The books I read in 2009 that I will always remember

I read lots and lots of books in 2009. Many of them were very good indeed, but I'm not particularly inclined to make a top ten list--some I liked for one reason, some for another, and it all gets complicated really really quickly. And I don't want to hurt the feelings of the books I don't include.

But I did find it rather easy to look through my blog posts from 2009, to find the books that I will always remember. These four books aren't my favorites of the year (although I liked them all), but they made such extraordinarily strong pictures in the mind that I will never forget them.

The Hotel Under the Sand, by Kage Baker (my post). It went down hill a bit when the guests arrived, but I will never ever forget the sand dunes, and the emergence of the hotel.

Ghost Town, by Richard Jennings (my post). It's not surprising that this one made such clear pictures in my mind--it's about pictures, after all. It is beautiful and haunting (and funny).

The Museum of Mary Child, by Cassandra Golds (my post). The museum itself is burned into my brain, and will be forever. This book also gave me pictures of an orphan girls' choir singing at Christmas in a gothic church, and lots of lovely doll clothes....

The Last Polar Bears, by Harry Horse (my post) The cold, the ice, the wolves, the humor of the little dog, the final journey. Sniff. (Even though I've read the sequels, I still refuse to believe that they made it home).

(I toyed with including Silksinger, by Laini Taylor (my review), in the list, because I have lots and lots of Silksinger pictures in my mind--when I call it up, I get flying carpets and dragonflys and eastern markets and threads untangling and underground caves and ice lace and oceans and... I feel overwhelmed. There are so many pictures that the emotional whommph (visually) becomes diffuse. Which isn't a criticism of the book at all, but more just a comment on the way my mind works. If you can call it "working.")

What books did you read in 2009 that made pictures in your head you'll never forget?

A place holding post, of interest to those who care for trees falling on houses, how many books I read for the Cybils, and tea-bags

Here is a picture of the Christmas tree Mother Nature sent my parents....the person standing on the tree has just been swung into place by the crane's cable. Mercifully none of the large branches that made it through the roof went through the ceiling of the room below. I wanted to put lights on it, but they wouldn't let me.

But the tree is gone now, and we are home again, and some of us got up this morning and were a bit at a loss--for the first morning in weeks, I didn't immediately start reading for the Cybils awards. The finalists have all been decided now, and will be announced January 1st. (Our middle grade science fiction and fantasy list is rather nice).

I read 96 out of 98 books, which is 25 less than I did last year. On the other hand, I have finally read the Percy Jackson series and the Septimus Heap series in their entirety and enjoyed them both very much. The 5th books of each were nominated this year, and I hadn't read the others (except 50 pages of Queste for the Cybils last year, which confused the heck out of me).

So anyway, the point of this post is to say that I don't have anything interesting bookwise to offer, but that, having read so many books recently, I have lots of reviews to write.

And then there all the books to be read, now that the Cybils are over--books that aren't middle grade science fiction/fantasy. I have just started No Impact Man: the adventures of a guilty liberal who attempts to save the planet and the discoveries he makes about himself and our way of life in the process, by Colin Beavan, which I am finding soothing.

Which in turn reminds me that no one got me the book I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas, even though I kept telling them that it would show us how to make ornaments out of used tea-bags. All of us thought it meant the bag you put in the water, and wondered (when you cinch the waist of a tea-bag, it doesn't look that much like angel-wings, and that was the only idea I had). But now I know they were talking about the paper wrapper part, which sets my mind at rest, a little.


(I didn't actually want it, anyway--I annoyed/gently educated my family just fine with the Green-ness I had on hand).

New releases of fantasy and science fiction for children and teenagers, the middle and end of December edition

Here are the new releases of fantasy and science fiction books for children and teenagers, from the middle to the end of December. There are many here that I'm looking forward too; in particular, I want The Ever Breath, by Julianna Baggott--when I read The Prince of Fenway Park for the Cybils, I added her to my mental list of "authors whose future books I will automatically read."


For nine to twelve year-olds:

A Different Day, A Different Destiny (The Snipesville Chronicles, Book 2), by Annette Laing. "When you wake up in the year 1851 on a Scottish hillside...Or in an English coal mine...Or on a plantation in the Deep South, you know you re in for a bad day. Nothing for Hannah and Alex Dias has been normal since they moved from San Francisco to the little town of Snipesville, Georgia. Bad enough that they and their dorky new friend Brandon became reluctant time-travellers to World War Two England. Oh, sure, they made it home safely (just) but now things are about to get worse. Much worse. From the cotton fields of the Slave South to London's glittering Crystal Palace, the kids chase a lost piece of twenty-first century technology in the mid-nineteenth century. But finding it is only the beginning of what they must do to heal Time."

Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder, by Jo Nesbo. "Nilly is new to the neighborhood, but he is quick to make friends: Doctor Proctor, an eccentric professor; and Lisa, who is teased by the twin terrors Truls and Trym. Nilly and Lisa help Doctor Proctor develop his latest invention, a powder that makes you fart. The powder makes Nilly and Lisa very popular at school when they sell it for fifty cents a bag. And they get revenge on Truls and Trym by giving them a dose of extra-strength fart powder that shoots them up into a tree. All is good farty fun. Until someone steals the industrial-strength fart powder -- which was supposed to make Doctor Proctor famous -- to use for evil purposes...."

The Ever Breath, by Julianna Baggott. "In a world where locust fairies flutter and firebreathers burst from snowbanks, two children are having the adventure of their lives. Truman and his twin sister, Camille, have just met their grandmother . . . and she’s a little strange. She whispers a tale about something called the Ever Breath, an amber orb that maintains the balance between our world and a dreamy one of imagination—and evil. Soon Truman and Camille find themselves in the Breath World, a magical place where ogres clash and a mouse holds the key to a mystery. Some creatures want to help them—and some want them D-E-A-D. That’s because the Ever Breath has been stolen, and an epic battle is raging to bring it safely back. Can the twins save not only one world—but two?"

Gamers' Quest, by George Ivanoff Tark and Zyra are teenaged thieves on a quest. In a world of magic and science, where dragons and mages exist alongside drones and lasers, they endeavor to reach the haven of Designers' Paradise. But their world is not what it appears to be and their haven is about to come under threat of destruction. Can Tark and Zyra save Designers' Paradise ... and their own world?



Hat Trick, by Jason M. Burns. "Hat Trick follows the adventures of Ray, a would-be magician who is introduced to a world of magic through his famous uncle's top hat. With the help of a few of the world's inhabitants, including a six-foot tall talking rabbit named Poof, Ray must uncover his true potential and defeat the evil that is enslaving the world."



I So Don't Do Spooky, by Barrie Summy. "Did you know that the main campus of the Academy of Spirits is at a Dairy Queen in Phoenix? Me either. Until now. Some weird stuff has been happening to my stepmother, Paula, and the Academy has asked me, Sherry Holmes Baldwin, to get to the bottom of it. They think someone’s trying to hurt her. I really don’t want to get involved—my life is way too busy. Josh and I are celebrating two blissful months of togetherness. And my best friend, Junie, is finally showing a teeny bit of interest in clothes and makeup after years of brainiac behavior. But being that my mom is a ghost and all, me, my brother, and my dad rely on Paula a lot. So it’s not like I can just ignore what’s going on. Especially since my mom is competing at the Ghostlympics. If she comes in first place, she earns five minutes of Real Time. And that means I’ve got to get involved in a creepy, freaky mystery."

The Jungle Vampire (Awfully Beastly Business), by Dave Sinden, Matthew Morgan, & Guy Macdonald. "Ulf the werewolf is training to become an official Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Beasts (RSPCB) agent. His mission takes him to the jungle in search of a legendary jungle vampire. But the evil Baron Marackai is hot on his trail. Can Ulf and his friends find the vampire first? The future of the RSPCB depends on it...."


Lone Wolf (Wolves of the Beyond), by Kathryn Lasky. ''A wolf mother has given birth, but the warm bundle snuffling next to her brings only anguish. The pup, otherwise healthy, has a twisted leg, and the mother knows what the harsh code of the pack demands. Her pup will be taken from her and abandoned on a desolate hill. The pack cannot have weakness - the wolf mother knows that her pup is condemned to die.But alone in the wilderness, the pup, Faolan, does not perish. This his story - a story of survival, of courage, and of love triumphant. This is Faolan's story, the wolf pup who rose up to change forevever the Wolves of the Beyond."

Pathways to Adventure, by Sandra June Upchurch. "How Angie, Alexis, and James came to be in the same mysterious forest at the same time is as big a mystery to them as it is to anyone else. They soon find themselves entangled in bizarre, other-worldly encounters with talking animals, giant, predatory spiders, and numerous strange pathways, none of which seems to lead back home! Join these adolescents on their odd adventures as each new path they take leads them to some new and daunting challenge. Will they ever find their way back home? Find out in Pathways to Adventure."

Song #3 (The Mysterious Mr. Spines), by Jason Lethcoe. "The third and final book in this series. "Edward McLeod is almost at the end of his journey. He has battled his way through the afterlife, mastered his Guardian powers, and even learned how to fly. Now he must take on the Jackal and fight for all of the trapped souls in the Woodbine. But the Jackal and his formidable army will not be easy to defeat. Is Edward really the destined “Bridge Builder” or will he too fall to the Jackal’s evil forces?"

RuneWarriors: Sword of Doom, by James Jennewein & Tom S. Parker. "Can life get any worse for Dane the Defiant? The same villagers who once praised him for his courage in defeating Thidrek the Terrifying now blame him for everything that has gone wrong since then: The torrential downpours. The dwindling food supplies. Even the rampant outbreaks of armpit lice. Dane's deceased father would never have let things get so bad, the village elders say. But then Dane is summoned to the fortress of King Eldred, where he receives the final piece of his father's legacy: an ancient secret written in mysterious runes that leads to no less than the treasure of the gods. But the treasure, he learns, is cursed, and his mother is kidnapped. And so, braving an army of angry trolls and warring frost giants (and other fantastic creatures there isn't space here to describe), Dane and his friends must decipher the cryptic clues and embark on a quest to find the enchanted treasure and save her life. Oh, and all the while battling ultimate evil. Can Dane be the hero he has always wanted to be? Or will he fall prey to the curse and betray those he loves?

A Whole Nother Story, by Dr. Cuthbert Soup. "The three Cheeseman children, their father, and their psychic dog are all on the run. From whom? Well the CIA, naturally. But also corporate agents #5, #29, and # 207, plus two international superspies -- one of whom happens to be a chimpanzee. They all want Dr. Cheeseman and his late wife's greatest invention–a machine with unspeakable powers–OK, I'll say it. It's a time machine. But it's not working right yet, so put all ideas of time travel out of your head. Instead, please enjoy this high stakes, high action, hijinx-filled chase, and the bizarre characters our Cheeseman friends will meet as they protect not just their parents' invention, but their mother's sacred memory. It's an adventure novel like no other."


Young Adult:

The Dark Divine, by Bree Despain. ''Grace Divine, daughter of the local pastor, always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared--the night she found her brother Jude collapsed on the porch, covered in his own blood--but she has no idea what a truly monstrous secret that night held. The memories her family has tried to bury resurface when Daniel returns, three years later, and enrolls in Grace and Jude's high school. Despite promising Jude she'll stay away, Grace cannot deny her attraction to Daniel's shocking artistic abilities, his way of getting her to look at the world from new angles, and the strange, hungry glint in his eyes.
The closer Grace gets to Daniel, the more she jeopardizes her life, as her actions stir resentment in Jude and drive him to embrace the ancient evil Daniel unleashed that horrific night. Grace must discover the truth behind the boy's dark secret...and the cure that can save the ones she loves. But she may have to lay down the ultimate sacrifice to do it--her soul.''

Dark Hunter (Villain.net), by Andy Briggs. ''When a mysterious benefactor springs him from Diablo Island penitentiary, Jake Hunter is back on the run, trying to locate the man who wiped out his family’s memories of him and dodging the efforts of the hero Chameleon to track him down. Unfortunately, his benefactor wants something in return—for Jake to kidnap the president of the United States. Sure, Jake’s the most powerful supervillain on earth, but will the ordinary schoolkid in him be up to the deadly challenge? Dark Hunter is an action-packed adventure, full of even more dastardly villains and exciting showdowns and intricately linked to the anti-series, Hero.com.''

Darklight (Wondrous Strange), by Lesley Livingston. ''Faerie can't lie . . . or can they? Much has changed since autumn, when Kelley Winslow learned she was a Faerie princess, fell in love with changeling guard Sonny Flannery, and saved the mortal realm from the ravages of the Wild Hunt. Now Kelley is stuck in New York City, rehearsing Romeo and Juliet and missing Sonny more with every stage kiss, while Sonny has been forced back to the Otherworld and into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the remaining Hunters and Queen Mabh herself. When a terrifying encounter sends Kelley tumbling into the Otherworld, her reunion with Sonny is joyful but destined to be cut short. An ancient, hidden magick is stirring, and a dangerous new enemy is willing to risk everything to claim that power. Caught in a web of Faerie deception and shifting allegiances, Kelley and Sonny must tread carefully, for each next step could topple a kingdom . . . or tear them apart.''

Fallen, by Lauren Kate. "There's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori. Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He's the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move. Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce--and goes out of his way to make that very clear--she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her."

Hearts at Stake: The Drake Chronicles, by Alyxandra Harvey-Fitzhenry. ''On Solange’s sixteenth birthday, she is going to wake up dead. As if that’s not bad enough, she also has to outwit her seven overprotective older brothers, avoid the politics involved with being the only daughter born to an ancient vampire dynasty, and elude Kieran Black—agent of an anti-vampire league who is searching for his father’s killer and is intent on staking Solange and her entire family. Luckily she has her own secret weapon—her human best friend Lucy—who is willing to defend Solange’s right to a normal life, whether she’s being smothered by her well-intentioned brothers or abducted by a power-hungry queen. Two unlikely alliances are formed in a race to save Solange’s eternal life—Lucy and Solange’s brother Nicholas, and Solange and Kieran Black—in a dual romance that is guaranteed to jump start any romance-lover’s heart.''

Magic Under Glass, by Jaclyn Dolamore. ''Nimira is a foreign music-hall girl forced to dance for mere pennies. When wealthy sorcerer Hollin Parry hires her to sing with a piano-playing automaton, Nimira believes it is the start of a new and better life. In Parry's world, however, buried secrets are beginning to stir. Unsettling below-stairs rumors swirl about ghosts, a madwoman roaming the halls, and Parry's involvement with a league of sorcerers who torture fairies for sport. Then Nimira discovers the spirit of a fairy gentleman named Erris is trapped inside the clockwork automaton, waiting for someone to break his curse. The two fall into a love that seems hopeless, and breaking the curse becomes a race against time, as not just their love, but the fate of the entire magical world may be in peril.

My Soul to Save (Harlequin Teen), by Rachel Vincent. "When Kaylee Cavanaugh screams, someone dies. So when teen pop star Eden croaks onstage and Kaylee doesn't wail, she knows something is dead wrong. She can't cry for someone who has no soul. The last thing Kaylee needs right now is to be skipping school, breaking her dad's ironclad curfew and putting her too-hot-to-be-real boyfriend's loyalty to the test. But starry-eyed teens are trading their souls: a flickering lifetime of fame and fortune in exchange for eternity in the Netherworld—a consequence they can't possibly understand. Kaylee can't let that happen, even if trying to save their souls means putting her own at risk…."

Stupid Cupid, by Rhonda Stapleton. ''Felicity's no ordinary teen matchmaker...she's a cupid! Felicity Walker believes in true love. That's why she applies for a gig at the matchmaking company Cupid's Hollow. But when Felicity gets the job, she learns that she isn't just a matchmaker...she's a cupid! (There's more than one of them, you know.) Armed with a hot pink, tricked-out PDA infused with the latest in cupid magic (love arrows shot through email), Felicity works to meet her quota of successful matches. But when she bends the rules of cupidity by matching her best friend Maya with three different boys at once, disaster strikes. Felicity needs to come up with a plan to set it all right, pronto, before she gets fired?and before Maya ends up with her heart split in three.''

Virus Attack (Hero.com), by Andy Briggs. ''The villain Basilisk is back, and his nefarious plan to infiltrate Hero.com and take it offline has worked—leaving Toby, Pete, Lorna, and Emily as the only Downloaders left on the planet! It’s up to the four friends to stop Basilisk before his computer virus completely destroys the Hero Foundation . . . but with glitchy, short-circuiting powers and some contention among their ranks, it’ll be no simple task to outwit, outpace, and outplot the evil mastermind. Virus Attack is an action-packed adventure, full of even more creative and exciting powers and intricately linked to the anti-series, Villian.net.''

The Shadow Project, by Herbie Brennan. ''Danny Lipman is a thief . . . until one night he robs the wrong house. He inadvertently breaks into the headquarters of the Shadow Project, a secret government organization where teenage spies are trained to leave their bodies, using astral projection to travel around the world on deadly missions. Danny is captured, but the Project leaders quickly realize he has a special gift. And when a key operative—the director's daughter, Opal—goes missing, he is offered a choice: join the Shadow Project or go to jail.''

Witch & Wizard, by James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet. "The world is changing: the government has seized control of every aspect of society, and now, kids are disappearing. For 15-year-old Wisty and her older brother Whit, life turns upside down when they are torn from their parents one night and slammed into a secret prison for no reason they can comprehend. The New Order, as it is known, is clearly trying to suppress Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Being a Normal Teenager. But while trapped in this totalitarian nightmare, Wisty and Whit discover they have incredible powers they'd never dreamed of. Can this newly minted witch and wizard master their skills in time to save themselves, their parents--and maybe the world?"

The books I gave, and the books I got

I was rather surprised (although I shouldn't have been) to find that I didn't have any time to write long and thoughtful reviews etc in the last few days....t0o many children all under one roof (six, aged 9-5, all but one boys), and trees fallen on the house (well, just one, but it was enough), and all the snow to play in and cookies to make and all the other Christmas stuff...

But now things are a bit more peaceful, since there is nothing left to Do (although I still lack the focus that reviews require). So here is a simple list of the books that I gave, and the books I was very glad to get.

Books I gave:

For my six year-old boy:
Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo da Vinci, by Gene Barretta
Hot Hot Hot, by Neil Layton (a picture book about woolly mammoths Oscar and Arabella)
The Squirrel's Birthday, and Other Parties, by Toon Tellegen
The Riddle of the Floating Island, by Paul Cox (a book in a series about the adventures of Archibald the Koala on Rastepappe Island).


For my 9 year-old boy:

How to be a Genius: Your Brain and How to Train It, by John Woodward
The Case of the Botched Book, by Paul Cox (another Archibald the Koala book)
Tollins: Explosive Tales for Children, by Conn Iggulden
The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook, by Eleanor Davis

For my husband:

Leavings, by Wendell Berry (a lot of people must have gotten this for Christmas, because it's now out of stock at Amazon).
Gentlemen of the Road, and Maps and Legends, by Michael Chabon

For my mother:
Kaleidoscope, by Dorothy Gilman

For my father:
Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris

For my little sister:
The Encircled Heart, by Josephine Elder (a novel for adults by a British Girls' School story author).

For my big sister:
A Brief History of Montmaray, by Michelle Cooper

Books I got:

All Summer Through, by Malcolm Saville (1951). The summer vacation of a group of English children.

Rescue in Ravensdale, by Esme Cartmell (1946). English children strike a blow against the Nazis (I think). The jacket makes a point of describing it as "A girl's story, from a boy's point of view," I guess so that readers like myself, who like "girl's stories,"aren't put off by the boy narrator...

Wishing for Tomorrow, by Hilary McKay (just published!) The sequel to A Little Princess, which I know by heart...I am looking forward to this one very much! I got the British edition, (because it doesn't come out here in the US until January).

Waterslain Angels, by Kevin Crossley-Holland (2009). Angels are missing from the roof of a church in Norfolk; two children must solve the mystery.

Fire, by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson (2009), and Chalice, by Robin McKinley (2008), which I only had an ARC of. Robin McKinley is one of the rather small number of authors whose books I have to have all of.

Aren't they nice books to get?

This Week's Roundup of Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy

Here are the middle grade science fiction and fantasy related reviews posts (that I found, at any rate) from around the blogosphere this week! I would be very happy to add more links, so please leave a comment or email me if you have anything more to add.

Reviews:

Oceanology, at Charlotte's Library.

The Serial Garden, by Joan Aiken, at Eva's Book Addiction.

Toby Alone, by Timothee de Fombell, at Eva's Book Addiction

When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, at Biblio File.

Here's an interview with Donna St. Cyr, author of The Secrets of the Cheese Syndicate, at Cynsations.

At 3T reviews, you can find this list of book suggestions for spirited girls, which includes some fine fantasy, and I compiled this list of the fantasy books my nine-year old son liked best this year.

Spending the day at home with books, Christmasy and otherwise

I did not travel today, as I had hoped to do, because the Baltimore airport was shut down. So instead I sat in front of the fire and read. I now have three fewer books to take with me, which will make life easier. And I read Olive the Other Reindeer out loud twice, and other assorted Christmas books.

Here's what they (the children) like--books about the twelve days of Christmas. Me, not so much. I feel like I got the point years ago. On the other hand, there's a rather lovely new edition of The Twelve Days of Christmas, by Gennady Spirin, that has lovely, lovely illustrations. I am gracefully working this particular book into this post because I got a review copy of it from the publisher, Marshall Cavendish, and even though it is not On Topic for my blog, it's a book worthy of mention because it is so pretty. Their favorite 12 Days book is Hilary Knight's take on it, which is fun, but after the 20th time I felt I had picked up on all the amusing details in the illustrations.

My favorite version is The Thirteen Days of Christmas, by Jenny Overton (1987), a retelling of the song as a funny and ultimately rather moving romance, set in an olde English town (Regency, I think). It makes a lovely Christmas read-aloud for older children. It almost qualifies as a fantasy, of the absurd sub-genre type, in as much as the gifts are of such unbelievably epic proportions, difficult to cope with in real life. I do not want that many swans, swimming or otherwise. And two boys jumping on the beds is plenty of leaping.

Anyway. I sat rather close to the fire (as noted above) because our boiler was not working and there was no other heat (I thought a lot about Life As We Knew It, as I always do when we don't have the heat on--in case you haven't read it, the folks in that book have no heat either, because of desperate catastrophe). Fortunately a. children don't feel the cold as much as grownups, so weren't competing with me for prime real estate and b. the plumber was able to solve the problem. When our new hot water heater was installed, that plumber must have thought that the water pipe leading to the boiler was a decorative accessory, and took it away with him. Sigh. But at least, since it was the same company, we didn't have to pay anything.

I still have tomorrow morning to read and blog peacefully, but I do hope the airport here isn't shut down. I don't think I'll run out of books to read, but it would be nice to be at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Even though a tree just fell on it. Through the roof (but mercifully not the ceiling) of the guest room.

Travelling with books

Tomorrow I am flying down to Virginia, where twenty inches of snow might be waiting. I'm on the first plane of the morning, so we should make it at least to the metro stop where my mother picks me up...but tomorrow, will I have to walk the last mile in the driving wind through the deep snow?

I wouldn't mind so much, but, as usual, I am travelling with my too-be-read pile. Little do my sweet little boys know that Mama is going to slip hardcover books of her own into their carefully packed backpacks...If Mama had been planning, back when she started her Cybils reading, she would have read all the heaviest books first, and saved the paperbacks for last, knowing that Christmas was just around the corner. But no.

So our path from the subway stop to Grandma's might be marked by a trail of abandoned books, as our strength fails and night comes one...

However, some progress is being made. One mistake I am not ever ever ever going to make again is the brown paper shopping bag mistake. Even the sturdiest of paper bags gives way before the power of the hardcover book. I am very grateful to the green movement for providing us with a multitude of canvas bags. Much better.

Fantasy books my nine-year old boy loved this past year

(edited to add:  here's a more recent list of fantasy books I'd recommend to a nine-year old boy)

My nine-year old is a picky reader. When he has a book that he wants to read, he reads it, deaf to the world. But in between those books are days upon days when nothing suits him. Like someone taming a wild animal, I leave books scattered around the house, hoping that one or two will be acceptable offerings....

So for parents of children such as mine, who love reading fantasy but aren't quite ready for the big-time tomes such as Harry Potter, here's a quick list of some of the books that truly clicked for him this past year.

The Last Dragon (Dragon Speaker, 1), by Cheryl Rainfield. A medieval adventure that is purposfully written to combine high interest with a low reading level (my review).

Keyholders #1: This Side of Magic, and its three sequels, by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones. Two ordinary kids get caught up in a world of magic (my review).

The Daring Adventures of Penhaligon Brush, by S. Jones Rogan. The story of a brave fox (my son's thoughts at his own blog.)

Flight of the Phoenix (Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist, Book I), by R.L. La Fevers. A young boy finds that he is one of a long line of beastiologistis, and sets out with his aunt on a fantastic quest. A fun and fascinating read, with a tremdously appealing cover to boot.

Odd and the Frost Giants, by Neil Gaimen. A brave boy faces a frost giant who has transformed the most powerful of the Viking gods into animals (my review).

Rapunzel's Revenge, by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, and Nathan Hale. Rapunzul's free at last--and she wants revenge! A great graphic novel.

And most recently, and rather surprisingly, the three volumes of The Chronicles of Kendra Kandlestar, by Lee Edward Fodi. Volume three of this series, Kendra Kandlestar and the Shard From Greeve (Brown Books, 2009, 328 pp) was nominated for the Cybils, and a review copy came my way. Of the multitudes of middle grade fantasy books that filled our house this fall, this was the one that attracted my son's attention the most. So I got him the first two books (Kendra Kandlestar and the Box of Whispers is the first one)....and he was hooked. These are indeed beautiful books as physical objects--substantial, slightly oversized, illustrated. And even though I would not have gotten them for him myself (because they look like girl books) he loves them. I've read the third book (for the Cybils); come January I'll try to write a real review....

In the meantime, I have to get back to my own reading....twelve more books to go for the Cybils! (and speaking of which, the Amazon links here are set up to benefit the Cybils).

Oceanology, a Fantasy Book for Non-fiction Monday

Just about everyone looking for Gift Books for the Young has probably considered, or even bought, one of the "-0logy" books--Dragonology, Piratology, Monsterology, etc. For the most part, these are fantasy in the guise of non-fiction--the imaginary presented as if it were real.

Oceanology: The True Account of the Voyage of the Nautilus (Candlewick 2009) is slightly different. It is a gorgeous presentation, both in words and in lovely faux 19th-century illustrations, of facts about the ocean, embedded within a fantastical narrative.

The information (touching on such diverse topics as types of coral, the movement of the planet's plates, and the installation of the transatlantic telegraph cable) is presented as sidebars to the journal of a young boy who finds himself voyaging with Captain Nemo (of Twenty thousand Leagues Under the Sea fame). It is a rather gripping story (although I don't think it's quite enough of one to work as a stand-alone). The boy's wonder at all the strange things he sees, and his excitement as the ship explores uncharted realms below the waves, gradually gives way to terror as he realizes that the Captain is insane, and has no plans to return to dry land.

There's a lot here for the reader who has a fondness both for fantasy and science, whether child or adult. Of all the -ology books, this is the one I think has most appeal for the adult reader (and not just the Jules Verne fan). It's a beautiful book, with lots to look at and learn from.

My only caveat is that for younger readers, this might have to be a read-aloud, because it's written in cursive...but, having read it aloud myself, I can promise that it is a rather pleasantly engrossing experience for the adult as well as the child. The narrative tends to get lost in the excitement of flaps to lift and strange sea creatures to read about, but the story can wait till later, when they are old enough to read it for themselves...

And then they will want a copy of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Oceanology has been nominated for the Cybils in the middle grade science fiction and fantasy category, for which I am a panelist, and my review copy was generously supplied by the publisher.

The Non-fiction Monday Roundup is hosted by In Need of Chocolate today!