Lintang and the Pirate Queen, by Tamara Moss

Lintang and the Pirate Queen, by Tamara Moss (published in the US by Clarion October 2019, originally Random House Australia, 2017), is a fun middle grade fantasy that made a nice change from social distancing, which is something that is impossible on a ship headed out to hunt monsters!

Lintang in many ways is the archetypal mg heroine--the feisty sort who rejects domesticity and gets into trouble as a result.  She longs for adventures in the world outside her island home, dreaming of becoming a slayer of predatory mythies (magical creatures ranging from small annoyances to huge terrors),  just like her idol, Captain Shafira, the so-called "Pirate Queen."  When Shafira actually comes to visit her island (a south Asian-like place), Lintang sees the chance to make her dreams come true--an islander is needed to ensure safe passage from a monstrous mythie who prowls the ocean off the island.

Shafira's crew is an unusual collection of women, and one trans boy; the only thing they have in common is their loyalty to their captain.  But obedience isn't Lintang's strong point.  When she finds that her best friend, a boy named Bayani, has smuggled himself on board in a desperate attempt to reach the empire that controls much of the known world, she keeps him secret, even though he won't explain himself to her.  Shafira is forced to punish Lintang when Bayani is discovered, but when she disobeys again, she finds herself put ashore in the empire along with Bayani.  Shafira supports Bayani's mission once she finds out what it is, but can't risk herself to help him (there's a price on her head).  There in the empire Lintang faces an almost impossibly test of her loyalty to the pirate queen, and passes it.

But that, though it's exciting, isn't the high point of the story. The two kids, back on board, must face an even more dangerous adventure...one that changes Lintang's understanding of the mythies forever...

So on the surface this a story of monster hunting and adventure, and there's plenty of that sort of fun.  But at its heart this is a story of Lintang's growth, and the internal struggles that entails.  She's not really likeable, but she's interesting, and Bayani, the kind, level-headed member of their duo, is a good counter-weight.

The story is also given depth by the geo-political framework of an empire looking to expand, withholding life saving medicine from non-absorbed lands.  And the truth about the mythies is a bombshell both for the characters who've grown up thinking of them primarily as dangerous, or at best annoying, monsters (pages from the Mythie Guidebook interspersed with the story add pleasant interest).

In short, though it's a rollicking adventure that will please any young reader who longs to explore the wide wild world outside their home, it's also a story of friendship, and learning how to choose to be the person you want to be.  I myself not wild about pirates and sea voyages and monster hunting, and wild, disobedient girls having adventures, but even so I enjoyed this plenty.

nb: in a rather nice touch, the transgender boy's gender identity is so real that he, like any other boy, is in danger from the lure of the siren mythies. There aren't many trans characters in middle grade fantasy so it's good to have him included in a matter-of-fact, this is who this person is and it is not remarkable, sort of way.

The Green Door, by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

The Green Door, by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1910), is, as far as I know, the first American time travel story for children.  At this point, Nesbit had published her wild and wonderful time travel books (like The Story of the Amulet), but the genre was still in its infancy.  The Green Door is nowhere near as fantastical as Nesbit's books; it's  a very early 20th century American sort of book, written when "colonial times" were romanticized and respected, and as such it's a product of its time (there are savage "injuns"), but it's a solid story that's not without charm.

Letitia Hopkins lives in the old family home with her Great-Aunt.  She's not a very appealing child; rather entitled and lazy; she has lots of books, for instance, but prefers daydreaming of wealth and possessions to reading.  In her aunt's house there's a little green door, that's always locked.  It's a strange door, set in an outside wall, but with no sign of it on the outside.  Her Aunt refused to answer any questions about it--"It is not best for you to know" she says, which naturally makes Letitia even more curious.  Then one day when Letitia is left alone, she rummages through her aunt's things, and finds the key.

The door opens, and Letitia finds herself in a cold night-time woods.  "And suddenly Letitia heard again those strange sounds she had heard before coming out, and she knew that they were savage whoops of Indians, just as she had read about them in her history-book, and she saw also dark forms skulking about behind the trees, as she had read." She's rescued by an early colonial family, who take her in to their log house.

To her amazement, she's not the only Letitia Hopkins; the mother and the oldest girl are named that too, and she realizes that these are her ancestors.  There's no sign of the door at first, and she resigns herself to colonial, Puritan life, eating food she doesn't like, learning domestic tasks she's never had any patience for back home, and going to boring Puritan church.  When she does find the green door back in the past, she's scared to go through it again, lest she find herself somewhere worse. Then she meets a boy with a story similar to her own, who she remembers actually meeting in her own time.  He came into the past through a book, and like her, he's afraid to go through again...

But Letitia finally screws her courage up to go through, and finds herself home again, with no time having passed.  She's been improved by her visit to the past, and is a much better child.  The boy makes it back safely too.

It's very short, and I really am not fond of the cliché of savage Indians, but it's full of lovely details of the past that are brought vividly to life.  The door itself is a lovely portal, beautifully described.  I liked it well enough so that I'll keep Freeman's name in mind for future library book sales; I read this online through google books, and wouldn't mind at all having a copy of my own for my time travel collection.  She was very well known during her lifetime, and was the first recipient of the William Dean Howells Medal for Distinction in Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1926.

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (5/3/20)

Welcome to this week's round-up of what I found around the internet; please let me know if I missed your post (bloglovin, where I do most of my searching, was very glitchy today, so I probably missed lots....)

The Reviews

Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes, by Roshani Chokshi, at Feed Your Fiction Addiction

Charlie Hernandez and the League of Shadows, by Ryan Calejo, at A Garden of Books

Crater Lake, by Jennifer Killik, at Twirling Book Princess

Fire in the Star, by Kamilla Benko, at Geo Librarian

Ghost Squad, by Claribel A. Ortega, at The Caffinated Reader

The House of Dead Maids, by Clare B. Dunkle, at Twirling Book Princess

Jinxed, by Amy McCulloch, at Charlotte's Library

Lightning Girl! by Alesha Dixon & Katy Birchall, at BooksYALove

The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre, by Gail Carson Levine, at Elizabeth Van Tassel

Malamander, by Thomas Taylor, at Log Cabin Library

The Music the Stars Sang by T.L. Cervantes, at Book Bustle

Peregrine Harker and the Black Death by Luke Hollands, at Say What?

Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes, by Jonathan Auxier, at Leaf's Reviews

Rebel in the Library of Ever, by Zeno Alexander, at Jazzy Book Reviews

Seed Savers: Lily (Book 2) by Sandra Smith, at Children's Books Heal

The Tombs of Atuan, by Ursula Le Guin, at Tor

The Vanishing Trick, byJenni Spangler, illustrated by Chris Mould, at Book Craic and bookloverjo

The Way Past Winter, by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, at Fantasy Literature

Authors and Interviews

Zeno Alexander (Rebel in the Library of Ever) at The Winged Pen

Claribel Ortega (Ghost Squad) at Diverse Book Corner

Carlie Sorosiak (I Cosmo) at Middle Grade Ninja podcast


Other Good Stuff

If you missed Everywhere Book Fest when it was live, you can still catch up! Lots of great MG sff authors.

New in the UK, at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

I loved this look at magical realism in YA at Tor. "The important part is not to use the term lightly. There is a historical weight that comes with it, representing cultures and people. More than that, it stands for a fire born from years of questioning the reality of oppression. Labeling a book “magical realism” demands to take into consideration the historical context and those that paved the way for this outlet to speak up, speak loudly, and speak proudly."  I've often been bothered by people using the term for any middle grade book with magic set in the real world, so I was nodding my head off.

We Are Power: How Nonviolent Activism Changes the World, by Todd Hasak-Lowy

We Are Power: How Nonviolent Activism Changes the World, by Todd Hasak-Lowy (April 2020, Abrams Books for Young Readers), is a great read for teens interested in political activism, or even adults who need catching up on the 20th century (a lot of which wasn't covered in history class when we were kids, because of being current events...).

It presents 30-40 pages discussions of various key non-violent movements, centered on their leaders: Gandhi and Indian Independence, Alice Paul and votes for women, Martin Luther King Jr. and Project C, Cesar Chaves and the Farmworkers Movement, and Vaclav Havel and the Velvet Revolution, and finally a look at Greta Thunberg's climate activism.

The language is clear and concise, making the history accessible reading.  There's lots and lots of detail, making particular incidents come to life vividly,  but no so much that the overall points are lost.  For those not familiar with these particular movements, it's eye-opening, and even those who have a cursory familiarity will learn lots (raises hand).  It was also interesting to ask my mother about her first-hand recollections of some of the movements discussed (she did not buy grapes during the Farmworkers strike, which was a relief),  and if this book were to be used in a classroom, interviewing older family members would be a really neat activity!

My own kids learned most of their political history from the internet, but books like this are, I think, a better place to start, being more trustworthy. (I tend to trust academics, like Todd Hasak-Lowry, more than I do miscellaneous content creators on-line).

I don't think I myself am qualified to actually critique this book (I'm not expert enough to question conclusions or note gaps), but I learned lots, and found it a gripping and fast read (the short intense bursts of information on each movement were not at all a slog!).  If I were teach a high-school class that included 20th century history, I'd make this required reading!  And I hope that these stories of individual action leading to big changes will inspire the next generation of impassioned young leaders!

disclaimer: review copy received from its publicist.

Jinxed, by Amy McCulloch

I'm working my way through all the library books I had checked out before they closed (there were a lot of them; when I feel despondent at work I place library holds, and I guess I felt despondent a lot in March...).  In any event, this week I reached Jinxed, by Amy McCulloch (middle grade, Sourcebooks, Jan 2020 in the US), and what a very nice read it was!

Lacey Chu dreams of one day working for MONCHA, the premier tech company in North America that became rich and famous after its founder, Monica Chan, invented "baku," customizable robotic pets that are both smart phones etc. and companions (like Philip Pullman's daemons, but internet connected and needing to be charged).

Lacey thinks she'll be accepted to Profectus, the feeder academy for MONCHA.  She has the grades, and she's a whizz at repairing baku; she's made her apartment's basement storage space into her own workshop.  But she's rejected.  Instead of being launched into a career as a companioneer, designing the next generation of baku with a high level companion of her own, she has to make do with a basic level insect baku, and ordinary school.

Just when she's most miserable, she finds the remains of a baku in a muddy gully. It's recognizable cat-shaped, but mangled horribly.  All summer she works to fix it, marveling while she works at the sophistication of its design, which is like nothing she's ever seen, and she succeeds in restoring it to functionality.

 Right after it wakes up, she gets an acceptance letter to Profectus, and it seems like her dreams will come true. Jinx, as she calls him, is no ordinary baku.  He has a mind of his own, far from the complacent and unquestioning co-operation of ordinary companions.  And though Jinx opens doors to her, such as landing her a place in the competitive club of elite baku dueling at school, he also lands her into a world of trouble.

Jinx isn't supposed to exist, and there are powerful people who want to make sure he doesn't.

But he is real, and alive, and Lacey loves him...and she'll do anything to save him.

So for starters, this is a story about girls (not just Lacey) with mad tech skills.  Lacey's a maker constantly scavenging for materials to tinker with (money is tight in her home, so she has to find rather than buy what she needs),  and other girls are coders, and electronics whizzes (and founders of tech companies!).  It's also a friendship story, with one plot point being Lacey struggling to be a good friend to her bestie from her old school.  There's a bit of upper middle school romance, and considerable competition at school (Lacey must prove she has what it takes to be worthy of Profectus, and there's a nasty rich boy who hates her and wants to drive her out).  The school's baku battles are like mini-Hunger Games arena tournaments, adding excitement to the unfolding of the larger plot, and giving Lacey a chance to prove her tech credibility.  And on top of all this, there's also the mystery of Jinx--what is he?  And what does he have to do with troubling goings-on at MONCHA?

And as the final sci--fi icing on the cake, there's the question of whether an independent, intelligent, self-aware construct, which Jinx is, has the right to be autonomous.

The only part of all this that didn't work for me was the romance--the older, rich, good-looking boy in question reciprocated her interest too quickly and too easily for me to swallow it, but the target audience, not being as jaded as me, probably won't mind this at all.

It's a really fun read, especially if you like girls focused on their particular interest, and doing it brilliantly!  (if you like cats, you'll love it even more).  The sequel, Unleashed, came out in the UK last August, and I hope it gets here soon!

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (4/26/20)

A rather light round-up this week; I know that I myself am having trouble reading and writing reviews because of all the things...it's hard not to just fall back on old comfort reads.  Stay safe, everyone!

The Reviews

A Face Like Glass, by Frances Hardinge, at Vox

Ghost Squad, by Claribel A. Ortega, at Puss Reboots, A Dance With Books, and Log Cabin Library

Mulan: Before the Sword, by Grace Lin, at Charlotte's Library

Orla and the Serpent's Curse, by C.J. Haslam, at A little but a lot

Rival Magic, by Deva Fagan, at Jill's Book Blog

Small Spaces, by Katherine Arden, at Reading Between the Dunes

The Strangeworlds Travel Agency, by L.O. Lapinski, at Book Craic

Story Thieves, by James Riley, at Say What?

The Wild Way Home, by Sophie Kirtley, at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

The Witches of Willow Cove, by Josh Roberts, at The Comfy Reader

Authors and Interviews

Lorial Ryon, and agent Kristy Hunter (Into the Tall, Tall Grass), at Literary Rambles

Gracie Dix (Welcome to Superhero School) at MG Book Village

Mulan: Before the Sword, by Grace Lin

Grace Lin's Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a beloved classic, a story of a brave girl on a heroic quest that's sign-posted by stories.  Mulan: Before the Sword, her newest middle grade novel (Disney-Hyperion Februaru 2020), is another adventure in China of long ago, with another brave girl, on an adventure full of mythology and story and magical danger that is just as enchanting!

Mulan, clumsy and awkward, knows she's not a model daughter, like her sister Xia. But this hasn't made them any less fond of each other.  And so when Xia is bitten by a venomous spider, Mulan is willing to do whatever it takes to save her.  The Jade Rabbit of the Moon, the great healer of the immortals, just so happens to be in the nearby village in the guise of a man*, but the spider's poison is so strong that even he cannot save Xia without certain ingredients, including a flower that grows in the garden of the Queen Mother of the West.  But before the Rabbit can make the journey, two foxes (one white and one red) attack him, and he is poisoned by their bites, and cannot travel in his usual celestial way.  Mulan has a beautiful black horse, though, and volunteers to ride to the Queen Mother's garden with him.

And so they set off, but the white fox is no ordinary creature.  The reader learns about her twisted past and twisted schemes in the present both from the stories Rabbit tells as they travel, and through chapters from the perspective of the red fox, who is the white fox's unwilling servant.  The white fox, for reasons rooted in her dark past, wants Mulan's sister to die, and throws magical obstacles and dangers in the way of Mulan and the Rabbit.

Though in many ways it's a harrowing journey, and the White Fox is a conniving and sadistic antagonist, when I reached the end and considered it as a whole, it seemed to me a joyful book.  All the characters from the side stories are slotted into place, her sister is saved, the grown-up characters (Rabbit and another helpful divinity) are both supportive in a really nice way, and Mulan realizes that she has a great purpose in life.  I was a tad worried about this being a Disney tie-in, but Grace Lin has done a wonderful job making a new and heart-warming story.

Highly recommended!  I even enjoyed it more than the Mountain Meets the Moon books, although I did miss the beautiful illustrations in those books.

*because Mulan meets the Rabbit as a man, she genders them as "he", though they also can appear as as a woman; Rabbit does not object to this, and so I will also use "he/him."

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (4/19/20)

Welcome to this week's collection of mg sci fi/fantasy from my blog reading! I've put stars next to the new releases in the US to remind you all to think about buying them because I feel so darn bad for their authors.  Please let me know if I missed any that should be starred, or if I missed your post so I can quickly add it!

The Reviews

The Billy Goat Curse, by Amber Lee Dodd, at Book Murmuration

Brittle's Academy for the Magically Unstable, by Lily Mae Walters, at Jazzy Book Reviews

Cog, by Greg van Eekhout, at proseandkahn and Falling Letters

Cursed (Fairy Tale Reform School #6) by Jen Calonita, at Sharon the Librarian

*Beast: Face-to- Face with the Florida Bigfoot, by Watt Key, at Ms. Yingling Reads

*A Game of Fox and Squirrels, by Jenn Reese, at alibarymama

*Ghost Squad, by Claribel A. Ortega, at alibrarymama

Greenglass House, by Kate Milford, at Bridget and the Books

Keeper of the Lost Cities, by Shannon Messenger, at Looped On Life

Lalani of the Distant Sea, by Erin Entrada Kelly, at Falling Letters and Randomly Reading

*Misadventures of a Magician's Son, by Laurie Smollett Kutscera, at Always in the Middle

*Nevertell, by Katharine Orton, at Charlotte's Library

Ollie Oxley and the Ghost: The Search for Lost Gold, by Lisa Schmid, at The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow

The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norman Juster, at The Children's Book Review

Riverland, by Fran Wilde, at Fantasy Literature

The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani, at A Backwards Story

*The Wolf of Cape Fen, by Juliana Brandt, at Charlotte's Library

The Words of the Wandering (Crowns of Croswald #3), by D.E. Night, at The Children's Book Review

Two at Ms. Yingling Reads--*Bloom, by Kenneth Oppel, and *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes, by Roshani Chokshi

Three at Alittlebutalot--The House of Hidden Wonders, by Sharon Gosling, The Wild Way Home, by Sophie Kirtley, and Sky Pirates: Echo Quickthorn and the Great Beyond, by Alex English

Authors and Interviews

Jess Redman (*Quintessence) at Nerdy Book Club

Deva Fagan (*Rival Magic) with giveaway at YA Books Central

Other Good Stuff

"Middle Grade Horror: What Makes It...It" at The Midnight Society

August might or might not be coming quickly, and that's when the call for judges will go!  If your interested, now's the time to start reading the genre of your choice (perhaps Elementary/middle grade speculative fiction?)!  Join the Cybils Awards TBR Reading Reading Challenge to share the great books you find along the way (runs from 4/15/2020 to 6/15/2020).

I like to compare covers from the UK with the US covers, so thought it would be fun to add this here.  Which Nevertell cover appeals more to you? (I'd buy both myself, but I think the one on the right is more unique and compelling....

 

Nevertell, by Katharine Orton

Nevertell, by Katharine Orton (Walker Books US, April 14, 2020), is a rare example of middle grade historical fantasy, something I'm surprised there's not more of (I wish there were more of it!).  It's a magical, chilly read about a brave girl finding her magic and confronting evil.

"Never tell children about things they cannot see." This was one of the unbreakable rules in the Stalinist Soviet Union, and Lina's grandfather broke it. That, and speaking against the government, got him and his daughter sent to a labor camp in the pitiless wilds of Siberia, and it was there that Lina was born.

The camp is the only world she's ever known. Her life there is better than that of the other prisoners; she works in the greenhouse instead of in the mines, she has a friend, Bogdan, a boy near her own age, and her mother's skill at card games has won small favors that have helped, a little, make it bearable. But when there's a chance for Lina to escape, she must take it, though it means leaving her mother behind.

Bogdan inserts himself into the escape as well, and though the two tough men who have masterminded it don't want him, he can't be sent back to betray them. They don't actually want Lina along either; her mother had promised that if they brought her to her grandmother's house in Moscow, they'd be rewarded, but in the snowy wilderness outside the camp, the unlikely promise of the reward is of less value than her a share of the meager provisions. Lina and Bogdan barely manage to escape being murdered.

In the freezing night, a new danger comes--shadow wolves are out hunting. The men are attacked, but somehow the wolves are unable to harm the two children. This in turn draws the attention of the wolves' mistress, the terrifying sorceress Svetlana, who hates all humans with an unreasonable passion. Lina and Bogdan must now escape from her before they join her ranks of shadow slaves, and must find their own way to Moscow, an impossible journey they have no choice but to take.

With a little shadow girl who's escaped the witch's clutches to join them, they set out through the snow...and Lina's growing sense of her own magic, and some very good luck, keeps them alive. But Svetlana is still hunting them, Lina's mother is still imprisoned, and they are miles and miles away from Moscow....

It's a gripping journey. Lina, brave and scared and confused, and realizing she has powers of her own, is a great character, but I personally liked Bogdan, mapmaker and loyal comrade, even more. The best part, though, in my mind was the way the real-world horrors of Stalin's iron rule make a satisfying counterpoint to the magical danger of Svetlana. Both are constant dangers. There's enough about life in the Stalinist Soviet Union (though not much history of events) to make this a great one to accompany more formal education, something I wholeheartedly recommend; my own sense of the past owes almost as much to reading historical fiction like this as it does to classroom time! (There's a teacher's guide available).

Unlike Stalinism, Svetlana turns out to be more than just an evil antagonist. I wasn't satisfied by her character development, which was more than a bit abrupt, and this diminished my personal enjoyment of the book. But in middle grade fiction, I'm amenable to sacrificing some nuance if it means a more exciting story, as is the case here. Incidentally, we don't learn the specifics of Svetlana's origins; she not native to the human world, and came to Siberia from warmer lands, so though there are echos of Russian folktales like Baba Yaga, I was content to think of her as some sort of djinn.

In any event, I don't think the lack of time spent filing in all the blanks is something kids will be bothered by. They'll be too engrossed in the whirlwind of adventures both magical and more mundane!

This is Katharine Orton's debut novel, and I look forward to reading what she writes next!

The UK cover is at the right; it is also lovely, but in this case I think I am more drawn to the US version, which I think does a better job of linking the fantasy side of things to the real world. Which do you like better?)




disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

The Wolf of Cape Fen, by Juliana Brandt

These past few weeks I've spent more money on new books from local bookstores than I usually do in a whole year, which is a win on multiple levels--the excitement of the parking lot pickup (phone call, wrapped book emerges, is placed on pavement by hooded figure, who then withdraws, allowing you to approach it), the pleasure of treating yourself to books you really want to read right now, and the pleasure of self back patting for supporting authors and indie stores.

In a nutshell, I just read with great enjoyment The Wolf of Cape Fen, by Juliana Brandt (Sourcebooks, April 2, 2020).

The people who live on Cape Fen are trapped there, by the magic of the mysterious Baron Dire and his wolf.  The Baron's magic is there for the taking, for those willing to bargains for it, and take their chances with it's twisted results.  A few have left the island, but the cost of those bargains is especially high.  11-year-old Eliza doesn't know the details of the bargain her mother made to leave almost 4 years ago, but knows she must look after her little sister Winnie as best she can.

But when the baron's wolf attacks Winnie, Eliza is terrified that Winnie was the thing her mother bargained away.  She's determined to find out all she can about the Baron's magic, and her mother's choice to invoke it.  And so begins her exploration of her home's twisted past, and all the twisted bargains folks have made, that takes her into the Baron's own home and into the dreams of her neighbors.  Time seems to be running out in her quest for answers; Winnie is changing...touched by someone's wish granted long ago.  And Eliza must use all her cleverness to twist the magic to save them both.

It's a lovely story of sibling love, full of magic and mystery!  There's more nuance to the Baron and his magic than Eliza had realized, and lots of  tangles of people and their pasts on Cape Fen for her to unravel.  The place and the people are all vivid and compelling, and Brandt's writing makes you almost feel like you are right there on this cold, grey island, full of rich and strange transformations of dreams into reality.  There's a feel of Patricia McKillip to it, and a feel similar to Kelly Barnhill, noth of whom I love, and of course more generally I am Right There for books about sisters.  This did not disappoint.

This is Juliana Brandt's debut, and I can't wait to see what she writes next! (in short, no regrets whatsoever about my perilous trip to the bookstore parking lot).

The Night of Your Life, by Lydia Sharp, for Timeslip Tuesday

This week's Timeslip Tuesday book, The Night of Your Life, by Lydia Sharp (Scholastic, March 2020) is one of the Groundhog Day type, in which the same events get replayed over and over. In this case, it's night after night of prom, all alike in going horribly wrong, but different in the particulars of disaster.

JJ has been looking forward to Prom Night almost since he started high school and became friends with Lucy. They'd agreed early in their friendship that if they didn't have "real" dates they'd go with each other, and this is what they are going to do--best, best friends enjoying a wonderful evening together. Except that when JJ almost crashes his car on the way to pick her up, his evening gets derailed, with disastrous consequences for Lucy. And she tells him their friendship is over.

But then he falls asleep, only to wake up again getting ready to go pick Lucy up....and maybe if he makes different choices, they'll have their perfect night. Nope, and nope the next night, and more nopes. Soon JJ's worry about a perfect prom becomes a worry about being caught in a chaotic time loop forever....and the loop gets even more complicated when he finally figures out what's obvious to just about everyone else--that he and Lucy are, in fact, more than friends. And when JJ finally realizes this (Lucy had figured it out before prom), and they kiss, then romance is thrown into the chaos as well.

Not surprisingly, things work out in the end....

There's a lot of queer representation with side characters--trans and gay friends, and JJ's lesbian moms--and though he doesn't label himself, JJ is pretty clearly demiromantic. He and Lucy make a good couple, and the tension of cheering for their relationship to work is a nice counterpoint to the tension of the time loop.

The time looping itself was never quite explained--there are two different possible triggers, and a possibly magical groundhog. But this lack of decisive clarity isn't bothersome as this is more a YA romance than a sci fi/fantasy story. It is a good thing JJ has his time loop experiences, because he needed this to be forced to think dispassionately (and later passionately) about his relationship with Lucy. It was a good kick in the pants for him.

In short, though it wasn't a book I found earth shakingly wonderful, it was a very fun read!


disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Deeplight, by Frances Hardinge

Deeplight, by Frances Hardinge (Amulet Books, April 14 2020 in the US: Macmillan, October 2019 in the UK) is a thrilling adventure full of monsters and magic and mystery.  Recommended to those who like plucky protagonists (who take a while to realize they are plucky) facing impossible odds; not recommended to those terrified of deep dark oceans and those who cannot stand reading about toxic friendships.

The waters surrounding the long chain of islands known as the Myriad were once home to gods.  Monstrous gods, horrifying in form, rising periodically from the mysterious Undersea to bring murderous destruction to the islands.  Thirty years ago, the gods turned against each other, and when this story begins, they are only a memory; their body parts valuable and much sought after.

15-year-old Hark relies on his glib tongue to scrounge a living on one of the islands.  But his best mate, Jelt, has bigger ideas for the two of them.  When one of his schemes goes wrong, Hark is caught, and sentenced to being an indentured servant for three years.  His new master is a scientist, studying the remnant bits of the old gods, which are still full of their monstrous puissance.  Her base is an island that's home to the gods' former priests, aging men and women who say little about their past lives as the interface between the gods and the islanders.  Hark's ability to figure out what people want to hear stands him good stead in his new life, but his uncomplicated path back to freedom is blown sky high when Jelt appears back in his life.  As always, Jelt can bend Hark's will to his own, playing him skillfully until he goes along with Jelt's plans.

This particular plan is one of the maddest Jelt has ever come up with--a deep dive in a stolen submersible to look for bits of god, each worth a fortune.  It almost ends with Jelt's death then and there, but instead it ends with the recovery of the most remarkable, magical piece of one of the monsters ever--the heart of a god.

The heart's power begins to change Jelt, slowly, inexorably, and horribly.  Hark wants to save him, but unless he acts quickly, there won't be anything of Jelt left to save.  And as Hark dives deeper and deeper into the truths about the gods, and gets caught in the plots of men and women in the present wanting to use them for their own ends, he is forced to pit himself against all the strange and twisted magical power of the Undersea, power that is rising again to threaten the islands with a return to horror as part of everyday life.

Toxic relationships are everywhere in this story.  Hark is bound to Jelt by loyalty and memory of better times, and struggles to wriggle free to be his own person.  Selphin, a girl his age "seakissed" with deafness after a deep dive gone wrong, who is the daughter of a smuggler queen trying to profit from the heart's power, is likewise both bound to her mother and desperate to be her own self.  Her victory over her personal demons is essential to the success of Hark's desperate efforts to keep the islands safe.  And also playing an essential role is one of the old priests, whose toxic relationship with the gods years ago inadvertently set the current story in motion.  The islanders themselves had a toxic relationship with the gods, dazzled by their power, and feeling a lack when it was gone, and that power was in turn part of a larger geo-political reality, which I appreciated)....As a reader, I wanted the main characters to break free.  But though it was hard to watch them suffering, it certainly made them more interesting.

Pretty early in my reading, I started to be strongly reminded of Six Moon Dance, by Sherri Tepper, and that made me more nimble in figuring out was happening in advance (unusual for me).  This didn't at all diminish my interest in the complicated particulars of this story, and the mad, bad, dangerous magic of its world. Reading one of Hardinge's books is a lot like listening to music--she hits notes that resonate sharply and distinctly which then are woven into dark dreamlike themes (although this perhaps forced metaphor might well be is in my head directly as a result of the ways "god glass" in the story is tuned to notes that reshape it in marvelous ways).  Regardless, it all has very clear sensory impact--vivid, detailed, hallucinogenic in places.

There was one bit that I felt could have been better dealt with; no one in the story seems to be as worried as I am about other lost hearts spawning other new gods, or about how the first lot of gods came to be, and if the same thing could happen again.  The status quo seems very precarious.  But there were many bits I loved, especially the parts in which Hark gets to really live up to his true self (and to his name), listening to stories, and gathering them safely up.

It's not my favorite of Hardinge's books (Cuckoo Song and A Face Like Glass are more to my personal taste), but I am sure that looking back on 2020, this will stand out as one of the most memorable books of the year.  Not just because of the brilliant writing, but because of the message the story left me with--that "powerful" shouldn't be confused with right, or good, or natural, and that placation is a dead end.

Here's the UK cover, which I prefer (I'm not a huge tentacle fan).

disclaimer: review copy received from the book's publicist

this week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction (4/12/20)

Happy Easter to all celebrating, and 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).

The Reviews

The Bookwanderers (Pages & Co. #1) by Anna James, at Log Cabin Library

The Cat Ninja: and a Cabal of Shadows, by Erik DeLeo, at A Garden of Books

Enchanter’s Child: Twilight Hauntings by Angie Sage, at Waking Brain Cells

A Game of Fox and Squirrels, by Jenn Reese, at Charlotte's Library

Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega, at Books4yourkids and Charlotte's Library

The Girl Who Lost Her Shadow, by Emily Ilett, at Books YA Love

Lalani of the Distant Sea, by Erin Estrada Kelly, at Not Acting My Age

The Mystwick School of Musicraft, by Jessica Khoury, at Pages Unbound

Orla and the Serpent’s Curse, by C. J. Haslam, at Library Girl and Book Boy

Rewritten(Unwritten #2)by Tara Gilboy, at J.R.'s Book Reviews

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, by Carlos Hernandez, at Dead Houseplants and Fantasy Literature

Spark and the League of Ursus, by Robert Repino, at Hidden In Pages 

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt (recently reissued in the UK), at Magic Fiction Since Potter

Twist, by Sarah Cannon, at Children's Books Heal

Unwritten (Unwritten #1) by Tara Gilboy, at J.R.'s Book Reviews

Viper’s Daughter, by Michelle Paver, at Library Girl and Book Boy

A Wish in the Dark, by Christina Soontornvat, at Michelle I. Mason

A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula Le Guin, at Tor

Three at Ms. Yingling Reads--The Threshing, by Tim Grahl, June's Wild Ride (Last Kids on Earth #6), by Max Brallier and Douglas Holgate, A Game of Fox and Squirrels, by Jenn Reese

Authors and Interviews

Damien Love (Monstrous Devices) at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

Laurie SMollett Kutscera (The Misadventrues of a Magician's Son) at Author June McCrary Jacobs

Other Good Stuff

The Hugo Award Finalists have been announced; here's the list for the Lodestar Award for Best YA (with Dragon Pearl and Minor Mage for middle grade readers!)

More that's new in the UK, from Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

A Game of Fox and Squirrels, by Jenn Reese

A Game of Fox and Squirrels, by Jenn Reese (middle grade, Henry Holt, April 14, 2020), is a beautiful, gripping, tear-jerking story of two girls taken in by their aunts when their father's abuse becomes impossible to keep secret any longer.

Sam and her big sister Caitlin have grown up used to their father's mood swings and their mother's complicity in his abuse (which is both mental and not life-threateningly physical).  But when he breaks Caitlin's arm, they must leave their home in California to go stay with their father's sister and her wife in a small, remote house in Oregon.  Neither girl is happy about this, and Sam is sure that they'll be going home soon.

Her new room is cluttered with her aunt's stuff, and rummaging through it she finds an old game,  A Game of Fox and Squirrels, with beautiful cards showing the animals.  The squirrels must store food in order to survive the winter, but must always be wary of the fox.  Sometimes the fox is charming, but sometimes he is hunting...and went that happens the squirrels are in danger. "Stay vigilant, brave squirrels" warns the game.

Sam and Caitlin and their aunts all face a difficult period of adjustment.  The girls have been trained to know that mistakes like clumsiness, or wrong words or wrong tones of voice, bring anger like lightning out of clear sky, and it takes a while for them to realize that this isn't going to happen any more.  For their aunt, it brings back the trauma of her own childhood, when the same thing happened to her and her brother.  For Caitlin, there is the huge relief from being the big sister whose job it is to keep the grown-ups from getting angry.  Sam, though, is still sure they will be going home soon, to their parents, where they belong....

And then she meets, in real life (making this a fantasy story), the squirrels and the fox, and the fox, so charming, so handsome, makes a bargain with her.  If she can pass his tests and prove that she trusts him, she'll win the magical golden acorn, and her wish will be granted.  But the fox, of course, cannot be trusted.

From the rules of the game, bits of which are interspersed in the story:

To earn the Fox's favor, you must offer him cards from your hand, even though you've been saving those cards for scoring.  Even though those cards represent the nuts the will help you survive winter. 

The Fox demands unwavering loyalty.  Do whatever you must to prove it.

Just as in the game, the Fox's tests demand more and more from Sam, and require her to do things she knows are wrong and hurtful.  But she has to go home!

Happily, the story ends in a place of healing and hope for the two aunts and the girls, with the fox thwarted.  But goodness, what an emotionally charged ride it is to get that point!  Perhaps if I hadn't, myself, had a mercurial father (when he was charming there was no one more entertaining, and we always knew he loved us, but often he was angry, though not anywhere near level of the father in this story), it would have hit me less hard, but as it was I was tearful at many points.

I loved the details of the game and its cards so much I want to quote all the little bits of instruction that start each chapter. The fantasy of the game being real is beautifully balanced by what's happening in reality.  It's not just Sam's pov story that's moving.  The two aunts, who make so much effort to help the two girls feel safe and at home, were wonderful grownups, and the brave older sister, who reminded me so much of my own older sister, made me cry when she was finally able to let go of having to be responsible for keeping her sister safe from parental anger.  I loved the squirrels from the game who kept popping up to talk to Sam in the woods.  And I loved the ending, when Sam frees herself from the thrall of the fox.

Basically, I loved the book!

Ghost Squad, by Claribel A. Ortega

Happy Book Birthday to Ghost Squad, by Claribel A. Ortega, an exciting story about two girls racing to set to rest a plague of evil spirits (that they might have helped awaken).

On paper, 12-year-old Dominican-American Lucely and her father, who makes a living running ghosts tours, live alone.  In actuality, their home is full of the family ghosts, living on as fireflies, but to her eyes appearing as the people they once were.  But something bad is happening to her ghost family...they are starting to fade.  So she and her best friend, Syd, try to find a magical solution to the problem in the old, forbidden spell book owned by Syd's witchy grandmother.

But maybe their spell casting attempt has made things worse.  Now dark magic is afoot in her town, and the mayor himself is spearheading an attempt to wake angry ghosts.  On a class field trip to the town hall, Lucely overhears the mayor and his henchmen are planning a ritual to take absolute control over the town by overrunning it with spirits.  The firefly tree of Lucely's family is a defender of the town, but with her family spirits weakening, how much longer will it be able stand against the new supernatural enemies?

So Syd and Lucely set to work to thwart the mayor's plan.  When their home made attempts at ghostcatchers fail, they set out to find the missing pages from the spellbook they used before...pages that were intered with the dead....who are now waking up!

It's a fun, spook filled race to settle the dead.  The pages, many filled with ghosts, some malignant and creepy, others warm and loving, turn quickly!  Lucely and Syd make a great team; their different strengths complement each other nicely.  And Lucely's extended family adds warmth and interest, although also a sadness, because many died too soon.

There are quite a few ghost hunting books out there (like Victoria Schwab's City of Ghosts series), but this one stands out because of its roots in Dominican culture, and because many of the ghost are family, which  makes the contact between the living and the dead more immediate and personal.

Polly and Buster, books 1 and 2, by Sally Rippin

Polly and Buster are the main characters in a series of early chapter books written and illustrated by Sally Rippen (Australia's highest selling female author).  The first two books about the pals, Polly the Witch and Buster the Monster, are The Wayward Witch and the Feelings Monster, and The Mystery of the Magic Stones (published in the US by Kane Miller Fall 2019).

Polly and Buster are next-door neighbors, and they have been best friends practically all their nine years.  But theirs is a world in which witches and monsters are not encouraged to be friends.  Monsters go to a different school, and have to sit in the back of the bus.  But Polly knows Buster is the kindest, mostly loyal friend she could ever want....which can't be said of Polly.

When smart and popular fellow witch student Marjorie seems to be willing to be friends with her, Polly goes along with badmouthing monsters, and hurts Buster pretty badly.  Still, when she sees Buster being bullied by other monsters, she comes to his rescue with a burst of magic more powerful than she's ever been able to pull off before.  

This gets twisted by the media into a story of Polly using magic to save Marjorie from a monster attack...and an anti-monster movement springs up, feeding on the already existing distrust and dislike of the witches for the monsters.

In the second book of their adventures, Polly and Buster are on the run.  The leader of the anti-monster movement (Marjorie's mother) is hunting them, the monsters are organizing a movement of their own, and Polly is being summoned by the magical stones her dead father left her on a dangerous quest to the haunted mines where he died.    With Buster at her side, Polly sends an ancient evil back to sleep, and then with Polly at his side, Buster saves Marjorie when her life is in danger.  The anti-monster mania dies down, but when book two ends, it's clear there will be more... 

Though there's magical adventures, these books are first and foremost a story about prejudice and a friendship that shows how stupid prejudice is.  Polly and Buster really are best friends, and that's great.  But although I appreciated their adventures, and found their world interesting, these books made me uncomfortable.  Buster is the more child-like of the two, the one who stuffs his face with sweets, plays games with ghosts instead of defying ancient evil, and provides comic relief.  He's also more animal-like, what with having fur and claws and stinky armpits.  Yes, he's a monster, and these attributes wouldn't have raised my eyebrows in a different sort of story.  But here, the parallels to real-world systemic racism are so clear that I felt it was going into harmful stereotype territory (Buster's not the only monster we meet, but the others troubled me too....).   

So basically, I think these books are well-intentioned, and not without charm, and I liked the stories and was interested in the magic, but I don't feel comfortable with the victims of racism being allegorically portrayed as monsters, no matter how good-hearted the monsters are.

disclaimer: review copies received from the publisher

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (4/5/20)

I sure do hope that April passes by more quickly than March, and that you all are safe and well!  In the meantime, fill your tbr with middle grade fantasy and science fiction!  (and please let me know if I missed your post).

The Reviews

Cog, by Greg Van Eekhout, at Tanya Turek on Instagram

Crater Lake, by Jennifer Killick, at Book Craic and bookloverjo

The Cut-Throat Café, by Nicki Thornton, at Read It, Daddy

The Deceivers (Greystone Secrets #2), by Margaret Peterson Haddix, at The Children's Book Review

The Dragon Egg Princess, by Ellen Oh, at Charlotte's Library

The Fang of Bonfire Crossing (Legends of the Lost Causes #2) by Brad McLelland & Louis
Sylvester, at Log Cabin Library

Homerooms and Hall Passes, by Tom O'Donnell, at Falling Letters

The House of Hidden Wonders, by Sharon Gosling, at Book Craic

In the Red, by Christopher Swiedler, at Ms. Yingling Reads and Feed Your Fiction Addiction

Magic Required (Wizard for Hire #3), by Obert Skye, at Cracking the Cover

Mañanaland by Pam Muñoz Ryan, at Randomly Reading

Milton the Megastar, by Emma Read, at Book Murmuration

The Mirror Image Ghost, by Catherine Storr, at Charlotte's Library

Peasprout Chen: Battle of Champtions, by Henry Lien, at Fantasy Literature

Pests, by Emer Stamp, at Library Girl and Book Boy

The Star Dunes (Explorer Academy #4) by Trudi Trueit, at Word Spelunking

Sticky Pines: the Bigwoof Conspiracy, by Dashe Roberts, at My Book Corner

The Thief Knot, by Kate Milford, at Locus

Tilly and the Lost Fairytales (Pages and Co. #2), by Anna James, at A Dance with Books

Tom's Midnight Garden, by Philippa Pearce, at Fuse #8 (guest post by Tom Guida)

TrooFriend, by Kirsty Applebaum, at Book Lover Jo

Viper's Daughter, by Michelle Paver, at Whispering Stories, A little but a lot, and Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis, at Tor

Warren the 13th and the Thirteen-Year Curse (Warren the 13th, Book 3) by Tania del Rio, Will Staehle, at Hidden In Pages

The Wizenard Series-Season One, by Wesley King, at Always in the Middle and The Children's Book Review

Authors and Interviews

Christina Soontornvat (A Wish in the Dark) at The Quiet Pond

Alex Aster (Emblem Island: Curse of the Night Witch) at Middle Grade Book Village

Lia London (Be Careful Where You Wish) at Author June MaCrary Jacobs

Emer Stamp (Pests), at Book Murmuration

Wesley King (Wizenard Series), at The Children's Book Review

Alistair Chisholm (Orion Lost) at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books


Other Good Stuff

What's new in the UK, from Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books, here, and here

Ten great fantasy audiobook series on Hoopla, at alibrarymama

The Dragon Egg Princes, by Ellen Oh

The Dragon Egg Princess, by Ellen Oh, is a magical middle grade fantasy about kids who must save a kingdom and its magic from a greedy usurper to the throne.

It starts with Princess Koko, still a very little girl, disappearing into a magical wood...a tragic loss for her parents that leaves the kingdom of Joson without an heir.  For Jiho Park, the story of the princess seems at first irrelevant.  He's the only son, and oldest child, of a family touched by tragedy--the mother died, and the father, a ranger in the magical Kidahara forest, disappeared into it years ago.  Their uncle and aunt took htem in, and Jiho has worked hard to ease the burden on them, a burden made worse by Jiho's legacy from his father--he nullifies magic.  Because of this, no magical helpfulness is possible on the family farm.

When outsiders arrive from various neighboring kingdoms, part of a new push to bring modernity to Kidhara region (putting a railway through it, and clearing it for industrial development), Jiho's gift, and his own intimate knowledge of the Kidhara and its many magical denizens (many of them , is a gift indeed to the would-be developers.  But though Jiho can help to a certain extent, he's not committed the project, and is pretty certain it is doomed to fail.  The Kidhara is prepared to fight back....

And so Jiho and a group of young people working on the project find themselves lost in Kidhara, with dangers on on sides. Help comes,unexpecdedly, from Princess Koko, who has been living in a magical enclave within hte Kidhara.  But though Jiho and his companions are safe for the moment, they soon learn that there is more to worry about than the planned clearing of the forest, and the usurption of the throne by Kiko's greedy uncle.  An ancient danger is awakening, and only Kiko can stand against it.  But in order to do so, she must embrace who she really is--not just a girl, but a dragon.

There are other plot threads happening, that add further to an exciting story....and the monsters, magic, and ancient evil to be thwarted by by kids is just the sort of excitement that young fans of middle grade fantasy will love!  Joson is a place inspired by Korean culture and mythology, and the neighboring countries have real world echos as well (which makes it extra fun to meet characters from these countries...).

The part of the book that I think will resonate most powerful for young readers is the internal journey Koko must take to accepting that she is the last of the dragons (all the others will killed in the first battle against the ancient evil).  She loves her human parents, and doesn't want to not be their human daughter anymore, and though she realizes intellectually that become a dragon as well is necessary, it's hard for her to actually do it.  Yes, the dragons were beautiful and powerful, but it's not how she sees herself.  I don't think it's too much of a psychological stretch to see this as a metaphor for adolescence, and a pretty on point one at that, and it's this bit of emotional tension that lifted the book from fun adventure to memorable story in my mind.

There's more I liked too; Jiho has his own character arc that's also a good one, the bandits I mention above also have an interesting plot line, the mix of 19th and even 20th century technology from other lands with the magic of Joson was cool, and I'm also all in favor of greedy exploitation of the magical world being thwarted by magic (although this bit of the plot fell by the wayside, once the ancient evil started re-emerging).  So all in all, another strong addition to this spring's remarkably excellent crop of middle grade fantasy!

The Mirror Image Ghost, by Catherine Storr, for Timeslip Tuesday

Do not believe the title; The Mirror Image Ghost, by Catherine Storr (1994)  actually has no ghosts in it.  It does, though, start with the main character, a girl named Lisa, pestering her grandparents about a ghost boy her grandfather saw when he was  kid himself.  They are reluctant to tell her much, but she does learn from her grandfather that the ghost boy told him of terrible things....but that's all he's willing to say.  So Lisa goes back to her own home, still curious...

Her own home is not a happy place for her.  Her widowed mother has remarried, and Lisa is very unhappy sharing her home, and her mother, with her new French step-father and his two children, an boy and girl.  She makes no effort to be welcoming at all, and just holds her bitterness and resentment as tightly around herself as she can.

Her mother gives her a bit more context about the ghost boy and the grandfather's childhood--he was from Jewish family, in Austria, who was visiting England when Hitler invaded, and stayed there while his parents and sister were killed.  Lisa hadn't really thought about this part of WW II before, and it takes a while for her to grasp what actually happened (longer than I though believable.  But the Holocaust was still too real to her grandparents for them to ever have talked about with Lisa or her mother, and maybe it wasn't being taught in school because of being still too recent?  She does finally pick up Anne Frank to read...which is good for her and broadens her understanding....).

But in any event.

There was just one material thing her grandfather brought back from Vienna, when he went there after the war to try to find his family--his own mother's large mirror, all that was left of his family's possessions.  And Lisa, looking into the mirror, slips through time, and meets her grandfather's little sister.  She tries to tell her about the horrors to come, but the little girl thinks she's crazy...

Interspersed with other trips back through the mirror is the constant tension between Lisa and her step-siblings.  Gradually it resolves, but Lisa is not closer to getting her great-aunt to believe her.  When she meets her own Grandfather, she realizes that she is the "ghost boy" he met (she was wearing jeans, and had short hair), and he of course heeds her warning.....She wants to save the little sister too, but as her understanding of the danger to come deepens, she begins to fear for her own life if she is caught in Vienna when she realizes that she too, being one quarter Jewish, would be in danger if caught there by the Nazis.

 Lisa's experiences time-travelling, and thinking about the past, indirectly help crack her out of her pit of denial, but I think the book would have been stronger if the past and present pushed harder at each other...it's almost two stories side by side, instead of the pulling in tandem.  Still, it's moving and memorable, and really sensitive and thoughtful in its portrayal of the Holocaust.  Though the worst horror takes place off the page, Lisa's final mirror visit to the past is chilling.

However,  for me the most memorable thing about it was wanting to shake Lisa!  She is the epitome of self-absorbed adolescent (though one can't help be sympathetic when, for instance, she must share her room with a step-sister whose very existence is loathsome to her.  And Storr manages to make her just sympathetic enough to not spoil the whole book....)

If you are looking for time travel in which the past is explored, this isn't what you are looking for--Lisa's visits are basically quick in and outs, in which she stays where she lands.  If you are looking for blended family books and/or books with sensitive and thoughtful treatment of the Holocust and its lasting impact on those who survived, it's a good one!

(books sure were shorter even as recently as the 1990s--this one only has 143 pages in paperback!)