This week's round up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction posts from around the blogs

Some of us (ie, me) have been distracted this week by all the necessary tasks that must be accomplished ere winter arrives to stay (windows with glass in them make a house so much more cozy). Happily, others have been busily posting away, and here are the middle grade sci fi/fantasy posts that I found in my blog reading this week! Please let me know if I missed yours; please feel free to let me know during the week when you've posted something!

The Reviews:

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

Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu, at Libri Dilectio

Celia's Robot, by Margaret Chang, at Library Chicken

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick, by Chris Van Allsberg et al., at 100 Scope Notes

The Death of Yorik Mortwell, by Stephen Messer, at Project Mayhem (also a giveaway)

Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost, by Cornelia Funke, at Just Deb

Goliath, by Scott Westerfeld, at Fantasy Literature

Guys Read: Thriller, edited by Jon Scieszka, at Literary Asylum

Icefall, by Matthew Kirby, at BC Book Talk

Keeper, by Kathi Appelt, at Library Chicken

The Last Dragon, by Jane Yolen, at Wandering Librarians

The Last Dragonslayer, by Jasper Fforde, at Beyond Books

Liesl and Po, by Lauren Oliver, at The Reading Date

Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes, by Jonathan Auxier, at Great Kid Books

Return of the Dapper Men, by Jim McCann, at the excelsior file

Son of Neptune, by Rick Riordan, at Reading Vacation

The True Meaning of Smekday, by Adam Rex, at slatebreakers

A True Princess, by Diane Zahler, at Charlotte's Library

Tuesdays at the Castle, by Jessica Day George, at Bookworm1858

The Unwanteds, by Lisa McMann, at One Librarian's Book Reviews

The Wikkeling, by Steven Arntson, at Challenging the Bookworm

Wildewood, by Colin Meloy, at books4yourkids

The Wonderful Garden, by E. Nesbit, at Tor

A Year Without Autumn, by Liz Kessler, at books4yourkids

Zita the Spacegirl, by Ben Hatke, at Sonderbooks

Authors and Interviews

Anna Staniszewski (My Very UnFairy Tale Life) at From the Mixed Up Files, Literary Rambles, and at The Enchanted Inkpot

John Flanagan (Ranger's Apprentice) at Cracking the Cover

Carmen Deedy (The Cheshire Cheese Cat) at James Preller's Blog

Dawn Larimore (Ivy and the Meanstalk) at Kitchentangents

Other Good Stuff:

Vintage covers of the Phantom Tollbooth, at Flavorwire

Stacy Whitman (editor of Tu Books) talks about the villain point of view

At Deva Fagan's website you can find a lovely character gallery of the folks who populate her forthcoming book, Circus Galacticus.

For Halloween, Barnes and Noble created a video for Neil Gaimen's reading of part of The Thirteen Clocks, by James Thurber.

I'd love to hop over to London to see this exhibit at the Museum of Childhood, on the relationship between fold tradition and childhood.

Not related to mg sff in particular, but still a fun thing--the sign-ups for this year's Book Blogger Holiday Swap are up and running!

A True Princess, by Diane Zahler

A True Princess, by Diane Zahler (Harper Collins, 2011, middle grade, 182 pages)

As far back as she can remember, Lilia has never had a good night's sleep. Because of this, and because of a tendency to day dream, she adds little value to the household of the farmer who took her in when she she was found as a baby, floating down the river in a curious basket.

But the farmer's own two children (Kai, close in age to ten or eleven year old Lilia, and Karina, who's five years older) love her, and so, when the farmer's new wife decides to send Lilia to work for the brutal miller, the three children run away together, on a quest to find Lilia's true family.

Their journey takes them into a mysterious woods, where the fairy king holds court, and there, through an unfortunate mischance, Kai attracts the attention of the king's daughter. And there in the enchanted woods he will remain, unless Lilia can find the lost cloak clasp of the leader of the Wild Hunt, hidden somewhere in the castle of the human king.

Lilia and Karina happily have no trouble getting work as servants in the castle. There the king and queen are trying to find a true princess to marry the prince...and fortunately for all concerned, Karina is beautiful enough so that he falls in love with her, and Lilia is lucky enough to have friends of her own--the royal falcons--who help her in her time of need, and all ends happily with a true princess being found, Kai being freed, and Karina's beauty winning her the prince.

It is a pleasant fairy tale retelling, one that should please nine and ten year old lovers of princess tales very much. That target audience will doubtless be pleased as all get out by the romance and fortuitous happenstances and happy ending, and enjoy the elements of the fairy tale, and added fantastical elements like the Wild Hunt, the household elf, and the mysterious falcons.

It's not so much one for grown-up readers, though. I thought Zahler did a good job making the inherently absurd princess and the pea story into something readable (although the royal sleep pickiness wasn't exactly explained). The element of the Snow Queen--the human boy needing to be rescued from enchantment--worked less well, mainly because the fairy princess was simply spoiled and petulant, and not a force of numinously terrifying power.

What bothered me most, however, was that the prince--so kind, helpful, and friendly--was never asked for help in finding the lost clasp. It would have made things a lot simpler ! And it was awfully convenient that Karina was so beautiful that she attracted the prince's attentions (although she seemed like a nice person, too, in a not particularly fleshed out way).

So--yes for the young reader, but not one that I'll add to my own collection.

Tomorrow's Guardian, by Richard Denning, for (this Wednesday's) Timeslip Tuesday

Tomorrow's Guardian by Richard Denning (Mercia Books, 2010, middle grade/YA, 361 pages).

Tom Oakley wonders if he is going mad when time begins to play tricks on him, replaying small bits of his life, and the nightmares--of an English army officer dying in the Zulu War, a woman burning in the Great Fire of London, and a British soldier drowning in a U-boat battle in WW II--start haunting his sleep. But the truth is stranger than he could imagine. Tom is no ordinary 11 year old English school boy; instead, he is a time walker of potentially phenomenal ability. And the mysterious Hourglass Institute wants to recruit him.

Tom is given a choice. He can join the Hourglass Institute's struggle to keep time safe from those who would destroy it, or, after doing three small jobs, he could renounce his powers and go back to normal life. The three small jobs, however, are rescuing the people whose deaths he had been dreaming of, and bringing them back to the present, where their own time bending talents can be put to use.

Not only is this a rather dangerous undertaking, but a sinister man is bent on stopping him. Because of this man's machinations, when Tom does accomplish his tasks, going home is no longer an option. Instead, his is given the choice between saving his parents from an impossible tragedy that killed them before he was born, or saving our reality from one in which the Nazis won WW II...a reality that exists side by side with our own.

It's not the most original plot line (especially to those who've read TimeRiders, by Alex Scarrow, which also features characters saved from death, and an alternate Nazi world), but it is original enough in detail so that I didn't find this a problem (and I think Denning does a much more convincing job with the whole difficult, paradoxical business of time travel!). By the time Tom was enmeshed in his struggle with the alternate Nazis, I was hooked. That being said, it took me a while before this happened--I found the beginning somewhat awkward, and, like Tom, wasn't sure what was happening, or if I cared. In the end, however, I most certainly did!

I think my reservations come from a feeling that the book could have been more tightly edited. Mercia Books appears to have been created to publish Denning's books, which is fine, and although there weren't any of the typos and blunders that are sadly found in many self published books, I did feel that the heavy hand of an outside editor would have been useful. The writing didn't always work for me, and the same points are made a bit too often. Likewise, I wasn't convinced by Denning's characterizations of the three individuals Tom saved from the past; they seemed like stereotypes. For instance, here's the Victorian army officer:

"Indeed, I have not met him either," said Edward, "but from what little Mary told me just now, he does seem a villain. Not sure what his game is, but it does not sound as if he would play fair." (page 220)

Even though my feelings about the book are mixed, as I said above, by the last hundred pages, I was gripped by the excitement of all the disparate threads coming together; I found Nazi-victorious alternate reality particularly compelling. I'd hand this to a fan of TimeRider in a second!

Tomorrow's Guardian is the first book of The Hourglass Institute trilogy. Book two, Yesterday's Treasures came out this year, and book three, Today's Sacrifice, is set to be released in the spring (2012).

Other thoughts, which I'm giving in more detail than usual, because of my own ambivalence:

The Bookbag: The major success here – and it is a really major one – is that author Richard Denning, after a slightly slow first few chapters, keeps the action fast and furious for the other 400 or so pages of the book....The other thing that really impressed me about the book was the way the time travel was handled"

At Blogcritics: "There is danger and cunning inherent in each incident, keeping the action sharp and engrossing."

At SF Site: "There is something winningly ordinary and decent about Tom. Denning does not fall into either trap of over-sophistication or over-sentimentalisation, or trying to be self-consciously cool or down with the kids. This ordinariness is a great strength. This book is at times rather ploddingly written and will not change the face of books, whether children's or time-travel literature, but it will beguile a young mind for some hours."

At The Squee: "The bits I think I prefer most of all, though, were the visits to historical events. Denning clearly knows his stuff, and manages to set the scenes very well. It's particularly in these parts where the book excels."

At Confessions of a Bookworm: "One of the things that immediately caught my attention when reading this book is how quickly the storyline progressed beyond the initial plot. As I began reading, I had assumed the book would focus entirely on the rescue missions, drawing them out into lengthy adventures that would fill the book. That, however, was not the case and the storyline progressed into an even larger plot before I was even halfway through the book."

New releases of fantasy and science fiction for kids and teens--the first half of Nov. 2011 edition

Here are the new releases of fantasy and science fiction for kids and teens coming out from the first to the fourteenth of November. My informtion comes from Teens Read Too, and the blurbs from Goodreads/Amazon.

ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE GRADE

AT FIRST BITE by Ruth Ames "Ashlee Lambert, the queen bee from THIS TOTALLY BITES, has had a tough time ever since she became a full-fledged vampire. But now that she's moving from New York City to sunny Los Angeles, she's excited to make a fresh new start.

But Ashlee never counted on a clique of popular mean girls or awful sunburns. Keeping her huge secret is suddenly harder than ever. And when something -- or someone -- starts attacking people at her school, Ashlee realizes she's not the only vampire in town. It's up to Ashlee to figure out who's behind the attacks before her cover is blown forever!"

THE CHALLENGE OF SAMUKAI: NINJAGO GRAPHIC NOVEL by Greg Farshtey "The “Masters of Spinjitsu” come to Papercutz in their first graphic novel appearance written by Greg Farshtey, the hit force behind the LEGO BIONICLE series. Under the tutelage of their master Sensei Wu, the “chosen four” ninjas Kai, Jay, Cole, and Zane must learn to use their elemental powers of fire, ice, lightning and earth. Their mission: defeat Sensei Wu’s evil brother Garmadon and his army of skeleton warriors before they can take over the world!"

THE CURSE OF THE PONY VAMPIRES: FETLOCKS HALL by Babette Cole "Young girls who love ponies and magic will not be able to resist the exciting adventures of Penny Simms. Set in an equestrian boarding school, Penny and her best friend Pip encounter a group of pony vampires. Can Penny manage to rid the school of unwelcome guests?"

THE DEAD GENTLEMAN by Matthew Cody "The dead are up and walking, and the Gentleman is at the door...

Featuring a kid hero, time travel, and otherworld portals in unexpected places (maybe there are monsters under your bed), The Dead Gentleman is a wild ride between parallel New York City timestreams—1901 and today. Eleven-year-old Tommy Learner is a street orphan and an unlikely protege to the Explorers, a secret group dedicated to exploring portals—the hidden doorways to other worlds. But while investigating an attercop (man-eating spider) in the basement of an old hotel, Tommy is betrayed—and trapped. And it's then that his world collides with that of modern-day Jezebel Lemon, who—until the day she decides to explore her building's basement—had no bigger worries than homework and boys. Now, Jezebel and Tommy must thwart the Dead Gentleman—a legendary villain whose last unconquered world is our own planet Earth, a realm where the dead stay dead. Until now. Can two kids put an end to this ancient evil and his legions of Gravewalkers?"

THE ENCHANTED PONY: FETLOCKS HALL by Babette Cole "Young girls who love ponies and magic will not be able to resist the exciting adventures of Penny Simms. Set in an equestrian boarding school, Penny and her best friend Pip encounter a world of mystical horses. Can Penny manage to save Pip's parents from an enchanted spell?"

EXTRATERRESTRIAL COMPENDIUM by Pat Lee "Just in time for the approach of the reputedly transformative year 2012, a comprehensive collection of extraterrestrial life-forms as visualized and vividly-rendered by Pat Lee of Transformers, DC, and Marvel comics fame. Within the UFO and exopolitics communities, there is both debate and consensus about many of the "known" extraterrestrial races, but seldom have they been revealed in this level of detail. To the believer, the curious, or just open-minded, the Extraterrestrial Compendium provides fuel for thought."

FELINE CHARM: POCKET CATS by Kitty Wells "The third Pocket Cat has come to life, and this time the problem that needs solving is in Maddy's ballet class. Ollie's tingling whiskers tell him that Maddy's best friend is about to give up on ballet, even though she loves it. When Maddy uses her new magic power to boost Rachel's confidence, Rachel lands the star part in the ballet school's big show . . . and Maddy is desperately jealous. On opening night, Rachel needs the cat magic more than ever, but is Maddy strong enough to put her best friend first?"

THE GRAVE ROBBERS OF GENGHIS KHAN: CHILDREN OF THE LAMP by P.B. Kerr
"Djinn twins John and Philippa are off on another enchanting, and dangerous, adventure in the last book in the bestselling Children of the Lamp series. As volcanoes begin erupting all over the world, spilling golden lava, the twins must go on a hunt for the wicked djinn who wants to rob the grave of the great Genghis Khan. Can the twins stop this latest disaster before the world is overwhelmed?

Join John and Philippa, their parents, Uncle Nimrod, and Groanin as they must defeat an evil more powerful than any they've ever faced before. . . ."

HAILEY TWITCH AND THE WEDDING GLITCH by Lauren Barnholdt "The next installment in this hilarious and heartwarming series featuring a seven-year-old mastermind who tries really hard not to blame her invisible friend for getting her into heaps of delicious trouble. Hailey's magic sprite, Maybelle, has finally gotten control of her magic! Does that mean that Maybelle no longer needs Hailey? As if that's not enough to worry Hailey, now she's got her hands full being a flower girl in her aunt's wedding."

HOW TO BREAK A DRAGON'S HEART: HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON by Cressida Cowell "Stranded on the exceptionally dangerous, and possibly haunted, Beach of the Broken Heart, Hiccup must face Ug the Uglithug and complete the Impossible Task--or die trying. Along the way, he'll have to battle Berserks, dodge Scarers, and save Fishlegs from being fed to the Beast, all while being hunted down by an old enemy with a dark secret about the mysterious Lost Throne. With Toothless by his side, and time to stage his rescue running out, what's a Hero to do?"

LITTLE WOMEN AND ME by Lauren Baratz-Logsted "Emily is sick and tired of being a middle sister. So when she gets an assignment to describe what she'd change about a classic novel, Emily pounces on Little Women. After all, if she can't change things in her own family, maybe she can bring a little justice to the March sisters. (Kill off Beth? Have cute Laurie wind up with Amy instead of Jo? What was Louisa May Alcott thinking?!) But when Emily gets mysteriously transported into the 1860s world of the book, she discovers that righting fictional wrongs won't be easy. And after being immersed in a time and place so different from her own, it may be Emily-not the four March sisters-who undergoes the most surprising change of all. Lauren Baratz-Logsted's winning confection will appeal to fans of Little Women as well as anyone who enjoys a modern twist on an old favorite."

MADAME PAMPLEMOUSSE AND THE ENCHANTED SWEET SHOP by Rupert Kingfisher "Set in Paris in the wintertime, beloved bakers Madeleine and Madame Pamplemousse return in a deliciously sweet, fairy tale-esque adventure. Madeleine is thrilled to make a new friend, Madame Bonbon, owner of an enchanted sweet shop where the candy itself has magical powers. But Madame Bonbon is actually someone else in disguise—an old enemy from Madame Pamplemousse’s past who has come to Paris seeking revenge…"

MOUSENET by Prudence Breitrose "When ten-year-old Megan helps her uncle invent the Thumbtop, the world’s smallest computer, mice are overjoyed, and they want one for every mouse hole.

The Big Cheese, leader of the Mouse Nation, has orders: follow that girl—even if it means high-tailing it to Megan’s new home on the other side of the country. While Megan struggles as the new girl, the mice watch, waiting for their chance. But when they tell Megan the biggest secret in the history of the world—mice have evolved, and they need her help—she isn’t sure anyone will believe her. With all of Mouse Nation behind her, Megan could become the most powerful girl alive, but just how will she create a Thumptop for every mouse?"

MY VERY UNFAIRY TALE LIFE by Anna Staniszewski "You know all those stories that claim fairies cry sparkle tears and elves travel by rainbow? They're lies. All lies." Twelve-year-old Jenny has spent the last two years as an adventurer helping magical kingdoms around the universe. But it's a thankless job, leaving her no time for school or friends. She'd almost rather take a math test than rescue yet another magical creature! When Jenny is sent on yet another mission, she has a tough choice to make: quit and have her normal life back, or fulfill her promise and go into a battle she doesn't think she can win."

THE OUTCASTS: BROTHERBAND CHRONICLES by John Flanagan "They are outcasts. Hal, Stig, and the others - they are the boys the others want no part of. Skandians, as any reader of Ranger's Apprentice could tell you, are known for their size and strength. Not these boys. Yet that doesn't mean they don't have skills. And courage - which they will need every ounce of to do battle at sea against the other bands, the Wolves and the Sharks, in the ultimate race. The icy waters make for a treacherous playing field . . . especially when not everyone thinks of it as playing. John Flanagan, author of the international phenomenon Ranger's Apprentice, creates a new cast of characters to populate his world of Skandians and Araluens, a world millions of young readers around the world have come to know and admire. Full of seafaring adventures and epic battles, Book 1 of The Brotherband Chronicles is sure to thrill readers of Ranger's Apprentice while enticing a whole new generation just now discovering the books."

SET ME FREE: TOMORROW GIRLS by Eva Gray "In a terrifying future world, four girls must depend on each other if they want to survive.

Maddie is ready for action. Louisa, Evelyn, and Rosie helped rescue her from the Alliance's grasp, and she's learned an enormous, game-changing secret: her mother is the leader of the Resistance!

But reuniting with her long-absent mother is not going to be easy. As Maddie and her friends set out to find the Resistance headquarters, they are relentlessly pursued by the Alliance. Worst of all, members of their group have gone missing in the middle of rubble-strewn Chicago.

Maddie and her friends have earned their battle scars, courage, and strength. But at this darkest hour, will they be able to make it back to their families . . . and freedom."

SNOW IN SUMMER: FAIREST OF THEM ALL by Jane Yolen "With her black hair, red lips, and lily-white skin, Summer is as beautiful as her father's garden. And her life in the mountains of West Virginia seems like a fairy tale; her parents sing and dance with her, Cousin Nancy dotes on her, and she is about to get a new baby brother. But when the baby dies soon after he's born, taking Summer's mama with him, Summer's fairy-tale life turns grim. Things get even worse when her father marries a woman who brings poisons and magical mirrors into Summer's world. Stepmama puts up a pretty face, but Summer suspects she's up to no good - and is afraid she's powerless to stop her.

This Snow White tale filled with magic and intrigue during the early twentieth century in Appalachia will be hard to forget."

SOUND BENDER by Lin Oliver & Theo Baker "After their parents' plane goes down over the ocean, Leo and his brother Hollis are forced into the custody of their rich and enigmatic uncle Crane, a dealer of rare and probably illicit antiques. But almost as soon as he's settled--or as close to settled as he can get in the bleak Brooklyn mansion, surrounded by his uncle's dubious staff--Leo receives a mysterious package his father put together long ago, to be opened on his 13th birthday. With the package, Leo discovers he has an amazing ability. He can hear the history of any object by touching it. But when Leo finds a strange helmet buried among his uncle's artifacts, and hears a pained cry coming from it, a mystery unravels as to its origin."

SUCKED UNDER: MONSTRUM HOUSE by Z. Fraillon "Jasper McPhee pulled himself over the top of the icy wall. He landed lightly on his bare feet and rolled across the snowy ground, just dodging the swinging blades that whooshed from the tree tops. That was close, he thought. He shot a quick look at his watch. He had two minutes left to finish the combat course. He might just make it.

It's exam time at Monstrum House, and the top students in Jasper's year will be rewarded. They'll get to hunt a monster that lives at the bottom of the lake and likes to drown people for fun—so, maybe it's just as well that Jasper hasn't studied. Life's never easy when you're a student at the Monstrum house."

TAKEN OVER: MONSTRUM HOUSE by Z. Fraillon "It was a stupid thing to do. A very, very stupid thing to do. Jasper McPhee wished he hadn’t done it. He wished he hadn’t even thought about doing it. But he had. The stupid thought had scuttled into his head, and before he had a chance to shoo it back out, he had done it. And now he was in serious trouble.

Jasper has not had a good start to the year—the prefects are out to get him, he hasn't done his homework, and a bunch of vicious monsters are laying their eggs all over his school. Jasper and his friends need to stop the monsters' eggs from hatching before it's too late and they take over, but hunting these monsters is more dangerous than Jasper realizes. The hatchlings need to eat something, and it could be him!"

THE TWILIGHT CIRCUS: WOLVEN by Di Toft "Werewolves, vampires, furry little monsters: It's a three-ring circus of spooky!

After dodging mutant werewolves and mad scientists all summer, Nat and Woody have joined the Twilight Circus of Illusion, hoping it might bring them closer to Nat's fugitive dad or, just maybe, any surviving members of Woody's long-lost Wolven clan. But instead they end up in a stinking pile of peril! A pair of strange secret agents is sniffing out their every step, while underneath the big top the boys meet a brand-new batty batch of evil: a black widow vampire and her horrifying hive! Will they escape her sticky web so that they can search for the noble Wolven? And now that Nat has Wolven blood, too, how -- when?! -- is HE about to change?"

WE DINE WITH CANNIBALS: AN ACCIDENTAL ADVENTURE by C. Alexander London "When we last saw Oliver and Celia Navel, they had fallen into the clutches of Sir Edmund S. Titheltorpe-Schmidt III and were doomed to spend their entire summer vacation doing his deadly bidding.

In their second unwanted adventure, We Dine with Cannibals, Oliver and Celia will travel from the ruins of ancient temples to the shadowy forests of the Amazon. They'll need all their reality TV survival skills when they ride a llama, race the rapids, and even fly an airplane! If that's not enough excitement for you (it is decidedly too much excitement for Oliver and Celia Navel), they'll be forced to learn the proper etiquette for a cannibal feast and confront the strangest and most brutal rite of passage ever devised by human imagination: dodgeball."

THE WITCH'S REVENGE by D.A. Nelson "Two months after she saved the Eye of Lornish, a large white stone that prevents the magical kingdom of Mor from being discovered, Morag is adjusting to life in the secret northern kingdom. But dark dreams trouble her, and a series of unsolved robberies proves that even with the protection of her friends—Shona the dragon, Bertie the dodo, and Aldiss the rat—Morag is still not safe."

YOUNG ADULT

BRIMSTONE ANGELS: A FORGOTTEN REALMS NOVEL by Erin M. Evans
CROSSED by Ally Condie
DARK EDEN by Patrick Carman
DARK INSIDE by Jeyn Roberts
DARKER STILL: A NOVEL OF MAGIC MOST FOUL by Leanna Renee Hieber
DON'T EXPECT MAGIC by Kathy McCullough
EXTRAORDINARY*: THE TRUE STORY OF MY FAIRY GODPARENT, WHO ALMOST KILLED ME, AND CERTAINLY NEVER MADE ME A PRINCESS by Adam Selzer
FIRST DAY ON EARTH by Cecil Castellucci
IBOY by Kevin Brooks
LAST BREATH: THE MORGANVILLE VAMPIRES by Rachel Caine
LIAR'S MOON by Elizabeth C. Bunce
MIND'S EYE by Gillian Philip
THE PACKAGE: NOVE'S CURSE by Lisa Naraine
PAST CONTINUOUS by K. Ryer Breese
PRIZED: BIRTHMARKED by Caragh M. O'Brien
RECKONING: A STRANGE ANGELS NOVEL by Lili St. Crow
THE RIPPER: THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, STEFAN'S DIARIES by Kevin Williamson & Julie Plec
RISING TIDE by Anne Rooney
THE SPACE BETWEEN by Brenna Yovanoff
TIGER'S VOYAGE: THE TIGER'S CURSE by Colleen Houck
TOUCH: A DENAZEN NOVEL by Jus Accardo
UNISON SPARK by Andy Marino
WITCH HAZEL: VOODOO ISLAND by Kevin Buell

Waiting on Wednesday--Little Women and Me

I am always looking out for time travel stories, in as much as I post about one every Tuesday (or sometimes Wednesday, as will be the case this week). Here's one that's coming out in just a few days, that I'm really looking forward to:

Little Women and Me by Lauren Baratz-Logsted (Bloomsbury, November 8, 320 pages)

"Emily is sick and tired of being a middle sister. So when she gets an assignment to describe what she'd change about a classic novel, Emily pounces on Little Women. After all, if she can't change things in her own family, maybe she can bring a little justice to the March sisters. (Kill off Beth? Have cute Laurie wind up with Amy instead of Jo? What was Louisa May Alcott thinking?!) But when Emily gets mysteriously transported into the 1860s world of the book, she discovers that righting fictional wrongs won't be easy. And after being immersed in a time and place so different from her own, it may be Emily-not the four March sisters-who undergoes the most surprising change of all. Lauren Baratz-Logsted's winning confection will appeal to fans of Little Women as well as anyone who enjoys a modern twist on an old favorite."

This seems to be one written with fans of Little Women in mind, and since I can practically recite it from memory (favorite line, just because I like Amy best--"I'm glad mine's blue"), I fit the bill beautifully. I enjoyed seeing the March sisters from the perspective of twentieth century kids in The Time Garden, by Edward Eager...and I'm looking forward to meeting them again!

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine

The Afterlife, by Gary Soto

There are a number of books next to me as I type, waiting to be reviewed, but in an effort to be Seasonally Appropriate, I picked the ghost story.

That being said, The Afterlife, by Gary Soto (Harcourt, 2003, 168 pages), is something of an un-deadish sort of ghost story. Sure, the main character, Chuy, is dead--knifed because made the wrong comment the wrong time. But he's still very much a Mexican Americn teenaged boy, still tied to the real world of Fresno, CA. Although Chuy does have ghostly superpowers, as it were, and no-one living can see him, Soto is not particularly concerned with not with exploring the supernatural. Rather, the reader is given the reactions of those who knew and loved Chuy, and, in turn, his reactions and realizations, as death gives him the perspective that allows him to really see his own life.

It's not all listening in on conversations, though. Chuy is also interested, not unnaturally, in trying to make sense of why he was killed, which means tracking down the thug who killed him, and maybe getting revenge. And he's not the only recent ghost in town--there's also Crystal, a girl who's just committed suicide...who becomes his friend.

This isn't a book for those who want things to Happen, as not much does. Even the main character being knifed isn't particularly tense--it is so fast and random that Chuy is dead before he, or the reader, can blink. But Soto's fine writing brings to life Chuy's relationships with friends and family, and the experience of being teenager, and wondering what the point of one's life/death is. Chuy's ghostly abilities and the mystery of what will happen next add interest.

It's one that I think will appeal to teenagers (boys in particular) trying to make sense of their own lives. They might well want something similar-- to hear what others think about them, to take action against those who hurt them without worrying about consequences, to meet and become friends with a member of the opposite sex, with no one else around to judge or compete.

Middle grade science fiction and fantasy--this week's round-up for your reading pleasure (and mine)!

Here are all the middle grade fantasy and science fiction related blog posts etc. I found this week; please let me know if I missed your!

The Reviews:

The Apothecary, by Maile Meloy, at Eva's Book Addiction

The Bassumtyte Treasure, by Jane Louise Curry, at Charlotte's Library

Beasts (The Mystic Phyles) by Stephanie Brockway and Ralph Masiello, at Charlotte's Library

Blue Fire, by Janice Hardy (Healing Wars book 2) at books4yourkids

The Cheshire Cheese Cat, at Books of Wonder and Wisdom

The Crowfield Curse, by Pat Walsh, at Bookish

Darkfall, by Janice Hardy (Healing Wars book 3) at books4yourkids

Dragon Castle, by Joseph Bruchac, at Fuse #8

Elliot and the Pixie Plot, by Jennifer A. Nielsen, at Boys and Literacy

Galaxy Games, by Greg Fishbone, at TheHappyNappyBookseller

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland...., by Catherynne M. Valente, at Reads for Keeps

Ghostopolis, by Doug Tennapel, at Karissa's Reading Review

Goliath, by Scott Westerfeld, at Karissa's Reading Review and Biblio File

Jake Ransom and the Howling Sphinx, by James Rollins, at Becky's Book Reviews

Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow, by James Rollins, at Becky's Book Reviews

Kevin's Point of View, by Del Shannon, at Nayu's Reading Corner

Lair of the Bat Monster (Dragonbreath) by Ursula Vernon, at Good Books and Good Wine and Jean Little Library

Liesl and Po, by Lauren Oliver, at Ex Libris

The Magic City, by E. Nesbit, at Tor

Masterwork of a Painting Elephant, by Michelle Cuevas, at Book Dragon

Monstrum House: Locked In, and Creeped Out, by Z. Fraillon, at Cracking the Cover

The Mostly True Story of Jack, by Kelly Barnhill, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile and Paige in Training

The Orphan of Awkward Falls, by Keith Graves, at My Favorite Books

Pilot and Huxley, by Dan McGuiness, at Jean Little Library

The Princess Curse, by Merrie Haskell, at The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia

The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic, by Jennifer Trafton, at Good Books and Good Wine

Small Persons With Wings, by Ellen Booream, at slatebreakers

A Tale Dark and Grimm, by Adam Gidwitz, at The Book Smugglers

Tuesdays at the Castle, by Jessica Day George, at Sonderbooks and Random Musings of a Bibliophile

The Wikkeling, by Steven Arntson, at Becky's Book Reviews

Wildwood, by Colin Meloy, at My Reading Frenzy

Kate aka Book Aunt compares and contrasts this year's trio of mice books.

In the spirit of the season, at Great Kid Books you can find a compilation of truly creepy stories.

And I also want to mention the Animorphs Re-Read that's ongoing at the Intergalactic Academy

Authors and Interviews

James Riley (Half upon a Time) at Cynsations

Roderick Gordon at The Guardian on self-publishing Tunnels, and how it became the start of a successful series.

Greg Fishbone (Galaxy Games) shares his experiences on "surviving the sophomore outing" at Cynsations, and talks about "making the jump from writer to author" at Adventures in YA and Children's Publishing.

Leonard Marcus annotated the fiftieth anniversary edition of The Phantom Tollboth, and stops by Educating Alice to chat about it.

An interview with M.P. Kozlowsky (Juniper Berry) at From the Mixed Up Files

Other Good Stuff:

NPR's Kids' Book Club kicks off with Neil Gaiman and The Graveyard Book.

Alice in Wonderland fans must read this article in The Guardian, and consider visiting Liverpool.

You've probably already seen the official trailer to The Secret World of Arrietty--but if you haven't, here at The Book Yurt is one of the many places you can watch it. I tried to read The Borrowers to my boys, but the beginning is slow, and it didn't take sigh sigh.

A giant lego figure washes up on a Florida beach--


I'd suggest not reading the news story; it's more fun to imagine one's own! My mind immediately rewrote The Iron Giant, by Ted Hughes....

And if you're looking for something to add a little rainbow sparkle to your holiday table:

You can actually buy this--visit ThinkGeek to see what's really in the can!

And finally, never before seen illustrations for the Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien, can be seen at The Mary Sue:

Beasts (The Mystic Phyles), by Stephanie Brockway, illustrated by Ralph Masiello

Beasts (The Mystic Phyles), by Stephanie Brockway, illustrated by Ralph Masiello (Charlesbridge, 2011, middle grade, 137 pages).

Abigail is unhappy with her lot in life. She lives with her strict grandfather and nutty grandmother in a ramshackle mansion (partly burned in the fire that supposedly killed her father) in a small town, eighth grade isn't treating her very well, and everything seems dismal. But then a black cat shows up on her 13th birthday, with an envelope fastened to its collar...

The poem that Abigail finds inside leads her to a letter from a "Devoted Friend" that starts her on a secret quest to learn as much as she can about mythical beasts. "Send word of your progress via the cat," writes the anonymous author of the letter. "It's very important for you to begin this research. But even more important, tell no one!"

Abigail ignores the last instruction, and with the help of her best (and only) friend, Charley, she begins to fill her journal with information and illustrations about all manner of mythical creatures. But then a letter arrives from the Board of Mystical Management, warning Abigail to stop research, and her grandfather, always curiously restrictive, starts acting like a prison guard...

Undeterred, Abigail continues her study of mythological creatures. The secrets and mysteries she discovers will change her life forever!

Abigail's story and her research are presented in a scrap-book style journal, with her notes and drawings of mythological creatures (and even the occasional haiku) interwoven with diary entries detailing the trials and tribulations of her life. It makes for an interesting reading experience for a fast reader like me--the information presented was so fascinating and the illustrations so very much worth stopping to look at, that, instead of galloping through Abigail's story, I was compelled to read is slowly, allowing the mystery to build very nicely.

Abigail is a not unusual character--the outsider who finds herself part of a magical world. But her voice was compelling, and her circumstances certainly interesting! I can easily imagine many a pre-teen girl empathizing with her, and cheering for her as she pursues her quest for knowledge (which, in a nice touch, involves lots of surreptitious visits to the town's used book store and library).

Although I have read many, many children's books about mythical creatures, I learned new things (which I appreciated). Abigail's entries include quotations from original sources, and illustrations of actual "evidence" (photographs and the like), as well as Ralph Masiello's illustrations, and she doesn't just describe the creatures, but also critically considers mundane explanations for some of the sightings and legends. A bibliography and page of fascinating links is provided at the end.

This is the sort of book that would make a great present for the nine or ten year old girl just starting to find her way into fantasy. For one thing, it is attractive as all get out--it has that very appealing novelty book look to it, with copious illustrations look to it, vaguely reminiscent of the -ology books. But unlike those books, which some readers might find too fact laden, there's an interesting story carrying the reader forward. And the way the text is broken into small segments makes it a friendly book for the younger reader.

The book ends with many unanswered questions (the mysterious fire, the identity of the anonymous letter writer, and more), and the promise of a second book, focused on fairies, to come. I'll be looking forward to it!

Here are two sample pages:


Disclosure: I met Ralph Masiello the first year I blogged, and he gave me a lovely dragon picture--his Dragon Drawing Book, had just come out. So, knowing that The Mystic Phyles would feature lots more of Masiello's art, I was predisposed as all get out to enjoy the book!

Disclaimer: review copy gratefully received from the author

Waiting on Wednesday--The Cabinet of Earths

The stack of books to be reviewed grows, but this is Library Book Sale set up week, and time has not stretched to accommodate everything I want to do....

So here's a quick Waiting on Wednesday post:

I have been wanting to read The Cabinet of Earths, by Anne Nesbit (Harper Colllins, January 2012) since I first heard about it almost a year ago!

Here's the summary from Goodreads: "All Maya really wants is for her mother to be well again. But when her baby brother James goes missing, 12-year-old Maya has to take on the magical underworld of Paris, in which houses have bronze salamanders for door handles, the most beautiful people are all hooked on the sweet-smelling “anbar,” and a shimmering glass Cabinet of Earths has chosen Maya to be its next keeper. With the Cabinet’s help, Maya may be able to do for her mother what doctors cannot: save her from death, once and for all. But now that the clock is ticking for James, the price the Cabinet demands may be too high."

And my anticipation was strengthened when Sarah Prineas (whose Magic Thief books I like very much indeed!) blurbed it thus (found at Goodreads): "Reading this book is like discovering a treasure box full of rare and wonderful things. If you open it, you'll find a brave and good-hearted girl hero, the mysterious streets of Paris, and a magical cabinet full of life itself. The writing is luminous and absolutely compelling. It's the best thing I've read in a long, long time."

Doesn't that sound as appealing as all get out?

The Bassumtyte Treasure, by Jane Louise Curry

The Bassumtyte Treasure, by Jane Louise Curry (Atheneum, 1978, 130 pages--books sure were shorter back then....)

Sometimes it's fun to read a book that one doesn't have to; one that's not from the pile of books received for review, or the pile of unread books acquired over the past year, or the pile of library books for Cybils reading. So the other day I took home from the library The Bassumtyte Treasure, just because it looked like a Charlotte-ish kind of book. Happily, it was, and as an added bonus, there was timeslip element, making it Useful as well.

Ten-year old Tommy Bassumtyte had lived happily with his old great aunt in New England, but when the child welfare authorities began to investigate his circumstances, the threat of foster care loomed...So his great aunt preemptively sent him off to live with his only other living relative, in a beautiful old house in England.

His cousin, another Thomas, gives him a warm welcome, and the old house is a thing of beauty, full of treasures of Bassumtyte's past. Among these is the portrait for a small boy, from the time of Queen Elizabeth--who looks just like Tommy. But all is not entirely well--cousin Thomas is recovering from a nearly fatal mountain-climbing accident, and struggling to eke out a living as a translator, while the bills mount and a greedy would-be buyer of the house and its contents plots on the sidelines. The only hope, as far as Tommy can tell, is to find the lost treasure of his family. To do so, he'll have to decipher the clues in the rhyme his grandfather taught him, and unravel a mystery 400 years old.

That mystery reverberates into the present--a mysterious woman from the past mistakes Tommy for the other little boy of long ago, and seems concerned for his safety. But it is not until Tommy himself finds himself back in the past (albeit briefly, and as a spectator) that the pieces of the puzzle fall into place...

Those with an interest in Elizabethan intrigues, and those who like books with beautiful old houses full of treasures should enjoy it as I did--as a pleasant, quick escape from the modern world! A bonus, as far as I'm concerned, is that embroidered treasures are prominently featured, and one of these provides an important clue (I like reading about embroidery).

The mystery isn't that hard to figure out, nor is it original, which might have some readers rolling their eyes, but the tension raised by the possible loss of the house adds a convincing worry. Sadly, the romance between cousin Thomas and the very nice young daughter of the vicar, who is a curator (I think) in a museum in Oxford, was much too abrupt for my taste--there was a lot that seemed to go un-narrated. I could have happily read many more pages about them! But since the book is told from the point of view of a ten year old boy, I guess it might well have appeared abrupt to him too!

There are two time-travelish elements--the woman in grey who is so concerned about keeping young Tommy safe is arguable a ghost, and not someone travelling in time (although one brief, tantilizing section, told from her point of view, suggests otherwise), but Tommy's glimpse of the Elizabethan past definitely counts. Disappointingly for us time travel fans, he doesn't actually leave his room--he just looks out the window, and so his trip to the past is simply the deus ex machina of the plot (less than two pages...sigh).

Oh well. You can't have everything, and at least there was embroidery....

Edited to add: thanks to Jennifer's comment, I visited my library system and piled up a huge virtual stack of Jane Louise Curry books to read. Her most recent book, The Black Canary, is an excellent time travel story--you can read part of the first chapter here, and here's my review.

(although there's a boy main character, this is one I'd give to girls--there's not much Action or Drama. And, a tad unfortunately, it's explained that the name Bassumtyte comes from "bosom tight" as in clasped to the chest, and one can imagine snickers from the immature).

This Sunday's round up of middle grade science fiction and fantasy postings from around the blogs

Here's what I found this week in my blog reading! Let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews:

The Adventures of Sir Gawain the True, by Gerald Morris, at Oops...Wrong Cookie

The Alchemyst, by Michael Scott, at A Strong Belief in Wicker

The Apothecary, by Maile Meloy, at Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog and At Home with Books

Bigger than a Breadbox, by Laurel Snyder, at 100 Scope Notes and DogEar

Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu, at Ex Libris and Reading in Color

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick, by Chris Van Allsburg, at Bookends

Circus Galacticus, by Deva Fagan, at The Intergalactic Academy and Book Aunt

Dr. Procter's Fart Powder, by Jo Nesbo, at Mister K Reads

The Eyeball Collector, by F.E. Higgins, at Karissa's Reading Review

The Flint Heart, by Katherine & John Paterson, at Geo Librarian, Moirae (the fates) book reviews, and Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Ghost Hunt, and Ghost Hunt II, by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, at Charlotte's Library

Goliath, by Scott Westerfeld, at Boys Rule Boys Read

Guys Read: Thriller, edited by Jon Scieszka, at Books Kids Like and Good Books and Good Wine

The King of Ithaka, by Tracy Barrett, at The Book Smugglers

Liesl and Po, by Lauren Oliver, at Sassyreads

The Magnificent 12: the Call, by Michael Grant, at Fiction Addict

The Midnight Zoo, by Sonya Hartnett, at Books Kids Like

Noah Zarc, by D. Robert Pease, at Susan Kaye Quinn (actually from the week before this one)

The Ogre of Oglefort, by Eva Ibbotson, at Charlotte's Library

The Princess Curse, by Merrie Haskell, at Madigan Reads

Princess of the Midnight Ball, by Jessica Day George, at Library Mama

Radiance, by Alyson Noel, at The Reading Chic

The Son of Neptune, by Rick Riordan, at The Elliott Review, The Book Zone (for boys) and Bookyurt

Trouble Twisters, by Garth Nix and Sean Williams, at Good Books and Good Wine

Tuesdays at the Castle, by Jessica Day George, at Book Aunt and Charlotte's Library

The Unwanteds, by Lisa McMann, at Reading Vacation

Wildwood, by Colin Meloy, at Just Booking Around

Authors and Interviews:

Edward Ormondroyd (David and the Phoenix, Time at the Top) in a two part interview at Noblemania (thanks to Oz and Ends for the heads up). On trying to write a sequel to David and the Phoenix:

"Well, the Phoenix was irrevocably gone, so I substituted a gnome-like figure, and he and David set out on a quest, carried by a flying suitcase...but of course without the old Phoenix it was as useless as Gone with the Wind without Scarlett O'Hara."

(here's what I said about the book, back in 2009)

A podcast interview with Delia Sherman (The Freedom Maze) at Small Beer Press.

Hilari Bell (The Goblin War) at The Enchanted Inkpot

Greg Fishbone (Galaxy Games) at Maranda Russell and Pembroke Sinclair

Simon Haynes (Hal Junior: the Secret Signal) at Susan Kaye Quinn

Kat Heckenbach (Finding Angel) at Magical Ink

Other Good Stuff

NPR has started a book club for kids--first up, The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman. From the site: "Click here to submit your thoughts and questions about The Graveyard Book. And be sure to listen to All Things Considered on Monday, Oct. 31. Gaiman will be on the program to chat about his book and answer some of your questions."

Lucy Mangan asks "What makes a classic?" over at the Guardian. Many fantasy books are mentioned.

At Great Kid Books there's a celebration of The Phantom Tollbooth. (Question: am I the only hard core aficionado of fantasy for kids who doesn't like this book? I didn't read it as a child; I've tried three times as an adult and it just isn't for me).

"What is Speculative Fiction" at the Accidental Novelist (a mg and ya perspective)

Catherine Fisher has been named Wales' first Young People's Laureate (the majority of her books tend to be more YA, like Incarceron, but some, like the Oracle Betrayed et seq., are good upper middle grade reads)

The shortlists for the Galaxy Book Awards (UK) have been announced, and on the children's list is A Monster Calls.

and finally, here's what travel in the future might look like--walking around on floating clouds while drifting randomly. I think I would get bored rather quickly, but the first 10 minutes would probably be lovely!