The Camelot Code: The One and Future Geek, by Mari Mancusi, for Timeslip Tuesday

Here's a fun timeslip story for kids that mixes computer gaming with the story of King Arthur and medieval magic--The Camelot Code: The One and Future Geek, by Mari Mancusi (Disney-Hyperion, November 2018).

The time has come for Arthur to pull the sword from the sword and become king!  But when Guinevere, his best friend, accidently drops a magical treasure down Merlin's enchanted well, and Arthur tries to get it back, he falls in himself....and travels through time to our present.  Merlin has set up the well to serve as a connection to the modern era, where he enjoys the benefits of Wifi, and plays an online fantasy game, Camelot's Honor, with two ordinary kids, Sophie and Stu. When Merlin realizes he's lost Arthur to the future, he calls Sophie and Stu back into the past.  With the help of Merlin's magic, Stu becomes a stand-in for Arthur, and Sophie goes back to the present to try to bring him back before the future is irrevocably changed.  And Guinevere travels down the well too, to try to do the same.

In our present, things become chaotic.  Already things from the original timeline are different.  Arthur of course is faced with tremendous culture shock, but finds that he quite likes high school--he makes friends with Lance (once Stu's stepbrother, but not in this new present), and joins the football team.  When he reads about himself via google, he is naturally horrified to learn what would have happened if he'd become king, and so when he meets Guinevere at high school, their relationship is strained (especially when Lance falls hard for her....).  More importantly, Arthur has no desire to go back to his rightful time.

Complicating things is the fact that Arthur's half sister, Morgana, has followed him to the future, where, being outside Merlin's protection, he'll be easier to kill!

Now it's up to Sophie to convince Arthur to come home (or else peperoni pizza will never be a thing, and she doesn't want to live in that world), while Stu struggles to hold the fort (literally and figuratively) while the threat of the Saxon invaders looms...

So there's a lot happening, but it all works together really well, and it's a lot of fun!  Merlin, dabbling with modern technology and trying to keep everything together, provides nice humor.  Geek girl Sophie is a delight, and Arthur's ultimate high school triumph is strangely believable.  There's some real-world emotional depth provided by the strain that's entered Sophie and Stu's friendship, when she's afraid he's drifting away from her preferred gamer-geek life, and she's afraid of loosing him (things move past geek gamers vs sports players, though- Sophie and Stu realize you can do both). And of course Arthur's struggle with his destiny, and his own relationship with Guinevere, is hard for him.

Recommended in particular to fans of Vivian Vande Velde's Heir Apparent series, which are also computer gaming mixed with fantasy.  Which is me.  I'll be looking for book 2, Geeks and the Holy Grail, when it comes out this October!

(Of course, the Arthurian past isn't a real "middle ages," but it still serves the story well).

Cover reveal for Rival Magic, by Deva Fagan

It's always so exciting when an author you enjoy has a new book coming.  I'm thrilled to be hosting the cover reveal for Rival Magic, by Deva Fagan; it sounds great, and looks great too!

First the synopsis:

A young wizard’s apprentice discovers that the best magic is not the biggest or the brightest, but the magic unique to you, in this cinematic middle grade fantasy.

Antonia may not be the most powerful wizard the world has ever seen, but she’s worked hard to win her place as apprentice to renowned sorcerer Master Betrys. Unfortunately, even her best dancing turnip charm might not be enough when Moppe the scullery maid turns out to be a magical prodigy. Now that Betrys has taken Moppe on as a second apprentice, Antonia’s path to wizarding just got a bit more complicated.

But when Betrys is accused of treason, Antonia and Moppe are forced to go on the run. To prove their master’s innocence—and their own—the rivals must become allies. As their island province teeters on the brink of rebellion, they’ll face ancient spells, vengeful mermaids, enchanted turnips, voice-stealing forests, and one insatiable sea monster.

Coming from Atheneum Books for Young Readers in April, 2020.

And here's the cover! The art is by Saoirse Lou and the design is by Rebecca Syracuse.

If you missed Deva's earlier books, now's a great time to fix that! Here they are, with links to my reviews:

Fortune's Folly (2009)
The Magical Misadventures of Prunella Bogthistle (2010)
Circus Galacticus (2011)

this week's round-up of mg sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (6/16/19)

Here's what I found this week; please let me know of any posts I missed!  thanks.

The Reviews

Alistair Grim's Odditorium, by Gregory Funaro, at Feed Your Fiction Addiction

Begone the Raggedy Witches, by Celine Kiernan, at proseandkahn (audiobook review)

The Book of Secrets, and The Books of Answers ( Ateban Cipher #s 1 and 2), by A.L. Tait, at Charlotte's Library

Briar and Rose and Jack, by Katherine Coville, at BooksForKidsBlog

The Clockwork Ghost, by Laura Ruby, at Puss Reboots

Dino Knights, by Jeff Norton, at Charlotte's Library

Dragon Pearl, by Yoon Ha Lee, at TBR and Beyond

Fire and Thorn, by Mary Yee, at Nike N. Chillemi

Furthermore, by Tahereh Mafi, at Read Yourself Happy

The Little Grey Girl, by Celine Kiernan, at It's All About the Book

The Monster Catchers, by George Brewington, at My Comfy Chair

The Root of Magic, by Kathleen Benner Duble, at Always in the Middle and Charlotte's Library

Scary Stories for Young Foxes, by Christian McKay Heidiker, at Fuse #8

Thisby Thestoop and the Wretched Scrattle, by Zac Gorman, at Log Cabin Library

Through the Untamed Sky (Riders of the Realm #2), by Jennifer Alvarez, at Children's Books Heal

Authors and Interviews

Tui T. Sutherland (Wings of Fire) at Publishers Weekly

Megan Frazer Blackmore (The Story Web) at Nerdy Book Club

Rajani Larocca, at YAOMG, and ABA

Caroline Carlson (The Door at the End of the World) at SteaMG
https://steamg.org/blog/2019/6/15/an-imposter-in-the-alliance
Chelsea Flagg (Tinsy Clover) at This is Writing

Erin Entrada Kelly (Lelani of the Distant Sea) at Harper Stacks

Adam Jay Epstein (Snared) at What and Why with Max Ross (podcast)

Other Good Stuff

More new books in the UK at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

Movie news--
One of the few Discworld books that I'd label "middle grade," The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents," is coming to the screen, more at Tor
Amari and the Night Brothers, by B.B. Alston, is coming from Universal; more here at The Hollywood Reporter

"Five Magical Realism Books for Kids Who Love Magic" at The Children's Book Review (note from me-is it time for me to just accept that "magical realism" has been co-opted to mean "magic in the real world" and move on with my life?)

Get your Hildafolk feels in real life with these giant wooden sculptures in the forests of Denmark

The Book of Secrets, and The Book of Answers, by A.L. Tait

The Book of Secrets, and The Book of Answers, by A.L. Tait (together comprising the Ateban Cipher duology, Kane Miller, 2019 in the US), tell of a mysterious book and the boy who becomes its protector.  If you like reading about the high.jinks of the plucky medieval kids thwarting bad guys, you'll enjoy these two books lots.

Gabe, the main character, is not the sort of reader who enjoys books about plucky kids thwarting bad guys (although he's never read any).  Growing up in the monastery where he was left as a foundling, he loves the books in the monastic library, and has never thought about living elsewhere. But then an old monk is attacked, and badly injured, and is barely able to hand Gabe a precious book, with an enigmatic command--"take it to Aiden."  When Gabe rushes to find help for Brother Benedict, he finds instead that there's a conspiracy at foot in his monastery, and it's no longer a safe place for him or the book.

Woefully unprepared for life on the outside, Gabe is fortunate to be taken under the wing of a band of brigands.  These aren't ordinary outlaws, though; instead, they are four girls who for various reasons have chosen to live outside the law.  Two are sisters, hoping to save their father from the dungeon of the local stronghold, one is escaping an arranged marriage, and one is a girl whose parents have been killed.

It soon becomes clear that dangerous and powerful men are searching for Gabe and the book, and that these men are plotting against the kingdom.  They've replaced the king's son with a puppet, and now the real prince has joined the band, hoping they can help him get back to his rightful place. Tons of adventures and perils await as Gabe and his new friends race to find the secrets of the book, and set wrongs right.

If you love medieval adventures, you'll enjoy these two books greatly!  Gabe and co. are great characters, and the girls in particular are tons of fun!  Gabe's progression from innocent babe in the wood to someone able to step up to the plate is especially pleasing.  Their escapades strain credulity a bit, but without being over the top unbelievable.  I'm categorizing this as fantasy, although there's no actual magic, because it's set in an alternate version of our world (mostly indicated by the politics--a king who isn't a real historical figure, but also one where paper books existed earlier than our ours), and because the book does seem to have the promise of real alchemy in it.

There's some violence, but nothing horrific, so I'd be happy offering this to readers as young as 8 or 9, the age at which I myself would have especially enjoyed them!  Especially recommended to younger Ranger's Apprentice fans.

disclaimer: review copies received from the publisher

The Root of Magic, by Kathleen Benner Duble

The Root of Magic, by Kathleen Benner Duble (middle grade, Delacorte, June 11 2019), is a poignant story of a girl faced with an almost impossible choice.

Willow's Dad was supposed to take her to her hockey game in New Brunswick.  But when he cancelled at the last minute, Willow's mom took her, and with no other choice, took her little brother, nicknamed Wisp, as well.  Her mother is in a constant state of desperate worry over Wisp, who has been very ill for ages, with no reason found, and no way yet found to help him recover, and her father has pulled away from the family, unable to cope otherwise. Driving home through Maine they are caught by a fierce snowstorm, and their car ends up hanging perilously half over a bridge.  Fortunately, help arrives in the form of the snowplow team of Kismet, a little town in the middle of nowhere, and the three of them are taken in by Cora, who runs the town's only lodging house.

The snow continues, and Maine declares a state of emergency.  And so they are stuck in Kismet, and Willow's mom is almost frantic about Wisp, although he is no worse than usual.  Then she hears that the doctor at the local hospital might be able to help him, and she starts hoping again.  Willow is fed up with everything; she loves Wisp, but doesn't want him subjected to yet another round of futile tests and proddings and no answers.  And she wants to get home, to her friends, and to her father.

Their first snowbound day in Kismet is enlivened by local kids coming round--Topher, a boy a bit older than Willow, and his little brothers.  Willow does enjoy Topher's company over the next few days, but he seems a little weird in an off sort of way, and so does the whole town for that matter....and then her mother starts acting strangely calm and happy, and not at all anxious to leave.  What is it about Kismet that makes it strange?

And so Willow sets herself to finding the heart of the magic (real magic) that flows through the roots of the town.  When she does, she realizes she will have an awful decision to make.  Stay with her brother and mother in a town she'll never be able to leave, or leave them behind for a wild, uncertain future?

I think this is a book kids will love more than mothers do.   Willow's mother has two children, after all, and though I can sympathize with her spending all her emotional energy on her desperately ill child, I still judge her for not having much of anything to give Willow (although driving to New Brunswick in winter shows she does care, so maybe I'm too harsh).   Romantically inclined kids will almost certainly find the attraction between Willow and Topher sweet as all get out.  Kids will also come to the magical element of the story with fresher eyes, and so it will be more intriguing for them.

The final choice that Willow and her mother and Topher face, though, is just as heart crunching for adults as it is for kids, and sheds a retroactive power over the story as a whole.

disclaimer: review copy received from its publicist.

Dino Knights, by Jeff Norton

Today I'm part of the blog tour for Dino Knights, by Jeff Norton, illustrated by George Ermos (elementary/younger middle grade, Awesome Reads, June 6th 2019).  It's a good pick for elementary school kids--a step up from early chapter books, but not quite at true middle grade level, and it has tons of kid appeal for readers who love kids finding out they are special and saving the day, and of course, kids who love dinosaurs!

Henry is a humble dinosaur stable boy, who can only admire from afar the Dino Knights who protect his kingdom of Brecklan, though sometimes his admiration is shaken by the snooty arrogance of some of the knights in training, who are quick to lord it over him.  Henry has a way with dinosaurs, and when the lord he serves is menaced by a T-Rex, Henry rushes to see if he can help.  The savage T-Rex turns docile when Henry speaks to it, and to Henry's own surprise, lets him ride it.  Now Henry has been promoted to Dino Knight in training himself!

When the enemies of Brecklan sent a flock of pterodactyls to attack, and Lord Harding is kidnapped, Henry and the other Dino Knights set off to the rescue.  Once again, Henry's gifts save the day, and he learns the secret of his uncanny abilities.

The dino-riding is great fun, and Henry is a kid many readers will cheer for.  It doesn't break new ground, or have a whole ton of depth, but it's a charming story.  The generously spaced text make it friendly for young readers, and although I can't speak for the dino accuracy (my own knowledge is woefully out of date!), I don't think that even ardent young dino fans will find many bones to pick. And the illustrations heading each chapter are charming! So if you are looking for a good summer read for your rising 4th grader, this seems to me a good one to offer!

This week's round up of middle grade fantasy and sci from around the blogs (6/9/19)

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

The Reviews

Aru Sha and the Song of Death, by Roshani Chokshi, at Nica Fictional Fandoms

Below the Root, by Zilpha Keatly Snyder, at Say What?

Call me Alistair, by Cory Leonardo, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

The Chupacabras of the Rio Grande, by Adam Gidwitz and David Bowles, at Geo Librarian and Liv the Book Nerd

Game of Stars, by Sayantani Dasgupta, at Say What?

House of Many Ways, by Diana Wynne Jones, at Puss Reboots

The Last Last-Day-of-Summer,by Lamar Giles, at Redeemed Reader

The Light Jar, by Lisa Thompson, at Always in the Middle

Midsummer's Mayhem, by Rajani LaRocca, at Ms. Yingling Reads and Charlotte's Library

Nevermore: the Trials of Morrigan Crow, by Jessica Townsend, at Book Nest

The Order of the Majestic, by Matt Myklusch, at Mom Read It

The Revenge of Magic, by James Riley, at Geo Librarian

Spark, by Sarah Beth Durst, at BookCraic

The Story Web, by Megan Frazer Blakemore, at Charlotte's Library

Time Sight, by Lynn  Jonell, at Redeemed Reader

The Time Travel Team: The Great Historic Mystery, by Jordyn Hadden, at Foreward Reviews

The Vengkeep Prophecies, by Brian Farrey, at Tales From the Raven

Wings of Olympus, by Kallie George, at Say What?

Authors and Interviews

Kurt Kirchmeier (The Absence of Sparrows) at From the Mixed Up Files

Other Good Stuff

What's new in the Uk, at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

The finalists for the Mythopoeic awards have been announced, here are the Children's Literature Finalists:

• Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado, The Chronicles of Claudette series: Giants Beware!; Dragons Beware!; Monsters Beware! (First Second) 
• Jonathan Auxier, Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster (Harry N. Abrams) 
• Sarah Beth Durst, The Stone Girl’s Story (Clarion Books) 
• Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead, Bob (Feiwel and Friends) 
• Emily Tetri, Tiger vs. Nightmare (First Second) 

Midsummer's Mayhem, by Rajani LaRocca

Midsummer's Mayhem, by Rajani LaRocca (middle grade, Yellow Jacket, June2019), is a delightful charmer of a book, mixing magic and the real world beautiful in a Midsummer Dream inspired story of family, friends, and baked goods!

Mimi suffers from youngest child syndrome--one big sister is a wonderful dancer (modern dance fused with classical Indian dance), one a wildly talented soccer player, and her big brother is great at acting.  Mimi's a talented baker, inspired by her Indian-American mother's own cooking, but that seems like small beans compared to the rest of the family talents.  The rather depressing summer ahead, with her best friend gone off to Australia, brightens when a new café opens in town, and announces a baking contest for kids, Mimi sets out to win it and show everyone she matters too.  But it is a most unusual café, in which there is magic afoot...

The café is not the only odd thing about this summer.  Mimi follows snatches of music into the woods near her house, and there she finds Vic, a mysterious boy who shares both her Indian heritage and her interest in cooking.  When Vic is in the wood, it becomes a place of strangeness, with wild boars, cobras, and a massive banyan tree.  Mimi accepts it unquestioningly, perhaps a bit bemagiced by it, and hopes that Vic can be her best friend for the summer.

First to fall to the magic is Mimi's father, a food critic, who looses all his gastronomic intelligence and starts eating with insane voraciousness after trying a chocolate from the café.  Then Mimi and Vic start experimenting with the alleged properties of herbs to affect moods...and mayhem breaks out when one of her sisters is besieged by two love-sick swains.

Mimi has to figure out how to undo the magic, and win the baking contest, and both are rather touch and go.  Because Mrs. T., the cafe's proprietress, is none other than Titania, queen of the fairies, and what she wants is usually what she gets.  And this summer, she wants Mimi....

Mimi's challenges, both the real world baking and the magical baking tensions (especially the curse on her father), are sufficient to keep the plot gripping, especially for young foodies!  But we never lose sight of Mimi the person, dealing with her family, and with very relatable anxieties and insecurities, and emerging a more confident person.

It's one that I can imagine being loved both by fans of realistic family and friend stories and by those who crave magic intruding into the real world.  I know Shakespeare's play pretty well, and so I had the great enjoyment of seeing it reworked in a real world setting, but I think it would work just fine for kids who don't know the original.

Basically, if you love the cover (and what's not to love!) you'll love the book.

The Secret Spring: a Mystery Romance for Young People, by Emma Atkins Jacobs

The past few days have been rather harrowing, and I needed something soothing and mindless to read, that came with no obligation or expectation.  I picked The Secret Spring: a Mystery Romance for Young People, by Emma Atkins Jacobs (1944) off my to-be-read pile; I picked it up from my local used bookstore a few months ago, and thought it looked undemanding.

And indeed, it made no demands (except on my credulity) and actually proved more enjoyable than I thought it would.

The spring in the title isn't the season, but a hardware type spring in an old trunk, that our heroine, 16-year old Laurel, impulsively buys at an auction, and what's in the trunk when the secret spring is secret no more is what sparks the mystery, such as it is (not much--two strangers are much too interested in the trunk).  Indeed, though the book advertises itself as a mystery romance, it's really about a shy girl in a musical family who are on tour for the summer in the Chautauqua circuit, who pushes herself to step past her shyness and work on talking to people.  It's a pleasure to see her succeed, and I felt like I picked up some useful tips. She does get a romance, but (surprise!) not one built on realistic friendship.

What I found most unrealistic though is that Laurel (in, I think, 1905) could find in the old trunk a wedding dress at least thirty years old and wear it to perform in without trying it on first to make sure it fits and it does fit perfectly.  The cover suggests she tries it on, but I really don't think she ever does until the big night....also how could that dress be fit into that trunk along with a bunch of other stuff without being mangled to death?

I really enjoyed the Chautauqua setting--I knew nothing about this going in, and it was pretty interesting, with lots of details about the folks in the audience, and the different lectures and performances.  There were lots of small domestic details too, like all the ironing that had to be done by Laurel and her mother....

I also thought it was appropriate that I was reading this on the D-Day anniversary, because it's a wartime book.  Here's the back of the book:

which then sets my mind wondering if there are any books about high school victory chorus members....I would read those books.

And here's the inside back flap:

Perhaps if the publisher hadn't splurged on including a full page reproduction of the cover opposite the title page, we'd have won the war faster.

as an added bonus, the book came with the January 1945 edition of "Young Wings: the Book Club Magazine for Young Americans."   It was fascinating reading, almost like reading a blog.... Llamas were big in 1945.

The Story Web, by Megan Frazer Blakemore

If you are in the mood for a very moving book about the power of stories, and how they connect us to each other, do pick up The Story Web, by Megan Frazer Blakemore! (middle grade, Bloomsbury, June 4, 2019)

Alice's dad was the shining light of her small town in Maine, and the light of Alice's life (her mother is loving too, but very busy), with his stories and fun and ice-hockey playing (Alice is a wicked good goalie).  But then he went to war, and when he came back, he wasn't shining any more, and now he's gone.  He writes her letters, full of love and fully of whimsical mythological reimagined bits of his life, but he doesn't say when he'll come back to her.   Blaming herself, she turns away from her best friend Lewis and her beloved hockey.

When she was five, her father took her into the woods and showed her a giant spider web.  It was a story web, whose spiders were given strength by true stories they were told.  Now the story web is failing, and it seems to be taking Alice's community down with it.  Another girl, Melanie, is the only person who knows of this problem, and she's determined to get Alice and Lewis to help her fix it.  But Melanie is the niece of an eccentric woman the townsfolk say is a witch, and neither she nor her aunt have friends in town.

The world of this town is not just it's people, though.  The animals in the woods around it know about the story web too, and they're sending envoys to Alice so that she can use the gifts for story that she learned from her father to encourage the spiders again.  And so at last Alice, Lewis, and Melanie join forces, and not only is the web restored, but Alice finds the courage to tell her community true stories they need to hear--about her father, about Melanie's aunt, and about herself.

And so the reader gets a pretty strong nudge to think about the power of the stories we tell about ourselves and each other, how the stories we tell can sometimes show more about ourselves than about the people in them, and how stories, whether they are true or not, can change lives. It's not a didactically presented Message, but it is a powerful one.

What's really lovely about this book though is Alice's pain and her struggle through to the other side of it, with help from Lewis, who never wanted to stop caring about her, and Melanie, who never had friends before.  Her dad's struggle with mental illness is moving, and I especially like that he never stopped loving his family, nor they him (mental illness doesn't automatically mean dysfunctional parenting....).

It's warm and loving and hopeful, and the characters (except the not so nice ones) are real and loveable, and although the story web itself requires a huge suspension of disbelief, the thinking animals, acting to save it, bolster the magic and give it a place to stand.  (If you can't believe in the actual web with magical spiders, you can just think of it as a metaphor.)  I think it's my favorite of Megan Frazer Blakemore's books so far...

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

The Edge of Forever, by Melissa E. Hurst

The Edge of Forever, by Melissa E. Hurst (Sky Pony, 2015), is a YA time-travel mystery, with a nascent romance, lots of secrets, nefarious goings on, and murder.  

In the future it's been discovered that some people possess a gene that allows them to time travel, and these people have been taken under the control of the government and trained as historical observers.  In 2146, 17-year-old Bridger is one of these being trained.  On a routine  school-time travel training trip, things go wrong-- he gets distracted by seeing his dead father in the crowd, and partly because of that, his partner is killed.  Now Bridger's determined to find out what his dad was doing at that time and place, and he finds that his father was trying to break the most fundamental rule of time travel.  He was trying to prevent the murder of a 16 year old American girl, Alora.

Back in 2013, Alora has started having blackouts, each time waking up in a different place.  That's not the only thing on her mind--her Aunt Grace is struggling to keep their property, and she has a mystery of her own--what happened to her parents?  A darker mystery is about to shake her community, when one of her classmates is murdered.  And who is the mysterious boy who's shown up unannounced?

It is, of course, Bridger, there illegally to save her from the fire that will claim her life, and maybe save his father in the process.  But he's three months too soon.  And so the two teens have plenty of time to tackle all the mysteries, before being hit at the end with the biggest and most dangerous surprise of all....

This is the sort of book that reminds me why "government/corporate controlled time travel in the future" is generally my least favorite time travel sub-genre.  It's often too confusing (in this case I was confused by aspects of the future world, and all the various jumpings around through time, but this could just be me) and often it's not as magically and emotionally compelling as happenstance time travel.  The fact that half the book is from Alora's realistic quotidian point of view (high school, family uncertainty, asshole boy, classmate murdered....), and that for most of Bridger's point of view he's also reacting to our present day world, with very little culture shock, did not make it more interesting for me.   

One the other hand, the mysteries were engaging, and the last third was gripping (all the answers come Bang at you at the end).   So if you think high school drama, murder, and sci-fi sound like fun, you might well enjoy it.


This stands alone just fine, but there is a sequel--On Through the Never, and though I didn't love this one, I might give it a try.....

this week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (6/2/19)

Here's what I found this week; as ever, please let me know what I missed!

The Reviews

A Box of Bones, by Marina Cohen, at Charlotte's Library

The Curse of Ragman's Hollow, by Rhys A. Jones, at splashesintobooks

The Fairy Tale Detectives, by Michael Buckley, at proseandkahn

The Last Spell Breather, by Julie Pike, at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

The Library of Ever, by Zeno Alexander, at For Those About To Mock

Nevermore: the Trials of Morrigan Crow, by Jessica Townsend, at TBR and Beyond

Order of the Majestic, by Matt Mvklush, at Always in the Middle

Ronan Boyle and the Bridge of Riddles, by Thomas Lennon, at Redeemed Reader

The Root of Magic by Kathleen Benner Duble, at Log Cabin Library

Rumblestar, by Abi Elphinstone, at Snow White Hates Apples

Time Sight, by Lynne Jonell, at Charlotte's Library

The Tragical Tale of Birdie Bloom, by Temre Beltz, at Pages Unbound

Twice Magic (The Wizards of Once, #2), by Cressida Cowell, at Of Books, Photography, and Tea

Two at Lost in Storyland--Spark, by Sarah Beth Durst, and Briar and Rose and Jack, by Katherine Coville

Authors and Interviews

Ronald Smith (The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away), at Middle Grade Book Village

Zeno Alexander (The Library of Ever) at Maria's Melange

Malayna Evans (Jagger Jones and the Mummy's Ankh) at steaMG

Other Good Stuff

"Coming out on top of a bidding war, Universal Pictures has optioned the rights to Amari and the Night Brothers, the debut novel by first-time author B.B. Alston." (Read more at The Hollywood Reporter)

At Dream Gardens podcast, you can hear Roshani Chokshi talking about The Iron Ring, by Lloyd Alexander

A Box of Bones, by Marina Cohen

A Box of Bones, by Marina Cohen (middle grade, Roaring Book Press, May 28 2019), is a lovely and moving book that's part mystery, part fantasy, and part child acquiring greater wisdom story.

12-year-old Kallie is following the path of her no-nonsense father, leading an organized life (a hanger with an outfit for each day of the week, for instance) devoid of whimsy and fanciful imagination.  (Which seemed almost pathological, and definitely unbelievable, to me whose life is the opposite!).  Her grandfather, who's her primary caregiver (her father having a job, and her mother having died years ago), is less rigid in his approach to the world, and so drags Kallie to a local fair.  There a mysterious stranger gives her a puzzle box, and Kallie's life changes.

The puzzle aspect to the wooden box overcomes Kallie's general aversion to inexplicable gifts from strangers, and so she sets out very scientifically to solve it.  When she does, a set of bone cubes with pictures on them fall out, and Kallie finds herself confronted with things she cannot explain.  Her best friend, the similarly scientific Pole Rodriguez, offers practical explanations for the odd occurrences creeping into Kallie's life, but a new classmate, Anna, who's wild imagination is her own coping mechanism, challenges Kallie with her exuberant embrace of the fantastical.  And for sixth grade English she has a teacher who's dragging her into Narnia, despite her best efforts to resist it.

Kallie starts wondering more and more about her mother, a very distant memory, and that story becomes the greatest challenge of all to her controlled, practical world-view.  When she turns on Anna and her stories about her life and rips them apart, wounding her friend greatly, she's forced to awknoldege that imagination is more than a pointless exercise, but something that can bring comfort, which Kallie will need when she finds out the truth about her mother.

Interspersed with Kallie's real-life story is a second story, a fantasy about Leah, a bone-carvers apprentice in a world under the cruel thumb of a tyrannical, murderous queen.  The two stories don't at first seem directly connected, but Leah's story, which seems tied to the bone cubes of the puzzle box, creates a dark and magical shadow for Kallie's ordinary life.  The ordinary life part is only just barely fantastical, but the reverberations of Leah's story make the whole thing magical (and will satisfy readers who are drawn to the book by its promise of fantasy!).  Illustrations by Yana Bogatch enhance the mood of dark fantasy (for readers who unlike me aren't reading so fast and immersedly that they don't see the pictures...sigh.  This is a Failing of mine.)

It is a gripping read (a single sitting one for me) poignant and magical and memorable.  It would make a great book discussion story for sixth graders; I'd love to be part of such a discussion, and pick apart the interconnections of the two stories.

For what it's worth, Kirkus is right there with me on this one, although they're more direct in calling it a mystery.  It is mysterious, but Kallie doesn't actually "solve" the mystery of the puzzle box and why she was given it in the first place, so kids who read mysteries for the sake of following clues along a direct path might feel a tad disgruntled.   I am not one of those readers, being ready to accept that sometimes strange and magical things just happen.

ps:  Kallie goes on to read the subsequent Narnia stories on her own.

ps 2:  this might be my favorite cover of the year so far

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Time Sight, by Lynne Jonell

Time Sight, by Lynne Jonell, is a book that was published last week (Henry Holt, May 14, 2019), but it has very much the feel of classic British time travel from last century (which I love).  It's the story of two American boys, 12-year-old Will Menzies and his little brother Jamie, quickly packed off to relations in Scotland (mother taken hostage while on a medical relief mission, father flying out to try to do something to free her).  Their relations are the caretakers of the old castle of the Menzies family, and in the land of his ancestors, time starts to pull on Will, and his gift of time sight emerges.

Will can focus his minds vision in such a way that it makes windows to different times, through which people and things can pass.  And so Will, Jamie, and their cousin Nan become embroiled in wild and often violent adventures from the ancient past to the middle ages.  "Time hearing" is another gift that their family has, that softens the language barrier.  Not all the time travel is them going back to the past; one adventure involves a Pictish warrior girl coming back to our time, and almost braining a reenactor critical of her authenticity.

The first adventure takes the kids back to the middle ages, where little brother Jamie gets mistaken for the lord's nephew, and taken to life with him.   Will hasn't acquired the skill to fine tune his time windows yet, and so the window he opens to find him takes him to a year later in the past, when Jamie has grown to be at home in the castle, and barely remembers his real life, and has no desire to go home.  I've always been very moved by this emotional complication for time traveling children, and this was no exception.

Will is a great protagonist, realistically sick with worry over his mother and his loss of his little to brother to the past, and then burdened with other responsibilities to the past and the present, but facing those burdens bravely, because there's no other choice.  The rich tapestry of the Scottish landscape and its inhabitants is engrossing, and though there's no time to spare to fully characterize many of the people met in the past, there's enough to them to make it believable that they have lives of their own.

As Will grows more and more tired from his journeys into the past, full of violence that he can't stop, he takes comfort from the one actual place of peace along the timeline--visits with an old monk.  His conversations with the monk lead him to take comfort in the belief that each person can contribute to the light shining against the darkness of the world, and though this philosophy isn't very subtly delivered to the reader, it's a darn good one nonetheless.

Sometimes I wish I could give books to my child self, and indeed that self would have enjoyed this one lots.  But what I'd actually like, in this case, would be to have had a chance to give me in the present the chance to read as if I were my child self  during the summer I was ten (no job, food supplied on demand, no kids to make demands, etc.; in short, no pressures to do anything but enjoy the reading).*   Despite not being in that happy prelapsarian state of grace, I enjoyed it and was moved by it.  I imagine that surely there are young romantic (in the pure sense of the word) history-loving readers like I was still out there, and if indeed there are, I hope they find this book!

My one reservation is that there is rather a lot of adventure packed into one book, making the book rather long; if given the choice, I'd have split it into two or three volumes.

I'm happy to see Kirkus liked it too; here's their starred review.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

*thinking back, however, the summer I was ten was the summer my little sister kept begging me to play monopoly over and over with her, which was annoying when I was trying to read and which just goes to show that uninterrupted sybaritic reading perfection can't actually be found in this imperfect world.

Friday's Tunnel, and February's Road, by John Verney

I have an online friend who is a connoisseur of vintage English children's books, of which I too am fond.  She has the advantage over me in that she is actually English, and so has much greater access to out-of-print books.  For instance, she's enthused repeatedly over the years about the books John Verney wrote about the Callendar family--how much fun they are, how intelligent they are, how much she loves the main characters, etc.

My local public library, which for many years had a fossilized children's collection, still had the third and fourth books when I moved to town, which I snatched up when they were weeded (it was really beautifully serendipitous how I arrived on the scene just as weeding was beginning again), and I have for years kept a look out for the first two--Friday's Tunnel and February's Road, to no avail.  But the first two eluded me, so when I was offered review copies of Friday's Tunnel and February's Road, which Paul Dry Books has just reprinted as affordable paperbacks, I was enthusiastic in my yes please.

February Callendar, the point-of-view character for the first two books, is the oldest girl in a large English family living in an old farmhouse.  Her parents were more interested in playing with words than giving their children sensible names, so her older brother is Friday, although the four younger sisters were spared that joke.  It's not otherwise a tremendously eccentric family (though like ylarge, intelligent, and opinionated fictional English family from the mid-20th century the provide plenty of entertainment) , and their daily lives of arguing about whose turn it is to milk, pony rides, and free range exploration of a wonderfully beautiful bit of the English countryside are fascinatingly different from modern American life.

When the first book, Friday's Tunnel (1959), begins, Friday is fixated on digging a tunnel through the chalk cliff at the edge of their land (with is perhaps a little eccentric), and is actually making progress.   Little do any of the Callendar's know that the tunnel digging is going to result in the family mixed up in an international crisis, involving a strange new mineral from a Mediterranean Island that could (this being the height of the Cold War era) be used to make a weapon even more powerful than the current atomic bombs....February finds herself following the threads of the international mystery that is taking place in her stomping ground until she ends up in real danger.  It's a gripping read, thrilling at times, at others offering the more relaxed pleasure of spending time with an large, interesting family.

The second book, February's Road (1961), presents a new crisis, although on a more local scale.  A new highway is going to be built right against the Callendar's property, cutting them off from the country side they love, and there seems to be no good reason why the area of outstanding beauty was chosen when other routes would have made more sense..  Of course February is against the road, but though she's suspected by some of sabotage, the solution to re-locating the road comes from following the money, and enlisting the help of the press.  So not quite as exciting, but still a fun read.

But what, I wonder, will modern American middle grade youth (for the series, I think, is best suited to 10-12 year olds) make of them?  I'd recommend them to kids who last year enjoyed the Vanderbeeker series for the large, entertaining family overcoming difficulties), or perhaps Sheila Tunage's books (Three Times Lucky, etc.) for the plucky kids solving mysteries in a very real, particular place that's a character of its own, and who enjoy the fantastical--the Callendar family books aren't science fiction, but might well be so strange to the modern readerer that they have the same feel....

Although I'm not as much of a fan as my aformentioned English firiend, I enjoyed the books lots! I'm very glad Paul Dry reprinted the books, and am looking forward to reading my copies of the next two, Ismo and Seven Sunflower Seeds, and then looking for the fifth, Samson's Hoard.  

As an extra bonus, the reprints include the original illustrations by the author, such as this one of the Callendar family Christmas, from February's Road:

And as a final postscript, Paul Dry's Young Reader list is not long, but it is very interesting (and includes a Rosemary Sutcliffe book I don't have, and medieval fiction by Barbara Leone Picard which I have heard is very good.....). I will be very curious to see what they publish next!

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (5/26/19)

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

BREAKING NEWS:  Kidlitcon 2020 will be held in Ann Arbor, Michigan March 27th and 28, 2020!  The organizers this year are Katy Kramp @alibrarymama, Maggi Rhode, @mama_librarian, and Nekenya Yarbrough.  If you have any ideas for panels, or want to know more about being on panel, email kidlitcon@gmail.com.  A website is coming, but until then visit @kidlitcon on twitter.

The Reviews

Anya and the Dragon, by Sofiya Pasternack, at Hit or Miss Books 

Aru Shah and the End of Time, by Roshani Chokshi, at metalphantasmreads (audiobook review)

Boot: Small Robot, Big Adventure, by Shane Hegarty, at thereaderteacher

The First (Endling #2) by Katherine Applegate, at Say What?

The Girl with the Dragon Heart, by Stephanie Burgis, at Say What?

Lalalni of the Distant Sea, by Erin Entrada Kelly, at Abby the Librarian

The Library of Ever, by Zeno Alexander, at J.R.'s Book Reviews and Charlotte's Library

Lingering Echos, by Angie Smibert, at Always in the Middle

Malamander, by Thomas Taylor, at Whispering Stories

Maximillian Fly, by Angie Sage, at Fuse #8

Ogre Enchanged, by Gail Carson Levine, at Book Scents

The Polar Bear Explorers Club, by Alex Bell, at Pages Unbound

The Queen's Secret, by Jessica Day George, at The Story Sanctuary and Charlotte's Library

Ronan Boyle and the Bridge of Riddles (Ronan Boyle #1), by Thomas Lennon, at Say What?

The Shadow Cipher, by Laura Ruby, at 24hryabookblog

Spark, by Sarah Beth Durst, at Ms. Yingling Reads and pamelakramer.com

Spindrift and the Orchid, by Emma Trevayne, at Not Acting My Age

Tilly and the Book Wanderers, by Anna James, at A Dance With Books

We're Not From Here, by Geoff Rodkey, at proseandkahn

and at the B. and N. Kids blog, I made a list of recent series starters that has a lot of fantasy on it....

Authors and Interviews

Dominique Valente (Starfell Willow Moss and the Lost Day), at thereaderteacher (also review)

Rajani LaRocca (Midsummer's Mayhem) at Kidlit411 and, with her agent Brent Taylor, at Literary Rambles

The Library of Ever, by Zeno Alexander, for Timeslip Tuesday

The Library of Ever, by Zeno Alexander (Macmillan, April 30 2019), is a fun fantasy for younger middle grade readers that happens to include a nice bit of time travel in its adventures.

Lenora has been in left in the care of an inattentive and uninterested nanny while her parents are off travelling, and mostly she's bored.  But one day the chance comes to give the nanny a slip at the library, and Lenora escapes to try to find the children's section.  Instead, she finds the opportunity of a life time--a doorway into a marvelous magical library of every book in existence.  Lenora becomes a Fourth Assistant Apprentice Librarian, and is determined to rise through the ranks as quickly as possible.

Her first assignment is to help patrons at the calendar desk, and her first customer is a time travelling robot from the year 8000.  Lenora agrees to travel to the future with the robot to settle a calendrical catastrophe, and she does so in fine intelligent style (and I learned more about leap years!).    Other adventures ensue with different branches of the library, pleasantly episodic, full of quirky details (tardigrades launching themselves into space, for instance, and why not?), and more or less self-contained, reminding me a bit of Edward Eager's books.

All is not fun and games in this great library, though.  The librarians are dedicated to preserving and sharing the light of learning, but there are those working on the side of darkness, who want to suppress knowledge.  Lenora is menaced by agents of the darkness during several assignments, and at the end barely escapes from them.  But to her disappointment, this escapes lands her back in the normal, real-world library.   Only a bit of time travelling help from the robot of her first adventure let her get away, and that bit of time travelling also gives her hope that she'll make it back again.

Fun and detailed adventures, with a strong pro-library, pro-knowledge message (not at all subtle, but certainly worthy), make this a fast, pleasant (and for young readers, even thought-provoking) read.

The Queen's Secret (Rose Legacy book 2), by Jessica Day George

The Queen's Secret, by Jessica Day George (Bloomsbury, May 14, 2019), continues the story begun in The Rose Legacy.    I just read through my review of that one, and was struck by this bit:

 "Me being me, I actually liked all the part before the action and adventure gets going best--orphans exploring new homes and learning to ride is right up my alley!  But I can generously appreciate that many readers do, in fact, enjoy Plot, and so I don't begrudge the wild ride and the political intrigue.  The magic of horse/human communication is something that works better for a child reader; the larger political framework, with hints of imperialism, is more interesting to the adult reader than the love story between girl and horse, but less emphasized in the story."

And so on to The Queen's Secret, which is much more about what is happening in the kingdom, and less about horse love (though that's still here!), and of course Thea, the main character, now has a home and horse and a family.  She doesn't get much time to enjoy them though.  A sickness has been spreading through the kingdom, with many deaths, and most of the people think the horses are to blame.  The kingdom itself is on the brink of war with the kingdom of Kronenhof.  Thea and her friends Jilly and Finn are doing what they can to help, acting as couriers of medicine and news.  Then Thea's evil mother shows up again, and the plot takes a fast tight spin with a set up for a third book that might well be the most plot filled of the series!

Along with Thea, we, the readers, see more of the history of the kingdom in this second book, and more of what the Queen is up against in her efforts to change things (the King is not part of these plans....).  Much of this book is a story of frustration--the set-back of the sickness, with the reluctance of people accept help from the horse couriers is hard on the characters!  But as the book opens up to a bigger story toward its end, there's the promise that change for the better might actually happen (if, of course, war can be averted and Thea's evil mother doesn't keep up her nefarious meddling, which she almost certainly will be doing!).

My only complaint about this instalment of the series is that me being me, I would have like to have stayed longer in the old manor house in the isolated village that's a library/museum, with chapters about the kids sitting around reading books and looking at stuff instead of just the few lovely pages we got, and I wish that one particular part of the ending had been different (I had to skim bits of the ending because of not want to be pained).

That being said, and my own personal feelings set aside, this is a solid fantasy series with strong girls and women, lovely horses, tangled histories and families, and strong friendships. 

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher