our own world, albeit back in 1962.

I fell hard for Winna, the young heroine, who when we first meet her is reading Edward Eager, a favorite fantasy author of my own youth, and dreaming of magic.  I  thought how very nice but odd it was to see a contemporary character reading vintage books, and it wasn't until it was spelled out for the reader that this was 1962 that I realized I was reading a historical fantasy.  Indeed I also had been struck by Winna's grandfather using the term "colored" in relation to the family, who are Black, but being engrossed I didn't stop to think about it.  But in any event, I knew I'd enjoy spending time with her, and I did.  

Winna and her little sister are at their grandparent's house while their mother is in the hospital.  When her sister breaks her glasses (by accident), Winna is crushed; new glasses are both expensive and inaccessible.  So her grandfather gives her a pair that belonged to her great aunt Estelle. The glasses make her vision even sharper than her old ones, and there's a glimmer to what she sees...and so on the off chance that it's magic, she speculates-what if they show her ghosts?  And they do.  Generations of ghosts, including Estelle, haunt the family cemetery.  

Winna learns from Estelle's ghost about the curse on her family.  Winona, Estelle's mother, escaped slavery and while still moving toward freedom, gave birth to a baby boy, Key.  But Key vanished, or was taken from her, and Winona's grief stayed with her all her life.  So much so that when dying she unintentionally cursed her family, a curse that can only be broken if she and Key can be reunited.

Winna is sure her mother, getting worse in the hospital, is a victim of the curse.  So joining forces with a boy cousin she can't stand, she sets out to solve the mystery of what happened to Key.....and if he's still alive, to bring him back to the family. 

It's a great story, full of dualities that balance each other beautifully-- past and present, magic and reality, the loving family and the racist world.  I loved the historical and genealogical research that Winna and her cousin undertake, I loved how the magic wasn't just seeing ghosts with magical glasses but was aided and abetted by Winna's grandfather's affinity for African infused magic (for lack of a better word) of his own.  And of course I hated the racism that Winna and her family face, and hated too that this part of the book didn't read as much like historical fiction as it should.

Spoiler-- Key was raised as white, with a white family.  And so one of the horrors of chattel slavery, rape, is there in the story, not explicitly discussed by name but an unavoidable fact of what happened.  I'm all in favor of fiction that kids to think about the painful parts of the past and how they affect the present, and sure do hope this one gets to stay on the shelves....

,

This week's roundup of mg sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (4/2/23)

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

The Reviews

Amari and the Great Game, by B.B. Alston, at The Book Nut

Beyond the Portal (Unicorn Island book 3),  by Donna Galanti, at Bookworm for Kids and Charlotte's Library

A Breath of Mischief, by MarcyKate Connolly, at  Kiss the Book

The Enchanted Bridge, by Zetta Elliott and Cherise Harris, at  Puss Reboots

Happily Ever After, by James Riley, at Bookworm for Kids

The Raven Heir, by Stephanie Burgis, at Tor 

Magestone (Gemfall Book One), by David Burleyson, at  Mark My Words

The Magician's Elephant, by Kate DeCamillo, at Rosi Hollinbeck

Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind, by Misa Sugiura, at  Little Blog of Library Treasures 

The NoWhere Thief, by Alice M. Ross, at Valinora Troy and Scope for Imagination

Pilar Ramirez and the Escape From Zafa, by Julian Randall, at Readgab (YouTube)

The Road to Balinor, by Mary Stanton, at Dragon Bite Books 

Skyriders, by Polly Holyoke, at JennCaffeinated

The Storm Child, by Gabriela Houston, Little Blog of Library Treasures 

What Stays Buried, by Suzanne Young, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Winnie Zeng Vanquishes a King, by Katie Zhao, at  Mark My Words

Winter’s Keep & the Weather Weaver series by Tamsin Mori, at Scope for Imagination

Woodwitch, by Skye McKenna, at Library Girl and Book Boy and  A Cat, A Book, and A Cup of Tea 

Authors and Interviews

Joshua Levy (Last Summer In Outer Space) at MG Book Village

Heather Fawcett (The Grace of Wild Things) at OwlCrate

Other Good Stuff

A booklist of MG thrills and chills, at From The Mixed Up Files

I'm not sure if this is actually middle grade, but it is certainly of interest-- And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky, at Fantasy Book Critic

Pixar’s Elemental Feature Will Include New Up Short Called “Carl’s Date” | Tor.com

Unicorn Island: Beyond the Portal, by Donna Galanti

Unicorn Island: Beyond the Portal, by Donna Galanti, illustrated by Bethany Stancliffe (April 4, 2023 by Andrews McMeel Publishing), is the third and final book in one of the strongest new fantasy series for the younger range of middle grade (8-10 year olds, or even 7 year old voracious readers like young me).  That being said, there aren't, actually, all that many books for this demographic compared to all the series for kids 10-14, which means these books really feel a felt need, and kids who loved all the magical vet books like the Pip Bartlett series, the Imaginary Veterinary Series and the like will find the Unicorn Island a good place to continue their fantasy reading! Here are my reviews for Unicorn Island and Secret Beneath the Sand, the first two books- the series really needs to be read in order both to understand what's happening and appreciate the steadily deepening plot.

Discovering Unicorn Island, a sanctuary for magical creatures, and learning the father she'd never met before was its caretaker was just the start of Sam's adventures.  In this final book, she's determined to find her biological mom, who vanished through a portal into the land that was the unicorns original home, a place where they were hunted almost to extinction.   Her best friends, Tuck, and a young unicorn, Barloc, go with her.  They have only a narrow window to find Sam's mother....and when they discover, to their horror, that unicorn hunting is still being practiced, and Barloc is captured, things become very tense indeed!  And then Sam finds that her mother is the community unicorn hunter, who takes their horns from them, and all her hopes for bringing this stranger back into her life are upended.

But things aren't black and white.  The community needs the magic of the unicorn horns to survive; they aren't just hunting them for fun.  She can't let Barloc be robbed of his magic, but she wants to help the townsfolk too....fortunately, with a little luck, lots of determination, and unicorn magic, she and her friends find a way to save not only the town but the de-horned unicorns.

It's not a deeply complex story, as expected, but it is a satisfying and memorable one, full of unicorn goodness, an interesting ethical dilemma, and the mending of a family.  The full color illustrations add to the charm.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (3/26/23)

Here's what I found this week, please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

The Dark and Dangerous Gifts of Delores Mackenzie, by Yvonne Banham, at Book Craic

The Extraordinary Curiosities of Ixworth and Maddox, by J.D. Grolic, at Charlotte's Library

Fablehouse, by Emma Norry, at  Scope for Imagination

Hide or Seek (The Superpower Protection Program) by Dan DiDio, at Mark My Words

The Last Saxon King, by Andrew Varga, at Karen Werkema on Instagram

Lucha of the Night Forest, by Tehlor Kay Mejia, ar Confessions of a YA Reader  and Subjectify Media.

Maggie and the Mountain of Light, by Mark Snoad, at The Children's Book Review

Minecraft Legends: Return of the Piglins, by Matt Forbeck, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Nic Blake and the Remarkables, by Angie Thomas, at Book Page

Olivia and the Gentleman From Outer Space, by Moses Yuriyvich Mikheyev, at Mark My Words

The Rabbit's Gift, by Jessica Vitalis, at Log Cabin Library

SuperQuesters: The Case of the Missing Memory, by Thomas Bernard and Lisa Moss,at Scope for Imagination

The Super Secret Monster Experiment, by Tian En, at Popthebutterfly Reads

The Superteacher Project, by Gordon Korman, at Geo Librarian.

Thunderbird, Book 1, by Sonia Nimr, at Islamic School Librarian

The Way of the Cicadas, by Audrey Henley, at Independent Book Review

What Stays Buried, by Suzanne Young, at Utopia State of Mind

Two at Feed Your Fiction Addiction--The Last Mapmaker, by Christina Soontornvat, and Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind by Misa Sugiura

Authors and Interviews 

Alice M. Ross (The Nowhere Thief) at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books 

Other Good Stuff

I missed this when it was first announced, so here you are-- 2022 Aurealis Awards Shortlist Announcement   (lots of enticing Mg!)

"10 Middle Grade Books Featuring a Magic School" at The Story Sanctuary

The Extraordinary Curiosities of Ixworth and Maddox, by J.D. Grolic

I am mostly saying no to review copies from independently published authors these days, because of feeling overwhelmed by books and life, but I'm really glad I took a chance on The Extraordinary Curiosities of Ixworth and Maddox, by J.D. Grolic!  I enjoyed it lots.

Chloe is sad--her busy parents are neglecting her, and her best friend is growing up faster than she is and has started leaving her behind.  Then one rainy London afternoon, walking home from school through a curious little London street, she tries to shelter in a shop doorway.  The rain comes down harder, and though the shop isn't open for business yet, she tries the door in desperation, and enters "The Extraordinary Curiosities of Ixworth and Maddox."  

There she finds magic, for Ixworth and Maddox aren't just ordinary sellers of curious things.  They are London magicians, creating, with the help of their resident brownies, magical marvels to sell to others such as themselves...and surprisingly, they welcome Chloe; after all, the door opened for her.  She finds herself spending more and more time with them, and the two kindly magicians encourage her own potential for magic.  

When Ixworth disappears with no warning or reason, Chloe is determined to help Maddox find him.  They set off on a journey that takes Chloe deep into magical London, where dark and ancient magic is being worked in a struggle for power.  It's not just Ixworth who needs saving (if saving him is even possible).....

Like I said, I enjoyed this.  I very much like interesting fantasy shops, and though some readers might find the first half of the book slow, I loved being introduced gently, with lots of details, to what the shop was selling and the workings of the magical city.  And then when things got going plot wise, and there was a mystery to solve and bad people and dangerous magic to foil, I enjoyed that too. Chloe has both believable agency and believable emotional reactions.  

In short, it doesn't break any particularly new ground, but it is does what it sets out to do very satisfactorily.  And if, like me, you like middle grade fantasy shop keeping, it's a must!  I hope there is a sequel.

Llama Rocks the Cradle of Chaos, by Jonathan Stutzman, for Timeslip Tuesday

 

A fun picture book for today's Timeslip Tuesday, as my brain is somewhat fried.  Llama Rocks the Cradle of Chaos, by Jonathan Stutzman, illustrated by Heather Fox (July 22, 2022, Henry Holt).  This is the third adventure of the titular llama, but happily I am a strong enough reader that I was able to plunge right in.  

Llama is a creature of many interests.  Chief among them  is eating delicious baked goods, especially donuts.   When his birthday donut proves to be the most delicious thing he's ever eaten, the sadness of not being able to eat it again overwhelms him.  Fortunately, the time travelling pants he has on hand can solve the problem!  And so he sets off to the past to be reunited with the donut....unfortunately, without reading the instructions....

And things go haywire, ending up with Llama, his younger self, and a whole bunch of other creatures brought along by mistake in Llama's house, which is getting wrecked....All ends well though, and more treats are eaten.

It is a bright and cheerful romp, a good introduction for the very young to the central question of time travel--the peril of changing the past!  Interestingly, some reviewers on Goodreads seem to have found the time travel confusing, but I do not think children will have this problem, because of course if you have time travel pants (or a time travel diaper, as Baby Llama has), you can travel through time and of course things can get mixed up.....and of course if you are reading, as I have done, time travel books where the time travel gets confusing, the only thing to do is shrug and role with it because otherwise your head hurts.  This did not make my head hurt, and Bably Llama was adorable.

This week's round up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (3/19/23)

Sorry I didn't have my act together last Sunday, but here's what I found this past week! Let me know if I missed anything.

The Reviews

The Battle for Verdana (Talisman 4), by Brett Salter, at Mark My Words

 Carnival Quest (Candy Shop War #3), by Brandon Mull, at Kiss the Book and Ms. Yingling Reads

Dead Alley: A Motley Education Book, by S.A. Larsen, at Log Cabin Library 

Desperate Tides, Desperate Measures (Talisman 5), by Brett Salter, at Mark My Words

The Guardian of Whispers, by B. E. Padgett, at Literary Potpourri 

 Illuminations, by T. Kingfisher, at Locus Online  and  Escape Reality, Read Fiction! 

In the Heart of the Linden Wood, by Ekta R. Garg, at Independent Book Review

Kelcie Murphy and the Academy for the Unbreakable Arts, by Erika Lewis, at Pages Unbound

Legends of Lotus Island: The Guardian Test, by Christina Soontornvat, at  PBC's Book Reviews  and| Children's Books Heal 

May's Moon: Fortis Mission, by S.Y. Palmer, at Bookworm for Kids

Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy, by Angie Thomas, at Log Cabin Library

The Ogress and the Orphans, by Kelly Barnhill, at Smack Dab in the Middle

Princess of the Wild Sea, by Megan Frazer Blakemore, at Redeemed Reader

Ring of Solomon by Aden Polydoros, at Books and Such 

The Shimmer (Kingdom Keepers Inheritance #1), by Ridley Pearson, at Carstairs Considers

Skyriders, by Polly Holyoke, at Cracking the Cover

Ten Percent Magic, by Gina Zapanta-Alder & Michael Alder, at Mark My Words

Thunderbird: Book Two, by Sonia Nimr, at Charlotte's Library

Tourmaline and the Island of Elsewhere, by Ruth Lauren, at Book Craic

Wilder, by Penny Chrimes, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

Two at The Breadcrumb Forest--Spellstone by Ross Montgomery, and Onyeka: Rise of the Rebels by Tolá Okogwu

Authors and Interviews

Anna Brooke (Monster Bogey), at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books 

Cindy Callaghan (Just Add Magic) at Middle Grade Ninja

Dianne K. Salerni (The Carrefour Curse ) at From The Mixed Up Files

Other Good Stuff

The 2023 Unicorn Report  at 100 Scope Notes

35 Incredible Middle Grade Magical Realism Books at Imagination Soup

Thunderbird: Book Two, by Sonia Nimr, for Timeslipe Tuesday

In the first Thunderbird book, which I reviewed last fall) by Sonia Nimr we met Noor, an orphaned Palestinian girl who finds she must save the world from a collapsing chaos of demonic intrusion into our world by finding four phoenix feathers.  The catch is that the phoenix only sheds one feather per immolation, and immolations only happen once every 500 years or so, so she must travel back through time with the help of a djinn in cat form to find them.  The first book was good, but the second book (November 22, 2022 by University of Texas Press) is even better.  With all the set up in place, the reader is plunged into a  really gripping time travel back to Jerusalem of the Crusades.  

Noor arrives outside of the 12th century Jerusalem dazed and confused.  Almost immediately she is captured and taken, blindfolded, to the secret home of  the resistance to the Crusaders who have seized the city, who think she might be a spy.  Fortunately they believe her story when she finally brings herself to try to tell the truth (made more convincing by her talking cat comrade).  Her own quest of the phoenix feather gets slightly derailed when she throws herself into the plans of the resistance to humiliate the crusader overlord, and save the precious library that he plans to burn.

It is a lovely mix of the magical (the boundaries between our world and the supernatural world are starting to slip....) and the historical; very satisfying both as middle grade time travel and as plucky girl adventure!  It's a fairly short, tightly written book, with humor alongside of tension and heartfelt emotion, and it's a vivid portrayal of this particular moment in time. Of course "let's save the precious library!" is a plot I am always there for, and fortunately I wasn't kept in too much desperate tension....

I am very much looking forward to volume 3, which sadly isn't out right now.....

The Dollhouse, by Caris Cotter, for Timeslip Tuesday

This week's Timeslip Tuesday is The Dollhouse: A Ghost Story, by Caris Cotter...and I havered a bit about whether this was timeslip or, as the title would suggest, a ghost story, but I decided it counted as the former...

It's the story of Alice, a girl who's life is upended where her mother decides to leave her father after he once again puts work before family.  So instead of the long anticipated summer vacation together, Alice is dragged off by her mother to a remote mansion, where her mother will be the live in nurse for the old lady who recently bought the place who just had an accident, and Alice will be at loose ends.  The journey is inauspicious--their train has an accident, and Alice is left with a mild concussion.  And when they arrive at Blackwood house, grand and beautiful, Lily, the housekeeper's daughter who though 16 has the mind of a much younger child, shows Alice the bedroom she'll stay in, and confides that it is haunted.  

And indeed, when Alice wakes up the next morning, there in bed with her is a red headed girl.  Their brief meeting ends when Alice (not unnaturally) starts screaming her head off...and the girl is gone, and Alice's concussion is blamed for the experience.  Alice and Lily explore the house together, and a hidden stairway takes them up to the attic, where they find a marvelous miniature replica of Blackwood House.  One of the dolls looks just like the red headed girl...because she is (sort of).

This girl, Fizz, lived in the house back in the 1920s, and over the next few weeks Alice finds herself going back and forth from the present into Fizz's life, where only Fizz, and her old sister, Bubble (who is also developmentally delayed).  But it is not straight time travel--the dollhouse acts a conduit to the past, and when Alice changes things in the dollhouse, they change in reality.  The secrets and tensions of the past overlap with Alice's own worries, and Fizz's instance that Alice is in fact the dead ghost do nothing to sooth anybody's nerves...

And then tragedy upends Fizz's life, and that too is mirrored in what happens to Alice...

I really don't think there any actual ghosts, despite the title, just the ghostly memories of the past....unless you count the dollhouse, as a menacing ghostly power from the past, or perhaps Fizz showing up in Alice's time, waking up in the bedroom that used to be hers long ago....but Fizz never sticks around to do any actual haunting....so readers who go in expecting ghosts might be confused and disappointed. 

The one thing I didn't care for was the two girls, one in the past and one in the present, with developmental delays, described as being like "little girls"--they were too much like each other, sweet, innocent, happy, and un-three-dimensional, and that jarred a bit.  They seemed to be in the book to provide foils for Fizz's sharpness and Alice's vivid imagination (I guess), but while just one of them I could have accepted, having two felt forced.

(I have to be a bit spoilery to talk about the time travel, so if you are intrigued at this point, you can stop reading this now and go get ahold of the book--it is very good, full of mystery and emotion and tension, and the dollhouse and its wonderful miniatures is fascinatingly horrific to read about!)

This reminded me, timeslip wise, of Tom's Midnight Garden.  As is the case with that book, in which an old woman's memories are what creates the young boy's time travel, Alice is caught in Fizz's memories, tied strongly to the anchor of the dollhouse.  In both, time travel is a sort of tourism to the past; Alice doesn't affect any real change in Fizz's life, but I found it very satisfactory to read about. 

This week's round up of middle grade sci fi and fantsy from around the blogs (3/5/23)

Good morning from Rhode Island, where the sun is melting the winter ick of yesterday!  Here's what I found this week; let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews

Alex Neptune, Pirate Hunter, by David Owen, at Vicky's Never Ending TBR and Book Craic

Amari and the Night Brothers, by B.B. Alston, at The Book Nut

Aviva vs. the Dybbuk, by Mari Lowe, at Kiss the Book 

Black Bird, Blue Road, by Sofiya Pasternack, at Kiss the Book

Claire and the Dragons, by Wander Antunes, at Pages Unbound

Disconnected, by Riley Cross, at Bookworm for Kids

Elf Dog & Owl Head, by M.T. Anderson, at Mark My Words

The Frost Fair, by Natasha Hastings, at YA Books Central

The Gathering by Dan Poblocki, at Puss Reboots

Haven: A Small Cat’s Big Adventure, by Megan Wagner Lloyd, at  Rosi Hollinbeck

The Last Mapmaker, by Christina Soontornvat, at Kiss the Book

The Magician's Elephant Movie tie-in, by Kate DiCamillo and illustrations by Yoko Tanaka, at Log Cabin Library

The Moth Keeper, by K. O'Neill, ar Sharon the Librarian

The Nowhere Thief, by Alice M. Ross, at Book Craic

Nura and The Immortal Palace, by M. T. Khan, at YA Books Central

The Ogress and the Orphans, by Kelly Barnhill, at Pages Unbound

Riders of Fire and Ice (Talisman 2), by Brett Salter, at Mark My Words

The Secrets of the Stormforest, by L D Lapinski, at Rapunzel Reads 

Tourney of Terror (D&D: Dungeon Academy #2), by Madeleine Roux, at Mark My Words: 

Unicorn Island: Beyond the Portal, by Donna Galanti, illustrations by Bethany Stancliffe. at Log Cabin Library

Two at Dead Houseplants: Fenris and Mott, by Greg Van Eekhout, and Freddie vs the Family Curse, by Tracy Badua 

Five mini reviews at A Cat, A Book, and A Cup of Tea: The Nowhere Thief, by Alice M Ross, Yesterday Crumb and the Teapot of Chaos by Andy Sagar, Tourmaline and the Island of Elsewhere, by Ruth Lauren, The Time Tider, by Sinéad O’Hart, and  Wildsmith: Into the Dark Forest, by Liz Flanagan

Authors and Interviews

 Russell Ginns (1-2-3 SCREAM) at Middle Grade Ninja

 Gill Lewis (Moonflight) at Library Girl and Book Boy

Peter Bunzl (Dragonracers) at Scope for Imagination

Other Good Stuff

One of my favorite regular posts to read-Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books - Children's Book Picks UK - March 2023

9 Books Inspired by The Magician's Elephant, at Literacious

The 90-Second Newbery Film Festival Enters Its 12th Year.  (slj.com)

Katie (aka alibrarymama), whose recommendations have never failed to please me, shares her 2022 in Review

The Fantastic Dinosaur Adventure, by Gerald Durrell, for Timeslip Tuesday

I started reading Gerald Durrell when I was about 11 with The Talking Parcel (a lovely middle grade fantasy I still reread) and My Family and Other Animals (read to pieces), and my mother gradually offered me more as I grew older.  He was a huge influence on me.  But though his writing, at its best, is gloriously entertaining, vivid, and exciting, he did not write because he enjoyed it.  Instead, he said that "To me [writing] is simply a way to make money which enables me to do my animal work, nothing more."

And sadly this seems to be the raison d'etre of today's Timeslip Tuesday book,  The Fantastic Dinosaur Adventure (1989).  I was so happy to have found it by happenstance in a used bookstore I was visiting for the first time (Bennett's Books in Connecticut, well worth visiting), and then so disappointed when I read it.

It is the second adventure of the three Dollybutt children (and no, I do not find their last name amusing....) and their whacky great uncle Lancelot, who has a wonderous balloon.  He now has equipped his balloon with a time machine....but evil Sir Jasper and his goon, Throtlethumbs (I again did not chuckle), have stolen a copy of it!  They have gone back to the time of the dinosaurs, to collect babies and bring them back for fame and profit.  And so Lancelot asks the children if they'd care to join him in going back to dinosaur times as well to thwart this plot.

Off they go, and wondrously the dinosaurs can all talk! The kids and the reader meet lots of different species (a bit instructional and not particularly fun reading), dangerous things happen, the bad guys are thwarted with dinosaur help, and they return to their own time not only with the bad guys but with a baby Gnathosaurus and a baby Diplodocus without any troubling ethical questions (although both wanted to go on the journey, I don't think they'd reached the age of consent).

So basically we have 96 pages of an ethical lesson that animal poaching is bad because it is bad, and some now out of date dinosaur instruction.  No character development, no depth to the story, and no sparkly wit.  And I did not care for the villainization of the T Rex (surely a naturalist should appreciate apex predators?), but I did learn Gnathosaurus existed which is some small gain....

Sigh.  It kind of makes the Magic Treehouse books look really great.

1.  Gerald Durrell: The Authorized Biography By Douglas Botting, 1999, p. 261 

This week's round-up of Midde Grade Sci Fi and Fantasy from around the blogs (2/26/23)

Happy (almost) end of February!  Here's what I found this week; let me know if I missed your post.

Reviews

The Adventures of the Flash Gang: Episode 1: Exploding Experiment, by M.M. Downing & S.J. Waugh, at  Mark My Words

The BigWoof Conspiracy, by  Dashe Roberts, at Twirling Book Princess

The Carrefour Curse, by Dianne K. Salerni, at Charlotte's Library

Children of the Quicksands, by Efua Tratore, at Dead Houseplants

Deadlands: Hunted, by Skye Melki-Wegner, at Geolibrarian

Desert Creatures, by Kay Chronister, at  Mouse Reads

The Edge of the Ocean, by L.D. Lapinski, at Charlotte, Somewhere 

Fear Ground, by Jennifer Killick, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

Field Guide to the Supernatural Universe by Alyson Noel, at  Kiss the Book 

The Girl from Earth's End, by Tara Dairman, at  Log Cabin Library

Into the Faerie Hill, by H S Norup, at Through the Bookshelf

Like a Curse, and Like a Charm, by Elle McNicoll, at Magic Fiction Since Potter: 

No One Leaves the Castle, by Christopher Healy, at Pages Unbound 

The Nowhere Thief, by  Alice M. Ross, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books 

One Giant Leap, by Ben Gartner, at  Ms. Yingling Reads

The Rescue of Ravenwood, by Natasha Farrant, at  Book Craic

The Search for Synergy (Talisman 1), by Brett Salter, at Mark My Words: 

The Town with No Mirrors, by Christina Collins,  Ms. Yingling Reads

The Worlds We Leave Behind, by  A.F. Harrold, at Cracking the Cover

Authors and Interviews

"Rick Riordan previews Percy Jackson and Chalice of the Gods" at  EW.com

Lindsay Currie ((It Found Us) at Middle Grade Ninja

Payal Doshi (Rea and the Blood of the Nectar)  Middle-Grade Craft: Insights --  From The Mixed Up Files

Other Good Stuff

Watch the Trailer for The Magician’s Elephant at 100 Scopenotes

The Carrefour Curse, by Dianne K. Salerni, for Timeslip Tuesday

This week's Timeslip Tuesday book is The Carrefour Curse, by Dianne K. Salerni (middle grade, January 31, 2023, Holiday House), and it's a great one!

Take an old family house, full of secrets, most of them disturbing, some downright horrific.

Populate this house with an extended family who have elemental magic gifts, some powerful, some pleasant, and (again) some horrific.  (lots of twists and turns to appreciate!)

Send a girl, Garnet, to the house, who has never been there before, as her mother wanted to raise her away from all the trauma she herself had experienced there.

Trap Garnet, along with all the other family members, inside this magic filled house, until the house choses which of them should be the new head of the family.

And then add time travel, and journey along with Garnet through the whole magical, twisted story of the Carrefours past and present as she not only discovers hidden truths, but sets things right that had gone horribly wrong...with the help of time travelling....

The result is a beautifully gripping middle grade fantasy, full of memorable characters, mysteries, and intriguing magic!

The time travelling came as a pleasant surprise, and provided Garnet with key pieces of information that she was able to piece together to figure out how choices made in the past had shaped the confusing and dangerous present she found herself in.  She goes both to her own mother's past as a teenager, but further back down her family's history as well.  Almost trapped in a hideous magical work of an ancestor a few generations back, she's able, with help from another time travelling ancestor, to break the abominable magical working and set the house and its family on a more wholesome track.  It all builds gradually and inexorably up to a final climax that turns into a very satisfactory ending!

Highly recommended--there's enough horror for the young horror fans, enough fantastical detail for the fantasy lovers, and enough non-fantastical family dynamics and mystery for readers who aren't quite either of the above.

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction (2//19/23)

Good morning all!  Here's what I found this week.

The Reviews

Bastille Vs. the Evil Librarians (Alcatraz Vs. the Evil Librarians #6), by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson, at Carstairs Considers

Children of the Quicksands, by Efua Traore, at Mark My Words

The Clackity (Blight Harbor), by Lora Senf, at Mark My Words

Etta Invincible, by Reese Eschmann, at Log Cabin Library

The Grace of Wild Things, by Heather Fawcett, at Cracking the Cover

Into the Windwracked Wilds, by "A. Deborah Baker," at Puss Reboots

Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom, by Nina Varela, at Dinipandareads

Like a Curse, and Like a Charm, by Elle McNicoll, at Magic Fiction Since Potter: 

The Magic Hour, by David Wolstencroft, at Scope for Imagination

Midwinter Burning, by Tanya Landman, at Charlotte's Library

The Pearl Hunter, by Miya T. Beck, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Rainbow Grey: Battle for the Skies, by Laura Ellen Anderson at  Bellis Does Books 

Speculation, by Nisi Shawl, at Ms. Yingling Reads: 

The Stickleback Catchers, by Lisette Auton, at Book Craic

Sweep - The Story of a Girl and her Monster, by Jonathan Auxier, at Eustea Reads 

Where the Black Flowers Bloom, by Ronald L. Smith, at  Pages Unbound 

The Whispering Pines (EXIT 13, Book 1), by James Preller, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Willow Moss and the Magic Thief, by Dominique Valente, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads 

Winston Chu vs. the Whimsies, by Stacey Lee, at  A Library Mama

Wretched Waterpark, by Kiersten White, at Pages Unbound

Two at A Library Mama--Children of the Quicksands, by Efua Tratore and Eden’s Everdark, by Karen Strong 

Author and Interviews

Sinéad O’Hart (The Time Tider) at Library Girl and Book Boy

Shawn Peters (Logan Foster and the Shadow of Doubt) at  Literary Rambles

Laurel Snyder (The Witch of Woodland) at Watch. Connect. Read.

Nina Varela (Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom) at Writer's Digest 

Other Good Stuff

Congratulations to all the Cybils Awards winners, in particular Mirrorwood, by Deva Fangan in Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative fiction!  If you want to join the fun being an EMG Spec Fic Cybils judge, keep reading the books and keep your eys open for the call for judges later this year!

20 Best Dystopian Books For Tweens, at Imagination Soup 

"The Power of Possibility: How Reading Fantasy and Science Fiction Can Help Your Child Grow" at W. Bradford Swift 

Midwinter Burning, by Tanya Landman, for Timeslip Tuesday

This week's Timeslip Tuesday book,,Midwinter Burning, by Tanya Landman (November 2022 in the UK, Walker Books), was brought to my attention by this review at Magic Fiction Since Potter.  Ever since I discovered this blog I've been buying books from the UK recommended here as briskly as funds allow from  Blackwells (free shipping that doesn't involve Amazon).  This story, promising much that I enjoy in English fantasy, was my most recent purchase, and although my hopes were perhaps a bit too high, I read it in a single sitting with much enjoyment.

Alfie, evacuated from London in World War II, arrives at a safe haven not just from the threat of war, but from his unloving mother. Welcomed at a small farm in southwest England, he can hardly fathom the kindness with which the motherly woman of the farm showers him.  Even having one of the bullies from his school in London end up in the same village isn't enough to squash the happiness he finds in the animals, the country side, the marvelous ocean, and his growing confidence that he is settling into a peaceful grove at the farm.  

All he is missing is a friend...and then, out of the corner of his eye, a boy appears; another lonely one like himself (the reader has met this boy already in the preface of the book set in prehistoric England, so knows what's happening...).  They speak different languages, but manage to communicate nonetheless, and Smidge becomes the best friend Alfie could have imagined.

But always the standing stones overlooking the ocean pull at him disquietly, and stories of the midwinter burning that has been a community tradition even in recent times disquiet the reader...The land is old, and the stones have a dark history.  

And when time slips more directly, Alfie and Smidge hit that darkness head on.  In the present Alfie, still wearing his angel wings from the village nativity play (not a successful production....) and desperate to save Smidge from an evil fate back in his own time, is beset by bullies, pursued by them over a landscape where past and present are colliding, until he slips back into Smidge's time himself.

This is a fantastic part of the book, beautifully strange and evocative, and although the book as a whole didn't quite reach the heights of numinous terror with the darkness of past and present colliding that  I think it could have, it came awfully close.  There was one thing in particular that struck a false note for me.  I felt slightly cheated when it was revealed quite a ways into the book that time had always been a slippery thing for Alfie--even in London he'd seen the past playing out in the present.  This was something of a casual aside, and I felt it badly weakened the power of this particular place and this particular story, making Alfie the special thing and not the land and the memories of ancient darkness it held.

Still, come for a pleasant WW II evacuee story, stay for the threat of human sacrifice....highly recommended,

This week's round up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (2/12/23)

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

The Reviews

Alice the Cat, by Tim Cummings, at Bookworm for Kids

Aranika and the Syamantaka Jewel, by Aparajita Bose at Bookgeeks

The Carrefour Curse, by Diane K. Salerni, at Ms. Yingling Reads (scroll down)

The Dream Hoarder, by David Oates, at Scope for Imagination

Hamra and the Jungle of Memories, by Hanna Alkaf, at Islamic School Librarian

Hummingbird, by Natalie Lloyd, at That's Another Story

The Last Straw, by Margaret Baker, at  Charlotte's Library

Marina and the Kraken (The Mythics #1) by Lauren Magaziner, at  GW Chronicle of the Yawp

Pony, by R.J.Palacio, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

Skyriders by Polly Holyoke, at Mark My Words

 Spark, by Sarah Beth Durst, at Suzanne Warr

The Talent Thief, by Mike Thayer, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Time Tider, by Sinéad O’Hart, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads  and Scope for Imagination

Winston Chu and the Whimsies, by Stacey Lee, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Authors and Interviews

Brett Salter (The Search For Synergy) at Armed with A Book

Elle McNicoll (Like a Curse) at United By Pop

DaVaun Sanders (Keynan Masters and the Peerless Magic Crew) at Fuse#8

Sinéad O’Hart (The Time Tider) at Book Craic

Mari Lowe (Aviva Vs. the Dybbuk) at Fuse #8

Liz Flanagan (Wildsmith) at Library Girl and Book Boy

Sofiya Pasternack (Black Bird, Blue Road) at From the Mixed-Up Files

The Last Straw, by Margaret Baker, for Timeslip Tuesday

 

The Last Straw, by Margaret Baker, is a lovely little vintage (1971) time travel story.  It starts with a fire that engulfs the London home of the three siblings who are the main characters.  Rose, Guy, and Bell are saved by their quick thinking baby siter, but their parents, finding the house on fire when they get home, are injured trying to get in to save them.  With no handy relations to take the kids in while the parents are in hospital, the baby siter comes to the rescue again, arraigning for them to be paying guests at her parents small farm in the south west.  

It is winter, with little to do, but exploring up in the attic one day Bell is thrilled to find a dusty straw doll (she is grieving the loss of all her own dolls in the fire).  This is no ordinary doll--she is alive!  The kids take this in their stride remarkably well, accepting a talking straw doll without question.  Bell names her Poppy...and the adventures begin.

Talking is only the start of Poppy's magic.  She is a creature of an old harvest ritual, once made anew every year but now almost forgotten.  But she still has power, and she takes the children away from winter into summers years and years gone by.  Their first trip is to the farm as it was in World War II, the second to Victorian times, and though in the later there is some tension when Poppy is lost to them, there is never real danger.  The kids they meet in the past knew Poppy in their own times, and she took them on much wilder adventures, but this group of kids has only mild adventures.  But then they ask Poppy to take them to the future, and what they see dismays them badly.  

Does Poppy have enough of her old harvest magic still in her dusty straws to change what is to come?

I find that Baker doesn't quite hit emotional tension quite hard enough to be brilliant, sometimes coming close enough to be frustrating but not quite getting there.  That being said, I am enjoying working my through her books (though the ones that interest me most are hard to find.  I am annoyed that they did not come my way when I lived in the Bahamas as a child in the 1970s, with a small school library full of this sort of book).  But be that as it may, even at this point in life I found this one a pleasant summer-full read,  just what I needed in this past weekend's cold snap!

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (2/5/23)

Still have home renovations to do, but they are not pressing and the kids are back at college, so my Sunday round-ups resume!  Please let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews

The Carrefour Curse, by Dianne K. Salerni, at Valinora Troy

Elsewhere Girls, by Emily Gale and Nova Weetman, at Charlotte's Library

Haarville, by Justin Davies, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

The Healing Star, by A. Kidd, at Children's Books Heal 

Kelcie Murphy and the Hunt for the Heart of Danu, by Erika Lewis, at Log Cabin Library: 

Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Being Good, by Louie Stowell, at Kiss the Book

Lonely Castle In The Mirror, by Mizuki Tsujimura, at Mouse Reads

Nothing Interesting Ever Happens to Ethan Fairmont, by Nick Brooks, at  Bookworm for Kids

The Pearl Hunter, by  Miya T. Beck, at Cracking the Cover 

The Song Walker, by Zillah Bethell, at Book Craic

The Storm Swimmer, by Clare Weze, at Scope for Imagination

Valentine Crow and Mr. Death, by Jenni Spangler, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

Warriors: A Starless Clan: Sky (#2), by Erin Hunter, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Willow Moss & the Vanished Kingdom (Starfell #3), by Dominique Valente, at Mark My Words

Windswept, by Margi Preus, at Redeemed Reader

Winnie Zeng Unleashes a Legend, by Katie Zhao, at A Library Mama

Where the Black Flowers Bloom, by Ronald L. Smith, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Two at The Book Search--The Grace of Wild Things, by Heather Fawcett, and Where the Black Flowers Bloom, by Ronald L. Smith

Authors and Interviews

Mark Leiknes (Quest Kids series), at Smack Dab in the Middle

Other Good Stuff

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