Middle Grade Bloggers as Fans, Gatekeepers, Partners of the Industry, & Members of a Gender-Imbalanced Community, Part 2

This post is a continuation of a discussion started yesterday, which you can find here.   In this second half, I talk about the gendered space of Middle Grade (MG) blogging (with data gathered from my weekly round-ups of MG sci fi/fantasy), and how it pertains to community and author-blogger relationships

Thought 3:   MG blogging feels safe and friendly.  A large part of this might be that we are united by common interests and concerns.  For many women, a larger part still may because it is primarily a female space, which isn't something to celebrate, but something to question.  A look at some data shows a troubling gender imbalance in the world of Middle Grade science fiction/fantasy blogging.
 

When I picked an all-female roster of panelists in Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction for the Cybils this year,  this was not because I rejected equally qualified male applicants.  It was because no male applicant (and there were few of them over all) put my category as his first choice.  There are many, many more women blogging about EMG SF than there are men.

The world of children's book blogging is dominated by women (presumably because of the female tilt of  librarianship and elementary school teaching).  The authors who engage most directly in a friendly fashion with me and my blog are also women, and I don't think I'm alone in this.  The  publishing reps who have reached out to me over the years have (I think) all been women.  Clearly the women are the ones with the most "community capital" (the phrase used by Renay, the author of the post linked to Part 1, in an earlier article about gender and blogging in the adult sci fi/fantasy world-- Communities: Beyond Traditional Horizons).

The one area in which there is gender equality is in the breakdown of the writers.   I have been compiling a list of all the EMG SF books compiled by Kirkus from October 16 to the present-- 84 of the authors were male, 81 were female, and 7 books had co-authors who were male and female.  Does this translate in an equal number of reviews in the female-dominated blogging world?  No, and this was an unpleasant surprise.

I looked at the past sixteen weeks of reviews of  MG  sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (I gather them in weekly round-ups).  286 books by men got reviewed.  381 books by women got reviewed, though I can't 100% swear that I counted exactly right (if anyone wants to do counting of their own, I have 196 weeks of round-ups--go for it).  Since I see each week as a personal challenge to find as many reviews as I can, I don't think I'm guilty of gender favoritism there...That being said, these 16 weeks may be slightly skewed by the "Holly Effect"-- Doll Bones, by Holly Black, and Rose, by Holly Webb, have been reviewed lots more than other books.  Still, it seems like a dramatic difference.

I then looked at the gender breakdown of bloggers hosting authors-- authors invited to share their words at personal blogger spaces.  I include interviews and guest posts in my weekly round-ups, so I counted the number of female vs male authors back through March 2013.   I'm not confident that this is great data--I might well have missed lots of posts from blog tours, because sometimes when I'm doing my round-ups I find blog tours overwhelming and just don't try to get all the links.  I didn't count posts at author group blogs, or industry blogs, and I didn't count guest posts that were basically publicity, like character introductions.    I found 53 instances of guest posts/interviews from male authors,  and 103 instances of female authors.

I think publicists are just as likely to arrange blog tours on behalf of male authors as they are for female ones, so that's not a likely reason for the disparity.  It might, instead, come from female authors feeling more comfortable personally asking the predominantly female bloggers, with whom they have established friendly relationships, for guest post/interview space.  This is how my own most recent MG interviews happened.   Or conversely,  (female) bloggers may feel more comfortable contacting the female writers. 

Out of curiosity, how many of those of you who are bloggers (male or female) have been approached directly by a man about a guest post or interview (excluding self-published books, for several reasons*)?  I went back through and checked my own blog--in the past seven years, I myself have hosted/interviewed three women and two men who asked me directly (although neither of the guys were authors of MG books), which is not all that meaningful.

My final question was whether the Cybils awards, given by bloggers (some of whom may be author bloggers), have gender skewing in the middle grade categories.   Because I'm pretty comfortable with the baseline of female/male authors in MG sci fi/fantasy being 50-50, but don't know about regular MG,  I just looked at the sci fi/fantasy short lists:  14 men shortlisted vs 24 women over the past six years.  This gender disparity wasn't conscious bias (which I know because I was there for most of them).   And I don't think there's conscious bias in the reviewing and guest-post data either.

Do these three bits of data (possibly faulty) reflect a more subtle phenomena of women writing books that appeal to women, and so getting reviewed and honored by women more?  Extending this line of thought, do "boy books" appeal less to the grown-up women who blog, and so get reviewed less?  Does this in turn contribute to men not feeling part of the MG blogging world, and therefore not wanting to start blogs of their own, or, if they are authors, not making the personal connections with the bloggers that would allow them to feel comfortable asking for guest post space and being reviewed more, etc.?   Or perhaps the guys who write MG sci fi/fantasy don't actually read it for their own pleasure, and so aren't interested in reading lots of reviews of it, and chiming in on the conversations? 

I dunno.   And I've never talked to a guy about it.  Because I have no close blogging friends who are guys, and I don't know any male authors well enough to ask.

But anyway, here is this gender imbalance, and it troubles me.  What to do?

Here are some things I will try to do: 
--make sure I am not falling into an unwitting gender imbalance on my blog (I'm not, currently, but in large part this is because most of the books I review are new, so the even divide of the genders in publishing keeps me on track).
--bravely (because I am shy), reach out to some male authors whose books I enjoyed and ask them if they would like to be interviewed on my blog. 
--make sure I'm visiting and commenting on the blogs written by guys, and not living in a little bubble of best blogging friends who are girls. 

Tentative final thoughts:  Middle Grade blogging is a comfortable place for women, with a blurry wall between authors and bloggers (quite a number of them are wearing both hats), and generally friendly relationships with publishers.  Though some blogs are more "fannish" and some are more directly tied to the industry of writing and publishing, many bloggers move freely between the two spheres.    One reason for the cordial atmosphere is a mutual respect based in part on a shared agenda--promoting good children's books and encouraging literacy.   Another reason may be that it is very much a female space--a safe place for women to speak their minds--which is nice for those inside it, but pretty questionable over-all. 



*I excluded self-published books because these authors are in much greater need of word-of-mouth publicity that traditionally published authors, and may contact hundreds of blogs seeking exposure.

The Lost Kingdom, by Matthew Kirby

The Lost Kingdom, by Matthew Kirby (Scholastic, September 2013, Middle Grade).

It is the mid-18th century in a (just slightly) alternate America.  The colonies are not yet united, and the French and Indian Wars are flaring up on the western frontier.  And Ben Franklin, and his colleagues at the American Philosophical Society, decide to launch an expedition to find the legendary kingdom established by the Welsh prince Madoc, and convince the Welsh to join in the fight against the French.  Fortunately the Society has a magnificent air-ship, a marvel of engineering, that will make the voyage last only a few weeks instead of months or years...and the scientists and philosophers aboard are eager not only to find out if the legend of Madoc is truth or fiction, but to collect data and make observations as they go.

And one of the scientists is a renowned botanist, John Bartram, bringing his son Billy plant-collecting with him for the first time (both are real historical people, which I found cool).  Billy is thrilled, and pleased as well to find out he's not the only young person on board--the daughter of the expedition's leader, Jane, successfully sneaked on too.   It's sure to be a grand adventure--after all, high in the air, what could possibly go wrong?

Answer:   Treachery.  Attacks by the savage megafauna of this alternate America.  Natural disasters and Sabotage.   Violent conflict with the French.   The prejudice of Billy's father toward Andrew, the half-Native translator of the expedition that threatens to destroy the relationship of father and son, and threatens Andrew's very life.   And then the arrival in the hidden kingdom they had searched for...where they do not find exactly what they were looking for.

Once airship sets off on its journey, these exciting bits follow one another like beads on a string, and the tension grows steadily.  But alongside these adventures, and often taking center stage, is the conflict between Billy and his father, as Billy sees his father exhibiting ugly racism toward Andrew.   Like Billy, the reader will (I assume) be disturbed by this; though it's historically accurate, it's no less repellent.

All though the excitements of the journey are enough to carry the audience along nicely,  the perfect reader for this one, I think, has to have some interest in the pass times of geeky adults.  The world of the ship is dominated by the eccentric members of the American Philosophical Society, who we met and observe (as they fixate on their particular interests) as the journey passes.

My one major issue with the book is that Jane, the token girl, never gets to be more than the token girl.  She has no character arc, and though I thought that the relationship (and it didn't have to be a romantic one) between Jane and Billy would be explored during the story, Jane remains off to the side, functioning only to drive the plot (in a dangerous direction) at one point.  And I wondered why she was there at all.


I am often troubled by presentations of Native Americans in historical fiction, but I think Kirby did a pretty good job here of using the attitudes of the characters to convey a pretty accurate idea of how 18th century colonials would have perceived them.  So I have no substantive complaints on that score, though I think Kirby does tilt slightly toward portraying the frontier lands as unused wilderness with only a scattering of people who weren't properly taking advantage of it, which wasn't exactly the case (and which was something the Pilgrims, for instance, liked to believe).  In fairness, though, the horrific mega-predators in this alternate America might well have kept population densities lower than they were in reality...

In short, a solid adventure with a fresh and ultimately satisfying premise, and a really cool air ship that should delight the scientifically-minded reader, that would have appealed more to me personally if Jane had been more of a person and less a female place holder.

Here are other reviews at Random Musings of a Bibliophile and Views from the Tesseract

Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Middle Grade Bloggers as Fans, Gatekeepers, Partners of the Industry, & Members of a Gender-Imbalanced Community, Part 1

I like to take personality tests, which shaped my reaction to Renay's thought-provoking post on communities and fans and industry and authors in the world of speculative fiction blogging at Strange Horizons, in which she draws a distinction between "fannish track blogs" and "industry track blogs," with checklists of characteristics for each.  I was eager to see which my blog would be.....and found her model didn't apply all that well.  My blog is written for my own enjoyment, and for people (kids to grown-ups) who like the same books I do (fannish), but it's also written with an eye to people buying books for kids (industry-ish).  

 

I was also struck, in reading Renay's post, by her thoughts on the relationships between industry (the authors and publishers) and blogger/fan/readers, and the problems that can arise when the lines between the two break down. This isn't something that has been an issue for me.
 

And so I started thinking about the ways the points Renay made do and do not apply to blogs like mine that focus on middle grade (MG) books (written for kids 9-12).  I write predominantly about science fiction and fantasy books, which skews my perceptions.  If your experience as a MG blogger is different, please feel free to disagree with me!  (As an INFP in my favorite personality test, I almost never have Final Logical Conclusions on topics that are this fuzzy, so I won't mind).

 

Thought 1:  Many (though not all) MG bloggers are gatekeepers--helping other grown-ups find good books for kids--and so have a critical distance with the books they review that keeps them from being purely and simply "fans." 

 

The majority of bloggers who review primarily MG books aren't the target audience for those books (though there are some young readers who have great blogs).  Likewise, the regular readers of their reviews aren't generally the target audience either.   Many MG bloggers are motivated by an interest in helping kids find good books, as opposed to finding good books for themselves.  Many do this as part of their jobs.   This sort of blogger, when thinking about a book, will have two trains of thought going--"what will kids think of this book" alongside "what do I think of this book"  (sometimes the trains collide).  Likewise, the blog readers won't necessarily be thinking "do I want to read this book?", but whether the kids they know might like it.  Which isn't to say that a middle grade book can't be a great read for a grown-up. 

 

But in any event, the gatekeeping effect seems to result in some measure of insulation between the blog reviewer and the author.  When I receive books from the publishers that don't appeal, I may well make the effort to read and review them not because I want to strengthen my connection with the industry, but because there may be young readers who will love them.  I want my blog to be useful to people that don't share my taste, and so I don't always say what I really think.  I may write "kids who find bathroom humor amusing may well enjoy this book" as opposed to "This book is horrible because all the snot made me feel sick."  The impersonal is a lot less likely to elicit an emotional response.
 

Following from that, there may be more emotional remove between MG Blogger and author than there is in the world of YA and Adult books.  Though I don't think any of us who read and review books for kids would do it if we didn't enjoy them lots, and love some passionately, I don't think deeply personal, intense fan feelings are all that common (with the obvious exception of one's feelings toward beloved childhood authors!).  I admire, and like, and have huge respect for many of the authors whose middle grade books I review, and I will make a point of reviewing their new books, and possibly bounce a bit when I get them in the mail, but I won't drive to Boston to meet them as authors unless they are Megan Whalen Turner (I did drive to New Hampshire once, which is further than Boston, but that was six authors in one go, and no city traffic).  That being said, there are several people who happen to be authors who I would love to meet in real life and hang out with just because it would be fun. 

The result of this, in terms of blogging, is that even when you write a not entirely positive review of a middle grade book, you (probably) won't be challenged by rabid fans or by the author.  (After over 1,500 reviews, I have been only been attacked by a rabid fan once, and only challenged by an annoyed author in the post comments once, as far as I can remember.  Which makes me think maybe I am being too impersonal...).

 

Thought 2:  MG Authors and  MG Bloggers and Publishers may be friends because of sharing an overlapping agenda, and because lots of them are cool people, and the line between fan and industry isn't hard and fast.

 

Many of us blog about MG books because we have some interest in promoting reading and literacy.  In my mind, authors and publishers are allies in the shared goal of getting books into the hands of readers who will love them, and, as a personal bonus, many of them are nice enough to write and publish books that I enjoy reading.

 

Authors of MG sci fi and fantasy tend to be readers of MG sci fi and fantasy, which fosters friendly feelings on both sides, as other grown-ups with whom you can talk about these books are thin on the ground in real life.  Authors might well be fans of blogs that talk about books they enjoy.   Basically a lot of the MG authors and bloggers are great people with lots in common and the lines get blurry and there it is.

Do I want authors coming to my blog space to tell me I was wrong about their book?  No, of course not.  Do I want authors saying on my blog that my interpretation is one that hadn't occurred to them (as opposed to being Wrong)--uh...maybe, if it was an author with whom I'd had pleasant interactions with before, and they couched their words in a non-attacking way.  Do I want authors visiting my blog and leaving comments on books that aren't theirs and being colleagues and friends?  Yes.
 

With regard to publishing-- I am happy to be useful to the Industry, because the Industry is useful to me as a (personal)  reader and a (public) gatekeeper.  I might help a book get more attention, and find it new readers (good for the Industry).  In turn, receiving review copies from publishers helps me be useful, interesting, and relevant (and quite often makes me personally happy, which encourages me to keep blogging), which in turn (ideally) attracts more readers, making a nice little feedback loop.    However, to be "useful" is good, but to be "used" is a heck of a lot less good, and it's a fuzzy boundary on both sides.  I think that when mutual respect and professionalism are there, the balance stays tipped to the former, and everyone is happier (I realize this is not a Deep Thought).

This is long enough for one post, so please visit Part 2 for:
 

Thought 3:   MG blogging feels safe and friendly to me.  A large part of this might be because the participants share common interests and concerns.  An even bigger reason (for me, probably for others) might be that it is primarily a female space.  This isn't something to celebrate, but something to question.  A look at some data shows a huge and troubling gender imbalance in the world of MG science fiction/fantasy blogging.
 

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science from around the blogs (9/22/13)

Here's what I found in my leisurely perusal of/obsessive combing through the internets that's of interest to us fans of speculative fiction for kids!  Please let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews:

The Adventures of a South Pole Pig, by Chris Kurtz, at Between These Pages

The Black Cauldron, by Lloyd Alexander, at Tor

The Clockwork Three, by Matthew Kirby, at J.S. Webster Mind Voyages

Curse of the Broomstaff, by Tyler Whitesides, at Geo Librarian and LDS Women's Book Review

Doll Bones, by Holly Black, at Never Ending Story

The Dream Catcher, by Monica Hughes, at Views from the Tesseract

Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine, at Stray Thoughts

Frogged, by Vivian Vende Velde, at Sharon the Librarian

The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman, at YA Asylum

Gustav Gloom and the Nightmare Vault, by Adam-Troy Castro, at Akossiwa Ketoglo

Hollow Earth, by John Barrowman and Carole E. Barrowman, at Book Nut

How I Became a Ghost, by Tim Tingle, at Charlotte's Library

The Invisible Tower, by Nils Johnson-Shelton, at Book Twirps

Invitation to the Game, by Monica Hughes, at Retro Reads

Island of Silence (The Unwanteds Book 3), by Lisa McMann, at Xander's Middle-Grade Book Reviews

Janitors (series reviews), by Tyler Whitesides, at Julie Coulter Bellon

Joshua Dread, and its sequel, The Nameless Hero, by Lee Bacon, at Random Acts of Reading

The King's Ransom (Young Knights of the Round Table), by Cheryl Carpinello  at Mother Daughter Book Reviews

Magic Marks the Spot, by Caroline Carlson, at Librarian of Snark

The Magic Thief series, by Sarah Prineas, at Bibliophilic Monologues

The Monster in the Mudball, by S.P. Gates, at Middle Grade Ninja and All the World's In Words

Mousemobile, by Prudence Breitrose, at Sharon the Librarian

No Passengers Beyond This Point, by Gennifer Choldenko, at Next Best Book

Other Worlds (Guys Read), edited by Jon Scieszka, at Tales of a (Formerly) Reluctant Reader and Maria's Melange

Persephone the Daring (Godess Girls), by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams, at  The Children's Book Review

Peter Pan in Scarlet, by Geraldine McCaughrean, at The Cheap Reader

The Real Boy, by Anne Ursu, at Bookalicious, Ms. Martin Teaches Media, and Ms. Yingling Reads

The Rock of Ivanore, by Laurisa White Reyes, at Sharon the Librarian

Rooftoppers, by Katherine Rundell, at Bookyurt

The Ruby Key, by Holly Lisle, at Pages Unbound

The School For Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani, at Feminist Fairy Tales

The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud, at Book Yurt and Random Musings of a Bibliophile

The Shadow on the Dial, by Anne Lindbergh, at Charlotte's Library

Sky Jumpers, by Peggy Eddleman,  at Akossiwa Ketoglo, Kid Lit Frenzy, Michelle Devon, and The Haunting of Orchid Forstythia

The Time Fetch, by Amy Herrick, at In Bed With Books

Wake Up Missing, by Kate Messner, at Wandering Librarians and The Write Path

The Watcher in the Shadows, by Chris Moriarty, at Good Books and Good Wine

Wild Born (Spirit Animals 1), by Brandon Mull, at Geo Librarian and Charlotte's Library

You Can't Have My Planet, But Take My Brother, Please! by James Mihaley, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Zoe and Zack and the Ghost Leopard, by Lars Guignard, at My Guilty Obsession (audiobook review)


More than Reviews

"Moral Ambiguity in Percy Jackson and the Olympians" at Tor

"The Economy as Villain in The Year of Shadows by Claire Legrand" at Teen Librarian Toolbox

Revisiting Catherynne M. Valente's Fairyland series, at Tales of the Marvelous


Authors and Art and Interviews

Oliver and the Seawigs, by Philip Reeve, illustrated by Sarah McIntyre--The Thurlestone art and story,  at Wondrous Reads

Kathi Appelt (True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp) at Through the Wardrobe

Holly Webb (Rose) at Hidden in Pages and Oh, For the Hook of a Book!

Shannon Hale, on writing a story for Other Worlds, the latest installment of Guys Read

Sharon Ledwith (The Last Timekeepers) at Carpinello's Writing Pages

H.B. Bolton (The Serpent's Ring) at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

Bobbi Miller (Big River's Daughter) at Smack Dab in the Middle


Other Good Stuff

Ten fantasy/sci fi books for kids set in New York, at Views from the Tesseract

Ten Titanic time travel tales, at Time Travel Times Two

Not MG SFF, but great fun none the less--blogging advice from L.M. Montgomery at Becky's Book Reviews

For those of you who hadn't noticed the number of space stories for kids is on the up-tick, the Guardian says this is so (but without giving many examples...)

"Disenchanting the Fairy Godmother" at The Book Wars

SCBWI creates an award for Kid Lit published non-traditionally

The call for program proposals for the 7th Annual KidLitCon (Austin, Texas, November 8-9) has gone out!  I am going to be there, and I hope you are too.  If you have never been to a KidLitCon, it is a wonderful thing to be in the company of so many like-minded folks.

I am thinking of putting a proposal together for a session on the challenges and opportunities of blogging about middle grade books, that would be heavy on audience participation (more brainstorming and sharing than two or three people doing all the talking).  If this sounds like a good idea, I would love collaborators--please let me know at charlotteslib at gmail dot com.

East of the Sun, West of the Moon, by Jackie Morris

East of the Sun, West of the Moon, by Jackie Morris (Francis Lincoln Children's Books, March 2013), is a beautiful retelling of the titular fairy tale, beautiful in part because of the lovely water colors that grace many pages, but also because of how very satisfactory the retelling is.   It is a really good book that deserves its Kirkus star.

In this version, the white bear comes to an American city to visit a family living in poverty and despair.  They had fled their homeland after the father, a journalist, was arrested and tortured by the government...but they have not yet found sanctuary as political refugees.   The great bear promises that all will be well with them...if the oldest daughter comes away with him...

So she does, and sticking very closely to the original, the girl and the bear live together in a beautiful palace (though with no windows), and every night in the darkness someone gets into bed with her.   Then comes visit home, the tinderbox from her mother, and the realization that the bear is under an enchantment, broken too soon, and bringing an end to what might have been a happy ever after of love.

And here comes the first little twist--the bear prince admits that it's actually just as much his fault for not having the will power to stay away.  Which made me pause, and think that it is really rather creepy that he is getting into bed with her in the first place in the dark all secret like, and she still just a kid, but regardless, now he has to go off to the troll palace east of the sun and west of the moon, to marry the troll princesses.

So the girl (we don't know her name at this point), sets off to find him, not knowing where to go, and in a beautifully described journey meets three wise old sisters, one by one, who send her to the winds, and at last she arrives at the gates of the North Wind, the only one who can take her where she needs to go, and the first person in the book to call her by name (Breneen).  But he wants to win her heart for himself...and she must decide whether to stay and rejoice in the wild beauty and power he can offer, or keep on after the bear prince.

The next bit I will make white, because it a spoiler, but without telling it I can't convey why I liked the ending so much.

Breneen goes on after the bear prince, and saves him from the trolls, but then---she decides not to marry him.  She was a girl when they lived together, she only knew him one day in human form, and she realizes, so wisely, that there is no particular reason why they should end up marrying each other.  Just because he needed her doesn't mean it's true love...

If you are thinking about Christmas presents already, as I am, this one would be a very satisfactory book to give to give to an older reader reader of fairy tales.  It is a very "presenty" sort of book, what with all its illustrations, some double spreads, some little decorations,  it's quirky, friendly, size (smaller and squarer than most books), and the generous margins giving the words lots of room to breath (and after I wrote this, I read on  Jackie Morris' website that this is exactly what she had in mind for its design!).    The illustrations are truly lovely, and you can see some them via that same link.

I say older reader as gift recipient deliberately, as it's a retelling  that I think works best for people who have already been down the road of the original, and who will appreciate it anew, and perhaps even more, in its new form.  A marker right at the beginning--a brief mention of prostitutes and drug dealers as part of the description of the city--made me realize I wasn't reading an illustrated version of a fairy tale for young children, and the circumstances of Breneen's family, illegal immigrants who had to flee from torture, clarified that.   (You can read more about Morris' decision to take this path at this interview at Playing By the Book).   I hit to the prostitutes and drug dealers on page, didn't want to be in a gritty urban setting, felt confused, and put the book down for several days...but I picked it up again, and was very glad I did (the gritty part doesn't last long, and the fact that it was there to begin with adds heft to the story).

But as well as that, older readers, I think, are more likely to grin at the way the ending (more spoiler) subverts the stereotypeof the "happily ever after" as I said in the first spoiler; Breneen gets to grow up, and become her own person, and not stick around just because the prince once needed her. 

In short, though it's marketed for readers 11-14 year old, and while I think it's just fine for them, the romantic fairy tale loving adult is an equally suitable reader.   I myself picked it up to see if it belonged in my category of the Cybils (ages 9-12), and I think if it were nominated, it would be happier in YA. 

Final thought: I'm counting this an example of diversity in fantasy even though I can't tell you what country Breneen is from--it's never stated, the name is not easily placed (as far as I could see) and the illustrations are ambiguous.  I look at the cover, and can see a Middle Eastern girl, or an Asian girl, or a Central American girl (at the moment I'm seeing her as Asian)--but in any event, she's not from northern Europe!

Bunnys Declare War, an acrostic poem by my younger one

Purists will doubtless be bothered by the plural of bunny my son used, but regardless, he wanted his poetic effort to reach a wider audience (and it made me laugh).

Bunnys Declare War, by MGH, aged 10

Bounce, bounce, bounce
Up, down, up, down
No carrots!!!
Noooooo
You evil humans
STOLE THEM!

Doom!
Evil humans!
Cataclysm of
Large
Angry
Red-faced
Evil Humans!

We declare
A
Revolution!

Wild Born, Spirit Animals Book 1, by Brandon Mull

Wild Born, Spirit Animals Book 1, by Brandon Mull (September 2013), is the first book of a new multi-authored series from Scholastic.   When this book arrived in the mail, it's kid-appeal was just bursting out of its cover image--brave, multicultural kids with cool spirit animal companions--and my ten-year-old pounced on it.

In a fantasy world modeled loosely on our own, with equivalents of Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa, some children form mystical bonds with spirit animals, who become their companions for life.  These children become Greencloaks, traveling the world to help others safely bond with spirit animals.  But this year, four children summon spirit animals that no child before them ever has.  They are four of the twelve Great Beasts--mythical beings of legend--the Wolf, the Leopard, the Panda, and the Falcon, who died long ago in battle against two of their kind who had turned rogue.

Now Connor, a shepherd boy from the European equivalent, Abeke, from the African, Meilin, from the Chinese, and Rollan, from the colonial North American, must learn to trust their spirit animals so that they can tap into their powers.  The two defeated Great Beasts from long ago are rising again, and war is engulfing the world...

This is primarily an introductory book---we meet the kids and their spirit animals, we get a bit of back story on the past conflict, and we share the protagonists frustration as the Greencloaks withhold information (for no good reason that I can see).   Some tension comes from the fact that Abeke has been co-opted by a group that opposes the dominion of the Greencloaks, and the reader, like Abeke, is not sure what side is Right (clue--people with "nice" spirit animals are good, people with snakes and bats and crocodiles, not so much).

The story is propelled forward into a quest adventure when we learn, about halfway through, that each of the 12 Great Beasts has, or had, a talisman of power.  Both sides want the talismans, and so the three young protagonists who were co-opted by the Greencloaks set off with their spirit animals, and their Greencloak mentor, to find the Great Ram and procure his talisman.   The opposing side, along with Abeke, is (coincidentally) headed to the same place, and they meet and fight, and Abeke realizes that the folks she's with are the bad guys, abruptly the somewhat interesting ambiguity. 

So there is indeed, as I had suspected, much kid appeal here.  The gradual development of the bonds between the spirit animals and the kids they have chosen, and frustrations the kids experience as they try to make sense of what is going on makes for good reading.   The larger plot, with its ancient evil and magical talismans, will seem much more fresh and inventive to the younger reader than to an experienced veteran of fantasy.

There's a pleasing diversity to the main characters, which goes beyond window dressing--the cultural backgrounds of the protagonists have contributed to who they are.  My son, who I have trained to approach book covers critically, was happy to see that the African girl not only has the coolest, most actively being used, weapon, but also the most powerful and appealing spirit animal, and this pleased me too.  I was a bit disappointed that Brandon Mull fell into the trap of stereotype, though, when describing his alternate North America, as "untamed land controlled mostly be beasts and the Amayan tribes" (page 68), as not only is it wrong to describe pre-contact North America as "untamed" (a lot of New England, for instance, was pretty carefully managed and rather park-like), but lumping together "beasts" and "tribes" is distressing.  

Short answer: not one for adult readers, but 8-10  year olds embarking on their exploration of fantasy worlds and quests and companion animals will quite probably enjoy it.

The next book in the series (Hunted, coming January 2014) is written by Maggie Stiefvater...I prefere her writing to Brandon Mulls, so I will await it with interested optimism; my son will await it with unbridled eagerness. 

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Waiting on Wednesday--Greenglass House, by Kate Milford

Kate Milford caught my interest with The Boneshaker, and utterly captivated me with The Broken Lands (my review), and very thoughtfully, has written a new book that sounds like it will appeal to me even more--Greenglass House, coming ages from now in August of 2014, which is a long way away, but still worth thinking about!

The publisher's description: 

"A rambling old inn, a strange map, an attic packed with treasures, squabbling guests, theft, friendship, and an unusual haunting mark this smart middle grade mystery in the tradition of the Mysterious Benedict Society books and Blue Balliet's Chasing Vermeer series.

It's wintertime at Greenglass House. The creaky smuggler's inn is always quiet during this season, and twelve-year-old Milo, the innkeepers' adopted son, plans to spend his holidays relaxing. But on the first icy night of vacation, out of nowhere, the guest bell rings. Then rings again. And again. Soon Milo's home is bursting with odd, secretive guests, each one bearing a strange story that is somehow connected to the rambling old house. As objects go missing and tempers flare, Milo and Meddy, the cook's daughter, must decipher clues and untangle the web of deepening mysteries to discover the truth about Greenglass House-and themselves."

 

I cannot wait to see what Kate Milford does with one of my favorite fictional things, the attic packed with treasures....

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

The Shadow on the Dial, by Anne Lindbergh, for Timeslip Tuesday

The Shadow on the Dial, by Anne Lindbergh (1987), is an example of time travel that teaches a modern kid how to be a Better Person.   Two not especially likeable siblings, 12-year-old Dawn and her little brother Marcus, are dumped on their great-uncle, who lives in a retirement community in Florida, while their parents go off on a vacation.  Their uncle doesn't really know what to do with them and the kids are bored.  Dawn fantasizes about all the wonderful things she'll accomplish in music and dance, but doesn't do any practicing  (this is clearly what needs to be changed about her), and their uncle expresses bitterness that he never learned to play the flute.

However, their visit soon turns much more interesting than they'd expected.  Marcus has pilfered a coupon for One Heart's Desire, Deliverable on Demand, with the cryptic instruction--"just dial."  And it turns out that fooling with their uncle's sundial counts, and it turns out that it's the heart's desire of someone else being offered, so...they travel back in time to all the moments when things went wrong for their uncle viz flute playing, from kid to adult, and by the end of it they've changed the past enough so that he had a happy career in the Boston Symphony and ended up married.   And Dawn has learned that daydreams aren't enough to make a happy future for yourself, and so the reader goes off to practice their own musical instrument or whatever.

The time travel is actually rather nicely done, and is what makes the book readable, and even enjoyable.   The visits to the past, and one to the future, are fun--interesting characters and situations.  It's also interesting to see how the chain of events spins itself out.  It's not one thing alone that kept the uncle from learning how to play the flute, but a whole sequence of attitudes and events, from his father's attitude that no son of his would do such a sissy thing, to a beautiful girl who tells him he looks stupid when he plays, to an audition almost missed because of walking a girl home (and a few more).  And Dawn and Marcus are challenged each time to figure out a way to keep the impediment from having long term consequences, and rise to the occasions successfully and believably.

Huh.  School Library Journal thought somewhat differently--"The manipulation of so many events to accomplish such astonishing changes is not convincing."  It's one of those books where you have to just accept the premise that lots of changes will happen (because that's the point), and go with it.  I don't think the SLJ reviewer had read much time travel.  And indeed, back in the eighties there wasn't much to be read; out of the 200 or so time travel books for kids and teens I've reviewed here, there are maybe five from the eighties, 2 of which are 1980, and so don't count, and 2 of which are from outside the US.  I have a vague plan to someday try correlate the quantity of time travel books being written with social and political trends.  The Reagan years seem especially unconducive to time travel fiction--is there a connection????

Anyway.  The Shadow on the Dial isn't particularly dated, and if the modern young reader feels slightly warmer to the two spoiled brats dumped on their poor uncle by thoughtless parents than I do, and is able to get past the cover illustration, they might well enjoy the time travel part.

Presenting the 2013 Cybils Elementary and Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Panelists!

It was my job this year to choose the 2013 Cybils Elementary and Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Panelists...and after much blog reading and careful thought, I picked 7 newcomers and 5 Cybils returnes.   There were good people I just didn't have room for this year--to you I say, please feel free to try again next year!

Isn't this just a superb line-up of EMG SF readers?  I'm so excited.

First Round

Melissa Fox, Book Nut
www.thebooknut.com
@book_nut

Kristen Harvey, The Book Monsters
http://www.thebookmonsters.com/
@bookgoil

Allie Jones, In Bed With Books
http://inbedwithbooks.blogspot.com
@wearedevilcow

Cecelia Larsen, The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia
http://ceceliabedelia.blogspot.com
@celialarsen

Brandy Painter, Random Musings of a Bibliophile
http://randommusingsofabibliophile.blogspot.com
@brandymuses

Charlotte Taylor, Charlotte's Library
http://charlotteslibrary.blogspot.com
@charlotteslib

Stephanie Whalen, Views from the Tesseract
http://shanshad1.wordpress.com

Second Round

Gina Ruiz, AmoXcalli
http://amoxcalli.biz
@ginaruiz

Sarah Potvin, Librarian of Snark
http://librarianosnark.blogspot.com
@librarianosnark

Sondra Eklund, Sonderbooks
http://sonderbooks.com
@sonderbooks

Laura Phelps, Bibliothecary Prescriptions
http://bibliothecaryprescriptions.blogspot.com
@elfhelps

Sarah Bean Thompson, GreenBeanTeenQueen
http://www.greenbeanteenqueen.com
@greenbeanblog

How I Became a Ghost, a Choctaw Trail of Tears Story by Tim Tingle

How I Became a Ghost, a Choctaw Trail of Tears Story by Tim Tingle (The RoadRunner Press, June 2013, 160 pages, Middle Grade and up) is a stunner of a book that deserves to be widely read, not just by kids but by grown-ups.   I'd heard of the Trail of Tears, and knew it was horrible, but now it has been made real to me.   And it was a really good story, with lots of magical, exciting, adventure.  

Isaac, the narrator of the story, is a ghost.  But when his story begins, he is an ordinary kid, growing up in a close-knit Choctaw community.

"I'm ten years old and I'm not a ghost yet.  My name is Isaac and I have a mother and a father and a big brother, Luke.  I have a dog, too.  His name is Jumper, and he is my best friend.  We go everywhere together.  We swim in the river together; we chase chickens together."

Only the date at the top of the chapter, 1830, tells the reader this is a long ago story.

Isaac's life is about to be destroyed.  The Choctaw are about to be driven out on the long forced march from their ancestral homeland in Mississippi to Oklahoma--on foot, in winter.  Many will die, and Isaac finds himself seeing visions foreshadowing who, and how.  And he knows that he will be among those who do not make it, and that he will become a ghost.

But though what happens is almost unbearably harsh, Tim Tingle accomplishes something remarkable with the way in which Isaac tells his story.   Without diminishing the import and impact of the suffering and death, he manages to make his characters more than just the sum of their horrible experiences, and their story more than just a litany of darkness.  Part of this comes from Isaac's voice--he's very much a lovable, somewhat naive kid; a typical ten-year-old boy (who happens to be a ghost), telling his story in a matter-of-fact way with touches of humor. Another escape from darkness comes from the resilience of the Choctaw people, who face the horrible hand they've been dealt with heroism, determination, and the strength of their community, one that includes the ancestors and the recent dead as well as with the living. And because death does not sever the bonds of family, the fact that Isaac becomes a ghost is desperately sad, but not as emotionally devastating as it might be. 

And the final thing that keeps the weight of the subject from crushing the reader is that Isaac's story is also a gripping adventure, one that finds him on a desperate mission to save a teenage girl from the soldiers forcing the march onward...with the help of an unexpected ally, a shape-shifting panther boy.   This adventure is one with tremendous appeal for younger readers (shape-shifting panther boy! desperate escape involving schemes and subterfuge!), making the pages turn fast and furiously.

And an even more final, small, thing--Isaac's dog Jumper is a joy.

This is historical fiction doing what the best historical fiction does--making part of the past come alive, jolting the reader into new knowledge of the past and its atrocities while keeping them engrossed in a great story.   And it's the best sort of historical fiction for kids--teaching without preaching, telling a story that's exciting and entertaining, while packing an emotional punch that leaves the reader stunned and changed.  It's the first of a trilogy, and I am looking forward to the next book lots.

Note on age of reader:  I'm going to go with 10 years old and up on this one, with the caveat that a grown-up should be nearby.   Bad things happen to people in this book--blankets deliberately infected with smallpox, for instance, are given to the people of Isaac's town, and people die.  So many ten-year-olds have a keen sense of Justice, and they will be outraged and angry, and might (thinking of my own child) want to throw the book violently down because they are so furious that people could do such things to other people.  But I think the fact that the horror isn't underlined with a heavy hand, and Isaac's friendly voice, and his friendly dog, and the growing excitement of the story (if the young reader gets to the shape-shifting panther boy, they'll be hooked for good), will balance that out.   There's a lot of gradual buildup to Isaac becoming a ghost, too, so it doesn't come as the sort of horrible shock, making it difficult to keep reading, that sometimes happens with deaths of characters one is fond of.  In any event, I will try it on my boy, and will watch with interest to see if he says I am a terrible mother for making him read something so sad, and gives up, or if it sings for him....

I have no reservations at all about recommending it to grown-ups.

Tim Tingle is himself an Oklahoma Choctaw and storyteller, who has been recording the stories of the Choctaw elders for the past decade, and whose great-great-grandfather walked the Trail of Tears. 

So.  There is the book, and it is an excellent book, and it defies easy categorization.  Is it realistic fiction, in that the elements of the book that might seem supernatural (shape shifting, ghosts, visions) are a real part of the world of its characters, or is it Speculative Fiction, in that things far beyond mundane "reality" are an integral part of the story (like the fact that it is being narrated by a ghost)?  I would like very much to nominate this book for the Cybils come October 1, but where?  I am thinking I will email Tim Tingle, and ask him where he thinks it would be most at home....

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi/fantasy posts from around the blogs (9/15/13)

Welcome to this week's gathering of blog posts of interest to fans of middle grade sci fi/fantasy!  Please let me know if I missed your post or the posts of your loved ones.

The Reviews:

13 Gifts, by Wendy Mass, at Not Acting My Age

The Accidental Time Traveller, by Janis Mackay, at Biblio Links

The Adventures of Nanny Piggins, by R.A. Spratt, at Between These Pages

Back to the Titanic, by Beatrice Gormley, at Time Travel Times Two

The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, by Claire Legand, at Melinda VanLone

Curse of the Broomstaff (Janitors Book 3), by Tyler Whitesides, at Indie Book Review

Deadweather and Sunrise (Chronicles of Egg, book 1), by Geoff Rodkey, at Carstairs Considers

The Endless Pavement, by Jacqueline Jackson and William Perlmutter, at Views from the Tesseract 

Fallout, by Todd Strasser, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The False Prince, by Jennifer Nielsen, at Annette's Book Spot (audiobook review)

The Ghost of Fossil Glen, by Cynthia DeFelice, at The Secret DMS Files of Fairday Morrow

Gustav Gloom and the People Taker, by Adam-Troy Castro, at Akossiwa Ketoglo

How to Catch a Bogle, by Catherine Jinks, at Bookends

The Hypnotists, by Gordon Korman, at Back to Books

The Icarus Project, by Laura Quimby, at Challenging the Bookworm

The King's Ransom (Young Knights of the Round Table), by Cheryl Carpinello, at Tales of a Bookworm and swlothian

Last Stand of Dead Men (Skulduggery Pleasant, Book 8), by Derek Landy, at The Book Zone

Magic Marks the Spot, by Caroline Carlson, at thehopefulheroine,  A Reader of Fictions, and Recovering Potter Adict

The Monster in the Mud Ball, by S.P. Gates, at Charlotte's Library and Ms. Yingling Reads

The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail, by Richard Peck, at Semicolon

The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate, (not) reviewed by Donalyn Miller at Nerdy Book Club

Other Worlds (Guys Read), edited by Jon Scieszka, at Ms. Yingling Reads, Sonderbooks, and Candace's Book Blog

The Planet Thieves, by Dan Krokos, at Reading Rumpus

A Question of Magic, by E.D. Baker, at Jean Little Library

The Real Boy, by Anne Ursu, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile and Teach Mentor Texts

Rooftoppers, by Katherine Rundell, at Waking Brain Cells

Rose, by Holly Webb, at From the Mixed Up Files, The Styling Librarian, To Read Or Not to Read, and Jean Little Library

The Savage Fortress, by Sarwat Chadda, at The Book Monsters

The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani, at The Write Path

Scotland's Guardians, by Katharina Gerlach, at Mother Daughter Book Reviews

The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud, at The Social Potato and Charlotte's Library

The Shadow of Camelot, by Wendy Leighton-Porter, at Mother Daughter Book Reviews

Substitute Creature, by Charles Gilman, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner, at Tales of the Marvelous

Timothy and the Dragon's Gate, by Adrienne Kress, at Once Upon a Bookshelf

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, by Kathi Appelt, at Next Best Book

Wild Born (Spirit Animals Book 1), by Brandon Mull, at Pass the Chiclets

The Year of Shadows, by Claire Legrand, at Reading Nook

Zoe and Zach and the Ghost Leopard, by Lars Guignard, at Geo Librarian (audiobook review)


Authors and Interviews

Cornelia Funke at The Secret DMS Files of Fairday Morrow

Ellen Booraem (Texting the Underworld) at Cynsations

Caroline Carlson (Magic Marks the Spot) at Literary Rambles

Sarwat Chadda (Ash Mistry and the World of Darkness) at The Enchanted Inkpot

Claire Caterer (The Key and the Flame) at Books for YA! 

Caroline Carlson (Magic Marks the Spot) at Onefour Kidlit

Thomas Torre at This Isn't Rocket Science  (about writing MG sci fi)

S.P. Gates (The Monster in the Mudball) on what does a monster looks like, at The Open Book

Steve Whibley (Glimpse) at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

Other Good Stuff 

Head over to the Cybils website tomorrow to see the lists of panelists for this year!  As head of the newly independent elementary and middle grade speculative fiction panel, I had the difficult job of selecting panelists...Thank you, all who applied, and I'm sorry I didn't have room for all of you!  And remember that book nominations are open from Oct. 1-15; anyone is welcome to nominate early and often!

A nice dragon post by Rachel Neumeier at My World...in words and pages

For those in School Mode--ten fun sci fi/fantasy school stories at Views From the Tesseract

The Stars so far  (the books that got stars, not space travel) at Shelftalker

Draw a Quarkbeast contest!  (with thanks to book4yourkids for the screen shot)

Smash: Trial By Fire, written by Chris A. Bolton, art by Kyle Bolton, with special graphic guest post!

Smash: Trial By Fire (Candlewick, Sept. 10, 2013) is a great superhero graphic novel for kids, created by two brothers, Chris A. Bolton and Kyle Bolton (Chris did the words, Kyle did the pictures). 

Andrew is a huge fan of the superhero Defender, a larger-than-life crime fighter who's constantly thwarting the plans of the evil Magus.  Andrew himself dreams of being the Defender's sidekick, but in reality he's constantly on the thwarted side of things--fifth-grade is full of bullies, his big brother isn't being exactly nurturing, and his Defender costume for Halloween was made by his mom (and looks that way).

But one day everything changes.  The Magus defeats the Defender...but the Defender's superpowers miraculously are transferred to Andrew.   Andrew's ready and willing to take up the fight against evil.  But the learning curve for superpowers is a heck of a lot steeper than he'd anticipated....and the bad guys are a lot tougher than he'd thought they'd be.

Packed with action and excitement, with larger than life heroes and villains in classic superhero comic book style, this is pretty much non-stop adventure, full of Excitement! Desperate Escapes! Minions! Robots! and the problems of homemade costumes, a steeper learning curve for flying than expected, and a police force who don't exactly welcome a fifth-grade defender with open arms...

In short, great fun for the superhero loving kid who dreams big.

It's my pleasure today to feature a Special Guest Post from the brothers Bolton, in which they share the story of their collaboration (click to enlarge).

Thanks, Chris and Kyle!  I will share this with my own boys, and perhaps they will follow in your footstep!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Fifth grade readers (The School For Good and Evil, Dreamdark, Astronaut Academy)

So yesterday my ten-year-old said, "I want to read The School for Good and Evil."

"Why?"

"Because S. and C. [his two friends-who-are-girls] are reading it."

"Do they like it?"

"Well.  If you call talking about it constantly, reading each other bits of it, and playing it at recess liking it, yes."

I guess I shouldn't have been so quick to return it to the library.

He himself is in the middle of Blackbringer (Dreamdark Book 1), by Laini Taylor, and enjoying it...C. was curious, and when his back was turned at school, she picked it up and started it herself...and now our copy has two bookmarks in it, his and hers. 

His friend  J. (a boy) came home with him after school...and had a nice time reading our Astronaut Academy books.

Happy childhood.

Fairy Tale Comics, edited by Chris Duffy, with interview of contributor Bobby London

Once upon a time, First Second Books, creators of lovely graphic novels for kids, published a book called Nursery Rhyme Comics, and it was good.  Now they have  filled a felt need with a second book in the same vein--Fairy Tale Comics (coming Sept. 24), and it, too, is a book well worth adding to your child's library (after enjoying it yourself).

17 stellar cartoonists were gathered together to present, in graphic form, 17 fairy tales in kid-friendly fashion.  The majority are well-known stories (Red Riding Hood, Snow White), but several are from outside the European tradition (like The Boy Who Drew Cats, which you can preview here, and The Prince and the Tortoise).  There's a nicely balanced mix of girl and boy and animal heroes.  Some stick right to the traditional versions, others put little twists in (a female woodcutter, a boy who realizes he has no qualifications for king-ship, and refuses the crown, sparking a democratic revolution).   In short, there's lots of fun.

Graphic novels for kids are excellent offerings for any reluctant readers you might have on hand.  Some of the stories here have slightly denser text than others, but there's nothing here that's unsuitable for a young reader of 7 or 8, and many are great for emergent readers; that being said, even 13 year old boys will read it repeatedly (from personal observation) and grown-ups will enjoy it too.

This one is not just great for the reader, but also one for the budding graphic artist.  When you have 17 different artists all gathered together, it's a fantastic way for a kid to see and learn different approaches to telling a story visually and rendering reality in comic form.

And I really do think this particular collection of fairy tales serves a felt need.   Raising my boys, I've worried a bit about their fairy tale literacy--I've read stories out-loud to them, sure, but they've never voluntarily curled up with the Brothers Grimm, and so many of the fairy tale picture books are girl-oriented, and they weren't that interested.   However, when something is presented in comic book form, its boy appeal soars....and voila, they become familiar with the stories.   I hope there are more books to come!


It's my pleasure to be part of the Blog Tour for Fairy Tale Comics, and to have interviewed one of the contributors--Bobby London, whose story "Sweet Porridge!" kicks off the book.

Charlotte: So it's my understanding that Chris Duffy, the editor, read lots of fairy tales, picked the ones he thought would make a nice book with Calista Brill, the senior editor at First Second, and then found "cartoonists who would be a good match for particular stories"  (from this interview at the Westfield Comics Blog).

Bobby: More often than not, he'll just rely on his poker buddies. 

Charlotte: Were you surprised to be asked to illustrate this story?  Did you get a specific version of the story that specified "porridge," or did you get a chance to browse through versions with different food-stuffs (such as pasta)?   Had you in fact had any previous experience drawing porridge, or other gelatinous substances, that might explain why you were picked for this one?

Bobby: I was surprised to be asked to draw the lead story,  I'm usually found at the back of the bus,  when I'm not busy being thrown under it. As for sampling grits, rice krispies or any other forms of breakfast cereal for the story, no, I did not; I don't think the Grimm Brothers would appreciate me changing the title of their story to "Sweet Pasta"; we're talking about the Grimm Bros. here, not Carlo Collodi.

It's true  I had to be adept at drawing any number of funky substances to keep my spot in National Lampoon, but for Fairy Tale Comics I had to work very closely with Mark Martin, the talented cartoonist who translated my color layouts to Photoshop, to get precisely the right color of  porridge yellow. Too much green or brown and I would have proven I taught the guys at Ren & Stimpy everything they know. And, no, it wasn't type casting; I prefer to think was chosen for this project because of my literary heritage, i.e. my familiarity with the works of Cervantes, Rabelais and Jonathan Swift.

Charlotte: I've been reading up on your past history as a cartoonist....how you have moved from comic strips for grown-ups to children's media, and now to graphic illustration for kids.   Did you enjoy creating your version of the story?

Bobby: My past history is rather poorly represented in the media and generally in the context of the lives of other artists. My Wikipedia page has been vandalised - er, that is, I mean, "edited' and "rewritten" - over 2 dozen times by total strangers, fans of other cartoonists and people  to whom I owe large sums of money. For instance, nobody knows that I didn't start out as an adult, have been drawing cartoons well since age 4 and submitting to Highlights For Children at 12. Of course, I was attempting to illustrate the Kama Sutra as soon as puberty set in but I couldn't have made the segue to kids comics without having a successful career  illustrating for mainstream newspapers and magazines and I brought those characters with me to Nickelodeon Magazine via my comic strip, Cody. It's a very liberating experience drawing comics for kids.

Charlotte: When you were working on Sweet Porridge, did thoughts of the youthful age of the possible audience affect choices you were making, or did you let things just happen?

Bobby: No, I don't have to think about it. My girlfriend will attest to my true age level being about 6. When writing for adults, I often used to get tired of having to shock myself so this is a holiday. And, you know,  I get my nasty grownup ya-yas out drawing Dirty Duck so I don't feel compelled to sneak naughty messages into kid stuff, like some perverted creeps I know.

Charlotte: What will be next?   Do you think you'll do more graphic illustration for kids, maybe even your own graphic novel?

Bobby: I'm working on an autobiography but it's not a graphic novel, I couldn't bear drawing *some* people I've had to work with over the years ( I'm a cartoonist, not a Witch Doctor). Yes,  I'd love to write and illustrate a storybook or two if they'd still have me, and Chris Duffy has been nagging me to do a Cody graphic novel. Animation offers have come in, too. Believe me, it's a dream come true to still be in demand at age 63  but  I think I'll have to hire an assistant. If that means I'm a sellout, so be it, I also get the Senior Discount at Chili's.

Charlotte:  Thanks Bobby!  And good luck with the autobiography.

And thanks also to First Second for the review copy of Fairy Tale Comics.

More Than This, by Patrick Ness

More Than This, by Patrick Ness (Candlewick, Sept.2013, YA)

Seth is drowning when we meet him, smashed against rocks by the brutally cold waves of the Pacific North West.  But then he wakes...and finds himself weak and naked outside the house in England where he grew up, before tragedy drove his family to move to the US.  The house and town seem to have been deserted for years, and he is all alone in a silent world choked in dust.

During the day, he survives on canned goods scavenged from abandoned shops.  And at night, the dreams come, and Seth vividly relives his memories of the recent past, back when he was a high school kid, with a group of best friends, one of whom was a boy who was much more than friend.

He does not know what has happened, he does not know what is real.  All he knows is that somehow, somewhere, there must be more than this...a feeling he has had for years, even before he went down to the ocean.

And there is.  But the answers, such as they are, don't come easily (either to Seth or to the reader).

Um.  Can't say anything more about the story, because it's a book in which the reader should follow Seth's journey with him.    But I can say that this is one with great appeal to readers of speculative fiction that asks hard philosophical questions, readers who enjoy not knowing, and slowly realizing,  readers who value character over easy resolution of plot threads, and, more mundanely, readers very interested in stories of kids surviving sans grownups in abandoned worlds (guess which part I liked best!).

It is both moving and, to me at least, frustrating.  Frustrating is perhaps the wrong word; I want one that conveys the sort of feeling that comes from being in a bad dream that slowly and steadily condenses into something more, taking its sweet time...and then, in true Patrick Ness style, zinging the reader's emotions and ratcheting up the tension, without any hand-holding. 

But it was somewhat frustrating in the more standard sense of the word...I felt I was being asked to accept things that weren't sufficiently supported by the premises and world-building.  For instance, even in the most empty of worlds, I think there would still be insects.   I had just a few too many little bleated "but...." moments for me to truly love this one. 

Which is not to say that this isn't a fine, memorable, powerful book, because it is.


Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

The Monster in the Mudball, by S.P. Gates

I must say that life was easier back before school started--before I had to leave for work, I had two or three beautiful hours of morning solitude, no socks to find, lunches to pack, buses to put children...which meant that blogging was easier.  And I would return from work to more peaceful relaxation time, without endless chivying of reluctant homework doers.  I guess I will have to try to write more posts on the weekends...

But in any event, here is a quick look at The Monster in the Mudball, by S.P. Gates, a new book for upper elementary/younger middle school kids from Tu Books, the multicultural sci fi/fantasy imprint of Lee and Low.

The mudball had sat, undisturbed, on the top shelf of closet in London for 20 years, until the day it fell to the floor, and came into contact with water.   The mud cracks, and out come feet with boney toes and talons...and young Jin watches in horror as the mudball runs off into the street.

Prisoned inside the mud was a Zilombo, an ancient monster from Africa.  Now it's found a den in a derelict waterfront district, near the warehouse where Jin's Chinese grandparents make glorious Chinese dragons for a living.   Zilombo had killed many times before, and now she is hungry again.  And Jin's baby brother, nicknamed Smiler seems like the perfect tasty morsel.

But A.J. Zauyamakanda, Mizz Z. for short, Chief Inspector of Ancient Artifacts, soon arrives on the scene, determined to recapture the monster.   But each time Zilombo returns to life, she has new powers...and Mizz Z., who has fought her before back in her native Malawi, might not be so lucky this time.

Jin and his big sister, Frankie, find themselves caught in a nightmare as they help battle Zilombo, desperately trying save their brother from her talons...

This is the sort of exciting Kid vs Monster book that has lots of older Elementary appeal.   There is a lot of monstrous ickiness, lots of danger, and lots of action.  Zilombo is almost too much monster to take--the new powers she's developed, though necessary for the plot, seem a tad excessive, though that probably won't bother the young readers, busily cheering Jin and Frankie on!  What makes Zilombo interesting is that she's also developing more personhood--with this new awakening, she's beginning to realize that she's lonely, and her nascent fondness for Smiler wars with her savage hunger.  Without that bit of monster character development, she would have just chomped him, so it's utterly necessary to the story and works rather well.

Jin is an unusual hero, in that he has dyspraxia, aka "clumsy child syndrome" -- and so he has to be more conscious and self-aware than your typical kid is during monster hunting.  He has to work at it, which is a nice twist.

This is one I'd give to a fourth grade boy, or thereabouts, who enjoys stories in which ordinary kids fight extraordinary monsters!  I'm not sure there's quite enough depth to satisfy much older readers, although Mizz Z.'s job as Inspector of Ancient Artifacts has intriguing potential...

(and here I am again with a label diemma--fantasy, because it's about a mythical type creature, or science fiction, because it's monsterous cryptozoology....I think I will go with the former).

Here's another review, at Ms. Yingling Reads

disclaimer: ARC received from the publisher

Lockwood and Co.: The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud

Lockwood and Co.: The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud (Disney-Hyperion, upper Middle Grade, September 17, 2013)

In an alternate England, something (not explained yet) went awry, and the country is plagued by ghosts.  Ghosts who can kill, which makes them especially troublesome.  Fortunately, they can be dispatched by those with the proper equipment and training (as shown on the cover).  Kids can see the ghosts better than grown-ups...and so they are the combatants in the front line of ghost hunting, which, of course, means that grown-ups can exploit them.   And replace them when the ghosts kill them.

But Lockwood and Co. is a different sort of ghost-hunting business.  Anthony Lockwood, still young enough to see ghosts himself, runs his own company.  And  when Lucy Carlyle, down her luck after her previous employment went sour in a deadly way, knocks on the door, he gives her a job.   Supported by a third teen, the somewhat nerdy George (the research arm of the organization), Lockwood and Co. is ready to take the ghost hunting world by storm...

Except that things go wrong.  Burning down a house by accident may be a surefire way to get rid of haunted room, but it's expensive.  To pay of the debt incurred after that mischance, Lockwood and Co. agree to take on the ghosts of one of the most haunted houses in England...a place that can kill a ghost hunting kid, no matter how smart or well-prepared he or she might be.

So that's more or less the set-up, but it doesn't doesn't do justice to the adventures of ghost hunting and all the details of the world-building and the near-death experiences and restless hauntings and old murder mystery etc.!

It's mainly Lucy's story--she's the newcomer to Lockwood and Co., and we meet the two boys through her, and what is especially great is that we don't know any more about them than she does, and it is clear that there is just tons more to them than we see in this first book!   The reader is given a chance to think and wonder, and I appreciated that.   I enjoyed their company, too--they are smart, and sarcastic, and more vulnerable than they'd like to think they are....

So great characters, great premise, exciting ghosts and I Cannot Wait till the next book, when more about the very charming Anthony Lockwood, and more about the geekily appealing George, might be revealed! We already know Lucy pretty well, but I'm curious about how her relationships with the boys might change...

Note on age of reader:  the ghosts are scary, the blood is bloody, and the deaths are real.  I'm not giving this one to my ten year old...maybe next year, and I certainly wouldn't recommend it to third or fourth graders.  But it definitely feels more Middle Grade than YA--it's plucky kids taking on the grown-up world, rather than teens becoming grown-ups and finding luv.  Give this one to a smart eleven- or twelve-year-old who likes a bit of violent supernatural gore, or the reader who likes zesty mysteries and intelligent writing, and who can tolerate supernatural gore, or some combination of the two.

I was a pretty appreciative reader myself  (mostly because of being really interested in the characters).  Leila was too--here's her post at Kirkus.

Reviewed from an ARC procured for me at ALA by Anamaria of Books Together, to whom I am very grateful.