The Midnight Unicorn, by Alice Hemming

Here's one that will please the younger end of middle grade fantasy who are capable of reading, skill-wise, just about anything, but whose imaginations are still best served by simpler, more fairy-tale stories than one finds moving up through middle grade towards young adult--The Midnight Unicorn, by Alice Hemming (Kane Miller, 2022).   (If you read between the lines of the above, you will pick up that this does not describe me, and indeed it was not a book for me....which doesn't mean it isn't one that will make other readers happy!).

The story starts with two twin sisters being sent away in desperate haste by their mother, the Queen, when her wicked younger brother attacks to claim the crown for himself.  One girl, Alette, is sent off with the Queen's sorcerer, and the other, Audrey, goes with their nurse.   They have very different childhoods, with one raised in the wilds and learning magic, and the other raised in a peaceful village, learning baking.  But each feels the lack of their twin...even though they don't know of each other's existence.

Then Alette learns the truth, and sets out, with her father figure, the sorcerer, to find her missing half...and fate indeed brings them together.  Through the magic inherited from their mother, they can take the form of beautiful unicorns, which stands them in good steed on the fraught journey back to the city.  There they find unexpected treachery, but are able to reclaim the throne, though only one can be queen....

Transforming into a unicorn is something sure to delight many young readers (and indeed I liked it too).  And those readers will, I think, be more ready than I was to accept the unexpected magical encounters along the way (for adult me, one significant encounter presented me with much more magic than the world building thus far has led me to expect!).  Young readers also won't be surprised by how easy it is in the end for the girls to take control of the court, which has a noticeable lack of power-hungry nobles, flunkies, and indeed, any semblance of people actually running the place!

I enjoyed seeing the sisters figuring out their relationship after being raised so differently.  Fierce, wild, and magical Alette has trouble accepting Audrey, who has lots less flash and flamboyance, but strengths of her own. I always like a good sister story, and this did not disappoint in this regard.

Short answer--not necessarily one to read yourself if you are an adult fan of fantasy, but one that should delight the target audience.  It is also the first book in a series, which is a plus if you have a unicorn loving bibliophile to find books for!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

The Amber Crane, by Malve von Hassell, for Timeslip Tuesday

 

In The Amber Crane, by Malve von Hassell (YA, Odyssey Books, June 2021), a boy from the 17th century and a girl from the 20th cross paths in a moving story of war and perseverance.  (content warning--there is a rape in the book)

Peter was born in Pomerania (on the Baltic coast, an area now split between Poland and Germany) just a few years into the thirty years war.  Now a teenager, apprenticed to a master amber worker, war is all he's ever known.  The armies of both sides have left a land full of refugees and memories of the dead, including Peter's older brother.  Peter feels he can't compete with the shadow of his dashing brother, and his home, where his merchant father is on the verge of bankruptcy and his younger sister, Effie, is not like other girls--she is nonverbal, and non-neurotypical.  And, soon after the book begins, she is raped and retreats even further away from other people.  Peter is distressed but feels powerless to fix anything, and so he visits home infrequently.  In his master's house, he has a place dreaming of being a journeyman, and working to make beautiful things of amber...the amber that washes ashore on the beaches that the powerful Guildmaster's have closed so that no-one can gather amber for themselves.  

But one day, Peter, discouraged by life, wanders out onto the beach and finds two pieces of amber that call to him.  And in defiance of the laws, he claims them, and starts, in the dark of night, to work them.  One becomes a heart for Effie to wear (the amber is known to have healing properties).  In the other, he sees a crane, and starts to set it free.  

Magically, mysteriously, the amber sends Peter forward in time, where he meets a girl, a bit older than him, caught in her own war, WW II.  Lioba is desperately travelling west ahead of the advancing Russian army, trying to make it back to her parent's home.   His visits don't last long, but they are frequent enough so that he becomes invested in her journey, and all the while he is working on the amber crane....

Lioba's story is, for the first two thirds of the book, much more interesting that Peter's, but when Effie is accosted at a rare outing by the man who raped her, Peter takes action and attacks her assailant.  The amber heart Effie wears is revealed and makes her the object of suspicion.  She's accused of being a witch, and Peter is held for assault, and it is just as interesting as Lioba's increasingly hopeless quest to escape to a place where she can follow her own dreams.

Time travel-wise, this is great.  Peter's reactions to the future ring true, and despite the circumstances, make for diverting reading, and the amber crane is a satisfactory bridge between the two time periods.  Character-wise it is harder to call great, because Peter is not a very charismatic lead; he's not a Doer, and he's rather self-absorbed, so it's hard at first to care much about him.  He gets a romance, but it didn't feel quite earned.  Lioba, seen only in brief vignettes, is appealing, but her story remains secondary.  

Where the book felt weak to me was with regards to the historical setting.  If you go into this book knowing very little about the Thirty Years War, you will leave it not knowing much more.  Yes, it's in character for Peter not to be thinking much about the bigger picture, but I wanted more about the context for what was happening in his world.  The root cause of it was a religious struggle--Catholic vs Protestant, but religion barely registers in Peter's pov.  It made him feel kind of dead to the world.  I also wanted more geography; I knew it was on the Baltic Coast, but it still felt unrooted in place.  There is a glossary at the end that includes some background,  I wish it had been integrated into the story.

By the halfway point, I was absorbed in the story, and closed it with a sense of having read a good book, and as someone who loves reading about the making of things, I very much appreciated the amber-working, but it still fell just a bit short of what I'd hoped it would be.

this week's round up of middle grade science fiction and fantasy (2/20/22)

Good morning!  I hope you enjoy the links I gathered this week; let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

The Beatryce Prophecy, by Kate DiCamillo, at Completely Full Bookshelf

Cece Rios and the Desert or Souls, by Kaela Rivera, at Say What?

A Comb of Wishes, by Lisa Stringfellow, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Dust & Grim, by Chuck Wendig, at Charlotte's Library

The Extraordinary Colours of Auden Dare, by Zillah Bethell, at Scope for Imagination

Homer on the Case, by Henry Cole, at Mom Read It

Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom, by Sangu Mandanna, at Say What?

The Last Cuentista, by Donna Barba Higuera, at Say What? and Geo Librarian

Staircase Wit: Midnight in Everwood, by M. A. Kuzniar, at Staircase Wit

The Missing Barbegazi, by H.S. Norup, at Valinora Troy

Nisha's War, by Dan Smith, at Book Craic

Octavia Bloom and the Missing Key, by Estelle Grace Tudor, at a thought on each page

Ophie's Ghosts, by Justina Ireland, at Say What?

The Puzzle Ring, by Kate Forsyth, at The Book Muse

 Ripped Away,  Shirley Reva Vernick, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, by Carlos Hernandez, at Fistful of Wits

The Secret World of Polly Flint, by Helen Cresswell, at Charlotte's Library

The Sword of the Monarchs by Pam Muñoz Ryan, at The Bookwyrm's Den and Rajiv's Reviews

Too Bright to See, by Kyle Lukoff, at Say What?

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy, by Anne Ursu, at Say What?

The Witch's Apprentice, by Zetta Elliott, at Puss Reboots

Authors and Interviews

Jamar J. Perry (Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms), at Booktopia

Jake Burt ( The Ghoul of Windydown Vale), at From the Mixed Up Files

Kalyn Josephson (Ravenfall), at MG Book Village and Bookishly Jewish

Other Good Stuff

The shortlists for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize  have been announced, and include a couple of MG spec fic.

From CBC--25 Canadian middle-grade books to watch for in spring 2022 (include lots of enticing fantasy!)

Likewise, March releases over in Ireland from Book Craic...so many I want!

Dust & Grim, by Chuck Wendig

When Dust & Grim, by Chuck Wendig came out last October (2021, Little Brown), it missed the cutoff point for that year's Cybils Awards by just a few days, and so I didn't read it last fall.  I'm glad I went back and filled in that gap, because I enjoyed it lots!  It's a fun fantasy full of monsters.

When Molly's rather wretched excuse for a father dies, a lawyer uncle she's never met shows up, and encourages her to fight for half of her (also dead) mother's estate.  He takes her to his mother home, where her older brother, Dustin is running the family funeral home business.  She is not welcomed at all, and in fact her brother and her mother's friend, an active participant in the business, make it clear they don't want her.  So she is rather sore and cross about it all.  Why did her mother pack her off with her father in the first place?  If she can get her half of the inheritance, it might be enough to make her dream of become a costume maker come true--she's not so much a co-player, but a co-designer, with a wardrobe full of personas she can slip into when her own rather sad shell of a person isn't enough.

It quickly becomes clear to Molly, egged on from a distance by her uncle, that there are secrets galore in her mother's house and the little woods on the property.  And indeed the family business is most unusual--it is a funeral home for monsters.  Although monsters is not the preferred term, as this excerpt makes clear:

“We're a funeral home for monsters,” Vivacia said

“Viv!" Dustin said, scandalized.

“Fine. The supernatural,” the woman corrected. To Molly, in a lower voice, she said: “Monster is a bit of no-no word. We prefer not to use it, and they certainly prefer us not to use it. But we need common ground here, and I hope it helps you to understand.”

“Monsters,” Molly said, repeating the no-no word.

“The supernatural,” Viv corrected again.

“The nonstandard citizens,” Dustin said sharply."

When Molly discovers the supernatural, magical cemetery off in the woods, again egged on by her uncle who's playing on her anxieties expertly, she gets hold of the key to its gate and all heck breaks loose.

And Molly, gradually growing into a semblance of a sibling relationship with her brother, feels horribly guilty and responsible.  Caught in a struggle to save the cemetery from being drained of its magic by a monstrous creature she's helped set loose in it, she finds not only nightmares but for the first time the comfort of being part of a team, part of something more than her lonely self.

There's a fun array of magical beings, fun references to the nerd culture that fills Molly's mind, and there's heart to it, too, as Molly and her brother painfully build a real relationship.  I did find the resolution to the conflict with the magical being rather facile; the baddie was so tremendously powerful that the key to its defeat felt like a letdown.  But I will forgive that for the fun of the whole set up!  It felt like the author was enjoying the writing of it lots, and that enjoyment comes through clearly.

A good one for the older MG range (11-12 year olds), who still enjoy the monsters of younger fantasy and aren't yet in the mood for the romance of YA, and who might be D. and D. players.

The Secret World of Polly Flint, by Helen Cresswell, for Timeslip Tuesday

Cutting it close to the wire this week, but I managed to get a timeslip story read-The Secret World of Polly Flint, by Helen Cresswell (middle grade, 1982, Puffin).  It's one that's been on my tbr heap for ages, too, which is Progress!

Polly is an imaginative only child of a coal miner father who's sympathetic to her sense of magic in the world (he is a great father, playing rhyming games with her, and with a keen awareness of the importance of a mind that can fly free).  Her mother is also a good mother, but much more practical.  They are happy...till the accident down in the mines that leaves her dad unable to walk.  The family must move to their aunt's house when he gets out of the hospital...and her aunt, stiff and set in her ways, is not fun to live with.

But her house is near a large park land with a beautiful lake.  And Polly learns that there was once an older village, that slipped down and away through the net of time and was lost.  As she explores the park and the margins of the lake, Polly hears children she cannot see, and on Sundays she can here the sound of the church bells rising up from the lost village below.

Finally, she meets some of the lost villagers ("time gypsies" as they call themselves)--a raggedy old woman, a man, a baby, and a boy about her own age (though centuries older, of course).  The villagers out of time can visit, unseen to everyone one but Polly, and return through a tunnel across the lake to their own place.  But something goes wrong, and the little group gets stuck in real world time.  Polly has to help figure out how to getting home...without coming unstuck in time herself.

The book started just lovely, with its sensitive heroine attuned to wonder, and the haunting story of the lost village.  (I also liked the quotidian moving to unsympathetic aunt's house too).  But somehow as things progressed it lost its touch of numinous magic (possibly because "time gypsies" made me feel uncomfortable, possibly because there was a whole group of them and the old woman was unpleasant).  Still, it was enjoyable reading all in all even if it's not a new favorite timeslip story.

Ferryman, by Claire McFall

 

I'm always a bit taken aback when I am able to post a review that's appropriate for a Special Day--today (with help from its publisher) I have an enjoyable YA fantasy romance for Valentine's Day--Ferryman, by Claire McFall (October 2021 by Walker Books US, 2013 in the UK) .

Dylan isn't the happiest teenaged girl in England--her best friend moved away, her relationship with her mother is currently prickly, and she has no great passions or interests in her life.  She has, though, just reconnected with her father, who she hasn't seen since she was five, and is going to be going to see him up in Scotland.  Fed up with a miserable day at school, she cuts out to take an earlier train than she'd planned on, and in so doing, changes her life (and death).

Inside a tunnel there's a terrible accident.  And when Dylan becomes conscious, she's alone in the dark (she can't, mercifully, see what's around her, but there are no other living people....).  She makes it out of the train, and walks down the tunnel, hoping to find help, but instead she finds herself in a wasteland.  There is one other person--Tristan, a strangely unhelpful and uncommunicative boy her own age.  Having no better choice, she follows his lead.  As they walk on with no sign of civilization around them, warning bells start going off in her head, and at last she gets the truth out of Tristan--she is dead, and he is the ferryman tasked with taking her to her final destination.

As they journey from safe house to safe house through the wasteland, beset by ghastly beings that long to rip Dylan's soul from her, they both succumb to the irresistible attraction that is growing up between them.  It is an attraction that stems more from circumstance than from any deep knowledge of each other, and so as a cynical adult I have to admit I rolled my eyes, but given that Dylan has no strong anchors to her past life, and no information about what's next, and given that Tristan has spent uncounted centuries ferrying the dead with no chance to develop close personal relationships, it's understandable.  And so Dylan makes the one choice that she has--to reject what lies beyond, and try, desperately and dangerously, to go back to her old life, and take Tristan with her.

It's a fascinating set-up, and I enjoyed the journey through the wasteland very much.  I read it in one afternoon, with enjoyment.  And even though I had to not think too hard about the growing love between them, it was sweet, and even though there's not all that much character development, it was easy as a reader to fill that in given the bits given.  The ending doesn't resolve everything, but it is satisfying, leaving what comes next to the reader's imagine in a way that that is just fine.  That being said, there are two more books in the series...and those who took pleasure in this unusual love will want to seek them out quickly!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

This week's round-up of mg sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (2/13/14)

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

The Reviews

The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle, by Christian Uss, at Leaf's Reviews

The Beatryce Prophecy, by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Sophie Blackall, at GeoLibrarian

Clarice the Brave, by Lisa McMann, at Not Acting My Age

A Comb of Wishes, by Lisa Stringfellow, at Log Cabin Library and Always in the Middle 

Counterclockwise Heart, by Brian Farrey, at  Plaid Reader Reviews

The Great Bear (The Misewa Saga #2) by David Alexander Robertson, at Charlotte's Library

The Hideaway, by Pam Smy, at Valinora Troy

Legend Keepers: The Chosen One by Bruce Smith, at  Kids Lit Book Café 

Lintang and the Pirate Queen, by Tamara Moss, at Sonderbooks

The Lock-Eater, by Zack Loran Clark, at PamelaKramer.com

The Mutant Mushroom Takeover, by Summer Rachel Short, at Mom Read It

A Nest for Celeste, by Henry Cole, at Jean Little Library

Octavia Bloom and the Missing Key by Estelle Grace Tudor, at Jenjenreviews

Revenge of the Beast (The Beast and the Bethany #2) by Jack Meggitt-Phillips, at Herding Cats 

 Sneaks by Catherine Egan, at Say What?

Temple of the Monkey God (Adventurous Ali), by Tyler Jolley and Mary Geis, at Cover2CoverBlog

The War of the Woods (The Crowns of Croswald: Book 4), by D.E. Night, at The Children's Book Review

The Witch, The Sword and The Cursed Knights by Alexandria Rogers, at dinipandareads

Two at Ms. Yingling Reads--Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, andThe School for Whatnots, by Margaret Peterson  Haddix

Two at Feed Your Fiction Addiction (scroll down) Inkling by Kenneth Oppel, and Kingdom of Secrets by Christyne Morrell

Authors and Interviews

Lisa Stringellow (A Comb of Wishes) at Literary Rambles, WNDB, and  A Fuse #8 Production 

Jack Meggitt-Phillips (Revenge of the Beast), at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

Dave Maruszewski (The Dark Beast), at Andi's Middle Grade & Chapter Books

Dan Smith (Nisha's War), at Library Girl and Book Boy

"Accepting the limitations of adulthood in children’s books." by Gabriela Houston (The Wind Child), at  Alittlebutalot

"Crick, Crack: Fantasy, Folklore and Black Storytelling Traditions" by Lisa Stringfellow (A Comb of Wishes) at Teen Librarian Toolbox

"(Re)defining Success as a Writer," by Shirley Reva Vernick (Ripper) at MG Book Village

Other Good Stuff

New in the UK, at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

I just found a thing that made me bounce with joy--there's a new Megan Whalen Turner book coming this November (via OwlCrate on Facebook)

MOIRA’S PEN: A Queen’s Thief Collection from legendary author Megan Whalen Turner!

Journey to the world of the Queen’s Thief in this beautifully illustrated collection, featuring bestselling and award-winning author Megan Whalen Turner’s charismatic and incorrigible thief, Eugenides. Discover and rediscover friends old and new, and explore the inspiration behind Megan Whalen Turner’s rich world. A stunning and collectible volume to return to again and again.

This collectible companion to the New York Times–bestselling Queen’s Thief series is ideal for longtime fans, as well as readers discovering Megan Whalen Turner’s epic and unforgettable world for the first time. The collection includes all of the author’s previously published short fiction set in the world of the Queen’s Thief, as well as never-before-published stories, vignettes and excerpts, poetry and rhymes, a guide to inspiring objects from museums around the world, and a very special recipe for almond cake.

The Great Bear (The Misewa Saga #2) by David Alexander Robertson for Timeslip Tuesday

The Great Bear (The Misewa Saga #2) by David Alexander Robertson, this week's Timeslip Tuesday book, is a sequel to The Barren Grounds. This first book was a magnificent portal fantasy, in which two Native kids, Morgan and Eli, open a way through to the land of Misewa, and help save it, and the animal persons who call it home, from a never ending winter.  Though it's been over year since I read it, I vividly remember the cold and the hunger of the kids' journey across the barren lands, and how the animal persons they met there taught them traditional ways to be in the world.

Morgan and Eli have been continuing to visit Misewa every night, travelling through portal pictures Eli draws, and with each night in our world equaling two months there, it now feels like home. It's a place where Morgan is learning Cree ways of being in the world that she never had a chance too in "real" life, having been taken from her mother when she was two. It's a place where Eli reconnects to his own traditional childhood, and a place where being Cree is not something that gets him bullied as it does during the days at school. But their dearest friend in Misewa, the fisher animal person, Ochek, died during their first adventure, and has a left a huge hole in their hearts.

When their foster mom gives Morgan her mother's phone number, her emotions almost overwhelm her; she can't bring herself to call. Realizing how badly Eli is being bullied adds to her distress. And so when Eli draws a portal picture of a Misewa where Ochek is still a kid himself, and offers the chance to travel back to that time when he is still alive, Morgan can't resist.

It is strange and bittersweet to meet someone you know who doesn't know you yet, but gradually Morgan and Eli sink into the routines of the community and find peace. But the piece is shattered when the Great Bear moves down from the north. The bear attacks villages, taking all he wants with savage violence and destruction. And out on Ochek's family's trap line, they meet the bear face to face and recognize him as some one they love in the present time. No one has ever stood against him before, but the two kids and their adopted community find the strength to so to save their village and stop living with fear.

The first book was a journey and quest story; this one is more an emotional one (though not without tension and action). As such, it was moving and immersive and memorable. It ends with one heck of a cliffhanger, which I guess I'm cool with because I wanted more story, not just about Misewa but about Morgan in real life--the fantasy cliffhanger, frankly, interests me less than the prospect of Morgan meeting her birth family....


It works as a time travel book too--the kids openly discuss the ramifications of being in the past of their portal country, though they didn't expect what one of those ramifications would be. (Neither did I, though if I'd been trying to be clever, instead of just enjoying the book, I might have....)


This is this first time travel within a portal fantasy world that I've reviewed, and the only other similar situation I can think of is Prince Caspian, so perhaps I'll review that as time travel some Tuesday. This series gets compared a lot to Narnia, so it's interesting that both second books are time travel-ly (though one is to the past and one to the future). And it does seem that the third Msewa book will be a journey, perhaps echoing Voyage of the Dawn Treader....

This week's roundup of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (2/6/22)

As always, please join me in adding more books to your tbr pile (5 for me this week!), and let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews

The Beast of Buckingham Palace, by David Walliams, at Say What?

The Bird Singers, by Eve Wersocki Morris, at Scope for Imagination

A Comb of Wishes, by Lisa Stringfellow, at The Wandering Wordsmith

The Counterclockwise Heart, by Brian Farrey, at A Bookish Way of Life, Amy Imogen Reads, and More Books Please!

The Garden Bone, by Maria Magliano, at The Children's Book Review 

Ghost Girl, by Ally Malinenko, at Book Den

Greencoats, by Kate Innes, at Nicki's Book Blog

The Horn's Hoax, by Hector Cantu Kalifa, at The Very Bookish

The Hungry Ghost, by H. S . Norup, at Valinora Troy

The Lock-Eater, by Zack Loran Clark, at Pamela Kramer

Midnight In Everwood by M. A. Kuzniar, at A Bookish Way of Life

The Monster Missions, by Laura Martin, at Charlotte's Library

Revenge of the Beast (The Beast and the Bethany), by Jack Meggitt-Phillips, at Book Craic and Paperbacks and Pinot

The School for Whatnots by Margaret Peterson Haddix, at Say What?

Second Sleep by Diane Stanley, at Original Content

The Secret Commonwealth (The Book of Dust 2) by Philip Pullman, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

The Secret of Haven Point, by Lisette Auton, at Library Girl and Book Boy

Spellbound (Black Panther The Young Prince) by Ronald L. Smith, at Rajiv's Reviews

The Toymaker’s Apprentice, by Sherri L. Smith, at Books With Bunny

The Visitors, by Greg Howard, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Weeping Tide (Wildlore #2), by Amanda Foody, at Cracking the Cover and The Bookwyrm's Den

The Wind Child, by Gabriella Houston, at Book Craic


Authors and Interviews

Lisa Stringfellow (A Comb of Wishes) at The Brown Bookshelf

Brian Farrey (The Counterclockwise Heart) at Publishers Weekly

Amanda Foody (Wildore series) at What to Read Next podcast

India Hill Brown (The Girl in the Lake) at The Brown Bookshelf

Other Good Stuff

At Pragmatic Mom, Lisa Stringfellow shares five recent middle grade fantasy titles featuring Black girls as protagonists

Peter S. Beagle Has a Live-Action Movie and Stage Musical of The Last Unicorn “In The Works” (via Tor)

And finally, I don't generaly share cover reveal posts, but I hosted one this week so am making an exception--check out this lovely cover for Spineless, by Samantha San Miguel, cover art by Jamie Green!

The Monster Missions, by Laura Martin

 

Here's another great middle grade sci fi book that read for the Cybils Awards --The Monster Missions, by Laura Martin (June 1, 2021, Harper Collins).  Lots of sea monster adventure goodness, underwater tech, friendship, and danger, with an appealing science-minded heroine!

The scrappy ship Atlas is the only home Berkeley and her best friend Garth have ever known.  Ever since the Tide Rising flooded the world, ships like this carry little pockets of humanity, trying to survive on very limited resources.  Berkeley and Garth work as scavengers, diving down into flooded cities, but when Berkeley ends one mission by pissing off a monstrous kraken, it ends up battering the poor Atlas badly.  To make up for the economic loss, the two kids are about to be sent off to a work boat (basically a floating prison of hard labor) when the Britannica, a state of the art sub swings by.  Her captain offers the two kids a place on the sub, and so they are off to new adventures, with no chance to say goodbye to their families, who are left to assume they are dead.

The Britannica is a monster hunter, prowling the seas in order to keep ships from being destroyed.  Berkeley loves this new life of training and learning and speculating about sea monsters (there are tanks of young ones in the ship's lab) alongside the two other kids already on board.  But it's dangerous--the sea monsters aren't the only predators, and when pirates take over the sub, and the four kids are the only free crew members, it's up to them to use all the sea monster skills and knowledge they've acquired to take back the ship!  (note--as an adult reader and parent, I'm glad that after all the excitement  Berkeley and Garth got to go on board Atlas again and see their families!)

There's lots of really good monster hunting and excitement (some if it rather icky, like when the Britannica actually gets swallowed by a sea monster), and a nice dose of monster study and speculation as well.  Berkeley isn't interested in just killing individual monsters attacking ships; she wants to learn how to keep the attacks from happening in the first place.  And she's a tinker-er, able to look at junk and see potential, a creativity that is key in the pirate struggle! The details of life in the sub are great, the kids are a good mix of different personalities and skills, and the flooded world with its monster filled oceans is a vivid backdrop for the story.

(My only quibble, as a scuba diver myself back in the day, was the wonderful visibility enjoyed by the scuba diving kids--it was harder to swallow than the sea monsters)

That being said, I can imagine this book being happily passed around a fifth grade classroom really easily!

disclaimer--review copy gratefully received from the publisher for Cybils Award consideration, and now on its way to my local public library to win Laura Martin new fans!

Cover reveal--Spineless, by Samantha San Miguel!

Good morning, middle grade sci fi/fantasy fans!  Today it's an honor and pleasure to host the cover reveal for a book that I for one can't wait to read!

Spineless, by Samantha San Miguel, cover art by Jamie Green!

coming June 7 from Union Square Kids

This exciting middle-grade adventure is Hoot for the Gilded Age—with scientific discoveries, secret plots, and surprisingly enormous fauna.

 
When his asthma lands him at a health resort in the wilds of Gilded Age South Florida, twelve-year-old Algie Emsworth is over the moon. The scientific treasure trove of unexplored swamps may launch his dream career as a naturalist. But even Algie is startled when he happens upon a brand-new species and her brood in the karst springs surrounding the resort. Algie quickly realizes he must keep his discovery a secret: a famous collector of exotic animals is also staying at the hotel, and the new species is threatened by his very presence. An apparent curse has also descended upon the hotel, bringing with it a deadly red tide. But when the pool starts filling with ink and guests start getting mysterious, sucker-shaped wounds, Algie must pluck up his courage to find the truth about the goings-on at the Grand Hotel—and save the new species from destruction.

Samantha San Miguel grew up on the Treasure Coast of Florida. Living sandwiched between ocean and estuary gave her a wholehearted respect for wildlife, especially the kind that can eat you. She's spent countless hours scanning for sea monsters, but the only ones she's spotted so far have been in her imagination.

From Sam:

As a kid I loved books about sea monsters, but got frustrated when the cover promised super cool creatures while the story only delivered a few pages of creature screen time at the very end. When it came to writing my own story, I made sure to fill it with the many real and imaginary animals of my home state, Florida. I'm thrilled with the care that artist Jamie Green took to highlight that in the cover design for SPINELESS. I know they say don't judge a book by its cover, but in this case be my guest!

From me:  

What a great cover!  I love the Gilded Age details meets tentacle aesthetic, and am looking forward to this one lots!  I've just added it to my Goodreads tbr list

Preorder SPINELESS at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or Bookshop

Your Life Has Been Delayed, by Michelle I. Mason, for Timeslip Tuesday

Your Life Has Been Delayed, by Michelle I. Mason (September 2021, Bloomsbury YA), is a really entertaining and thought-provoking YA time travel book.

Jenny gets on a plane in 1995, on her way home from visiting New York city, where her grandparents live and where she wants to go to college. But when her plane lands, it's the year 2020* and her family and friends have mourned for her for 25 years. All but one grandmother grew old and died, her little brother is grown-up with a family of her own, and so is her best friend.

Now she must struggle not just with the unfamiliar technology of her new life, but with trying to fit again into a family that has grown older.  And the heart-breaking horror of her best friend (one of those really really close best friends) being forty years old, married with kids.  It is a struggle, but Jenny faces the challenges bravely, and starts school again like she's supposed to, shepherded by her best friends teenaged son (who is very cute....)

Outside of her personal struggle to find a place in her new present, there's a firestorm of media attention, conspiracy theories, intrusions into her personal life, including from governmental agencies.  It's all pretty toxic, and her parents, well-meaning but I think misguided, try to control her access to media (almost like they're still trying to keep her back in the 1990s....).  She does come across as pretty naïve, and young for 17 (possibly because her parents were overprotective back then), and I think more could have been made of her now falling into the company of  Zoomers, who are perhaps the least naïve generation ever.  The other high school kids are fairly generic "high school kids."

There's romance (how weird it is, though, to date your best friend's son...) and high school drama, and real danger from the world of the conspiracy theorists....what I liked best was the whole having to cope with a different time/technology/people.

It's an utterly fascinating premise, both fun and poignant, and though I thought the book could have been a little tighter, I enjoyed it lots.  

*the writing of the book predated the pandemic, and the author decided to leave it out.

This week's roundup of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (1/30/22)

 Greatings from snowy Rhode Island!  Here's what I found this week of interest to us fans of mg sci fi/fantsy; please let me know if I missed your post!

first, congratulations to The Last Cuentista for winning the Newberry Award and the Pura Belpré Award, and Too Bright to See, for its Newberry Honor! Also to Temple Alley Summer, for the Batchelder Award! MG sci fi/fantasy ftw! (here's the full list of ALA Youth Media Awards)

The Reviews

Beasts and Beauty, by Soman Chainani, at Sonderbooks

Daughter of the Deep, by Rick Riordan, at Say What? and proseandkahn

The Gilded Girl, by Alyssa Colman, at Staircase Wit

The Girl in the Lake, by India Hill Brown, at Twirling Book Princess

Greta and the Ghost Hunters, by Sam Copeland, at alexsfictionaddiction

Hangman's Crossing (Embassy of the Dead #2), by Will Mabbitt, at Sally's Bookshelf

The Hideaway, by Pam Smy, at Ms. Yingling Reads

In the Red, by Christopher Swiedler, at Sonderbooks

Kingston and the Echoes of Magic, by Rucker Moses and Theo Gangi, at Always in the Middle

The Keeper, by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Kelcie Murphy and the Academy for the Unbreakable Arts, by Erika Lewis, at The Bookwyrm's Den

The Last Cuentista, by Donna Barba Higuera, at Book Nut and Of Maria Antonia

The Longest Night of Charlie Moon, by Christopher Edge, at Charlotte's Library

People of the Sun (The Eye of Ra #3), by Ben Gartner, at Say What?

Ripped Away, by Shirley Reva Vernick, at Pamela Kramer

A Storm of Sisters, by Michelle Harrison, at Book Craic

The Supervillain's Guide to Being a Fat Kid, by Matt Wallace, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Tiger Honor, by Yoon Ha Lee, at Puss Reboots

The Tower at the End of Time, by Amy Sparkes, at Library Girl and Book Boy and Sifa Elizabeth Reads

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy, by Anne Ursu, at Valinora Troy

This Last Adventure by Ryan Dalton, at  Say What?

The Unforgetable Logan Foster, by Shawn Peters, at Reading Middle Grade

The Weeping Tide, by Amanda Foody, at Bookworm for Kids

Welcome to Dweeb Club, by Betsy Uhrig, at Books YA Love

Authors and Interviews

Shawn Peters (The Unforgettable Logan Foster) at Literary Rambles

Brian Farrey (The Counter-Clockwise Heart), at Publishers Weekly

 

Other Good Stuff

"C.S. Lewis, Calormen, and How Fans Are Reclaiming the Fictionalized East," at Tor

Pixels of You, by Ananth Hirsh and Yuko Ota (writers), and J.R. Doyle (Artist)

Pixels of You, by Ananth Hirsh  and Yuko Ota (writers), and J.R. Doyle (Artist): (February 8th 2022, Amulet Paperbacks) is, I think, the first graphic novel I've read in a year or maybe even longer.  Recognizing that my graphic novel reading skills, always a bit tenuous because of years reading text quickly and ignoring illustrations, were rusty, I was firm with myself and looked at the pictures as I read! (yay me). I was rewarded--sc fi sapphic romance with art students ftw!

This is the story of two girls in a not so far off future in which AI is a part of life, and AIs are a part of society.  Realistically, there are tensions and anger and fear.  Indira and Fawn are both photographers, and both have unpaid student internships at the same art gallery, but when they meet for the first time at Indira's exhibit opening, it's a disaster when Fawn (not knowing who she's talking to) offers an uncomfortably frank critique.  The gallery owner, not wanting the two of them messing up the peace of the gallery, decrees that instead of independent final shows, they must work together. And so they do.

Fawn is an AI in a human facsimile body, unlike her "parents" for whom nothing disguises the fact that they are robots.  Indira is on her own, struggling with chronic pain in her artificial eye, the result of a long-ago car accident, and she has reasons to distrust AIs.   But as the two work together, they start to communicate openly and vulnerably, and from there it leads (fairly obviously, but sweet nonetheless) to romance.

The art does a lot of heavy lifting in the story, and so I'm glad I paid attention! The panels really reward lots of looking. As well as helping the emotional beats of the story along, color, tone and small details all add to the individuality of each girl beautifully.  That being said, the writers do a good job in fairly limited text making each one a distinct person, and by the end of the book I carred for both of them lots!

Very much recommended, especially to younger teens who loved kids graphic novels and are now ready to move on to YA.  

disclaimer: review copy received from its publicist

The Genius Under the Table, by Eugene Yelchin

 

If you visit here regularly, you know that I mostly review middle grade sci fi and fantasy.  This does not mean this is all I read--today's book, The Genius Under the Table, by Eugene Yelchin (October 2021, Candlewick), is a mg autobiography (though one I think has lots of appeal for mg sci fi/fantasy fans, about which more later...).

Young Yevgeny grew up in the Soviet Union.  The Cold War still threatens to become hot, fear of the KGB is part of life (there is a KGB spy right there in his apartment complex), and keeping warm and fed is a constant struggle.  On top of this is the antisemitism of the USSR.  Yvegeny's older brother is a talented ice-skater, and on track for a life free of some of this struggle in a society that rewards its international stars, and his family hopes Yvegeny too might have some talent that will be his ticket into comfort and relative security.

So to please his mother, who works at a dance studio, he tries ballet...and although Barishnikov has burst onto the scene and a shining exemplar of what is possible (his mother even takes him backstage to see him dance), Yvegeny's talents don't lie in that direction.  Instead, he draws.  Mostly at bedtime, under the table where his cot is placed at night (there is no room for it anywhere else in their cramped space.  The underside of the table is his canvas, and he fills it with drawings. When his parents find his drawings, they know that art is his path forward, and they encourage him as best they can. 

It's not a full autobiography with facts about the author's life from birth to the present.  Instead, it's a slice of life in this particular time and place, quite often bitterly humorous, and just as often bitterly grim, though the child the author once was doesn't realize the grimness and fear of his family's life the way the reader might, and in this group of "readers" I include not just people my age, who remember that time, but even 9-12 year olds living in comfort in the US today.

And this vivid picture of a dystopia, in which a wonderful pair of jeans has to be kept secret, in which many records are banned, in which anyone can turn on you and report you to the authorities and all the adults in the family live in fear, will I think especially appeal to middle grade fantasy/science fiction fans! The book starts with a visit to see Lenin's corpse, a lovely horrific hook for that demographic!

So if you have such a kid in your life who you think needs a nudge to a different genre, or needs a biography to read for school, give them this book!  It's also the sort of book-- accessible, interesting, and despite all the differences, very relatable (there are lots and lots of kids out there, wanting to discover a talent that will make their parents proud!)-- that is lovely for teaching young readers history.  I wish for the sake of young readers that there was an introduction with time and place and a bit of context, but they know how to google/ask their parents for information.  

Lots of Yelchin's quirky drawings accompany the text, adding lots to the kid-appeal of the story.  And though the story ends with him still in the Soviet Union, it's very easy to follow on to one of his illustrated fiction books (I'd suggest The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge for the mg demographic) to see how his art developed!  I'd also show the young reader a clip of Barishnikov dancing (that being said, I just watch a few clips, and Simone Biles is more amazing so kids today might not be that impressed).

I myself have a brother-in-law who is an artist who grew up in Leningrad at around the same time as the author, which added a personal feeling to my reading of this fascinating, disturbing, and moving autobiography.  I am not sure he will want to revisit his own childhood as vividly as the book would make him, but I will offer it to him and see.

disclaimer--review copy received from the publisher

The Longest Night of Charlie Moon, by Christopher Edge, for Timeslip Tuesday

 The Longest Night of Charlie Moon, by Christopher Edge, is a surreal little gem of a middle grade timeslip story that enticed me, confused the heck out of me (not in a bad way though), and then made me cry at the end.  

The enticing part was the forest, where Charlie's friend Dizzy led her one day to see the strange patterns of sticks he'd seen there.  Charlie has recently moved from London, and so the woods are a new thing, and Dizzy, who has a limp leftover from polio (the first clue to the time period), and who is, along with new kid Charlie, on the sidelines of the games played by the other kids, seems to be a good guide.   

But the class bully, Johnny, follows them there to scare them by pretending to be Old Chrony, the wild man rumored to live there.  Scare them Johnny does, but then when the kids realize they are lost, the fear of the dark woods grows more and more palpable.  There seems to be no way out, and though the three kids start to work together as a team, they can't figure out how to get home.

And thing grow more scary still, and more confusing.  Reality shifts, and twists, and the dangerous visions that rise up in the night might or might not be real.  And on top of that, Old Chrony turns out to be real...and very powerful indeed.

At which point the reader gets confirmation that time has been slipping, and that for kids in England in 1933, the future isn't going to be a safe and comforting place.  Which leads to me crying at the end.* 

It also lead to me forgiving the story for ever confusing me.  It all makes sense in retrospect, and I want my own copy now so I can reread it in a year or too. It's not a book for readers who want things explained, or for there to be Reasons and all the backstory to be spelled out.  But it is a book for young (or not so young) readers who want to journey into a terrifying wood beyond the boundaries of what is real, where time slips, and the only way out is through.

personal note--the reader doesn't find out for a while that Charlie is a girl, which I think was a bit of a distraction; it felt a little like a trick trying to be clever, and it throws one out of the story to have a gender switch in the middle of things.  

further note on Charlie--she's a good character for girls who like to code and decipher things to read about!

final note on Charlie--I always hated that nickname for Charlotte, so if you ever meet me in real life, please don't use it!

note on Johnny--though he's a bully, he's not a terrible one, and it's believable that he's able to work with the other kids as things progress.  

note on the time travel side of things--this is one in which time slips, and the future is glossed over the present; there's no actual travel to different times.

* the thing that made me cry is a spoiler! turn back now!

I wasn't expecting Dunkirk, and Dunkirk makes me sob every single darn time.

this week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci-fi from around the blogs and more (1/23/22)

Here's what I found this week!  Three new books for my tbr list!  please let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews

Aviva vs. the Dybbuk, by Mari Lowe, at BookPage

The Beatryce Prophecy, by Kate DiCamillo, at Sonderbooks

The Circus at the End of the Sea by Lori R. Snyder, at Pages Unbound 

Dog Squad (Dog Squad #1) by Chris Grabenstein, at Books Teacup and Reviews

Harley Hitch and the Missing Moon, by Vashti Hardy, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

The Insiders, by Mark Oshiro, at Charlotte's Library

Kingston and the Echoes of Magic, by Rucker Moses and Theo Gangi, at Log Cabin Library

Kelcie Murphy and the Academy for the Unbreakable Arts, by Erika Lewis, at Say What?

The Last Cuentista, by Donna Barba Higuera, at Valinora Troy

The Lock-Eater, by Zack Loran Clark, at Cracking the Cover

The Namer of Spirits, by Todd Mitchell, at the L.A. Review of Books

Riley's Ghost, by John David Anderson, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Secrets of the Last Merfolk, by Lindsay Littleson, at Book Craic

Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs, by  Pam Muñoz Ryan, at Kidlit Underground

The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst, by Jaclyn Moriarty, at cannonballread

  

Tiger Honor, by Yoon Ha Lee, at Feed Your Fiction Addiction

The Unforgettable Logan Foster, by Shawn Peters, at Cracking the Cover, Pamela Kramer, and Charlotte's Library

The Way to Rio Luna, by Zoraida Córdova, at Ms. Yingling Reads

two at A Library Mama- Nightingale by Deva Fagan and Eva Evergreen and the Cursed Witch by Julie Abe

Authors and Interviews

Shawn Peters at The Wandering Wordsmith

Alexandria Rogers (The Witch, the Sword, and the Cursed Knights) at  Nerdy Book Club 

Nicola Penfold (Between Sea and Sky) in conversation with Chitra Soundar (Sona Sharma Looking After Planet Earth, which isn't sci fi/fantasy but which sounds fun), at climate fiction writers league

Scott Southall (The Order of Time series) at Gina Rae Mitchell

Other Good Stuff

Congratulations to the 15th Class of 28 Days Later Honorees! - The Brown Bookshelf

and, like me, you might be wondering if a mg sci fi/fantasy book will take home the Newbery this year--here are my picks! 

Will a middle grade fantasy/sci fi book win the Newbery Award this year?

 Back in 2017, I successfully guessed the The Girl Who Drank the Moon had a good shot at the Newbery.  Last year's winner was also fantasy (or at least very fantasy adjacent)--When You Trap a Tiger, by Tae Keller.  Will another fantasy/sci fi book win this year?  Here are some I think might have a chance.

The Raconteur's Commonplace Book, by Kate Milford (my review).  This is my top pick.  I think it is the strongest writing of any mg I've read this year.  Not only did I personally love it and find it entertaining, I think if the committee wants "literature" this might be it.

The Last Cuentista, by Donna Barba Higuera (my review)  A strong contender primarily based on the incredibly powerful story.

Root Magic, by Eden Royce (my review) A powerful, moving, well-written story that is also important.

Too Bright to See, by Kyle Lukoff (my review) ditto

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy, by Anne Ursu (my review)  I think this is Anne Ursu's best book, which is saying a lot.  And the Newbery could use, I think, a bit of smashing the patriarchy.

Do you have any mg spec fic favorites in the running?

The Insiders, by Mark Oshiro

I still have a backlog of review to write for many excellent books read for this year's Cybils Awards; there were so many good ones that I read last fall but the reading was more important back than then the reviewing....and so this evening I offer The Insiders, by Mark Oshiro (September 2021, HarperCollins), is an affirmative portal fantasy that was pretty much a read-in-a-single-sitting for me.

Hector's family has moved to a new town from San Francisco, where he was happy and confident as a gay Mexican American theatre kid, with a tight group of friends and a taste for style and thrifting. Things go badly for him at his new school, when he's targeted by a truly cruel boy, Mike, and his crew of bullying lackies.  The school staff are no help, refusing to believe Mike is a problem.  Miserable and desperate to escape his tormentor, Hector finds a door in the school hallway that opens into a room that shouldn't be there.  It is retreat designed just for him, and though no time passes when he's inside, when the door opens again, the hallway is empty.

Soon he finds that two other kids, from schools in different states, have also found the room.  One is girl whose principal is about to tell her mother she is gay, the other a lonely non-binary kid. They too need an escape place, and the three become supportive friends.  But the room, though magical, is still a room, and Hector must come up with his own plan for exposing Mike and getting justice.

I have to say that the bullying part is hard reading.  It hurts to see Hector being treated so badly, and becoming sad and diminished, and this might well be painful reading for kids, especially gay kids, in similar circumstances (I am glad that although Mike's reasons for being such a homophobic monster are hinted at, we aren't given a redemption arc for him--that would have been too much to swallow).  The magical room part, and the friendships he builds both there, and, with a bit more effort, with other "misfit" kids at his own school, though, makes for warm and friendly reading.  And it's lovely to see Hector's supportive family (and maybe it's shallow of me, but I also appreciated the delicious Mexican food that was eaten along the way....)

It's great that a very gay magical-portal fantasy is out there in the world, and I hope that the kids (straight and queer) who need it find it, even if they can't get into the wonderful room.

disclaimer--review copy received from the publisher for Cybils Awards purposes.

The Unforgettable Logan Foster, by Shawn Peters

I don't remember any books about kids with superpowers in the comic book sense of the word back when I was an actual middle grade fiction reader (decades ago in the early 1980s....); lots of kids with preternatural gifts, but no young superheroes.  It's been fun over the past ten years to get a chance to read all the books in this subgenre, all with different twists, such as this new one--The Unforgettable Logan Foster, by Shawn Peters (January 18, 2022, Harper Collins).

Logan Foster is not a superhero.  He's a kid who's bounced in and out of foster homes, and now that he's twelve, his hopes of getting adopted are practically nil.  It's hard for him to imagine prospective parents who want a kid with an eidetic memory that pours information from his mouth in an unexpected, and often unwelcome, way, a kid whose social skills are non-existent.  But then Gil and Margie arrive, and maybe he has found a real home...

Except that Gil and Margie are seriously weird.  Logan's memory records every perplexing thing he notices, but the actual reason was not something he could have guessed--they are superheroes, whose adventures have been chronicled in the comic books Logan loves!  

Superheroes have been going missing, an earthquake-causing villain is terrorizing the west coast, and now Logan and his memory are pawns in a struggle to control his foster parents and the other superheroes who had dedicated their life to the common good.  And though Logan might not be traditionally super-powered, his gifts are key to saving the day!  (Helped by an new, actual friend--a neighborhood girl who is also more than she seems to be; she is a great character, btw).

It's a fun (also funny) and fast-paced, with mortal peril and considerable action once things really get going.  The reader is essentially told by Logan that he is unlikeable, but this is not the impression the reader, who sees from his point of view, gets (the reader, of course, doesn't actually hear a constant flood of whatever information is bubbling up in Logan's mind, which one can see would potentially be annoying). Instead, Logan, to me at least, was a neuro-divergent kid who desperately needed love, appreciation, and validation, and it was great to see him getting those from both his new foster parents and his new friend!  I hope we get another book--this one ends with some questions still unresolved.

In short, an excellent addition to the corpus of MG superhero stories!

disclaimer--review copy received from the publisher