7/3/20

Otto Tattercoat and the Forest of Lost Things, by Matilda Woods

Otto Tattercoat and the Forest of Lost Things, by Matilda Woods (Philomel Books, June 2020) , is a magical story that I think would make a great read aloud for 8-10 year olds.  If you enjoyed Woods' first two books--The Boy, the Bird, and the Coffin Maker, and The Girl Who Sailed the Stars, you'll enjoy this one too.  It has much of the same dream-like quality I think those two have, and it is my personal favorite of the three!

Otto and his mother arrive in the cold, grey town of Hodorf, where his mother plans to make and sell coats.  Otto is doubtful, and when she leaves the inn where they are staying to run errands, and doesn't come back, doubt is replaced by dread.  Hodorf is a place full of young thieves who call themselves the Tattercoats-- raged children who sleep curled up next to the town's chimneys, sometimes freezing to death, and always hungry. Two of these kids target Otto on his first solo expedition to look for his mother.  One, Nim, takes his money, and another, Blink, takes his coat.

Nim is kind-hearted, and returns almost all of his money...but it's not nearly enough to keep paying for a room.  So when another girl speaks kindly to him, and promises to lead him to a place where he'll be warm and looked after, he goes with her. This "sanctuary," though, is a terrible shoe-polish factory, whose cruel owner enslaves children in classically evil gothic child-worker style.

Nim, though, can't shake a feeling of responsibility toward Otto, and so she and her pet rat manage to get him out.  Now he too becomes a Tattercoat, but is no closer to finding his mother...And at this point the story swings toward the truly fantastic, when Nim, Otto, and Blink set out into the woods outside the town, which are full of dangerous magic that's full of echoes of familiar fairy tales.  Giants, dragons, witches and enchantments await....

If you like plucky kids on their own, in both mundane and magical peril, being fiercely loyal to each other, and banding together against a cruel world, this is a book for you!  Otto is a protagonist without particular agency, but Nim and Nibble, the rat, have enough for the both of them, and Blink is a solid contributor to the party, with an interesting bit of back-story. As I said, I think it would make a lovely read-aloud; though there's danger and unhappiness, the familiar fairy tale echoes and the good-heartedness of many of the characters give it a cozy feel--Otto's mother is found and the greedy bad guys get their just come-uppance!  I agree with Kirkus on this one--"Both charming and wise."


6/30/20

The Map of Stars (York #3), by Laura Ruby, for Timeslip Tuesday

If you are new to Laura Ruby's York series, it's a bit of a spoiler to see this third volume labeled a time travel book. If, however, you've reached the end of the second, you'll recall that in the course of following the mysterious clues of the Morningstar Cipher, that has sent them diving into New York's past, and into danger, twins Tess and Theo found a picture of their older selves from the 19th century....and have no clue how that happened.

This is where The Map of Stars begins (Walden Pond Press, May 2020). Tess, Theo, and their good friend Jaime have made considerable progress unravelling the cipher, and have "borrowed" the many tangible bits and pieces of strange and interesting stuff they've found along the way. The path ends with a set of plans, and all the things they need to build it...All along the way, greedy and powerful men and women have been working against them, and strange and unexpected allies, both living and dead, human and not, have come to their aid.

This third book has just as much tension as the first two, but ratcheted up a notch. As well as the physical dangers of their antagonists, there are glimpses into another timeline, in which the twins, now older, live in our own world a few years in the future, and is a sad and scary place....So yes, there is time travel, in this case as a fixing mechanism that creates a new timeline. I was able to make sense of it all, once I figured out what was happening. It's more time travel in the function of plot than time travel that shows the past, or shows the characters coping with it, but that's fine. The plot and the great characters and wonders of the alternate New York are plenty!

The books are long (this one is 514 pages), and very detailed, and having read them over the course of several years as they came out, I found my memory spotty, which was a nuisance, though Ruby does a solid job making sure the important events/clues/characters, etc. are reintroduced. Not all middle grade kids will have the reading stamina to make it to the end. But for strong readers (of all ages) who love books with smart kids and treasure hunts, this series is a treat! There's humor and lots of bright and sparkly stuff, entertaining interactions between characters, and strong messages of social justice that make the pages turn quickly.

6/29/20

Thieves of Weirdwood, by Christian McKay Heidicker

If you've read Scary Stories for Young Foxes, by Christian McKay Heidicker (a 2020 Newbery Honor book) you will, perhaps, approach his new middle grade fantasy, Thieves of Weirdwood (written under the name of William Shivering), with both caution and curiosity.  Will this more traditional mg fantasy story be as horrifying and as vividly real? you might ask (or at least, I did), and you will be eager to dive into it to find out (at least, I was, and was not disappointed!)

Wally and Arthur are 12-year-old thieves (as shown on the cover, Wally is black and Arthur white), young members of the Black Feathers gang that terrorizes their city of Kingsport.  All their takings are owed to the gang leader, the Crow, who holds them fast in his fearful talons.  But Wally needs money to cover the hospital costs for his older brother in the city insane asylum, and Arthur needs money to cover his father's debts, so a big heist is needed by both!  

When Arthur finds wealthy strangers making themselves at home in what seemed to be an abandoned mansion, he drags Wally along for a break in.  The two boys find more than they bargained for--the mansion is now the temporary home of Weirdwood Manor, the travelling headquarters of an order dedicated to maintaining the border between the real and the magical words.  The border has weakened in Kingsport, and nightmarish magic is leaking through (nightmare #1--a porcelain doll that sucks the life out of its victims, leaving them china husks).

Wally and Arthur are stunned by the bizarre and fantastical wonders within Weirdwood Manor, and though Arthur makes it out, he leaves Wally behind.  Wally isn't alone, though--he meets a ghost girl, Breeth, who only he can hear, whose spirit can posses anything organic, and who desperately wants his help to revenge herself on her murderer.  Arthur, full of dreams of being a gentleman thief, like the hero of his favorite adventure books, steels himself to go back for Wally....and so the two boys become, for the moment, part of the Weirdwood team.

And it's a team that needs all the help it can.  The instigator of the attacks through the boarder between real and unreal is incredibly powerful, and can shape stories that terrorize Kingsport.  Wally and Arthur must harness their own stories to fight back.  With help from Breeth and her skills of ghostly possession (helped less by her penchant for puns), from the gentleman thief of Arthur's books and his merry skeleton crew, and from the Weirdwood agents (a young dragon boy and a fierce swordswinging girl), they defend their city from deadly nightmares....

So in answer to the question I posed above--yes, there's horror (if you have a strong aversion to tentacles and crows, you might think twice about this one), and yes, it's very vivid indeed (in many place, like bad dreams that stay shockingly real when you wake up).  But it is also a story of full of friendship, and loyalty, and good heartedness, and bravery, and lots of magic that's not always scary!  Wally, Arthur, and Breeth are great characters, perhaps the most memorable I've read about so far this year.  Though Wally is perhaps the more sympathetic of the two boys, Arthur overshadows him a bit; he's more flawed and more flamboyant).  And the story, which seems fairly simple at first, moves from simmer to full on boil with great aplomb!

It ends at an ending, but there's lots of scope for more, and I hope more comes sooner rather than later!

Short answer: a cracking read.  Particularly recommended for mg horror fans who are starting to play D. and D. and reading more traditional fantasy.

(note to those looking for it--the RI library system is shelving this under S for Shivering, even though Heidicker's name is clearly on the cover...I'm not sure how universal this choice of shelving name is....)

6/28/20

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (6/28/20)

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

The Reviews

Bob's Saucer Repair, by Jerry Boyd, at A Garden of Books

Catalyst, by Sarah Beth Durst, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Creature of the Pines (Unicorn Rescue Society #1), by Adam Gidwitz, at Twirling Book Princess

Dragon Detective: School’s Out, by Gareth P Jones, at Readaraptor

Esme’s Gift, by Elizabeth Foster, at Mai's Musings
The Forgotten Door, by Alexander Key, at Semicolon

Friend or Fiction, by Abby Cooper, at Rajiv's Reviews

The Girl and the Witch's Garden by Erin Bowman, at Girl Who Reads

Guest, by Mary Downing Hahn, at Books in the Middle

Hollow Dolls by MarcyKate Connolly, at The Literary Maven

Mañanaland, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, at Books4YourKids

Misadventures of a Magician's Son, by Laurie Smollett Kutscera, at Kid Lit Reviews

The Mysterious Woods of Whistle Root, by Christopher Pennell, at Woodpecker Books

Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe, by Carlos Hernandez, at Mom Read It

Spell & Spindle, by Michelle Schusterman, at Puss Reboots

The Stone Cage, by Nicholas Stuart Gray, guest post by Kate Forsyth at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles

Thomas Wildus and the Book of Sorrows, by J.M. Bergen, at The Geekish Brunette

Thomas Wildus and the Wizard of Sumeria, by J.M. Bergen, at Always in the Middle

The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez, by Adrianna Cuevas, at Books. Iced Lattes. Blessed.

Twighlight Hauntings, by Angie Sage, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

The Unready Queen (Oddmire #2), by William Ritter, at J.R.'s Book Reviews, Evelyn Reads, Jill's Book Blog, The Reading Chemist, Motif by Tanya, and Read Love

Two at Ms. Yingling Reads--Catalyst, by Sarah Beth Durst and  Artemis Fowl: How to be a LEPrecon, by Matthew K. Manning

Authors and Interviews


Maria Kuzniar (The Ship of Shadows) at Stephanie Burgis

Henry Clark (What We Found in the Corn Maze and How It Saved a Dragon) talks about world building at diy MFA podcast

Laura Stegman (Summer of L.U.C.K.) at MG Book Village

Other Good Stuff

Tor's rereading of The Silver Chair continues

6/25/20

Hunted by the Sky, by Tanaz Bhathena

Hunted by the Sky (The Wrath of Ambar #1) by Tanaz Bhathena (June 23rd 2020 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux) has magic, secrets and intrigue, powerful and amoral antagonists, class struggles, gender struggles, nascent romance, and a vivid background based on Vedic and Medival India!

Twenty years ago, vicious King Lohar ascended the throne of Ambar, and his priests prophesied that a magic-wielding girl, marked with a star, would be his downfall.  So of course he began hunting all girls with star-shaped birthmarks, draining their magic, and killing them

Gul was such a girl, born with magic (though not able to do much with it) and with a star-shaped mark on her arm.  When King Lohar's ruthless soldiers get word of her existence, and kill her parents, she barely escapes.  She vows vengeance, but even though her magic becomes focused enough to let her communicate with animals (including a lovely horse!), she has no idea how she'll kill the king.

Then she's taken in by the Sisters of the Golden Lotus, women plotting to overthrow the tyrant.  They train her in warrior magic, and her potential begins to emerge, explosively and powerfully.  But they can't get her into the castle to kill the king....and their leader, being far wiser than a traumatized teenaged girl, knows that killing one specific tyrant won't help in the grand scheme of things...

Cavas is a teenaged boy who works in the king's stables, spending everything he earns on medicine for his father, dying of the illness common in the poverty stricken tenements of the city.  He has no magic, and so the magial elite despise him as a dirt-licker.   He does not love the king (why would he?), but he is not a rebel at heart.  But when his path crosses with Gul in the city's bazaar, sparks fly,  and their lives are twisted together.

Which is to say there's a lot more story about what happens when Cavas gets Gul into the castle.  We get to see lots more of the magic of this world and how it works, secrets about people's identities are revealed, and there's violence and death....

This is where I started really enjoying the story, about halfway through.  Before then, it was fine, but I wasn't hooked--thinking about it, both of the point of view characters aren't really interacting with other people; both are somewhat isolated. And this didn't make it easy to connect with them.  When they connect with each other,  the reader finally gets to see them from another person's eyes, and gets to see them getting to know each other in prickly, difficult circumstances.   The scale of the magical world enlarges, too, once the action moves to the castle.  Details about other nations, magical beings, history and stories, small household magics and bigger ones made Gul and Cavas' personal struggles more meaningful, and the setting more vivid.

There are a lot of books about girls of destiny who become queens (though in this first book of the series we are left in the middle of the story, before she actually becomes queen), and some are better than others.  I see no reason why YA readers of that genre won't love this series; it has all the right elements including a potential love triangle--there's a third character one could certainly ship Gul with instead of Cavas….).  The Indian background of the story, the grappling with how to effect change, and the secrets the two main characters discover about themselves make this one stand out in a somewhat crowded field.

I ended up definitely sold on this, and look forward to the second book, coming next year!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

6/23/20

To Nowhere and Back, by Margaret J. Anderson, for Timeslip Tuesday

To Nowhere and Back, by Margaret J. Anderson, is this week's Timeslip Tuesday, a little treat I bought for myself during the Dark Days when my usual book treats of library holds were not available to me!  It was Anderson's first foray into fiction, back in 1975, and it's just recently come back into print.

Elizabeth is an American girl whose parents, a historian and an author, decide a year in England would be wonderful for all three of them, and that an old thatched cottage in Dorset (although it's only 200 years old, which isn't all that special) is a wonderful place to live!  Elizabeth, who does not feel the lure of the past, disagrees, and she has a hard time fitting in at school.

But then she wanders down to a delipidated cottage nearby, and finds Ann, the girl her own age who lived there two hundred years ago.  Even more oddly, she fuses with Ann, and lives her life for her brief visits (as a spectator within Ann's body, with no noticeable volition of her own), returning to her own present to find that no time has passed.  Ann has a large family, with many younger siblings, including a young baby, and lonely Elizabeth loves this part of being Ann.  But Ann is also hungry, uneducated, and destined to be sent away soon to work for her innkeeper uncle....Ann is also destined to be touched by tragedy.

Maybe if I had read this when I was young, I would have been moved, but it felt more like time tourism (kind of a superficial "here we are in the past" feeling, with little emotional resonance) than an immersive story about two girls connecting through time, and the sorrow in store for one of them changing both of them. I think that the whole idea of escaping one's own life to live that of another girl in the past is something that has more appeal for a child than it does for a grownup, and the fact that the two girls never actually communicate in any meaningful way kept me at arm's length from their peculiar relationship.

In fairness, the New York Times Book Review loved it-- "It educates and edifies, this book does, and is oddly affecting: you really feel the quality of the two different worlds on a day to day basis, united by a single sensibility."  Though I agree Anderson does indeed to an excellent job with her two different worlds, I missed the affecting part.

I'd give it to 8-9 year old me in a second, though, and maybe that reader I was would have been moved, like many on Goodreads, to give it five stars.

6/21/20

this week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from arount the blogs (6/21/20)

Welcome to this week's round-up of post about middle grade sci fi and fantasy books for kids 9-12 years old!  Please let me know if I missed your post.  (this is the first round-up with no books beginning with the letter S, so probably I missed something....)


The Reviews

All the Impossible Things, by Lindsay Lackey, at Not Acting My Age 

The Boy Who Grew Dragons, by Andy Shepherd, at Redeemed Reader

Braver: A Wombat’s Tale, by Suzanne Selfors and Walker Ranson, at Crossroad Reviews

Casper Tock and the Everdark Wings, by Abi Elphinstone, at Rajiv's Reviews

Changling (The Oddmire #1), by William Ritter, at Twirling Book Princess

Cleo Porter and the Body Electric, by Jake Burt, at Books. Iced Lattes. Blessed.

A Dragon's Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans,  by Laurence Yep and Joanne Ryder, at Say What?

Dwarf Story, by Professor W. W. Marplot, at Woodpecker Books

Embassy of the Dead by Will Mabbitt, at Rajiv's Reviews

Equality Girls & the Purple Reflecto-Ray, by Aya de Leon, at Charlotte's Libary

The Girl and the Witch's Garden, by Erin Bowman, at Cracking the CoverBookworm for Kids, and  The Book Search

The Girl in the Locked Room: A Ghost Story, by Mary Downing Hahn, at Say What?

Ghost Squad, by Claribel A. Ortega, at Ambivert Words

Imani Earns Her Cape, by Bokerah Brumley, at Lorehaven Reviews

The Last Last-Day-of-Sumer, by Lamar Giles, at Teen Librarian Toolbox

The Map of Stars by Laura Ruby, at Puss Reboots

The Middler, by Kirsty Applebaum, at Juliet Boyd (YouTube)

Worst Witch to the Rescue, by Jill Murphy, at Say What?

The Wild Way Home, by Sophie Kirtley, at Book Craic

The Witches of Willow Cove, by Josh Roberts, at A Garden of Books


Two at Ms. Yingling Reads-- The One and Only Bob, by Katherine Applegate, and The Rider's Reign, by Jessica Day George

Two at Alittlebutalot--44 Tiny Secrets, by Sylvia Bishop, and The Boy Who Dreamed Of Dragons, by Andy Shepherd



Authors and Interviews

J. M. Bergen (Thomas Wildus and the Wizard of Sumeria), at Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews

Lisa Foiles (Ash Ridley and the Phoenix) at The Worldshapers

Elaine Kaye (Bad Fairy) at Literary Rambles

Christine Tyalor-Butler (The Lost Tribes) at Black and White Words and Pictures Part 1 and Part 2

Other Good Stuff

An animorphs movie is in the works, via Tor

Tor does not like the new Artemis Fowl movie

and Tor continues to look at the Narnia books, with The Silver Chair featured this week.

An appreciation of Jonathan Auxier, at Jenni Enzor

Book Riot picks 20 middle grade magic books for seventh graders

stitch your own Bayeux Tapestry!


6/18/20

Equality Girls & the Purple Reflecto-Ray, by Aya de Leon

Equality Girls & the Purple Reflecto-Ray, by Aya de Leon (published by the author, May 2020) is a really fun chapter book full of radical girl power!

Daniela's an ordinary fourth-grader, disappointed that budget cuts means there's no coach for her soccer team.  Then there's a freak accident, involving her dog and her mom's top secret science experiment.   She doesn't think much about it, but when she and her friends ask if they can play soccer with two 7th grade boys, and are met with sexist stereotypes, she becomes furiously angry, and purple beams shoot out from her eyes!
When the boys get hit by them, suddenly they are embodying the very stereotypes they'd taunted the girls with--one tries to use flowers as makeup to make himself pretty, and the other becomes obsessed with  a little cat.  The effect has worn off the next day, and the girls think it's maybe a one time thing, until Daniela gets angry again at the man presenting sexist puppet show at school.  Once more the purple beams flash out, and once more their target starts acting out the stereotype, begging to be saved from the fierce girls!

Now Daniela and her friends know what she can do, they decide to tackle the sexist in chief, the president of the United States, who's coming to town to judge a beauty pageant.  He's not named, but he certainly evokes our current president (here's the back cover, that makes that clear!).  And it's lovely to see him get his comeuppance for his sexism, when he gets zapped and wants to take part in the pageant himself, wearing his own bikini bottoms and proclaiming that he's the loveliest of all.

It might seem heavy handed and didactic, but it's actually a lot of fun, and I chuckled out loud several times (kids will probably find it even more entertaining!)  The sci fi powers are cool, though little effort is made to explain them, and though there's not a lot of page time for characterization, Daniela and her diverse group of friends manage to be believable.   And as well as the more egregious examples of sexism, the girls talk to each other about the issue, in healthy ways, such as this conversation:

“What is beauty anyway?” Malaya asked. The crew walked past a pair of
girls taking pictures, both of them wearing “Miss Tween” T-shirts.
“I think it’s just an idea somebody made up to get girls to worry about
things that don’t really matter,” Daniela said.
“But sometimes I like putting on fancy clothes and enjoying how I look,”
Jalisse said.
“That’s different,” Malaya said. “That’s about enjoying fashion and color
and style. There’s so much creativity in that. You sew a lot of your own clothes.
It’s not about competing with other girls for who some guy thinks is prettiest.” 

So in short, I enjoyed it lots, and if I had a kid 7-9 years old on hand, I'd certainly offer it to them. And I'd certainly enjoy reading more adventures of the four equality girls!


disclaimer: e-arc received from the author's publicist.

6/16/20

"When Life Hands You a Lemon Fruitbomb" by Amerie (from a Phoenix First Must Burn) for Timeslip Tuesday

When I saw this call to Blackout besteller lists with black voices yesterday, a trip to my local bookstore was inevitable.

I checked to see that the two books I knew I wanted to read (The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, and A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, by Roseanne A. Brown) were both in stock, and they were, but by the time I reached the bookstore, they weren't anymore. Which is good, I guess, and it meant I had to browse the shelves (which I don't mind), and my eye was caught by A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope, edited by Patrice Caldwell (YA, Viking Books, March 10, 2020), which of course I happily bought.


The very first story, "When Life Hands You a Lemon Fruitbomb" by Amerie, is a time slip story, and so it's the subject of today's post.   But it hurts to spoil it by saying what happens, because it's so good and the twist is lovely.  So I won't go into much detail, and you can just go ahead and buy this lovely anthology yourself if you want to read the story as it should be read!

However, in order to have a post about the time slip-ness of the plot, I have to write about it. So.

It's a story of Earth being invaded by aliens, nicknamed "orcs."  Earth fights back, and two brave black girls are among the humans who travel through a wormhole to push back against the invaders.  They are both serving as interrogators, trying to find information about their enemy that can save earth.  But the wormhole has taken them back in time, and there is no humanity on Earth to save this far back in the past.  There's only a distant plant, and the orcs, and legend the orcs have of something that will come to pass in the future.  And the two girls take the steps that will make that happen.

And, even biggest spoiler, the thing they will make happen is the orcs invasion of Earth, and the trip through the wormhole, each iteration creating an alternate beginning.  (Time travel via sci fi wormhole doesn't happen in YA very often, by which I mean I can't think of another example).

I needed that spoiler to make my main comment--it was such a brilliant placement of this story as the first one in this collection, because of course it leads into all the other fifteen alternate realities full of black girl magic that follow.

It's a great story, as are many of the other 15.  Some I liked more than others, but it's really strong collection, and there were several I loved.  But this one, I think, is my favorite.

(the second book I bought was Kingdom of Souls, by Rena Barron, which I had also been wanting to read!)

6/14/20

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (6/14/20)

As always, please let me know about any posts I missed!

The Reviews

The Bootlace Magician, by Cassie Beasley, at Redeemed Reader

 Camp Murderface, by Josh Berk and Sundra Mitchell, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Catalyst, by Sarah Beth Durst, at Sci Fi Chick and  Charlotte's Library

Dragon Detective: School’s Out, by Gareth P. Jones, at Book Craic

Dragon Mountain, by Katie and Kevin Tsang, at A little but a lot

Dragon Pearl, by Yoon Ha Lee, at SFF Book Reviews

Dragonfell, by Sarah Prineas, at Woodpecker Books

Ghost Boys, by Jewell Parker Rhodes, at Paul Janus

The Lifters, by Dave Eggers, at Rosi Hollinbeck

Lightning Girl, books 3 and 4, by Alesha Dixon, at Charlotte's Libary

The Middler, by Kirsty Applebaum, at Books. Iced Lattes. Blessed.

Mulrox and the Malcognitos, by Kerelyn Smith, at Books. Iced Lattes. Blessed.

The Mystwick School of Musicraft, by Jessica Khoury, at Rajiv's Reviews

The Secret Explorers and the Comet Collision, by SJ King, at Mom Read It

The Slug Queen Chronicles, by S. O. Thomas, at Middle Grade Minded

Spark and the League of Ursus, by Robert Repino, at Kid Lit Reviews

Wonderscape, by Jennifer Bell, at Whimsy Pages

Two at Falling Letters--Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega, and The Jumbies, by Tracey Baptiste

Two at Ms. Yingling Reads--Glitch, by Laura Martin, and Deathstrike: Ultraball #2, by Jeff Chen

Three at alibrarymama--The Little Grey Girl, by Celine Kiernan, Dragon Warrior, by Katie Khao, and The Wolf of Cape Fen, by Juliana Brandt

Authors and Interviews

Leah Henderson (The Magic in Changing Your Stars) at Watch. Connect. Read.

Josh Roberts (The Witches of Willow Cove) at Literary Rambles

Kristiana Sfirlea (Legends of the Storm Sneezer) at Unicorn Quester

Other Good Stuff

MG books with young LGBTQ+ Characters, at Charlotte's Library

6/12/20

Lightning Girl, books 3 and 4, by Alesha Dixon

Aurora Beam is known around the world as Lightning Girl, the latest in a maternal line of superheros, and her adventures continue in Secret Supervillain, and Superpower Showdown (Kane Miller, 2020).  Here's my review of the first two books.


A magical stone work powers of light (and lightning) in Aurora, and now she's gone from being an ordinary kid to a world famous hero.  But being a young hero is tough when supervillains (older, more cunning, and more confident) are out to steal the stone, and three others of equal power, from their guardians.

Her adventures take her around the world as she struggles to foil the evil masterminds trying to claim the powers from themselves.  Small victories are followed by ever greater struggles and intrigues, and though Aurora can shoot lightning from her hands, she is really no match for her enemies; her sympathetic heart and lack of cunning make her rather easily manipulated by super-smart villains!  Fortunately, she has good allies--her secret agent magical grandma, her morally dubious aunt, who comes with an ostrich who has no morals at all (but who is a great help when riled up!) and friends, both ordinary and superpowered.  And also she has a growing confidence in not just her powers, but herself, that helps keep her going.

This a great series for kids who enjoy about reading wild adventures of ordinary kids thrown in to extraordinary adventures.  There's plenty of humor (although I myself find the antics of the ostrich appalling rather than funny...), plenty of relatable middle grade self-reflection, and warm family and friend relationships. The world of the books keeping getting bigger, with the Queen of England, for instance, getting involved in story. 

If you're looking for stories of  black girls (Aurora's bi-racial) saving the world, and you're not finding much, do check this series out (as a bonus, you also get her tech genius brother and  science genius little sister).  A satisfying stopping point is reached at the end of the fourth book, but the epilogue sets the stage for further challenges to Lightning Girl!

disclaimer: review copies received from the publisher.

6/9/20

Catalyst, by Sarah Beth Durst

Happy book birthday to Catalyst, by Sarah Beth Durst (Clarion, June 9, 2020), a must read for young fans of magical animals!

After the unfortunate skunk episode, just turned 12 year old Zoe's been forbidden to bring any more animals home.  But when she finds a little scrap of a kitten, cowering and alone, she can't resist. Pipsqueak is adorable, and Zoe promises to take care of her always and forever, and, with the a few well chosen arguments from her older brother, her parents relent, as long as she proves she's a responsible pet owner.

But then Pipsqueak begins to grow.  In just a few days, she's too big to share Zoe's bed.  In a few more, the shed outside is too small.  Zoe's afraid her now humungous kitten will set off a media firestorm if she's seen, and will be taken away to be "studied."  Not only is she huge, but she's talking (and reading!).  With the help of her friend Harrison, Zoe tries to keep Pipsqueak safe, but when it's clear that's no longer possible, the two kids and the giant kitten hatch a desperate plot.

Zoe's aunt is estranged from her family because of her fringe beliefs in the reality of magical creatures, but clearly these might not be so fringe after all!  Getting her help is hard, since she has no phone number and lives up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire....but Zoe and Harrison convince their parents they want to go to a camp up there (to which the teenage girl who keeps an eye on them will ostensibly drive them).  They won't actually be driving there; instead, they will travel on Pipsqueak's back, bounding from roof to roof till they're out of the city, and then running through the countryside (and up the cables of a ski lift!) and camping out at night.

They are joined on their journey by two other impossible animals--a rainbow hamster with butterfly wings, and a flying green dog with sharks teeth and multiple tails--both very friendly, and able to talk, like Pipsqueak.  It's an uncomfortable, and not always fun, journey, but they make it to Aunt Alecia's house....only to find that she's not home!

She's left instructions about where they should go--further into the wilderness. To keep going means their plot to keep their parents in the dark will crumble, but Zoe and Pipsqueak are willing to risk it if it means they can find a way to be together.

Pipsqueak is absolutely adorable, and the bond between her and Zoe will warm any pet-lovers heart. They were both thinking that she would become a little kitten again, and life would be normal, but that proves impossible (though the ending is happy).   And this leads to the central message of the book, that being different is not a bad thing, and that being your true self is better than trying to squash yourself into the box of being normal, which is something many kids need to hear loud and clear.  If you are a giant cat who reads and talks, is reverting to being an ordinary kitten (even if you are loved and cherished) really the best outcome?  If you are a flying rainbow hamster, find your people and soar!

There's plenty of humor, mixed some tension (mostly anxiety about Pipsqueak being caught and taken away, some about the deception of the camp cover story).  Zoe's parents are present and supportive (even when Zoe comes clean to them in the end), and Harrison is a great companion (though his carefully planned camping supplies are perhaps not the most practical ever...).  It's a totally stand alone story, though once the reason for all the magical animals showing up is revealed, there's plenty of room for more magical menagerie fun... which I would not object to at all!

So, just to reiterate--animal loving, fantasy loving 9-11 year olds need this book!

disclaimer: review copy

6/7/20

For Pride month--middle grade sci fi/fantasy books with young LGBTQ+ characters

I would like to have a long list of middle grade books (mg being those marketed to 9-12 year olds) with young LGBTQ+ characters to offer. Instead, I have a short list.  Please let me know of any I missed! (I'm not including graphic novels, because I don't read them widely enough to know all the books).

Middle grade fantasy/sci fi isn't really a place where sexual relationships flourish, because these are kids, not yet teenagers for the most part, caught up in wild adventures. But still, there are plenty of moments of heterosexual attraction, and it would be great to see more LGBTQ+ characters too! (links go to my review, where applicable, or to Goodreads).

Vivian Lantz's Second Chances, by Kathryn Ormsbee   (2023) Time looping helps Vivian (who has two dads) realize that she wants to be Gemma's friend, or even more than friend.

The Insiders, by Mark Oshiro (2021) Héctor Muñoz  wonders if there's a place for a gay theater kid at his new school.  Magic makes it happen.....and spills over into real life.

Too Bright to See, by Kyle Lukoff  (2021) A beautiful ghost story with a young trans protagonist

Jane Doe and the Cradle of  All Worlds, by Jeremy Lachlan (2018)
Jane has a very natural (in the sense of a sudden sharp realization of physical attraction such as is natural for older kids), very much unacted on as yet, feeling for Violet, the other main girl character.  A quick skim through Goodreads reviews suggests that either the moment this is made explicit is subtle enough so that many readers don't register it, or else it hasn't had much of a US readership....(sigh).  I myself am looking forward to the sequel!

Cattywampus, by Ash Van Otterloo (2020), a truly fun real-world fantasy, has an intersex main character (which of course isn't the same as being queer, but still deserves mention here, I think.)

And also by Ash Van Otterloo,  A Touch of Ruckus (2021)  

Lintang and the Pirate Queen, by Tamara Moss (2019 in the US)
One of the crew of the pirate ship is a trans boy, whose gender identity is so unquestioned that he, like any other boy, is in danger from the lure of the siren.

Anya and the Nightingale, by Sofiya Pasternack (2019)
An important supporting character is a bisexual boy, who has a sweet crush/budding romance with another boy.

The Curse of Eelgrass Bog, by Mary Averling (2024)  
A girl struggles to keep her family's Museum of Unnatural History going, not realizing she's a victem of curse until a new girl comes to town on a mission to break it....and they fall in (middle school appropriate) love.
 
Wings of Fire series, by Tui T. Sutherland
There are lots and lots of dragon characters, and I didn't make notes about all the relationships.  Apparently there are 8 clearly identified LGBT dragons....Darkness of Dragons has, I think, the first-- two young girl dragons, Anemone and Tamarin.. They are minor characters in this book, and their relationship is an aside rather than a plot point, but it's there. Having just gone and looked at the Goodreads reviews, it displeased a lot of people that some dragons being gay is a taken for granted thing in this dragon world (another sigh).  

Sundew, the pov protagonist of the Poison Jungle (who is more older teen than a 9-12 year old), is in a relationship will another girl dragon, Willow--"And you're still the only dragon for me, too, Willow, light of my life, I promise I will never fall for a beautiful SilkWing and leave you."  (Poison Jungle, p 118).  I just read, with considerable interest, the Wings of Fire fandom conversation about this, and recommend it for a look at what the fans think about it; the biggest controversy is whether Sundew should be called lesbian (cause she could be bi or pan, and gay would also apply, and Sapphic was offered as a useful alternative), and it lead to the creation of an LGBTQ support group thread, which just goes to show that positive representation in books kids enjoy reading is a good thing for gay (or lesbian or pan or Sapphic kids).

And then there's Rick Riordan, who has a number of LGBTQ+ characters in his books....

And the Rick Riordan Presents imprint is also adding a bit to this list (thanks Jenna and Hallie for reminding me of these two!)--

Sal & Gabi Fix the Universe, by Carlos Hernandez.  Sal, the main character, is aro

Dragon Pearl, by Yoon Ha Lee, has an important secondary character who is a non-binary goblin (with a snack conjuring fork....)

And two I haven't reviewed yet -- Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom, by Nina Varela, 2023, and Alex Wise vs. the End of the World, by Terry J. Benton-Walker (2023)




This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (6/7/20)

Welcome to this week's round-up of mg sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs. As ever, please send me links to any posts I missed!

Starting with Other Good Stuff this week

A list of books for fantasy lovers 8 - 14 written by Black authors and starring Black protagonists at Bookshop

A list of mg spec fic black authors at Falling Letters

The Reviews

Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes, by Roshani Chokshi, at Evelyn Reads

Catalyst, by Sarah Beth Durst, at Fantasy Literature and Woodpecker Books

Christoffer Johansen and the Return to Jötunheim (Zaria Fierce #7) by Keira Gillett, at Log Cabin Library

Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley, at Rajiv's Reviews

Curse of the Night Witch, by Alex Aster, at Teresa Crider, Creative Writer

The House With Chicken Legs, by Sophie Anderson, at Not Acting My Age

The League of Beastly Dreadfuls, by Holly Grant, at Say What?

The Legends of Pinena – Invasion of the Aliens, by Amy Zhao, at Always in the Middle

Malamander, and its sequel, Gargantis, by Thomas Taylor, at alibrarymama

The Middler, by Kirsty Applebaum, at Books. Iced Lattes. Blessed.

The Order of Time, by Scott P. Southall, at YA Books Central

Rebel in the Library of Ever by Zeno Alexander, at Eli to the Nth

A Sprinkle of Spirits (Love Sugar Magic #2), at YABooksCentral

The Thief Knot, by Kate Milford, at alibrarymama

The Time of Green Magic, by Hilary McKay, at Blythe and Bold

The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez, by Adrianna Cuevas, at Charlotte's Library

The Unready Queen by William Ritter, at Rajiv's Reviews

The Way to Rio Luna, by Zoraida Córdova, at Books4YourKids and Charlotte's Library



6/6/20

The Way to Rio Luna, by Zoraida Córdova

The Way to Rio Luna, by Zoraida Córdova (Scholastic, June 2 2020), is a new middle grade fantasy (the first mg by this YA author) that will appeal to those who enjoy whimsical, fairytale-flavored adventures.

Danny Monteverde and his sister, Pili, lost their parents when he was a baby, and in the shuffle between foster homes and group homes that was his childhood, he had only two constants--Pili's love, and the fairytales she read to him from their treasured copy of The Way to Rio Luna.  Then when he was nine, Pili wasn't there anymore--run away, the authorities decided.  But Danny believes she is waiting for him in Rio Luna, if only he can find his way there...then his current foster father, who's horrible, destroys the book, and his hopes dwindle.

During a class field trip to the New York library, Danny wanders by himself into a rare book room, and finds one of the rarest books of all, out and open--an original copy of The Way to Rio Luna, from which magical arrows emanate.  He finds a friend, too, a girl named Glory who also believes in magic, encouraged by her eccentric Aunt North scoops both Danny and the book up, and takes them to her home, promising to help Danny follow the arrows to Rio Luna.

Each chapter in the book links our world to the world of Rio Luna, and each holds a key.  Danny, Glory, and Aunt North set out to track them down, travelling from New York, to Ecuador, to Brazil, and finally to Ireland.*   They meet the characters in the stories, Leigh the Bard, who foiled the plans of the Shadow Queen to take over Rio Luna, the legendary guinea big who travelled to the land of shooting stars, and the Kohlrabi King, who's set up a sanctuary for magical beings in Brazil.  They are joined by Llewellyn, a young Jackalope Prince who's squeezed his way into our world, who adds lightly comic notes, while being a stalwart ally.  And they meet the Shadow Queen, who has broken free of her prison, and who wants to use the keys the children have found to return with her army of shadows and resume her conquest.

But Danny, Glory, and Llewellyn persevere, and at last they reach Rio Luna, and Pili, in what is not so much a happy ending as the beginning of a new adventure...

The bonds of family and friendship are front and center, and the appeal of following a path into stories from a beloved a book is always great.  Younger middle grade readers will especially enjoy this diverse, vividly descriptive, story.  It wasn't quite to my own taste; there was too much whimsy for me (by way of context, I didn't really enjoy The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, or Summer In Orcus), and I felt there was not quite enough depth and building of tension to the story of the Shadow Queen, who sort of abruptly erupts into full confrontational villainy towards the end), but I'm sure many readers who aren't me will love it! 

*aside--this sort of travelling is why it's good to have a well-funded and well-connected aunt, who belives in magic, with you on your middle grade adventures in the real world.  Further aside--Danny does have a passport from when he was a baby, but the fact that it would have expired is not an issue, which raised my eyebrows because sometimes I'm a stickler for details like this. 

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher






6/3/20

The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez, by Adrianna Cuevas

The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez, by Adrianna Cuevas (Farrar Straus and  GirouxMay, 2020) is an excellent pick for the kid interested in folk-tale and myth inpsired, diverse real-world fantasy, who isn't quite old enough to really appreciate the more "tween" books like those of the Rick Riordan Presents imprint.   Which is to say, basically, a nine to ten year old (more or less) who likes good stories about likeable kids, that have magic and danger in them.

Nestor has been moving all his life (his Dad's in the military).  This new move to a small town in Texas is different--it's to his he and his mom will be living with his Cuban grandmother while his dad is deployed in Afghanistan.  His loves his Abuela (and her cooking), and it's cool to be in the house where his dad grew up.  But even so, Nestor has no desire to unpack and make friends at a new school, since he's sure he'll be uprooted again sooner rather than later.

So far, so ordinary...but Nestor isn't ordinary.  He can talk with animals.  And the animals in the new town are strangely agitated.  Something is very wrong in the scruffy woods at the edge of town, and there are missing animal posters everywhere....Two kids, Talib and Maria Carmen, become his friends at school, and they both have missing animals.   What is going on?

Nothing good.  A witch out of folktales, a tule vieja, has come hunting.  The three kids band together to track her down, and drive her away.  They have to confront her before the coming solar eclipse, because in that darkness her power will be greatest.  But what on earth are they supposed to do? Fortunately, with the help of an unexpected ally, Brandon (a bullying, animal-trapping kid) and help from the local animals, they succeed!  (more happens but that's the gist of it.  That being said, spider averse readers, you might want to stop reading about  6/7 of the way through....)

The Brandon sub-plot was the only thing that didn't work for me.  I think more could have been done with the transition of the nasty, bullying kid from enemy to friend, which was rather rushed, and not as well-explained or subtle as I'd have liked.  This is also a trope that I feel comes up all too often. 

That being said, this is one I'm happy to recommend!  It's a nice mix of real-world concerns  (a distant dad in danger, military family life and moving, bullying, making friends) and fantastical ones (talking to animals, defeating an evil witch), with a great, diverse cast of characters.  There are quite a few book series for 8-10 year olds about kids and mythical creatures  (the Pipp Bartlet series, Magical Animal Rescue series, and the Unicorn Rescue Society and  Nestor's adventures seem like just the thing to offer next--there's the animals in danger, who in this case help out their human friend after he helps them, with the fantasy element of the evil witch to push the plot toward higher, more middle grade, stakes.  Nestor's raven buddy will be especially popular with this group!

It's a stand alone story, but the possibility of more stories about Nestor and his friends is there, which would be great.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher


5/31/20

This week's round up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (5/31/20)

Here's what I found this week; enjoy!  (and let me know if I missed your post)

The Reviews

Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi, at The Nerd Daily

The Barren Grounds, by David A. Robertson, at Butler's Pantry

The Bone Garden, by Heather Kassner, at Book Swoon

 The Boogeyman: a Monstrous Fairytale, by Shane Berryhill, at Kid Lit Reviews

The Book of Mysteries, by J.R. Wallis, at bookloverjo

Changling, by William Ritter, at Rajiv's Reviews

Dragonsinger, by Anne McCaffery, at Book Nut

The Library of Ever, by Zeno Alexander, at Not Acting My Age

Malamander, by Thomas Taylor, at Pages Unbound

The Middler, by Kirsty Applebaum, at Book Craic

Sal & Gabi Break the Universe, by Carlos Hernandez, at Latinx in Kid Lit

Sisters Grimm: The Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley, at Say What?

Seasons of War (Skulduggery Pleasant) at Always in the Middle

Snared: Voyage on the Eversteel Sea by Adam Jay Epstein, at Log Cabin Library

The Stolen Lake, by Joan Aiken, at Semicolon

Tuesdays at the Castle, by Jessica Day George, at A Garden of Books

A Wish in the Dark, by Christina Soontornvat, at Randomly Reading



Authors and Interviews

Wendy Leighton Porter (Max's Royal Adventure) at Carpinello's Writing Pages

Liesl Shurtliff (The Forbidden Lock) at Middle Grade Book Village

Dorothy A. Winsor (The Windreader) at No Wasted Ink

Katharine Orton (Nevertell) at Middle Grade Book Village

Other Good Stuff

The Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book goes to a middle grade fantasy-- Riverland, by Fran Wilde (Amulet)  (Here's the full list of winners)

The School for Good and Evil will be a Netflix Movie

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