The Curse of the Chocolate Phoenix, by Kate Saunders, for Timeslip Tuesday

The Curse of the Chocolate Phoenix, by Kate Saunders (Delacorte, Dec. 2016), brings back twins Oz and Lily, and their friend Caydon, for another adventure involving magical chocolate (Oz and Lily's family have a  somewhat dubious heritage of mixing of magic with chocolate, as explained in The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop).  Although this is a sequel, it stands alone just fine, and it's a fun "magical romp" (meaning mostly lighthearted adventure with magic) with some evil antagonists, a talking cat, a young vampire (though she's been 11 for several centuries) and time travel. 

It starts when the talking cat finds some crumbs from the chocolate phoenix imbued by the twins' Uncle Isadore with time travel magic.  Her visit with Queen Elizabeth has no great implications for the stability of the time stream, but the magical enforcement agency of London is worried.  With good reason--sinister forces are at work, determined to use the time travel chocolate to change the course of history (for the worse).   Silver, who was made a vampire when she was 11, several centuries ago, is assigned to the kids to be their bodyguard, because they have the right magical heritage that enables the chocolate to work its magic.

And because of this, they are sent on two missions to make sure the past happens as it should--the first, to make sure the Great Fire of London happens, and the second, to make sure that St. Paul's isn't burned in WW II.  Both are exciting time travel adventures, although the actual experience of being in the past is not the point; thwarting the villains, with good reason, absorbs the energies of all concerned. 

Even though there are plenty of tense moments, when Lily in particular is not as brave as one would like ones young fantasy heroines to be (though goodness knows I two would be a mess if I was thrown into the prison of child-eating giants to be their next snack), the whole ensemble is good magical adventure fun.  The magical world is broadened somewhat in this second book in the series, and there's lots of potential for more character growth and world building to come!

The true hero is the immortal talking rat, Spike;  the kids themselves are mostly pawns in the battle of grown-ups.  But it's plenty diverting to just go along with them for the ride!

Caydon's family is from Jamaica, providing some diversity (and I think it's cool that he got to be front and center on the phoenix); I hope we see more of his grandma in future books!

She had run out of books to read. What she did next will amaze you! (especially #6) (a 10th anniversary of blogging post)

(I have been wanting to use this clickbait-inspired post title for ages, and now that it is the ten year anniversary of my blog, I think it is time....nb.  #6 is not actually any more exciting than anything else.)

So in my twenties, I didn't have anything to read.  Sure there were books for grad school, and a couple of hundred favorites from my youth, but I would go to bookstores and libraries, and not find much of anything that appealed, and it was sad and I whined a lot. 

Here's how I changed my life, so that now my Book Needs are met.

1.  In the late 1990s, I joined an online group called Girls Own, thanks to my sister who found it first.  It is a group of fans of primarily British school girl stories, with lots of recommendations of older girls fiction thrown in.  This was wonderful; it gave me lots of authors to look for, and lots of books to buy, especially when small publishers sprang up (like Girls Gone By) who were reprinting some of the scarcer titles.  It also gave my sister lots of books to lend me whenever she visited.

2.  I married a fellow bibliophile.  This resulted in me reading, in the early days of our relationship, books he had lying around that he recommended to me even though he hadn't read them himself yet (I didn't know that until I had read Angle of Repose and River of Traps, with no enjoyment whatsoever, sparing him the pain of having to do so himself).  On a more positive note, it also resulted in him building lots of bookshelves in our new home (the bedroom shelves are shown below; couldn't get them to fit in one frame, so the splice is awkward, with half the chimney cut off), and lots of visits to used bookstores in England when we went to see his family there.

3. Amazon was founded in 1994, and Ebay started in 1995.  Ebay was especially exciting, because rare books could be bought rather cheaply....(does anyone else remember making rash purchases of random old books just because one could?)

4.  The Library card catalogue became available on line.  Placing library holds became a source of much comfort in the first decade of the 21st century, especially when I realized, admittedly rather late in the game, that authors I liked might have written other books.

5.  I started running booksales for the local library around 2000. Not only did this give me first crack at donations, but the library was also just starting to weed the children's books, which had been stagnant since the 1950s, which I also got first crack at.

6.  And then the thing that made my book piles explode--I started this blog back in February of 2007.  I started reading blogs the fall of 2006, after successfully selling a first edition of  Newbery award winner Kira-Kira on Ebay for $300, and realized that Newbery Award book speculation was a sure fire way to untold wealth.  The first blog post I ever read was one by Linda Sue Park on what would win the Newbery that year, and that led me to other book blogs, which meant recommendations galore.

7.  And when I saw that publishers would send you books to review if you had your own blog, I knew I had to do it...And it worked (except for the untold Newbery speculation wealth part).   Hundreds, possibly thousands, of review copies have come my way, and I (and my local library, where many of the finished books have ended up) am very grateful.  I have written almost 3,000 reviews.  I now review for the B. and N. Kids Book blog too, which has added to my review copy piles.

(Here is my first post to get over 1000 views, on Women's Sufferage Fiction.  You will notice there are no hyperlinks.  It took me almost a year or so to learn how to do those, because I lacked Confidence, but I can now, and that's all that matters.  I am a much better blogger now).  Incidentally, the book by Geraldine Symons I mention was discarded by the library the next year, and is now safely on my own shelves (proving that my cunning plan to get all the books is working).

So now, twenty years after my horrible time of book drought, I will never be hungry again (imagine a book in Scarlet's hand instead of a potato which is what I would have done if I had decent photo editing capabilities.  Although I also have lots of potatoes that come up year after year because of my poor harvesting skills, which is also fine).

this week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from aroudn the blogs (2/5/2017)

Welcome to this week's round-up; please let me know if I missed anything!

The Reviews

Audacity Jones Steals the Show, by Kirby Larson, at On Starships and Dragon Wings

The Battle for Skandia, by John Flanagan, at Leaf's Reviews

The Court of the Stone Children, by Eleanor Cameron, at Time Travel Times Two

The Crystal Ribbon by Celeste Lim, at Manga Maniac Café

The Emerald Tablet, by Dan Jolley, at Say What?

The Firefly Code, by Megan Frazer Blakemore, at alibrarymama

Guys Read: Terrifying Tales, edited by Jon Scieszka, at Good Books and Good Wine

The Hero's Guide to.... series by Christopher Healy, at Boys Rule Boys Read

If the Magic Fits, by Susan Maupin Schmid, at A Bookshelf Monstrosity

The Inquisitor’s Tale, by Adam Gidwitz, at Sonderbooks

Key Hunters: The mysterious moonstone by Eric Luper, at Jean Little Library

Last Day on Mars, by Kevin Emerson, at This Kid Reviews Books

The Lost Property Office, by James R. Hannibal, at Log Cabin Library

The Luck Uglies, by Paul Durham, at Good Books and Good Wine (audiobook review)

Me and Marvin Gardens, by Amy Sarig King, at Ms. Yingling Reads and Charlotte's Library

The Mesmerist, by Ronald L. Smith, at Me On Books

The Scourge, by Jennifer Nielsen, at Semicolon

Story Thieves: Secret Origins, by James Riley, at Carstairs Considers

Time Traveling with a Hamster, by Ross Welford, at Charlotte's Library

The Wishing World, by Todd Fahnestock, at Imaginary Reads

The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner and Other Stories, by Terry Pratchett, at Back to Books

The Wizard's Dog, by Eric Kahn Gale, at Always in the Middle, Charlotte's Library, and Falling Letters

Two at alibrarymama--Me and Marvin Gardens, and Ninja Librarians--the Sword in the Stacks


Authors and Interviews

Greg Leitch Smith (Chronal Engine and Borrowed Time) at scbwi

Zeta Elliott (The Ghosts in the Castle) at Cynsations

Eric Kahn Gale (The Wizard's Dog) at The Write Path

Dianne K. Salerni (The Eighth Day series) talks about character names at Project Mayhem

Janet Fogg and Dave  Jackson (Misfortune Annie and the Locomotive Reaper) at Carpinello's Writing Pages


Other Good Stuff

Visit The Brown Bookshelf every day this month for 28 Days Later, featuring a different black YA or Childrens author/illustrator every day!

At Semicolon, a look at trends and themes in middle grade spec fic from 2016

Me and Marvin Gardens, by Amy Sarig King

Things I have in common with the Obe, the 11-year old boy who's the protagonist of Me and Marvin Gardens, by Amy Sarig King (Arthur A. Levine Books, January 31, 2017)

--plastic trash is vile, and picking up other people's trash is a normal and proper thing to do, and when you live near a creek you go down there lots and come home with your pockets full of trash.
--houses being built on beloved open space is vile.
--growing up isn't all it's cracked up to be, and being 11 when your friends are trying to grow up faster than you is miserable. (Especially for Obe, whose former best friend ended up punching him in the face in a territorial war that Obe didn't want any part of).
--science is cool, and "environmental scientist" seems like a fine career choice and learning science in school is better than doing math worksheets.
--families are complicated, but when it counts they have your back.

And both of us, me and Obe both, think that a new species of animal that's a kind of dog sized mishmash of animal-ness that eats plastic would be better if its scat wasn't corrosive enough to melt the soles of one's sneakers and create little circles of dead vegetation.

Obe finds this animal, who he names Marvin Gardens, down by the creek that's the last wild remnant of his mother's family farm (most of which got sold off, bit by bit, thanks to his Mom's grandfather's drinking problem).  Now a subdivision is being built on the beloved open space.  But down by the creek there's Marvin Gardens, a whole new type of animal.  One who eats plastic. 

Obe wins his trust, and studies him, while making friends with an over-protected neighbor girl who becomes his ally, and while hurting pretty badly from his ex-best-friend's betrayal.   The gang of boys Tommy hangs out with now are the sort that might hurt Marvin, and Marvin's corrosive poop and his plastic eating is drawing the attention of the builders and the neighbors...To save Marvin, Obe has to let the secret of his existence out into the world, the sort of decision that is its own sort of growing up in its recognition of responsibility and the inevitability of change.

So this is more than just a tree-hugging sort of story; it's mostly a story about coping with the fact of being an 11 year old in a tense and difficult world, and getting through it in such a way as to still have hope.  Which isn't to say its a depressing story, because there's lots about Marvin Gardens that's charming, and Obe's sister and Mom and science teacher come through for him very nicely, and his new friend is also a good addition to his life, and finally his mother realizes how bad his chronic nosebleeds are and gets him medical attention, and it was not leukemia which is what I was worried about....And Marvin Gardens finds a mate and makes more little baby plastic eaters (yay!).

But I think that, although there are universal themes here,  the audience that will most appreciate this book are the animal-loving kids who would never, never let a piece of plastic fall from their hands onto the ground, because sea turtles.

disclaimer: review copy received courtesy of the publisher and author at Kidlitcon 2016.

Time Travelling with a Hamster, by Ross Welford

Yay!  I have a Timeslip Tuesday post!  Time Travelling with a Hamster, by Ross Welford (Schwartz & Wade, October 4, 2016) is more than just a cute hamster adventure, but is also a rather moving story of time travel used in its most personally powerful way--to save the life a beloved parent.  It begins thus:

My dad died twice. Once when he was thirty-nine and again four years later, when he was twelve.

Al Chaudhury's dad died, and his mom remarried, so Al now has a stepfather and stepsister, and a hole in his heart where his father was.  But then on his 12th birthday, a letter from his father arrives, and gives him hope that his loss might be undone.  The letter sends Al on a mission back in time.  Back in the bunker at their old house, his father had built a time machine, that actually works.  If Al can go back to 1984, and prevent the go-kart accident that will ultimately lead to his father's death, that death won't happen after all.  So Al, accompanied by his pet hamster, sets out to the past.

Time travel, though, is tricky and complicated, and though it seems easy to change one specific event it's harder than Al thought (hence the second death of his father when only twelve, that ends up with Al in a very sad present.  And it's hard for Al to get to the bunker, which is quite far from his new house.  Misadventures and mishaps (stealing his grand-dad's moped, setting his school on fire, dealing with a bully back in his dad's childhood, endangering his hamster) make his job difficult, but he is determined....

So it's a story of desperation, with funny bits and tense bits (that other people might find more amusing then me, for whom tension is never funny), and there's extra depth from familial connections, such as that between Al and his Indian grand-dad, and extra interest for us US readers, from the English setting.

In short, it's a good read, one that keeps complicating things until its not clear that things will work out for Al, his dad, or the hamster, but happily, it does end well!

The Wizard's Dog, by Eric Kahn Gale

I feel that although there have been some fantasy dogs in the past few years, cats and squirrels have been the clear front-runner animal protagonists.  So even though I myself am a cat person, it was a nice change to sit down with a good magical dog! 

Nosewise, the titular hero of The Wizard's Dog, by Eric Kahn Gale (Crown Books for Young Readers, middle grade, January 2017), is a very magical dog indeed, although he doesn't at first recognize his own gifts.  His master, Merlin, and Merlin's apprentice, Morgana, have kept him shut out of the study where they do their own magics, but Nosewise is determined to be just as good at tricks as Morgana.  He has no clue what their words mean, but he is sure he can learn to do the amazing magical things Morgana can.  And when Morgana hangs a magical stone around his neck, Nosewise finds that he can talk and understand human speech.  Now there's no holding him back!

And this is a good thing, because when Merlin and Morgana are kidnapped by the fae, who have taken power of a good bit of the mortal world, it's up to Nosewise to find them, and rescue them from the dark magic that has surrounded them.  Along the way, Nosewise befriends a good hearted boy named Arthur, and together they follow the trail to the place where the sword in the stone is waiting...

The story is told from Nosewise's doggish point of view, which makes it a fun twist on the Arthur legend.  Nosewise's own magic is likewise of a  doggish bent, with the nose being crucial, as one would expect.  And the conclusion, in which Nosewise shows just what a Good Dog he is, is a lovely twist on the legend!

Give this one to lovers of dogs and medieval magic stories--they will love it.

disclairmer: review copy received from the publisher

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (1/29/17)

Here's what I found in my blog reading this week; please let me know if I missed your post!


The Reviews

100 Dresses, by Susan Maupin Schmid, at Pages Unbound

The Adventurer’s Guide to Successful Escapes, by Wade Albert White, at On Starships and Dragonwings

Alfie Bloom and the Secrets of Hexbridge Castle, by Gabrielle Kent, at On Starships and Dragonwings

Batgirl at Super Hero High (DC Super Hero Girls #3, by Lisa Yee, at Word Spelunking

The Crooked Sixpence (The Uncommoners #1), by Jennifer Bell, at Mom Read It

The Crystal Ribbon, by Celeste Lim, at Ms. Yingling Reads

A Face Like Glass, by Frances Hardinge, at Fantasy Literature

Finders Keepers (Rebels of the Lamp #2), by Michael M.B. Galvin and Peter Speakman, at Winterhaven Books

The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill, at A Backwards Story

A Hat Full of Sky, by Terry Pratchett, at The Book Nut

How I Became a Ghost, by Tim Tingle, at My Brain On Books

Island of Dragons, by Lisa McMann, at Say What?

The Mad Scientists of New Jersey, by Chris Sorensen, at Time Travel Times Two

The Magician’s Tower by Shawn Thomas Odyssey, at Leaf's Reviews

The Memory Thief, by Bryce Moore, at Say What?

Melody Bittersweet and the Girls Ghoustbusting Agency, by Kitty French, at Sharon the Librarian

Talons of Power, by Tui T. Sutherland, at Charlotte's Library

Theadosia and the Serpents of Chaos, by R.L. LaFevers, at The Literary Phoenix

Time Traveling with a Hamster, by Ross Welford, at Redeemed Reader

The Wizard's Dog by Eric Kahn Gale, at Proseandkahn


Other Good Stuff'

Here's the text of a talk Katherine Langrish gave recently on Folklore and Memory.

A review of the movie version of Wait Till Helen Comes at The O.W.L.

A crab species has been named after Harry Potter and Professor Snape (via Tor)

Rooster Joe and the Bully/El Galo Joe Y El Abusõn,l , by Xavier Garz

I'm proud to be part of the fourth (!) Multicultural Book Day, and to offer a middle grade book provided by Arte Público Press--Rooster Joe and the Bully/El Galo Joe Y El Abusõn, by Xavier Garz.  The story reads in English from one side of the book, and in Spanish from the other.

Joe loves to draw roosters, and he's gotten pretty good at them!  When his art teacher at school sees his work, she encourages him to paint as well as draw, opening up new possibilities and dreams for him.  His grandpa Jessie's a famous painter, and happy to help teach him too.  And then he crosses paths with Kiki, a classmate from fourth grade, who's now really cute and friendly, and who seems to like him..... But things aren't all good.  When Joe sticks up for Luis, who's being bullied by the biggest, meanest kid of the middle school and his henchmen, Joe becomes a target himself.

Turns out that Grandpa Jessie can help Joe with more than painting, and his advice is pretty spot on.

"All it take is one person, Joe," says Grandpa Jessie.
"One person?" I ask him.  "But what could one person possibly do?"
"You would think not much, but you would be wrong.  Just one person can inspire.  Just one person can motivate.  Just one person can give others the strength to take a stand, and be the voice that will inspire them to join in his or her cause. Then together these people can move mountains." (page 39)

So Joe draws on all the strength and fierceness of the roosters he loves to draw and paint, and stands up to the bullies.  And other kids come to stand with him, becoming something bigger and stronger than the bullies could cope with.  Joe's feelings are shown in a way that will resonate with the target audience, and kids will cheer for him as he takes his stand.

It's a quick read, only 64 pages, and the story is pretty straightforward, so Upper Elementary school kids (4th graders) would have no problem reading it.  Garzo's bold black and white illustration add pizzazz to the somewhat formulaic story.

Head over to the Multicultural Children's Book Day links page, for a whole slew of reviews!

And by way of information and thanks:

About Multicultural Children’s Book DayMulticultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/17) is its fourth year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness on the ongoing need to include kid’s books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.
Despite census data that shows 37% of the US population consists of people of color, only 10% of children’s books published have diversity content. Using the Multicultural Children’s Book Day holiday, the MCBD Team are on a mission to change all of that.

Current Sponsors:  MCBD 2017 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board. Platinum Sponsors include Scholastic, Barefoot Books and Broccoli. Other Medallion Level Sponsors include heavy-hitters like Author Carole P. Roman, Audrey Press, Candlewick Press,  Fathers Incorporated, KidLitTV, Capstone Young Readers, ChildsPlayUsa, Author Gayle Swift, Wisdom Tales Press, Lee& Low Books, The Pack-n-Go Girls, Live Oak Media, Author Charlotte Riggle, Chronicle Books and Pomelo Books

Author Sponsors include: Karen Leggett Abouraya, Veronica Appleton, Susan Bernardo, Kathleen Burkinshaw, Maria Dismondy, D.G. Driver, Geoff Griffin,  Savannah Hendricks, Stephen Hodges, Carmen Bernier-Grand,Vahid Imani, Gwen Jackson,  Hena, Kahn, David Kelly, Mariana Llanos, Natasha Moulton-Levy, Teddy O’Malley, Stacy McAnulty,  Cerece Murphy, Miranda Paul, Annette Pimentel, Greg Ransom, Sandra Richards, Elsa Takaoka, Graciela Tiscareño-Sato,  Sarah Stevenson, Monica Mathis-Stowe SmartChoiceNation, Andrea Y. Wang

Talons of Power, by Tui T. Sutherland

So I have been a fan of Tui T. Sutherland's Wings of Fire books since the first book in the series was just a newly hatched ARC....and it's always a happy day when a new addition to these dragon adventures is released.  Talons of Power is the latest book in the second subseries about the young dragons from all the different dragon kings who attend a draconic boarding school under Jade Mountain.  The previous book in this series ended with the release of legendary evil dragon Darkstalker from his magical imprisonment, and then Tui T. Sutherland took us back in time for Darkstalker's origin story.  If you have read Darkstalker, you will not be at all surprised that Talons of Power is full of scary, dark magic because Darkstalker is an evil, mind-controlling genius who craves absolute power.

The hero of this installment is the young Seawing, Turtle, who has up till now been something of a secondary character.  This was fine with him--he does not see himself as a hero, he does not want to be a hero, and he has no confidence that he might ever be able to think and do the right things at the right time the way a hero might.  He's actually very powerful--he's an animus dragon, like Darkstalker, and can do magic of his own.  But Turtle isn't interested in power. 

When Darkstalker shows up, using his magic right and left on all the other young dragons, Turtle uses his magic almost instinctively in such a way that he becomes basically the only hope of foiling him.  But his path is not clear to him, and he spends much of the book sort of in a lonely fumble of figuring out what to do, trailing along as Darkstalker sets out to rebuild the Kingdom of the Nightwings.  It's lonely for Turtle because his friends aren't protected against Darkstalker; only bright, vivid, impulsive Kinkajou, who doesn't join the story till around the middle of it, still has an unclouded mind (and though there are reasons why Turtle just can be using his magic right and left, I wish he'd been able to keep a few more friends from being brainwashed.. I kept getting distracted by thoughts of what magic I would do in Turtle's place....). 

So it's a somewhat uncheerful book, without the group camaraderie that made the previous books such a joy to read.  And the "holdout against tyrannical oppression and mental manipulation" story is kind of close to home for some of us right now, so not cheerful reading, though timely.  As the story reaches its end (which does not equal conclusion....), things get a bit more lively, and throughout, Turtle is certainly a sympathetic character. 

And now we wait for the next book--will Turtle's sister Anemone, who has magic of her own, step up to the plate?  Will Kinkajou become a hero in her own right? and will Quibli (one of my favorite young dragons) whose keen, super-smart mind seems to be resistant to magic and who stayed at Jade Mountain, save the day? 

This week's round-up of science fiction and fantasy from around the blogs (1/22/17)

Welcome to this week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs! Please let me know if I missed your post.

It's Newbery Eve; will a fantasy or sci fi book come home with a sticker?  I think When the Sea Turned to Silver, by Grace Lin, has a good shot, also The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill.  Though it wasn't my personal favorite, The Wild Robot by Peter Brown seems to me like one the committee might like.  My wild-card pick is The Left-handed Fate, by Kate Milford. My own favorite MG sci fi/fantasy book this year was The Evil Wizard Smallbone, by Delia Sherman, but it doesn't scream "Newbery" to me.  What do you all think?

The Reviews

Children of Exile, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, at The Write Path

Star of Deltora (books 1 and 2), by Kate Forsyth, at Charlotte's Library

The Flame in the Mist, by Kit Grindstaff, at Good Books and Good Wine (audiobook)

Forest of Wonders, by Linda Sue Park, at Geo Librarian

The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill, at Redeemed Reader and Randomly Reading

The Inquisitor's Tale, by Adam Gidwitz, at The Book Wars

Horizon, by Scott Westerfeld, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Lodestar, by Shannon Messenger, at the Shannon Messenger Fan Club

Me and Marvin Gardens, by Amy Sarig King, at Waking Brain Cells

Mixed Magics, by Diana Wynne Jones, at Fantasy Literature

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes, by Jonathan Auxier, at Redeemed Reader

Rebellion of Thieves, by Kekla Magoon, at alibrarymama

Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard, by Jonathan Auxier, at Redeemed Reader

When the Sea Turned to Silver, by Grace Lin, at Say What?

"Why is This Night Different From All Other Nights?" by Lemony Snicket, at Leaf's Reviews

The Wizard's Dog, by Eric Kahn Gale, at Geo Librarian and Cracking the Cover

Authors and Interviews

Zetta Elliott (The Ghosts in the Castle) at ShannaMiles.net

Eric Kahn Gale (The Wizard's Dog) at Middle Grade Ninja

Other Good Stuff

A look at the Broadway musical Finding Wonderland at Always in the Middle

Ten great books with great heroines at Waking Brain Cells

Don't forget to check to see if the 90 Second Newbery Film Festival is coming to a venue near you!

The School Library Journal 2017 Battle of the Books contenders have been announced.

Spindle, by E.K. Johnston

It was generations ago that a demon was defeated by the Storyteller Queen (as told in A Thousand Nights).  The demons were supposed to be safely locked away....but over the years, one has carefully chipped away at the magic keeping them from regaining any power.  And now this demon is ready to seize control of two kingdoms....and her first move is to curse a princess. Spindle, by E.K. Johnston (Disney-Hyperion, Dec. 2016), is the story of that curse, and how five kids fought against it.  If you love fairy-tale retellings, this is a Sleeping Beauty you should not miss!

Yashaa and his three best friends (two other boys and a girl) live in makeshift camp in the hills forming the boarder between two countries.  On the other side is a country that would like to swallow its neighbor.   On the other side is the homeland, a place blighted by when a curse was placed on the Little Rose, once the cherished princess, now a princess who is doomed and blamed for her people's suffering.  On her fifth birthday, she received gifts from friendly spirit beings, but then things went horrible wrong when she was chosen by a demon to serve as a vessel once she grew up.  All that one last spirit could do was to give Rose a way out--if she were to spin, she would fall into a magical sleep.

Yashaa's homeland was once a place where spinning wool brought prosperity, but now no one can spin there without falling ill.   And the princess cannot spin (because falling asleep will leave the demon's curse in place), nor can she do anything else creative, because that is the food the demon craves from her.  Yashaa is tired of his hopeless life as a refugee, watching his mother dying from after-effects of the curse, so he musters his friends to go back to their homeland, to try to do something, anything, about the curse.  The first step is to find the Little Rose, and get information.

The princess is surprised to find Yashaa climbing into the tower room where she's kept a virtual prisoner (an effort to keep her from making or doing anything creative).  But she seizes the chance to be part of her own salvation, and compels him to free her.  Though Yashaa learns to care for her, despite his initially hostile assumptions, she makes a dangerous travelling companion, and not just because of the demon's curse.  The nasty prince of the neighboring kingdom intends to marry her, and spurred on by demonic encouragement, he's determined to hunt her down.   Yashaa is equally determined to save her, and she is even more determined to try to find some way to save herself.

On the surface it might sound like a magical adventure-quest book, but it isn't, quite.  It is about people more than it is about adventures, and the struggles faced are mostly internal--persevering, wanting to make things, and never giving up hope, being the agent of your own salvation.  While I was reading it I thought I was finding it a bit too slow, and wished for more magical occurrences (I loved the gardening gnomes!), but when I finished I realized it had gone by quickly after all, and was vivid in my mind.  I like it more now in retrospect than I did during the reading, and I find I still care for all the characters, and find my heart still a little sore from this particular bittersweet take on the concept of "happy ending."

Like the first book in this world,  A Thousand Nights, this is a story where belief and strength of  will and the making of path that you want events to take is what defeats the demons in the end. 

(aside--if anyone is keep tabs of fantasy books where menstruation happens, as one would expect in a story about girls, here's one for you!)

(second aside--this is one for my diverse fantasy read.  It's a Near Eastern type world, with brown skinned characters).

Star of Deltora, books 1 and 2, by Emily Rodda

I  have just recently read and enjoyed the first two books of the Star of Deltora series, the latest from prolific Australian author Emily Rodda (author of the Deltora Quest series and the more recent Three Doors series) and I encourage anyone who wants to go adventuring with a brave clever heroine to try the books for themselves!  Long ago, a Deltora trader named Roslyn found such fame that her name became a title, and a line of women known as Trader Roslyn have followed in her path, sailing the nine seas. Now the current Trader Roslyn is no longer young, and is looking for an apprentice....

In the first book, Shadows of the Master, we are introduced to Britta, who is determined to win the competition to be that person.  She passes the initial round of tests, and after a bit of misadventure, becomes one of the four finalists.  In the second book, Two Moons, the finalists all sail on a trading voyage aboard the Trader Roslyn's famous ship, the Star of Delotra.  The ship will visit three islands, and each candidate will have a chance to make a trade.  The one who ends up having made the best trades at the end of the third visit will be the victor.

Bretta is determined to win.  Trading is in her blood; her father was famous for it.  But her father is also infamous.  He found and took control (or was controlled by) an ancient relic that brought death to his last crew and the Hungry Island back to life.  And now his shadows are seeking out Britta....She must keep her identity a secret, or risk being thrown out of contention before the competition ends.  She knows she's not like her father....but secrets and magic seem to be building all around her whether she wants them to or not.  And someone seems determined to get her out of the way; not quite killing her, but coming close. 

The Star of Delotra is sailing on a big ocean, filled with lots of magic, not all of it nice, and some of it downright evil.   Will Britta's intelligence and sharp trading instincts be enough to see her through her adventures safely?  One can assume they will, but I don't have books 3 and 4 on hand.  If I did, I'd already have read them at this point.  Probably back to back immediately after book 2.  

The story reminded me somewhat of Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale (girls being tested and trained), especially the first book, which is mostly about the testing process.  The second book takes Britta off to sea, and there the main interest for me was Britta's research in the ship's library, and the thought she put into figuring out her trading strategy.  I like to read about people thinking.  But if you prefer action, do not be deterred my preference--there are near-death adventures and strange magics and mysteries swirling around, and then there's Britta's rather terrifyingly transformed father on his Hungry Island (one that moves around looking for snacks....)

If you have already read Emily Rodda, you won't be disappointed.  And if  you haven't, this series is a fine place to start.  Give the books to any nine or ten year old who pretended the bed was a boat back when they were littler.  They are good ones for the older elementary school kid wanting to read books of more substance; the covers don't look like "kids" books, yet the content is still kid friendly (the one horrible death so far happened way back when). 

disclaimer: review copies received from the publisher

This week's round-up of mg fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (1/15/17)

Welcome to this week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs.  Please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

Baker's Magic, by Diane Zahler, at Leaf's Reviews

The Candy Shop War, by Brandon Mull, at Shannon Messenger Fan Club

Conrad's Fate, by Diana Wynne Jones, at the Book Smugglers

Furthermore, by Tahereh Mafi, at The Children's Book Review

The Goblin's Puzzle, by Andrew S. Chilton, at Imaginary Reads

The Ghosts in the Castle, by Zetta Elliott, at Charlotte's Library

Harriet the Invincible, by Ursula Vernon, at Becky's Book Reviews

The Ice Dragon by George R. R. Martin, at the A.P. Book Club

The Icebound Land, by John Flanagan, at Leaf's Reviews

The Inquisitor's Mark, by Dianne Salerni, at The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow

The Left Behinds: Abe Lincoln and the Selfie that Saved the Union, by David Potter, at Time Travel Times Two

Magic Below Stairs, by Caroline Stevermer, at Tales From the Raven

MiNRS2, by Kevin Sylvester, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Of Mice and Magic, by Ursula Vernon, at Becky's Book Reviews

The Pirate King, by Huw Powell, at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

Ratpunzel, by Ursula Vernon, at Becky's Book Reviews

"Shouldn’t You Be in School?” by Lemony Snicket, at Leaf's Reviews

The Shrunken Head, by Lauren Oliver and H.C. Chester, at books4yourkids.com

Storm Walker, by Mike Revell, at Charlotte's Library

Thorn Ogres of Hagwood, by Robin Jarvis, at Say What?

The Tombs of Atuan, by Ursula Le Guin, at Strange and Random Happenstance

The Voyage to Magical North, by  Claire Fayers, at Say What?

Warren the 13 and the All-Seeing Eye, by Tania Del Rio, illustrated by Will Staehle, at Geo Librarian, Proseandkahn, and Pages Unbound Reviews

Warren the 13th and the Whispering Woods, by Tania Del Rio, illustrated by Will Staehle, at A Fantastical Librarian

The Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett, at The Book Nut

The Wizard's Dog, by Eric Kahn Gale, at Read Till Dawn

Authors and Interviews

Cathryn Constable (The White Tower) at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books (possibly YA, but still sounds like a great book!)

Other Good Stuff

An activity book to go with the Warren the 13 (it's probably other places as well, but I found it at The Reading Nook Reviews)

Get Those Kids Out of the Room:  Books to Get Your Students Outside and Immersed in Nature (a list that includes two fantasy books--The Wild Robot and Maybe a Fox) at Nerdy Book Club.  The relationship between fantasy and nature is an interesting topic; I guess a lot of outside pretend games really are fantasy based, so it makes sense to offer kids books that will inspire them to shoot their siblings in the face with homemade bows and arrows (sorry Emily).

The Sydney Taylor Book Awards have been announced, and The Inquisitor's Tale is a gold medalist

The Ghosts in the Castle, by Zetta Elliott

The Ghosts in the Castle, by Zetta Elliott (2017), is the author's latest book giving black city kids a place in both fantasy and history.  It's the story of a Brooklyn girl, Zaria, who goes to London with her mother when her grandpa suffers a stroke.  Zaria is thrilled to be in England, and she's pleased that Winston, a cousin she's never met before, shares her love of fantasy.  When she and Winston visit Windsor Castle together, they find a fantasy adventure of their own when they meet two 19th century African ghosts (who were real people).

One of the ghosts is Prince Alemayehu of Abyssina (Ethiopia), and the other is a young woman named Sally (aka Sarah Forbes Bonetta Davies) daughter of a chief in Nigeria.  Both were taken from Africa when they were children, and ended up living in England during the reign of Queen Victoria (I'd assumed they lived at Windsor Castle, but the author has clarified that this wasn't the case).  In a series of encounters with the ghosts, Zaria learns bits of their stories--both were taken to England as colonial possessions.  Alemayehu died when he was 18, and was buried at Windsor Castle.  Sally had a longer happier life, and can come and go between Windsor Castle and other places from her life, but Alemayehu is stuck, and cannot visit the one place he wants most to see again--his home in Africa.  With a bit of help from Sally, Zaria and Winston find a way to free Alemayehu's ghost.

It's good story for any young (nine or tenish, I'd say) fantasy reader who loves ghosts and mysteries and castles.  What makes it special is that Zetta Elliott is unapologetic about directly positioning both modern and historic characters of the African diaspora in a fantasy novel.  She raises issues of colonialism, both its past and its present reverberations (including Zaria's own family history), while keeping Zaria's particular story going at a nice pace, so that the message doesn't overwhelm the reading experience (in large part because Zaria is utterly relatable to any young Anglophile fantasy reader, and also in large part because it's a neat ghost story).

The result is a fascinating, moving story that not only adds diversity to the genre but makes for good reading.  It's just the right length for older elementary grade readers; if you are older than that, you might be left wanting more (which isn't a bad thing....)

There are discussion questions at the end; it would have been icing on the cake to have had more historical information about the two ghosts included in the backmatter as well, but if you go to the links above, you can see pictures of both Alemayhu and Sally and learn more about them.

Storm Walker, by Mike Revell

Stormwalker, by Mike Revell (Quercus, December 2016) is a portal fantasy with an interesting twist, and Owen, the young protagonist, is not your typical portal fantasy chosen one.

 Ever since Own's mom died, his dad has been a wreck.  Owen sympathizes, being devastated by grief himself, but he needs his dad to come back to him.  And so he pushes his father to start writing again.  It seems like a fine plan; the words are flowing well, and his dad is happier.  But then Owen finds himself transported into a horrible future world, one devastated by storms of paranormal darkness, where kids like himself are forced to scavenge for scraps of what once was our civilization, risking the dangers of the zombie-like Dreamless, and where those in power hold secrets almost as dark as the storms.

Oliver bounces back and for between the fantasy world and the real world, realizing to his dismay that he is being forced to live the character his father is writing.  If he breaks the story, he'll loose his father in the real world, but if he keeps going into the mysteries of the dark storm world, he'll keep loosing chunks of his real life (jeopardizing his once in a lifetime chance at soccer success), and he'll have to keep living the horrors being experienced by his fictional alter ego....

It's a strange and engrossing fugue of real life and fictional world, given impetus and conviction by the grief shared by Owen and his dad.  Though I would have liked more obvious interplay between the events and themes of the two worlds earlier than it came, it was still pretty effective, in large part because the fictional world made for a truly gripping read on its own merits.  And toward the end, when things are really picking up steam in the fantasy world, it becomes clear that the theme of desperate efforts to forge connections to those lost to you is there in both stories, leading to a moving conclusion.  Grief and darkness are both overcome.

Though the hybrid story telling didn't quite coalesce into a truly satisfying whole for me personally, it's a good one for kids who like reading about other kids plucked from their normal lives and thrust into paranormal hellish futures....

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Passenger, and Wayfarer, by Alexandra Braken, for Timeslip Tuesday

These past few days I have spent reading Passenger and its just released sequel, Wayfarer, by Alexandra Bracken, which is about a thousand pages of time travel romance high body-count adventure through many centuries and many places.  And I have just now finished Wayfarer, and it is almost my bedtime, but I do want to write about the books for Timeslip Tuesday....

So the gist of the story is that a modern teenager, Etta, finds out that she has the gift of travelling through time when her debut as a concert violinist ends up instead with her on board an 18th century privateering vessel.  For the first half or so of Passenger, the reader gets an introduction to the whole set up of how time travel works in this scenario, and Etta and a young man Nicholas (born a slave, but with a rotten-souled white time-traveler father whose gift he inherited) fall in love.  At which point a quest item is introduced--an astrolabe that can control the passages through time, and which many people of varying motivations want to get a hold of.  One of these people is Nicholas' monstrous white grandfather, the head of that time traveler family.  Another group are time travelers who oppose that family.  And then, in Wayfarer, another astrolabe seeker is introduced, even more scary and powerful than the rest of them. 

So Nicholas and Etta search for the astrolabe, and the body count gets pretty high as they travel through time, and then they almost have it, but things go wrong.

In Wayfarer, they are separated, but still searching for this incredibly powerful device that can be used to warp reality horribly, or make the time line regress to what it would naturally have been without time travel interference.  The body count gets higher (and goodness, Nicholas, Etta, and various secondary characters are the most resilient bunch I've ever seen; it is unbelievable how they recover from broken ribs, horrible lacerations, and general exhaustion in order to fight more enemies the next day).  There's a lot of fighting, which got a bit old, but what made Wayfarer gripping was that the motivations of the secondary characters became a lot more interesting, and because Etta and Nicholas weren't on the same page for most of the book, there was less of their passionate romance (which I feel bogged Passenger down a bit). Wayfarer also gives less page time to Nicholas' position as a black ex-slave in the 18th century, which was interesting social history and though provoking, but which has less relevance to the issues of survival central to Wayfarer. 

Wayfarer, in short, though a bit longer page-wise, has much more action and adventure than Passenger, and a much faster pace.  If you loved the romance of Passenger, you'll get a nice dose of that here, but not infusing the book as a whole.   The best part of Passenger was the way in which Nicholas and Etta were able to put aside their temporally different cultural norms and work as partners, and the best part of Wayfarer was seeing people who had no reason to trust each other learning to do so.   (Aside--a nascent LGBT romance is a part of this, and if I could have one more bit of story from this world, this is what I'd like to see more of.  I sure do hope it works out for them).

Though these two books together constitute a long read, and would not have suffered greatly from the loss of a 100 pages (which equals about 30 violent encounters), and though I would have liked a bit more realism re. wound recovery time, the reading experience is a satisfying one, especially as one reaches the end with its teasing promise of .........(that is me teasing!).  I don't think I'll need to read the books again, but I'm very happy to have spent the past few days with them, mostly because the characters grew on me, but also because of the vivid images of all the different times (though not so much the vivid images of all the ways people died....).

With regard to the time travel--it was one of those time travel set ups that make my brain hurt too much to try to see if it made sense, with alternate versions of the future popping up and down all over the place, and people not being able to go to the same time twice (which I'm not sure was a rule as carefully followed as it could have been).  Passenger is better for time-travel cultural dislocation, and does it well.  Wayfarer is more time-travel as insane kaleidoscope of experience, but with very memorable alternate version of the last czar and a delayed Russian revolution....

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (1/8/17)

Welcome to this week's round-up; please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

The Atlantis Saga, by T.A. Barron (series review), at This Kid Reviews Books

Cats Aloft (Anton and Cecil Book 3), by Lisa Martin and Valerie Martin, at Mom Read It

The Crown of Fire, by Tony Abbott, at Kitty Cat at the Library

Darkstalker, by Tui T. Sutherland, at Hidden In Pages

The Firefly Code, by Megan Frazer Blakemore, at Say What?

The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill, at Susan Uhlig

The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home, by Catherynne M. Valente, at Pages Unbound Reviews

The Goblin's Puzzle, by Andrew Chilton, at Say What?

High Wizardry, by Diane Duane, at Fantasy Faction

Jed and the Junkyard War, by Steven Bohls, at B.&N. Kids Blog

The League of Seven, by Alan Gratz, at Leaf's Reviews

The Lie Tree, by Frances Hardinge, at books4yourkids.com

Magic Marks the Spot, by Caroline Carlson, at Leaf's Reviews

One Way or Another, by Annette Laing, at Charlotte's Library

Rebellion of Thieves, by Kekla Magoon, at Charlotte's Library

Scar Island, by Dan Gemeinhart, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Secret Keepers, by Trenton Lee Stewart, at Sharon the Librarian

Shadow Magic, by Joshua Kahn, at Say What?

The Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters 1: The Jolly Regina, by Kara LaReau, at KidLit Reviews and Always in the Middle

The Wild Robot, by Peter Brown, at books4yourkids.com

Two at Ms. Yingling Reads-- Bat Girl at Super Hero High, by Lisa Yee, and The Adventures of Henry Whiskers, by Gigi Priebe and Daniel Duncan

Other Good Stuff

At Semicolon, Sherry has made a timline of MG 2016 fiction (based on year the book was set).

And also at Semicolon, Sherry's taken a look at the magical fantastical animals of 2016

Rebellion of Thieves, by Kekla Magoon

Rebellion of  Thieves, by Kekla Magoon (Bloomsbury 2016), is the second Robyn Hoodlum adventure, the first being Shadows of Sherwood.  This series is a reimagining of Robin Hood, starring a 12 year old girl named Robyn Loxley, whose parents have been arrested by the oppressive regime that controls her city.  Robyn didn't mean to become a famous outlaw with a price on her head, working to thwart the evil dictator Crown and his minions, but with every load of supplies for the poor liberated from Crown's warehouses, her reputation has grown. 

What Robyn wants more than anything is to get her parents back, and so she hatches a daring scheme to free her mother.  She'll compete in Crown's annual Iron Teen tournament, and risk recognition for a chance to get into his stronghold and, with help from her friends, fiddle with the computers and security system, and break her mother free.  But though Robyn does well in the competition (being a thief and outlaw is good for agility practice) there are difficulties, chief among them being that the Sherriff has recognized her.  Robyn and her friends end up deeper in trouble than they've ever been in before...

If you are familiar with Robin Hood, you'll enjoy recognizing folks from those stories.  But even if you aren't, these are good stories in their own right, with compelling characters and interesting and dangerous situations.   A hint of mysticism, including a prophecy, adds fantastical depth and hints of more overt magic to come, but it is Robyn's struggle to live up to her reputation, and to balance her impetuous desire to get things done with the safety of her friends that really makes this installment of the series hum.

Short answer:  very good adventure reading for the 10-11 year old target audience. And another for my diverse speculative fiction list!

Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

One Way or Another, by Annette Laing, for Timeslip Tuesday

One Way or Another, by Annette Laing (2016),  the fourth volume of The Snipesville Chronicles, brings this extraordinary time travel adventure to a satisfying conclusion.  The books are the story of three Snipesville, Georgia, kids--Brandon, who is black and whose family has deep Snipesville roots, and  siblings Alex and Hannah Dias, who are white recent arrivals.  A mysterious professor launches them into a series of time travel adventures, some in England, where they become linked to a particular family there in the early and mid twentieth century, and some to the past of Snipesville. 

As I have come to expect from the previous Snipesville book, Annette Laing is not afraid to tackle difficult historical subjects.  Alex and  Eric (from WW II England) travel to early 20th century Snipesville, and find that there they are grown men, though Alex is still 11 inside, and find jobs at the local newspaper.  Brandon has also travelled to the same time and place, but being a strange black teenager in Georgia means he has to experience a level of  racism that is stunningly awful.  Alex wants to help, but he is only 11, and his efforts to publish articles fighting racism end up becoming a match set to a powder keg, though things were ready to explode in any event.  
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Hannah has travelled back to the same time, but she is in England working as a maid, trying to make sure the life of a young woman named Elizabeth, who she had previously met in the 1940s and 50s, plays out the way it should.  Hannah's story is one of household drudgery and the women's rights movement, and is another interesting bit of social history.

And social history is really the driving engine of this fourth book in particular.  For instance, Brandon's efforts to raise funds for a Snipesville high school for black students take him on a journey to meet W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington, who had rather different ideas about what education for African Americans should look like, and now I know this.  Although I am favor of learning history through fiction, One Way or Another is a rather long book, and sometimes the stories of the time-travelling  individuals gets lost in the stories of social injustice.  Each story-the Georgia one and the England one-- had enough meat of action and character and history to be a standalone book in its own right.  They are good stories, and if  you are a reader willing to take time with a book, you will enjoy them.

This book will work much better if you have read the first three, but it you are keenly interested in early 20th century social history presented through a fictional lens, do give it a try regardless.  Annette Laing is a former academic historian, and I found no reason to question any of the history presented here (although goodness knows it's not my own time period or place, which is 17th-century New England).

Here are my reviews of the first three books:

Don't Know Where, Don't Know When (which was my very first Timeslip Tuesday review)
A Different Day, a Different Destiny
Look Ahead, Look Back

With regard to the time travel, driven by the actions of the enigmatic professor--my head hurt trying to figure it all out, because the kids bounce so very much around in time, meeting old versions of people they knew when young and vice versa.  So I just shrugged and accepted it all.

Finally thought--The Snipesville Chronicles are excellent historical fiction, heavy on the historical information, but not in a bad way, with fascinating scenarios being played out by modern kids visiting the past.

random aside--I love the name of Snipesville's new coffee house, the Sippin' Snipe.  The ambiguity (though grammatically its a sipping bird, it also suggests Sip 'n' Snipe--the opportunity to sit and gossip unkindly) tickles me greatly.

disclaimer:  review copy received from the author

The first middle grade science fiction and fantasy round-up of 2017

Here we are in 2017...I hope it is going well for all of you!  It's a rather light round-up; lease let me know if I missed your post.

The Cybils Finalists for 2016 have just been announced!  Thank you Brenda, Sherry, Kristen, and Brandy for being such excellent Elementary/Middle Grade panelists with me this year; I hope you all like the seven books we shortlisted!  (and if you would like to join the Cybils fun, look for the call for judges next August....)

The Reviews

Bounce, by Megan Shull, at Charlotte's Library

Bounders, by Monica Tesler, at Say What?

The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle, by Janet Fox, at Say What?

Charmed, I’m Sure, by Sarah Darer Littman, at Mom Read It

The Creeping Shadow, by Jonathan Stroud, at Charlotte's Library

The End (Enemy #7), by Charlie Higgson, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Five Days of Famous, by Alyson Noel, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill, at Semicolon

If the Magic Fits (100 Dresses) by Susan Maupin Schmid, at Sharon the Librarian

Raider's Ransom, by Emily Diamond, at Leaf's Reviews

Savvy, by Ingrid Law, at Hidden In Pages

Other Good Stuff

The 2016 Nerdy Awards for Middle Grade Fiction have been announced, and include some excellent mg spec fic books

For Momin  fans--a discussion of Tove Jansson as a painter from the BBC

Beautiful Minecraft, reviewed at Nerdophiles, shows the artistic potential of the game

A look at Astrid Lindgren's diaries at The Guardian

And finally, now that 2016 is behind us, what middle grade fantasy and science fiction books of 2017 are you most looking forward to?  Here's my list; please share your own in the comments!

sequels I can't wait to get--
Dream Magic, by Joshua Kahn (sequel to Shadow Magic)
The Emperor of Mars, by Patrick Samphire

New ones (limited to five, because of course I actually want to read ALL the books)--
The House of Months and Years, by Emma Trevayne
The Lords of Glasstown, by Catherynne M. Valente
Miss Ellicott's School for the Magically Miinded, by Sage Blackwood
The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart, by Stephanie Burgis
The Castle in the Mist, by Amy Ephron