New releases of fantasy and science fiction for teens and kids--the second half of August, 2011

Just in case you needed more books to read (which I don't. I really really don't and even if the library gets these in I'm going to read what's in the house first I promise....sigh). The blurbs are lifted straight from Amazon (sorry, no time for quotes tonight), and my information comes from Teens Read Too.

Middle Grade Books (for 9-12 year olds. -ish).

THE AUSTRALIAN BOOMERANG BONANZA: FLAT STANLEY'S WORLDWIDE ADVENTURES by Jeff Brown There’s no place on Earth a flat kid can’t go!

G’day, Stanley! Stanley and his brother, Arthur, have just won a trip to Australia! They fly down under on a private jet and go diving in the Great Barrier Reef. But when Arthur launches him into the air for a game of boomerang, Stanley is accidentally sent spinning into an amazing adventure deep in the heart of the Australian outback!

THE BLACK HEART CRYPT: A HAUNTED MYSTERY by Chris Grabenstein Halloween is nearing, the one day of the year when the ghostly plane is close enough to the human plane to allow mischief and mayhem. But the ghosts who have their eye on Zack aren't thinking mischief, they are thinking murder.

In this fourth volume of Chris Grabenstein's popular Haunted Mysteries series, Zack must once again do battle with malevolent spirits. And with his usual pluck, and the assistance of three dotty aunts, he must save his town from a 200-year-old threat.

BYE FOR NOW: A WISHERS STORY by Kathleen Churchyard The candles dripped onto the icing as Robin deliberated. What could she possibly wish? She wanted to wake up the next day and learn all her problems were gone. But since her problems weren’t going to disappear, she didn’t want to be Robin anymore.

“I wish I was somebody else,” Robin wished. And in that moment, she meant it. She blew out the candles.

After the worst eleventh birthday ever, Robin wakes up the next morning in the body of Fiona, an eleven-year-old girl from London with an amazing life. Fiona is gorgeous, with glamorous parents, and she’s the star of a major theatrical production. Why would Fiona have wished herself out of her own body? Slowly, Robin discovers a whole network of girls like her—girls who have gotten their wish and are living somebody else’s life. But what happens when Robin finally decides she wants to go home? Does anybody in the Wishers network know how to make this happen?

In this exciting first novel, Kathleen Churchyard asks: What if you wished for someone else’s life—and it came true?

DIARY OF A ZOMBIE KID by Fred Perry Middle school is horrific enough for any 5th grader's first day. But for Bill Dookes, it's a festering, rotting, undead nightmare! Since Bill's deadbeat dad got arrested trying to burn the house down for the insurance, Mom's had to make ends meet by volunteering to various medical research companies for cash. This would be fine if she hadn't brought home a mysterious zombie virus! Now Bill has to deal with skin problems and body chemistry changes that make puberty look like a walk in the park! And then there's his ever-growing appetite for BRAINS!

THE DRAGON'S TOOTH: ASHTOWN BURIALS by N. D. Wilson For two years, Cyrus and Antigone Smith have run a sagging roadside motel with their older brother, Daniel. Nothing ever seems to happen. Then a strange old man with bone tattoos arrives, demanding a specific room.

Less than 24 hours later, the old man is dead. The motel has burned, and Daniel is missing. And Cyrus and Antigone are kneeling in a crowded hall, swearing an oath to an order of explorers who have long served as caretakers of the world's secrets, keepers of powerful relics from lost civilizations, and jailers to unkillable criminals who have terrorized the world for millennia.

THE EXQUISITE CORPSE ADVENTURE: AN EPISODIC STORY GAME PLAYED BY 20 CELEBRATED AUTHORS AND ILLUSTRATORS by The National Children's Book and Literary AllianceIt all starts with a train rushing through the night. . . . Well, actually, it starts when Jon Scieszka, former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, writes a cliff-hanger episode and passes it on to the next member of a cast of celebrated writers and illustrators, who continues the story and passes it on. And what happens between episodes one and twenty-seven? Think werewolves and mad scientists, a talking pig, plenty of explosions, a blue Star Wars lunchbox, two meatballs, a whole army of villains and varmints, and one just plain bad egg. Not to mention our heroes, eleven-year-old twins Nancy and Joe, raised in a circus, who must find the pieces of a Top-Secret Robot in order to rescue their parents before . . . tick, tick, tick!

FREDDY! LOCKED IN SPACE by Peter Hannan It’s not easy being king. . . .

King Freddy has been blasted billions of miles into space, the evil Wizbad is holding Freddy’s family hostage in the boiling Flurbian desert, and Freddy’s sister, Babette, is being forced into battle against his sidekick, Glyzix! Things are looking pretty bad—but Freddy wasn’t made supreme ruler of Flurb for nothing! Can he get back to Flurb in time to beat the bad guys, save the day, and take back his throne?

GNOME INVASION: FOURTH GRADE FAIRY by Eileen Cook The third in a series of books about Willow's adventures as she masters her secret fairy powers, navigates sprite training, tries to ignore her perfect older sister, and maintains a friendship with Katie, the most un-normal of humans. Willow Avery seems to be advancing in her fairy training with alarming speed. In addition to being able to talk to animals (a very unusual power), she can also fly! But it isn't all good news. Willow's human bff, Katie, has discovered that fairies exist and that's put the Averys in a difficult position. They're under review from the Fairy Council as to what humans' knowledge of fairies could mean. Meanwhile, Willow is entering the school science fair and she's vowed not to use her magic to help her win. So she tests different methods of watering plants the old fashioned way: trial and error. However, a vindictive garden gnome, Jakob DeGroot, is appalled at her plant abuse and does everything in his power to thwart her science project. Of course, drama continues with Bethany and Katie, and new crush Nathan at school. And it looks like Jakob might be meddling with her human classmates' projects too! Can Willow stop the meddling gnome and still be able to compete--all without magic?

GOOD CURSES EVIL: VILLAIN SCHOOL by Stephanie S. Sanders Rune Drexler, Big Bad Wolf Jr., and Countess Jezebel Dracula are students at Master Dreadthorn's School for Wayward Villains. It's like military school for the children of famous villains; it's where you learn to be bad. But Rune is failing at his villainous studies, so when he lands himself in detention (again), Master Dreadthorn assigns him a Plot. In one week, Rune and his friends must find a henchman, steal a baby, kidnap a princess, and overthrow a kingdom. There's only one problem: Rune's not very evil. In fact, his behavior seems suspiciously heroic. . . .
This hilarious adventure stretches across a fairy tale world where the mistakes of famous villains become valuable lessons for our heroes-er, villains.

THE OGRE OF OGLEFORT by Eva Ibbotson For excitement-hungry orphan Ivo, a mission to save Princess Mirella from the dreaded Ogre of Oglefort is a dream come true. Together with a hag, a wizard, and a troll, Ivo sets out, ready for adventure. But when they get to the ogre's castle, the rescuers are in for a surprise: the princess doesn't need saving, but the depressed ogre does! It's a warmhearted, hilarious romp in the tradition of Roald Dahl, with enough creepy magic, ghosts, and laughs to make even the saddest ogre smile.

READY FOR A SCARE?: YOU'RE INVITED TO A CREEPOVER by P.J. Night

Birthday girl and queen of all things spooky, Kelly Garcia is all set to have the perfect night. First her parents are going out of town. And although they hired a babysitter, Kelly is excited to basically be on her own. And then there's the sleepover she's having—a virtual, webcam sleepover where she and her friends can scare each other silly by telling ghost stories and summoning the spirit of Miss Mary, a woman from their small town who died tragically a long time ago. But when her friends start disappearing one by one and the babysitter is nowhere to be found, Kelly starts getting scared . . . for real. Is Miss Mary's ghost kidnapping everyone? Will Kelly be next?

ROSE'S STORY: THE VERY LITTLE PRINCESS by Marion Dane Bauer Rose is a wild child. She doesn't care what her mother or teacher or schoolmates say—she does what she wants. When she finds a delicate china doll in the attic, she takes it. Then the doll comes to life in her hand. She's loud, obnoxious, selfishly bossy, and claims that she's a princess and Rose is her servant. But she's also tiny and fragile. She needs Rose to keep her safe. And maybe Rose needs Princess Regina, too.

RULE THE SCHOOL by Vordak the Incomprehensible Greetings, goobers! After my latest experiment worked a little too well—transforming my rather fetching figure into something significantly smaller—I’ve been forced to return to those halls of horror better known as . . . school. But going back to junior high may be my greatest opportunity for mayhem in many a month! Try to keep up as I:

• Dramatically defeat the daily dangers of schooldom—even though everyone is against me.
• Strive to win the junior high presidential election by alerting my fellow students to the wonderfulness of Vordak the Incomprehensible, as well as the yuck-ness of my opponent, Marlena Lurchburger.
• Mastermind a catastrophic career day, where that disgusting do-gooder Commander Virtue will finally, fiendishly be foiled.

Fortunately for you, I have recorded every mischievous moment within these carefully crafted covers so that you may bask in my brilliance as I plot to RULE THE SCHOOL . . . and, eventually, THE WORLD! MUAHAHAHAHA!!!

SKARY CHILDRIN AND THE CAROUSEL OF SORROW by Katy Towell Twelve years ago, for 12 days straight, the town of Widowsbury suffered a terrible storm, which tore open a gate through which escaped all sorts of foul, rotten things. Strange things and strange people were no longer welcomed in Widowsbury, for one could never be sure of what secrets waited under the surface . . .

Adelaide Foss, Maggie Borland, and Beatrice Alfred are known by their classmates at Widowsbury's Madame Gertrude's School for Girls as "scary children." Unfairly targeted because of their peculiarities—Adelaide has an uncanny resemblance to a werewolf, Maggie is abnormally strong, and Beatrice claims to be able to see ghosts—the girls spend a good deal of time isolated in the school's inhospitable library facing detention. But when a number of people mysteriously begin to disappear in Widowsbury, the girls work together, along with Steffen Weller, son of the cook at Rudyard School for Boys, to find out who is behind the abductions. Will they be able to save Widowsbury from a 12-year-old curse?

SEASON OF THE COLD MOON by Dianne C. Stewart More trouble...
Seventh-grader Anthony Wescott has escaped from a pirate, altered history, and helped capture criminals. In the finale of the Quimbaya trilogy, he longs for his time-traveling days while dodging the bullies of Jefferson Bainbridge Middle School. Lured by historical accounts of an unsolved mystery in their quiet town, Anthony convinces his sister, Liv, and best friend, Cal, to travel to the 1830s to solve it. But what happens next is not in their plans...

More danger...Anthony is kidnapped in 1838, and the fearless Cherokee boy who rescues him fails to escape the Trail of Tears as he was meant to do. Is Anthony willing to put his life on the line to save Daniel Kingfisher?

More adventure...For help, the three young people call on former pirate Robert Morehouse, who has perfected his survival skills across four centuries. By stagecoach, steamboat, and on horseback, they pursue Daniel and his captors. But the 1830s are a turbulent time in the young nation of America, and when the Season of the Cold Moon arrives early, Anthony must reach deep inside himself and learn the real meaning of courage.

TORN: THE MISSING by Margaret Peterson Haddix Still reeling from their experiences in Roanoke in 1600, Jonah and Katherine arrive in 1611 only moments before a mutiny on Henry Hudson’s ship in the icy waters of James Bay. But things are messed up: they’ve lost the real John Hudson, and they find what seems to be the fabled Northwest Passage—even though they are pretty sure that that route doesn’t actually exist. Will this new version of history replace the real past? Is this the end of time as we know it? With more at stake than ever before, Jonah and Katherine struggle to unravel the mysteries of 1611 and the Hudson Passage...before everything they know is lost.

THE TRAP: THE MAGNIFICENT 12 by Michael Grant n the thrilling second book of the Magnificent 12 series, Mack MacAvoy is challenged by his spectral mentor, Grimluk—who only appears in the shiny chrome pipes of bathrooms.

Mack must find the ancient ones, the great forgotten forces. Some will help; some not so much. But above all—

• Learn the ways of Vargran!
• Assemble the twelve!
• Go to the nine dragons of Daidu.
• Go to the Egge rocks.
• Beware of . . . the trap.

Time is short! The wicked Pale Queen’s three-thousand-year banishment ends in thirty-five days, and she will be free to destroy the world. It’s up to Mack to stop her return. But what do all of Grimluk’s clues mean? Can Mack achieve everything he must do without getting killed by the evil Risky—and escape the trap?

THE UNWANTEDS by Lisa McMann Every year in Quill, thirteen-year-olds are sorted into categories: the strong, intelligent Wanteds go to university, and the artistic Unwanteds are sent to their deaths

Thirteen-year-old Alex tries his hardest to be stoic when his fate is announced as Unwanted, even while leaving behind his twin, Aaron, a Wanted. Upon arrival at the destination where he expected to be eliminated, however, Alex discovers a stunning secret--behind the mirage of the "death farm" there is instead a place called Artime.

In Artime, each child is taught to cultivate their creative abilities and learn how to use them magically, weaving spells through paintbrushes and musical instruments. Everything Alex has ever known changes before his eyes, and it's a wondrous transformation.

But it's a rare, unique occurence for twins to be separated between Wanted and Unwanted, and as Alex and Aaron's bond stretches across their separation, a threat arises for the survival of Artime that will pit brother against brother in an ultimate, magical battle.

THE WHITE CITY: THE CLOCKWORK DARK by John Claude Bemis In The Nine Pound Hammer, John Bemis introduced middle-grade readers to a whole new approach to epic fantasy, founded on characters and themes from American mythology and lore, including the legend of John Henry. Now in the third and final book, the heroes come together at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago for a final confrontation with a businessman and tycoon who is in fact an ageless evil known as the Gog. With his Dark Machine, he intends to bend the world to his ruthless vision of progress and efficiency. It's man versus machine all over again, fighting for the soul of humanity in front of Ferris's Wheel.

WILDWOOD by Colin Meloy Prue McKeel’s life is ordinary. At least until her baby brother is abducted by a murder of crows. And then things get really weird. You see, on every map of Portland, Oregon, there is a big splotch of green on the edge of the city labeled “I.W.” This stands for “Impassable Wilderness.” No one’s ever gone in—or at least returned to tell of it.

And this is where the crows take her brother.

So begins an adventure that will take Prue and her friend Curtis deep into the Impassable Wilderness. There they uncover a secret world in the midst of violent upheaval, a world full of warring creatures, peaceable mystics, and powerful figures with the darkest intentions. And what begins as a rescue mission becomes something much bigger as the two friends find themselves entwined in a struggle for the very freedom of this wilderness. A wilderness the locals call Wildwood.

Wildwood is a spellbinding tale full of wonder, danger, and magic that juxtaposes the thrill of a secret world and modern city life. Original and fresh yet steeped in classic fantasy, this is a novel that could have only come from the imagination of Colin Meloy, celebrated for his inventive and fantastic storytelling as the lead singer of the Decemberists. With dozens of intricate and beautiful illustrations by award-winning artist Carson Ellis, Wildwood is truly a new classic for the twenty-first century.

ZOMBIE ATTACK: A SURVIVAL MANUAL by Joel Levy (sorry, no blurb for this one on Amazon...)

The Young Adult Books (for readers older than 12 or whatever)

ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD by Kendare Blake as Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas's life.

THE APPRENTICESHIP OF VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN: THIS DARK ENDEAVOR by Kenneth Oppel Victor and Konrad are the twin brothers Frankenstein. They are nearly inseparable. Growing up, their lives are filled with imaginary adventures...until the day their adventures turn all too real.

They stumble upon The Dark Library, and secret books of alchemy and ancient remedies are discovered. Father forbids that they ever enter the room again, but this only peaks Victor's curiosity more. When Konrad falls gravely ill, Victor is not be satisfied with the various doctors his parents have called in to help. He is drawn back to The Dark Library where he uncovers an ancient formula for the Elixir of Life. Elizabeth, Henry, and Victor immediately set out to find assistance in a man who was once known for his alchemical works to help create the formula.

Determination and the unthinkable outcome of losing his brother spur Victor on in the quest for the three ingredients that will save Konrads life. After scaling the highest trees in the Strumwald, diving into the deepest lake caves, and sacrificing one’s own body part, the three fearless friends risk their lives to save another.

BEYOND THE GRAVE: PAST MIDNIGHT by Mara Purnhagen I can't move forward with my life, until I know my demons are confined to the past…

Being Charlotte Silver, the daughter of famous paranormal investigators, means my life isn't like that of other teenage girls. Especially after what happened to my parents. Things changed. I missed prom and deferred my big college plans. But I still have my boyfriend, Noah. He's everything I could want—if I can figure out what's up with him. Suddenly Noah is secretive.

I fear it has something to do with what happened to us three months ago. The bruise Noah suffered during a paranormal attack has never completely faded. Now I've learned Noah is researching demons. And when he disappears, it's up to me to find him—before something else does.

BLOOD ON THE MOON by Jennifer Knight As Faith Reynolds enters her freshman year of college, she is a complete and utter nervous wreck. With her best friend Derek suddenly pulling out the romance card and her dark, mysterious classmate staring her down at every turn, Faith somehow feels stuck in the middle without dating either one. And fortune may or may not be with her when a devilshly sexy stranger offers her a welcome escape.

Boys, romance, classes, and annoying roommates are all within the realm of the expected for a college frosh. Trying to solve the mysterious murders of young college coeds near campus is not. Darkness seems to be creeping into every corner of Faith's life, no matter the hour. And when she seeks the truth, danger seems to be the only thing that finds her.

Faith is well aware of the strange currents in the air, particularly when she sets off static sparks with everything she touches. Before long, she finds herself entrenched in the deep-seeded battle between werewolves and vampires. The war has reached the tipping point, and Faith has the power to determine where the scales fall. But the most important question may be with whom does her loyalty lie?

BLOODLINES by Richelle Mead When alchemist Sydney is ordered into hiding to protect the life of Moroi princess Jill Dragomir, the last place she expects to be sent is a human private school in Palm Springs, California. But at their new school, the drama is only just beginning.

Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Bloodlines explores all the friendship, romance, battles and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive - this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone's out for blood.

DAMNED by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie There is a fine line between love and sacrifice….

Antonio would do anything for his beloved fighting partner Jenn. He protects her, even suppresses his vampire cravings to be with her. Together, they defend humanity against the Cursed Ones. But tensions threaten to fracture their hunting team and his loyalty—his love—is called into question.

Jenn, the newly appointed Hunter, aches for revenge against the Cursed One who converted her sister. And with an even more sinister power on the rise, she must overcome her personal vendettas to lead her team into battle.

Antonio and Jenn need each other to survive, but evil lurks at every turn. With humanity’s fate hanging in the balance, they must face down the darkness…or die trying.

THE DEATH CATCHERS by Jennifer Anne Kogler On her fourteenth Halloween, Lizzy Mortimer sees her first death-specter.

Confused at first, Lizzy soon learns from her grandmother Bizzy that as Death Catchers, they must prevent fate from taking its course when an unjust death is planned-a mission that has been passed down from their ancestor, Morgan le Fay. Only, Lizzy doesn't expect one of her first cases to land her in the middle of a feud older than time between Morgan le Fay and her sister Vivienne le Mort. Vivienne hopes to hasten the end of the world by preventing Lizzy from saving King Arthur's last descendant-humanity's greatest hope for survival. It's up to Lizzy, as Morgan's earthly advocate, to outwit fate before it's too late.

With its unique spin on Arthurian legend, this fresh, smartly written story will stand out in the paranormal genre.

DIVINER: DRAGONS OF STARLIGHT by Bryan Davis The mysteries unfold As a Starlighter, Koren knows her destiny is to save her fellow human slaves from the dragons' bondage---but by following the orders of the smooth-talking dragon king, Taushin, has she in fact doomed her people and herself? As Koren struggles over her choices, Elyssa discovers a new aspect to her Diviner gifts when her pendant begins to unlock mysteries surrounding the stardrops from the Exodus star. Soon Elyssa, along with Jason and his father, also discover new truths behind the dragons' prophecy and learn that Randall has teamed with Magnar and Arxad to wage battle against Taushin's followers. With a major war imminent and talk of a new Starlighter in the air, confusion and uncertainty reign---something Taushin might have planned for all along.

DUST & DECAY by Jonathan Maberry Six months have passed since the terrifying battle with Charlie Pink-eye and the Motor City Hammer in the zombie-infested mountains of the Rot & Ruin. It’s also six months since Benny Imura and Nix Riley saw something in the air that changed their lives. Now, after months of rigorous training with Benny’s zombie-hunter brother Tom, Benny and Nix are ready to leave their home forever and search for a better future. Lilah the Lost Girl and Benny’s best friend Lou Chong are going with them.

Sounds easy. Sounds wonderful. Except that everything that can go wrong does. Before they can even leave there is a shocking zombie attack in town. But as soon as they step into the Rot & Ruin they are pursued by the living dead, wild animals, insane murderers and the horrors of Gameland –where teenagers are forced to fight for their lives in the zombie pits. Worst of all…could the evil Charlie Pink-eye still be alive?

In the great Rot & Ruin everything wants to kill you. Everything…and not everyone in Benny’s small band of travelers will make it out alive.

ENVY: EMPTY COFFIN by Gregg Olsen Crime lives--and dies--in the deceptively picture-perfect town of Port Gamble (aka “Empty Coffin”), Washington. Evil lurks and strange things happen--and 15-year-olds Hayley and Taylor Ryan secretly use their wits and their telepathic “twin-sense” to uncover the truth about the town's victims and culprits.

Envy, the series debut, involves the mysterious death of the twins' old friend, Katelyn. Was it murder? Suicide? An accident? Hayley and Taylor are determined to find out--and as they investigate, they stumble upon a dark truth that is far more disturbing than they ever could have imagined.

Based on the shocking true crime about cyber-bullying, Envy will take you to the edge--and push you right over.

THE FOX INHERITANCE by Mary E. Pearson Once there were three. Three friends who loved each other—Jenna, Locke, and Kara. And after a terrible accident destroyed their bodies, their three minds were kept alive, spinning in a digital netherworld. Even in that disembodied nightmare, they were still together. At least at first. When Jenna disappeared, Locke and Kara had to go on without her. Decades passed, and then centuries.

Two-hundred-and-sixty years later, they have been released at last. Given new, perfect bodies, Locke and Kara awaken to a world they know nothing about, where everyone they once knew and loved is long dead.

Everyone except Jenna Fox.

THE GRAY WOLF THRONE: A SEVEN REALMS NOVEL by Cinda Williams Chima Han Alister thought he had already lost everyone he loved. But when he finds his friend Rebecca Morley near death in the Spirit Mountains, Han knows that nothing matters more than saving her. The costs of his efforts are steep, but nothing can prepare him for what he soon discovers: the beautiful, mysterious girl he knew as Rebecca is none other than Raisa ana’Marianna, heir to the Queendom of the Fells. Han is hurt and betrayed. He knows he has no future with a blueblood. And, as far as he’s concerned, the princess’s family killed his own mother and sister. But if Han is to fulfill his end of an old bargain, he must do everything in his power to see Raisa crowned queen.

Meanwhile, some people will stop at nothing to prevent Raisa from ascending. With each attempt on her life, she wonders how long it will be before her enemies succeed. Her heart tells her that the thief-turned-wizard Han Alister can be trusted. She wants to believe it—he’s saved her life more than once. But with danger coming at her from every direction, Raisa can only rely on her wits and her iron-hard will to survive—and even that might not be enough.

HADES: HALO by Alexandra Adornetto Heaven Help Her.

Bethany Church is an angel sent to Earth to keep dark forces at bay. Falling in love was never part of her mission, but the bond between Beth and her mortal boyfriend, Xavier Woods, is undeniably strong. But even Xavier’s love, and the care of her archangel siblings, Gabriel and Ivy, can’t keep Beth from being tricked into a motorcycle ride that ends up in Hell. There, the demon Jake Thorn bargains for Beth’s release back to Earth. But what he asks of her will destroy her, and quite possibly, her loved ones, as well.

THE JEWEL AND THE KEY by Louise Spiegler An earthquake and the discovery of a mysterious antique mirror unleash forces that jolt sixteen-year-old Addie McNeal back to 1917 Seattle, just as the United States is entering World War I. Addie finds herself shuttling back and forth between past and present, drawn in both times to the grand Jewel Theater. In both decades the existence of the Jewel is threatened and war is looming . . . and someone she cares about is determined to fight. Eventually, Addie realizes that only she has the key to saving the Jewel—and the lives of her friends. But will she figure out how to manipulate the intricately woven threads of time and truly set things right?

NOCTURNE by Christine Johnson Claire couldn’t be happier that her life has finally settled down. She’s been fully initiated into her family’s pack of female werewolves, her best friend Emily is back in town, and she’s finally allowed to be with Matthew, the human love of her life. But when a new girl arrives, everything starts to unravel. Not only is the intruder getting close to Claire’s best friend and boyfriend, but she may also know more about Claire than she’s letting on. If Claire’s secret gets out it breaks all the rules of the pack, and the consequences may be more than Claire can handle....

PERCY JERKSON AND THE OVOLACTOVEGETARIANS by Stefan Petrucha “Percy Jackson & the Olympians” gets carved up by Rick Parker and Stefan Petrucha in the third installment from PAPERCUTZ SLICES. The epic fantasy series is extremely popular with readers of all ages and backgrounds, making it a prime target for the parody duo of Parker and Petrucha, from whom no Young Adult Bestseller is safe!

PICKING UP THE GHOST by Tone Milazzo Living in St. Jude, a 110-year-old dying city on the edge of the Mississippi, is tough. But when a letter informs fourteen-year-old Cinque Williams of the passing of the father he never met, he is faced with an incomplete past and an uncertain future. A curse meant for his father condemns Cinque to a slow death even as it opens his eyes to the strange otherworld around him. With help from the ghost Willy T, an enigmatic White Woman named Iku, an African Loa, and a devious shape-shifter, Cinque gathers the tools to confront the ghost of his dead father. But he will learn that sometimes too much knowledge can be dangerous - and the people he trusts most are those poised to betray him.

POSSESS by Gretchen McNeil Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her over-protective mom, by Matt Quinn, the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, the voices are demons—and Bridget possesses the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from. Literally.

Terrified to tell her friends or family about this new power, Bridget confides in San Francisco’s senior exorcist, Monsignor Renault. The monsignor enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession, but just as she is starting to come to terms with her freakish new role, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons. And when one of her oldest friends is killed, Bridget realizes she’s in deeper than she ever thought possible. Now she must unlock the secret to the demons’ plan before someone else close to her winds up dead—or worse, the human vessel for a demon king.

THE POWER OF SIX: LORIEN LEGACIES by Pittacus Lore I've seen him on the news. Followed the stories about what happened in Ohio. John Smith, out there, on the run. To the world, he's a mystery. But to me . . . he's one of us.

Nine of us came here, but sometimes I wonder if time has changed us—if we all still believe in our mission. How can I know? There are six of us left. We're hiding, blending in, avoiding contact with one another . . . but our Legacies are developing, and soon we'll be equipped to fight. Is John Number Four, and is his appearance the sign I've been waiting for? And what about Number Five and Six? Could one of them be the raven-haired girl with the stormy eyes from my dreams? The girl with powers that are beyond anything I could ever imagine? The girl who may be strong enough to bring the six of us together?

They caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number Two in England.
And Number Three in Kenya.
They tried to catch Number Four in Ohio—and failed.

I am Number Seven. One of six still alive. And I'm ready to fight.

SOUL THIEF: A DEMON TRAPPERS NOVEL by Jana Oliver Riley Blackthorne is beginning to learn that there are worse things than death by demon. And love is just one of them…

Seventeen-year-old Riley has about had it up to here. After the devastating battle at the Tabernacle, trappers are dead and injured, her boyfriend Simon is gravely injured, and now her beloved late father’s been illegally poached from his grave by a very powerful necromancer. As if that’s not enough, there's Ori, one sizzling hot freelance demon hunter who’s made himself Riley’s unofficial body guard, and Beck, a super over-protective “friend” who acts more like a grouchy granddad. With all the hassles, Riley’s almost ready to leave Atlanta altogether.

But as Atlanta’s demon count increases, the Vatican finally sends its own Demon Hunters to take care of the city’s “little” problem, and pandemonium breaks loose. Only Riley knows that she might be the center of Hell’s attention: an extremely powerful Grade 5 demon is stalking her, and her luck can't last forever….

SWEETLY by Jackson Pearce As a child, Gretchen's twin sister was taken by a witch in the woods. Ever since, Gretchen and her brother, Ansel, have felt the long branches of the witch's forest threatening to make them disappear, too.

Years later, when their stepmother casts Gretchen and Ansel out, they find themselves in sleepy Live Oak, South Carolina. They're invited to stay with Sophia Kelly, a beautiful candy maker who molds sugary magic: coveted treats that create confidence, bravery, and passion.

Life seems idyllic and Gretchen and Ansel gradually forget their haunted past-- until Gretchen meets handsome local outcast Samuel. He tells her the witch isn't gone-- it's lurking in the forest, preying on girls every year after Live Oak's infamous chocolate festival, and looking to make Gretchen it's next victim. Gretchen is determined to stop running and start fighting back. Yet the further she investigates the mystery of what the witch is and how it chooses its victims, the more she wonders who the real monster is.

Gretchen is certain of only one thing: a monster is coming, and it will never go away hungry.

SWITCH by Tish Cohen Careful. Some wishes do come true.

When you have 37 siblings, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. Andrea Birch feels totally ignored by her parents even though she’s their only biological child. The constant revolving door at her house full of foster kids can be cool sometimes, but really it just makes Andrea sad.

Still there’s one thing—one hot person—who makes Andrea happy: Will Sherwood. Only he’s dating Joules Adams…the girl with the perfect life. She’s got the perfect body, the perfect clothes, and she’s the daughter of a famous rock star. Andrea would give anything to switch places with Joules.

But when her wish comes true, Andrea’s new life isn’t dream scenario she envisioned. In fact, it turns out to be the one wish she didn’t want to come true. Will she ever be able to switch back?

TANTALIZE: KIEREN'S STORY by Cynthia Leitich Smith As a hybrid werewolf, Kieren is destined to join an urban Wolf pack and learn to master his shift. Soon, he’ll leave everything behind: home, school, his family, and Quincie, his human best friend . . . who’s beginning to be a whole lot more than a friend. For years, Kieren has managed to keep his desires— and his wolf— at bay. But when the chef at Quincie’ s family restaurant is brutally murdered, Kieren resolves to be there for her, even if it means being framed. Even if it means watching Quincie’s beloved restaurant morph into a vampire lair. But when the new chef begins wooing her, how long can Kieren control his claws? How long can he protect Quincie— and himself? In an elegant graphic edition featuring cinematic sequential art by debut artist Ming Doyle and lush, romantic cover art by Sam Weber , bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith re-envisions her delicious dark fantasy through wolfish eyes.

TWISTED: INTERTWINED by Gena Showalter His vampire girlfriend might have brought him back to life, but he's never felt more out of control. There's a darkness within him, something taking over…changing him. Worse, because he was meant to die, death now stalks him at every turn. Any day could be his last.

Once upon a time, the three souls trapped inside his head could have helped him. He could have protected himself. But as the darkness grows stronger, the souls grow weaker—just like his girlfriend. The more vampire Aden becomes, the more human Victoria becomes, until everything they know and love is threatened.

Life couldn't get any worse. Could it?

UNWELCOME: ARCHANGEL ACADEMY by Michael Griffo At Archangel Academy, Michael Howard has found new friends, new love, and a place that feels more like home than Nebraska ever did. But the most important gift the school has given him is immortality. Life as a just-made vampire is challenging for Michael, even with Ronan, an experienced vamp, to guide him. Michael's abilities are still raw and unpredictable. The ancient feud between rival vampire species is sending ripples of discord through the school, and the new headmaster's charismatic front hides a powerful and very personal agenda. Yet everything Michael's discovers about the Academy pales compared to what he's learning about himself. And choosing the wrong person to trust - or to love - could lead to an eternity of regret...

VAMPIRE ACADEMY: A GRAPHIC NOVEL by Richelle Mead
After two years on the run, best friends Rose and Lissa are caught and returned to St. Vladimir's Academy, a private high school for vampires and half-bloods. It's filled with intrigue, danger - and even romance. Enter their dark, fascinating world through a new series of 144-page full-color graphic novels. The entire first Vampire Academy novel has been adapted for book one by Leigh Dragoon and overseen by Richelle Mead, while the beautiful art of acclaimed British illustrator Emma Vieceli brings the story to life.

WITCHLANDERS by Lena Coakley High in their mountain covens, red witches pray to the Goddess, protecting the Witchlands by throwing the bones and foretelling the future. It’s all a fake.

At least, that’s what Ryder thinks. He doubts the witches really deserve their tithes—one quarter of all the crops his village can produce. And even if they can predict the future, what danger is there to foretell, now that his people’s old enemy, the Baen, has been defeated?

But when a terrifying new magic threatens both his village and the coven, Ryder must confront the beautiful and silent witch who holds all the secrets. Everything he’s ever believed about witches, the Baen, magic and about himself will change, when he discovers that the prophecies he’s always scorned—

Are about him.

Explorers of the New World, by Carla Mooney, for Non-Fiction Monday

Explorers of the New World, by Carla Mooney (ages 9-12, 128 pages), is a recent edition to Nomad Press' excellent Build It Yourself series. Mooney takes readers from the Silk Road and the search to find a water route from Europe to Asia, to 16th century European ventures to North America, describing the advances in cartography and technology (there's a particularly nice description of why caravels were different and important) that made European explorers capable of extending their reach around the world.

Interspersed with this account are 22 activities that bring the world of the explorers to life--from blending spice mixes to making your own compass and sailor's lanyard. The inclusion of a make-your-own Dream Catcher craft was a tad jarring, though-- this was not something the European explorers would have had any interest in doing!

As the title of the book promises, it is the European explorers who are the focus of the story. All the familiar names are here, as well as some I don't remember learning about in school, such as Pedro Alvares Cabral, the first Eruopean to land on Brazil, and Martin Frobisher, an English explorer who set out in 1576 to find the Northwest Passage.

Mooney includes mention of the horrors that exploration brouht to the people whose lands were being explored, with such as statements as this:"When the Aztecs surrendered, there were only about 30,000 people remain in the once-proud city of 300,000" (page 79), and a section on killer diseases. But I wish that the ending of the book had been less up-beat and pro-explorer.

Here's how the book ends:

"The brave explorers of the New World risked their lives and fortunes with each voyage into the unknown. Their journeys to the New World left a lasting legacy. It can still be seen in the languages, religions and cultures of the people who live in North and South America today" (page 107).

I don't think this adequately underscores the European efforts to commit genocide that began here in the age of exploration, and the long-term consequences of colonization, such as the slave trade, and the rise of European empires. Although the last sentence is true, the fact that "I am reading this book in English here in New England because the English colonists were very successful in killing, enslaving, displacing, and imposing their culture on many (but by no means all) of the original people of this place" is not the message it conveys.

Despite that (especially if what happened next can be expanded on by an adult), this book seems one that should be welcomed wholeheartedly by educators seeking clearly written and detailed (but not overwhelmingly so) accounts of the men who came from Europe to explore the "new" (irony) world.

Non-Fiction Monday (a recurring Kidlitosphere event) is hosted by Amy O'Quinn today.

(Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher)

The Sunday's Round-up of Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy postings from around the blogs

Hi. Here's what I found this week; let me know if I missed your post! (I try to find all the posts I can, and am rather pleased that I found four blogs this week that I had never visited before (I think), but I know I am missing lots....so do let me know).

The Reviews:

100 Cupboards, by N.D. Wilson, at Challenging the Book Worm

Bad Island, by Doug TenNapel, at Stacked

The Blackhope Enigma, by Teresa Flavin, at Bookyurt

A Boy and His Bot, by Daniel H. Wilson, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Cart and Cwidder, by Diana Wynne Jones, at Just Booking Around

The Chalice of Immortality, by Erica Kirov, at Manga Maniac Cafe

The Cheshire Cheese Cat, by Carman Agra Deedy and Randall Wright, at Fuse #8

City of Fire, by Laurence Yep, at All Things Urban Fantasy

Comet in Moominland, by Tove Jansson, at Anita Silvey's Book-a-Day Almanac

The Dark City, by Catherine Fisher, by Janicu's Book Blog

Down the Mysterly River, by Bill Willingham, at The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia

The Emerald Atlas, by John Stephens, at BC Book Talk

Entwined, by Heather Dixon, at One Librarian's Book Reviews

Found, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, at Truly Bookish

Gear School, by Adam Gallardo, Nuria Peris, and Sergio Sandoval, at Wandering Librarians

The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall, by Mary Downing Hahn, at My Favorite Books

The Giver, by Lois Lowry, at One Librarian's Book Reviews

The Grimm Legacy, by Polly Shulman, at Books Beside My Bed

Lair of the Bat Monster, by Ursula Vernon, at Library Chicken

The Last Dragon, by Jane Yolen, at Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile

The Magical Ms. Plum, by Bonny Becker, at Geo Librarian

The Midnight Gate, by Helen Stringer, at TheHappyNappyBookseller

A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness, at The YaYaYas and Parenthetical.net (I vaugely thought this was more YAish than MGish, but I just read it last week myself, and would not hesitate to give it to an older middle grade reader. Appologies to anyone whose review I didn't include in round-ups past)

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes, by Jonathan Auxier, at Hip Mama Jenn and Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing

Rip Tide, by Kat Falls, at So Many Books, So Little Time

Scary School, by Derek the Ghost, at The Picnic Basket

Sidekicks, by Dan Santat, at Bookends

The True Meaning of Smekday, by Adam Rex, at YA Bibliophile

The Unwanteds, by Lisa McMann, at Ex Libris

Vanished, by Sheela Chari, at TheHappyNappyBookseller (I hadn't pegged this one as fantasy, but I'll take Doret's word (ie, her comment below) for it!)

Verdigris Deep, by Frances Hardinge, at Geranium Cat's Bookshelf

Violet Wings, by at Nayu's Reading Corner

The Wicked Enchantment, by Margot Benary-Isbert, at Charlotte's Library

Wildwood, by Colin Meloy, at Karissa's Reading Review

At The Book Zone (for Boys), you can find a look at two of the Booksurfers series by David Gatward.

And at Amy's Library of ROCK, here's a thank you letter to Adam Gidwitz, describing how his Tale Dark and Grimm saved her summer reading club....


Authors and Interviews:

Jonathan Auxier (Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes) at Literary Rambles

Matt Myklusch (the Jack Blank series) at Manga Maniac Cafe

Barry Hutchison (the Invisible Fiends series) at Wondrous Reads, where there's also a review of Doc Mortis.

Erica Kirov (The Magickeepers series) at Manga Maniac Cafe

Bill Doyle (Attack of the Shark-Headed Zombie, at Literary Asylum.

Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams (Goddess Girls) at Cynsations

The Wicked Enchantment, by Margot Benary-Isbert

One of the pleasures of moving to my current house (12 years ago--yoiks. Why is there still so much to be done?) was exploring the library four doors down. A new library is always an exciting thing, and this one was especially so to a devotee of older children's books like myself. It hadn't had a children's librarian weeding the collection since, at a guess, the late 1970s, and so was chock full of vintage books.

As a result, I met an author who became a favorite of mine--Margot Benary-Isbert. Her book about German children in the aftermath of WW II, The Ark, is brilliant. I happily read all the books my library had of hers, and snapped up the ones that got deaccessioned once we had a new (and most excellent) children's librarian in place. And I put the books of hers the library didn't have on my Christmas present list. 8 years later, and I had all but one--no-one had managed to find me a copy of The Wicked Enchantment....and I had pretty much forgotten about it.

But then The Enchanted Inkpot had a feature on "Little Known Fantasy Gems," and Kate Coombs of Book Aunt picked The Wicked Enchantment as her gem. And I had the brilliant thought that some other library in the state might have it and lo! one did, and now I have read it.

Here's what it's about:

Vogelsand is proud of its famous medieval cathedral, even though its inhabitants know that their cathedral is the reason why strange goings on, of a spooky sort, are apt to happen in their town...When the statue of a Foolish Virgin, along with one of the more horrible gargoyles, disappear from their accustomed place, strange things begin to happen with a vengeance! The new mayor is wrecking all sorts of havoc (snaring the song birds! forbidding the sale of Easter eggs!). And young Anemone, and her dog Winnie, are driven from their (formerly) happy home by the invasion of a scheming new housekeeper and her horrible son.

Fortunately, Anemone and Winnie find refuge with a wise woman named Gundula, who not only has supremely intelligent pets of her own, but also is the best Easter egg painter for miles around. But the housekeeper's son is bent on tracking her down for sinister reasons, and has enlisted gangs of boys to join the hunt, and money is tight in Gundula's household....and the mayor seems more unhinged and evil every day.

Winnie's talents lead her to employment in the circus that has come to town (solving the money problem), and Anemone's pluck and cunning makes her more than a match for her adversaries. Together, Anemone, Gundula, and the animals work together to find the explanation for the magical evil that has invaded Voglesand--and to overthrow it, winning freedom for the songbirds and the rights of the people to their Easter eggs!

If you are in the mood for a lightly old-fashioned fantasy of colorful brightness and charm, this would be one to try. It's not all that Deep or Haunting, but it is fun. The German setting makes it a pleasant change from the ubiquitous British Isles, and Benary-Isbert has a lovely way with descriptions and setting.

I'd especially recommend it to a dog person--Winnie gets a lot of page time. I myself liked, but didn't love it--I think I would have loved it more when I was young. In short, I'm going to take it off my Christmas present list now that I've read it, but I will still be keeping my eyes open for it. It got republished as a paperback in 1986 (that's the cover at right), but I want to hold out for the original edition, illustrated by Enrico Arno in a nicey detailed black-and-white way.

That being said, there are lots of people who love this book, as well as the reviews at Amazon and Goodreads (where I found that Sherwood Smith loved it when she was a child), here's another at MatriFocus.

The Medusa Plot (The 39 Clues: Cahills vs Vespers), by Gordon Corman

The Medusa Plot (The 39 Clues: Cahills vs Vespers), by Gordon Corman.

The hunt for the 39 Clues is over, and thirteen-year-old Dan Cahill and his older sister, Amy, are resigning themselves to life as ordinary kids. But, in as much as they belong to the most powerful, most wealthy family in the world, ordinary isn't really an achievable goal. Especially when a rival family, the Vespers, launches an attack against them--an attack that begins with a mass kidnapping. Dan and Amy are lucky to have foiled the attach on them--others of their Cahill family peers aren't as lucky. Now those unlucky ones are being held hostage--and Amy and Dan find themselves dancing to the very dangerous tune of the Vespers.

For the Vespers are using Dan and Amy as their tools in a deadly game of illegal art theft--looking for clues that lead to an unknown destination, where they might (or might not) be able to win the release of the hostages!!!!!

Or maybe just one exclaimation mark would do.

Still, it's all very exciting and tense, and great for those who like Adventure and Action, and I imagine that it would be much More So for those who have actually read all the 39 Clues books and know all the characters so much better than I do! Even without that background knowledge, though, I enjoyed it all just fine for what it was. I was curious about the twist of the plot, and was even (in a mild sort of way) interested in the characters qua characters, but more to the point, I don't see why my picky reader son won't just sit down and read this series for crying out loud.

(ARC received at Book Expo America)

Dark Mirror, by M.J. Putney

Dark Mirror, by M.J. Putney (St. Martin's Press, 2011, 304 pp)

Young Lady Victoria lives in an early 19th-century England where a fair number of people have magical gifts--Tory, for instance, finds herself floating one morning when she is sixteen, and finds the sensation rather pleasing. Less pleasing is the fact that magic is verboten to the upper classes; no girl known to have magical gifts will ever be presented at court. Instead, a stint at Lacklands school awaits, where the tainted children of the nobility are sent to be "cured."

Tory is not so sure that she wants to repress her magical gifts, and when she finds that there are others at Lacklands who think that magic might actually be something to celebrate (and potentially useful in a military way, what with the threat of Napoleon looming across the channel), she joins in their forbidden night time classes. As an added bonus, two of her classmates are young men who are more than a little attractive....

Ok. That's the first half of the book-- and it's rather a pleasant magic school story, made interesting by the fact that the school exists to squelch the magic! Putney never had me quite convinced that it really was set in Regency England (for one thing, the nickname "Tory" felt out of place to me, and the dialogue didn't quite convince me), but still it was a just fine story, if not a terribly original conceit.

But--the second half of the book was a whole nother story, with the plot taking a dramatically different and utterly unexpected twist that changed everything! It becomes a time travel book!

Read on if you want to learn what period was time-travelled to and why! Stop reading now if you haven't read it yet, because I'm about to go back to plot summary mode and it will be spoilerish.

Under Lacklands school is a mirror made by Merlin (!) that transports people through time. And Tory and some of her close friends (including both cute guys) accept the chance to use their despised magical gifts to help their country in its time of greatest danger. Forget Napoleon--World War II is happening, and the British soldiers trapped at Dunkirk need all the help they can get....

Yes, early 19th-century magical teens come forward in time to help with Dunkirk!

I found this tremendously diverting.

I never did feel all that convinced by Putney's WW II era Britain either, and there were sentences and bits of scenes that didn't quite work for me. For one thing, although Tory is new to the actual study of magic and her own gifts, she manages to do things I couldn't believe she was capable of. For another, the romance was very much of the chemistry/electrical connection type, with mysterious Issues involved, and so not my thing, and the guy in question is named Justin, which I don't think was all that common in English aristocratic circles of the early 19th century (correct me if I'm wrong!).

However, even though I never truly had confidence in the author, and kept questioning things, it was a fun time-travel adventure. And there will be a sequel (Dark Passage, Sept, 2011)! Tory and co. will go back to WW II France, and use their magic some more! I am looking forward to it lots....






And isn't it pretty?

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

Hi all! Here's what I found this week in my blog reading, that's of interest to us fans of mg sff! Please let me know if I missed your post--leave a comment or drop me an email (charlotteslibrary at gmail dot com). Feel free, as well, to send me links at any time during the week!


The Reviews:

Aliens on Vacation, by Clete Barret-Smith, at The Book Smugglers

Crash and Bang (Tales from Witch Way Wood), by Kaye Umansky, at Nayu's Reading Corner

The Dark City, by Catherine Fisher, at Fantasy Literature and By Singing Light

Down the Mysterly River, by Bill Willingham, at The Book Smugglers

The Flight of Dragons, by Vivian French, at Back to Books

Flight to Dragon Isle, by Lucinda Hare, at Fantasy Book Review, and also this review of the first book in the series, The Dragon Whisperer, at Finding Wonderland.

Gods of Manhatten, by Scott Mebus, at books4yourkids

The Name of the Book is Secret, by Pseudonymous Bosch, at books4yourkids

The Orphan of Awkward Falls, by Keith Graves, at The Book Smugglers

Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes, by Jonathan Auxier, at The Book Smugglers, Project Mayhem, and at Shannon Whitney Messenger (plus giveaway)

Queste, by Angie Sage, at Beyond Books

The Rescuers, by Margery Sharp, at Anita Silvey's Book-a-Day Almanac

Rewired, by Alex Keller, at The Book Zone

The Search for Wond-La, by Tony DiTerlizzi, at Eva's Book Addiction

Snow White and Rose Red, by Patricia Wrede, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Suddenly in the Depths of the Forest, by Amos Oz, at Geo Librarian

A Tale Dark and Grimm, by Adam Gidwitz, at Abby (the) Librarian

Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt, at Anita Silvey's Book-a-Day Almanac

The Unwanteds, by Lisa McMann, at The Book Smugglers

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin, at Challenging the Bookworm

The Wizard of Dark Street, by Shawn Thomas Odyssey, at Cracking the Cover


Authors and Interviews:

Jonathan Auxier (Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes) at The O.W.L. (plus giveaway)

Kate Messner (Eye of the Storm) is taking part in Dystopian August at Presenting Lenore

Jennifer Nielson (Elliot and the Pixie Plot) at The Enchanted Inkpot.

Shawn Thomas Odyssey (The Wizard of Dark Street) at There's a Book

Barry Hutchinson kicks off his Doc Mortis blog tour at The Book Zone

Lucinda Hare is taking her Dragonsdome books on tour too--here's her guest post at My Favorite Books


To celebrate her lovely new trailer, Katherine Langrish is giving away three signed copies of Dark Angel (aka The Shadow Hunt)


Other Good Stuff:

The Book Smugglers bring their week of mg sff to a close with a mg/YA edition of books on their radar.

Betsy at Fuse #8 talks about fantasy in a post Harry world, which Eva picks up on at Eva's Book Addiction

At Strange and Random Happenstance, Eliza writes about not meeting Norman Juster

Here's the wrap-up of Week 1 of Dystopian August at Presenting Lenore (even though its YA)'

And here's Mr. Ripley's Horror Selection for August!

The Demon's Surrender, by Sarah Rees Brennan

The Demon's Surrender (2011, Margaret K. McElderry, YA, 400 pages) is the third of Sarah Rees Brennan's books about various sets of siblings whose lives are affected, in various ways, by demonic magic. It is one of my favorite series, because it is a. funny b. moving in its depiction of a suite of sibling relationships threatened by various Dark Forces etc. c. imaginative and fascinating and d. (the most important reason of all) it contains within its pages an erudite bookworm with red hair and a limp who is one of the most loyal, caring, deserving, and (I shamelessly confess to being a shallow fangirl) hot hot hot boys of YA literature.

It's a tricky book for me to review coldly and dispassionately, as this is what my heart insists I write:

Alan. I love you so, and Sarah was so unkind to you in this book. Yeah, she killed lots of other people (perhaps too many--there were lots of random deaths of little import). But you, you Suffered (my poor sweet).

Still, you got some nice bits (wink wink nudge nudge):

"Sin..saw Allan's free hand still holding his book, and started to laugh softly, looking up at him. "You're keeping your place."

"Of course. I'm going to read to you." Alan smiled down at her. "In minute."

After quite a lot longer than a minute, he did. Sin put her arm around his stomach and rested her cheek against his shoulder and listened to him. He'd chosen something to him. He'd chosen something he thought she would like." (page 143)

Happiness.....

However, I don't consider this adequate, as The Demon's Surrender is a book that is going into my multicultural sci fi/fantasy list (courtesy of Sin, who is a Person of Color--see the UK cover at right), and so I feel as though I should try to speak a bit more about the book, qua book, and a bit less about the book, qua vehicle for Alan's awesomeness.

So.

The Demon's Surrender is most definitely a book that should be read in series order, as it continues a complicated story. In this book, the focus is on Sin (short for Cynthia), a dancer at the Goblin Market who hopes to take over the leadership of it. But in the meantime, the threat posed by a very nasty group of wizards is growing, and they are striking out at the Market. On the opposing side are the Ryves brothers, Alan and Nick, and their friends Mae and Jamie (but whose side is Jamie really on?).

There are delicious machinations going on here--not everything is as it seems. And as Sin grows closer to Alan (quite a bit closer), she realizes that the stakes of this power game are greater than just her beloved Market...

Now, I think that Alan is the Hero of this trilogy, although we never have a book from his point of view (as he is not known for truthfulness, he would have been a terribly unreliable narrator). So although I was initially doubtful about a whole book from Sin's point of view (I didn't feel I knew her that well, or cared all that much about her), once I realized that the focus of her concern was going to be Alan (clever girl), I was happy.

As the book progressed, I grew to appreciate Sin for her own sake as well. She's brave, determined, and loyal to those she loves, and her concern for Alan even exceeded my own (he was, after all, right there with her as opposed to being a fictional character).

SPOILER ALERT! The next bit gives away the ending, which is by no means a certain one!




So I closed the book happily...but I do think Sarah Reese Brennan could have pulled a J.K. Rowling, and written a 15 years later epilogue:

"Alan and Sin were united in their struggle to get young Nick (or whatever they would have named their son) out the door and on his way to school...."

Because they will make AWESOME parents, and I would like to be sure they get to enjoy life a little....

The Cupid War, by Timothy Carter

I was immensly entertained by Timothy Carter's YA book, Evil? published last year by Flux. In that book, Carter proposes a supernatural explaination for extreme cases of religious fundementalism--mentally unhinged Fallen Angels. It's a smart and funny book--here's my review.

So naturally, when Flux offered me a review copy of his latest YA novel, The Cupid War (2011, 240 pages), I said yes, please, and was rewarded with another darkly light (oxymoron intended) reading treat.

It tells of Ricky Fallon, a teenaged boy who decides, at the last minute, that he doesn't want to commit suicide by bridge jumping after all. Unfortunately for Fallon (as he prefers to be known), he then accidentally falls to his death. Death brings Fallon the opportunity to repay his Karmic debt to the world. Scratch that--he is forced to repay it, whether he wants to or not. For Fallon is thrust into the role of a Cupid, charged with spreading love throughout the world, while wearing a skin-tight pink body suit with a big red heart on it (and, disturbingly, sans external genitalia).

But life as a Cupid isn't all happiness and love. The boss of the whole Cupid setup is a jerk, and smart-aleck teens like Fallon don't do so well with kowtowing. More serious, though, is the threat posed by the joy-sucking entities known as Suicides, who latch on to their victims and drive them to ending their lives.

Fallon is about to confront the most dangerous Suicide ever known--one who has taken human form, and one who has set her sights on the girl Fallon is finding himself falling for (along with a whole slew of other victems).

For a book about depression and suicide, it's a light and entertaining read, with even a bit of romance for Fallon thrown in. But there's depth to it as well. Back in an interview he did in 2010 at TRT Book Club, Carter, who himself suffers from depression and anxiety, wrote: "I wanted to suggest a supernatural cause for mood disorders.... That way, I could turn depression into an enemy that can be fought and beaten." Fallon's reflections on the course of his own too-short life, and his determination to help others in the dark grip of depression, make him a hero the reader can root for wholeheartedly.

I have no clue how a teen who suffers from depression will react to this approach, but it does make for an interesting read, one that stands out for its fresh and irreverent approach to the paranormal. The Cupid headquarters was a fascinating place (although it could have been fleshed out somewhat), the action is brisk, and Fallon is a compelling main character (although I would have liked a bit more page time for his romantic, and presumably doomed, relationship with the girl he likes...).

In short, I enjoyed it lots. (I still like Evil? better though. It tickled my fancy something fierce).

Other reviews at YPulse and CM Magazine

Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Waiting on Wednesday--13 Gifts, by Wendy Mass

(I meant to write a review this morning, but got distracted by crab grass...sigh. The pile of books to be reviewed is growing almost as fast as the weeds. Summer is hard work.)

I very much enjoyed 11 Birthdays (my review) and Finally, by Wendy Mass, and so I'm happily anticipating the next magical birthday to be celebrated in the town of Willow Falls--13 Gifts, coming September 1, 2011.

Here's the blurb:

"When Tara, a self-proclaimed shrinking violet, steals the school mascot, a goat, in order to make some friends with the popular crowd and gets caught, she gets herself in a heap of trouble. In addition, her parents decide that instead of taking her on their summer trip to Madagascar to study the courtship rituals of the Bamboo Lemur, she must go stay with her aunt, uncle, and bratty cousin Emily St. Claire in Willow Falls. Tara thinks it's a good time to start over; she'll be turning 13 after all, so she might as well make the best of it and perhaps even attempt to break out of her shell (in a non-criminal manner). What Tara doesn't know is that this charmed town has something big in store for her on her 13th birthday. It's not a typical birthday. But then again, nothing is Willow Falls is exactly typical!"

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

Hourglass, Myra McEntire, for Timeslip Tuesday

Hourglass, Myra McEntire (Egmont, 2011, YA, 400 pages)

Just a few months after Emerson Cole began seeing ghostly apparitions of people from the past, her parents died in a terrible accident. Now, four years later, after a stint in a mental hospital, her life is better--she lives with her brother and his wife, and she's trying to accept the phantoms she still see calmly.

Then she meets Michael, and the emotional fireworks he sets of in her shatter her calm. But t's not just the passionate intentisy of her feelings for him that are so mind-blowing. It's the fact that he can travel through time, and so, apparently, can she.

Michael works for a secretive organization called the Hourglass, and he needs her help to travel back in time on behalf of the Hourglass to save a man who should never have died six months ago...For Emerson, who will never stop greiving for the senseless death of her own parents, the chance to fix at least one death, and to be with Michael, is irresistable. No matter how dangerous it may be.

Although time travel, and foiling a bad guy with its help, is a central plot element, the romance between Michael and Em dominates the book. This put me off somewhat at the beginning--there was too much electrical attraction (and too much concern on Em's part with her makeup) for me to be convinced this was a book for me. But once Em finds her way to the headquarters of the Hourglass, and the larger story of which she is a part begins to play out, the intensity of the action increased and the relationship between Em and Michael became more complex than what was essentially lust at first sight.

So the last half of the book flew by as I skimmed the Michel/Em relationship issues and focused on the story. I never did care all that much for Em, and never felt that I actually understood Michael all that well, but the premise being explored was fascinating. In short, I'd recommend this one to readers who would place romance at the top of the list of their preferred genres--fantasy and sci fi fans might, like me, be a tad disappointed that the larger story of just what the heck was happening at the Hourglass takes (a distant) second place, and that the ending was terribly rushed.

(was anyone else confused by the cover? I couldn't figure out what was up with her hair and dress, and was relieved when my eight year old asked "Why is she walking on the wall?" and my perspective shifted accordingly).

Here's a random smattering of other reviews, at Paranthetical, Bibliophilic Monologues, The YA Sisterhood, and Bookchewer.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher