This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science-fiction from around the blogs (9/29/19)

Welcome to this week's round-up of mg sci fi and fantasy blog postings!  Please let me know if I missed anything (anyone is welcome to send me posts during the week for the following Sunday's round-up, including authors and publiscists etc.).

The Reviews

Anya and the Dragon, by Sofiya Pasternack, at Read Love

The Battle, by Karuna Riazi, at Charlotte's Library

City of Ghosts, by Victoria Schwab, at Fantasy Literature and Treestand Book Reviews

The Dark Lord Clementine, by Sarah Jean Horwitz, at Log Cabin Library

Dragonfell, by Sarah Prineas, at Puss Reboots

The Green Children of Woolpit, by J. Anderson Coats, at Charlotte's Library

The Library of Ever, by Zeno Alexander, at Cover2CoverBlog

The Lost Girl, by Anne Ursu, at Imaginary Friends

Malamander, by Thomas Taylor, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Marigold Star, by Elise Primavera, at Nayu's Reading Corner

The Red Rover: Origins, by C.E. Whitaker III, at The Write Path

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, by Carlos Hernandez, at Imaginary Friends

Small Spaces, by Katherine Young, at Puss Reboots

The Specter Key, by Kaleb Nation, at Say What?

The Switching Hour, by Damaris Young, at Book Craic

Tin, by Pádraig Kenny, at Book Craic

Trace, by Pat Cummings, at RaiseThemRighteous

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, by Kwame Mbalia,at Ms. Yingling Reads

Two Girls, a Clock, and a Crooked House, by Michael Poole, at Cracking the Cover

Authors and Interviews

Carolyn Crimi (Weird Little Robots) at The Children's Book Review

Other Good Stuff

For the B. and N. Kids Blog, I made a list of great middle grade island books, including lots of fantasy!

And don't forget to head over to the Cybils Awards to nominate your favorite middle grade speculative fiction book from the past year (the year being Oct 16, 2018-Oct 15, 2019).  And you can also nominate books in each of the other categories as well....

The Moon Over Crete, by Jyotsna Sreenivasan, for Timeslip Tuesday

The Moon Over Crete, by Jyotsna Sreenivasan (1996, Smooth Stone Press), is a slightly older children's time travel story, interesting for several reasons.

It's the story of a modern girl, 11-year-old Lily, whose mom is Indian American, and whose dad is European American.  Lily is finding it difficult being a girl--her best friend is interested in dressing to impress boys, a boy in her class is sexually harassing her and no one is doing anything about it, her mother isn't letting her do things (like go exploring off in the woods) that she'd be allowed to do if she were a boy.  Lily's flute teacher, Mrs. Zinn, is the only one who seems to understand Lily's growing resentment.

And happily for Lily, Mrs. Zinn is a time-traveler, fond of visiting ancient Crete, where (in this fictional world) there is almost utopian gender equality.  Mrs. Zinn offers Lily the chance to go to ancient Crete with her for a few weeks,  and Lily accepts.  Having an experienced adult guide on hand, who has a host family ready and willing, who speaks the language, and who can reliably get you home again, is really unusual in middle grade time traveling, and it sure does make Lily's trip to the past a lot easier than most!

Lily, who is introduced as Lebanese to explain her dark hair and complexation (which I found a bit odd, because the Creteans weren't exactly blond and blue eyed themselves)  finds herself quite taken with ancient Crete.  She notes that even women who are unattractive to her modern eyes have men who find them desirable.  It's hard to tell the prepubescent boys from the girls, as clothing and hairstyles aren't particularly gendered.  Women and men do the same work.  The community shares resources equitably.  Women have power, both in the mundane and in the religious sphere. Basically, it's utopian as all get out.

She can't help but be bothered, though, by her knowledge that ancient Crete is about to fall victim to both a devastating earthquake and to an invasion and hostile takeover by a society that isn't as enlightened.  Can she tell the Queen what's going to happen, and save this society that values women and men equally?

No she can't; they already know through prophetic dreams what's going to happen.  The best Lily can do is take back to her own time the knowledge that it doesn't have to be the case that men call all the  shots.  And the point of the book is to teach this to the reader.

It's not subtle.  And though of course it's not a bad concept, and lord knows smashing the patriarchy is an appealing idea, it gives the book such a tight focus on this one thing that other things that make a story good (like strong character development, interesting plot elements involving risk and uncertainty, and, for time travel in particular, cultural dislocation more generally) are lacking.  The inclusion of Mrs. Zinn as mentor and travel guide made it all too easy for Lily, who also was able to pick up enough Cretian to talk comfortably with the locals in about two weeks.  Ancient Crete was such a magical fairytale place that it had no depth to it.  It was too much, sort of a candy-land utopia, and so not very interesting.

It wasn't a bad read, and certainly well-intentioned, and I agree with the message, but I wanted more from it than it delivered.  Give it to girls fascinated by goddess societies and magic, who may well love it....

Dark Breaks the Dawn, by Sara B. Larson

If you are fan of YA fantasy in which a teenage girl struggles to become the strong queen her country desperately needs, you have lots of books to chose from these days.  I feel I've almost read enough for now, but I didn't mind Dark Breaks the Dawn, by Sara B. Larson (Scholastic, May 2017), and if you are a fan of this particular sub-genre, you may well enjoy it lots.

Evelayn did not expect to become queen of the Light Kingdom of Eadrolan, just after she'd come of age to claim her personal magical heritage.  But when her mother was killed, fighting against the dark,cold magic armies of the Dorjhalon, queen Eelayn became.  And though she was able to claim the light magic of her people that only the queen can command, strongest during summer's warmth, she has no time to master her gifts, including shapeshifting into her one particular affinity animal (nb for reassurance not "spirit animal," which isn't a term used) before she must be the one to keep her country safe from its would-be conquerors.

Force of arms, and force of light magic against dark were not enough for her mother, so Evelayn devises a cunning ploy that will deliver the heir of the king of Dorjhalon into her hands, and, she hopes, give her the chance to end the war and restore balance. She's guided, comforted, and distracted by a handsome young lord, who takes equal pleasure in long runs through the woods.  But mostly she's grieving, and uncertain, and unsure that she will ever be the queen her country needs.

So basically it's girl learning to be a queen with magical powers with bonus love story (not a love triangle, at least not yet), under really difficult circumstances.  Though the initial steps go as she hoped, things go crashing down horribly wrong at the end, setting the stage for the next book in the series.

There wasn't anything here that made this one rise above the crowd for me personally, and I was a tad thrown off by the author's choice to use "males" and "females" instead of men and women--it made it hard for me to think of the characters as entirely human, which was perhaps the point.  But it was a gripping enough read to keep me going, especially toward the end when we move from Evelayn's emotions to actual full-on-page conflict with the bad guys (although I wish we could all just stop with equating dark/bad light/good....).

One of the more interesting things about the book, for those of us who like retellings, is that it is a prequel to the Swam Lake story (princess who ends up enchanted swan).  The set up for the actual Swan Lake story is strong enough for me to want to read book two, hoping that the stage is set, the story will have a chance to be stronger.  Likewise, some of the plot points that look to be set up could well make for an interesting read.  But this first volume on its own just doesn't offer much that's particularly fresh or new, and Evelayn isn't quite a compelling enough character as presented here to compensate for the lack.  So I only recommend it to people who just can't get enough of the young queen and her tender young romance, or to Swan Lake fans who can join me in wanting to read book 2....But if you are not cynical and jaded like me, perhaps your reaction will be more enthusiastic than my somewhat tepid response!

Here's a more enthusiastic review at blackplume. And Kirkus calls it "an appealing if imperfect girl-power fantasy that ably sets the stage for its sequel" although the Kirkus review and I don't seem to have read exactly the same book because really although it seems possible/likely that a third party will enter the romance next book, the romance here and now is not a triangle!  And Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, saying ""Larson is especially effective in her portrait of Evelayn's need to summon maturity before she thought she would have to, a sweetly innocent romance underscores the bite of betrayal, and the cliffhanger ending will easily build anticipation for the second book."

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (6/18/17)

Welcome to this week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs.  Please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

Dark Days (Skulduggery Pleasant 4), by Derek Landy, at Say What?

The Door in the Alley, by Adrienne Kress, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Dragon's Green, by Scarlett Thomas, at Cracking the Cover

The Faceless Ones (Skuldugger Pleasant 3) by Derek Landy, at Say What?

Felix Yz, by Lisa Bunker, at Always in the Middle

The Gateway Quartet: The Four-Fingered Man, the Warriors of Brin-Hask, the Midnight Mercenary, and the Ancient Starship, by Cerberus Jones, at alibrarymama

The Girl with the Ghost Machine, Lauren DeStefano, at B. and N. Kids Blog

Greenglass House, and Ghosts of Greenglass House, by Kate Milford, at The Reading Nook Reviews

Hamster Princess: Giant Trouble, by Ursula Vernon, at Charlotte's Library

The House of Months and Years, by Emma Trevayne, at Semicolon

If The Magic Fits (100 Dresses), by Susan Maupin Schmid, at Charlotte's Library

Lord of Monsters, by John Claude Bemis, at B. and N. Kids Blog

Mortal Coil (Skulduggery Pleasant 5) by Derek Landy, at Say What?

Paint by Magic, by Katherine Reiss, at Charlotte's Library

The Princess and the Page, by Christina Farley, at Pages Unbound Reviews

The Quest to the Uncharted Lands (World of Solace #3), by Jaleigh Johnson, at Word Spelunking and books4yourkids.com

Orphan Island, by Laurel Snyder, at twentybyjenny

Rebellion of Thieves by Kekla Magoon, at A Reader of Fictions 

The Secret of Goldenrod, by Jane O'Reilly, at Nerdy Book Club

Shadow Cipher (York 1), by Laura Ruby, at The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia

The Song from Somewhere Else, by A. F. Harrold, at Waking Brain Cells

Sputnik's Guide to Life On Earth, by Frank Cottrell Boyce, at Librarian's Quest

Authors and Interviews

Gwenda Bond (The Supernormal Sleuthing Service) at YAYOMG!

Lauren DeStefano (The Girl With the Ghost Machine) at Nerdy Book Club

Other Good Stuff

The Riverbank Review of Books which was active between 1998 and 2003is now available online for  your reading pleasure (via Monica at Educating Alice)

And from the Department of Things to Want, this half-octopus half-teapot (read more at Bored Panda)

Bone Jack, by Sara Crowe, for Timeslip Tuesday

I just gave Bone Jack, by Sara Crowe (Philomel Books, Feb. 2017, April 2014 in the UK)  five stars over at Goodreads, something I almost never do, not because I think it was an absolutely perfect book, but because it did what it set out to do very well indeed, and because it was a book I would have been so happy to find when I was the age of the target audience-11 -14 years old..  I loved  books in which the old stories and legends of the British Isles slipped through into the present day, with dark and dangerous consequences (books like The Owl Service, and A String in the Harp). (I still do, but a less naïvely romantic way....).  If I didn't already know better, I'd believe that Bone Jack was written back in the 1960s or 70s; it has very much the feel of so many excellent British children's books of that era. 

13 year-old Ash has won the competition to be this year's Stag Boy in a race that is now a quaint folkloric custom n his village in the north of England, but which  has dark roots--the other local boys, playing the hounds, are not expected these days to hunt the stag to his death in a ritual to renew the land,  but in the past.....It is a hard time for Ash's bit of the world--foot-and-mouth disease has wiped out the sheep, and a draught is drying up the land.  His best friend Mark's father killed himself after his sheep were slaughtered, and Ash's own father has come home from fighting in the Near East with PTSD.  

The darkness of the present calls to the past, and stirs up the old pattern.  Ash sees the ghosts of a past Stag Boy hunted till he falls from the cliff at Stag's Leap by merciless boys playing the hounds.  Bone Jack is walking the hills again, and the boundary between the past and present is slipping.  Mark, Ash's friend, will be a hound in this year's chase, but for Mark, who's now living wild in the hills, the Stag Chase has become a chance to bring his father back.  For that to happen, the Stag Boy must die.

So the story is filled with things inexplicable at first falling into an ancient grove, and the tension grows very nicely as Ash realizes that what had seemed a simple way of pleasing his father by running as the Stag Boy is turning into something that might end up with Mark trying to kill him.  He considers backing out, but he can't bring himself to do so....

It is not all mythos and ancient darkness--there are side notes of human relationships, giving Ash the opportunity for character growth, that I found moving and convincing--Ash and his mother hoping that Ash's father can come back to them, Ash's feeling of guilt from having pulled back from Mark after Mark's tragedy, Mark's little sister coping as best she can with the tragedy and now with the madness, that has overtaken her life.

I'm counting this as a time slip not because any of the main characters travel through time, but because the Past, embodied in a sense in Bone Jack, has very much awoken in the present.  The boys of the Stag Hunt long ago are perhaps ghosts, or time slipped echoes, but there is a wolf who has slipped from the past in true corporeal form, and that's good enough for me.

So if you like Celtic infused fantasy in which there isn't a Prophecy or a Chosen One or an epic struggle against a power hungry Dark Lord, but in which the tension comes from old stories manifesting in the present, you will like this one!  It might look like YA, but it isn't quite; it's being marketed as 10 and up (in the grades 4-6 slot at School Library Journal, and ages 11-13 at Kirkus), which is as it should be.  I don't know how many young Celtophiles/Anglophies there are today, but it's also a good one for kids who like horror.

My one real, strong, substantial objection to the American edition of Bone Jack is that they Americanized it, most obviously substituting "Mom" for "Mum."  Which subverts the whole point of the book being rooted in its particular, very non-American place.  And which also makes me wonder, in a suspicious and vaguely hostile way, what other changes were made for the American edition...

But in any event, Sara Crowe is now an auto-buy author for me (I think I will go with her UK editions, although I strongly prefer the American cover of this one; the UK cover is at right), and I can't wait to see what she does next.

Here's the Kirkuk Review, which more or less comes to the same conclusion as I do.

The Devil on the Road, by Robert Westall, for Timeslip Tuesday

Squeaking in just under the gun for Timeslip Tuesday with The Devil on the Road, by Robert Westall (1978)--a good one for fans of older UK books about teens caught in time travel predicaments involving 17th century witch trials, with a nice dose of motorcycles, a charming cat, and a vividly real English rural setting.   It's a good story, the sort that might well make a huge impression if you read it young, and it's certainly memorable even if you read it old!   I'm going to be spoiling it, so be warned!

John Webster sets of on spring break from university in London on his motorbike, happy to follow fate where she leads him.  He ends up sheltering from a storm in an old barn way off in the middle of nowhere, which is just what fate wanted.  The landowner finds him there, and offers him the use of the barn as long as he wants it, so he stays, and gradually the landowner works to make it more of a home.  John saves a little kitten, and enjoys puttering around...but things get weird.  The villagers are weird around him, calling him "Cunning."  The landowner is rather too anxious to make the barn a home, and indeed it was once a manor house.  John discovers a hidden room with old furnishings.  And then the kitten, grown into a cat strangy quickly, leads him back in time to the 17th century.

There he meets a girl his own age, Johanna, the daughter of the old manor's lord.  He follows the cat back and forth in time for a few visits, interesting but not terribly disturbing (except with regard to 17th century hygene).  But then things take a dark turn when the most notorious witchunter of all 17th century England arrives. 

Matthew Hopkins, the Witch Finder General, was real, and he was awful.  He was in the witch hunting business purely for the money-the more women he killed as witches, the more he made.  And now he is targeting the women of Johanna's village, and she is determined to save him, even at risk of being found guilty of witchcraft herself. Which is what happens, and it is very vivid and tense indeed.

But John steps in to save her, and comes back to the 17th century armed and dangerous, the Devil on the Road of the title.  And save her he does, and they travel together back to the old barn/restored manor house along with all the other accused women (who conveniently, and confusingly, vanish from the scene). 

If this were a modern YA book, John and Johanna would fall in love and it would be all nice and romantic.  But it isn't.  Johanna does want John to stay with her, but she turns out to actually be a witch, and 17th century witches, even if they are good witches, helping others, tend to try to get their own way.  John  doesn't love her, and doesn't want to spend the rest of his life buried in the green and verdant country healing villagers....and he barely escapes.

Here's what frustrated me--Johanna doesn't make any effort at meaningful communication, relying instead on her magic to try to get John to stay with her.  It makes her rather two dimensional and unsympathetic.  There she is in the 20th century, and she wants to keep playing by her own rules. John, on the other hand, is a very sympathetic character--kind to kittens. 

If you are at all interested in fiction about the 17th century, it's well worth a read--a truly memorable story.  It's one of the few time travel books in which the time travel is aided and abetted by locals who might or might not know what is happening, who manipulate the protagonist so that he cooperates, which makes it interesting. 

This is the first Robert Westall book I've read, but he does seem to be on of the great UK children's writers of the last three decades of the 20th century, winner of two Carnegie Medals, the Smarties Prize, and the Guardian Prize.  I'll be on the look out for more of his books.

The Seventh Bride, by T. Kingfisher

"I would follow this hedgehog into the mouth of hell," says Rhea, the heroine of The Seventh Bride, by T.Kingfisher (pen name of Ursula Vernon), at a difficult moment toward the end of the book.  She has reason to trust the hedgehog, which joined her on the dark and terrifying journey to her betrothed's home ("She was still going somewhere terrible, but she had a hedgehog, dammit").  Rhea, an unexceptional young miller's daughter, has been chosen by a lord to be his bride, and their difference in status is the least of the wrongnesses at work.  But at least Rhea has her hedgehog friend to stand beside her as she copes with the fact that her betrothed has been married six times before, and all but one of these wives are still alive (more or less). 

Rhea, with hedgehog assistance, completes various tasks the sadistic sorcerer lord sets her, and copes with the terror of her situation as best she can.  And in the end, with the help other wives, she wins freedom for them all.   It's a fine story, with bits that are disturbingly horrible, and Rhea is a fine heroine, and there were bits of humor (not just the hedgehog) that I enjoyed very much.   But somehow it's not a book I think I need to re-read to get more out of it--everything is pretty much right there, plot and character, without much subtle depth and nuance.  And I'm not quite sure what the point is of the tasks the evil lord sets Rhea to do, as her fate is the same regardless of whether she does them or not (he's not going to let her off marrying him), and so they were more divertissements of story rather than powerful pieces of it.  Still, The Seventh Bride makes for good reading, and I enjoyed it.

But I absolutely adore the hedgehog.   And if you enjoy fairy tale reimaginings, this might be right up your ally--it echoes both Bluebeard and The Robber Bridegroom. At the right is the cover of the ebook edition (as best I can figure); and it shows nicely some of the creepiness (zombie birds as garden décor, delivering scary advice....)

It could easily be shelved as YA, seeing as Rhea is a young teenager, but it isn't much like standard YA fantasy--there is no romance.

The Cybils finalists are here!

The 2015 Cybils finalists have been announced, and as usual, these lists of childrens and YA books in a wide range of categories are a fantastic resource!  The books combine both reader appeal and great writing, making it a very kid friendly set of suggestions.

I was a panelist on the first round of Middle Grade Speculative Fiction, and here are the books we picked for our shortlist:

Bayou Magicby Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Nominated by: Patricia Tilton

In a simple but not simplistic story, 10-year-old Maddie visits her Grandmère in the Louisiana bayou in order to learn the magical traditions of her family. While there, she discovers how friendship and magic (and bonus mermaids!) can help with modern problems, and learns the importance of being connected to the land around her. Rhodes has created a book with a lyrical mix of African, French and Creole traditions that has a huge heart and is full of magic and, ultimately, joy.

Melissa Fox, The Book Nut

Castle Hangnailby Ursula Vernon
Dial Books
Nominated by: Jennifer

The titular castle of Castle Hangnail needs a new master, or it will risk being decommissioned, forcing all the resident minions to find new homes. When 12-year-old Molly comes knocking on the castle door, the minions (who expected a powerful dark magic user) are skeptical, but Molly is determined to convince them that she is wicked enough for the job (though she actually has a very good heart). Everything seems to be going well until an evil sorceress shows up claiming she is Castle Hangnail’s real intended master. Its illustrations, humor, messages of friendship and determination, and a host of memorable secondary characters (with a special nod to one minion–Pins, a voodoo doll with a talking goldfish) make Castle Hangnail an utterly enjoyable and charming place to spend your reading time!

Benda Tjaden, Log Cabin Library

Cuckoo Songby Frances Hardinge
Harry N Abrams
Nominated by: Maureen E

“Mummy, help me, please help me, everything’s strange and nothing’s right, and my mind feels as if it’s made up of pieces and some of them are missing…” When Triss wakes up from a mysterious accident, she is somehow not herself–she feels an overwhelming hunger that is only satisfied by eating the oddest things, dead leaves appear in her room, on her pillow, and in her hair; her little sister Pen rejects her completely. Triss/Not-Triss must put together the pieces of what turns out to be a larger puzzle, one that encompasses a family’s grief, betrayal, loyalty, and love. Set in post-World War I Great Britain, Hardinge’s Cuckoo Song is a beautifully written, deliciously dark fantasy for fans of historical fiction, horror, fairy tales, or family stories. We think that’s everyone.

Anamaria Anderson, Books Together

Mars Evacueesby Sophia McDougall
HarperCollins
Nominated by: Stephanie Whelan

Blast off for Mars on this science fiction debut! In order to keep them safe from the ongoing human-alien warfare on Earth, Alice Dare and other kids from around the world are being shipped off to the red planet . But Mars is far from being a safe haven, and when all the adults vanish, Alice and her new friends set out to get help. Giant floating robot goldfish, unexpected alien encounters and a not-so friendly Martian landscape are just some of the challenges they will deal with along the way. This entertaining and smartly-written romp will make you want to buckle up and enjoy the ride!

Stephanie Whelan, Views From the Tesseract

The Dungeoneersby John David Anderson
Walden Pond Press
Nominated by: Matt

The Dungeoneers is a first-class adventure that reads like a role-playing game on the surface, while being booby-trapped with plot twists and laced with reflections on morality and loyalty. When Colm starts picking pockets to help his struggling family, they are horrified. But before he can be imprisoned, he’s rescued by a man impressed by his talents who whisks him off to study at legendary Tye Twodin’s School for Dungeoneers–professional treasure hunters and monster fighters. There Colm and his new teammates, the shy young mageling Quinn Frostfoot, tough-as-nails (unless she’s bleeding herself) barbarian-to-be Lena Proudfoot, and druid-in-training Serene (with her a pet spider named Mr. Tickletoes) have to master the skills of dungeoneering. Swordplay, spells and lock picking aren’t as challenging as navigating the social pitfalls of an extraordinary boarding school and figuring out who can be trusted…and that’s before the real adventuring begins!

Katy Kramp, alibrarymama

The Fog Diverby Joel Ross
HarperCollins
Nominated by: PLCarpenter

Set in a world where a deadly fog has taken over the planet, and people are forced to live in the skies, a quartet of ragtag orphans make a living off of what they can scavenge on Earth’s surface, even though it means sending their diver, Chess, down through the toxic mist while still tethered to their sky ship. Chess is in less danger than most, as he has a mysterious resistance to the effects of the fog, but the evil Lord Kodoc will stop at nothing to find out Chess’ secret.

When the four kids – Hazel (the daring captain), Swedish (the strong pilot), Bea (the cheery mechanic), and Chess (the secretive tetherboy) find out that the woman who raised them as family is dying from the Fog sickness, they decide to embark on an mission to save her life, and avoid the evil Lord Kodoc. Featuring air pirates, great characters, and a unique setting, The Fog Diver is a fantastic steampunk adventure with a sci-fi twist that will leave you wanting more.

Kristen Harvey, The Book Monsters

Wings of Fire Book Six: Moon Risingby Tui T. Sutherland
Scholastic Press
Nominated by: Angiegirl

The Wings of Fire series returns with new dragons and a brand new story arc! After years of war, the kingdoms of the dragons are at peace, and a school has been founded to gather together young dragons from all the different factions. One of these students is Moonwatcher, a young Nightwing who has the Nightwing powers of telepathy and prophecy, gifts that might help her and her new friends thwart the dangerous and deadly plots that threaten the fragile peace. These books, with their wide range of heroic young dragon characters,, are just full of kid appeal, and Moon Rising is one of the best of them. Strong messages of friendship, tolerance, and forgiveness are presented alongside adventures large and small in a way that will have readers clamoring for more.

Charlotte Taylor, Charlotte’s Library

 

Isn't that a great list!  In one way, this was an easy year, because we had really really really strong books from which to pick.  But that of course made it hard to pick just seven....

 

And now the books have moved on to the second round of panelists, who have to pick one book as the ulitimate winner (to be announced Feb. 14).  I do not know which one I would pick.  At the moment, I am leaning toward Moon Rising, simply because Dragons at Boarding School is pretty much my personal dream book..............

 

(personal note:  I'm tickled that this year a book nominated by my 12 year old (The Dungeoneers) made it to the list)

This Week's Round-up of Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy from around the blogs (10/18/15)

Here's what I found this week; please let me know if I missed your post! (Typed with cold fingers....I hope we get a bit more warmth before Winter comes for keeps!)

The Reviews

Basil of Baker Street, by Eve Titus, at Tor

Becca and the Prisoner's Cross, by Tony Abbott, at Boys Rule, Boys Read

The Book of Kringle, by Derek Velez Partidge and Mary Packard, at The Children's Book Review

The Boy Who Knew Everything, by Victoria Forester, at Fantasy of the Silver Dragon

Brilliant, by Roddy Doyle, at BNKids Blog

The Chosen Prince, by Diane Stanely, at alibrarymama

A Curious Tale of the In-Between, by Lauren DeStefano, at Writer of Wrongs

The Entirely True Story of the Unbelievable FIB, by Adam Shaughnessy, at The Reading Nook Reviews

Firefly Hollow, by Allison McGhee, at Geo Librarian

Five Children on the Western Front, by Kate Saunders, at Reads For Keeps

Fuzzy Mud, by Louis Sacher, at Buxton's Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels and Susan Uhlig

Grounded The Adventures of Rapunzel, by Megan Morrison, at Log Cabin Library

Happenstance Found, by P.W. Catanese, at Buxton's Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels

The Hollow Boy, by Jonathan Stroud, at The Zen Leaf

The Jumbies, by Tracy Baptiste, at Kirkus (Leila Roy's column)

The Land Without Color, by at This Kid Reviews Books

The Last Hunt, by Bruce Coville, at Read Till Dawn

The Lord of the Hat, by Obert Skye, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Lost Girl, by R.L. Stine, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Mars Evacuees, by Sophia McDougall, at Bibliobrit

The Nest, by Kenneth Oppel, at Falling Letters

Nightbird, by Alice Hoffman, at Becky's Book Reviews

The Ordinary Princess, by M.M. Kaye, at alibrarymama

Over the Sea's Edge, by Jane Louise Curry, at Charlotte's Library

A Pocket Full of Murder, by R.J. Anderson, at The Book Wars

The Scary School series, by Derek the Ghost, at Always in the Middle

Seabourne: The Lost Prince, by Matt Myklusch, at Michelle I. Mason

A Sliver of Stardust, by Marissa Burt, at The Write Path

This Isn't What It Looks Like, and You Have to Stop This, by Pseudonymous Bosch, at One Librarian's Book Reviews

The Tournament at Gorlan, by John Flannagan, at On Starships and Dragonwings

The Toymaker's Apprentice, by Sherri L. Smith, at Teen Librarian Toolbox and Finding Wonderland

Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer, by Kelly Jones, at Charlotte's Library

Willie and Me: a Baseball Card Adventure, by Dan Gutman, at Time Travel Times Two

"Mermaids, Pirates, and Terrifying Tales | Middle Grade Series Update" a slew of mini reviews at SLJ

Two at Ms. Yingling Reads:  The League of Unexceptional Children, by Gitty Daneshvari, and The Fate of Ten, by Pittacus Lore

Authors and Interviews

Sherri L. Smith (The Toymaker's Apprentice) at The O.W.L. and The Book Smugglers

Rick Riordan at Entertainment Weekly


Other Good Stuff

Six great MG fantasies starring Sisters, a list by me at BNKids Blog

Shannon Hale kicks of a Stories For All Series of authors guest posting at her blog; here's her own and then you can go to the homepage of her blog and read them all!

How R.L. Stine "became the king of kids' horror" at The Boston Globe

A list of nicely spooky MG reads at Youth Literature Reviews, and another at Postcards from La-La Land

Dark Horse comics to publish graphic novels of the How To Train Your Dragon series (via Galley Cat)

A Tuesday Ten of Alternate Histories at Views from the Tesseract

This mermaid miniature house by artist Peter Gabel is utterly gorgeous; more pictures here at Messynessy and theyt are close ups and they are worth looking at because they are lovely!

Over the Sea's Edge, by Jane Louise Curry, for Timeslip Tuesday

Jane Louise Curry has written  many books that sound like they ought to be right up my alley, but always they fall short of my hopes for them.  Over the Sea's Edge (1971) is the latest in this long string of disappointments.  It is the story of a modern boy who swaps lives with a medieval Welsh boy.  Now Dave is Dewi, the boy charged with looking after his lord's pack of hounds, and gradually his modern memories fade and Dewi's reality takes over.  It is a tense time for Wales, with lots of internal fighting as well as the Normans to fight, and when Prince Madauc is almost killed in Dewi's own castle's courtyard, Dewi finds himself caught up in a great adventure.

Me--time travel to medieval Wales!  yes please.

Madauc has heard tales of a land far to the west, where riches are to be had, and he's determined to go there and get them to secure his own position in Wales.  So a boat is built, and it reaches the Americas...

And things go down hill as far as I am concerned. 

Me--oh God no. Can we just not with white people inserting romanticized white savior people where they don't belong?

The people they meet in North America are a strange amalgam of Mayan/Mississippian cultures, with a colony of earlier Welsh descendants taking center stage.  And there's strange dark magic going on to add to unconvincing Native North American worldbuilding, which the Welsh contingent saves everyone from.   I was, like, "gah."  It was not a convincing, realistic, well-rounded picture of Native North America, it was the setting for a Welsh prince to explore.  And Madauc, who at first seemed to have promise as an interesting character, gets pretty single minded about the gold thing, and Dewi stops thinking interesting thoughts about the situation as his memories of modern times vanish pretty much utterly. 

And they fall in love with beautiful Native Girls, Maduac's a Mayan priestess type girl with long flowing dark hair who thought he was a god, and Dewi with a nice little Welsh descendant.  "Falling in love" is perhaps the wrong term, as it implies a depth of emotion; "wanting to snog" is more accurate.  The (possibly) Mayan young woman seems to have a strong character, but because of the language barrier, she doesn't get to talk till the end of the story, so basically she is simply an amalgam of long dark hair (which she unconvincingly wears loose and flowing), Native "superstition", and regalia. 

I also dislike pre-Columbian North Americas that are empty enough so that Europeans can think to themselves greedy thoughts about what to do with all that empty land, because in fact North America was pretty firmly inhabited already.

I also dislike medieval Europeans who seem essentially lacking in any culture themselves.  This group of travelling Welsh folk weren't believable in any cultural sense either.  No thoughts about Christianity for instance.  No superstitions of their own in evidence.  No strong feelings of difference when confronted with other cultures. 

The North American setting is a continuation of Jane Louise Curry's earlier book, The Daybreakers, which I guess I will have to read some day if I want to read every time travel book published in English for kids in the 20th century.  Having read its Kirkus review, I'm not leaping at the opportunity. 

What was interesting (from a Time Travel book perspective) about Over the Sea's Edge is that Dewi never goes back to being Dave, and the book ends with Dave (originally Dewi) back in our world, appreciating his good education and not remembering much about being a medieval Welshman.  (At least, I think they never swapped back.  I might have to re-read the end a year from now to make sure, because this time around I had run out of interest).  It really rare that time travelers don't go home again, and in this case it helped the book achieve a reasonably satisfying ending (viz plot), because both boys are happier in their new times. 

But really my take home message is "never read any fiction about the medieval Welsh in North America."  I likewise strongly disliked Madeline L'Engle's An Acceptable Time.

Here's what Kirkus said about this one back when it first came out.

The Copper Gauntlet, by Holly Back and Cassandra Clare

The Copper Gauntlet (Magisterium Book 2), by Holly Back and Cassandra Clare (Scholastic, MG, Sept 2015), continues the story of three young wizards in training in an underground school of magic, who were introduced in The Iron Trial (my review).  I enjoyed that one very much, being a huge fan of schools of magic, and although the adventures of this second book actually didn't much take place at the school, I am at this point committed to the characters and the story and will follow along happily wherever they choose to go.

What makes the series interesting to me is that the dynamic is not so much about learning to be powerful, or learning necessary skills to triumph over the bad adversary, but much more about the dynamics of friendship and trusting not only your peers but yourself.  For Callum, the central protagonist, this is all a rather fraught issue, because he is a reincarnation of the Big Bad Guy, who stuck his soul into Callum's baby self so he could try to bring his plans (defeating death) to fruition with better luck next time.   Although the Number 1 henchman, who survived that first big face-off, is totally a tool with no obvious redeeming features other than strength of conviction and loyalty, the Big Bad Guy is actually not necessarily bad (he was, after all, Callum's father's best friend), and his reasons for trying to defeat death are not unsympathetic. 

This doesn't particularly set Callum's mind at rest, though.  Callum spends a lot of time wondering when the seeds of Dark Lord are going to sprout within him, and wondering if his father really wants him dead, so he doesn't turn into Darklord 2.0.  And Callum's friends, who he is keeping this a secret from, spend a lot of time being his good friends, while trying to come to terms with who they themselves are, and what family, school, and fate, expect from them. 

Callum is also a rather rare middle grade hero who has a disability that doesn't either contribute to his abilities or which is magically healed (though I guess it might be in a future book).  He has a badly damaged leg, and walking is painful for him.  This disability doesn't define him, but it does affect him in a realistic way, and the authors keep it nicely in mind when moving him from place to place within the story.

So lots of character stuff, which I like!  And an exciting storyline involving near-death magical encounters, lots of questions raised and a few answered, and plenty of page time for Callum's pet chaos ridden wolf cub (although he's almost not a cub at all anymore).  This is one of my favorite on-going MG series, and I can't wait till the next book.

Although this series is pretty clearly "middle grade" I think it's a good one for older MG readers moving toward YA-ness; I think older readers will appreciate the ambiguities more, and the interplay between the various characters (which don't, thank goodness, appear to be heading toward a love triangle) feels more complicated than is often the case in younger MG. 

This week's round-up of middle grade speculative fiction from around the blogs (2/8/15)

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

The Reviews

Akata Witch, by Nnedi Okorafor, at read. we are book punks.

Alistair Grim's Odditorium, by Gregory Funaro, at Sharon the Librarian

Beastkeeper, by Cat Hellisen, at The Book Monsters, Effortlessly Reading,  In Bed With Books, Cuddlebuggery, Snuggly Oranges, On Starships and Dragonwings

Dark Lord: School's Out, by Jamie Thomson, at alibrarymama

The Dragonet Prophecy (Wings of Fire book 1), by Tui T. Sutherland, at Hidden in Pages

Dreamer, Wisher, Liar, by Cherise Mericle Harper, at Time Travel Times Two

The Dreamsnatcher, by Abi Elphinstone, at Readaraptor

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, by Catherynne M. Valente, at Fantasy Literature

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, at Leaf's Reviews, and a review of the whole series at Fantasy Faction

The Inquisitor's Mark, by Dianne K. Salerni, at Middle Grade Mafioso

The Islands of Chaldea, by Diana Wynne Jones, at Leaf's Reviews

Mark of the Thief, by Jennifer A. Nielsen, at Literary Rambles (with giveaway)

Monstrous, by MarcyKate Connolly, at The Daily Prophecy

Nuts to You, by Lynne Rae Perkins, at alibrarymama

A Plague of Unicorns, by Jane Yolen, at Read Love

The Power of Un, by Nancy Etchemendy, at Charlotte's Library

The Princess Curse, by Merrie Haskell, at The Daily Prophecy

Rose and the Silver Ghost, by Holly Webb, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud, at A Reader of Fictions (audiobook review)

The Shadow Throne, by Jennifer A. Nielsen, at Log Cabin Library

Space Case, by Stuart Gibbs, at Always in the Middle

The Swallow, by Charis Cotter, at Rachel's Reading Timbits

Tommy Black and the Staff of Light, by Jake Kerr, at This Kid Reviews Books

A World Without Princess, by Soman Chainani, at The Book Smugglers

The Zodiac Legacy-Convergence, by Stan Lee et al., at Charlotte's Library (giveaway)


Authors and Interviews

MarcyKate Connolly (Monstrous) at Literary Rambles (with giveaway)

"Angela Banks" (Finding Serendipity) on "How Two Write a Novel" at Nerdy Book Club

Pam Muñoz Ryan (Echo) at Publishers Weekly


Other Good Stuff:

Middle grade speculative fiction did not fare well in this year's ALA Youth Media Awards.  I Lived on Butterfly Hill, by Marjorie Agosín, is the 2015 Pura Belpré (Author) Award winner. And A Snicker of Magic is an Odyssey Honor Recording.  Oh well....

Lee and Low announce the finalists of the 2015 New Visions Award

The Guardian offers "The best talking animals in children's books."

Flavorwire has a nice long article about "We Need Diverse Books" --a good summary

At BoingBoing, "The best adventure stories for kids from 1965" includes lots of fantasy books.

I almost have enough snow lying around (with more falling) to try my hand at my own massive snow sculptures, but I think the Japanese army and their Stormtrooper tableau will always have me beat....

It was sad that we could only have seven books on our Cybils shortlist

My eleven-year old was a bit sore at me last week--he felt that I should have been a stronger advocate for the books he wanted to see on the Cybils shortlist.   His own nominee--The Last Wild, by Piers Torday--wasn't there, and nor were two books he'd recently devoured in single sittings--Space Case, by Stuart Gibbs, and The Night Gardener, by Jonathan Auxier.  It's true that seeing your kid absolutely love a book to pieces does make you feel fondly toward it (unless it's a wretchedly awful book, in which case you start wondering where you went wrong), but it was also true that we only had places for seven books, and we had 155 from which to chose.  (It is like picking just one kitten at the animal shelter....)

So the book I myself nominated, Dark Lord-School's Out, by Jamie Thomson (so funny) isn't on the shortlist either.  Sigh.    And I wouldn't have minded Space Case myself, or another sci fi one, Ambassador, by William Alexander, which I liked lots, and anyone looking for a great book to give a nine year old girl should consider The Orphan and the Mouse, by Martha Freeman (but you might have trouble because of the cover, and there's a difficult Mouse Death right at the beginning) and The Whispering Skull  and The Magic Thief: Home, and Jinx's Magic and The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw were all great series continuations and Ninja Librarians was so much fun and I could go on and on..............

We had to make hard choices.  

But in any event, Space Case, Ambassador, and Dark Lord-School's Out are all 2014 personal favorites of mine.  And I just want to wave them a little bit at readers, because I think they deserve it....

And the eleven-year old would like me to do the same for The Last Wild and The Night Gardener.

And now I'm already starting to think about next year!!!!  Will we reach 200 nominated books???? Will it be even harder to pick just seven?????   Please do think about joining the fun--although it is true that there are more people who want to be panelists than there are slots, newcomers are welcomed and encouraged!  The call for panelists will go out in mid-August, 2015.

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (12/7/14)

I'm a little late getting this week's round-up posted, but for a rather relevant, as well as very pleasant, reason--I was busy chatting with Sage Blackwood, who is visiting these parts.   (Here's what was especially interesting--my favorite part of Jinx is the bit before Things Really Start Happening, and Sage wrote lots more of this part that didn't make it into the final book....sigh.)

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

The Reviews

Beyond Silence, by Eleanor Cameron, at Charlotte's Library

Dark Lord: School's Out, by Jamie Thompson, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Doll Bones, by Holly Black, at Shelf Space Needed

Greenglass House, by Kate Milford, at books4yourkids, Hope is the Word, and Pages Unbound

Hades Speaks! by Vicky Alvear Shecter, at This Kid Reviews Books

The Islands of Chaldea, by Diana Wynne Jones and Ursula Jones, at alibrarymama

The Magic Thief: Home, by Sarah Prineas, at Charlotte's Library

The Map to Everywhere, by Carrie Ryan and John Parke Davis,  at Charlotte's Library

Masterpiece, by Elise Broach, at Read Till Dawn

Pathfinder, by Angie Sage, at Redeemed Reader

The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud, at SLJ (audiobook review)

Secrets of the Terra-Cotta Soldier, by Ying Chang Compestine and Vincent Compestine, at Charlotte's Library

Sleeping Beauty's Daughters, by Diane Zahler, at Tales of the Marvelous

Space Case, by Stuart Gibbs, at Semicolon

The Squickerwonkers, by Evangeline Lilly, at Wondrous Reads

Time Square: UFO, by S.W. Lothian, at This Kid Reviews Books

The Witch's Boy, by Kelly Barnhill, at Nerdy Book Club and A Fantastical Librarian

Zero Degree Zombie Zone, by Patrik Henry Bass, at alibrarymama

The Zoo at the Edge of the World, by Eric Kahn Gale, at Ex Libris

Two audiobooks at Librarian of Snark--Under Wildwood, by Colin Meloy, and The Magician, by Michael Scott


Authors and Interviews

David Almond at The Guardian

Kate Hall (The Astronomer Who Met the North Wind) at The Book Smugglers


Other Good Stuff

This week's Tuesday Ten at Views from the Tesseract is a collection of  ships.

It's the second Annual Diversity Month at Twinja Book Reviews--check it out!

The most recent short story published by The Book Smugglers, The Astronomer Who Met the North Wind, is up at their site,and is a lovely mg one.

And now I must get back to busy busy reading for the Cybils Awards....I have 40 books left to read out of 155.....

Hades Speaks! by Vicky Alvear Shecter

Hades Speaks! by Vicky Alvear Shecter (Boyds Mills Press, Sept. 2014)  is the second installment of a series revealing the Secrets of the Ancient Gods (the first being Anubis Speaks!).    It is a non-fiction tour of the Greek underworld, with Hades himself serving as guide--one with more than a bit of attitude.

For Hades, with good reason, has a chip on his shoulder that's more a plank--Zeus is undeniably not the baby brother anyone would want, and being lord of the Underworld has considerably less pizzazz than throwing thunderbolts around from the top of Mount Olympus (and poor Hades' planet Pluto lost its planetary status; at least he can take some comfort from that fact that Jupiter is just a big ball of hot gas....)

So Hades, grumpy, defensive, and rather, um, dark describes the places and people of his realm (with a brief interjection from his wife, Persephone).  Stories of the various mythological visitors, and residents, of the Underworld are interspersed with the descriptions of its geographical features; I myself found the introductions to the dead Greek philosophers a nice touch (you don't hear much about them in other books about Greek mythology!)

Although Hades is something of a one-note grouchy pants, the use of contemporary allusions and idioms makes his voice one that should go down very easily indeed for the target audience--kids who prefer their mythology with a bit of modern edge to it, and who aren't necessarily die-hard Percy Jackson fans yet! 

disclaimer:  review copy received courtesy of the author

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi/fantasy goodness from around the blogs (7/6/14)

Here is this week's round-up, a little late today, because of spending the morning tyring to wrest a living from the hostile soil etc (ie, weeding) and difficulties wresting a computer away from hostile young (mine is not working) and difficulties putting down, of all things, Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett, which came up in conversation yesterday, as sometimes happens, even to the best of us.

If I missed your post, I'm sorry.  Let me know, and I will add it!

The Reviews:

The Boundless, by Kenneth Oppel, at Fantasy Literature

The Castle Behind Thorns, by Merre Haskill, at Kid Lit Geek and Semicolon

Clone Catcher, by Alfred Slote, at Views From the Tesseract

Dealing with Dragons, by Patricia C. Wrede, at 300 Pages

The False Prince, by Jennifer Nielsen, at Tales of the Marvelous

The Feral Child, by Che Golden, at Tea in the Teacups

The Glass Sentence, by S. E. Grove, at Book Nut

The Interrupted Tale, by Maryrose Wood, at Sonderbooks 

Kat, Incorrigible, by Stephanie Burgis, at Puss Reboots

Key to Kashdune, by Claudia White, at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books 

The Lost Kingdom, by Matthew Kirby, at Mister K Reads

The Luck Uglies, by Paul Durham, at Akossiwa Ketoglo

Maddy West and the Tongue Taker, by Brian Falkner, at Kid Lit Reviews

Minion, by John David Anderson, at Ms. Yingling Reads and The Book Monsters 

Missing, Presumed Evil, by Garth Nix and Sean Williams, at Speculating on SpecFic

Northwood, by Brian Faulkner, at The Write Path

Saving Lucas Biggs, by Marisa de los Santos and David Teague, at Semicolon 

The School For Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani, at Hidden in Pages

The Spellcoats, by Diana Wynne Jones, at Tales of the Marvelous

The Spirit Animal series, by various authors, at alibrarymama

The Thickety: A Path Begins, by J.A. White, at Waking Brain Cells



Authors and Interviews

Paul Durham (The Luck Uglies) at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

John David Anderson (Minion) at The Book Monsters


Other Good Stuff

The Guardian Children's Prize Longlist has been announced.  (The Dark Wild, sequel to The Last Wild, is on it....I have had Last Wild for months and months, but not yet read it sigh.)

Book fun places to go with kids in England at Playing by the Book with special attention to "A Viking's Guide to Deadly Dragons"

A nice list of ten Diverse spec fic stories at Views From the Tesseract

Mary Rodgers, author of Freaky Friday, has died (I have never read Freaky Friday, and feel vaguely that I should).

And----- The Call for Proposals for KidLitCon 2014 is now live!  (Please come to Sacramento this fall--I am going and I would like you all to be there too.)

This week's round-up of middle grade speculative fiction from around the blogs (3/23/14)

I myself have little to contribute to this week's round-up, since I have been visiting my mama.  But there is plenty without me, and please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews:

Almost Super, by Marion Jensen, at The Book Monsters

The Art of Flying, by Judy Hoffman, at Charlotte's Library

The Blood Guard, by Roy Carter, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Boys of Blur, by N.D. Wilson, at Good Books and Good Wine

Dark Lord: School's Out, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Doll Bones, by Holly Black, at A Backwards Story

Dragonborn, by Toby Forward, at By Singing Light

Exile (Keeper of the Lost Cities book 2), by Shannon Messenger, at Oh, the Books!

Game of Clones, by M.E. Castle, at Akossiwa Ketoglo

Gregor the Overlander, by Suzanne Collins, at Fantasy Book Critic

The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw, by Christopher Healy, at Word Spelunking

Hunt for the Hydra, by at By Singing Light

The Islands of Chaldea, by Diana Wynne Jones, at SJ O'Hart

Jinx, by Sage Blackwood (with the UK cover!), at Wondrous Reads

The Last Wild, by Scott Torday, at Guys Lit Wire and Bookpeople's Blog

The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge, at Things Mean a Lot

Loki's Wolves, by K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr, at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

Lost Children of the Far Islands, by Emily Raabe, at Word Spelunking

The Mark of the Dragonfly, by Jayleigh Johnson, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile and Galivanting Girl Books

Mary Poppins Comes Back, by P.L. Travers, at Tor

Moonkind, by Sarah Prineas, at Karissa's Reading Review

Odd and the Frost Giants, by Neil Gaiman, at Mom Read It

O.M.G. ...Am I a Witch?, by Talia Aikens-Nunez, at alibrarymama

The Race for Polldovia, by James Rochfort, at A Fantastical Librarian

The Rithmatist, by Brandon Sanderson, at Challenging the Bookworm

The Riverman, by Aaron Starmer, at The Book Monsters, Roro is Reading, and Alice, Marvels

Seven Stories Up, by Laurel Snyder, at Jean Little Library

Silver, by Chris Wooding, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Sky Raiders, by Brandon Mull, at Book Nut

Stolen Magic, by Stephanie Burgis, at alibrarymama

Smasher, by Scott Bly, at The Write Path and Candace's Book Blog

The Water Castle, by Megan Frazier Blakemore, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Two at Tales of the Marvelous--Any Which Wall, by Laurel Snyder, and Magical Mischief, by Anna Dale.

300 Pages has taken a look at Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic series -- Sandry's Book, Tris's Book, Daja's Book, Briar's Book

Ten Irish fantasy books for kids at Views From the Tesseract

Authors and Interviews

Aaron Starmer (The Riverman) and Laurel Snyder (Seven Stories Up) interview each other at Nerdy Book Club

Aaron Starmer at Great Imaginations and Maria's Melange

Peggy Eddleman (Sky Jumpers) at Kidit, Fantasy, & Sci Fi

Audrey Kane (The Purple Girl) at Thebookshelfgargoyle

Mary Sutton (Power Play) at Word Spelunking

Maureen McQuerry (Beyond the Door) at Word Spelunking

Susan Kaye Quinn (Faery Swap) at Literary Rambles

A. B. Harmes (Bewildered) at Through the Wormhole

Other Good Stuff

The winter issue of Goblin Fruit, a fantastical poetry journal, is out (read more at Once Upon a Blog)

Not specifically middle grade spec fic related, but of interest to those looking for multicultural books--here's the shortlist for the Burt Award for YA literature in the Caribbean, found at Caribbean Children's Fiction

Cake toppers of awesome (from The Mary Sue):