A Twist in Time, by Jean Ure, for Timeslip Tuesday

A highlight of going to the biennial conference about 20th Century School Girls and Their Books, as I did a few weeks ago, is that there is time set aside for attendees to sell books to each other (I guess giving a talk on 20th century UK time travel books was cool too, but not quite as much fun).  I had jammed packed my bag and the lining of jacket with American books (picked up cheap at library booksales) that I thought I could sell, and I did--taking in money from sales with one hand, and giving it to the woman at the table next to me with the other (nice that her table had more books I wanted than any other one!)

What with this and vigorous visiting of charity shops, I came home with this lovely assortment of books--

--which included today's Timeslip offering, A Twist in Time, by Jean Ure (2000). Several of her books got published in the US as well as in the UK, though not this one, so you may have heard of her....

It's a pleasant, but not remarkable, story.  Cosmia (aka Cosy) has to stay with foster parents while her mother is in hospital (mental health issues).  She finds the two girls fostered there already hard to mesh with--they are louder and brasher than she is, and mock her for her posher accent and for attending a posher school. But she has her own room, and her own table for homework....and sometimes she sees another girl there, writing...a girl who was living through the London Blitz, and who can also see her across time (and who wishes very badly she could help Cosy with her maths homework....Her journal stays on the table for a while after this girl leaves the room, and Cosy learns her name (Kathleen), and the sad circumstance that brought her to this house (parents killed in Blitz).

Everything works out nicely, with Cosy getting a bit of gumption from the other girls, and unexpected support from the older of the two as well.  And her mother gets out of hospital and she meets Kathleen, now quite a bit older, in real life.....

I enjoyed the time slippy part of the story lots. We get to see Kathleen's point of view from her journal, and it was interesting and intriguing to see how each girl thought the other was a ghost, and how they wondered what was happening.

But I only gave it three stars over on Goodreads because in the end this proved to be somewhat pallid time slipping, with no direct communication across the years, which disappointed me. (The closest it came was when Kathleen was able to leave a helpful math note in her journal that was of great assistance to Cosy).  But it was a nice book, very engrossing and easy to read.

(And it was given additional personal interest to me in that my younger son's current girlfriend is also named Cosima, which was the first I'd heard of the name, so it was neat to see it here...and probably, since she is a fine arts major, she isn't great at math either, though I could be doing her an injustice...)

This week's round up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (8/25/24)

I'm back from a busy busy summer!  Here's what I found from the past week; please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

Between Flowers and Bones, by Carolyn Leiloglou, at  A Journey of Words 

Crossbow of Destiny, by Brandon Hoang, at Cracking the Cover

The Fixer Upper (Lost Legends), by Jen Calonita, at Kiss the Book

Give Me Something Good to Eat, by D.W. Gillespie, at Ms. Yingling Reads 

The Great Phoenix of London, by Lindsay Galvin, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads  

 Jaden Powers and the Inheritance Magic, by Jamar J. Perry, at Always in the Middle…  and Ms. Yingling Reads 

 The Legend of Last Library, by Frank L. Cole, at Kiss the Book 

The Mailbox Tree, by Rebecca Lim and Kate Gordon, at Mark My Words

Nettle, by Bex Hogan, at Scope for Imagination

The Oracle's Door, by Zetta Elliott, at Charlotte's Library

Project Mercury, by Ronald L. Smith, at Ms. Yingling Reads 

Secret Sky-The Young Universe, by T. Alan Horne, at Always in the Middle…  

The Serpent Rider, by Yxavel Magno Dino, at Mark My Words 

 We Do Not Welcome Our Ten-Year-Old Overlord, by Garth Nix, at Mark My Words 

Authors and Interviews

Karen Strong (The Secret Dead Club) at From The Mixed Up Files

Other Good Stuff

This year's call for Cybils Awards judges is up!  I'm no longer the category chair for elementary/middle grade speculative fiction, but I am sure A Library Mama will do an excellent job!  Instead, I'm chairing High School non-fiction for a total change of pace. Reading for the Cybils is both worthwhile and fun, so do consider applying!

The Oracle's Door, by Zetta Elliott

The Oracle's Door, by Zetta Elliott (September 14, 2024), is a prequel to her Dragons in a Bag series, and though it stands on its own, it will bring most joy to readers already familiar with the magical world of Palmara!

In Dragons in a Bag, we meet Ma, the most powerful witch in Brooklyn, through the eyes of her grandson Jaxon.  Now we get to meet her when she was Vinny Robinson, living in the South Side of Chicago in 1919, pushing back against her mother's efforts to keep her spunkiness and curiosity in check.  And we journey with her and her best friend L. Roy Jenkins through magical portals into the beautiful land of Palmara, where they meet Sis, its draconic guardian, and try to save a newly hatched (and adorable) dragon.  

Though this is all wonderful, the baby dragon is failing to thrive, and Vinny and L. Roy grow increasingly frustrated that they can't do more to help.  And back in Chicago, tension grows between Vinny and her mother, and racial tensions are growing in the city as well.  When Vinny meets the mysterious Oracle of Palmara, she receives a frightening prophecy of fire...and when a bloody riot engulfs the city, putting Vinny and her mother in terrible danger, Vinny makes a choice that she will second guess for the rest of her life....

It is of course lovely to revisit Palmara, and lovely as well to see what Ma was like as a young girl (and to get reflections from her as an old woman, looking back at events in sections sprinkled in the main story).  But though this works beautifully as a portal fantasy and a look at a slice of the past that will be new to many readers (me included), I did have one little bit of let down.  I felt that more could have been done with some of the emotional beats within the magical world, especially one key event, which instead of being deeply powerful was quickly lost in what was happening in the real world (slight spoiler of explanation--the baby dragon and Vinny were linked together, with the well-being of one affecting that of the other, but this bit of the story didn't get developed quite enough to satisfy me....)

That being said, this is an engrossing story of black girl magic that will delight fans of the series.

disclaimer: review copy received from the author

A Storm Without Rain, by Jan Adkins, for Timeslip Tuesday

Life is becoming marginally less crazy, and so I'm back with a Timeslip Tuesday post after my break--A Storm Without Rain, by Jan Adkins (1983).

15 year-old Jack is fed up with his family in a typical teenaged way and skips out on his grandfather's birthday to go out in his boat on Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts.  Napping on a small island, he's caught up in a strange storm without rain, and it transports him back in time to 1904.  Alarmingly, the island where he'd chosen to spend his day out is a leper colony back in the past, and the one boat that passes by refused to take him off it.  So he sets out on a long swim, and comes ashore safely to find temporary work with on a fishing boat.  And that journey brings him back to his own home town, which he both recognizes and find (naturally) strange. 

 He goes to his own house, where his boat-building family take him in, and becomes close friends with the boy who will be his grandfather.  He learns the craft of boat building from his great-grandfather, and has a crush on the girl who's his grandmother.  The threat of being denounced as a leper when the man who found him on the pestilential island provides some tension, as does the constant low thrum of anxiety about getting back to his own time.  

But as time travel goes, it is rather pleasant.  All that is ugly in the past is brushed aside by the wings of the countless sea birds and the teeming fish in the ocean and the curl of wood beneath his chisel as boats are made.  And his family in the past are really lovely and interesting characters.  The surprise introduction of Mark Twain added a spark of interest towards the end, but really nothing much happens.

Sometimes I chaffed at the loving descriptions and lack of critical thinking about the past, but sometimes I really appreciated the cast of characters and the lovely word pictures....but my most powerful takeaway was that I should sharpen my own tools.  The book is basically a love song to Buzzards Bay, and to a lesser extent the art of boat building, so if you are in the mood for a slow moving, dream-like journey to the past (with lots of boats), you will find it pleasing (though it's rather melancholy that the Bay is so much less full of birds and fish than it was, which I feel safe in saying is one of the author's Points).  

The Voyage of Sam Singh, by Gita Ralleigh

 

I very much enjoyed The Destiny of Minou Moonshine, by Gita Ralleigh, and so was very happy to read her second middle-grade magical adventure set in an alternate colonial India, The Voyage of Sam Singh (July 2024, Zephyr).  It's not a straight sequel, but it's enough of a crossover to please those who've met Minou while not confusing those who haven't, and it was just as much fun to read!

Sam's older brother Moon has been imprisoned in the legendary Octopus prison on the Isle of Lost Voices by the colonial government and Sam is determined to save him.  But before he can even start figuring out how to do this, he's off on an adventure.

Sam found passage to the island by working for an anthropologist known as "the Collector" who is determined to venture into the island's crocodile infested jungle to gain fame as the "first man" to do so (the Collector is peak 19th-century anthropological explorer...and awfully, but historically accurately, collects human skulls).  Lola, daughter of the tribal leader and shaman, but educated in the island's colonial city, serves as the expedition's cultural liaison, and becomes Sam's friend.  When the Collector makes off with the skull of a revered tribal elder, Sam and Lola set off to get it back.

Which they do, escaping near death by crocodile with a whole suitcase of skulls and their unquiet spirits in tow... but their adventures aren't over yet.  The Princess of Moonlally (where Minou's story took place) is also visiting the island on her own Octopus prison mission, and her help could be just what Sam needs to save his brother....A wild maelstrom of prison escape ensues, facilitated by a steampunk-esque submarine, angry spirits, the ghost of the island's first colonial governor, and the bravery of Sam and Lola.  And it ends with a piratical reunion of Moon and Sam for still more excitement!  

And though this might seem a lot for one story, it all works beautifully (even for a reader like me for whom a little excitement often goes a long way).  The relationship between thoughtful Sam and firebrand Lola makes the book a pleasure, the thoughtful presentation of historical Colonialist wrongs within a story full of magic and adventure is great, and Gita Ralleigh's writing is wonderfully descriptive, making it all come to vivid life.  It's incredibly easy to imagine the 9-12 year old target audience enjoying it even more than I did!

disclaimer: review copy received from the author, and enjoyed lots by me.

no mg sci fi/fantasy round up for the next three weekends

 I am off to England next Sarturday, where I will be giving at talk on Timeslip Ties that Bind at the 20th Century English School Girls and Their Books conference in Bristol.  I have not yet written this talk, and the clock is ticking, so that is what I will be doing today....

See you all later in August!

Drumbeats! by David Severn, for Timeslip Tuesday

 I was not drawn to the cover of Drumbeats! by David Severn (1953), which promises a wildly exaggerated colonialist encounter with "African" culture experienced through the medium of an entitled British boy.  This is not what I look for in a book (and also I don't like title with exclamation marks.  Wow me with story, I say.  Not with punctuation).  But since I have set myself to reading every time travel book published in English for children in the 20th century (with exception of long series for younger children), I bought an affordable copy when one came my way).  And the book delivered on the promise of its cover!

Four English boarding school kids, 2 girls (one of whom is the narrator) and 2 boys, come across an African Drum in the school's "museum."  When Oliver, the musician of the bunch, starts playing it, the kids find themselves observers of an English expedition in central Africa.  One of the Englishman has just stolen the drum. 

Oliver plays it again.  The kids see another episode in the explorers' journey.  Edith, our first person narrator, finds it disturbing.  She finds it more and more disturbing as the events seen during the drum's windows to the past are echoed in the boarding school present.  Oliver drums on.  It culminates with disaster striking both expedition and school.  

Through this, the kids argue about what's happening--is the drum a window to the past or a fantasy, is it causing the connections between past and present, or predicting them?  These arguments are not interesting.

Edith is also not interesting.  She has no rich inner life.  Possibly the author thought it would make her humorously relatable to constantly put herself down "I am an ordinary person"  "I was ashamed of myself" "I keep making mistakes."  If so, the author was wrong.  It just made me not to spend time with her dull pov self.

Some episodes are mildly entertaining, when Edith is describing external events and not sharing the oatmeal-like working of her thoughts.  There were not enough of these episodes.

The actual timeslip via drumming was fine (again, this was in large part due to Edith describing and not thinking...).  Yes it was stereotypes of Africa presented by a 1950s Englishman, but it wasn't as so grotesquely awful as to be unreadable.  What was happening to the expedition was not uninteresting. And the kids at least recognized that stealing the drum was a wrong thing to have done.

short answer--I will not be re-reading it.  But since I did enjoy another book by the author, I will not give up on him if I find his books going cheaply.  

this week's roundup of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (7/14/24)

Good morning all!  I'm back with a Sunday round-up after my break to deal with work stuff...enjoy adding to your tbr pile, and let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

The Beast of Grubbers Nubbin (Stitch Head 5), by Guy Bass, at Mark My Words

Farrah Noorzad and the Ring of Fate, by Deeba Zargarpur, at Kiss the Book

The Flicker, by H.E. Edgmon, at Kiss the Book

I Am Rebel, by Ross Montgomery, at Scope for Imagination

The Legend of the Last Library, by Frank L. Cole, at  Mark My Words

The Magician Next Door, by Rachel Chivers Khoo, at Bookworm for Kids

Marnie Midnight and the Moon Myster, by Laura Ellen Anderson, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads 

Mr. Whiskers and the Shenanigan Sisters, by Wendelin Van Draanen, at Kiss the Book

The Pale Queen, by Ethan M. Aldridge, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Paper Dragons: The Fight for the Hidden Realm, by Siobhan McDermott, at PBC's Book Reviews 

Princess Protection Program, by Alex London, at YABookNerd

The Secret of Splint Hall, by Katie Cotton, at Pages Unbound  

Time After Time, by Sarah Mlynowski and Christina Soontornvat, at Puss Reboots

Westfallen, by Ann and Ben Brashares,  at  Mark My Words: 

Wicked Marigold, by Caroline Carlson, at Log Cabin Library

The Wishkeeper’s Apprentice, by Rachel Chivers Khoo, at Pages Unbound

 A Whisper of Curses, by J. Elle, at The Story Sanctuary

Witchspark, by Dominique Valente, at Scope for Imagination

Authors and Interviews

Deva Fagan (A Game of Noctis) and Jenn Reese (Puzzleheart) in conversation at Teen Librarian Toolbox

Katherine Rundell (Impossible Creatures), at Publishers Weekly

Other Good Stuff

"Let in the Magic" is this month's Hot Off the Press theme at CBC

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

The Grave, by James Heneghan, for Timeslip Tueday

 That was the longest break I ever took from blogging!  But the desperate times of moving out of work are pretty much over, and so here I am again, ready with a time travel book for this Tuesday!

The Grave, by James Heneghan (2000), cannot be described as a comfort read (although it has a happy ending).  It starts in 1974 in Liverpool with its 13 year old protagonist, Tom, climbing down into a mass grave of Irish famine victims.  The stacks and stacks of rotting coffins are being cleared away to make way for new construction in a very hush hush way, and Tom was curious about what was happening.  Surrounded by the dead, Tom travels back in time to Ireland during the famine, arriving in an isolated community just in time to save a boy from drowning.

The boy's family extends to Tom all the hospitality they can, though they have little food to share.  The Monaghans do, though, have love for each other, and this is something that's been in short supply in Tom's life.  Abandoned as a baby, he's spent his life bouncing between foster parents.  His current ones are awful, abusive, and spitefully mean.  

He returns to his own time, but is drawn back to the Monaghans, briefly living episodes of their life (being evicted from their home, the starving journey to find passage to Liverpool, the sickness and despair they find in the city once they reach it).  But though he keeps returning to his own life, he spends enough time with this family that they become his family as well.  Two of them even survive (like I said, not a comfort read).

And back in the present, Tom finds himself more protective of the special needs boy he's fostered with, until Brian too is family.  Even more miraculously, because he travelled in time, he's able to find his birth parents, and so there is a happy ending that would not have been possible if he hadn't suffered alongside the Monaghans.....

Can't say I enjoyed it, but I think it is a good book--the writing is very vivid, the character growth satisfying, and there is enough relationship between past and present to make the story hang together well.  It is grim, but not as depressing as you might expect; Tom's first person point of view is lively and sharp, and entertaining except for in the darkest moments. I may well have enjoyed it more if graves dug up for construction projects weren't something I have to think about for work.

(this might be the worst cover of all the 400 or so time travel books I've reviewed.  Who thought his hair sticking up in that weird way added anything of value????)

middle grade sci fi/fantasy roundup hiatus

 I'm taking a break on the round-ups because of work--we have to vacate our building for six months starting in July and move everything out, and for me that includes all the artifact boxes in the state's repository, and it is getting to be crunch time.  So I'm about to go into work to move boxes.....I might get some review posts written, but Sunday mornings need to be all about moving.

See you again July 14th!

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (6/9/24)

Benji Zeb is a Ravenous Werewolf, by Deke Moulton, at Fuse #8

Braided (Sisters Ever After #5), by Leah Cypess, at Charlotte's Library

Cat's Magic, by Margaret Greaves, at Charlotte's Library

The Cursed Moon, by Angela Cervantes, at Kiss the Book

Echo, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, at Michelle Isenhoff

Farrah Noorzad and the Ring of Fate, by Deeba Zargarpur, at Mark My Words

 Greenwild: The City Beyond the Sea, by Pari Thomson, at The Story Sanctuary

The Haunting of Fortune Farm, by Sophie Kirtley, at Scope for Imagination

Heroes of the Water Monster, by Brian Young, at Kiss the Book 

The Last Dragon, by Polly Ho-Yen, at Scope for Imagination

Lei and the Invisible Island, by Malia Maunakea, at Mark My Words

The Minor Miracle, by Merideth Davis, at House full of Bookworms

Murray Out of Water, by Tracy Taylor, at Cracking the Cover

The One and Only Ruby, by Katherine Applegate, at Children's Books Heal  

The Raven Throne, by Stephanie Burgis, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads 

Tidemagic: The Many Faces of Ista Flit, by Clare Harlow, at  A Journey of Words  

The Whisperwicks: The Labyrinth of Lost and Found, by Jordan Lees, at Bookworm for Kids

The Witching Wind, by Natalie Lloyd, at YA Books Central

Authors and Interviews

Highlighting Ancestral Veneration and Hoodoo: A Q&A with Nyasha Williams About Saturday Magic (slj.com)

Interview with Meredith Davis about THE MINOR MIRACLE – MG Book Village

Other Good Stuff

Congratulations to the winner and the short listed books for  Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction, with an especial nod to The Ghost Job (my reviewmy review) for representing middle grade!

The Winner--To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose 
The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern by J. Dianne Dotson,  
Liberty’s Daughter by Naomi Kritzer, 
The Ghost Job by Greg van Eekhout

And congratulations to me for another successful library book sale outing yesterday! My mother, as is her wont, commented "you need more books like you need a hole in your head," but need and want are two different things....

Braided (Sisters Ever After #5), by Leah Cypess

I've been enjoying all of Leah Cypess' middle-grade sisterly twists on fairy tales as they've come out, but Braided, the newest in the series (May 28, 2024,  Delacorte Press), is my favorite.  It's a reimagining of Rapunzel, from the point of view of a little sister, Cinna, growing up knowing her big sister was imprisoned in a far-off tower.

Cinna is thrilled when Rapunzel is rescued and comes home again, but Rapunzel seem less than thrilled by the role of princess that's she's expected to assume.  Yes, she has the family's magical hair, that enables the kingdom to confine the fey (more or less) to their own realm (as does Cinna).  But unlike their mother, the Queen, who devotes all her energy to this task, Rapunzel just doesn't seem to see the point.  

Cinna wants Rapunzel to be the big sister she's always wanted, but Rapunzel wants more for Cinna, and for herself, than being trapped by a giant wall of responsibility.  And Rapunzel must return to the fey realm after only three days....

The bond that the two of them manage to build, and the magic and wits that they have in plenty, will save them both, despite fierce challenges both from the fey realm and from their own circumstances.  

I loved the sisterly part of the story lots, especially all the letters that Cinna wrote (but never sent) to her missing sister that start each chapter),  It was both sweet and emotionally rich, and when combined with dragons (as shown on the cover), some monsters, wonderful hair magic, and the machinations of both the fey and the people of the court, the result was a lovely gripping story! Cinna, and the reader, must question what is good and what is evil, and what they owe to others, and what they owe to themselves.

Young readers just meeting this series with Braided will almost certainly want more!

Cat's Magic, by Margaret Greaves, for Timeslip Tuesday

I'm working my way, as finances allow, through all the time travel books of the twentieth century, and although Cat's Magic, by Margaret Greaves (1980), is free on open library, I like reading physical copies much better.  And this is a book I'm happy to have added to my collection, even though it isn't one that I loved deeply.

Louise is an orphan, and the money set aside by her mother to keep her at boarding school has run out.  Now she must go stay with an aunt in the middle of the English countryside, in a somewhat dilapidated farm house.  I would like this, but Louise does not, and she is keenly aware that Aunt Hester is not thrilled about it either.  Aunt Hester expects Louise to pull her weight, but Louise has no desire to pull anything, and no desire to read the works of Sir Walter Scott as Aunt Hester suggests, but prefers the escapist fluff for girls she has to keep hidden in her room lest Aunt Hester throws it away.

But all is not terrible.  A friendly village boy, Charlie, teaches her how to ride a bicycle, which Aunt Hester has dragged out of one of the barns, and although we don't get a lot of fun rural expeditions (which I rather like), it was a bright spot in her life.  More importantly, though, she rescues a kitten slated to be drowned.  And miraculously Aunt Hester lets her keep little Casca.

Even more miraculously, the ancient Egyptian cat goddess, Bast, appears in her room that night to reward her for her cat kindness.  She offers Louise a boon, and Louise impulsively says that she'd just rather be anywhere else.  So she gets the gift of being able to travel anywhere she wants.  Bast is good at place, but being an immortal goddess is more than a bit loose with regards to time.  When Louise asks to be sent to Egypt, she ends up in ancient times, where Casca, who's travelled with her, gets a good chunk of worshiping and Louise has a slightly hungry, but interesting, visit to the past.

At this point I was thinking it was just going to be episodic time travel, but I was pleased that this was not the case.  Her next jaunt takes her to a Victorian seaside town, where she befriends another orphan, who serves as an unpaid drudge at her (much more unpleasant) aunt's boarding house.  It is a miserable situation, and Louise decides to rescue her from the villainous aunt, and takes her back to the present.  

There is more back and for between this past and the present before everyone gets happily settled, and it was rather good reading.  Aunt Hester and Louise gradually warm to each other, which was nice.  And though the author doesn't give deep consideration to culture shock and bureaucratic challenges, there's plenty of detail and cozy found-family-ness.  So though it didn't hit hard emotionally (mostly because it stayed on the surface level of things), I enjoyed it.  (Casca the cat played a very small role, so don't expect much kitten cuteness if you do pick this up.  But if miserable Victorian orphans are your jam, there's pleanty of that).

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (6/2/24)

Here's what I found this week, and now I will scamper off to fight invasives outside....

The Reviews

Aya and the Star Chaser, by Radiya Hafiza, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads 

The Black Cauldron, by Lloyd Alexander, at  Semicolon  

Braided (Sister's Ever After #5), by Leah Cypess, at Log Cabin Library and Always in the Middle…  

A Chance Child, by Jill Paton Walsh, at Charlotte's Library 

City of Stolen Magic. by Nazneen Ahmed Pathak, at Log Cabin Library

The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum, at Staircase Wit 

Ghosts of Mars: The Adventures of Eva Knight, by Stuart White, at Scope for Imagination

The Ghosts of Nameless Island. by Carly Anne West, at Bookworm for Kids

The Girl Who Kept the Castle, by Ryan Graudin, at Novel Notions

The Great Charming (The Caverns of Cracklemore 1), by Jace Schwartz, at Mark My Words

The One and Only Family, by Katherine Applegate, at Ms. Yingling Reads

 Puzzleheart, by Jenn Rees, at Cracking the Cover and A Library Mama

 The Secret Society of Very Important Post, by Alexandra Page, at Book Craic

The Spirit Glass by Roshani Chokshi, at Pages Unbound  

Telephone of the Tree, by Allison McGhee, at ReadWonder

Terra Electrica: The Guardians of the North, by Antonia Maxwell, at Mark My Words

 Villains’ Realm (Kingdom Keepers Inheritance #2), by Ridley Pearson, at  Carstairs Considers....: 

 The Wanderdays: Journey to Fantome Island, by Clare Povey, at Book Craic

Liar's Test, by Ambelin Kwaymullina

I haven't read much YA fantasy yet this year, so it was a nice departure to immerse myself into the complicated world of Liar's Test, by Ambelin Kwaymullina (May 2024, Knopf Books for Young Readers).

At first glance, it doesn't seem that groundbreaking--seven girls must compete to be queen, knowing that four are fated to die, and one of these girls, Bell, is special. But this is really only a side note of plot in a much bigger story. And although Bell is indeed a chosen one, the choosing is far from arbitrary.

Bell is a Treesinger, whose people were forcibly removed from their homeland by the Risen, colonizers worshiping gods who are anathema to the Treesinger way of life of deep connection to nature and the ancestors. They are much more than just gentle oppressed tree huggers, and as the book progress, this becomes very clear. (Knowing that the author belongs to the Palyku people of the eastern Pilbara region of Western Australia gives an additional gravitas to the story's portrayal of the Treesinger way of being in the world). When Bell's home, one of the resettled enclaves, falls into a sleeping sickness, with only Bell untouched by it, she's taken to the colonizers main city to be studied like a lab animal (and is cruelly abused by the sadistic high priest of the sun god).

But Bell is good at lying, and good at not giving in. And so when she's told she'll be the first Treesinger to compete for the crown, she's all in--even though being queen isn't her priority.

And so the challenges being, and the story explodes beyond episodic fantastical trials into a tapestry of gods who real (and from outside the world), people who are not at all what the seem, and the complex plans that Bell's maternal ancestors set in motion, with friendships and alliances that bring warmth to the story, a small touch of romance, trees that are more than magical, and more (the more includes a small tree spirit companion who is very charming).

Although it can get a bit confusing at times if you aren't paying attention and step away while reading to deal with domestic disaster (ask me how I know), it all makes sense (I think) in the end, and I appreciated the complexities and twists and fantastical details lots.

One small in the larger scheme of the story that I appreciated was that Bell's personal trauma ends up being directly confronted. After the horrific beginning in which Bell is almost killed by the high priest, and seeing how isolated she has been, I found it hard to accept how apparently unaffected she was. But Bell is an excellent liar, and we are show in a scene toward the end how good she's been at lying to herself when she is forced to confront and release, through the intervention of the ancestors, all her reservoirs of pain.

Bell's relearning the ability to trust is also an important part of the story, without which the big picture of overthrowing tyrannical alien gods and saving her people would have been impossible. And it's more than just trusting others; it's also making herself (habituated as she has become to deceit) trustworthy. So though she is a chosen one, by virtue of her birth to her particular ancestors, and by virtue of not succumbing to the sickness that afflicted her people, it is her character growing and changing that makes her the heroine that is needed.

In short, I can see the target audience enjoying it lots, except for those who really want a Romance, because though Bell does get one bit of passionate kissing, it's far far to the side of the main story.


disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

A Chance Child, by Jill Paton Walsh, for Timeslip Tuesday

It's possible I picked up A Chance Child, by Jill Paton Walsh (1978), as a child, but if so I'm sure I would have put it down after just a few pages, which are both confusing for the reader and miserable for the main character.  But grown-up me read on, and though there was plenty of misery to come, it lessened somewhat, and the confusion gave signs of clearing....

It begins in a hellish, massive dump, in which a lost, starved, unwanted child called Creep wanders not knowing what he is doing.  It is unclear if it is past or present, and unclear who Creep is.  The wasteland abuts a canal, and Creep finds refuge in an old canal boat, which starts him on a journey.

Then the point of view shifts to Christopher, a boy who is desperately hunting for Creep, his half-brother.  Christopher is definitely in the present of the book (which of course is in the distant past for modern kids), and gives the reader more information--turns out, this is Creep's first time outside ever; part of the house has collapsed, opening the cupboard where he has been confined all his life.  Christopher looked after Creep as much as he could, risking his mother's anger, and cares about what danger he might be in, enough so that he's on the verge of breaking all his mother's brainwashing and going to the authorities.  

Then Creep, in the narrowboat, flows down the canal, on a journey into the child labor horrors of the Industrial Revolution.  As a grown-up I recognized that this was now the past, but it wasn't spelled out to the child reader and I bet I wouldn't have known at this point that Creep was time travelling (I was, for instance, a great re-reader of Joan Aiken and would have probably taken it all in my stride without question).  Creep acquires two great comrades in his journey, a girl and a boy who he helps escape from the dangerous misery of their labors (the boy has been pickaxed in his bottom, and the girl fell face down into a fire).  The girl can write a little, and carves "Creep" into a bridge stone to show him.

This carving Christopher, after more than a day and night of searching, sees, and realizes that it was done long long ago.  He has a realization that Creep has gone where he can't be found (I hope child reader me would have picked up on the time travel at this point, but you never know).

Creep and his two friends have a relatively nice bit of work at a pottery (they aren't in mortal peril, though it is grueling work) and are able to make the canal boat homelike, but this interlude is shattered (literally, by broken pottery).  Tom, the boy, goes off on his on to be a miner, and Creep and the girl find (horrible, dangerous) work in a mill.  

All this time, only children have ever been able to see Creep, and he's never felt any need to eat or drink, and he's never laughed.  When he does finally do so, he's solid and real back in the past...and on his way to a (mercifully) happy ending.  And Christopher back in the present, still desperate to find his poor brother, starts doing historical research, and finds that Creep himself wrote the story of his life (confirming, in case child me still needed it, that time travel, quite possibly in the form of a canal boat with something of a mind of its own, had taken Creep away).

It was a bit too much "let's go on a journey through child labor horrors (burns, beatings, torture) while simultaneously being confronted with a tortured child in the present for my personal taste, which much preferred "canal boat home making," "found family," and "library research."  And there was lots and lots of description, a lot of it about unpleasant things, that either brought everything vividly (too much so?) to life, or slowed the story down, depending.

Still, once I was into it and not much confused, I found it fast reading, and became invested in what was happening.  And it does have a happy ending in which found family in the past becomes real family, and Creep and Christopher's mother is being investigated by the authorities who have found Creep's birth certificate....

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (5/26/24)

As ever, let me know if I missed anything!

The Reviews

The Boo Hag Flex (Tales from Cabin 23), by Justina Ireland, at Ms. Yingling Reads Ms. Yingling Reads 

The Ghost of Whispering Willow, by Amanda M. Thrasher, at Bibliotica

Ghosts of Mars, by Stuart White, at The Strawberry Post  and  Books Are 42

Greenwild: The City Beyond the Sea, by Pari Thomson, at Scope for Imagination and Library Girl and Book Boy

 I Hate It When Aliens Do That, by Mark Cheverton, at Bookworm for Kids

Ivy Newt and the Swamp Dragons, by Derek Keilty & Magda Brol, at Scope for Imagination

 The Magic Paintbrush, by Kat Zhang, at Dinipandareads and One More Exclamation

Mermedusa (The Legends of Eerie-on-Sea #5), by Thomas Taylor, at Log Cabin Library

The Minor Miracle, by Meredith Davis, at A Journey of Words 

Mission Microraptor, by Philip Kavvadias, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads  

The One and Only Family (The One and Only Ivan #4), by Katherine Applegate, at Kiss the Book

The River Spirit, by Lucy Strange, at Book Craic

The Things We Miss, by Leah Stecher, at Charlotte's Library

The Wakefield Princess (Kevin Martinez and the Crimson Knights), by Mike Torres, at Mark My Words

The Wishkeeper’s Apprentice, by Rachel Chivers Khoo, at Mark My Words

Three at Ms. Yingling Reads  Through a Clouded Mirror, by Miya T. Beck, Dead in the Water (Zombie Season #2) by Justin Weinberger, and True Colors, by Abby Cooper 

Authors and Interviews

Stuart White (Ghosts of Mars) at  Much to do about Writing

Spy Ring, by Sarah Beth Durst

 

I love it when I gently learn bits of history I didn't know, especially while tagging along on a fun treasure hunt with companiable fictional characters, and that was just the case with Spy Ring, by Sarah Beth Durst (May 21, 2024, Clarion Books)!

Best friends Rachel and Joon, ready to spend the summer together practicing their espionage skills, are fed up with their parents keeping secrets from them--when eavesdropping, Rachel learns her mom and boyfriend are going to get married (which she fine with except for feeling left out), and Joon has just learned he's about to move.  But the eavesdropping also sets them off on a more exciting mission than they'd dreamed off--Rachel's soon to be stepdad is a descendent of a Revolutionary War spy, Anna "Nancy" Smith, and he's going to give Rachel a ring that once (according to family lore) belonged to her.

The ring has a clue to the start of a hunt set up by Nancy centuries ago, and maybe if Rachel and Joon can solve all the puzzles, they'll find actually proof that Nancy was indeed part of Long Island's Culper Spy Ring!

The kids have grown up vaguely aware of the Spy Ring, an important local driver of tourism and civic pride, but now they go into a deep dive of historical research and investigation of all the historic sites they'd never given much thought to. The clues are nicely cryptic, but believably solvable, and the adults encounter along the way are nicely varied in their responses, from skepticism to helpful eagerness.  The history of the Spy Ring, and the challenges of actually proving something in the past was true, is well woven into the modern-day hunt, and I really enjoyed learning about it.  I also appreciated that the story is about a woman whose historical importance many people were skeptical about, which is always a good chain of thought to put into young readers mind, in my opinion....

Give this one to any puzzle-loving, history loving, kids-riding-around-on-bikes loving, young readers you might have on hand, maybe paired with a trip to the actual Long Island town where the story is set, to go on a hunt yourselves for all the interesting historical places mentioned in the book! (I am rather tempted to do this myself....)

The Things We Miss, by Leah Stecher, for Timeslip Tuesday

This week's Timeslip Tuesday, The Things We MissThe Things We Miss, by Leah Stecher (middle grade, Bloomsbury, May 2024), gives a self-conscious girl a chance to coast through all the unpleasant-ness of seventh grade through the magic of time-slipping.  When J.P. finds a magical door in her old treehouse hideout, she goes through....and three miserable days of worried that her large body is being judged and that she's just wrong somehow pass while she is cocooned in peaceful-ness. 

She's exited to share her discovery with her best friend Kevin, who didn't even notice she was gone (her body went on doing its thing while she rested), and at first he's very intrigued....but the magic doesn't work on him.  And as J.P. starts skipping three days here and there more and more often, relying on him to catch her up (her body double doesn't pass on memories), he is less and less supportive, and urges her to skip less often.

And indeed, life is going on during J.P.'s missing days...good things, meaningful things, and not just horrible gym class.  Her friendship with Kevin is strained to a breaking point, because of how often she just isn't there for him.  Her grandfather is dying of cancer, and she's skipping through that too.  And when she realizes just what she has slept through, she knows she has to start facing life with no escape hatch, and try to mend all the lost spaces in her life as best she can.

It was hard for me to care all that much about J.P. at first, as she is very self-centered, and has trouble thinking outside her immediate concerns, mainly her poor body-image, but further into her story, her grandfather's decline.   But her situation is a very relatable one--escapism is often appealing.  And it's good to see her get some sense, and set out on the road to being a stronger, more present person.

It's a really interesting time-slip premise too--her body double fills in for her so well, and is in fact herself though she can't remember it.  It's basically time-slipping as periodic amnesia.  The treehouse door is never explained, although it makes sense in the story that it appeared for her because of her intense desire to have a respite from the negative rain inside her head.  

And in many respects, this is one that a fair number of middle school kids will really see themselves in, and quite possible learn from J.P.'s experiences that the things in life that have meaning make up for the miserable bits, and that being there for those you care about, even if it also comes with mean girl bullying and grief, is worth it.

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (5/19/24)

Morning all!  Here's what I found this week.

The Reviews

The City Beyond the Stars by Zohra Nabi, at Mark My Words

Dangerous Allies (Forgotten Five #4), by Lisa McMann, at YABookNerd

Finn and Ezra's Bar Mitzvah Time Loop, by Joshua S. Levy, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Fyn Carter and the Agents of Eromlos, by Ian Hunter, at Scope for Imagination and Book Craic

Grimmword: The Witch In The Woods. by Michaelbrent Collings, at fundinmental

The Last Hope School for Magical Delinquents, by Nicki Pau Preto, at Mark My Words

North and the Only One, by Vashti Hardy, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

Puzzleheart, by Jenn Reese, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The River Spirit, by Lucy Strange, at Scope for Imagination

Rwendigo Tales, by J. A. Myhre (series review), at Redeemed Reader

The Secret Society of Very Important Post, by Alexandra Page, at Scope for Imagination

Tariq and the Drowning City (The Spiritstone Saga #1), by Sarwat Chadda, at Book Craic

A Whisper of Curses (Park Row Magic Academy #2), by J. Elle, at Mark My Words

Two at Feed Your Fiction Addiction-- Greenwild, by Pari Thomson& Once There Was, by Kiyash Monsef

Authors and Interviews

 Laura Segal Stegman (The Chambered Nautilus, Summer of L.U.C.K. #3), at Teen Librarian Toolbox)

Leah Cypess (Braided, Sisters Ever After series) at From the Mixed Up Files

Sandy Deutscher (The Haunting of Lake Lucy)-- How Writing in Verse Can Improve Your Prose, at Literary Rambles