The Roar, by Emma Clayton

(The Whisper, the sequel to The Roar, has now been released! Here are my thoughts)

The Roar, by Emma Clayten (Scholastic, 2009, upper middle grade on up, 481 pp)

In a hellish dystopia, where a mega-London lies half-drowned, in a world where all animals are dead and walls enclose the overcrowded warrens of humanity to keep them safe from the plauge, there lives an eleven year-old boy named Mika who refuses to believe his twin sister is dead.

He's right, and the reader knows it--she's the first person we meet, desperatly flying a stolen pod fighter homeward, trying to escape from a mysterious Them who have kept her imprisoned on a spaceship. But she doesn't make it all the way home, and Mika's life in the dampness and darkness of the lower classes remains unchanged.

Then one day a new and strangly sinister Program is announced, a program that will make the kids of London Fit and Happy. A large part of this is a new virtual reality video game, based on flying pod-fighters in combat. The game offers everything to children who have nothing--if they play the game well enough, they can win fabulous prizes. And despite his growing sense of danger, Mica knows in his heart that if he is a winner, he can find his sister again....But the games keep getting harder, and each round brings new challenges.

So in short, this is a survival game story, a story of clever children outwitting and outplaying their grown-up enemies, set in a post-environemntal-disaster dystopia.

Contrary to what the reader might expect from the referrence to spaceships early on, it's set pretty firmly on earth--a convincingly drawn mess of a place. Mika is a smart, interesting character. He's just as much in the dark as the reader, and Clayton does a fine job letting reader and character figure things out at the same pace. Because the book focus so tightly on Mika, he's the only one of the cast of diverse kids involved in the game who became real to me, but looking back on it, this is is in keeping with his rather self-focused state of mind throughout the book.

Clayton keeps the book moving briskly with fresh intrigue and complexity at each level of the game, and the unsolved mysteries made for gripping reader. But for me at least, the story fell apart a bit toward the end--the answers felt a bit anticlimactic--and so I was left a little disappointed.

But that is just me. I think many older middle grade kids, and teenagers as well, to say nothing of adults, might well find this gripping and enjoyable right to the end. Especially after reading glowing reviews such as this one at Pink Me and this one at The Book Blog.

Especially recommended for boys who love video games that involve blowing up space ships, who also care about the environment.

(review copy recieved from the publishers, for Cybils Award consideration)

Bloggiesta time!

I am bloggiesta-ing this weekend--joining in the fun organized by Natasha at Maw Books! Bloggiesta is a time to focus on making our Blogs the Best that they can Be.

I'm going to spend time this weekend writing reviews, sending links of reviews already written to publishers (I am so so bad at this), organizing books waiting to be read and reviewed, finishing non-review posts that have been lurking for months, and updating my side-bar links.

I have already done one useful thing: I gathered all the books I've gotten from publishers but haven't read yet (not including books from the Cybils) from the various flat surfaces around the house and put them all in neat piles on the dining room table. This works against my New Year's Resolution to promote Gracious Dinning, but you can't have everything.

And I've also signed up for Pam and Lee's Comment Challenge 2010--for the next 21 days, I'll be leaving five comments a day around and about...

I'll be using this post to keep track of my progress. To date:

Friday (2 hours):
1 review finished and posted. Have "temporarily misplaced" publisher's contact information, so cannot let them know. sigh.

Side bar of recent reviews updated. Am not sure just how interesting this list is to anyone, but I like to imagine that it gives the books I review a little bit more time in the sun...

Saturday (3 hours to date):
Completed the mini-challenge at Bookworming in the 21st Century--I joined their new forum, the Bloggie Cult, and left a tip that I hope is useful.

I completed the Dead Links mini-challenge at Karin's Book Nook.

I wrote two reviews (but what I really want to do is write reviews to have on hand for the future--I'll want to do that tomorrow!)

I left several comments while scrambling around looking for links for my post tomorrow rounding up links to middle-grade science fiction and fantasy reviews and news (a regular Sunday feature here).

Sunday (only 2 hours :( )
I started fiddling with my links, consolidating two closely related categories (as part of Beth Fish's mini challenge)

I wrote a post for this coming Timeslip Tuesday.

And I left comments, as per the ongoing Comment Challenge.

Not as much done as I had hoped, but it was fun taking part!

Historical Fiction meets Fantasy in this year's winner of the Scott O'Dell Award

In Matt Phalen's graphic novel for middle grade readers, The Storm in the Barn, the Storm is real. It is a magical creature of terrifying power, an angry being that has been gathering its strength by withholding the rain from the parched lands around it. A young boy, bullied by his peers and dismissed as worthless by his father, becomes a true hero when he confronts the Storm and forces it to bring rain to the Dust Bowl. It's a great fantasy.

The Storm in the Barn (Candlewick Press, 2009) has just won the 2010 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, that honors books for children or young adults (published and set in the Americas). It's the only winning book, since the first award was given in 1984, that's a graphic novel, and the first that's a fantasy. As Betsy notes at Fuse #8, this opens up interesting questions- "How much fantasy is allowed in a given book? How much history should be present?" she asks.

So I have quickly scrolled through the long list of books in my mind that combine history and fantasy (lots of time travel books, quite a few magic in the past books, lots of alternate history books that I don't count because they aren't real history). I've decided that it is fairly easy to tell if the history is there to provide backdrop and setting (a lovely example of this sort of book is Bewitching Season, by Marissa Doyle (my review), or if the fantasy is there to provide the reader with a way to engage with the history, one way of making "history" into "story." Many time travel stories, like the one I reviewed most recently--A Different Day, a Different Destiny, by Annette Laing (my review), do this.

I think it's pretty clear that The Storm in the Barn fits into my later category quite nicely. I would love to see books exemplifying this type of history/fantasy mix, where the history is privileged, winning future Scott O'Dell awards!

My own all-time favorite examples of solid historical fiction that is also a fantasy are Mary Stewart's books about Merlin, a series that begins with The Crystal Cave.

Viz the graphic novel side of things--here's Roger Sutton's take (and he was a judge) on whether a graphic novel should be eligible for a historical fiction prize.

New releases of fantasy and science fiction for children and teenagers-the beginning of January, 2010

Here are the new releases of fantasy and science fiction for children and teenagers from the beginning of January. Lots of good stuff!

For nine to twelve year olds:

AMAZING GREEK MYTHS OF WONDER AND BLUNDERS by Mike Townsend. "From Hercules’ snake assassin slippers to Arachne’s wicked weaver rap songs, these are the mythic monsters and Hellenic heroes that have captured Western culture for centuries—but a whole lot more fun. Each story showcases the wondrous and blunderful antics of gods and mortals in bright graphics that rival the super-heroic action of The Lightning Thief, burst with the knock-your socks- off humor of Jeff Kinney, and still remain unerringly faithful to the original myth."

CALAMITY JACK by Shannon & Dean Hale. "Jack likes to think of himself as a criminal mastermind…with an unfortunate amount of bad luck. A schemer, plotter, planner, trickster, swindler...maybe even thief? One fine day Jack picks a target a little more giant than the usual, and one little bean turns into a great big building-destroying beanstalk. With help from Rapunzel (and her trusty braids), a pixie from Jack’s past, and a man with inventions from the future, they just might out-swindle the evil giants and put his beloved city back in the hands of good people ....while catapulting themselves and readers into another fantastical adventure."

COPPER by Kazu Kibuishi. "Copper is curious, Fred is fearful. And together boy and dog are off on a series of adventures through marvelous worlds, powered by Copper's limitless enthusiasm and imagination. Each Copper and Fred story in this graphic novel collection is a complete vignette, filled with richly detailed settings and told with a wry sense of humor. These two enormously likable characters build ships and planes to travel to surprising destinations and have a knack for getting into all sorts of odd situations. Copper's good cheer always smoothes the way---and Fred can usually be won over if there's food involved."

DEAD GUY SPY: NATHAN ABERCROMBIE, ACCIDENTAL ZOMBIE by David Lubar
"Nathan Abercrombie is getting used to his rotten life as a half-dead zombie. The good thing is he doesn’t feel any pain. The bad thing is his body can’t heal, so he has to be really careful not to break anything. But that’s hard to do when his wrestling-obsessed gym teacher, Mr. Lomux, matches him up with Rodney the bully, who’s looking for any excuse to break his bones. Then one day, Nathan is approached by the secret organization B.U.M.—aka the Bureau of Useful Misadventures—which offers him a cure in exchange for his help. Nathan jumps at the chance to become the world’s first zombie spy, but soon discovers that B.U.M. isn’t quite what it seems. Can Nathan trust them?"

ERAK'S RANSOM: RANGER'S APPRENTICE by John Flanagan. "What does it mean to earn the Silver Oakleaf? So few men have done so. For Will, a mere boy, that symbol of honor has long felt out of reach. Now, in the wake of Araluen’s uneasy truce with the raiding Skandians comes word that the Skandian leader has been captured by a dangerous desert tribe. The Rangers are sent to free him. But the desert is like nothing these warriors have seen before. Strangers in a strange land, they are brutalized by sandstorms, beaten by the unrelenting heat, tricked by one tribe that plays by its own rules, and surprisingly befriended by another. Like a desert mirage, nothing is as it seems. Yet one thing is constant: the bravery of the Rangers."

THE FIRE STONE: REIGN OF THE ELEMENTS by Riley Carney "...a group of teenagers, led by fifteen-year-old Matt, attempt to save their world. Matt knows how to shovel hay, dig trenches, and dodge his father’s whip, but when three terrifying creatures attack Matt, and he is rescued by a wizard, he kidnaps a baby alorath, and is befriended by elves, Matt’s life transforms overnight from dreary to astonishing. When he unwittingly joins a quest to find the Fire Stone, one of the elusive Stones of the Elements which have the power to destroy the world, Matt is thrust into a string of perilous adventures. He soon discovers that magic does exist and that he has extraordinary powers that can change his destiny and determine the fate of Mundaria."

GAUGE: THE DRAGONS OF WAYWARD CRESCENT by Chris D'Lacey. "The town council wants to demolish the old clock and replace it with a fancy modern one. Lucy's mother is determined to stop it -- with the help of a timing dragon named Gauge. Will Gauge, Lucy and the ghost Sir Rufus Trenchchomb be able to outsmart Councilman Roger Trustable before time runs out?"

MISSILE MOUSE by Jake Parker. "Missile Mouse, secret agent for the Galactic Security Agency, is a risk taker and a rule breaker, which is why he's in hot water at GSA headquarters. Then RIP, the Rogue Imperium of Planets, kidnaps a scientist who knows about the Star Crusher, a doomsday machine capable of destroying the entire universe.Time to let loose the mouse! Missile Mouse battles giant space slugs, corrupt agents, killer bugs, and a pair of shark-headed thugs to save the day (and the scientist!). And when he's sucked into the exploding Star Crusher, he becomes pure energy . . . energy that will consume him unless Missile Mouse can release it and destroy RIP's spaceship fleet in time."

PANDORA GETS HEART: MYTHIC MISS-ADVENTURES by Carolyn Hennesy
"Pandora and her friends Alcie, Iole, and Homer are practically evil-hunting experts. Jealousy, Vanity, and Laziness are all safely in the box and they already know Lust is lurking on Mount Pelion, so this fourth task should be super easy.Just one teeny tiny problem: the evil is hiding at a wedding that took place 1,300 years ago. Luckily, the messenger god, Hermes steps in to help Pandy and her friends travel back in time—with just one rule: don’t change anything. At the wedding, they recognize most of the gods and goddesses, but nobody recognizes them. (Duh, they haven’t been born yet.) So they can search for the evil without drawing attention to themselves. But then Lust appears in the middle of a fateful argument between three of the most powerful goddesses. There’s no way Pandora can capture the evil without making a big scene. And worse, if she takes it at the wrong moment, she won’t just change the course of history—she’ll be history. Yup, this quest is totally under control . . . gulp!"

PAST FORWARD: TIME RUNNERS by Justin Richards. 'The U.S. in 2021 is not a pleasant place—after the death of President Carlton in 2016, civilization has broken down. Several states have ceded, and the people fear for their lives. There are gun battles on the city streets and barely enough food to go around. Jamie and Anna are with a group of children at a scientific facility on the outskirts of Washington, D.C.—a compound guarded by the army, with rioters clamoring to get inside this safe-haven. But Jamie and Anna don't care about that—they're here because someone at the facility is developing time travel, and that shouldn't happen for centuries yet. With rioters breaking in from outside, and a terrifying monster on the loose inside, our heroes meet the businessman who's funding the research: Darkling Midnight. Can Jamie and Anna stop the monster, escape the rioters, and discover what Midnight's up to? How is it all tied up with the death of the President? And why are the children here—unless they are part of the time experiments themselves?"

PRINCESS ELLIE AND THE ENCHANTED FAWN: THE TIARA CLUB by Vivian French. "A little fawn has lost its way in Hollyberry Wood. Can the Pearl Palace Princesses help Witch Windlespin find his mother? Princess Ellie has an idea, but nasty Princess Diamonde has one too."

PRINCESS SARAH AND THE SILVER SWAN: THE TIARA CLUBby Vivian French."It’s the end of term at Pearl Palace. The magical silver swan must fly down to the lake before Princess Sarah can win her sash. But will the horrid twins spoil the day?"

Young Adult:

BAD BLOOD: A BLOOD COVEN VAMPIRE NOVEL by Mari Mancusi. "Sunny McDonald is in the ultimate forbidden relationship. Her boyfriend Magnus is a vampire, and the leader of the Blood Coven. And when the Coven decides that Magnus needs a mate to be his co-ruler, Sunny's humanity puts her out of the running. The Coven's chosen candidate is Jane Johnson, a magna cum laude graduate of Oxford University who just happens to look like a vampiric supermodel. Sunny is suspicious of a Rhodes Scholar who can't answer the most basic poli-sci questions, but Magnus brushes it off as petty jealousy. Still, when the Blood Coven goes to Las Vegas for a vampire convention, Sunny and her twin sister Rayne secretly tag along. And Sunny's not going home before she learns the truth about Jane. Because not everything stays in Vegas-especially bad blood."

BLEEDING VIOLET by Dia Reeves. "Hanna simply wants to be loved. With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna's tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas in search of a new home. But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. As she tries to make a place for herself, she discovers dark secrets that would terrify any normal soul. Good thing for Hanna, she's far from normal. As this crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen and no one is safe."

CAPTIVATE by Carrie Jones. "Zara and her friends knew they hadn't solved the pixie problem for good. Far from it. The king's needs grow deeper every day he's stuck in captivity, while his control over his people gets weaker. It's made him vulnerable. And now there's a new king in town. A turf war is imminent, since the new pixie king, Astley, is moving in quickly. Nick nearly killed him in the woods on day one, but Zara came to his rescue. Astley swears that he and Zara are destined to be together, that he's one of the good guys. Nick isn't buying it, though Zara isn't as sure -- despite herself, she wants to trust the new king. But it's a lot more than her relationship with Nick that is at stake. It's her life -- and his."

CHASING BROOKLYN by Lisa Schroeder. "Brooklyn can't sleep. Her boyfriend, Lucca, died only a year ago, and now her friend Gabe has just died of an overdose. Every time she closes her eyes, Gabe's ghost is there waiting for her. She has no idea what he wants or why it isn't Lucca visiting her dreams. Nico can't stop. He's always running, trying to escape the pain of losing his brother, Lucca. But when Lucca's ghost begins leaving messages, telling Nico to help Brooklyn, emotions come crashing to the surface. As the nightmares escalate and the messages become relentless, Nico reaches out to Brooklyn. But neither of them can admit that they're being haunted. Until they learn to let each other in, not one soul will be able to rest."

THE DIVINITY PROJECT: MONSTER REPUBLIC by Ben Horton. "An explosion in a nuclear power plant. Kids patched up with scavenged body parts and bionic implants. A growing army of superhuman soldiers programmed for destruction. 'No', whispered Cameron to the monster in the glass. And he watched it shaking its hideous head. 'That's not me. You're not me'.

DRAGONS OF DARKNESS by Antonia Michaelis. "The author-translator team behind the internationally acclaimed Tiger Moon reunites for this lush, exotic tale of fantasy and adventure—and dragons galore. In this thrilling modern-day fable, two boys from very different backgrounds are thrown together by magic, mayhem, and a common foe. Jumar, an invisible prince, wants to free his native Nepal from invaders. Christopher, a shy German boy, wants to find his kidnapped brother. Together they embark on a journey through the wilderness of Nepal—a journey that proves to be a dangerous rite of passage. Fighting the beautiful but deadly dragons that beset the country, the two boys learn that in order to change the world, they must first change themselves."

FIRESPELL: A NOVEL OF THE DARK ELITE by Chloe Neill. "Lily's parents have sent her to a fancy boarding school in Chicago filled with the ultra-rich. If that wasn't bad enough, she's hearing and seeing bizarre things on St. Sophie's creepy campus. Her roommate, Scout, keeps her sane, but keeps disappearing at night. When one day Lily finds Scout running from real-life monsters, she learns the hard way that Scout is involved in a splinter group of rebel teens. They protect Chicago from demons, vamps, and dark magic users. It's too bad Lily doesn't have powers of her own to help. At least, none that she's discovered yet..."

REMOTE CONTROL by Jack Heath. "Agent Six of Hearts, 16-year-old superhuman, is on a mission. His brother Kyntak has been kidnapped. A strange and sinister new figure is rising in power. Six is suspected of being a double agent. The Deck has been put into lockdown by the Queen of Spades. A mysterious girl has appeared who acts as Six's guardian angel. Who can he trust? As the clock ticks steadily against Kyntak's life, Six of Hearts is on the run: from his past, from his fellow agents at the Deck, even from his own DNA...."

STEPHENIE MEYER: THE UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY OF THE CREATOR OF THE TWILIGHT SAGA by Marc Shapiro

THIRST NO. 2: PHANTOM, EVIL THIRST, AND CREATURES OF FOREVER by Christopher Pike. "What Alisa has desired for five thousand years has finally come true: She is once again human. But now she is defenseless, vulnerable, and, for the first time in centuries, emotional. As she attempts to reconcile her actions as a vampire with her new connection to humanity, she begins to understand the weight of life and-death decisions. Can Alisa resolve her past and build a new identity, or is she doomed to repeat her fatal mistakes?"

A Different Day, A Different Destiny by Annette Laing for Timeslip Tuesday

It has been more than a month since my last Timeslip Tuesday post...yoicks. But I have several good ones lined up, so I have high hopes that it will become a regular feature again.

In view of the recent blogosphere discussion about kids of color in the books written today, I am rather pleased that the book that I had already planned to review today has, as one of the three main characters, an African-American boy from the 21st century who is a normal, everyday kid. Normal, that is, apart from the fact that he travels through time.

This week's time travel book is A Different Day, A Different Destiny, book 2 of the Snipesville Chronicles by Annette Laing (2009, Confusion Press, middle grade, 269pp). In the first book of the series (Don't Know Where, Don't Know When), Hannah and Alex Dias, and their friend Brandon Clark travelled back through time and space to WW II Britain (and Brandon went back even farther, to WW I...). Now the three children have been whisked up again in the time travelling machinations of the strange professor who took control of their lives last time. They are about to find out what 1851 was really like.

For Hannah, who finds herself toiling in a Scottish textile factory, it is brutal drudgery. For Alex, who finds himself the clerk of a slave-owning Southerner, life is more comfortable materially, but not at all so mentally. For Brandon, the experience is even stranger--as a black boy in Victorian England, he is something of a curiosity. He leaves his first employment in a northern coal mine to find work as an undertaker's boy (adding interest to funerals), and from there he becomes a servant to a titled lady, who brings him out to preach the evils of slavery to raise money for the Abolitionist movement in the United States.

Although the paths of the three children seem to have taken them far from each other (in rather complicated story-lines), they are fated to meet again. When they do, the three kids must change the course of history. It's a small change, but important nonetheless...

Annette Laing is herself a professor of history, and the 1851 she brings to her readers is beautifully researched and meticulously crafted. As far as "time travel as education" goes, her Snipesville Chronicles are impeccable. My only complaint is that this book is perhaps a tad too ambitious in the history side of things. My own mind was dizzied by the three points of view--hurrying from Georgia plantation to coal mine to textile factory and onward, each place with its own cast of local characters and dense background of history and culture. I had a sense of the book as more "vignettes of modern children in the past" then as an engrossing fictional narrative.

But when the paths of the three kids all bent toward the Crystal Palace in London (around page 200) the story truly began to work for me as a story--they ceased being characters in isolation, and became much more alive in my mind. And from then on, it was both fascinating and pleasurable to watch all the disparate threads of story become woven into a coherent whole (although, because there are lots and lots of these threads, and Laing is fairly thorough in her explanations, this part might not be to the taste of every reader. The one thing that is never explained is the Professor herself--what and why she's doing with time remains a mystery).

In short, I found it top-notch historical fiction on the history side of things, but not quite as engrossing as the first book as far as the characters' own stories went (bearing in mind that I like that one a lot--here's my review; it was my first official Timeslip Tuesday book, way back in June 2008...). I trust that there will be a third book--at least, I hope there will be!

(disclosure: I received my copy from the author)

The Ask and the Answer wins the Costa Award

The Ask and the Answer, sequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness, has just won the Costa Children's Book Award. (Since this is a UK award, the picture is of the UK edition).




Here is the shortlist, chosen by appointed judges (generally a trio of that include an author, a bookseller, and a journalist):

Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd
Troubadour by Mary Hoffman
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
Guantanamo Boy by Anna Perera

I haven't read any of them....I've had a copy of The Ask and the Answer for ages and ages, but the Knife of Never Letting Go upset me so much that I haven't yet found the strength to read its sequel....

Putting my money where my mouth is (and my mouth where my money is)

I have lots and lots of reviews to write, but two very special mugs came in the mail for me today, and I wanted to quickly post about them:

They were generously donated by artist Erin Swift to an on-line auction that helped kick start Tu Publishing, and I was the lucky high bidder! Thank you, Erin!

And thanks in advance to the folks at Tu Publishing, for promising us multi-cultural science fiction and fantasy books for children and young adults.

From their website: "We want to publish exciting, adventurous books that children of all backgrounds will be able to either see themselves in or find a window to another world—or both, because what fantasy book isn’t a window to another world?"

Yes please!

This Sunday's Round-up of Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction

Welcome to this week's gathering of blog posts about middle-grade (ages 9-12) fantasy and science fiction books! I skipped last week, so there are a couple here from back then...Please let me know if I missed your post!

The most exciting Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy news is the Shortlist for the Cybils Awards. These seven books are all truly excellent (although I helped pick them, and so am a tad biased). Which do you like best? (more frivolously, which cover do you like best?)








Yesterday I went through the 98 books nominated to look for kids of color--here's what I found.

Here are the various reviews of mg sff books:

Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony, at Wandeca Reads.

A Whole Nother Story, at The Book Aunt

The Box of Delights, by John Masefield from the Guardian's book blog (This sequel to The Midnight Folk is one to keep in mind for next Christmas!).

Clover Twig and the Magical Cottage, by Kaye Umanskya, at Eva's Book Addiction.

The Ever Breath, by Julianna Baggott, at Eva's Book Addiction, at Steph Su Reads, and at The HappyNappyBookseller.

The Farwalker's Quest, by Joni Sensel, at Fuse #8.

The Green Bronze Mirror, by Lynne Ellison, at A Few More Pages.

Magical Ms. Plum, by Bonnie Becker, at Fuse#8.

Raider's Ransome, at Carrie's YA Bookshelf, Katie's Book Blog, Fuse #8, and at The Book Aunt.

Sillksinger (Dreamdark, book 2), by Laini Taylor, at Fuse #8.


Troll's Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, at Charlotte's Library.

When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, at Green Bean Teen Queen.

At Boys Rule, Boys Read you can find snippet reviews of some middle grade fantasy books here and here.

At Fantasy Literature, Rebecca is amassing reviews of Joan Aiken's books--her most recent being a look at The Cuckoo Tree.

And although fairy tale picture books aren't technically middle-grade/9-12 year-old books, sometimes they are just the right thing to offer a mg child, so here's a post about several of these from Jennifer at the Jean Little Library.

Miscellaneous:

The Lateiner Gang offers a peon to middle-grade fantasy author James Rollins (Jake Ransom and the Howling Sphinx, the second of these, comes out this April).

At Green Bean Teen Queen, there's an interview with Derek Landry (of Skullduggery fame)

I compiled a list of the dragon books of 2009 here.

Finally, here's a post for all those who love The Magic Pudding (an early classic of Australian fantasy literature for children), as well as all of us who have never even heard of it. Here is an illustration of the Pudding:

scary.

Please feel free to send me links for next week at any time!

Kids of Color in Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy--a look back at the 98 books nominated for the Cybils

There's an interesting discussion taking place at Black-Eyed Susan's about the shortlists that were just announced for the Cybils Awards-specifically, the absence of books about African Americans that aren't about slaves or civil rights (there are two exceptions--The Frog Scientist, in mg/ya non-fiction, and The Secret Science Alliance and the Copy Cat Crook, in middle grade graphic novels). As Susan says in one of her comments, "the larger issue isn't about what panelists chose but what they were offered in the first place."

I thought it might be interesting to take a look at what I, as a Cybils Panelist, was offered this fall. 98 books were nominated in the middle grade science fiction and fantasy category of the Cybils Awards--all of these books were ones that somebody loved best. I read 96 of them.

Here are the kids of color I found, the ones who got enough page-time to be memorable. But please please keep in mind that I read them all in the past three months rather briskly, so my memories of them might be faulty and I am open to corrections!

Two of my comments have spoilers; I have indicated this by writing them under a SPOILERS warning.

First, a look at the covers. Yep, 8 out of 98 have kids of color on them. Two of these books (This Side of Magic, by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones, and The Taker and the Keeper, by Pat Perrin) never identify their characters in text as having any particular ethnicity, and I don't see why this can't happen more often.

Turning now to books where the text identifies kids of color as central characters:

One of the four kids who are the main characters in Century #1: Ring of Fire, Pierdomenico Baccalario, is from China.

The British boy who is one of two central characters in The Immortal Fire, by Anne Ursu, is black.

Night of the Living Lawn Ornaments, by Emily Ecton, has an African American boy as the number 2 main character.

The Prince of Fenway Park, by Julianna Baggott, has as its hero a mixed-race boy.

Quest for the Simurgh, by Marva Dasef, has a Middle Eastern cast of characters.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin, is about a Chinese girl.

Kids of color as supporting characters:

In The Dragon's Pearl, a story of Marco Polo, by Devin Jordan, a supporting character turns out to be the daughter of the great Kahn.

In Hannah's Winter, by Kierin Meehan, all the supporting characters, dead and alive, are Japanese.

Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow, by James Rollins, includes characters who are Mayan.

Roar, by Emma Clayton, includes supporting characters of various ethnicities.

In Stonewall Hinkleman and the Battle of Bull Run, by Sam Riddleburger, an enslaved boy is an important supporting character.

In Water, Water, Everywhere (Sluggers Vol. 4), by Loren Long and Phil Bildner, none of the kids are of color, but the African American character shown on the cover is central to the plot.

In When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, one secondary character is black or mixed race (thanks Wendy!).

SPOILERS:

The Nine Pound Hammer has a very diverse set of kid-of-color supporting characters (the main character is a white boy), including the son of John Henry himself, who, unfortunately, dies saving the white kid.

The Last Olympian is memorable, POC-wise, in that the one black demi-god identified as such gets killed in the first chapter.

So. Only 18 out of 98 books (as far as I can remember) were at least a little non-white. I don't think this is because scores of middle grade fantasy and science-fiction books featuring kids of color weren't nominated--I can think of only one other from the relevant October 2008-2009 period (City of Fire, by Laurence Yep).

Our Cybils shortlist of seven books (which you can find here) fortuitously includes two books in which kids of color are the central characters--The Prince of Fenway Park and Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, both of which are great books. I dunno if the diversity they bring to our list added, in our unconscious minds, to their appeal. Whether it did or not, I'm glad they are there.

Troll's Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Troll's Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (Viking, 2009, upper middle grade, 199pp)

In their introduction to this anthology of re-imagined fairy tales, Datlow and Windling asked the contributors "to take a long, hard look at fairy-tale villains. Witches, wizards, giants, trolls, ogres: what's the truth behind their stories? And are the fairy-tale heroes and heroines pitted against them quite as noble as they first appear?"

The resulting fifteen stories and poems are variously delightful, funny, and disturbing. Some are fairly straight retellings of familiar stories from the point of view of the un-heroes, like "Rags and Riches," by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, the story of the goose girl's treacherous servant, and Peter Beagle's very entertaining telling of Jack and the Beanstock from the perspective of the giant's wife, "Up the Down Beanstalk: A Wife Remembers."

Other authors took their fairy-tales and ran off with them onto new ground, and several of these are rather more disturbing. Holly Black's story, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," for instance, gives a horrifying back story to the Red-Riding Hood's wolf, and Kelly Link's contribution, "The Cinderella Game," is going to stick in my mind for a long, long time...even if I wish it wouldn't!

But the one I remember best isn't disturbing, just lovely--"Wizard's Apprentice," by Delia Sherman--"There's an Evil Wizard living in Dahoe, Maine. It says so, on the sign hanging outside his shop: Evil Wizard Books..." It raises the question of what constitutes an evil wizard in a truly delightful way.

In short, like all good anthologies, there's a lot of variety and a lot of great writing. I found the stories fascinating, even the ones I personally didn't care for much. But best of all, in my mind, is that many of the stories are lovely presentations of the awfully important fact that there are at least two sides to just about every story, and as someone who wants her children to think critically about what is presented as "the truth," I'm happy this book is in the world.

It is definitely for the upper end of middle grade onward--there's nothing desperately graphic or violent, but there's considerable subtlety, and, as I said above, some of the stories are disturbing.

Here's the list of all the stories and poems:

"Wizard’s Apprentice" by Delia Sherman
"An Unwelcome Guest" by Garth Nix
"Faery Tales" by Wendy Froud
"Rags and Riches" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
"Up the Down Beanstalk: A Wife Remembers" by Peter S. Beagle
"The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces" by Ellen Kushner
"Puss in Boots, the Sequel" by Joseph Stanton
"The Boy Who Cried Wolf" by Holly Black
"Troll" by Jane Yolen
"Castle Othello" by Nancy Farmer
"‘Skin" by Michael Cadnum
"A Delicate Architecture" by Catherynne M. Valente
"Molly" by Midori Snyder
"Observing the Formalities" by Neil Gaiman
"The Cinderella Game" by Kelly Link

(note: I received a review copy of this book for my consideration as a Cybils panelist)

The Cybils Shortlists!

The shortlists for the Cybils Awards have been officially announced! It is such a pleasure to be able to share with you the middle grade science fiction and fantasy books that my fellow panelists and I thought best combined the qualities of Cybils books--great writing and tons of kid appeal. So many of the 98 books we read were truly excellent, and it was very hard indeed to come up with this list.

Here are our seven finalists, with the blurbs that we wrote explaining why we loved them, as they appear on the Cybils site!

11 Birthdays (my review)
by Wendy Mass
Scholastic
Nominated by: Maggi Idzikowski

Amanda's 11th birthday is the worst ever, and when she wakes up the next morning, she discovers that she and her ex-friend Leo are doomed to repeat the same day over and over--and over! Amanda and Leo's attempts to live the day the "right" way to break the spell are funny, entertaining, and absolutely believable, whether they are ditching school or auditioning for a rock band. This is a deliciously fresh look at how making small changes in your life--or even in one day--can have big consequences, both ordinary and magical.
--Eva Mitnick

Dreamdark: Silksinger (Faeries of Dreamdark) (my review)
by Laini Taylor
Putnam Juvenile
Nominated by: Melissa

The Dreamdark series, by National Book Award nominee Laini Taylor, opens a window on a world of fierce winged faeries determined to restore their race to its former glory. In Silksinger, Maggie Windwitch, Whisper Silksinger and their motley allies are driven to reach beyond their abilities to guard the sleeping Djinn Azazel from a host of conniving characters and gruesome devils. On panoramic display in Silksinger are Taylor’s gifts for rich language and imagery, suspenseful plotting, and intricate world-building. Even as readers thrill with vertigo while flying alongside Maggie and her crow brothers, they will feel secure in this master storyteller’s hands.
--Brian Jung

Farwalker's Quest, The (my review)
by Joni Sensel
Bloomsbury USA
Nominated by: Joan Stradling

Ariel finds a telling dart, an artifact that hasn't been in use for hundreds of years and carries a message that only a specific recipient can read. That sends her on an adventure to see who could have sent such a message and why this messaging system has started back up. Farwalker's Quest takes readers on a journey that is filled with many thoroughly developed characters. Joni Sensel weaves an enchanting story that is easily remembered by readers long after the story is done.
--Cindy Hannikman

Odd and the Frost Giants (my review)
by Neil Gaiman
HarperCollins
Nominated by: Susan the Librarian Pirate

In a village in ancient Norway, winter isn’t ending, and when Odd—a fatherless boy with an injured leg and an infuriating smile—encounters a fox, a bear, and an eagle in the forest, he finds out why. The animals are gods exiled from the city of Asgard by a Frost Giant, and Odd takes on the task of defeating him. How he does so is surprising and satisfying, one of many lasting pleasures in this short novel by Neil Gaiman. We loved the inventive use of Norse mythology, the humorous bickering of the gods trapped in their animal forms, and, of course, cheerful and clever Odd himself. It’s a story beautifully told (and illustrated, by Brett Helquist), perfect for reading alone or reading aloud: quite simply, it shines.
--Anamaria Anderson

Prince of Fenway Park, The (my review)
by Julianna Baggott
HarperCollins
Nominated by: Doret

When 12-year-old Oscar Egg discovers his dad's secret life as a half-human, half-fairy living a magical existence under Fenway Park, he decides it's his duty to break the spell that has cursed the baseball stadium. He gets a little help from Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson, among others. The secret and seedy underbelly of Fenway Park, with all its magical creatures wearing Red Sox caps, has a compelling atmosphere that pulls readers right into the story and has them rooting for Oscar and the Red Sox. Not just for baseball fans, this fantasy combines Pookas, hot dogs, Banshees, and home-runs into an exciting and unusual adventure for all readers.
--Eva Mitnick

Serial Garden, The: The Complete Armitage Family Stories (Junior Library Guild Selection) (my review)
by Joan Aiken
Big Mouth House
Nominated by: Charlotte

The Serial Garden is a collection of twenty-four stories about the magical adventures of two very likable English children, Mark and Harriet Armitage. The stories are a brilliant mix of the ordinary and the fantastical--in the world of the Armitage family, the mundane concerns of English village life are mixed seamlessly with witches, druids, unicorns, enchanted gardens, and much, much more. At times hilariously funny, at times surprisingly poignant, this book is perfect for any child or grown-up looking for delightfully extraordinary fantasy. Aiken was a tremendously creative writer, and these stories are some of her most imaginative and skillful writing.
--Charlotte Taylor (It was especially nice to be able to write the blurb for the book that I myself nominated, a book that includes stories that I read and loved tremendously when I was a child).

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (my review)
by Grace Lin
Little, Brown
Nominated by: EM

Prompted by her father’s fantastical stories and by an encounter with a talking goldfish, Minli sets off on a quixotic search for the Never Ending Mountain where she will ask the Old Man on the Moon to change her parents’ dreary lives. Woven into Minli’s journey are evocative folktales, each which could stand perfectly well on its own, but which beautifully resonate when brought together within Minli’s quest. Simply told, yet intricately developed, Grace Lin’s Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is finally a story about believing in stories and how that belief can alter ones fate.
--Brian Jung

Now these seven head off to the judging round, where these bloggers get to pick the one winner (and I don't envy them that task!)

Tarie Sabido, Into the Wardrobe
Jen Robinson, Jen Robinson's Book Page
Emily Mitchell, emilyreads
Melissa Baldwin, One Librarian's Book Reviews
Ashley Bair, Everead

Thank you so much, Eva and Brian and Cindy and Anamaria, for the fun we had together picking this lovely list of books! And thank you very much, Sheila, for organizing us, and to Anne, for making it all happen!

(Aren't these lovely books? Now please go and buy them, if you haven't already, so as to show the publishers that the Cybils are Important Awards, and, of course, so that you can enjoy them too!).

The Children's Book Dragons of 2009

2009 was an excellent year for dragons in children's books!

For younger readers, the dragon highlight of the year was Dragonbreath, by Ursula Vernon. Part graphic book, part straight easy-reader narrative, it's the delightful story of a young dragon child and his underwater adventure (my review).

I've heard good things about the Dragons of Wayward Crescent, an easy reader series, the latest book of which Gruffen, by Chris D'lacey, came out this year. This is high on my list of books to be offered to my younger son.

Moving on to middle grade--
There are two books this year that features princesses nicknamed Meg and their young dragon friends, and I liked both lots-- The Runaway Dragon, by Kate Coombs (my review) and The Dragon of Trelian, by Michelle Knudsen. Both are lightly written (in a pleasantly diverting way). I slightly favor The Runaway Dragon, with its many nods toward fairy tale tropes and its more pronounced humor, but both are excellent books to put into the hands of a young fantasy lover. Particularly if her name is Meg.The Dragons of Ordinary Farm, by Tad Williams and Deborah Beale. A brother and a sister are sent off to spend the summer at their great uncle's farm. They are amazed when they find the farm is anything but ordinary--it is home to all manner of mythical creatures, including dragons...the reader might be less amazed, but fans of Fablehaven should like this one.


And speaking of which, here's Brandon Mull talking about the new book in that series, Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary: "I think book 4 is my favorite so far. It might be because I’m a big fan of dragons. To me, they are the coolest, most iconic magical creature. We’ve only seen one dragon in the Fablehaven series so far, briefly, in book 3. Book 4 has lots of dragons, some fun twists and turns, and a bunch of great action." (From an interview at Cool Kids Read).

Dragon Spear, by Jessica Day George, is the third and final book of a series that began with the charming Dragon Slippers. This story takes places on an island far out to sea, where a strange and stunted tribe of dragons is hatching sinister plots. I enjoyed this one quite a bit--so often dragon books have just one Dragon, whereas this series allows them to be social beings, with interesting ramifications and opportunities for draconic characterization. It wraps up the series in a very satisfying way, and is a good read on its own account.

Timothy and the Dragon's Gate, by Adrienne Kress, is a completely different take on dragons. An extremely unlikeable boy, who overuses the word "whatever," finds himself the keeper of a dragon who has been forced to assume human form. Now Timothy has to get the dragon back to China...foiling various bad guys in the process. Fans of Kress' previous book, Alex and the Ironic Gentleman, will doubtless be delighted to meet Alex again when she shows up halfway through the book; those of us who haven't read that book might wonder just what is going on.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin, is a lovely book, beautifully written and illustrated, and although things Happen, they don't happen in a charging ahead action above all else way. On a quest to save her family from starvation, a young Chinese girl befriends a dragon who longs to be able to fly. But pitted against them is an evil and greedy enemy...(my review).


Kira (Shadow of the Dragon), by Kate O'Hearn, is a draconic adventure of the medievally type. A brave girl and her little sister find themselves fugitives, living in the shadow of a dragon's lair, after their farm is laid waste and their family imprisoned by henchmen of an evil king. But when the oldest sister forms a bond with a baby dragon, and the younger sister begins to develop her own gifts of magic, they might have a chance to save the kingdom. Although this is a fast-paced story about two smart and brave girls (always a good thing), I have a few reservations. The Bad King and his Bad henchman were a bit too bad--they laid the kingdom so very waste that it stretched the limits of my credulity. And I was disturbed by the violence at the end--the little sister, only 8 years old, turns into a ruthless killer, shooting guards right and left and urging the dragon on to kill them.

Spit Fyre, the dragon of Septiums Heap, made another, quite extensive, appearance in Syren, book five of that series, by Angie Sage. I am rather fond of Spit Fyre, especially his suspicion that Marica is his Dragon Mother.





A dragon book I have yet to read is City of Fire, by Laurence Yep, which features dragons and sounds most intriguing. And 2009 saw the release of the fourth book of Jane Yolen's Pit Dragon series--Dragon's Heart (also on my to-be-read list). Incidentally, this is the only Young Adult dragon book I know of--teenagers got zombies and fairies and vampires and lots of other miscellaneous un-alive people.

I'm sure there were lots of dragon picture books too--if anyone has any favorites, please share!

(note: I received review copies of the following books as a result of my participation in the Cybils Awards: Dragon Spear, Timothy and the Dragon's Gate, Where the Mountains Meet the Moon; I received a review copy of Shadow of the Dragon from its publisher, Kane Miller. I've tried to set up the Amazon links to benefit the Cybils, who will, if I did it right, receive any commissions earned).

Wishing for Tomorrow, by Hilary McKay--the sequel to A Little Princess

I have just finished reading Wishing for Tomorrow, by Hilary McKay, and I want to read it again. And quite possibly again. I feel rather dizzy with book love...and so very very happy that McKay wrote this book and that I got it for Christmas.

At the end of A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1904), Sara Crewe got a Happy Ending, and Becky got to ride on her coat-tails. But the other students of Miss Minchen's Academy--Lavinia, Lottie, Ermengarde and all-- were left stuck there in dismal-ness.

Now they have been freed, and given stories and endings of their own.

And very satisfyingly too.

Wishing for Tomorrow is told from Ermengarde's point of view--poor lumpish Ermengarde for whom Sara's departure was hardest (and who Burnett seems to have regarded simply as a foil for Sara's relentless perfection). Now she gets a chance to be a person in her own right, and I love her. And Lavinia (the mean and snottie one), Lottie (the rascally little one), and even Miss Minchen herself come alive, in ways that Burnett, with her "Sara as be all and end all" approach to things, never let happen. I never thought I would care about Lavinia, or even, heaven forbid, Miss Minchen, but now I do...

If you love The Little Princess, I bet you will enjoy this book. It stays true to that story, while giving it (and I know this is a cliche, but so what) new life. If you love Hilary McKay, you won't be disappointed either--there is the humor and detail and love for the characters that makes her books favorites of mine. And if you don't have strong feelings about either, this is still a book that those who love character-driven books (especially books about girls at school) will enjoy.

If, one the other hand, you don't like character-driven books about girls of long ago where very little Happens, you probably won't like it that much.

Wishing for Tomorrow has been out for a couple of months already in the UK and Australia (Hodder 313 pp), and comes out here in the US from Margaret K. McElderry on January 5, 2010. Here is the US cover. I prefer the UK one, which I have because my sister went the extra mile (literally)--thank you so much, Emily! The US one looks a bit too sweetly pretty for my taste.

Here's another review, from Nayu's Reading Corner, and another from a 12 year-old reader at Chicklish. Neither of them loved it as much as I did. But here's a third review that's after my own heart, from So Many Books...(with several great quotes!)

And here's my own favorite quote (which Nayu also includes in her review, but which is so brilliant I have to have it too).

Ermengarde has begun to write long letters to Sara, who has asked her to keep an eye on Lottie:

'And so I went up and she was hopping around on one leg saying she was a flamingo and her prayer was:

Dear God

I think I would rather be the only
green flamingo in the world. Than pink.

Nothing happened to her! I am sure if I ever prayed a prayer like that I would be struck down dead.

I said this to Lottie.

'God is used to me,' said Lottie." (p 84)

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).