This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs etc (8/22/21)

I type this in Rhode Island, wondering if Henri is going to offer more than gentle rains and a light breeze, and still recovering from the excitements of the past two weeks (tagging along with my oldest, who will be in Ireland for the semester, on a jaunt through that pleasant country, and then coming home and getting my youngest to college for his freshman year, and then of course making sure my house was hurricane ready....).  So I have no reviews to offer.

But I do have something--a post urging all of you who read these Sunday posts to consider applying to be panelists in the Cybils Awards!  It really is worthwhile.

The Reviews

The Clockwork Crow, by Catherine Fisher, at The Children's Book Review

Da Vinci's Cat, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, at Fantasy Literature

The Dog Who Saved the World, by Ross Welford, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Escape From Aurora (Frostheart #2), by Jamie Littler, at Evelyn Reads

Fireborn, by Aisling Fowler, at lousbookstuff, Tessa Talks Books, dinipandareads, Read to Ramble, Becky's Book Blog, and Sifa Elizabeth Reads

Ghost Girl, by Ally Malinenko, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Girl and the Witch’s Garden, by Erin Bowman, at Pages Unbound 

Gloom Town, by Ronald L. Smith, at Colorful Book Reviews

Much Ado About Baseball, by Rajani LaRocca, at The New York Times

The Other Side of the Whale Road, by K.A. Hayton, at Elli Mai Blogs and Rajiv's Reviews

Root Magic, by Eden Royce, at proseandkahn

Skybreaker (Matt Cruse #2),  by Kenneth Oppel, at Say What?

The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel, by Sheelah Chari, at Say What? 

Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye, by Tania Del Rio, illustrated by Will Staehle, at Silver Button Books

Well Witched, by Frances Hardinge, at Pages Unbound

When Days Tilt (Time Catchers #1), Karen Ginnane, at The Book Muse

The Wild Before, by Piers Torday, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads 

Willodeen, by Katherine Applegate, at Beagles and Books

The Year I Flew Away, by Marie Arnold, at The Washington Post

Authors and Interviews

Stephanie Burgis (The Raven Heir) and Amy Wilson (Lightning Falls) in conversation with The Reader Teacher (on You Tube)

Christyne Morrell (Kingdom of Secrets), at Literary Rambles (with giveaway)

Mahtab Narsimhan (Valley of the Rats), at Middle Grade Book Village

Five reasons why you might want to apply to be a Cybils judge in elementary/middle grade speculative fiction!

The call for this years Cybils Awards panelists has gone out, and anyone who reviews or talks about kids and ya books on line (blog, you tube, Goodreads, etc.) is welcome to apply to be part of the fun and excitement!

The Cybils Awards includes many different categories of books (ranging from picture books to YA fiction), and each category has it's own set of panelists. The first round panelists narrow all the nominated books down to a shortlist of 5-7 books, and then a second group had to pick the final winner. Anyone in the world can nominate a book in each category; some categories end up with lots of books and some with fewer (elementary/middle grade speculative fiction is around 110-130, on the higher end).

So in essence, the first round involves lots and lots of reading, and lots of emails exchanged with co-panelists chatting in a friendly and companionable way about what we like, what we don't like, what we find amusing, what we find irritating, and how hard it will be to narrow it down to seven books. In the second round, with only seven books, there's less banter and more intense thought about the relative merits of the books. The two criteria we use in judging are good writing and lots of appeal for the target audience (diversity is not a explicit criteria, but does factor in to the target audience appeal).

I'm the category chair for elementary/middle grade speculative fiction (roughly books for 8-12 year olds), and if you are reading my blog, this might well be the group of books that you enjoy the most too! I am always so happy to welcome new folks into the judging, and so to encourage you who haven't done it before, I offer--

Five reasons why you might want to apply to be a Cybils judge in elementary/middle grade speculative fiction!

1. The books are really really good this year. (I say this every year, and every year it is true, but this year they are perhaps even really, really, really good).

2. It makes fall a lot more fun when you are a first round panelist. I love the excitement of the nomination period, the fun of marking books read in the spreadsheet, the wild placing of library holds  and the arrival of review copies (mostly digital these days, but some still physical). I love having a forum in which I can honestly share with no holding back what I really think about books; it is very companionable.

3. You will find new authors to love, and you will become extremely knowledgeable about the middle grade spec. fic. books of the past year.

4. You will make new friends and quite possibly be inspired to review more.

5. As the category organizer, assembling the panels is part of my job, so this reason why you should apply is somewhat selfish. I want lots and lots of people to apply so that I can have new participants along with reliable veterans, and so that the panels can have lots of different view points represented. I take up one of the seven available slots in the first round because I'm the Lead Reader, but that still leaves six, and five more for the second round....

If you still have doubts, let me reassure you that it is less work than you might think!

There will probably be around 120 books nominated in EMG Spec Fic. This might seem like a lot of books to read, but remember, you'll probably have read a fair number of them already (if you haven't, you must not like MG spec fic, so you wouldn't be applying). Also each book only Has to be read by 2 panelists, and since I plan to read all the books, that takes pressure off of others. And also if it is clear to you before finishing a book that you could not support it being shortlisted, you don't have to finish it but can still mark it as read.

Though the nominating period ends October 15, you can start reading just as soon as you get the invitation email from me in mid September, giving you three and half months for reading (the shortlists must be assembled by the end of December). On the other hand, if you are having a baby, starting a new job, planning on spending the month of December snowbound with no internet access, or moving house this fall, the second round might be a better fit for you!

Things that I look for when gathering panelists:

Obviously, I really want people who know and love EMG Spec Fic; this is the most important thing to demonstrate when you apply! (Do not include a link to a review in which you say "I don't really like middle grade fiction, but I liked this book" or some such, which really has happened a few times in the past). I want a mix of parents, educators, librarians, and authors. I want a range of viewpoints; I'd love diverse panelists. . And I want panelists who are able to think clearly and critically about what makes for a good mg spec fic book and who are willing to enjoy sharing their opinions.

So here's the link to the application page on the Cybils website. Please apply! (you get to put three categories you're interested in, ranked...you could put EMG spec fic for all three if you wanted.  Nb--picture books are the most popular first pick; graphic novels and High School non-fiction always would welcome more applicants.  EMG spec fic is somewhere in the middle....

If you are on the fence about applying, please feel free to email me at charlotteslibrary at gmail.com with any questions or concerns.

This week's round-up of mg sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (8/15/21)

Nothing from me this week, except this picture of the mg sci fi/fantasy book I bought in Ireland last week (it is so much fun to see all the different books for sale in other countries!)

Happily other folks wrote about emg sff!  As always, please let me know if I missed your post and I'll I'll put it in.

The Reviews

Arcade and the Triple T Token (Coin Slot Chronicles #1) by Rashad Jennings, at Colorful Book Reviews

Dog Squad, by Chris Grabenstein, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Fireborn, by Aisling Fowler, at The Bewitched Reader, Rajiv's Reviews, The Bookwyrm's Den, and Hair Past a Freckle

Fly by Night, by Frances Hardinge, at Pages Unbound

The Gilded Girl, by Alyssa Colman, at Mom Read It

The Girl and the Witch's Garden by Erin Bowman at Jean Little Library

Homer on the Case, by Henry Cole, at Redeemed Reader

The Last Shadow Warrior by Sam Subity, at Say What?

Mission Multiverse, by Rebecca Caprara, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Other Side of Luck, by  Ginger Johnson, at Cracking the Cover

The Plentiful Darkness, by Heather Kassner, at The Bookwyrm's Den and Eli to the nth

Rea and the Blood of the Nectar, by  Payal Doshi, at  A Dance With Books 

When the Sea Turned to Silver, by Grace Lin, at Colorful Book Reviews

The World Between Blinks, by Amie Kaufman and Ryan Graudin, at Middle Grade Mojo

Two at alibrarymama--Much Ado about Baseball, by Rajani LaRocca, and Ophie's Ghosts, by Justina Ireland

Authors and Interviews

John David Anderson (Stowaway) at Middle Grade Ninja and Nerdy Book Club

Jessica Vitalis (The Wolf's Curse) at MG Book Village

Other Good Stuff

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

The New Zealand Book Award Winners have been announced, and the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year is  Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature from the Sea, by T K Roxborogh

The Dragon Awards Finalists for YA/MG--

• The Scapegracers, Hannah Abigail Clarke (Erewhon)
• A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher (Argyll)
• Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
• A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
• The Tinderbox: Soldier of Indira, Lou Diamond Phillips (Aethon)
• A Peculiar Peril, Jeff VanderMeer (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)

on vacation this week...

 ....bookshopping in Ireland, so no round-up!  I'll try to do one for next week.

Yesterday Is History, by Kosoko Jackson, for Timeslip Tuesday

This week's time travel book is Yesterday Is History, by Kosoko Jackson (February 2021, Sourcebooks Fire).  It's a very readable and enjoyable gay YA romance, in which time travel serves to complicate a black teenager's life and loves.

Andre has come through cancer, with a new liver received from a young man who died in a car accident.  He's ready to charge back into his life of academic success, complicated by all the school he missed.  But along with the liver, he got something he couldn't have predicted-- a trip to his childhood home back in the 1960s.  There he meets Michael, a guy a little older, friendly, cute, and insightful as heck.   Andre has no clue how this has happened, until the family of the liver donor reaches out.  

Turns out that young man was a time traveler, from a family of time travelers.  And now Andre is one too.  Blake, the younger son, didn't inherit the gene, but his parents assign him to teach Andre the rules of time travelling.  This is a heck of complicated situation for Blake, for a variety of understandable personal reasons, and it's further complicated when he finds himself falling for Andre..

But Andre has been going back to the past to meet Michael again, and they fall in love.  And even though he could imagine easily falling for Blake, what he shares with Michael can't just be dismissed.

Andre wants to make everything ok for Blake (hurting in the present) and for Michael (hurting in the past), but that's impossible, even with time travel. And after lots of internal struggle and another brush with death, he sets out to live his best life in the present.

So time travel is a mechanism for the romance plot, and that's fine, but it's a bit disappointing that except for one hop back to the Titanic, which we don't even get to experience through Andre's point of view, there's just trips back to see Michael (and it was really frustrating that Andre doesn't get Michael to promise always to use a condom, though mercifully we find that Michael doesn't die of AIDS).  

Andre grows up a lot because of his experience in the past though, realizing that instead of just drifting along with parental expectations (in this case, medical school), it's better to find your own passion.  Believably, he doesn't in fact find his (except romantically), but it's a good message for teens regardless. 

It was really nice to read about a likeable gay boy supported by his family finding love!  So read it for that, not because you like time travel, which exists here primarily in the service of romantic entanglement (that being said, the time travel did a good job making the entanglement interesting!)

This week's round-up of middle grade science fiction and fantasy from around the blogs (8/1/21)

Happy August to us all....

Here's what I found in my internet searching this week; please let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews

15 Minutes, by Steve Young, at Charlotte's Library

The Beatryce Prophecy, by Kate DiCamillo, at Rosi Hollinbeck

Begone the Raggedy Witches, by Celine Kiernan, at Rajiv's Reviews

Bridge of Souls, by Victoria Schwab, at  The Zen Leaf

The Broken Raven (Shadow Skye #2), by Joseph Elliott, at Log Cabin Library

Cogheart, by Peter Bunzl, at Rajiv's Reviews

The Crackledawn Dragon, by Abi Elphinstone, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

Crowfall, by Vashti Hardy, at Library Girl and Book Boy

Dead Wednesday,  by Jerry Spinelli, at Susan the Librarian

Edie and the Box of Flits, by Kate Wilkinson, at Book Craic

Homer on the Case, by Henry Cole, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Josephine Against the Sea, by Shakirah Bourne, at WOC Read

The Library of Ever and Rebel in the Library of Ever, by Zeno Alexander, at AMB

The Magic Factory (Oliver Blue and the School for Seers #1) by Morgan Rice, at Say What?

The Nightmare Thief, by Nicole Lesperance, at Pages Unbound

One Jar of Magic, by Corey Ann Haydu, at Not Acting My Age

Ophie's Ghosts, by Justina Ireland, at Charlotte's Library

A Problematic Paradox, by Eliot Sappingfield at Puss Reboots

The Raven Heir, by Stephanie Burgis, at Read and Reviewed

The Remarkables, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, at Say What?

Shadowghast, by Thomas Taylor, at Library Chicken

Stowaway (Icarus Chronicles #1), by John David Anderson, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Weird Kid, by Greg Van Eekhout, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Willow of Dark Hollow, by Robert Beatty, at Rachel A. Greco

The Wolf’s Curse, by Jessica Vitalis, at Pages Unbound

The Way to Impossible Island, by Sophie Kirtley, at Book Craic

Five Mg Fantasy books, at Beautifully Bookish Bethany (you-tube)

Authors and Interviews

Ben Gartner (People of the Sun) at MG Book Village

John David Anderson (Stowaway) at Fuse #8

Greg Van Eekhout (Weird Kid) at Whatever and Fuse #8

Ophie's Ghosts, by Justina Ireland

Ophie's Ghosts (May 2021 by Balzer + Bray) is Justina Ireland's first middle grade book, and it is a lovely immersive read, blending ghosts and a murder mystery with the daily life of a very real and relatable girl. 

Ophelia's life was upended in November, 1922, when her home in Georgia was burned by a white mob, and her father killed; he'd voted, which in the Jim Crow south was a dangerous thing for a black man to do.  But Ophie and her mother escaped unharmed, thanks to her father coming to her as a ghost to warn her.  She didn't know he was a ghost till later...and she didn't know that she'd start to see other ghosts.

Moving in with Aunt Rose and a family of cousins up north in Pittsburgh was the only think Ophie's mother could do, and now Ophie has to go to work instead of school.  Her job is to look after a demanding and unpleasant rich white woman in her grand home, Daffodil Manor.  It turns out the manor is full of ghosts, some self-absorbed, others with whom she can speak.  Once of them, Clara, even becomes a friend....But Aunt Rose can also see haints, and warns Ophie against ever trusting one.  

Ophie's desire to help her ghostly friend is so strong, though, that she sets out to uncover the mystery of her death.  She finds a story of passion, racial prejudice, and, she begins to suspect, murder...and unwittingly she gives Clara herself the power to take matters into her own ghostly hands.  But a ghost with power, as Aunt Rose warned, is a danger to everyone around it....and things get scary.

I sat down to start reading, and when I got up again I'd been sitting so long in one position it was hard to walk, a sign of a very good read!  With books like this I kind of forget I'm actually reading, because the words are going into to my head so fast and seamlessly that I am seeing the story not the typed letters.  Ophie is one of those fictional characters who seems truly real.  I warmed to her innate compassion, and my heart ached for her at many points in the story as she dealt with the racist realities of her life, her grief over her father and her lost hope for an education, and her worries for her mother.  The book is full of minor characters, dead and alive, who have their own vivid bits of story, adding considerable interest, tugging the heartstrings, and even providing a bit of light relief.

It's not a "horror story" (the real horror being not ghosts, but the human evil with which the story begins), and things only get  supernaturally scary at the climax towards the end.  But it is very spooky, and the horrible house full of ghosts is a ghastly place, so there's probably enough to satisfy young readers who love atmospheric creepiness.   Offer it to readers who enjoyed Victoria Schwab's City of Ghosts, or readers who like stories of plucky orphans in horrible jobs (of course, Ophie still has a mother who loves her, but one who's withdrawn from her somewhat because of grief and worry, so she felt orphan-adjacent to me, and the cover has this vibe too), and since it's top notch historical fiction as well as a ghost story, it's a great educational introduction to racism in the US in the 1920s (I learned more history from children's books than I did in the classroom, though mostly about Roman and medieval England....I'd love to be able to offer this one to 10 year old me, who also liked orphans and ghosts...and who knew nothing about racism in America in the early 20th century).

short answer--highly recommended, and I hope Justine Ireland writes more middle grade!

15 Minutes, by Steve Young, for Timeslip Tuesay

This week's Timeslip Tuesday, 15 Minutes, by Steve Young (HarperCollins, 2006), is one for the younger middle grade set (10-11 year olds).  It's very much aimed at that group in its humor and plot twists, and though I'm happy to recommend it to Wimpy Kid fans, for instance, this means that I didn't personally enjoy it all that much.

Casey Little is pretty ordinary, although his talent for being late is remarkable.  He has a few friends, he is bullied at the normal level for his school (which is considerable), and he longs to be one of the admired, popular kids.  But when, rummaging in the attic, he finds an old watch that used to belong to his grandfather, ordinary goes out the window.

The watch can take its wearer back in time, but only for 15 minutes.  No one else realizes, so there's freedom to try again, this time getting it right.

This re-do ability is convenient for a kid, like Casey, who's a bit of a klutz and who embarrasses himself a lot.  And by fixing all his mistakes he is, in fact, able to attract the attention of one of the popular girls and even excel at football (a game where it helps to know in advance which way everyone's going to go).  But the watch has a mind of its own, and sometimes time goes back when the watch thinks it should, complicating things.

As Casey tries to achieve his (flawed) ideas of perfection, he drifts away from his old friends, and when he realizes that the worst of the bullies, the football star of the school, is in fact the victim of bullying from his own father, he quits the cycle of do-overs, and finds peace in the present. It's a rather abrupt change of heart, but still a nice ending.

I myself don't have much patience for middle school kids who are thoughtless and self-centered, and so didn't like Casey at all for most of the book.  There's a lot of humor that will appeal to Wimpy Kid fans, which means that it's not humor I find all that funny, and the number of times kids get their heads flushed by the bullies is ridiculous.  So not a book for me.

But it is quick read, and an interesting premise, and the final point of the story is a valuable one (about compassion, not making judgements, and a touch of trying to be  one's authentic self) and so I'm sure there are kids out there for whom it is the right book....

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

The Reviews

Dark Waters (Small Spaces #3), by Katherine Arden, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Dead Wednesday, by Jerry Spinelli, at Book Page

Dragon Pearl, by Yoon Ha Lee, at Children's Books Heal

Into the Tall, Tall Grass by Loriel Ryon, at Colorful Book Reviews

The Legend of Podkin One-Ear, at Big Bearded Bookseller

The Little Door by Stormy Lyn, at Raine August

Nightingale, by Deva Fagan, at Geo Librarian

The Nightsilver Promise, by Annalise Avery, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

No Ordinary Thing, by G.Z. Schmidt, at Charlotte's Library

A Pinch of Magic, by Michelle Harrison, at Pages Unbound

Relatively Normal Secrets, by C.W. Allen, at Say What?

Secondhand Dogs, by Carolyn Crimi, at Geo Librarian

Sisters of the Neversea, by Cynthia Leitich Smith, at Charlotte's Library

 A Small Zombie Problem, by K. G. Campbell, at Middle-Grade Mojo

The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #1), by Jessica Townsend, at GoodeyReads

The Verdigris Pawn, by Alysa Wishingrad, at Feed Your Fiction Addiction

When You Trap a Tiger, by Tae Keller, at Leaf's Reviews

Wrath of the Dragon King (Dragonwatch #2), by Brandon Mull, at J.R.'s Book Reviews

Two at The Book Search--The Verdigris Pawn, by Alysa Wishingrad, and Weird Kid, by Greg van Eekhout

Authors and Interviews

Alysa Wishingrad (The Verdigris Pawn) at Literary Rambles

Alex London (Battle Dragons) at From the Mixed Up Files

Gabriella Kikwaki  (A Link Between Two Worlds series), at Lisa Haselton

L.D. Lapinski (The Strangeworlds Travel Agency) on world building, at Writers & Artists

Melissa Marr  (The Hidden Knife) “Give a girl (or a forty-year-old woman) a sword," at Nerdy Book Club

Sisters of the Neversea, by Cynthia Leitich Smith

It sure was fun to revisit Peter Pan's Neverland in Sisters of the Neversea, by Cynthia Leitich Smith  (Heartdrum, June 2021)!  It plunges headlong into reworking the original racist and sexist story, and although it didn't quite work for me, I appreciated and enjoyed it lots! (And it had the added poignancy of a lovely cover by the late, great, and sadly missed Floyd Cooper). 

Wendy Darling and Lily Roberts are stepsisters, tremendously close to each other.  Wendy's site of the family is white, from England, and  Lily's is Muscogee Creek.  They share a little brother, Michael, who they both adore.  But Wendy's dad is moving back to New York city, taking Wendy with him, and the girls are terrified that their family won't survive.

Enter Peter Pan, looking for his shadow, accompanied by his fairy friend, Belle.  

Peter plays Wendy and Michael like the expert manipulator he is, and they fly off with him to Neverland.  Lily sees through him, but can't let her siblings go off with out her, so she follows after them on her own.  When they reach Neverland, Wendy and Michael are taken in to the community of the Lost Boys, and Lily finds the other Native kids.  Soon Wendy realizes that Peter Pan is a tyrannical braggart, and that Neverland, though it is a place of wonders and magic, is no place she wants to stay.  Belle the fairy is herself having grave doubts about Peter, who, having defeated his pirate nemesis, is savagely killing the native fauna for sport and to show off.   

But the Darling-Roberts family is up for the challenge of finding their way home again, and even Peter, in the end, finds a most unlikely family.

There's lots to like here, most notably the power of family.  The bonds between the siblings not only held them together, but tied all the threads of adventure and magic into a moving story.  And it sure was great to see the problematic issues of the original destroyed!

One aspect of the didn't work for me was the style in which it is written.  There are frequent authorial intrusions, and some jarring ways of talking about the characters that threw me out of the story--at one point well into the book, for instance, Wendy is referred to as the "Darling girl."  Additionally, there were many point of view shifts amongst the primary, secondary and even tertiary characters.  Some were simply brief flashes, others lasted for longer chunks, and quite a few included back-story thoughts, and this made the story flow a little roughly for me.  I don't like it when I'm constantly made aware that an outside person is telling the story; it makes the characters feel more like puppets than part of a reality I'm absorbed in (wondering, as I type this, if introverts are bothered more by intrusive narrators than extroverts?)

That being said, this is definitely worth a read! (Kirkus thinks so too, for what that's worth....and their review appreciated "the wry voice of the omniscient narrator."

No Ordinary Thing, by G.Z. Schmidt, for Timeslip Tuesday

 

As readers of my blog know, I'm a sucker for good middle grade time travel, and No Ordinary Thing, by G.Z. Schmidt, was a very nice one indeed!

When his parents died when he was very young, Adam went to live with his uncle.  Life in the Biscuit Basket, his uncle's bakery, is (literally) sweet, but Adam is withdrawn (never talking at school unless he has to, and with no friends) and worried about his dying pet mouse.  Business is very bad indeed, and the bakery's future looks grim.

Then a stranger arrives, and greets Adam as if they know each other, pulling out a lovely snow globe in which is the cityscape of Manhattan.  He offers no explanations, just the  enigmatic words "great things are in store for you" and "Tonight, go up to the attic."  Adam does, and finds a snow globe of his own.  But there is nothing in it other than a layer of snow.

This soon changes, and when the cityscape appears in it, Adam is transported back in time to a winter's day in New York of the 1930s.  Other journeys await, falling within the years between the first journey and Adam's present of 1999, both within the city and to a smaller town some ways away. The people Adam meets are all connected to the time magic of the snow globe, and to two other talismans of time, one tied to the present, the other to the future...

Life for Adam is now full of mystery, danger from an enemy who wants the magic for his own greedy purposes, and snatched friendships in other times.  And with his adventures in time, his desire to fix things, not just for himself but for those he meets, grows.  But the gifts of time magic are tricky things....

So clearly I'm not going into lots of detail here.  Suffice to say--good characters, good mystery to be unraveled, lots of difficult choices, interesting visits to the past, and an a satisfying (though somewhat rushed) ending.  I especially liked Adam's connection to Victor, one of the homeless men in the nearby shelter where Adam takes unsold baked goods--Victor was once a mathematician, and I like his thoughts about time lots (Victor is also the hero of the final confrontation....).  The time travel is interesting--Adam never stays very long in any place or time, and his visits to the same places are sometimes out of chronological order.  I'm not quite sure why the snow globe took him when and where it did, but it all ties together (clever snow globe!).

If you love time travel stories that are centered on making meaningful connections across time, this is one you'll like lots!

note re diversity--Adam's mother was from China, and the author likewise was born in China but grew up in the US.

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (7/18/21)

Hi all!  Here's what I found this week; please let me know if I missed your post, posts about your book, your friend's post I missed, etc.

The Reviews

Between Sea and Sky, by Nicola Penfold, at Book Craic

The Clockwork Crow, by Catherine Fisher, at Leaf's Reviews

The Dog Who Saved the World, by Ross Welford, at Charlotte's Library

The Dragon Egg Princess, by Ellen Oh, at Say What?

The House on the Edge, by Alex Cotter, at Library Girl and Book Boy

Josephine Against the Sea, by Shakirah Bourne, at Life of a Female Bibliophile

The Last Fallen Star by Graci Kim, at Feed Your Fiction Addiction

The Magnificent Monsters of Cedar Street by Lauren Oliver, at Say What?

New Blood (Beast Quest #1), by Adam Blade, at Say What?

Ophie's Ghosts, by Justina Ireland, at Waking Brain Cells

The Raven Heir, by Stephanie Burgis, at Book-Bound

Song of the Far Isles, by Nicholas Bowling, at Book-Bound

Tiger Warrior: Attack of the Dragon King, by M. Chan, at Book Craic

Too Bright to See, by Kyle Lukoff, at Charlotte's Library

The Verdigris Pawn, by Alyssa Wishingrad, at Ms. Yingling Reads and Middle-Grade Mojo

Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye, by Tania del Rio, illustrated by Will Staehle, at Twirling Book Princess

Two at Bookends-- Trouble in the Stars, by Sarah Prineas, and A Discovery of Dragons, by Lindsay Galvin

too many to list individually, at Golden Books Girl (this post added lots to my Goodreads tbr list....)

Authors and Interviews

Nicole Kornher-Stace (Jillian vs Parasite Planet) at Middle Grade Ninja (podcast)

Alysa Wishingrad (The Verdigris Pawn) at Teen Librarian Tool Box and From the Mixed Up Files

Andrea Rand (The Chronicles of Kibblestan series), at Almost an Author

Kerelyn Smith (Mulrox and the Malcognitos) at The Bookish Society (podcast)

Other Good Stuff

"10 Summer Fantasy Books for Middle Grade Readers" at alibrarymama

"The Beguiling Legacy of “Alice in Wonderland” at The New Yorker

Ursula Le Guin has a stamp coming out July 27th!

Too Bright to See, by Kyle Lukoff

2021 is full of great mg sci fi and fantasy books, as the substantial pile of books (around 14) I have checked out from my library demonstrates.  Too Bright to See, by Kyle Lukoff, (April 20th 2021 by Dial Books) isn't, though, one I got from the library; it wasn't in my library system yet*, so I bought it with my own money as my new book for June (1 a month is sadly all I allow myself to buy). I was not disappointed with my investment in future me's rereading pleasure. This is an outstanding book.

Bug's beloved Uncle Roderick has just died, at the much too young age of thirty-two.   He moved to the old (quite possibly haunted) family house in rural Vermont to live with Bug's mom when her husband died and Bug was just a little baby, giving up his own life in New York as a drag queen, and he was incredibly dear to both of them.  Now it's just the two of them, and Bug's mom card designing work isn't bringing enough in to cover all the medical bills...

On top of that sadness and worry, Bug's best/only real friend, Moira, is leaping toward middle school and wants to bring Bug with her into a world of clothes and make-up and growing up.  Bug sees Moira is on her way to becoming a woman, but feels unable to enthusiastically follow that path, feeling more like a shadow, or a doll, or someone just going through the motions.  Bug is in the habit of narrating life as a servant girl, or a princess, or other flights of imagination, trying on different types of girl-ness, but nothing seems right. 

"Trying to picture myself as a teenage girl is like staring at the sun, too bright to see, and it hurts."

Bug's house is undeniably spooky, with cold spots and strange noises, and reflections in the mirror that look like strangers.  But this summer more active hauntings begin (poltergeist-ness, Ouija board strangeness, creepy dreams, and strange voices), building up to the undeniable fact that Uncle Roderick still cares about Bug, and is trying to communicate something awfully important.

Bug isn't a girl, but a boy.

And when he realizes that, everything falls into place in his mind.  His mom is supportive, Moira, and even the other girls in Moira's circle of friends, are cool with it, and the new middle-school also takes it comfortably in stride.  It is a happy ending; even the card designing business picks up.

So the ghost part of the story makes this fantasy, and there is some creepy tension from the haunting, but it is mainly the story of a lonely, sad kid experiencing gender-dysphoria, and then relief from realizing what he is feeling, and finaly the peace that comes when he can act on those feelings.  It's a really moving story, and I so appreciated that Bug's realization that he is a boy wasn't a traumatic disaster.  For kids who are themselves trans, it will, I think, be a great comfort have Bug's story in their minds, and for kids who aren't trans, but ready to be allies, it will help them understand gender dysphoria and be supportive of their friends.  

If you are thinking this sounds not wildly relatable, stop!  We all go through the process of adolescence, figuring out who the heck we are, perhaps with others around us seeming to be racing along the path to growing up, and our bodies becoming strange, and the face in the mirror changing.  Like Bug, I myself still try to make sense of my life through third-person narration...and still feel I'm acting a part when I wear fancy clothes and makeup (which isn't often).  Though of course for Bug, and other trans kids, this is all at a different level of magnitude.  

In any event, I liked it lots, cared about the characters, enjoyed the sensory experience of reading it, and think it's an important and moving book!

If you want a second opinion, here's a glowing review from Fuse #8.  Betsy and I don't always overlap in our opinions, but this time we do!

*(just checked--there are now 9 copies, with two more being processed, in RI; 8 are checked out).

 

The Dog Who Saved the World, by Ross Welford, for Timeslip Tuesday

The Dog Who Saved the World, by Ross Welford (middle grade, Schwartz and Wade 2020 in the US), was published in the UK in 2019 before the coronavirus hit....and it's a bit too on the nose to make for real comfort reading, even though it is an engaging and entertaining story.

Georgie loves her dog Mr. Mash fiercely (he's a rambunctious, loving, and unfortunately gassy dog), but her father's new girlfriend, Jessica, is allergic.  Mr. Mash must go back to St. Woof's dog shelter.  Georgie immediately starts spending most of her free time there, taking him out for romps along with her best friend Ramzy.  On one such outing, Mr. Woof runs off with an old woman's bathing cap, destroying it.  

This is Mr. Woof's first contribution toward saving the world, because as restitution the two kids are roped into helping at her impressive, and very private, lab, home to an incredible virtual reality set up.  Georgie is the first guinea pig to try it, and it's certainly impressive.  The virtual reality is more real than even its inventor planned (there is a giant scorpion that crept in unasked for, whose sting is real....).  

Then a terrible dieses shows up in dogs, and begins spreading to people.  Mr. Woof, and all canine kind in England, are slated to be killed in an effort to control it.  Jessica is among the scientists working desperately to find the cure...but it is not happening quickly enough.  

The virtual reality set up is so good, though, that it can be programed to take its users to the future.  And this is how Georgie and Ramzy plan to save the world.  Without Mr. Woof, though, it wouldn't have worked....

There's a lot more to the book--crazy shenanigans are required, for instance, and plottings and planning, along with Georgie's more ordinary concerns about Jessica becoming part of her life, and Ramzy's worries about his own family (they are barely getting by).  And all of it makes for a fun read, and it is really easy to cheer the two kids on, except, of course, that it hits rather close to home.  (I really wish that it wasn't a girl from China who brought the disease to the UK.  The author had no way of predicting the anti-Asian prejudice that happened in the US because of Covid, but it was in retrospect an unfortunate choice on his part).

In any event, the story is a good mix of the serious and the exciting, and dog-lovers, in particular, will be deeply invested in story (spoiler--Mr. Woof survives, and the cure he helps bring back to the present saves many other dogs as well).    

Time travel through virtual reality is a new one for me, and I liked that part more than I did Mr. Woof (I am a cat person).  Though of course it's wildly improbable, it had enough internal logic (of a mad science sort) to it that the improbability didn't matter much to me.  Georgie's actual time in the future was very brief, and rather awful, since it was a time line where the cure came a year later.  But at least that future never ended up happening.

this week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (7/11/21)

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

The Reviews

All the Impossible Things, by Lindsay Lackey, at Jessica's Reading Room

The Beasts of Grimheart  (The Five Realms #3), by Kieran Larwood, at Say What?

Between Sea and Sky, by Nicola Penfold, at Alittlebutalot

Bluecrowne, by Kate Milford, at Colorful Book Reviews

Da Vinci's Cat, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, at books4yourkids

A Discovery of Dragons, by Lindsay Gavin, at Cracking the Cover

Finn and the Intergalactic Lunchbox, by Michael Buckley, at Always in the Middle

The Girl Who Speaks Bear, by Sophie Anderson, at Twirling Book Princess

Josephine Against the Sea, by Shakirah Bourne, at The Bookwyrm's Den, Sometimes Leelynn Reads, and Rajiv's Reviews

The Last Fallen Star (Gifted Clans #1), by Graci Kim, at Jill's Book Blog

Magic's Most Wanted, by Tyler Whitesides, at Geo Librarian

The Mystery of the Tenth (Muse Squad #2), by Chantel Acevedo, at A Kernel of Nonsense and The Reading Chemist

The Other Side of Luck, by Ginger Johnson, at Charlotte's Library

Rea And The Blood Of The Nectar,by Payal Doshi, at The Bookwyrm's Den

The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez, by Adrianna Cuevas, at alibrarymama

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking, by T. Kingfisher, at The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia

Authors and Interviews

Shakirah Bourne (Josephine Against the Sea) at WNDB

Alysa Wishingrad (The Verdigris Pawn) at Kirby Larson

Ali Standish (The Mending Summer) at Middle Grade Ninja (podcast)

Payal Doshi (Rea And The Blood Of The Nectar), at From the Mixed-Up Files

Cimone O'Byrne  (Children of the Periapt: Escape from Elmsmere) at Nayu's Reading Corner

Ally Malinenko (Ghost Girl), at MG Book Village

The Other Side of Luck, by Ginger Johnson

If you are looking for a middle grade fantasy that feels fairytale-ish, without in fact being a fairy tale or inspired by one, try The Other Side of Luck, by Ginger Johnson (Bloomsbury, August 10 2021).  This quality made it a nice change from the wild magical rampaging of my recent middle grade fantasy reading. 

Julien has been raised outside the city, following in his father's footsteps as a gatherer of wild plants.  Una has been raised in luxury at the city's heart, the daughter of its Magister.  But after Una's mother died, her father ignored her, whereas Julien's father, though growing old and unwell, has raised him with tremendous love and care from the time he was a baby, when his own mother died.  

Una's father has ordered a particular, very rare plant brought to him, one that Julian's father has the best chance of finding; this would mean relief from poverty, and a chance for his health to recover.  When a jealous rival has him arrested for floral malfeasance involving a misidentified poisonous plant, Julien sets out to try to save him from jail.  At the same time, Una meets her mother's brother, who she never knew existed,  and decides she'd rather live with her mother's far-away family than stay in her father's city, where she feels unwanted.

The paths of the two children cross out in the hills away from the city, and together they try to find the plant.  Julien wants it to help his father, and Una wants it because she's been told it was her mother's favorite.  Maybe, if she can smell its scent, it will refresh her memories of her mother....

But Una's uncle isn't what he seems, and bandits, treacherous terrain, and the unscrupulous rival complicate their quest.  When they do succeed, the ending isn't at all what they expected.... 

I will now try to define what I felt was fairytale-ish about this story, in list form because that's what I'm in the mood for.

--  There's a dream-like quality to their quest.  It's not our world, but somewhere far away and with different plants, and with a smidge of background magic.  

--  The two kids each have a gift that crosses the line into magic.  Julian can hear plants, and tells them apart by the way they sound.  Una has a sense of smell that is likewise more acute than possible.   Their gifts help them on their quest.  

-- Another help comes from an old lady, such as is often found in fairy tales, selling "the soup of life"  to the people of the city. Though at first it seemed like just really good soup, it actually is magical.

--and finally, the way the story unfolded, with two kids in distress setting off away from home to find the rare and precious thing that could help them, keeping going despite the dangers, is obviously fairy tale.

Where it departs from fairytale-ness is in the sadness of the two kids; a real, deep, aching grief that gives the book lots of heart, without weighing down the reader overmuch.

So I enjoyed the reading of this; I was on a train, and it was a good train book, I think (airplanes call for  gripping excitement, which has to be really gripping to distract from the trapped, horrible tedium of a long flight, but trains, swishing down their tracks outside reality in a gentler way than airplanes, and with opportunities to walk restlessly up and down when the mood strikes, are more amenable to milder sorts of stories).  It's not one I quite loved, though; mainly because I wasn't entirely convinced by the set-up and the ending.  The ending especially felt unearned and not like the ending to the journey the kids had been on.

But in any event, the writing is lovely!  It's a good one for a dreamy 9 or 10 year old reader (if the cover appeals, the book will too), and, for me, at least, it was a refreshing palate cleanser (which feels like a not nice thing to call a book, but I mean it kindly).

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

this week's round-up of mg science fiction and fantasy from around the blogs (7/4/21)

Here's what I found this week (which included two new books for my tbr list, so a win for me).  Please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

Britfield & the Rise of the Lion, by C.R. Stewart, at Log Cabin Library

Clash of Beasts (Going Wild #3),  by Lisa McMann, at Say What?

A Discovery of Dragons, by Lindsay Galvin, at Charlotte's Library

Dragon Cauldron (Dragon Quartet #3), by Laurence Yep, at Colorful Book Reviews

The Forest of Stars, by Heather Kassner, at She's got books on her mind

A Glasshouse of Stars, by Shirley Marr, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Harley Hitch and the Iron Forest, by Vashti Hardy, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

Josephine Against the Sea, by Shakirah Bourne, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom, by Sangu Mandanjna, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Orpheus Plot., by Chritopher Sweidler, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Pizazz, It's Not Easy Being Super... by Sophy Henn, at Geo Librarian

Return of Zombert by Kara LaReau, illustrations by Ryan Andrews, at Log Cabin Library

Root Magic, by Eden Royce, at alibrarymama

Skywake Invasion, by Jamie Russell, at Library Girl and Book Boy

Time Villains, by Victor Piñeiro, at Log Cabin Library

The Wild Huntsboys by Martin Stewart, at Fuse #8

Zombie, or Not to Be (Hazy Fables #2), by Kyle Sullivan, at Say What?

Two at The Book Search--Hollow Chest, by Brita Sandstrom, and Even and Odd, by Sarah Beth Durst

Authors and Interviews

Jamie Russell (SkyWake: Invasion), at A little but a lot

Eleanor Crewes (Lilla the Accidental Witch) at Nerdy Book Club

Christyne Morrell (Kingdom of Secrets), at MG Book Village

Shawn Peters (The Unforgettable Logan Foster) at MG Book Village

Vashi Hardy, (Brightstorm) at How to Train Your Gavin (YouTube) 

Other Good Stuff

The winner in the young reader division of the Inaugural Barnes & Noble Children’s & Young Adult Book Award is Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston 

The folks at Spooky Middle Grade now have a YouTube Channel

A list of 20 mg sff escapes at SLJ

A Discovery of Dragons, by Lindsay Galvin

A Discovery of Dragons, by Lindsay Galvin (July 6th 2021 by Chicken House, 2020 in the UK) is a  middle grade speculative fiction book that is tailor-made for kids who love:

--survival stories
--magical animal rescue stories

--dragons

and who ideally have a least a little interest in natural history.

This, apart from the kid part (sigh), would be me (which is how I know that this is true).

Syms, short for Simon, was the cabin boy and ship's fiddler on HMS Beagle when Charles Darwin set forth on his famous voyage of natural history discoveries.  Darwin relied on him more and more as a natural history helper, and so he was right there when Darwin fell overboard, and jumped in to save him.

Nearly drowned, Syms washes ashore on a desolate island.  He has no water, no food, no knife....and there's an active volcano.  There is also a huge golden flying lizard (dragon, says Syms' mind) that keeps grabbing him, and dumping him in the ocean.  Fortunately a large green lizardish creature befriends him, pushing him into the old lava tunnels that will keep him safe from the grabbing flyer, showing him where to find water, and harvesting prickly pears for him....Syms names the clever and charming creature Farthing, and they become firm friends.

Then the volcano erupts.  And Farthing pleads with Syms, with all the non-verbal powers of persuasion possible, to go through the tunnels toward the eruption, to save a clutch of golden eggs from the lava...eggs whose mother is the very same dragon that almost killed him before, who is also trying to save them.  Nor just from the lava but from Syms as well..

So things are very touch and go, but Syms, Farthing, and the eggs end up on HMS Beagle, and Charles Darwin is very interested indeed (although not a dragon believer).  Back in England the eggs hatch into lizards like Farthing, and they are all (including Farthing) sent to live in a pen in the London Zoological Society.  Though Queen Victoria herself takes a keen interest in "her" new "dragons," Syms worries, with good reason, that Victorian London isn't up to recreating the hot volcanic habitat his friends need.  And when one of them dies, he commits treason, breaks them free, and flees to Australia.

25 years later, he goes back to the island in the Galapagos, and he sees his dragons again....now all grown up and flying and flaming....(It is rather sweet.)

There's good solid historical background to the story, and talk of finches and stuff--the ten year old who reads this won't end up learning lots about Darwin from the story (which isn't the point of the book in any event) but will have grasped enough to be comfortable when more Darwin comes their way.  (And there is historical backmatter that offers more information on Darwin and his contribution to science).

My attention was gripped from the beginning, though I did falter a bit when the little dragons are put in the zoo and everything is sad and difficult.  There is a baboon who has also just arrived in the zoo, and she is the object of much interest to the Londoners as well, and she isn't well cared for and dies.  And so I had to quickly flip to the end at this point just to make sure things would be ok.

but that aside, it's really easy to imagine lots of kids loving this lots!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

 

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (6/27/21)

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

The Reviews

Children of the Periapt: Escape From Elmsmere by Cimone O'Byrne, at Say What?

The Dragon Warrior, by Katie Zhao, at Colorful Book Reviews

Even and Odd, by Sarah Beth Durst, at Sharon the Librarian, Ms. Yingling Reads, Sci Fi Chick, Pamela Kramer, and Charlotte's Library

The Gilded Girl, by Alyssa Colman, at Not Acting My Age

Homer on the Case, by Henry Cole, at Sally's Bookshelf

Ida and the Unfinished City (The Lost Children Book 2), by Carolyn Cohagan, at The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow

The Last Fallen Star, by Graci Kim, at Children's Books Heal

The Mostly Invisible Boy, by AJ Vanderhorst, at Ellie Mai Blogs and Read to Ramble

Rea and the Blood of the Nectar, by Payal Doshi, at Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Books Teacup and Reviews

River Magic, by Ellen Booraem, at Charlotte's Library

The Seeking Serum (Potion Masters #3), by Frank L. Cole, at Say What?

Skyborn, by Sinéad O’Hart, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh, at Colorful Book Reviews

The Time of Green Magic, by Hilary McKay, at Leaf's Reviews

Trouble in the Stars, by Sarah Prineas, at Puss Reboots

Unleashed (Jinxed #2), by Amy McCulloch, at Say What?

Unlocked, by Shannon Messenger, at Justine Laismith

Two at The Book Search--The Orpheus Plot, by Christopher Swiedler, and Healer of the Water Monster, by Brian Young

Two at The Book Page-- Josephine Against the Sea, by Shakirah Bourne, and Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom, by Sangu Mandanna 

Three at Alittlebutalot--Miles Morales: Shock Waves, by Justin A. Reynolds, Fireborn, by Aisling Fowler, Moonchild: City of the Sun, by Aisha Bushby

Authors and Interviews

Victor Piñeiro (Time Villains) at MG Book Village

Stephanie Burgis (The Raven Heir) at PaperBound

Samantha M. Clark (Arrow) at From the Mixed Up Files

Roshani Chokshi (Aru Sha series) at Read for Pixels (You-Tube)

CORI COOPER (Bake Believe) at Library Laura (podcast)

Mike Thayer (The Double Life of Danny D) at Literary Rambles

Sam Subity (The Last Shadow Warrior) at Bookish Society Secrets (podcast)

Other Good Stuff

20 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Middle Grade Books for Excellent Summer Escapes | Summer Reading 2021 | School Library Journal (slj.com)

River Magic, by Ellen Booraem

I read a Lot of middle grade fantasy (c 150-200 books a year), to the point where I wonder when I pick up a new book if it will really offer me something that will stick in the crowed part of my mind where I keep all the books I've read.  River Magic, by Ellen Booraem (April 2021 by Dial Books), did not disappoint.  Indeed, since I have enjoyed her previous books lots, I was not at all surprised.

Donna's aunt Annabelle was a fixture of her life--teaching her woodworking, and carving beautiful details around the family home, swimming with her in the river they both loved, and generally being loving and supportive. But then Annabelle drowned in the river. Now Donna's mother is working desperately to pay the bills, her big sister has become a total pill, her best friend Rachel has ditched her for the cool/mean girls on the basketball team, and Donna's in danger of being sent off to rich Cousin Betty to look after her horrible little boys. If only she could make enough money to help her mother somewhere closer to home...

When a strange old woman moves in to the ramshackle house next door, and hires Donna to clean it up, things are (perhaps) looking up. But the old woman is strange and scary, bad tempered and a terrible (and unlicensed) drive. She is, in fact, a thunder mage. And she's paying Donna in gold.

This does not, though, magically solve all Donna's problems. The gold is cursed, and isn't enough to save the her house, her friendship with Rachel crumbles further when Donna becomes friends with a quirky (aka weird) ex-homeschooled boy (unwillingly at first but with growing appreciation), and the mage's temper means the number of her chickens keeps growing. Then Rachel becomes one of the flock (I liked writing that sentence).

This is a lovely middle grade fantasy sort of Ack! pivotal moment, and also in true mg fantasy style, Donna rises to the occasion but doesn't have to be a hero all by herself. (not really a spoiler, because of the cover--there is a dragon on her side. The cool/mean girls and the unpleasant sister also rise to the occasion). And so there was a very satisfactory ending...

I am a visual and emotional reader, not a dispassionate critical reader. I'm not sure that River Magic is "wildly original," whatever that means, but I do know that I can scroll through it in my minds eye with beautiful clarity, and I remember bits that made me laugh, and that made me sorry for Donna. And I know it worked beautifully for the 45 minutes I was waiting in the car for one of my kids to do a thing, and I finished it up quickly once we got home. Though it isn't a book that I personally will love best forever (perhaps because it didn't push my mind anywhere it hadn't already been), it was a good one. The target audience, of course, have more roomy minds, and I bet this one will be popular with them!

From Kirkus, whose reviews are being paid to be more dispassionately critical (and who aren't allowed to say "nice fun mind pictures I liked it" and leave it at that):  "A carefully constructed interweaving of reality and magic that will transport and delight."  

(I have now decided to try to figure out of the next book I read is carefully constructed.  Do you suppose that is the same thing as "everything slots neatly into place?"  Eveything in River Magic slotted just beautifully, so there you go).

Here are my reviews of Ellen Booraem's earlier books--

Small Persons With Wings

Texting the Underworld (with an interview; a very interesting one at that)

I don't seem to have reviewed The Unnamables (so this is the goodreads link)