This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (5/17/15)

As ever, please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

Archie Green and the Magician's Secret, by D.D. Everest, at The Reading Nook

Bayou Magic, by Jewell Parker Rhodes, at Book Nut and Ms. Yingling Reads

The Black Reckoning, by John Stephens, at Hidden in Pages

The Chestnut King, by N.D. Wilson, at Fantasy Literature

Cuckoo Song, by Frances Hardinge, at Reading the End and Waking Brain Cells

Dandelion Fire, by N.D. Wilson, at Fantasy Literature

Echo, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, at For Those About to Mock

The Eighth Day, by Dianne K. Salerni, at Nerdophiles

Evil Spy School, by Stuart Gibbs, at Carstairs Considers

Five Children on the Western Front, by Kate Saunders, at Middle Grade Strikes Back

The Fog Diver, by Joel Ross, at Beth Fish Reads

Joshua and the Lightning Road, by Donna Galanti, at Always in the Middle

The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge, at alibrarymama

The Mad Apprentice, by Django Wexler, at Best Fantasy Books

North! Or Be Eaten, by Andrew Peterson, at Leaf's Reviews

Philippa Fisher and the Dream-Maker's Daughter, by Liz Kessler, at Fantasy Literature

Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures, by Maggie Stiefvater and Jackson Pearce, at Cracking the Cover and Charlotte's Library

Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale, at Becky's Book Reviews

Princess in Disguise, by E.D. Baker, at Leaf's Reviews

Resurrection of the Pheonix’s Grace, by Andy Smithson, at This Kid Reviews Books and Log Cabin Library

Return to Augie Hobble, by Lane Smith, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Rump, by Liesl Shurtliff, at A Year of Reading

Smek for President, by Adam Rex, at For Those About to Mock

Story Thieves, by James Riley, at Redeemed Reader

Wish Girl, by Nikki Loftin, at Nerdy Book Club

Two at Ms. Yingling Reads-- Six, by M.M. Vaughan, and A Dragon's Guide to the Care and Feeing of Humans, by Laurence Yep and Joanne Ryder

Three at School Library Journal--The League of Beastly Dreadfuls , by Holly Grant,  Mark of the Thief, by Jennifer Nielsen, and Grounded, The Adventures of Rapunzel by Megan Morrison

And also at School Library Journal, a gathering of the furry and fierce.


Authors and Interviews

Lane Smith (Return to Augie Hobble) at Tor

Cassie Beasley (Cicus Mirandus) at School Library Journal

Polly Holyoke (The Neptune Challenge) at From the Mixed Up Files


Other Good Stuff

A Tuesday ten of Silver at Views from the Tesseract

The Latest issue of Middle Shelf Magazine is out

The Guardian looks at the top ten ways to be evil in children's books

The call for session proposals for Kidlitcon 2015 (Baltimore, Oct. 9th and 10th) is out!  If you don't feel up to organizing a whole proposal on your own, but would like to be a presenter on a particular topic near and dear to you, or have a proposal idea, please feel free to let me know! (charlotteslibrary at gmail).

The date's for MotherReader's 48 Hour Readathon are set- June 19th - 21st, always a good time.

The Tapper Twins Go to War (With Each Other), by Geoff Rodkey

The Tapper Twins Go to War (With Each Other), by Geoff Rodkey (Little Brown, April 2015, younger middle grade) is tons of fun!  12 year olds New York city twins Claudia and Reese grate on each others nerves plenty, but it's not until Reese makes an unkind fart joke (implicating Claudia) in the school cafeteria that all out war is declared.  And escalates, as Claudia realizes that humiliating Reese in kind isn't going to work (because 12 year old boys have different concepts of what constitutes social shaming--dead fish and Mohawk haircuts do not phase Reese).  

So Claudia decides to strike Reese where it will hurt most--in a minecraft-like world where he has spent hours and hours building an empire, which Claudia destroys, getting herself into more serious trouble than she'd counted on, and making her feel rather awful too. Reese is also distressed by his own most cruel action in the war--uploading Claudia singing (badly) to her guitar about a new boy in their class....Even though the things they do to each other really are terribly unkind, their remorse and regret makes the story less uncomfortable to read than it might otherwise have been--like I said, I found it fun; even the squirmiest parts of Claudia's social humiliation were not as bad as they might have been.

It's told in the form of an oral history project, so we get to read direct observations from other classmates and the somewhat ditzy young woman who's the twin's after-school minder, as well as the original twitter conversations of the twin's parents (who care, but who are rather busier than usual with work during the time of the war).   There are lots of pictures (including photographs) that further lightent the text.  This format keeps the tension at bay and provides comic relief, and the resultant small-bits of story format make it one that will seem friendly and familiar to many young middle school kids of today.

Offer it to a sixth grade fan of Wimpy Kid!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures, by Jackson Pearce and Maggie Steifvater

Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures, by Jackson Pearce and Maggie Steifvater (April 2015, Scholastic, older elementary/younger middle grade). Here's one for everyone who dreams of befriending magical creatures, and who has enough sense to realize that caring for unicorns, griffins, and a whole newly imagined slew of other fantastical animals isn't all rainbows and butterflies! 

 

Young Pip Bartlett can talk to magical creatures, and in her version of our world, there are lots of them around to talk too!  After a disastrous unicorn riding episode and its concomitant property damage (no one, including the unicorns, had warned her!) Pip is sent off to her Aunt Emma, veterinarian of the Cloverton Clinic for Magical Creatures for some solid learning and hard work.   Though no one believes Pip can actually chat with the creatures, her gift is real, and when Aunt Emma's town becomes the site of a fuzzle infestation, it saves the day. 

 

The fuzzles look cute enough, but as pets they have issues--bursting into flame when agitated or excited (which happens lots), and they breed faster than rabbits.   No one likes the contents of their underwear drawers catching fire (underwear drawers being favored fuzzle hangouts), and Aunt Emma, the resident authority on magical creatures, is under a lot of pressure to contain the outbreak. 

 

It takes a bit of sleuthing by Pip and her new friend Tomas (allergic to just about everything, including magical creatures, but still a stalwart companion) to find out what's behind the plague of fuzzles, but Pip is nothing if not determined...

 

It's fun and amusing, and pages from "Jeffrey Higgleston's Guide to Magical Creatures" interspersed with will please the young magical creature fan for whom the idea of chatting with griffins et al. seems wonderful, but who can handle the idea that not every such creature is going to have a rainbow/butterfly personality!  It's an elementary/lower middle grade type book,  an excellent one to offer a confidently reading third grade or fourth grader, and fans of Suzanne Selfor's Imaginary Veterinary Series should eat it up!

 

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

The Last of the Sandwalkers, by Jay Hosler

The Last of the Sandwalkers, by Jay Hosler (First Second, April 2015) is more than just a graphic novel about beetles having adventures, although the story is in fact about beetles on a quest. 

It is also about:

- science! The crew of beetles, lead by young scientist/inventor Lucy (a great character!), are on a quest for knowledge--what lies outside their beetle city? Are there any other life forms out there past the desert sands?  (answer--yes!)  Lucy is a lovely young scientist role model, always wondering, thinking, dreaming, observing, and keeping good notes.

--family, friendship, and loyalty.  There are not that many graphic novels that address adoption; this one does, as Lucy and her sibling (a huge Goliath beetle, who has a lot more too him than just  his bulk), are both adopted.  Her parents also are important characters in the story, and loyalty to family (defined flexibly) is a central value of this group of beetles.

--determination.  The many vicissitudes of the journey into the wild beyond, which is indeed populated by all manner of creatures, many of whom would like to eat the beetles, do not squelch Lucy and company.  They are not whiners; they may be cast down at times, but they persevere. 

--the wrongness of letting authoritarian theocracies distort scientific truths.  Lucy's society is shaped by a myth that knowledge is dangerous, and that a divinity will punish those who transgress, and those in power falsify evidence and history to keep this the status quo.  Lucy's challenge to this story is a clear threat that must be stopped, as ruthlessly as needs be (there is a villainous villain, more dangerous than any natural threat!).

--beetles!  I have never been anti-beetle, but I am much more pro-beetle now.  Hosler is an entomologist, and incorporates a lot of information about beetles into this story, in a learning is fun kind of way.  I enjoyed the notes at the back lots too.  The book, however, will not make anyone more pro-spider than they already are. 

My one problem was that I had a hard time getting the hang of which beetle was who, but I am not a good graphic novel reader, cause of preferring to read the words fast rather than look at the pictures.

If you have a child who is repulsed by beetles, this might be a bit much, but if you have a young naturalist 10-14 years old (or so), do offer this one!  It also works well for generic graphic novel reading 9th grader (mine has read it twice, and it is a long book of 296 pages, so that is saying something...).  There is some disturbing insect on insect violence, that might distress the sensitive younger reader....

I found Last of the Sandwalkers engrossing myself, but I can't help but prefer Hosler's first graphic novel, the lovely and tear-jerking Clan Apis, which I reviewed long long ago in my first year of blogging--it was simpler in story and pictures, and therefore a better fit for my eyes (although my eyes were so teary the whole thing was just a blur by the end of it).  Also I like bees more than beetles.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs 5/10/2015

Happy Mother's Day!  Here's this week's round-up; let me know if I missed your post, your loved ones posts, or posts about  your own books!

The Reviews

Earthfasts, by William Mayne, at Charlotte's Library

Evil Spy School, by Stuart Gibbs, at The Bookworm Blog

Fork-Tongue Charmers, by Paul Durham, at Kid Lit Reviews

The D'Evil Diaries, by Tatum Flynn, at writing.ie

Fork-Tongue Charmer, by Pual Durham, at The Write Path

Frostborn, by Lou Anders, at Great Imaginations

Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk, by Liesl Shurtliff, at Word Spelunking

The Legends Begin (Darkmouth, book one), by Shane Hegarty, at Librarian of Snark

The Luck Uglies, by Paul Durham, at Kid Lit Reviews

Lucky Strike, by Bobbie Pyron, at Books, Books, and More Books

Moon Rising (Wings of Fire Book 6), by Tui T. Sutherland, at Hidden in Pages

Ricki the Warlock, by Charlotte Levenson, at Nayu's Reading Corner

The Riverman, by Aaron Starmer, at The Rad Reader

Story Theives, by James Riley, at Rcubed

Wade and the Scorpian's Claw, by Tony Abbott, at Boys Rule Boys Read!

The Whisper, by Aaron Starmer, at Tales of the Marvelous

Three at Ms.Yingling Reads- Lots of Bots, by C.J. Richards, Undertow, by Michael Buckley, and Ratscalibur, by Josh Lieb
-
Authors and Interviews

Jonathan Stroud at Books For Keeps

Other Good Stuff

 A Tuesday Ten of Seeing Red at Views from the Tesseract

alibrarymama has a great list of her top sci books for 4th/5th graders from the last few years

And finally, my youngest is now 12; only one more year as the middle grade target audience!  Here he is with his favorite birthday present, a Cthulhu ski mask (he is also enjoying Hitchiker's Guide; and just for the book record, also got the third Menagerie book, Krakens and Lies, and the third book in Pier's Torday's series, The Wild Beyond):

Owl Diaries: Eva Sees a Ghost, by Rebecca Elliott

I bumped Eva Sees a Ghost, by Rebecca Elliott (Scholastic, May 26, 2015), to the top of my reading and review pile when it came in, not just because it is a slim volume written for kids who have just barely moved past the really easy "easy readers" and therefore but the work of minutes for me to read.  No, the reason I want it out of my house tout suite is that I know a little 6 year old girl who loved the first book about Eva the Owl (Eva's Treetop Festival) and will be thrilled to get this one (and making kids happy with books is a lovely thing).

In any event, this second book in the Owl Diaries series follows a young owlet, Eva, as she tells in her diary about the mysterious happenings in her feathered community.  No one really believes she's seen a ghost, but when spooky things happen at school, too, they realize Eva probably did see something truly out of the ordinary...

It's not a Scary ghost book, but there is a smidge of spookiness.  Mainly, though, it's a story about friendship, and Eva and her pals make for good company!  The illustrations are just as cute as they were in the first book, but somewhat less Pink...do offer Eva's stories to boys as well!  Big eyed cuteness has cross-gender appeal....

Earthfasts, by William Mayne, for Timeslip Tuesday

I have now read Earthfasts, by William Mayne (1966)  three times, and that is the charm....the first time I didn't much care for it, the second I was very interested, and this third time I appreciated it lots.  Possibly because having read it before, I finally felt like I knew what was going on, and that is a help to me as a reader.

There is a lots that doesn't make logical sense going on in this story.  It starts with a drummer boy  emerging from a mound in a high field in the north of England...200 years ago, he went into a tunnel below a castle to look for treasure, and now has emerged, bringing with him a strange cold candle he found down there below.  Two boys were there to see him come out, David and Keith.  And they take the boy from the past under their wings, as best they can, watching him realize he is out of his own time, and watching him go back underground, looking for a way home, leaving the candle behind.

And stranger things still begin to happen.  The standing stones walk, giants raid the local piggeries, a wild boar charges through the market, and King Arthur himself arises.  And then David disappears, and it is up to Keith, the loyal follower of smart, curious David, who must figure out how to put things right. 

Which involves going underground  himself...and bringing David, and the drummer boy, back home with him.

It is a story full of the old stuff of England, and so it should have delighted me from the get go.  But it is a fantasy where instead of numinous delight, there is a sense of dread and chill and wrongness, keenly felt by David and Keith, and spilling over to the reader (ie me) as well.   It is all very real and impossible, and Mayne never lets it become less so, and so it not satisfyingly escapist, because there isn't escape.   Though by the third time, like I said, I understood everything, got over my pique about the Drummer Boy disappearing so early in the book (I was expecting a time travel book about  his experiences in the present, and although that's how things start, he does go off stage rather emphatically, and then there are confusing giants and wild boars etc), and I could relax and appreciate all the lovely details of the setting and the odd little touches of humor and the characters of the boys and their friendship.  That being said, even this time around, I found his style a little coldly distant...

There are two more books that continue the story, Cradlefasts and Candlefasts, and I once started the former, but never finished it, and now feel like I should try again.

But I do have some reluctance to do so, not related to the books themselves.  I have put off writing about Earthfasts for Timeslip Tuesday, even though Mayne was one of the preeminent children's book writers in the second half of the 20th century in England, and this is one his best know books.  He was an abuser of young girls, and he ended up being imprisoned for several years for his crimes, and the utter repugnance I feel toward him makes it hard to like this books.   I can't reread the books with central girl protagonists, because I read somewhere that he used his books as bait for young girls to molest, telling them they could be characters in them....which makes his books with girls too grotesquely horrible to contemplate.. However, I really do love his Hob stories for young kids, with their lovely Patrick Bensen illustrations, and still have his series of books set in the Canturbury Cathedral choristers' school, that begins with A Swarm in May, a book I can't help but feel fond of, though I am deeply conflicted....

The Detective's Assistant, by Kate Hannigan

I was very taken with The Detective's Assistant, by Kate Hannigan (Little, Brown, April 2015, middle grade); plot,character, and writing style all pleased me very much, so yay for me!  I was a tad surprised by my enjoyment, because I feel I have read an awful lot of books about plucky orphan girls in 19th century America and feel rather jaded about them (and I decided when I was quite young that I didn't find 19th century American history interesting, and haven't recovered).  But The Detective's Assistant fought back against my biases beautifully.

I liked the characters:

Turns out I am not immune to the charms of a plucky, bright 19th century orphan girl!  Nell was a believable character, who came with a backstory full of mysteries of her own--what happened the night her father killed her uncle?  What were the circumstances of her father's own death?  Who is her pen pal, Jemma?  And will her aunt keep her?

More than Nell, I appreciated the character of her aunt,  her uncle's widow, who works for the Pinkerton Detective Agency in Chicago.    It was tons of fun seeing her at work solving crimes, using her position as a woman to her advantage!  And it was a treat to find out at the end that she was a real person.

I liked the framing of the story:

As well as being a story about a particular girl, it is the story of what was happening in American politics, particularly with regard to slavery, in the time just before Abraham Lincoln was elected.  Jemma, Nell's friend, and her family left New York for Canada after free black families like theirs started being captured and forced into slavery, and the Abolitionist movement and the underground railway are referenced in the story, adding historical depth (even for people who feel tired of 19th century American history).  And I think Hannigan did an excellent job with her historical details--I noticed nothing that grated!

Mostly, though, I liked the whole premise of the female detective and the plucky girl assistant who wants to assist more, both so her aunt will keep her and also because of the thrill of it.

Here's the Kirkus review.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher.

In short, a very good book.

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi (5/3/15)

Yay!  It is May and presumably will be warm and lovely any moment now...

Kicking off with an announcement-  Kidlitcon 2015 has a place and a date!  Baltimore, October 9th and 10th.  Kidlitcon is the BEST, and I hope you all can come! 

(as ever, please let me know if I missed anything! thanks.)

The Reviews

Alistair Grim's Oddituorium, by Gregory Funaro, at Fantasy Book Critic

The Arctic Code, by Matthew Kirby, at books4yourkids

Beneath, by Roland Smith, at Semicolon

Castle Hangnail, by Ursula Vernon, at Charlotte's Library

Dragon Spear, by Jessica Day George, at Becky's Book Reviews

Fork-Tongue Charmers, by Paul Durham, at Librarian of Snark

The Great Timelock Disaster, by C. Lee McKenzie, at The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow

House of Secrets, by Ned Vizzini and Chris Columbus, at The Paige Turner

The Island of Dr. Libris, by Chris Grabenstein, at Book Nut

Jack: The True Story of Jack & the Beanstalk, by Liesl Shurtliff, at Big Hair and Books

The Jumbies, by Tracy Baptiste, at Fuse #8 and  Ms. Yingling Reads

The Lost Track of Time, by Paige Britt, at Charlotte's Library
 
The Map to Everywhere, by Carrie Ryan and John Parke Davis, at Pages Unbound

A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness, at Laurisa White Reyes

Nightbird, by Alice Hoffman, at My Brain on Books

Omega City, by Diana Peterfreund, at Librarian of Snark and Ms. Yingling Reads

Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures, by Maggie Stiefvater and Jackson Pearce, at Nerdophiles

The Return: Disney Lands, by Ridley Pearson, at Book Nut

The Scorpian's Claw, by Tony Abbott, at Boys Rule Boys Read

The Thirteenth Princess, by Diane Zahler, at Leaf's Reviews

Thursdays With the Crown, by Jessica Day George, at Leaf's Reviews

Truckers, by Terry Pratchett, at Fluttering Butterflies

The Water and the Wild, by K.E. Ormsbee, at Beauty and the Bookshelf

The Whispering Skull, by Jonathan Stroud, at Readaraptor


Authors and Interviews

Tracy Baptiste (The Jumbies) at The Brown Bookshelf

K.E. Ormsbee (The Water and the Wild) at The Book Wars

Django Wexler (The Mad Apprentice) at The Book Zone (for boys) and Word Spelunking

Sarah McGuire (Valiant) at Cynsations (giveaway)


Other Good Stuff

"Where Does the Magic Come From?" at Redeemed Reader

A Tuesday Ten of Blue at Views from the Tesseract

Top ten books for Harry Potter Fans, at Nerdy Book Club

A photographer teams up with Haitian artists to recreate the classic Tarot Deck as the Ghetto Tarot and the results are absolutely and utterly stunning.  You can see more images here, and at  the Indigogo campaign page.

Castle Hangnail, by Ursula Vernon

I love Ursula Vernon's Dragonbreath books (smart and funny and endearing as heck!), and so when I was very excited to curl up with Castle Hangnail (Dial, April 2015) her first foray into middle grade fantasy.  And it was good.  As I read, I thought "Eva Ibbotson-esque" and felt rather gratified to read in the author's note that Ursula Vernon is in fact an Ibbotson fan!  And I am feeling rather hopeful that she will write more middle grade books of a similar feel, and fill/expand that particular in middle grade fantasy left by the passing of Ibbotson, and also of Diana Wynne Jones (though I think there really can only be one DWJ!).

But in any event.  Castle Hangnail, decrepit and almost bankrupt, is in need of a new master; if one doesn't show up, its minions will be dispersed, and their livelihoods lost, and the castle stripped of its magic by Those In Control.  The head minion is therefore determined to make the best of the would-be-master who knocks on its forbidding door--a young girl named Molly, who says she is a witch.   Not quite the Dark Master that had been expected, but maybe she will do...

And Molly does in fact magical ability, though no natural tendancies to the more unpleasant spells that past Masters of Castle Hangnail had appreciated, and thanks to Molly's diligence, things go pretty well...except that Molly arrived at the castle under false pretences.  She took someone else's invitation.  And that someone else, an older girl with a decidedly dark bent to her personality, shows up to boot Molly out! 

The minions are distressed--they liked Molly, and the new girl is a nasty piece of work, even for a dark Master.  Molly is distressed--she has come to care for the minions and the castle, and also she doesn't want to go home to ordinary life.   So a heroic stand is made...and all works out well. 

It's an excellent sort of book to give to an eight or nine year old who enjoys stories of kids doing magic.  Nothing to awfully scary, but plenty tense toward the end.  Lots of fun tidbits of magic, and the minions (including a minotaur mother and son) are delightful.   That being said, somewhat older readers will appreciate the nuances of Molly's situation more, as she struggles to keep a place she's gotten by deception.  Can the minions trust her, when she's become their Master through lies?  (As a parent, of course, there are things that are too hard to believe--I'd be really suspicious if my kids told me they'd made their own camp plans.  But Molly has a tad more gumption, and magic, than my own dear boys...)   The strong reader will find it interesting enough to hold their attention, the emergent strong reader will find it friendly enough to keep theirs.

In short, I enjoyed it lots and lots, and in particular, I'd recommend it to fans of Ibbotson's Ogre of Oglefort, which is my favorite of her books.

Cleopatra in Space: The Thief and the Sword, by Mike Maihack, for Timeslip Tuesday

Today is the release day for The Thief and the Sword, by Mike Maihack (Scholastic), the second graphic novel installment of Cleopatra's adventures far from her home in ancient Egypt.  In the first book, young Cleopatra triggered a time travel device that sent her off to a galaxy far in the future, where civilization is threatened by an evil megalomaniac, wise cats are part of the governing council, and where Cleopatra's arrival, and her role as savior of the galaxy, were predicted in an ancient prophecy!

The first book, Target Practice,  is tremendously exciting--not only does it set the lovely story in motion, but there's also Adventure in which  Cleo goes off to an alien planet to recover an ancient artifact, a fabled sword, fighting off aliens and robots in the process.   The Thief and the Sword is something of a falling back and regrouping story.   We see Cleo navigating her new reality of school (some things, like Algebra, transcend space and time), and making progress on becoming friends with, and learning about, her young classmates.   For instance, she goes to a school dance for the first time....And I like this slower sort of stuff, so there were no complaints from me (too many panels showing fighting and my eyes get confused--I am a weak graphic novel reader/looker), though my older son found it a bit too slow for his taste.

But all is not peaceful in Cleo's new world (even setting aside the constant threat of universal destruction).  A young thief, a boy named Antony, is hired by the evil megalomaniac to steal the sword Cleo had recovered, and since this particular sword is involved in the prophecy about Cleo saving the galaxy, it must be found again!  So Cleo, her friends, and a wise cat professor set off into space to track it down....and book two ends with a cliff hanger that promises lots of action to come!

This series just cries out to be given to fans of Zita the Space Girl, by Ben Hatke--Zita is perhaps more lovable, and her motivations are different, but Cleo is also a charming heroine to root for--headstrong, plucky, struggling to figure out who she is and what she wants, and cute as a button!  And the world building of Cleopatra in Space is lovely too--I adore the talking cats.  And the addition of Antony promises lots of new character interest--he has lots of potential!

The time travel element of the plot is more overtly addressed here, and an explanation for how it worked, and what might happen if the bad guy got a hold of the mechanism, are part of the story.  Cleo also has more of a chance to think about her circumstances, adding a touch of depth to the story (not much more than a touch--Cleo is not the most deeply introspective heroine, being more liable to pull out her stun-gun than quietly think things through!).

This is a nicely multicultural series-- Cleo is somewhat pink-washed on the cover of this installment, which is too bad, but inside her skin tone is definitely browner than many of her peers, and Antony, also shown on the cover, is brown-skinned (ostensibly he's a bad guy in this book, but I bet that changes!).

In any event, my boys and I are looking forward to Book 3 with enthusiasm and conviction!

Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

The Lost Track of Time, by Paige Britt

The Lost Track of Time, by Paige Britt (Scholastic Press, March 31, 2015, middle grade), pretty much begs to be compared to The Phantom Tollbooth--both are didactic-ish books about travel to magical lands full of pun fantasy.  However, I never much liked The Phantom Tollboth, so I shall simply say that I enjoyed The Lost Track of Time more, perhaps because I could more easily relate to its young heroine and her struggle to find the time to do what makes her happy--writing.

Unfortunatly for Penelope, writing is not something  her uber-organized mother values.  Her mother is a professional Planner, with a deep sense that every minute of the day must be used Usefully.  Useful things are those that prepare Penelope for college applications and a well-paid job.  Useless things include sleeping late, doing nothing in particular, and writing.   Penelope hopes that if she can prove that writing is valuble by winning a competition for best story her mother will give her more time in which to do it....but to her dismay, the ideas that have been filling her mind for as long as she can remember suddenly aren't coming anymore!

Thanks to a page turning glitch, Penelope finds that she has a blank day in the planner her mother keeps for her, with nothing planned for her to do...and she falls into this hole in her schedule, ending up in a magical world!  There she finds that world's people caught in similary cirumstances--the greatest creator of imagined possibilities (very real things in this world) is missing, and Chronus has established a regimented clockwork dictatorship.  Accompanied by a semi-fugitive adventurer named Dill, Penelope sets out to recover not only her own ability to come up with ideas, but to come up with some possibility of overthrowing Chronus....

Tolerance for puns made real is required (fancies, for instance, are real creatures who appreciate being tickled), and no new and stunning fantasy ground is broken here.  But I found Penelope's journey and its impetus rather satisfying, and I bet that it will please many young readers who feel they don't have the time to spend doing what they want to!  Penelope is a pleasing heroine, whose actions and desires make sense, and this grounding in the believable carries the story along nicely. 

I do think that it is one that might find more readers if it is read aloud by grown-ups (it's the sort of handsome, generously illustrated, kind of old fashioned looking book, that grandparents might be drawn to buy as a gift) and one that will work better for younger readers than for magic-sword-danger fantasy readers.  

Here's another review at Ms. Yingling Reads.  And Kirkus reviewed it favorabley as well (though that reviewer said it was "not as masterful as Juster’s genre-defining work" which I at first read as "genre-defying" causing me great confusion......and I'm actually not sure I agree that P.T. is "genre-defining" unless "fantasy based on puns" is a genre....)

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher.

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (4/26/15)

Welcome to another weeks worth of my middle grade sci fi/fantasy gleanings from around the blogs!  Please let me know if I missed your post.

First off--I took the plunge and registered for BEA, and would love to meet up with any of you all who are there too!

The Reviews

The Accidental Keyhand (Ninja Librarians Book 1), by Jen Swann Downey, at Always in the Middle

Alistair Grim's Odditorium, by Gregory Funaro, at The Write Path

Almost Super, by Marion Jensen, at Dead Houseplants

The Bell Between Worlds, by Ian Johnstone, at Our Book Reviews Online

The Case of the Cursed Dodol, by Jake G. Panda, at Nayu's Reading Corner

The Dreamsnatcher, by Abi Elphinstone, at Middle Grade Strikes Back

Gabby Duran and the Unsittables, by Elise Allen and Daryle Conners, at Ms. Yingling Reads, GreenBeanTeenQueen, and The O.W.L.

Genuine Sweet, by Faith Harkney, at The Reading Nook

Graceful, by Wendy Mass, at Read Till Dawn

Grounded: The Adventures of Rapunzel, by Megan Morrison, at This Kid Reviews Books

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, by Christopher Healey, at The Paige Turner

House of Secrets, by Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini, at Kid Lit Geek

The Impossible Race, by Chad Morris, at Geo Librarian

The Island of Dr. Libris, by Chris Grabenstein, at Pages Unbound

Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk, by Liesl Shurtliff, at Bookish Antics

Jinx's Magic, by Sage Blackwood, at Leaf's Reviews

Joshua Dread, by Lee Bacon, at The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow

The Long Lost Map, by Pierdomenico Baccalario, at Charlotte's Library

The Luck Uglies, by Paul Durham, at Semicolon

Lucky Strike, by Bobbie Pyron, at Redeemed Reader and In Bed With Books

The Mad Apprentice, by Django Wexler, at The Reading Nook Reviews

Mars Evacuees, by Sophia McDougall, at Views From the Tesseract

Nightbird, by Alice Hoffman, at Cracking the Cover

Pennyroyal Academy, by M.A. Larsen, at Librarian of Snark (audiobook review)

Pip Bartletts Guide to Magical Creatures, by Maggie Stiefater and Jackson Pearce, at A Reader of Fictions

The Princess Curse, by Merrie Haskell, at Leaf's Reviews

The Rumplestiltskin Problem, by Vivien Vande Velde, at Here There Be Books

Saving Lucas Biggs, by at Rcubed's Reads and Reviews

A Snicker of Magic, by Natalie Lloyd, at Redeemed Reader

Stormbound (Guardian Herd, book 2), by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez, at Kid Lit Reviews

The Time Hunters, by Carl Ashmore, at Nayu's Reading Corner

Time of the Fireflys, by Kimberley Griffiths Little, at Michelle I. Mason

The Trap, by Stephan Artnson, at BooksForKidsBlog

Travel To Tomorrow, by Angela Sage Larsen, at Time Travel Times Two

Twintuition: Double Vision by Tia and Tamara Mowry. at The Reading Nook Reviews

Valient, by Sarah McGuire, at Hidden In Pages
Villain Keeper, by Laurie McKay, at Nerdophiles

The Water and the Wild, by K.E. Ormshee, at Welcome to My (New)Tweendom and Kid Lit Reviews

Wolf’s-own: Ghost , by Carole Cummings, at Reader Girls

Two at Ms. Yingling Reads-- Evil Spy School, by Stuart Gibbs, and Before Tomorrowland, by Jeff Jensen et al.

And two more at Ms. Yingling Reads--Castle Hangnail, by Ursula Vernon, and Amulet Keeper, by Michael Northrup


Authors and Interviews

"I was a weird kid" by Ursula Vernon, at Nerdy Book Club

Abi Elphinstone (The Dreamsnatcher) at The Big Book Project

Django Wexler (The Mad Apprentice) at The Children's Book Review, The Hidding Spot, and The Reading Nook Reviews

Bobbie Pyron (Lucky Strike) at In Bed With Books

K.E. Ormsbee (The Water and the Wild) at Cracking the Cover

Other Good Stuff

A Tuesday Ten of Bunnies at Views From the Tesseract

A look at magical objects in middle grade fiction at Middle Grade Strikes Back

Once Upon a Blog visits the Totoro forest Project

A lovely detailed look at re-reading The Magician's Nephew at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles

And finally, for Moomin fans--the tv series from 1969 can now be watched on line!

Thirteen, by Tom Hoyle

Thirteen, by Tom Hoyle (March 2015, Holiday House, YA)

Once there were 13 boys, all born in London just past midnight on the New Year's Eve of 1999/2000.  Now, 13 years later, all but one of them has been killed.   Adam, the last survivor, has lived his life not knowing he's being hunted; through lucky chance, he was raised by adoptive parents who use his adoption day for a birthday.  But now the killer has found him, and death is headed his way...

Coron, leader of a cult called "the People," has been told by the Master who lives inside his utterly insane head that one of the Millennial boys will stand in the way of the arrival of the New God who Coron must help bring into power....and clearly, since 12 of them have been dispatched by Coron's cultists (trained to be killers) Adam must be the threat the Master needs disposed of.  It has to happen before he turns 14 years old.   On Adam's side is a brave bright girl named Megan, super observant and determined, and an older boy who escaped from Coron's cult.   But with members of the cult in the police force, using the power of the law to hunt for him, assassins behind every corner, and nowhere truly safe to hide, it's not at all clear if Adam will be able to make it to his next birthday without being horribly sacrificed.....

I did have one area of hesitation with regard to the book-- Coron is literally insane, and it's hard to believe that he is sufficiently rational to keep control of all his minions, though he has done of fine job of brainwashing and terrifying them.  The revelation that the Master is a figment of Coron's mind fairly early in the book lessens the heft of the evil point of it all (I like my villains to have more nuance to their motivations) and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with mental illness being the main motivator of the bad guy in terms of stigmatization.

That being said, this is a fine choice for teens who like action-packed thrillers of violence, grounded by relatable characters (for readers on the younger end of YA--the little touch of romance, for instance, is of the "first kiss" variety) struggling to survive.   It's not actually speculative fiction, but is far enough removed from quotidian reality to appeal to fans of dystopian sci fi.  The writing is tight and to the point, and there's tons of Menace and Danger.   Though possibly a tad slow to really start, it is a page turner once things get going.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Books--are they green? and how can I be a greener reader? Plus this year's Green Book Awards winners

It is a fact that books account for a relatively small amount of the trash I have picked up in all my life's trash walks.  Books do not kill sea turtles (much, I guess.  Although they could, if they fall into the wrong hands...).  But are they Green?  Or should I plant trees for every book I buy, as Eco-libris suggests?

I have always felt that owning books was a Green thing to do, for various reasons--

1.  having lots of books in the house means there is less air to heat/cool, saving energy

2.  books use less electricity than some other forms of entertainment

3.  bookshelves, strategically placed on north walls of the house (as in my house, below), act as insulation.  (covering all windows with books would work even better).

4.  books are carbon sinks--each little block of paper that's not actively decomposing (which hopefully the books in one's home are not) is a little block of carbon not contributing to global warming.

5.  buying used books or checking them out of the library is easy and cheap

and finally (with Sincerity, even though Sincerity is hard for me),

6.  What we care about, we will work to save, and books help us care about things in nature we don't wee in our daily lives (like sea turtles).

But here's what I don't know much about--what are the environmental costs of making books?  Where do the chemicals come from that are used to make them?  Under what working conditions are they bound?  Do gallons of bleach pour into rivers somewhere in the world for every book I read? 

I found some answers in a report based on data collected in 2007-"Findings from the US Book Industry Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts." (the link goes to a summary of the findings).  The Green Press Initiative, where I found this report, has more information, mostly focused on paper issues.   Many publishers are paying attention, and working toward sustainable paper.   I wasn't able to find anything that addressed the actual environmental impacts of other aspects of book making....anyone who knows anything about this, I'd love to learn more!

So I guess that as a reader, what I will try to do is to buy locally when possible (to cut down on plastic packaging), and recycle when done if I'm not keeping it. (In my town, paperbacks can go out with the rest of the paper recycling, but hardcover books can't. This means that some of us, ie me, spend lots of time ripping the pages out of hardcover books that no one will ever love leftover from the library books sales so as to at least recycle the paper part.  I have not found anything I want to do with the covers....I don't want to make decorative planters, handbags, or picture frames from them. Others might).

Also I will spend more time reading and less time pulling up maple seedlings this summer.  This counts as "planting trees."  And along similar lines, if I don't cut the grass, that will likewise offset the carbon emissions of book production.....I will also almost certainly fill up more of the dead air space in the house with books....

And I can make sure my local library has the Green Book Award winners using my powerful position as President of the Friends (which gives me control of the cash box)-- the 2015 winners were just announced, and here they are (taken from the Green Book Award website)

2015 Winner – Picture Book

The Promise, written by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Laura Carlin (published by Candlewick Press)

Book Synopsis:  On a mean street in a mean, broken city, a young girl tries to snatch an old woman’s bag. But the frail old woman, holding with the strength of heroes, says the thief can’t have it without giving something in return:  the promise. It is the beginning of a journey that will change the thieving girl’s life – and a chance to change the world for good. A picture book that at first seems dystopic but is ultimately about the healing power of nature. Recommended Age:  Age 5 to 8

2015 Winner – Children’s Fiction

Deep Blue, written by Jennifer Donnelly(published by Disney-Hyperion, an imprint of Disney Book Group)

Book Synopsis:  Best-selling Donnelly (Revolution, 2010) builds an alluring mermaid civilization and history, filled with painterly descriptions of Sera’s underwater palace and its unearthly architecture, her sumptuous wardrobe, and the menagerie of half-human, half-marine animal denizens. A richly imagined novel. Themes of conquering fear and believing in oneself are woven throughout, along with an acknowledgment of humans’ environmental impact on the sea and its inhabitants. Recommended Age:  Age 10 to 14

2015 Winner – Young Adult Fiction

Threatened, written by Eliot Schrefer (published by Scholastic/Scholastic Press)

Book Synopsis:  After the death of his mother and sister, Luc is left in the hands of a moneylender, Monsieur Tatagani. One of many orphans forced to do Tatagani’s bidding, Luc has found a way to be useful and earn a few coins wiping glasses in a bar in Gabon. One night a man shows up with a monkey and a silver attaché case, claiming to be a researcher sent by the National Geographic Society to study the chimpanzees in the interior. The mysterious man, called “the Prof,” offers Luc a job as his helper. From this modest beginning comes a tale of survival and discovery for both humans and chimps. There are no easy answers here, but deep themes are explored. The plight of the endangered chimps is brought to the attention of readers, as are the challenges of socioeconomic status and geographic realities of Gabon. Recommended Age:  Ages 12 and up

2014 [sic] Winner – Children’s Nonfiction

Plastic, Ahoy!:  Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, written by Patricia Newman and illustrated by Annie Crawley (published by Millbrook Press)

Book Synopsis:  This photojournalistic book follows three young female scientists living and working aboard a small research ship and details the researchers’ process of developing a hypothesis, collecting evidence, and designing experiments to learn more about the impact of the Garbage Patch on marine life. The book is replete with Crawley’s dynamic photos of both the scientists at work and the challenges of life aboard a tiny research boat. Newman successfully summarizes all of their complex research findings into straightforward and doable tips for minimizing environmental impact. An engaging and worthwhile read, this will surely make young readers think twice about their trash. Recommended Age:  Age 8 to 12

2015 Winner – Young Adult Nonfiction

Eyes Wide Open:  Going Behind the Environmental Headlines, written by Paul Fleischman (published by Candlewick Press)

Book Synopsis:  This volume is a call to action that informs students about how they can evaluate environmental issues by using politics, psychology, history, and an understanding of economics and the media. This remarkable book offers young people the tools they need to become informed, responsible global citizens. Thoughtful readers will appreciate this insightful, refreshing title’s broad scope, use of specific examples, and the many references to related books, documentaries, and online articles, lectures, and interviews. The appended “How to Weigh Information” section is particularly excellent. Recommended Age:  Ages 14 and up

2015 Honor Winners

A Bird On Water Street, written by Elizabeth O. Dulemba (published by Little Pickle Press)
A Boy and a Jaguar, written by Alan Rabinowitz and illustrated by Catia Chien (published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers)
Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla, written by Katherine Applegate and illustrated by G. Brian Karas (published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers)
Josie and the Fourth Grade Bike Brigade, written by Beth Handman, Kenny Bruno, and Antonia Bruno (published by Green Writers Press)
Pills and Starships, written by Lydia Millet (published by Akashic Books)
Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal, written by Margarita Engle (published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers)
The Case of the Vanishing Honeybees:  A Scientific Mystery, written by Sandra Markle (published by Millbrook Press)
The Kid’s Guide to Exploring Nature, written by the Education Staff of Brooklyn Botanic Garden, edited by Sarah Schmidt, and illustrated by Laszlo Veres (published by Brooklyn Botanic Garden)
The Next Wave: The Quest to Harness the Power of the Oceans, written by Elizabeth Rusch (published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers)
 

My TBR pile progress, starring Saving the Planet & Stuff, by Gail Gauthier

So at the beginning of the year I signed up for two TBR challenges, the Official 2015 TBR Pile Challenge, hosted by Roof Beam Reader, and the TBR Double Dog Dare, hosted by James Reads Books.  For the second, I challenged myself to read 100 books in my TBR pile in the first three months of the year, for the first, just one a month (which is what the challenge requires).   Well, the first three months of the year disappeared under foot after foot of snow...we have only just now reached forsythia blooming time here in Rhode Island.  And I did not read 100 books from my tbr pile.  Out of the 96 books I have read so far this year, only 44 were true tbr pile books.  22 were review copies, and I failed at library limits, with 28 library books checked out and read, and two bought.  Oh well.  I shall keep trying to read the TBR pile for the rest of the year....I would like to get the number of books on it small enough, and organized enough, to count. 

But in any event, I am rather pleased with myself for having read a book off my TBR pile that is a perfect Earth Day book, and for remembering to write about it today!  Saving the Planet & Stuff, by Gail Gauthier.  It is the story of a not-high-achieving teenaged boy, Michael, who finds himself accepting an internship at The Earth's Wife, an environmental magazine.  Michael finds it hard to cope with the green lifestyle of the old couple who run the magazine, and he finds it hard to understand the point of what they are doing.  Gradually, he becomes, though not a true die-hard environmentalist, at least more aware of environmentalism, and (pleasingly for those of us who enjoy career type stories) he learns a lot about what goes in to publishing out a magazine. 

It's a good story, with lots of humor, and neither the book nor its characters are annoyingly didactic (although of course for me it was preaching to the choir).   It's a good one to offer a somewhat directionless teen who might need a bit of educating viz what being Green means, or what having an internship means, or what getting along with two old people who seem very alien means.

So now I am only one book post behind on the Official 2015 TBR Pile Challenge.....

The Long Lost Map, by Pierdomenico Bacccalario, for Timeslip Tuesday

Way back in February I read The Door to Time (Book 1 of the Ulysses Moore series), by Pierdomenico Baccalario (Scholastic, 2006), and was disappointed to find that it was essentially a prequel to a series in which brave children have time travel adventures.  There is no time travel until five pages before the book ends, when we get a teaser glimpse of ancient Egypt, where book 2 takes place.  I have now read Book 2, The Long Last Map (Scholastic 2006) and found it entertaining, and most definitely Time Travel! 

The three kids, Rick, Jason, and Julia, do in fact travel back to Ancient Egypt and find themselves in a burial complex.  Julia doesn't stay very long, and runs back through the  Door to Time to the present when things get scary (they are all running, but Julia just gets there first), but Rick and Jason stay in Egypt, trying to figure out what secret the mysterious Ulysses Moore (the guy who set the whole time travel thing up) left there to be found.  Befriending a girl named Maruk, who is helpfully the daughter of the Keeper of the House of Secrets, the great repository of the legendary city of Punt, they set out to find a long lost map, deciphering a series of riddle to do so before the villainous woman also looking from the present and also looking for the map can do so.  Back in the present, it's not all tea and skittles for Julia either, as she tries to prise answers out of the mysterious caretaker of the Moore mansion and fend off a villain determined to break in....

It is all rather exciting, and a fun read not so much for the mysteries of Time Travel qua Time Travel (it was Egypt enough to be palatable, but not a deeply meaningful cultural exchange full of paradox and difficulty), but from the point of view of clue solving and treasure hunting.  There's plenty of action and tension, and the House of Secrets, an awfully cool labyrinth of antiquities, makes for a great setting.   Many of the things that bothered me in Book 1--the non-Englishness of the supposedly English kids, the fact that nothing actually happened of import till the very end, weren't as bothersome back in Ancient Egypt.  And I am left feeling rather surprised to find that I sincerely enjoyed this installment enough so as to add book 3, The House of Mirrors, to my tbr list....

The Unbelievable Top Secret Diary of Pig, by Emer Stamp

The Unbelievable Top Secret Diary of Pig, by Emer Stamp (April 28, 2015, Scholastic) is a fun early chapter book in which a not desperately intelligent but pleasant young pig chronicles his life on the farm, with a generous number of illustrations.   Some parts of Pig's life are good--the tasty slops, and his friendship with Duck.  Others are not--the Evil Chickens, and the Horrible Horror of finding out the reason behind the generous servings of slops (which is, of course, Death by Farmer).

The Evil Chickens are not exactly Evil, but they are preternaturally intelligent, and they feel that Pig is the perfect candidate pilot their barnyard-made rocket (powered by poo) on its mission to Pluto.  Pig, embittered by his new knowledge that he's being fattened to be killed, decides to take them up on the offer.  Duck, a good friend, sneaks on board too.  The rocket actually does blast off, and their journey does take them to strange new worlds, though not to Pluto....and ends up offering a possibility solution to the problems of the murderous farmer and the evil chickens.....

It's a friendly sort of book for young readers, especially those who are amused by flatulence, although there are other amusing elements for those of us who aren't particularly fond of farts.  Some emotional depth comes from Pig's predicament, and the whole travel-to-Pluto plot element is full of sci-fi interest.   Adults might well find that Pig's frequent grammatical errors (such as "Today I is very happy!) do not add value; kids might well disagree.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

This week's round up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (4/19/15)

I have nothing to offer this week's round up from my own blog (it was a horrendously busy week), but happily others do!  Please let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews

Beastkeeper, by Cat Hellisen, at The Book Rat and The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia

The Book that Proves Time Travel Happens, by Henry Clark, at Jen Robinson's Book Page

Castle Hangnail, by Ursula Vernon, at On Starships and Dragonwings

Darkmouth, by Shane Hegarty, at The Book Zone (for boys)

The D'Evil Diaries, by Tatum Flynn, at Wondrous Reads

Dragon Slippers, by Jessica Day George, at Becky's Book Reviews

Echo, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, at The Children's War

The Forbidden Stone, by Tony Abbott, at Claire M. Caterer

Genuine Sweet, by Faith Harkey, at Semicolon

Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk, by Liesl Shurtliff, at Librarian of Snark and The Daily Prophecy

Krakens and Lies (Menagerie Book 3), by Tui T. Sutherland and Kari Sutherland, at Hidden In Pages

The Luck Uglies, by Paul Durham, at The Write Path

Omega City, by Diana Peterfreund, at Booked Till Tuesday and  Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Princess in Disguise, by E.D. Baker, at Cracking the Cover

The Real Boy, by Anne Ursu, at Disability in Kid Lit

The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani, at the B. and N. Kids Blog

Sleeping Beauty Dreams Big, by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams, at Pages Unbound

Smek for President, by Adam Rex, at alibrarymama

Space Case, by Stuart Gibbs, at Rcubed's Reads and Reviews

The Time of the Fireflys, by Kimberly Griffiths Little, at Cindy Reads a Lot

The Unwanteds, by Lisa McMann, at Leaf's Reviews

The  Water and the Wild, by K.E. Ormsbee

The Whisper, by Aaron Starmer, at On Starships and Dragonwings

At Ms. Yingling Reads:  Accidently Evil, by Lara Chapman, and Jack, by Liesl Shurtliff

and also at Ms. Yingling Reads:  Has Anyone Seen Jessica Jenkins? by Liz Kessler, The Book That Proves Time Travel Happens, by Henry Clark, and The Murk, by Robert Lettrick


Authors and Interviews

Nikki Loftin (Wish Girl) at The Hiding Spot

Soman Chainani (The School for Good and Evil) at A Backwards Story


Other Good Stuff

A Tuesday Ten of Woundrous Wearables at Views from the Tesseract

5 great books about kids in space for younger MG readers at the B. and N. Kids Blog

A Teaser for Netflix's How to Train Your Dragon series, at io9

In the Time of Dagon Moon Blog Tour--Interview with Janet Lee Carey

It's my pleasure today to welcome Janet Lee Carey, who's latest book, In the Time of Dragon Moon (Kathy Dawson Books, March 2015, YA), is the sort of book that will please those who enjoy generous helpings of dragons, romance, fantasy that's an integral part of the world building, and engaging characters!  It is the third of her books set in a sort of alternate Britain (the first being Dragon's Keep, the second Dragonswood), in which dragons and elves are very real, and in which marriage has occurred between those two races and the ruling human family. 

In this installment of the series, Uma, a young girl from the indigenous people of this kingdom tries to save her people's future by serving as the physician to the mad queen, who is desperate to have another child.  The queen has killed or imprisoned all her previous doctors, but Uma has the additional fear for her people, who are being held hostage contingent on her success.... Uma, who has had to push her way into being her father's apprentice in medicine (it was traditionally a male role), is scared and uncertain, but determined to do her best, which means that she must befriend the temperamental red dragon that was her father's friend to find the pharmacological herbs she needs.  And then to complicate matters, she and the king's nephew, Jackrun, who is part dragon and part fey, fall into loving each other while trying to unravel the mystery of the death of the Queen's firstborn son, which has further unhinged her mind...

Thank, Janet, for your lovely answers to my questions (which are in bold!)
 

-Your three dragon books are a series...but each can also stand alone.  I'm wondering if you knew there would be more books to come when you wrote Dragon's Keep, and planned accordingly, or if the second and third books were something of a surprise.  If the later is true, did you run into any problems in which your vision/world building/characterization in In the Time of Dragon Moon clashed with things in the earlier books?

When I first wrote Dragon’s Keep, I hoped there might be more books set in that world, but I did not plan on it. I wrote it before I was a published author and in those days I was still dreaming about and hoping I’d find a publisher who liked my books! That said, I did a lot of world building for Dragon’s Keep. The Kirkus review for In the time of Dragon Moon begins with the line: “Humans, dragons and fey coexist on Wilde Island, but this uneasy peace masks a simmering, mutual distrust.” I created a world rife with simmering tension and that gave me a lot of plot possibilities. I also landed on the idea to move from generation to generation so the reader sees familiar characters from the earlier books. So they meet the witch hunter, Tess and Bion in Dragonswood. And careful readers will recognize Jackrun from the epilogue. He’s just two years old then, and seventeen in this new book.

(me, Charlotte, just saying that here is the lovely cover of Dragonswood, and here's my review of it)

-Now that it’s established as a series, do you think there will be more books continuing the story of the Pendragons?

That’s partly up to the reading community. What I mean by that is authors can sell more books in a series as long as the series has enough of a following. So in that sense, readers have a say in what’s published. Of course I’d love to write more Wilde Island books. I have some ideas brewing.

-Many of your characters are different from those around them, either by virtue of mixed heritage or by physical differences.   Was this something you set out deliberately to include, or is it something that just keeps happening?  (With both your books and with Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman, I have been trying to decide when having dragon scales, or other elements of dragon anatomy, constitutes a disability....my answer being, it depends--both on physical ramifications and on people's response to the scales or claws or fire....Is this something you have thought about at all?)

Very insightful question! My main characters are set apart, and do feel different from those around them. That’s partly because it makes good fiction. Someone who sees things differently makes a good protagonist as well as a good antagonist don’t you think? It’s also because I have a heart for outsiders. I felt different from my peers, so I know what it’s like. Your thoughts on dragon scales are wonderful. Yes whether dragon scales or other dragon powers such as Jackrun has, are seen as a disability has to do with the person’s response to them as well as other people’s response to them. In Jackrun’s case, his nuclear family fully accepts dragon scales and sees them as a mark of honor. Uma feels the same, but Jackrun’s other power is more frightening, both Jackrun and his family have a hard time accepting it. Other members of the Pendragon family don’t even accept the dragon scales. The king and his son Prince Desmond hide theirs, and they ostracize Princess Augusta because she has dragon scales on her forehead and golden dragon eyes. 

-Uma, the central protagonist of Dragon Moon, is in an awfully frustrating position for the course of this story.   She has virtually no opportunities to say what she really thinks, because her people are being held hostage, and on top of that, she is struggling for the opportunity to be the person that her culture says she can't be--a woman who is a healer.  And I commend her for carrying on as calmly as she does!  Did this part of Uma's story make it frustrating for you, as its author, to write?  Or did knowing the ending help? 

 

I was certainly frustrated for Uma. And since an author needs to live inside a character’s skin while writing each scene, I felt what Uma felt. She’s in an awful situation. Yet terrible situations are the stuff of good stories. As a captive of the queen, Uma is forced to struggle toward freedom and independence. She carves her own path. I ended up loving that about her.

 

 -I love that your books have a Giving Back component.  Could you share a bit about how this came about, and how you chose the Giving Back direction for Dragon Moon?

 

I first started giving to a charity in conjunction with a book launch when my book The Double Life of Zoe Flynn came out – the story of a homeless girl who lives with her family in a van. At that time I worked with Hopelink, raising awareness of homelessness and we did some wonderful food drives on my school visits. After that I was hooked. As I worked on each new book, I considered which charity I would donate to, trying to match it to the book’s theme in some way. Offering readers a chance to donate, too, seemed right. I was also a founding diva of readergirlz. Outreach was a foundational part of that literacy and social media project and it still is. I chose Nature Conservancy’s Savethe Rainforest  project for In the Time of Dragon Moon after studying indigenous healers like Uma and her father, the Adan. In the course of writing the book, I learned about the ongoing destruction of the rainforests in the Amazon Basin, the place where vital medicinal plants grow. As it says on the Nature Conservancy site; “Probably no other place is more critical for human survival than the Amazon.”

I knew it would be the right charity outreach for the book.

-And finally, what other YA fantasy books, with or without dragons, would you recommend to readers who like this series, and vice versa? 

I love Ursula K. LeGuin’s Earthsea series, and her Annals of the Western Shore series including, Gifts, Voices, and Powers. I also love Juliet Marillier’s Shadowfell books, Shadowfell, Raven Flight, and The Caller. And I’m a fan of Maggie Stiefvater’s The Scorpio Races.
 

About the Author
(photo credit Heidi Pettit)

Janet Lee Carey grew up in the bay area under towering redwoods that whispered secrets in the wind. When she was a child she dreamed of becoming a mermaid (this never happened).She also dreamed of becoming a published writer (this did happen after many years of rejection). She is now an award-winning author of nine novels for children and teens. Her Wilde Island Chronicles are ALA Best Books for Young Adults. She won the 2005 Mark Twain Award and was finalist for the Washington State Book Award. Janet links each new book with a charitable organization empowering youth to read and reach out. She tours the U.S. and abroad presenting at schools, book festivals and conferences for writers, teachers, and librarians. Janet and her family live near Seattle by a lake where rising morning mist forms into the shape of dragons. She writes daily with her imperious cat, Uke, seated on her lap. Uke is jealous of the keyboard. If Janet truly understood her place in the world, she would reserve her fingers for the sole purpose of scratching behind Uke’s ear, but humans are very hard to train.

Visit her website here

Thanks again to Janet Lee Carey for appearing, and thanks to the publisher for the review copy of the book!  For other stops on the Dragon Moon blog tour please click here.