This week's middle grade science fiction and fantasy round-up (5/19/13)

Welcome to yet another week of what I found in my blog reading of interest to us fans of middle grade sci fi/fantasy, and possibly of interest to people who aren't fans themselves but have to buy the books for others.  Please let me know if I missed your post, please feel free to send me links any time during the week, please feel free to tell me about the posts of others, and please feel free to mention these round-ups on your own blog if the spirit moves you!

The Reviews

An Army of Frogs, by Trevor Pryce, at Journey of a Bookseller

The Bell Between Worlds, by Ian Johnston, at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, by Charles de Lint, at Fantasy Book Critic

The Clan of the Scorpion (Ninja Meerkats), by Gareth P. Jones, at Jean Little Library

The Circle, by Cindy Cipriano, at SA Larsen

Doll Bones, by Holly Black, at The Book Smugglers and Cover2CoverBlog

Fyre, by Angie Sage, at Unlikely Librarian

Goulish Song, by William Alexander, at That Blog Belongs to Emily Brown 
and Tor

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, by Christopher Healy, at Between the Pages

Iron Hearted Violet, by Kelly Barnhill, at Great Imaginations

The Last Timekeepers and the Arch of Atlantis, bySharon Ledwith, at swlothian

Loki's Woves, by K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr, at One Librarian's Book Reviews

Nation, by Terry Pratchett, at The Book Smugglers

New Lands, by Geoff Rodkey, at Geo Librarian

The Path of Names, by Ari Goelman, at Charlotte's Library

The Planet Thieves, by Dan Krokos, at The O.W.L.

The Princelings of the East, by Jemima Pett, at The Ninja Librarian

The Reluctant Assassin, by Eoin Colfer, at Book Nut

The Rose Throne, by Mette Ivie Harrison, at Kiss the Book

Seeds of Rebellion, by Brandon Mull, at Fantasy Literature

Summerkin, by Sarah Prineas, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Tilly's Moonlight Garden, by Julia Green, at Kid Lit Geek

The Tree of Mindala, by Elle Jacklee, at alibrarymama

The Water Castle, by Megan Frazer Blackwood, at Charlotte's Library

Wednesdays in the Tower, by Jessica Day George, at Sharon the Librarian, The O.W.L. and Small Review (giveaway)

Wonderlight, by R.R. Russell

A World Without Heroes, by Brandon Mull, at Fantasy Literature

ps:  just once I would love to have a book for every letter of the alphabet.   So please, why not consider reviewing a book beginning with E, I, J, K, M, O, Q, U, V, X, Y, or Z?  Then I would not have to search frantically, and disappointingly, for reviews of The Menagerie, or Undertown.    For a while, Jinx and The Key and the Flame covered those two difficult letters, but that well seems to have run dry... You Only Die Twice, by Dan Gutman, gave me a Y once, but  no one has reviewed Zombie Kid or Zombie Tag or Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom for ages...

It's probably a fruitless task-- I don't know if I have ever been able to include a book beginning with X.  I once read a book beginning with X, but did not feel moved to review it.....

Authors and Inverviews

Sage Blackwood (Jinx) at Charlotte's Library (giveaway)

Anne Nesbit (Box of Gargoyles) at The Enchanted Inkpot

"Lemony Snickett" (Who Could That Be At This Hour?) at The Children's Book Review

Soman Chainani (The School for Good and Evil) at The Enchanted Inkpot

Ari Goelman (The Path of Names) at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia and Brooklyn Arden (who edited the book; giveaway)

Jessica Day George (Wednesdays in the Tower) at Small Review

Kelley Armstrong (Loki's Wolves) at Literary Rambles (giveaway)

Kit Grindstaff (The Flame and the Mist) at Cynsations

R.R. Russell (Wonderlight) at A Backwards Story

Barbara Brauner and James Iver Mattson (Oh My Godmother: The Glitter Trap) at All For One and OneFour Kidlit

Dorine White (The Emerald Ring) Blog Tour stops so far:

Tuesday, May 14- From The Mixed up Files of Middle Grade Authors- Author Interview and giveaway

Tuesday, May 14- The Misadventures of a Twenty Something- Review

Wed, May 15- I am a Reader, Not a Writer- Author Interview and giveaway

Thurs, May 16- Word Spelunker- Spotlight/Giveaway

Fri, May 17- The Writing Blues- Review

Fri. May 17- Adventures in Reading- Review

Sat. May 18- Mels Shelves- Review

The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle blog tour continues, at Candace's Book Blog, The Modge Podge Bookshelf, and The Hiding Spot

Other Good Stuff:

There's a Book has a giveaway for all three books of the Lovecraft Middle School series

Fair Coin, by  E.C. Myers (Pyr) has won the Andre Norton Award (I've not yet read it--should I?); here's the list of all the Nebula winners.

The Vindico, by Wesley King (G.P. Putnam’s Sons/ Penguin Group) has won the 2013 Red Maple™ Fiction Award  (grades 7-8). I haven't read this one either....

Here's a nice little list of Historical Fantasy at Views from the Tesseract

The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani, has been optioned

Finally, here is my favorite new fantasy animal--the alot.  I like the alot a lot.  I think it needs its own book.

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs

Here's what I found this week in my search for middle grade fantasy and sci fi related blog posts--though I tried really hard to find as much as I could, I'm sure I missed lots, so do let me know!

The Reviews:

Bliss, by Kathryn Littlewood, at Becky's Book Reviews

The Book of Doom, by Barry Hutchison, at Bart's Bookshelf 

City of Ember, by Jeanne dePrau, at Madigan Reads

The Colossus Rises, by Peter Lerangis, at Maria's Melange and The Brain Lair (a joint, on-going project)

Dark Lord: The Early Years, by Jamie Thomson, at Emily's Reading Room 

A Dash of Magic, by Kathryn Littlewood, at Becky's Book Reviews 

Dragon Magic, by Andre Norton, at Charlotte's Library

The Fellowship for Alien Detection, by Kevin Emerson, at For Those About to Mock

Fraser's Voices, by Jack Hastie, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

The Freedom Maze, by Delia Sherman, at Bunbury in the Stacks (audiobook)

Frogged, by Vivian Vande Velde, at Random Musings of a Bibliovore

Garden Princess, by  Kristin Kladstrup, at Charlotte's Library

The Goblin Gift, by Conrad Mason, at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

Hashbrown Winters and the Whiz-tastrophie, by Frank L. Cole, at The Write Path

Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go, by Dale Basye, at Middle Grade Mafioso 

Hokey Pokey, by Jerry Spinelli, at Kid Lit Geek 

The Hollow Earth, by John Barrowman, at The Hiding Spot

The Incorrigible Childreon of Aston Place, by Maryrose Wood, at Hope is the Word (series review)

Keepers of the Lost Cities, by Shannon Messenger, at The Hiding Spot and Deb A. Marshall

The Last Dragonslayer, by Jasper Fforde, at alibrarymama

Magic Zero, by Christopher Golden and Thomas E. Sniegoski, at Little Willow

The Name of This Book is Secret, by Pseudonymous Bosch, at The Book Monsters

The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald, at Hope is the Word

Quest for the Spark, Book 3 (Bone), by Tom Sniegoski, at Back to Books

The Rope Trick, by Lloyd Alexander, at Fantasy Literature

The Runaway King, by Jennifer Nielsen, at Bookshelves of Doom

The Silver Door, by Emily Rodda, at Charlotte's Library

Skellig, by David Almond, at Bibliophilic Monologues 

Stolen Magic, by Stephanie Burgis, at The Book Smugglers and  Charlotte's Library

A Tangle of Knots, by Lisa Graff, at A Foodie Bibliophile

The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop, by Kate Saunders, at Becky's Book Reviews

Wildwood, by Colin Meloy, at Mister K Reads 

Two by Diana Wynne Jones--Charmed Life, and Archer's Goon, at You Can Never Have Too Many Books

And finally, the Horn Book has a nice look at The Hero's Journey, incuding The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle, Jinx, The Cabinet of Earths, and Poison


Authors and Interviews

David Almond, at The Telegraph--"Children's books shouldn't sit still and behave"

Stephanie Burgis (Stolen Magic) at The Book Smugglers and Cari's Book Blog

Marissa Moss (Mira's Diary: Home Sweet Rome) at The Hiding Spot

Jennifer Nielsen (The Runaway King) at Book Nut 

Barry Hutchison (The Book of Doom) at Bart's Bookshelf

William Alexander (Goblin Secrets) at The Enchanted Inkpot

Kit Grindstaff (The Flame in the Mist) at Random Acts of Reading

Claire Caterer (The Key and the Flame) at All Four One and OneFour Kidlit


Other Good Stuff

The New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards have been announced, and include some interesting looking sff; the judges, however, decried the "'girl power' void in new books for Kiwi kids."  Huh. 

On the subject of girls, it is Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy Month at Fantasy Cafe, and this week The Book Smugglers swung by with a list of great YA and MG SFF books by women.

And for those, like me, who find the world of competitive rabbit jumping incredibly appealing, here are bunnies in action!  (thanks to Jenny at Light Reading)

Dragon Magic, by Andre Norton, for Timeslip Tuesday

Well, you know, you win some, you lose some...and Dragon Magic, by Andre Norton (1972), sadly fell into the later category for me. 

The premise was interesting enough--four middle school boys of desperate backgrounds and interests all living in the same neighborhood in the early 1970s, but not interested in being friends.  Then one of them discovers the magic of the beautiful dragon puzzle he finds in an old abandoned house--a puzzle with four dragons.  Each boy in turn puts together a dragon, which whisks him on a journey back in time, and they become friends in the present when they share their experiences.

The boys whose interactions in the present make a framing device for the stories of the past are:

Sig--ordinary guy of Germanic heritage, who finds himself helping Sigurd take on Fafnir.

Ras, aka George--a black kid, whose big brother has embraced the Black Power movement, who finds himself a Nubian prince enslaved in Babylon along with Daniel.  He gets to watch Daniel overcome an African swamp dragonish creature.

Artie--would be cool boy, who goes back in time to King Arthur and learns a valuable lesson about meaningful relationships.

Kim--adopted from Hong Kong, he goes back to ancient China where there is a very confusing war going on, and comes back knowing he should try harder to make friends.

So a diverse cast of kids who don't get all that much page time, but who actually manage to be somewhat more than stereotypes, which is good, and four stories that varied a lot in interesting-ness, which wasn't so good.  The first two (Sigurd and Daniel) were very interesting, the last two I found tedious.

Which could have been just me.  But the particulars of the stories aside, the whole ensemble never felt enough like a cohesive story to rise above the fractures of its form and make me really care.  In large part this is because the time travel magic put the boys into characters in the past--they weren't themselves, so there was no ongoing metacommentary.  The stories were told straight up,with no ties back to the present, in much the same way as you might find stories anthologized in a book of "Dragon Stories of Many Lands."  And on top of that, the boys had almost no agency within their stories, which made them even less interesting.

So that's generally why I didn't care for it.  Here's a particular thing that vexed me--in Ras's story, Norton keeps referring to him as "the Nubian" and not by his name.  All the other boys were referred to by name, and it bothered me that he was depersonalized this way. 

But the dragon puzzle was beautifully described...best dragon puzzle ever.

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi (2/24/2013)

Welcome to this week's (wet and cold) round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction book reviews, author interviews, and interesting (d.v.) miscellanea from around the blogs!

In case you wonder how I find the links, here's how.   I follow about 500 blogs on google reader (which doesn't mean I read them.  Just the post titles, mostly.  So it doesn't actually take too long).  On Sunday morning, I do a blog search on "middle grade fantasy."  I have been known to go through the books recently reviewed on Kirkus, so I can do some specific title searches, and I search for books I myself know about.  Occasionally people send me links.

Which leads gracefully to my next point--more people are welcome to send links directly! (charlotteslibrary at gmail dot com). This includes authors and publicists.  That being said, I do reserve the right to decline to link to posts I don't find valuable.  People are also welcome to leave links in the comments. 

Onward.

The Reviews:

The Alchemyst, by Michael Scott, at books4yourkids

The Book of Doom, by Barry Hutchison, at The Book Zone

Case File 13: Zombie Kid, by J. Scott Savage, at Book Nut 

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

Demonkeeper, by Royce Buckingham, at Known to Read

Down the Mysterly River, by Bill Willingham, at BooksYALove 

Drizzle, by Kathleen Van Cleve, at GreenBeanTeenQueen 

Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun, by Liz Kessler, at theawseomeadventuresoflulu

The False Prince, by Jennifer Nielsen, at Kristen Evey

The Fellowship for Alien Detection, by Kevin Emerson, at Charlotte's Library

Freaks, by Kieran Larwood, at Finding Wonderland

Herbert's Wormhole, by Peter Nelson, at Maria's Melange

In a Glass Grimmly, by Adam Gidwitz, at Karissa's Reading Review 

The Lost Heir (Wings of Fire) by Tui T. Sutherland, at Ms. Yingling Reads 

On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave, by Candace Fleming, at Log Cabin Books

The Runnaway King, by Jennifer Nielsen, at Stacked and Bookshelvers Anonymous

The Shadows (The Books of Elsewhere), by Jacqueline West, at Middle Grade Ninja

The Space Between, by Kiki Thorpe, at Sharon the Librarian

Spirit's Princess, by Esther Friesner, at Charlotte's Library

The Strangers (Books of Elsewhere 4), by Jacqueline West, at Log Cabin Library 

A Tangle of Knots, by Lisa Graff, at Bookalicious and Literacious, and as an audiobook, at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

The Time Paradox, by Eoin Colfer, at Fyrefly's Book Blog

The Time-Travelling Fashionista, by Bianca Turetsky, at Time Travel Times Two

Authors and Interviews

Jennifer Nielsen (The Runaway King) at The Enchanted Inkpot

Mike Yung (Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities) at The Enchanted Inkpot

Anna Staniszewski (My Very UnFairy Tale Life) at Readatouille

Jasmine Richards (The Book of Wonders) at The Brown Bookshelf (as part of the wonderful 28 Days Later series)

The middle grade members of the Lucky 13s (debut authors of 2013), many of whom have written sff books, share their thoughts on why they write middle grade fiction.

Other Good Stuff

Shortlists!  The Andre Norton Award, the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, and the Diagram Prize (for quirkiest book title).  Here are this year's contestants for that one:

Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop by Reginald Bakeley
God's Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis by Tom Hickman
How Tea Cosies Changed the World by Loani Prior
How to Sharpen Pencils by David Rees
Lofts of North America: Pigeon Lofts by Jerry Gagne
Was Hitler Ill? by Hans-Joachim Neumann and Henrik Eberle

I think I like the peaceful simplicity of "How to Sharpen Pencils" the best.  What I'd really like, though, is a book on how to keep pencil erasers fresh, or at least, how to restore them to eraserability.

Children's Book Week (May 13-19, 2013) is on its way, and this year's bookmark is nicely mg sff!  Plus it has a hidden letters challenge.

Two awesome shortlists--the Andre Norton Award, and the Waterstones Children's Book Prize

The list of the books in the running for the 2013 Andre Norton Award have been announced-- here's what's in the running:

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy
Iron Hearted Violet, Kelly Barnhill (Little, Brown)
Black Heart, Holly Black (S&S/McElderry; Gollancz)
Above, Leah Bobet (Levine)
The Diviners, Libba Bray (Little, Brown; Atom)
Vessel, Sarah Beth Durst (S&S/McElderry)
Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House; Doubleday UK)
Enchanted, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
Every Day, David Levithan (Alice A. Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Summer of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Tu Books)
Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)
Above World, Jenn Reese (Candlewick)


A lovely, lovely list!  I've read all but three, and even though I didn't myself like every single one of the books, there's a nicely diverse tasty-ness to the ensemble.

Here's the full list of Nebula shortlists.


I take a keen interest in the shortlist for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, given over across the pond to new and emerging talent in three categories--picture books, fiction for ages 5-12, and teen books.   I like to have new UK authors to track down.  So I was a tad disappointed that the sci fi/fantasy side of this year's short list is a tad heavy on books I already knew...but I am rather intrigued by The Wolf Princess....

I figured the Norton books didn't need much introducing, but I copied the pictures and links for this list from the Waterstones site, because of some of them being ones I'd never heard of.

For Ages 5-12:

The Secret Hen House Theatre by Helen Peters

The Wolf Princess by Cathryn Constable

Chronicles of Egg: Deadweather and Sunrise by Geoff Rodkey

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Barry Loser: I am Not a Loser by Barry Loser

Atticus Claw Breaks the Law by Jennifer Gray

 

Teen Books:

Insignia by S. J. Kincaid, et al.

Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Skin Deep by Laura Jarratt

Geekhood: Close Encounters of the Girl Kind... by Andy Robb

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

This Week's Round-Up of Middle Grade Sci Fi and Fantasy (Dec. 9, 2012)

I found a rather nice bunch of reviews and other good stuff this week--please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews:

Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident, by Eoin Colfer, at So Many Books, So Little Time

The Aviary, by Kathleen O'Dell,  at Good Books and Good Wine

The Burning Bridge, by John Flanagan, at Sonderbooks

The Castle in the Attic, by Elizabeth Winthrop, at Time Travel Times Two 

Chase Tinker and the House of Magic, by Malia Ann Haberman, at YA Book Season

The Cloak Society, by Jeramey Kraatz, at Maria's Melange

Deadly Pink, by Vivien Vande Velde, at Semicolon

Deadweather and Sunrise, by Geoff Rodkey, at Sonderbooks

Divide and Conquer (Infinity Ring 2), by Carrie Ryan, at Cracking the Cover

Eye of the Storm, by Kate Messner, at That's Another Story

The Fire Chronicle, by John Stephens, at Jen Robinson's Book Page

Freakling, by Lara Krumwiede, at Semicolon

In a Glass Grimmly, by Adam Gidwitz, at The Book Smugglers

Ivy and the Meanstalk, by Dawn Lairamore, at 300 Pages

Liesl and Po, by Lauren Oliver, at Challenging the Bookworm

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny: Detectives Extraordinaire, by Polly Horvath, at Crunchings and Munchings

Nanny Piggins and the Wicked Plan, by R. A. Spratt, at Book Nut 

The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate, at Heavy Medal

The Peculiar, by Stefan Bachmann, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

The Red Pyramid, by Rick Riordan, at Fyrefly's Book Blog

The Savage Fortress, by Sarwat Chadda, at Semicolon

Small Medium at Large, by Joanne Levy, at Book Nut

The Tale of Timewarp Tuesday, by Leslie A. Susskind, at Nayu's Reading Corner

The Time-Travelling Fashionista at the Palace of Marie Antoinette, by Bianca Turetsky, at Charlotte's Library

Under My Hat, edited by Jonathan Strahan, at Book Nut 

Under Wildwood, by Colin Meloy, at Guys Lit Wire 

Unlocking the Spell, by E.D. Baker, at Geo Librarian

The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons, by Barbara Mariconda, at Semicolon

Who Could That Be At This Hour? by Lemony Snicket, at Charlotte's Library,  Kid Lit Geek and Crunchings and Munchings

Wings of Fire-The Dragonet Prophecy, by Tui T. Sutherland, at Book Nut and Challenging the Bookworm

Winter of Enchantment, by Victoria Walker, at Tor  

A look at the Tunnels series, by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams,  at Guys Lit Wire

Authors and Inverviews:

Rick Riordan talks about myths at The Guardian

Other Good Stuff:

If you want to try Diana Wynne Jones, here's a great guide from Andrea K. Höst at The Book Smugglers

I did not know that Harrison Ford has a major role in the Ender's Game movie!  My already considerable interest now much greater.

For those tired of stew, other foods in children's fantasy, at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles

Overlapping onto YA territory, the Andre Norton Award (which includes middle grade books) is being promoted in a blog tour during which great authors talk about their favorite boos of the year (and other good stuff)

 At The Mary Sue, the cast of the Hobbit meet their lego selves:

and in the random but almost sci fi category--catfish = pigeon killers

This Week's Round-Up of Middle Grade Sci fi/Fantasy (Dec 2, 2012 edition)

Here's what I found in my blog reading this week. It was a stickier week than usual, so apologies if I missed your post, and please let me know about it!

The Reviews:

Caught, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, at Book Nut and Charlotte's Library

The Dead Gentleman, by Matthew Cody, at Semicolon 

Dragon Slippers, by Jessica Day George, at The Book Smugglers

Finally, by Wendy Mass, at The O.W.L.

Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities, by Mike Jung, at Sonderbooks 

The Girl Who Could Fly, by Victoria Forester, at Books Beside My Bed

The Golden Door, by Emily Rodda, at Cracking the Cover 

Icefall, by Matthew Kirby, at Great Imaginations

Kenny and the Dragon, by Tony DiTerlizzi, at Fantasy Literature

The Search for WondLa, by Tony DiTerlizzi, at Sonderbooks

Signed by Zelda, by Kate Feiffer, at Book Nut and Semicolon

The Sisters Grimm, by Michael Buckley, at KimberlyLynKane.com

The Secret History of Hobgoblins, by Ari Berk, at books4yourkids

Splendors and Glooms, by Laura Amy Schlitz, at Bunbury in the Stacks

A Squire's Tale, by Gerald Morris, at Tales of the Marvelous

Starry River of the Sky, by Grace Lin, at alibrarymama and Kid Lit Geek

Tilly's Moonlight Garden, by Julia Green, at Semicolon

The Wednesdays, by Julie Bourbeau, at Book Nut

Wings of Fire: the Dragonet Prophecy, by Tui Sutherland, at Semicolon

A look at the Heroes in Training series, by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams, at Books Beside My Bed  and another at A Thousand Wrongs

A look at the Demigod Diaries and The Mark of Athena, by Rick Riordan, at Boys Rule Boys Read 

2 books with bad black cats (Behind the Bookcase, and Escape from Hat) at Charlotte's Library

Other Good Stuff:

Sherwood Smith, who was there at its beginning, looks back at the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy (nb:  middle grade books are also eligible)

The NY Times lists its notable children's books of 2012

Gift recommendation lists are popping up these days--here's a nice one at Book Aunt, that features some mg sff.

And for those wanting gifts of a bookish sort, check out YA for NJ--a Hurricane Sandy fundraiser in which YA authors are auctioning signed books, critiques, and visits at ebay (through Dec. 7)

At Scribble City Central, W is for Weres, with Curtis Jobling

The Encyclopedia of Fantasy has joined the Encyclopedia of Sci Fi on-line

And for those contemplating colleges, here are the top picks for Harry Potter fans.

Fortunately Totoro is roomy enough so that one can snuggle inside him (hat tip to Tanita, who hat tipped The Mary Sue)

This Sunday's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (8/19/2012)

Here's what I learned this week: wall paper is not easier than plastering and painting. Unless your house is new. This is why I am late getting this up.

Here's what I found in my blog reading this week--please let me know if I missed your post or the posts of your loved ones!

The Reviews:

Beswitched, by Kate Saunders, at Fantastic Reads

The Brixen Witch, by Stacy DeKeyser, at Charlotte's Library

The Cabinet of Earths, by Anne Nesbet, at A Thousand Wrongs

Claws, by Mike and Rachel Grinti, at Charlotte's Library

Deadweather and Sunrise (The Chronicles of Egg, book 1), by Geoff Rodkey, at Mister K Reads

The Dragonet Prophecy (Wings of Fire, book 1) by Tui T. Sutherland, at Charlotte's Library

Earwig and the Witch, by Diana Wynne Jones, at library_mama

Gods and Warriors, by Michelle Paiva, at The Book Smugglers

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, by Christopher Healy, at Sonderbooks

Invisible Fiends: The Beast, by Barry Hutchison, at Bart's Bookshelf

The Lost Conspiracy aka Gullstruck Island, by Frances Hardinge, at The Book Smugglers

Palace of Stone, by Shannon Hale, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile, Reading Everywhere, A Patchwork of Books, Ms. Yingling Reads (and probably lots of other blogs, but time is too short for me to look for them today....)

Project Jackalope, by Emily Ecton, at Charlotte's Library

The Second Spy (Chronicles of Elsewhere, 3), by Jacqueline West, at Beyond Books

A Tale Dark and Grimm, by Adam Gidwitz, at Confessions of a Bibliovore and Gina Carey

The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brockett, by John Boyne, at So Many Books, So Little Time

The Wednesdays, by Julie Bourbeau, at My Precious

The Wishing Spell, by Chris Colfer, at Beyond Books

Authors and Interviews

Alan Garner at The Guardian (including his hilarious first attempt to end The Moon of Gomrath!)

Greg Leitich Smith (Chronal Engine) at From the Mixed-Up Files (giveaway)

Margaret Peterson Haddix at Cynsations (giveaway)

Other Good Things:

A plethora of Peter Pans, at Read in a Single Sitting

Juliet Marillier talks Beauty and the Beast, at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles

Because I love Zita the Space Girl, I'm passing on this Jolly Raffle link.

A fascinating interview with an Andre Norton Award Juror, at the Intergalactic Academy -- do read it!

This Sunday's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction (5/20/2012)

Welcome to this Sunday's round-up of the middle grade fantasy/sci fi related blog postings (at least, those that I, in my week of blog reading, found and remembered to save the links to after finding). Please send me links I missed! And also, since the point of this whole round-up business is to make it easier for us mg sff fans to find reviews (I myself started doing this because I wanted someone else to have already started doing it), feel free to spread the word that these round-ups exist (thank you those who already have!)

Biggest news of the week: The Freedom Maze, by Delia Sherman, has won the Andre Norton Award! (Nebula for YA sci fi/fantasy), and the novel winner is Among Others, by Jo Walton. (Here's the whole list). And City of Lies, by Lian Tanner, has won the Aurealis Award for Children's Fiction (Australian sci fi/fantasy)

The Reviews

Akata Witch, by Nnedi Okorafor, at Bibliofile

Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide, by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi, at Wondrous Reads

Beware the Ninja Weenies, by David Lubar, at Intergalactic Academy

The Cabinet of Earths, by Anne Nesbet, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Cold Cereal, by Adam Rex, at Book Nut

The Dragon's Eye, by Kaza Kingsley, at Fantasy Literature

Explorer: The Mystery Boxes, edited by Kazu Kibuishi, at Book Aunt

A Face Like Glass, by Frances Hardinge, at Fantastic Reads

The False Prince, by Jennifer Nielsen, at My Brain on Books

Flora's Fury, by Ysabeau S. Wilce, at TheHappyNappyBookseller

Giants Beware! by Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rodaso, at Book Aunt

Gregor the Overlander, by Suzanne Collins, at Wandering Librarians

Grimalkin the Witch Assassin, by Joseph Delaney, at Karrissa's Reading Review

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, by Chris Healy, at The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia

Into the Dream, by William Sleator, at Back to Books

The Last Olympian, by Rick Riordan, at Fyrefly's Book Blog

Medusa the Mean (Goddess Girls 8) by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams, at Small Review

Ordinary Magic, by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway, at Popcorn Reads, Known to Read, and Steph Su Reads

Project Jackalope, by Emily Ecton, at BooksYALove

Return to Exile, by E.J. Patten, at Gamila's Review

The Rock of Ivanore, by Laurisa White Reyes, at The Book Cellar and The Write Path

The Saga of Rex, by Michel Gagne, at Karissa's Reading Review

Seeing Cinderella, by Jenny Lundquist, at Shannon Messenger

The Serpent's Shadow, by Rick Riordan, at The Brain Lair

Swipe, by Evan Angler, at artsy musings of a bibliophile

Talee and the Fallen Object, by Jacquitta A. McManus, at The Children's Book Review

The War at Ellsmere, by Faith Erin Hicks, at Book Aunt

A Well-Timed Enchantment, by Vivian Vande Velde, at Charlotte's Library

The Whisper, by Emma Clayton, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Witch Week, by Diana Wynne Jones, at Small Review

A three for one post at Ms. Yingling Reads-- 13 Hangmen, by Art Corriveau, Sir Seth Thislethwaite Seeks the Truth of Betty the Yeti, by Richard Thake, and Bridge of Time, by Lewis Buzbee,

Authors and Interviews

Jasmine Richards (The Book of Wonders) at The Enchanted Inkpot

Danika Dinsmore (The Ruins of Noe) at Just Deb

Stephanie Burgis (Renegade Magic) at Smack Dab in the Middle and distraction no. 99

Laurisa White Reyes (The Rock of Ivanore) at Cynsations and The Children's Book Review

Barry Wolverton (Neversink) at Jean BookNerd

Other Good Stuff:

A celebration of dragons at Scribble City Central

From Flavorwire (via 100 Scope Notes) comes 10 of the Weirdest Children's Book Authors of All Time

Neil Gaiman gives the commencement address at Univeristy of the Arts

And finally, for those of us who miss our dollhouses, the most beautiful miniature food I've ever seen (more pictures here, at Jules; found via Light Reading)

Gender bias, my blog, and sci fi/fantasy books for kids

So I was reading an article about gender bias in book journalism over at The Guardian today, and shaking my head sadly about the fact that the the bulk of the book reviewers are men, and the majority of the books reviewed are by men.

And then I quite naturally wondered about the gender balance here on my blog. Obviously, 100% of the reviews are written by a female. But it turns out that I have a strong bias towards books by women. In the past year (Feb 2011-2012) I reviewed 131 books by women, 64 books by men, and 4 books jointly authored by one of each. Hmm. This is actually an improvement from the state of things when I asked myself the same question back in this post from June of 2010, when I concluded that I reviewed one male author for every four female ones.

Just as was the case in 2010, in 2011 almost all my reading has been science fiction and fantasy for kids. In that 2010 post, I tried to get a sense of whether my female bias was a result simply of the abundance of women writers in this genre, and I found some support for this in looking over a sample of my lists of new releases.

However, 2012 is a different story! It is the year in which men achieve publishing equity in mg sff! In my past five lists, 34 new middle grade sci fi/fantasy books by women, 40 by men. (maybe...I like my data, but am not wedded to it, and sometimes it's hard to know the gender of initials, and sometimes I count wrong. However, anyone who wants to count for themselves, please do! Let me know what numbers you get! I am almost tempted to do more counting, but will resist).

So I'm currently working on the assumption that I read more books by women because women tend to write more books that appeal to me. And since I do, after all, want to read books I like, the gender imbalance on my blog will probably continue. But I maybe will try to make it a little bit less unbalanced by this time next year...because I want my lists and such to be useful resources to all readers, not just Charlotte-reader-alikes.

Postscript:
7 of the 8 authors shortlisted for this year's Andre Norton Award are women. Last year was the first in which there was gender equity (4 and 4), and I am very glad that Terry Pratchett won. If it hadn't been for that year, I would be wondering if those whose votes result in the shortlist are guilty of unconsciously equating women's writing with children/younger readers, which is an awful thought.

The Andre Norton Award Shortlist has been announced!

The Nebula Awards short lists have been announced! The Nebulas are awards voted on, and presented by, active members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Here's the short list of books in the running for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy, and isn't it a nice one!

• Akata Witch, Nnedi Okorafor (Viking Juvenile)
• Chime, Franny Billingsley (Dial Books; Bloomsbury)
• Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Hodder & Stoughton)
• Everybody Sees the Ants, A.S. King (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
• The Boy at the End of the World, Greg van Eekhout (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
• The Freedom Maze, Delia Sherman (Big Mouth House)
• The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Rae Carson (Greenwillow Books)
• Ultraviolet, R.J. Anderson (Orchard Books; Carolrhoda Books)

The first Andre Norton Award was given in 2005, to Valiant, by Holly Black. Here's a fasinating post by Sherwood Smith at Tor about Andre Norton, and how the award began.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne M. Valente (2011, Feiwel and Friends, middle grade/young adult, 256 pages).

In this lovely fairy tale, a twelve-year old girl named September is whisked off from Omaha, Nebraska to Fairyland by the Green Wind. Accompanied by a most charming Wyverary (child of a library father and a Wyvern mother), September journeys in classic fairyland adventure style from one wondrous encounter to the next (the herd of wild velocipedes, the marvellous baths of the heartbroken soap golem, the land where it is always autumn, and much more).

But as she travels, things get darker. This fairyland is a place where things have gone badly awry under the rule of the Marquess, she of the fabulous hat and seemingly absolute power. The Wyverary's wings, and those of all flying creatures, have been chained, and this is just one of the Marquess' oppressive edicts.

Each choice September makes leads her deeper and deeper into an adventure with Consequences. She is not a Chosen One, but when, toward, the end of the book, she is offered the chance to simply say goodbye to the story she's become part of (a story that's going not well at all), she has to decide if she will choose to stay, to fight for her friends, and for fairyland itself...

This is a lovely book for those who love words, who love pictures made in their minds of wonderful things. Those who crave the toothsome joy of thought-provoking escapism will find themselves well satisfied.

"...September read often, and liked it best when words did not pretend to be simple, but put on their full armor and rode out with colors flying." (page 51) And this makes September, the titular Girl of this story, the ideal reader for her own adventure, for this is what Valente's words do, as she tells a story that is at once as simple as can be, but which has a tremendous sweetness of depth and caring.

On the other hand, those who find intrusive narrators vexing might well be a bit put-off, because such intrusions do happen here, and they do underline the fact that one is Reading a Story. This makes the experience one of engaged consciousness, as opposed to one of unbroken readerly immersion (does that make sense?). I didn't have a problem with it here, although with other books I've found it annoying.

The Girl Who... is evocative (as others have pointed out) of other classic journeys in fairyland (Alice, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Wizard of Oz); I think it might be closest in feel to The Neverending Story (but I like this one lots more--it has much more zest). It is being marketed as YA, but for no particular reason that I can think of, other than that Valente is known for her adult books, and those readers might balk at being asked to read a children's book.

There are illustrations at the start of each chapter by Ana Juan, but I think they are scary. I don't like oversized heads. You can look at the art in more detail via Macmillan, where there's lots of bonus material.


And finally, here's a particular small thing I appreciated: September's mother (who works in a WW II airplane factory, while her father is fighting in Europe) is very much present in her daughter's thoughts (not excessively, but enough to make her part of September's story). Even though we don't meet her till the very end, she became very dear to me--I can't find the exact quote, but there's one brief mention of the very brave and cheerful face she puts on to friends and neighbors, so brave, despite how tired she is, that they do not offer casseroles. I find this immensely piquant.

Thanks to the publishers and to Zeitghost Media, I have the opportunity to give away a copy of this book-- please leave a comment by noon EST on June 30 (North America only). Do enter to win (here and at all the other blogs giving it away this week) --it is really a lovely book.

It is also the only book to win the Andre Norton Award (the young readers version of the Nebula) before it was published--Valente wrote it first as an on-line book, which was then picked up by its current publisher.

Fantasy and Science Fiction for Kids--this Sunday's round-up of posts from around the blogs

Another week, another round-up! This one has Exciting Awards News down at the bottom, and lots of other good stuff from you, the blogging community. Please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews:

Amazing Greek Myths of Wonder and Blunder, by Michael Townsend, at Great Kid Books

Astrosaurs: The Sabre Tooth Secret, by Steve Cole, at Nayu's Reading Corner

The Boy at the End of the World, by Greg van Eekhout, at Fuse #8

Casper Candlewacks in Death by Pigeon, by Ivan Brett, at The Book Zone (for boys)

Cinderella, Ninja Warrior, by Maureen McGowan, at The O.W.L. and Books at Midnight, where you can also find Sleeping Beauty, Vampire Slayer.

The Dark City (Relic Master Book 1) at The Book Smugglers and Charlotte's Library (where I'm giving away two copies; ends Monday)

The Emerald Atlas, by John Stephens, at Mudie Kids, Bewitched Bookworms, and at Books and Movies

The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle, by Catherine Webb, at Bart's Bookshelf.

Fantasy Baseball, by Alan Gratz, at TheHappyNappyBookseller

Foundling, by D.M. Cornish, at Just Booking Around

The Gates, by John Connolly, at Books From Mars

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne Valente, at Book Aunt and Ex Libris

Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow, by Nathan Bransford, at Musings of a Book Addict

Juniper Berry, by M.P. Kozlowsky, at Kid Lit Frenzy

Kat, Incorrigible, by Stephanie Burgis, at books4yourkids

The Midnight Gate, by Helen Stringer, at Book Aunt and Charlotte's Library

Reckless, by Cornelia Funke, at Book Nut (audiobook review)

The Resisters, by Eric Nylund, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Rotten Adventures of Zachary Ruthless, by Alan Woodrow, at Just Deb

Scary School, by Derek the Ghost, at Books Kids Like

The Shadow Hunt, by Katherine Langrish, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

The Silver Door, by Holly Lisle, at Books and Movies

Spellbinder, by Helen Stringer, at Wicked Awesome Books

A Tale of Two Castles, by Gail Carson Levine, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Throne of Fire, by Rick Riordan, at Becky's Book Reviews

The Underland Chronicles books 3-5, by Suzanne Collins, at Just Booking Around

Webster's Leap, by Eileen Dunlop, at Charlotte's Library

A World Without Heros (The Beyonders, Book 1), by Brandon Mull, at Karissa's Reading Review

Zita the Space Girl, by Ben Hatke, at Books & Other Thoughts

Authors and Interviews

Anne Ursu (Breadcrumbs) talks about her childhood reading at There's a Book

Sherwood Smith (Crown Duel) talks about the Harry Potter phenomena at Book View Cafe

M.P. Kozlowsky (Juniper Berry) at Mundie Kids

Maureen McGowan (Cinderella, Ninja Warrior) at The O.W.L.

Clete Barrett Smith (Aliens on Vacation) at Cynsations

Other good stuff:

Stacy Whitman, of Tu Books (a Lee and Low Imprint) talks about diversity in sci fi and fantasy for young readers in a not-to-be-missed three part series that begins here.

At The Enchanted Inkpot, there's a discussion of Tween books (with fantasy books, natch, being the ones discussed!)

The Lost Years of Merlin, by T.A. Barron, might be coming to the big screen

Lots of award news:

I Shall Wear Midnight, by Terry Pratchett, wins the Andre Norton Award (the YA Nebula). Here are the books it was up against:

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown)
White Cat by Holly Black (McElderry)
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press; Scholastic UK)
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch (Amulet)
The Boy from Ilysies by Pearl North (Tor Teen)
A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow)
Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK)

And here's the full list of winners.

The 2010 Aurealis Awards (which recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror writer) have also been announced:

• BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL: Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey
• BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY: "A Thousand Flowers" by Margo Lanagan
• BEST CHILDREN'S FICTION(told primarily through pictures): The Boy and the Toy, Sonya Hartnett (writer) & Lucia Masciullo (illustrator)
• BEST CHILDREN'S FICTION (told primarily through words): The Keepers, Lian Tanner

And continuing on with awards--

The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature "honors books for younger readers (from “Young Adults” to picture books for beginning readers), in the tradition of The Hobbit or The Chronicles of Narnia."

Here's this year's shortlist:

• Catherine Fisher, Incarceron and Sapphique (Dial)
• Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight (HarperCollins)
• Polly Shulman, The Grimm Legacy (Putnam Juvenile)
• Heather Tomlinson, Toads and Diamonds (Henry Holt)
• Megan Whalen Turner, The Queen’s Thief series, consisting of The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, and A Conspiracy of Kings (Greenwillow Books)

End of awards section.

Just a reminder that I post lists of new releases in sci fi/fantasy for kids twice a month--here's the second half of May edition.

And finally, The Spectacle is closing up its shop. I've very much enjoyed their two and half year's worth of postings--so thank you, very much, Spectacle Bloggers, and good luck in all your ventures!

Here's the list of nominees for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy

The lists of nominees for the Nebula Awards have been announced; here are the books in contention for the Andre Norton Award, given for "young adult" books:

• Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown)
• White Cat, Holly Black (McElderry)
• Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press; Scholastic UK)
• Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, Barry Deutsch (Amulet)
• The Boy from Ilysies, Pearl North (Tor Teen)
• I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett (Gollancz; Harper)
• A Conspiracy of Kings, Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow)
• Behemoth, Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK)

What a list! What awesome books! What a nice mix!

The Boy from Ilysies is the only one I haven't read, but I quickly hurried over to Amazon where it was sitting in my shopping cart to place my order....

And here, just for the heck of it, are the "adult" titles:

• The Native Star, M.K. Hobson (Spectra)
• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit UK; Orbit US)
• Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
• Echo, Jack McDevitt (Ace)
• Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor (DAW)
• Blackout/All Clear, Connie Willis (Spectra)

I find it interesting that they are considering the Connie Willis books as a single entity. This is the only one I've read from this list, although several of the others are on my hideously engorged TBR list....