Introducing the Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy Roundup!

Looking for reviews of middle grade science fiction and fantasy (sf/f) can be something of a hit or miss proposition. Books in this genre are often reviewed at blogs that have a general children's book focus, but you never know when that's going to happen, and middle grade books seem to show up only sporadically (if at all) at blogs whose focus is sf/f. So, inspired by Sherry at Semicolon, who hosts a review round-up every Saturday, today I'm introducing a similar, but more focused, weekly feature here, one that I hope will happen every Sunday.

I'm inviting everyone who's blogged about middle grade science fiction and fantasy (new or old) in the past week to leave me a link to their reviews, responses, reminiscences or remarks (as many as you want from the past week). Then, at the end of the day, there will be a lovely consolidation of mg sff posts that will be a nice and tidy resource for folks looking for the books, and all of us who like to read about them!

Middle-grade generally means books for children 9 to 12 year old, but if you have reviews of books that skew a bit younger than that, that's fine with me (but any older, and you are getting into YA territory, which is a whole different thing....). And, for future weeks, links to reviews can be emailed to me at any time, if you think you might not be commenting on that week's roundup Sunday itself.

So. Here we go!

This Week's Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy Reviews (alphabetical by blog)

At Boys Rule Boys Read:

Salt Water Taffy: The Seaside Adventures of Jack and Benny - The Truth about Dr. Truth by Matthew Loux (a graphic novel) As an added bonus, this link also gives a review of The Monstrumologist...(YA)

Carl has a whole bunch more links that aren't from this week in his comment below--do check them out! But I couldn't resist linking to his review of The Roar, by Emma Clayton (2009), because it is next up on my Cybils reading list...

Here at my place (Charlotte's Library):

The Society of Unrelenting Vigilance (The Candle Man, Book 1), by Glenn Dakin (2009)
A Walk Through a Window, by kc dyer (2009)
Mike Stellar: Nerves of Steel by K.A. Holt (2009)

At Eva's Book Addiction:

Darkwood, by M.E. Breen (2009)
Sent, by Margaret Peterson Haddix (2009)

At The Excelsior File:

When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead (2009)

At Fantasy Book Critic, Cindy has:

The Hotel Under the Sand, by Kage Baker (2009)
Nine Pound Hammer (The Clockwork Dark Book 1) by John Claude Bemis (2009)
The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1, by PJ Haarsma (2008)

At Fantasy Book Review:

Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, by David Benedictus (2009)

At Jean Little Library:

The Runaway Princess and its sequel, The Runaway Dragon, by Kate Coombs (2006 and 2009)

At Owl in the Library:

Powerless, by Matthew Cody (2009)

Please let me know if I am being unclear about anything, and please leave me your links!

THANKS!

This week's roundup of middle-grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogosphere--Cybils winner edition!

Welcome to this week's round-up of things middle-grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogosphere (and please do let me know if I have missed your review or interview or exciting news....)

The first and most exciting news is that the winners of the fourth annual Cybils Awards have been announced! And the winner for middle grade science fiction/fantasy is:

SILKSINGER, by Laini Taylor. Congratulations, Laini! (here's my review)

The YA winner was Fire, by Kristin Cashore.

In case you aren't familiar with the Cybils--these awards are given each year by bloggers in a wide range of book categories. Books are chosen on two criteria-their quality and their kid-appeal. Anyone can nominate a book during the first two weeks of October, and the shortlists and winners are selected by panels of bloggers. If you are a blogger who'd like to take an active role next year, check in closer to October to find out how you can put your name forward.

Please click on the Cybils link above to see the other fantastic winners!

And now for this week's reviews:

Archer's Quest, by Linda Sue Park (2006), at Charlotte's Library.

Dragonbreath: Attack of the Ninja Frogs, by Ursula Vernon (2010) at Dwelling in Possibility.

The Ever-Breath, by Julianna Baggot (2010) at Parentdish and at Book Aunt.

Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware, by M.T. Anderson (2009), at Book Aunt.

Maskmaker, by Jane Johnson (March 1, 2010) at The Book Zone (for boys).

Mortlock, by Jon Mayhew (April 5, 2010--UK), at The Book Zone (for boys).

The Sixty-Eight Rooms, by Marianne Malone (February 23, 2010) at Book Aunt.

Song of the Wanderer: Unicorn Chronicles 2, by Bruce Coville (2008), at A Fangirl's View.

Toby Alone, by Timothée de Fombelle (2009) at Books4yourkids

Waterslain Angels, by Kevin Crossley-Holland (2009) at Charlotte's Library (which actually might not technically be fantasy, but which has fantastical elements).

A Web of Air, by Philip Reeve (April 2010) at Mr. Ripley's Enchanted Books.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin (2009), at Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind, and at Becky's Book Reviews.

N.D. Wilson is Blog Touring to promote his new book, The Chestnut King, 3rd in the series that began with The 100 Cupboards. It is one of the more interesting blog tours I've read, with descriptions of previously unexplored cupboards and more...

2/8 Mundie Moms
2/9 Book4yourkids
2/10 The Reading Zone
2/11 Eva's Book Addiction (and here's her review of The Chestnut King)
2/12 Becky's Book Reviews, where there is also a guest post by N.D. Wilson.
2/12 Fireside Musings

And finally, here's Slate's review of The Lightning Thief movie.

Like I said above, please let me know (at any time) if you have reviews of mg sff to add to this or future lists! I pull reviews from the blogs in my reader, and every week I do google searches on "children's fantasy book" and "middle-grade fantasy" (and science fiction), as well as sporadic searching for reviews of specific books I know are just out, but I am sure I am missing lots...

Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy from around the blogs--this week's roundup

Welcome to yet another Sunday of middle grade fantasy and science fiction reviews and news from around the blogs. Although every day I toil for hours, neglecting all other commitments to scour the blogging world for mg sff goodness, I'm sure I am missing stuff, and would love to be given more links! (it's actually not really all that toilsome--and I like doing it). So anyway, here it is again.

Just one more note: I'm defining the upper limit of "middle grade" these days as anything I'd give to an eleven or twelve year old, which includes things labeled "YA."

Reviews, reflections, and remarks:

Athena the Brian (Godess Girls) by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams at Welcome to My Tweendom.

The Boneshaker, by Kate Milford (2010), at BoingBoing and BSC Kids.

Clair de Lune, by Cassandra Golds (2004/2006), at Charlotte's Library.

Dark Days (Skulduggery Pleasant), by Derek Landy (2010) at Books & Other Thoughts.

Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld, at The Antick Musings of G.B.H.Hornswoggler, Gent., and at Eva's Book Addiction.

Middleworld, by J. & P. Voelkel (2010), at What to Read.

Night Fairy, by Laura Amy Schlitz (2010), at Great Kid Books

Plain Kate, by Erin Bow (September 2010), at Abby (the) Librarian.

The Red Pyramid, by Rick Riordan (2010), at Bellaonbooks Blog.

The Sixty Eight Rooms, by Marianne Malone (2010), at Literate Lives.

The Time Bike, by Jane Langton (2000), at Charlotte's Library.

Vampirates: Tide of Terror, by Justin Somper (2009) at Nayu's Reading Corner.

Wiff and Dirty George: the Z.E.B.R.A. Incident, by Stephen Swinburne (2010) at Fuse #8.

Fantasy Literature is a site that aspires to review just about every children's fantasy book every--this week's new addition to their archives is a look at Eulalia, by Brian Jacques.

Ms. Yingling offered a smorgasboard of goodness this week, in these posts--Viking Aliens go Hunting, Horses and Unicorns, and Emperors, Queens, and Pharaohs!

Katherine Langresh (author of the The Shadow Hunt, aka Dark Angels in the UK, which is up next on my reading pile-yay!) is one of those bloggers who writes the sort of long and thoughtful topical posts I never seem moved to write, but wish I did :). Here's her take on Fairytale Heroines.

If you aren't familiar with Bookie Woogie, you are missing a fun and funny blog, where a dad talks with his kids about the books they read--here are Dad (Aaron Zenz) and Isaac (11 years old) talking about Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and other fantasy as well.

Here's Greg Van Eekhout talking about his new book, Kid Vs Squid, on John Scalzi's Whatever.

I also just wanted to mention a blog that's new to me--KinderScares, which features a wide variety of horror for the young, like yesterday's look at The Big Book of Horror.

Author Interviews:

Christine Brodien Jones, author of The Owl Keeper, at The Enchanted Inkpot.

Jennifer Cervantes, author of Tortilla Sun, at La Bloga.

Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of Falcon Quinn and the Black Mirror, at Fuse #8

Kate Milford, author of The Boneshaker, at Chasing Ray.

And finally, here are The Hazerdous Players, creators of Knightime, interviewed at Finding Wonderland.

One last thing. I don't generally talk about movies, but this involves a favorite author of mine (Ursula Le Guin):

Tales from Earthsea, a 2006 anime film directed by Gorō Miyazaki, will be released in the US this August. It is not to be confused with the Sci-Fi Channel's mini-series. For more on the horror that was, here is Ursula Le Guin's article at Slate, entitled "A Whitewashed Earthsea: How the Sci Fi Channel Wrecked My Books."

This week's middle grade sci fi/fantasy roundup (12/23/12)

The fierce struggle that happens when eight computer users must share one computer is one reason why I didn't get this done yesterday....the other, more interesting, reason is that us MG sff Cybils panelists talked on online for several hours as we struggled to formulate our shortlist.   Only one book was agreed on yesterday...though several still have seats at the table, and many more were allowed to stay in the room, and given cookies.   Some even got cookies with sprinkles.

There not much from me in this week's round-up--I've been mostly re-reading for the Cybils some books I read over a year ago, so as to see if what I think about them is really what I think about them....which has been a treat, because I really do like rereading, and don't do enough of it!  But here's what other people posted about!  Do let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews:

Above World, by Jenn Reese, at The Book Smugglers

The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, by Claire Legrand, at Slatebreakers

Chase Tinker and the House of Magic, by Maila Ann Haberman, at Read 'n'Write

Darkbeast, by Morgan Keyes, at Book Nut 

Deadweather and Sunrise, by Geoff Rodkey, at Semicolon 

Fire Prophet, by Jarel Law, at The Write Path

Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities, by Mike Jung, at Charlotte's Library

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

In a Glass Grimmly, by Adam Gidwitz, at Semicolon

Iron Hearted Violet, by Kelly Barnhill, at Semicolon

The Last Dragonslayer, by Jasper Fforde, at Semicolon

The Memory Bank, by Carolyn Coman, at Confessions of a Bibliovore

The Peculiar,by Stefan Bachmann, at Emily's Reading Room (audio book review)

The Prairie Thief, by Melissa Wiley, at Book Nut

The Prince Who Fell From the Sky, by John Claude Bemis, at Book Nut

The Seven Tales of Trinket, by Shelley Moore Thomas, at Book Nut

Tilly's Moonlight Garden, by Julia Green, at Charlotte's Library

What Came From the Stars, by Gary Schmidt, at One Librarian's Book Reviews

Authors and Interviews

Mrs. Bunny (as in, Mr. and Mrs. Bunny: Detectives Extraordinaire)  at Random Acts of Reading

Katherine Catmull (Summer and Bird) at The Enchanted Inkpot

 Ilana Waters (The Adventures of Stanley Delacourt), at Geo Librarian

Other Good Stuff....I don't really have anything this week, just a gingerbread library:

And the hope that lots of kids will get books they love tomorrow!  I'm going to do on last bit of Christmas shopping, by making a donation to Reading is Fundamental.  Through Dec. 31, donations will be matched dollar for dollar. 

This week's middle grade fantasy and science fiction roundup (March 17, 2013)

Welcome the round-up of what I found this week!  Please let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews:

The Arctic Incident, by Eoin Colfer, at Fantasy Literature

Ash Mistry and the City of Death, by Sarwat Chadda, at The Book Zone

Bot Wars, by J.V. Kade, at Heise Reads & Recommends

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, by Charles de Lint, at A Reader of Fictions and Charlotte's Library

Deadweather and Sunrise, by Geoff Rodkey, at Justin's Book Blog 

E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core!,  at Wondrous Reads 

The Fellowship for Alien Detection, by Kevin Emerson, at BooksYALove, The Write Path, Bumbles and Fairy-Tales, and Sonderbooks

Finn Finnegan, by Darby Karchut,  at Middle Grade Ninja 

Freakling, by Lana Krumwied, at Maria's Melange

Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities, by Mike Jung, at Stephanie Ruble (giveaway)

The Genius Files, by Dan Gutman, at Log Cabin Library

House of Secrets, by Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books 

The Invisible Tower, by Nils Johnson-Shelton, at Geo Librarian

Iron Hearted Violet, by Kelly Barnhill, at The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia

Island of Silence, by Lisa McMann, at Karissa's Reading Review

Jinx, by Sage Blackwood, at Ageless Pages Reviews

Mirage, by Jenn Reese, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Mister Monday, by Garth Nix, at Mister K Reads

My Epic Fairy Tale Fail, by Anna Staiszewski, at The Write Path and The Book Cellar

The Ogre Downstairs, by Diana Wynne Jones, at Dead Houseplants

The Peculiar, by Stefan Bachmann, at We Fancy Books

The Princess for Hire trilogy, by Lindsey Leavitt, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Return to Exile, by E.L. Patien, at My Precious

The Runaway King, by Jennifer Nielsen, at Cracking the Cover, Candace's Book Blog, Sonderbooks, Becky's Book Reviews, and Literary Rambles (giveaway)

The Snow Merchant, by Sam Gayton, at Playing By the Book

A Tangle of Knots, by Lisa Graff, at Alice Marvels

Timecatcher, by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick, at Charlotte's Library

The Ultra Violets, by Sophie Bell, at Justin's Book Blog

Zom-b Underground, by Darren Shan, at Ms. Yingling Reads

A two for one post at Book Aunt-- Garden Princess, by Kristin Kladstrup, and A Tangle of Knots, by Lisa Graff


Authors and Interveiws

Barbara Brooks Wallace (Miss Switch and the Vile Villains) at Cynsations

Jenn Reese (Mirage) at The Enchanted Inkpot

Sara Crowe (literary agent) talks about Sky Jumpers, by Peggy Eddleman, at Literary Rambles (giveaway)

Darby Karchut (Finn Finnegan) at Middle Grade Ninja

Two MG SFF blogtours are wrapping up--here are the stops for The Fellowship of Alien Dection and here are the stops for The Chroncles of Egg


Other Good Stuff:

Lee and Low has been showcasing the winners of this years New Vision Finalists; in this final post of the series, the authors talk about diversity in genre fiction for middle grade and YA audiences.

A list of Irish fantasy for (mostly middle grade) kids at Charlotte's Library, which was just considerably expanded thanks to a very knowledgeable blog reader.

First Book has announced that the two publishers chosen to provide books for their Stories for All Project (making multicultural books available to providers of books to kids in lower income communities) are Lee and Low, and Harper Collins. (read more here at the NY Times)

This week's round-up of middle grade science fiction and fantasy reviews

Here's the second installment of my weekly roundup of middle-grade (ages 9-12) science fiction and fantasy reviews of books old and new from around the book blogs. Here's what I've found so far, but please leave me a comment if I've missed yours, and I will add it to the list! (and feel free to spread the word about this too).

At One Librarian's Book Reviews, you can find Found (ha ha), by Margaret Peterson Haddix.

Kate at Book Aunt looks at Spellbinder, by Helen Stringer (2009).

Fuse #8 reviews Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin (2009)

At A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy, Liz has The Witch's Guide to Cooking With Children, by Kevin McGowan, a modern re-telling of Hansel and Gretel (2009).

Jennifer, at the Jean Little Library, talks about Violet Wings, by Victoria Hanley (2009). And at Children Come First, Olgy has another Victoria Hanley book, that's at the top end of my definition of middle grade-- The Light of the Oracle.

At Fantasy Book Review (UK) there's Tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth, by Chris Priestley (2009).


The Curse of the Spider King, by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper (2009), is currently on a huge blog tour of Christian Science Fiction/Fantasy blogs--here's one of its first stops, at The Christian Fantasy Review, and there a long list of the other participating blogs.

At Emeraldfire's Bookmark there's a look at The Taker and the Keeper, by Wim Coleman and Pat Perrin (2009), a Cybils nominee that I reviewed a few weeks back here. And it's also reviewed by Anastasia here at BirdBrain(ed) Book Blog.

Eva at Eva's Book Addiction is currently the middle-grade science fiction and fantasy book reviewing champion. Here she has Silksinger, by Laini Taylor (2009), here she has Ottoline Goes to School, by Chris Riddell (2009), and here she has The Last Olympian, by Rick Riordan (2009), all Cybils nominees.

Critique de Mr. Chomp Chomp takes a look at When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead (2009), another Cybils nominee.

I myself only reviewed one book this week (here), being rather busy with other things. It was Lost Worlds, by John Howe (2009), a lovely non-fiction book.

This past week saw the Winter Blog Blast Tour of author interviews organized by Colleen at Chasing Ray, where you can find the full schedule. Here are the interviews with mg sff authors:

Derek Landy, of Skulduggery Pleasant fame, at Finding Wonderland.
Frances Hardinge (The Lost Conspiracy and more) at Fuse #8
Patrick Carman (Skeleton Creek) at Miss Erin
Laini Taylor (the Dreamdark Books) at Shelf Elf
Jim De Bartolo (illustrator of the above) at Seven Impossible Things
R.L. LaFevers (the Theodosia books, and also Nathaniel Fludd, Beasteologist) at HipWriterMama
and, because The Thief is middle grade, even if the next two books more YA-ward, there's Megan Whalen Turner at HipWriterMama.

(did I miss anyone?????)

This week's round up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction

Here's what I found this week of interest to us connoisseurs of middle grade fantasy and science fiction.

The big (although old-ish) news first:

Lee and Low books has acquired Tu Publishing! Tu started as an independent imprint dedicated to multi-cultural middle grade and YA sff; in its new home, its mission will be unchanged. Why this acquisition is a good thing--the number of books Tu can publish in its first year will be larger, and the books will more easily find their way to book stores. This happened in large part because so many ordinary people contributed to Tu's initial campaign for donations to help kickstart it; this so successfully demonstrated that there was great interest in diverse sff that Lee and Low became interested.

More on diversity--at Asimov's Science Fiction, Norman Spinrad discusses "an almost textbook example in extremis of how the failure of an Anglophone writer from the outside to really embed himself in the street-level popular culture of the Third World society in which he is setting the story can place the reader at the same less-than-deeply involved remove." Rose Fox offers a response at Publisher's Weekly (thanks to Lee and Low's The Open Book blog for the links).

And not mg, but interesting--at the Tor blog, Heather Tomlinson has compiled a list of YA fantasy that offers geographical/cultural diversity.

Now, the reviews:

11 Birthdays, by Wendy Mass, at Becky's Book Reviews.

The Birthday Ball, by Lois Lowry, at Book Aunt.

Finally, by Wendy Mass, at Bookshipper

Mari Ness continues to look at Ruth Plumly Thompson's Oz books with The Hungry Tiger of Oz over at the Tor blog.

Ingo, by Helen Dunmore, at Vulpes Libris.

The Incorigible Children of Ashton Place, by Maryrose Wood, at Read Now, Sleep Later.

Knightly Academy, by Violet Haberdasher, at Book Aunt.

The Night Fairy, by Laura Amy Shlitz, at Oops...Wrong Cookie.

The Sixty-Eight Rooms, by Marianne Malone, at Read Now, Sleep Later.


At the Russell Elementary Library blog, there's a look at the Fablehaven series, in which Jana says (italics in the original) "this is one of the only series I know of that has a female as the lead character, but that boys read just as much or more than girls." Agree? Disagree?

Don't miss New Fashioned Fantasy: What does look like? over at The Enchanted Inkpot.

Finally, there's a super swell contest (for librarians only) over at the Spectacle, to win this awesome list of books:

1. INCARCERON by Catherine Fisher (hardback)
2. SACRED SCARS by Kathleen Duey (hardback)
3. THE BOOK OF NONSENSE by David Michael Slater (hardback)
4. THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE by David Michael Slater (hardback)
5. THE SECRETS OF THE CHEESE SYNDICATE by Donna St. Cyr (paperback)
6. HOUSE OF THE SCORPION by Nancy Farmer (paperback)
7. THE EMERALD TABLET By PJ Hoover (hardback)
8. NAVEL OF THE WORLD by PJ Hoover (hardback)
9. THE SEER #1: DON”T DIE DRAGONFLY by Linda Joy Singleton (revised large issue with short story bonus)
10. THE FARWALKER’S QUEST by Joni Sensel (hardback)
11. THE TIMEKEEPER’S MOON by Joni Sensel (hardback)

Please let me know if I missed your post! I do my best to find things, but every week I find things I missed the week before...which is sad for me. You can email me anytime during the week at charlotteslibrary at gmail dot com, or leave a link in the roundup comments.

This Sunday's roundup of middle-grade fantasy and science fiction

Welcome to this week's round-up of posts from around the blogging world about middle-grade science-fiction and fantasy! Please let me know if I missed yours, and, since this is a regular Sunday feature, please feel free to send me links during the week for next time!

Reviews:

Blackbringer, by Laini Taylor, at Debuts and Reviews, and one of its sequel Silksinger at Children Come First.

Calamity Jack, by Shannon and Dean Hale, at Book Nut (and check out the paper dolls illustrator Nathan Hale has made! Cool).

There's a look back at Charlotte Sometimes, by Penelope Farmer, at Red House Books (this is one of my favorite time travel stories ever!)

Cosmic, by Frank Cottrell Boyce, at A Fuse #8 Production. (I've never actually read this myself, and it sounded science-fictiony, but apparently it's not--see Monica's comment below)

A Different Day, a Different Destiny, by Annette Laing, at Charlotte's Library.

Dragon Games, by P.W. Catanese, at Eva's Book Addiction.

The First Escape, by G.P. Taylor, at Becky's Book Reviews.

The Magician's Elephant, at Becky's Book Reviews.

Odd and the Frost Giants, by Neil Gaiman, at Sonderbooks.

The Roar, by Emma Clayton, at Charlotte's Library.

The Society for Unrelenting Vigilance (Candleman Book 1), by Glenn Dakin, at Fantasy Book Critic.

Toby Alone, by Timothee Fombelle, at Critique de Mr. Chompchomp (who also shares the news that a sequel, Toby and the Secrets of the Tree, is on its way!)

Interviews and miscellaneous items of interest:

Kazu Kibuishi talks about his new book Copper, a graphic novel about a boy and his talking dog, here at Zack Smith: Writer, and here at Newsarama. (Readers of Flight, Volume One, have already met Copper--thanks to my 9 year old for pointing this out). Copper was just released, but already has been named a Junior Library Guild Selection for Fall 2009. (Kibuishi is also the creator of the Amulet graphic novels for kids, and Amulet 3 seems to be nearing completion...)

This year's winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction is the graphic novel The Storm in the Barn, which is also a fantasy. This has sparked some discussion about fantasy and historical fiction at Oz and Ends, Educating Alice, and here at Charlotte's Library.

Tiffany at Eudaimonium has proposed "a one-day virtual conference sometime in late March or April. I want this to be a truly useful conference to writers and aficionados of MG/YA SFF. Many of us see the same panels over and over again at conferences, making us feel like we've wasted time and money. How might we do it differently? What panels would you like to see that you haven't seen?" The technology part of this daunts me, but it sounds like it could be a good and interesting thing!

And finally, at Kidliterate there's An Argument in Favor of Waiting for Harry, with which I heartily agree! There are lots of great suggestions in the post itself and in the comments for other books (fantasy and otherwise) for kids who aren't ready to be hurried into Harry Potter.

Armchair BEA--The Kidlitosphere

Today Armchair BEA morphs gently into Armchair Book Blogger Convention--those of us not lucky to be in NY are sharing blogging conventionish posts today.

I thought that so many of the bloggers taking part in this event are new to me, they might also not be familiar with that part of the blogging world in which I make my mental home--the Kidlitosphere (whose logo is shown at left). In a nutshell, the Kidlitosphere is a conglomeration of bloggers whose passion is books for kids and teens. Here's the website, with news, links to members, and various resources. There is also a Yahoo kidlitosphere group, where bloggers frequently ask each other blogging questions, support each other in times of blogging crisis, share news, and celebrate. Information on joining this listserve can be found at the above website.

Lifted shamelessly from that website, here are some of the regular things that Kidlitosphere members do:

The KidLitosphere Conference

An annual gathering of the movers and shakers in the kidlit community

The Carnival of Children’s Literature

A monthly roundup of the best in kidlit blogging, organized around a central theme--here is this month's edition, at Homespun Light

Nonfiction Monday

Giving bloggers a chance to share nonfiction books for children and teens.

Poetry Friday

A weekly assortment of poetry-themed musings and original content

The Kidlitosphere is also the driving force behind the Cybils Awards. These awards, given in a variety of children's/YA categories each year, are chosen by panels of bloggers from long lists of books nominated by anyone who has books they feel passionately about. The first round panelists read fiercely during the fall to come up with short lists, which are then sent to judging panels. The criteria are excellence of writing (and illustration when applicable), and kid appeal.

If you are looking for succinct lists of excellent books in the various categories covered by the Cybils (like mg non-fiction, YA sff etc) there are no better lists than the Cybils shortlists.

The call for readers for the upcoming Cybils will probably go out in August--so if you are a blogger who talks about children's or YA books on a reasonably regular basis, do think of throwing your name in the hat! The Cybils organizers determine who goes on what panel (sadly, there's not room for everyone), balancing experience with freshness.

And I'd also like to put in a plug for the Kidlitosphere Conference--I attended last year's, in DC, ably organized by the fabulous Pam (aka Mother Reader) who is the driving force behind the Kidlitosphere. It was a fantastic event, and I'm going again (I hope) this fall!

Pam is also going to be hosting a 48 Hour Reading Challenge the first weekend in June--fun! prizes! reduction in size of tbr pile (never enough reduction, but every bit helps)!