The Mirrorwood, by Deva Fagan, for Timeslip Tuesday

Happy book birthday to the lovely middle grade fantasy, The Mirrorwood (April 12, 2022,  Atheneum Books for Young Readers), by Deva Fagan! What with all the new mg fantasy books this week, and the scramble to get reviews up, I was worried that Timeslip Tuesday would interfere with my plans....happily The Mirrorwood has enough timeslip in it that I can in good conscience count it as today's offering!

Fable's family lives near the impassibly thorny border separating the Mirrorwood, full of dangerous blight magic, from the safe, ordinary world. But blight still gets through, twisting whatever it touches into something impossible. And Fable was touched by it when she was born. She has no face of her own, but must borrow other's faces.... wearing them until they start fading into featureless gray, taking her life force with them. Her family loves her, and share their faces, but she can't go far from their farm, because those who are blighted are feared, and even hunted and killed.

And when a father/daughter blight hunter team sets their sights on her, the only way to escape is to try to get through the thorns into the Mirrorwood, where she had been heading to try to find a way to free herself of her curse. She's accompanied by the daughter, Vycorax, who hadn't been able to killer despite her father's orders. The two girls agree to truce as they set off to explore the world beyond the thorns.

There they find a world lost in a spell, cast by one of the Subtle Powers, the twisty immortals who can grant wishes, or make bargains that could snare the unwary. The people of the Mirrorwood have been trapped in a time loop; every day time resets and they live the day again for the first time. The only people who know of this trap are those who have themselves, like Fable, been blighted. They can see the horrible reality.... but can't do anything to fix it.

Fable and Vycorax are found by one of the Subtle Powers, the wish granter, who tells them how the Mirrorwood came to be cursed. The true prince has been caught by the time warp, and a blighted demon imposter has taken his place. If the demon is killed, the curse will be lifted, but it is an almost impossible task. Which the girls, in true mg fantasy form, set off to undertake regardless.... there really isn't a choice. Fable has made a wish of her own, as well--that she could have her own true face.

And this is where things really get interesting! Not only are the girls moving from enemies to loyal friends, but there's a twist to the whole demon prince thing.... the curse isn't exactly what the Subtle Power told them it was. Lyrian, the demon prince, proves to be a much more complex character than the girls had anticipated...

And also at this point is where I stopped just happily reading along, enjoying the story, and became grimly determined to read faster and faster so that I could see what would happen next! Twists and turns, new characters to meet and learn to care about, depth to the story and more about the darkness that preceded the curse, more impossible questing, riddle and illusions, alongside growth in Fable's character.

There's also an increase in the tension of the time warp; it's concentrated inside the castle, where instead of a day, those at the heart of the curse have only seconds of life repeating endlessly, those just outside have minutes or hours, not necessarily nice ones (one bit of this was immensely powerful, driving home the horror of what had happened.

It's clearly a riff on Sleeping Beauty, and it will please fans of reworked fairy tales just fine, but it's more than a reimagining; it's its own thing.  A lovely, gripping thing, with a strong message that it's what's inside that really counts.  Fable realizes that she is still her true self, no matter what her face is, and Vycorax learns that she can make her own choices, and not be bound to her single-minded killer of a father.  People who look like monsters aren't necessarily bad, and the converse as well.  

And as an added bonus, Fable's lovely cat, with whom she can speak, is along for the ride as well! 

The ending is satisfactory, making this a stand-alone, but I'd love to return to the Mirrorwood for more. Partly because it's such a wonderfully strange place, and partly because I'd like to see if the glimmerings of attraction between Fable and Vycorax, and a little between Fable and Lyrian, come to anything....I can't decide which I'd prefer!

short answer: I truly enjoyed it!

disclaimer: review copy received from the author, and deposited by the delivery person in shrubbery next to a door I don't use, so I was very glad I found it safely after who knows how long!

A Dragon Used to Live Here, by Annette LeBlanc Cate

A Dragon Used to Live Here, written and illustrated by Annette LeBlanc Cate (April 12, 2022, Candlewick) is an entertaining story within a story that I think would make a lovely read aloud for older elementary kids and the younger end of middle grade (7-10 year olds). Older kids, on their way to teen cynicism, might have to wait till they are grown-ups before they can enjoy it....

Thomas and Emily live in their parents castle, learning castle-y things, like archery, tapestry weaving, and courtly manners.  They are also skilled at writing and illustrating, and this comes in useful when they come across the den of the castle scribes while exploring a bit of the castle they'd never gotten around to before. The scribes, under the authority of a somewhat cranky woman called Meg (is she a witch? the children wonder), are happy to let the kids help with the heavy workload of party invitations.  And while they work, Meg starts telling the story of how the kids' parents met.

It's a story of a fierce dragon, who used to live in the castle, and knights of varying degrees of bravery, and elves; their mother was the dragon's captive, and their father helps with her rescue (she also helps herself).  As Meg's story unfolds (and is she telling the truth?), the kids stop thinking of her as possible witch, and more as a friend, and hearing how Meg and their mother used to be best friends before a terrible falling out makes them want to bring the two of them back together.   

There's a somewhat refreshing? jarring? unexpected? amusing? mix of modernity with the medieval. Yes it's castle life without modern technology, but there's a real world sensibility to it.  It ended up working for the story, but don't go into it expecting high fantasy.  And the dragon may or may not have been real; readers will have to decide for themselves! 

The writing is snappy and on point, carrying things briskly along.  Thomas and Emily don't just sit passively listening and scribing, but make plans, squabble, and do a bit of (mild) adventuring to try to move Meg and their mother back to friendship.   But Meg is definitely the star of the story.  She's a great character and a great storyteller, and I loved the den of scribes who are entertaining in their own right.  They are really good with paper and ink and sharp knives too--I loved their creativity!  And throughout the book there are many funny details and bits of dialogue that readers of all ages (but especially the target audience) will appreciate. Generous illustrations, also often amusing, add to the entertainment.

Story within story isn't my favorite framework, but when done well, as I think it is here, because I liked it, it is good entertainment!  For what it's worth, me and the Kirkus review are on the same page here--"Clever, multistranded, and off the charts in read-aloud potential."

but was the dragon real????? (and will Thomas continue to let himself enjoy drawing flowers...I hope so!)

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (4/10/22)

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

The Reviews

Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, by Brandon Sanderson, at Say What?

Area-51 Interns: Alien Summer, by James S. Murray and Carsen Smith, at Crafty Moms Share

Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality (Pandava #5) by Roshani Chokshi, at Feed Your Fiction Addiction

The Button Box, by Bridget Hodder and Fawzia Gilani-Williams, at Always in the Middle

Dragon City, by Katie and Kevin Tsang, at Bookworm for Kids

Dragon Rising, by Katie and Kevin Tsang, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

A Dragon Used to Live Here, by Annette LeBlanc Cate, at Jean Little Library

Dread Wood, by Jennifer Killick, at JenJenReviews

Greta and the Ghost Hunters, by Sam Copeland, at Twirling Book Princess

Healer and Witch, by Nancy Werlin, at Charlotte's Library

How to Set the World on Fire, by T.K. Riggins, at The Children's Book Review

Hunters of the Lost City, by Kali Wallace, at Alison in Bookland 

It's the End of the World and I'm in My Bathing Suit, by Justin Reynolds, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Last Mapmaker, by Christiana Soontornvat, at Log Cabin Library

Map of Flames (The Forgotten Five #1) by Lisa McMann, at Pamela Kramer

The Monster Missions, by Laura Martin, at Valinora Troy

The Ogress and the Orphans, by Kelly Barnhill, at Bellis Does Books

Once Upon Another Time, by James Riley, at The Bookwyrm's Den and Carstairs Considers

Operation Do-Over, by Gordon Korman, at Semicolon

Relatively Normal Secrets, by C. W. Allen, at BIbliomanaic Aza

Ripped Away, by Shirley Vernick, at alibrarymama

Secret Beneath the Sand (Unicorn Island #2), by Donna Galanti, at The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow

Shinji Takahashi and the Mark of the Coatl, by Julie Kagawa, at Ms. Yingling Reads,  Log Cabin Library, and Feed Your Fiction Addiction

A String in the Harp, by Nancy Bond, at Semicolon

The Sisters of Luna Island, by Stacy Hackney, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Tiltersmith, by Amy Herrick, at A Bookish Way of Life

Witchlings, by Claribel A. Ortega, at Utopia State of Mind

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking, by T. Kingfisher, at Not Acting My Age

Two at the NY Times--The Last Mapmaker, by Christina Soontornvat, and The Ogress and the Orphans, by Kelly Barnhill

Authors and Interviews

Leah Cypess (Glass Slippers) at Whatever

Skye McKenna (Hedgewitch) at Love Reading 4 Kids

Claribel Ortega (Witchlings) at WNDB

When the Sky Falls, by Phil Earle

When the Sky Falls, by Phil Earle  (April 5th 2022 in the US by Bloomsbury Children's Books, June 2021 in the UK), is a moving book about a boy battered by life, and further traumatized by World War II.  

When we first meet 12-year old Joseph he's a kid arriving in London during the blitz; unlike the other young travelers at the station who are being evacuated out of the city, he's been sent into it after his grandmother decides she can no longer cope with him.  He's been packed off to stay with an old friend of hers, Mrs. F., who doesn't really want Joseph either.  Joseph is violently furious at his situation, and at the world, and before the reader knows his story, his frightening anger makes it hard to warm to him.

Mrs. F. is strong enough, though, to compel Joseph to some degree of cooperation, setting him to work helping keep up her family's zoo.  It's not much of a zoo anymore, thanks to the war.  Most of the animals have been shipped off to other zoos, or died.  One of the few left is a gorilla, Adonis.  Joseph finds Adonis terrifying at first, but as he sees the love Mrs. F. has for him, and learns that Adonis is grieving for the lost of his mate and his child, he opens himself to empathy and caring.  

School is a torment (again, his extremely reluctant attendance is a testament to Mrs. F.'s strong will), where his dyslexia keeps him from being able to read (he, and all the teachers he's had throughout his life, who have convinced him he's stupid, don't know it's dyslexia), and other boys make his life miserable. When the boys climb the zoo's fence to come beat him up, one gets too close to Adonis' cage, and the gorilla grabs him by the jacket.  Although the boy isn't physically harmed, he could well have been, and his father wants Adonis killed because of being a danger to the community.

Indeed, every night there's an air raid, which is most nights, Mrs. F. sits outside Adonis' cage with a gun to shoot him if he's ever freed by an explosion, because of the threat a free, angry gorilla would pose.....even though she loves him. (This part is based on a true story).

Gradually we learn details of Joseph's past--how his mother abandoned the family when he was five, and how his father went to war. Gradually Joseph becomes able to accept help, both from Mrs. F. (espeically when she's found the strength to share her own past tragedy with him) and from a girl who's just been orphaned by a bomb; neither will give up on him.  But it is his growing bond with Adonis that helps him most.  Part of it is the warmth of growing trust, that makes Jacob feel like a person worthy of trust.  I'm wondering a bit as well, though it's never stated, if Jacob gets a bit of help with anger management from the dreadful possibility of what Adonis, with no control over his own anger, is capable of.  The book is thought provoking like this, which I appreciated.

In any event, I found their relationship nicely convincing; I'd been afraid that my suspension of disbelief re human/primate friendships was going to be put to the test.  I needn't have worried; it was a plausible relationship, not a sentimentally idealized anthropomorphic one.  

There is not a happy ending.  But though it is sad, it is an ending that give hope for a new beginning, as Mrs. F. and Joseph become family. 

It's a grimly vivid picture of life in a city being destroyed, with a protagonist on the verge of destroying his own life.  When I reached the end, it took me a while to shake of the tension of it all; like all really good and engrossing books, I'd been living it.  A truly powerful read.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

 

Healer and Witch, by Nancy Werlin

I just gave five stars on Goodreads to Healer and Witch, by Nancy Werlin (mg* Candlewick, April 12, 2022).  I am chary with my stars--only 6 out of the 92 books I've read so far this year have gotten 5 of them--all books that not only are very good books, but very good reads that make reality vanish and remind me why I love reading!  Such as Healer and Witch.

Sylvie is a girl learning healing from her mother and grandmother in Renaissance France.  Her mother's skill as a healer is based on knowledge and understanding, but her grandmother can do more, to the point of being magical.  When Sylvie gets her first period, her own gifts blossom, and like her grandmother there a magical twist to them--she can enter peoples minds, and tweak their memories.  When her grandmother dies, Sylie can't stand to see her mother suffering in a morass of grief, and so tries to help with a bit of memory removing.  It goes horribly wrong, and her mother doesn't remember her own mother, or even Sylvie.

So Sylvie sets out alone into the world to try to find another wise woman who can teach her how to use her gifts, so that she can fix what she broke, and never make such a mistake again.  She is both healer and witch...and the later is a dangerous thing to be when suspicions of witchcraft can lead to death.  A much younger boy, the blacksmith's son whose always getting into trouble, follows her out of their village, and refuses to be sent home, and proves to be an important part of her journey (and a nice part of the story!).  A meeting with a wise woman in the nearest town sets her off to the city of Lyon, as part of a wealthy young merchant's caravan.  

But neither the wise woman or the young merchant are exactly who they seem, and Sylvie's gifts place her in great danger.  She must fight fiercely for her right to use her powers as healer/witch as she sees fit, figuring out how to use them ethically, and making sure she is making decisions for herself in a time and place that's often unkind to young women.  There's a nice romance too-- the powerful young merchant offers to protect her by marrying her, and she declines (and figures out how to protect herself), but in the course of travelling together they start trusting each other enough to share their darkest secrets.  It's a slow romance, but a sweet one.  

It's not a swirling fast-paced book full of Things Happening, and indeed a lot of what happens takes place in Sylvie's head, which was fine with me!  Sylvie is beautifully thoughtful and intelligent, and I appreciated her lots. There is trauma (in the young merchant's past too, from his desperate childhood as a thief "and worse") and of course in Sylvie's life--her love for her mother is unchanged though her mother doesn't know who she is.  But there is healing too, and (slight spoiler) I appreciated that magic isn't the answer for this.

It's good historical fiction too, with enough of the history part (especially social and economic history) to be interesting without info dumping on the reader. My only gripe is that the blurb says this is medieval France.  Not.  Clearly it's Renaissance- Henry VIII is on the throne in England, and the Medici family is busily doing their Medici thing down in Italy....

short answer--I really liked it!  

*note about target audience--recently there was a lot of chat on twitter from folks wanting more books for the 12-14 year old kids who are leaving middle grade (9-12 years old) but who aren't the target audience just yet for much of Young Adult. This is a book for those in-betweenish sort of readers, who want a bit of romance, who want books about independent young women (the heroine here is 15) figuring out what sort of person they want to be.  This isn't a book that I'd give to a 9 or 10 year old, but I'd give it in a flash to 11-13 year old me and other dreamy kids who aren't quite ready to grow up but are enjoying starting to think about it from the safe perspective of fantasy....and I think the cover does a great job at targeting this group of readers!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Meant to Be, by Jo Knowles

Though most of my middle grade reading is sci fi/fantasy, I also enjoy escaping into other peoples reality with good non-magical mg fiction!  Case in point, this weekend's read--Meant to Be, by Jo Knowles (March 22, Candlewick).

We first met sisters Rachel and Ivy in Where the Heart Is, which ends with the family loosing their home out in the country and having to move to an apartment.  That book was mostly Rachel's story; this is Ivy's, and it stands alone just fine.

Ivy is happy with the new apartment home.  For the first time in her life, she has friends close at hand--Lucas and Alice, two other kids the same age as her.  Together they religiously watch a cooking show, and try to use the ingredients the contestants use in their own culinary experimentation (which is mostly successful).  She is not happy, though, that the her sister and parents can't see that the apartment, though small, is a great place to live. She just doesn't empathize with them.

And when Alice, who lives with her grandmother, gets sad news about her absent mother, whose troubles with addiction lead to her leaving Alice behind, Ivy missteps her response, straining their friendship almost to the breaking point.

With the help of the building superintendent, who's teaching Ivy how to fix things, she starts to realize that helping other people with their problems doesn't always mean doing what she, Ivy, things is best for them.  And though she still, at the end of the book, likes living in the apartment, and is still anxious because she doesn't want things to change, she's become quite a bit wiser and more considerate of other people's feelings.

Which isn't to say this is a preachy book!  It all happens naturally and warmly, and although I imagine that if I'd read this when I was ten or so I might have taken the message to heart, there's definitely enough happening (small things, but interesting ones) to make this a good story and a good read.  

Definitely one for kids who like sort of quite slice of life books, particularly for young foodies!  I myself would have put a cupcake prominently on the cover if I'd been designing it...the eggs and mixer do indicate the cooking, but not as appealingly, perhaps, as a nice cupcake!

short answer--I enjoyed it lots, and perhaps am an even more thoughtful person than I was before (?)

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher (thanks!)

This week's round-up of mg sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (4/2/22)

A late round-up this week (bloglovin, where many of my links were waiting for me) was troubled today...but I'm glad it came back, because most of the reviews this week are for books that I haven't seen in past round-ups! Please let me know if I missed your post; it's more likely this week because even when I was in bloglovin, it was off kilter....

The Reviews

The Accidental Apprentice, by Amanda Foody, at Books YA Love

Aviva vs. the Dybbuk, by Mari Lowe, at Say What?

A Darkening of Dragons, by S.A. Patrick, at The Bookwyrm's Den, and  Log Cabin Library

Kelcie Murphy and the Academy for the Unbreakable Arts, by Erika Lewis, at Prose and Kahn

The Ogress and the Orphans, by Kelly Barnhill, at Book Nut

Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares, by Tehlor Kay Mejia, at Puss Reboots

River (Warriors: A Starless Clan #1), by Erin Hunter, at Say What?

The Sea of Always (Thirteen Witches #2), by Jodi Lynn Anderson, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Secret of the Storm, by Beth McMullen, at Books YA Love

The Sheep, the Rooster, and the Duck, by Matt Phelan, at Redeemed Reader

A Storm of Sisters, by Michelle Harrison, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

The Thief Who Sang Storms, by Sophie Anderson, at A Dance with Books

The Tiltersmith, by Amy Herrick, at Say What?

The Triplets get Charmed (Trillium Sisters #1) by Laura Brown and Elly Kramer, at Rajiv's Reviews

Authors and Interviews

Dhonielle Clayton The Marvellers and Julian Randall (Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa) at SLJ

Lisa McMann (The Forgotten Five: Map of Flames) at From the Mixed Up Files

Gabriela Houston (The Wind Child), at PaperBound Magazine

Gregory Maguire (Cress Watercress) at Middle Grade Ninja

Adam Perry (Ghosts Come Rising) at MG Book Village (nb--I'm not sure this is actually fantasy, but it sounds cool whether there are any real ghosts or not!) 

today's mg sci fi/fantasy round up is delayed

 blogloving is over capacity, and I can't get in to find all the posts I was saving for today.....will keep trying!  

In the meantime, here's a cautionary tale--don't put books on radiators.

Today's example of "Why Charlotte can't accomplish anything because of always having to spend precious time solving problems of her own creation"-- I thought, as I placed the library book on top of the radiator--"sure hope this doesn't fall down the back of it!" It did. And the book was too wide to just be pulled out (and even my small, delicate (?) hands don't fit) so it had to be lifted up and out with a piece of random home-renovation wood that was conveniently close at hand...ten minutes of my life, gone just like that!

But the book has been recovered, so all is well in the end.....

Black Was the Ink, by Michelle Coles, for Timeslip Tuesday

A sub-genre of time travel books that I quite like (becuase I like learning things) uses the time travelling to frame a history lesson.  Black Was the Ink, by Michelle Coles (November 2nd 2021 by Lee & Low Books) is one of these; it is a brilliant lesson on the Reconstruction-- the years immediately after the Civil War when black men were elected to congress, the first Civil Rights Act was signed into law, and KKK murderers were brought to trial and found guilty.  Not much talked about in school history class, and  tremendously well presented here.  

Malcolm, a black teenager, was almost shot playing basketball with his friends in Washington D.C. in 2015, and then almost arrested by the police who came to investigate.  His mother, scared for him, sends him down to Mississippi to stay with his dad's family for the summer (his dad was killed by the police a while before this story begins).  There he finds the diary of his ancestor, Cedric, who worked for many of the black representatives to Congress, recording the triumphs they achieved, the horrors being inflicted on black people in the south by the KKK, and the ultimate failure of Reconstruction to establish lasting equality.  

But Malcom isn't just reading words on the pages.  Cedric brings him literally back in time, and Malcom lives bits of Cedric's life.  He sees horrible tragedies, that amplify the ongoing horrors of the present day.  And Malcom emerges from the experience galvanized to take up the fight that Cedric had been part of, starting by trying to save the family farm, Cedric's farm, from being lost to a highway expansion project (which turns out to be the main reason Cedric is manifesting himself...) 

The heavy weight of the past is lightened somewhat by time with family and by Malcom's nascent relationship with a neighbor girl, but it is a past that is much too heavy for lifting to be possible.  It is not a fast easy read, but it sure is an important one.  The author doesn't do much in the way of condensing the history, which is makes it thorough and very real, but it does make for hard going at times. I can't help but feel it could have been just as powerful without quite so many long speeches from the politicians, while being appreciative of those speeches as important parts of history. 

That being said, Malcolm is an engaging character, and his believable teen self does a pretty good job carrying the narrative along. It takes him a while to get used to being Cedric, and it requires some suspension of disbelief that he carries that role off as well as he does when back in the past (although this was one of my favorite aspects of the book, time travel fan that I am).  And there are joyous moments of family and friendship, and lots of good food, that cheer the reader on.

Still, as a whole, it's a pretty devastating read (though the ending is hopeful), but so important and timely....

side note: speaking as someone who works for a state historic preservation office-- sadly, even if a property is listed in the National Register of Historic Places (which is a lot more time-consuming and tricky than is the case even for the conditional determination of eligibility which Malcolm achieves through a single afternoon's work) it can be bulldozed.  So I ended the story less optimistically than Malcolm does...there's going to be a struggle ahead.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

this week's round-up of mg sci fi/fantasy from around the blogs 3/27/22

 Hi all,

here's what I found this week of interest to us avid mg sci fi/fantsy readers!  Let me know if I missed your post.

The Reveiws

Alien Summer, by James S. Murray, and Carsen Smith, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Barren Grounds, by David Alexander Robertson, at Dead Houseplants

Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms, by Jamar J. Perry, at Charlotte's Library

Cress Watercress, by Gregory Maguire, at the StarTribune

Dream Magic (Shadow Magic #2) by Joshua Khan, at Colorful Book Reviews

Kelcie Murphy and the Academy for the Unbreakable Arts, by Erika Lewis, at Always in the Middle

The Dream Spies (The Nightmare Thief #2) by Nicole Lesperance, at Say What?

Imaginary, by Lee Bacon, at Rosi Hollinbeck

Journey to the Parallels, by Marcie Roman, at Bookworm for Kids

The Lock-Eater, by Zack Loran Clark, at Fuse #8

The Magician’s Elephant, by Kate DiCamillo, at Readaraptor

The Map of Flames, by Lisa McMann, at The Neverending TBR

The Midnight Unicorn, by Alice Hemming, at Books YA Love

The Ogress And The Orphans, by Kelly Barnhill, at Forever Bookwandering

Out of Time (Throwback #3) by Peter Lerangis, at Charlotte's Library

The Ship of Doom, M. A. Bennett, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

The Song that Sings Us, by Nicola Davies, at Bellis Does Books

S.T.E.A.L.T.H.: Access Denied, by Jason Rohan, at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez, by Adrianna Cuevas, at Pamela Evans

Witchings, by Claribel A. Ortega, at MG Book Village

Authors and Interviews

Julian Randall (Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa) at Nerdy Book Club

Ross Montgomery (Midnight Guardians) at A little but a lot

Skye McKenna (Hedgewitch) at Toppsta

Other Good Stuff

An essay at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles--"Exchanging Certainty for Uncertainty: Mervyn Peake Explores the Realms of Children’s Fiction"

For Narniathon, an in depth look at a scene from The Silver Chair, and how it's a jumping off point to bigger Narnia questions, at Entering the Enchanted Castle

A gathering of upcoming sequels and companions at A Dance With Books

Out of Time, by Peter Lerangis, for Timeslip Tuesday

I just this minute finished Out of Time (Throwback #3) by Peter Lerangis, this week's Timeslip Tuesday book...I am not very good at keeping my own personal time well managed, and am always scrambling to do what needs doing.  In this case, the scrambling to finish the book (155 pages to go an hour ago) was actually very easy, since I was nicely absorbed.  It was certainly nothing compared to the desperate scramblings through time of the two main characters!

This is the third book of a series about a kid from New York, Corey, who finds out he's a time traveler, like his grandfather (there are more time travelers around than one would think...), as told in Throwback. Corey turns out to be a one of a kind time traveler, though--he can alter the past.  And so he does.  In the second book of the series (The Chaos Loop), he traveled to Germany right at the end of WW II to save his great uncle...but in doing so, he changed the past by keeping his grandparents from meeting, and so he was never born. The Corey who time travelled makes it back to his own present day in New York....but changed into a wolf.

His best friend, Leila (another time-traveler), is the only one who remembers the Corey who no longer belongs in the current time line, and she's determined to help him figure out how to become himself again.  They find help from a secret society of time travelers, who are able to take the gene that gives Corey his unique ability and transfer it to her.  Now the two of them, wolf and girl, head back to the cold winter at the end of Nazi Germany, hoping to give Corey's grandparents their chance to meet, while still keeping his great-uncle alive....

It is tremendously tense!  Wolf Corey's health is failing (a side effect of his situation), and Leila isn't certain she can change the past...but it all works out in the end, mostly thanks to Leila's bravery.

I didn't register it at the time of my reading, but the secret society of time travelers, which includes "trackers" who can tell when the past has been changed, shouldn't really want to be able to create other's with Corey's gift--they are creating for themselves the problem of altered realities that they are contending with (unless Corey and Leila are responsible for them all)....but no matter.  The story at hand is well worth reading regardless!

Time travel-wise, not only to we get to go back to Nazi Germany, but we also get a solo trip by Leila to witness the building of Central Park, and learn a bit of its history, which was very interesting.  

short answer--a solid series, that I can easily imagine middle grade kids loving!

Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms, by Jamar J. Perry

Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms, by Jamar J. Perry (February 1 2022 by Bloomsbury Children's Books) is a middle grade fantasy inspired by West African and Igbo history and mythology that I added enthusiastically to my tbr list when I first heard of it months ago.

It's the story of a boy whose mother read to him the magical Book of Chidani, full of stories about a kingdom whose queen called on the gods of the Igbo people of west Africa to seal themselves off from the world in order to save her people from the slave trade.  But Cameron's mother and father disappeared two years before the book begins, and his grandmother has hidden the book. 

But Cameron finds it, up in the attic, and when he and his best friends Zion and Aliyah open it again, the magic of the book draws them into Chidani.  All the magical stories are true, except that Chidini is in danger.  The three talismans that kept the queen and her people from aging, part of her bargain with the gods, have been stolen by her sister, and without them, Chidani will collapse, and be open to the world again.   Not only that, but the dark powers that the queen's sister has bargained with will flood into our own world.

And in true middle grade fantasy style, Cameron, heir to the magic of the book, must train to be a warrior and find the three missing relics.  He did not want to be a hero, but here he is.

So yes, this is familiar ground--the magical fighting, the griffins with whom the three kids form telepathic bonds, the chase after stolen objects of power while fighting terrifying wraiths.   But it's engrossing, and even if this was all there was to the story, it would be a fun (though not deeply memorable) read.  Several things, however, give depth and heart to the story, making it more than generic mg fantasy.

First there's the premise, that the magical kingdom was created in response to the horror of the slave trade,  that took Cameron's ancestors from their homes.  This weighted past, tied to the real world, makes it a place the the reader must come to with a certain gravitas, a taking-seriously-ness that most portal fantasies don't have.

Second, the queen's sister has at least one good reason to want to break down the bubble protecting Chidani--time stopped for everyone living there when it was formed, and no one has aged.  Four hundred years of stasis is not a pleasing thought; it is basically a prison.  I was hoping that the sister, once she made this point, would go on to have more nuance to her villainy than she did, but there was enough doubt in my mind to start questioning everything that was supposedly so wonderful, which added lots of interest!  There's a  goddess, for instance, who is basically the patron of the Chidanians, that I have my suspicious eye on.....

Thirdly, Cameron's parents died fighting in Chidani, failing to do what Cameron must now attempt.  Echoes of their struggle keep bringing his grief, anger, and frustration welling up, and make his assigned task as Savior and Hero a burden he's even more unwilling to bear.  There's a horrifying twist toward the end, too, which ups the dead parent stakes even more!

And Fourthly,  there's his friendship with Zion.  Are the two boys just really close and affectionate friends, like two brothers who love each other, sometimes even holding hands for mutual reassurance  (which would be great, because this sort of boy friendship is rare in fiction) or do all the possible hints mean its going to turn into more than friendship (which would also be great, because MG fantasy with gay boys is really rare!)?  

So yes, much of the story runs along familiar rails (which won't, of course, be as familiar to the target audience as they are to veteran MG fantasy reader, me, and so this is not a criticism but a personal statement), and I would have been happy with some of the fantasy filler descriptions and such pared down a bit (again, I'm not the target audience),  but seeing where  plot bits 2, 3, and 4 go next will have me come back eagerly for the next book!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (3/20/22)

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

The Reviews

Children of the Flying City, by Jason Sheehan, at Cracking the Cover

A Comb of Wishes, by Lisa Stringfellow, at Charlotte's Library

A Festival of Ghosts (Ingot #2) by William Alexander, at Colorful Book Reviews

Icebreaker, by Lian Tanner, at Leaf's Reviews

Much Ado About Baseball, by Rajani LaRocca, at Sonderbooks

The Ogress and the Orphans, by Kelly Barnhill, at Say What? and Sifa Elizabeth Reads

Secret Beneath the Sand |(Unicorn Island #1), by Donna Galanti, at  Always in the Middle

Temple Alley Summer, by Sachiko Kashiwaba, at GeekDad

Thirty Talks Weird Love, by Alessandra Narváez Varela, at Charlotte's Library

The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez, by Adrianna Cuevos, at Sonderbooks

The Wolf’s Curse by Jessica Vitalis, at Children's Books Heal

Wulfie-A Ghostly Tail, by Lindsay J Sedgwick, at Valinora Troy

Yesterday Crumb and the Storm in a Teacup, by Andy Sagar, at Book Craic

Two at Ms. Yingling Reads--Asking for Trouble, by Sarah Prineas, and Aviva vs. the Dybbuk, by Mari Lowe

Authors, Interviews, and Illustrators

Andy Sagar (Yesterday Crumb and the Storm in a Teacup), at A Little But a Lot

Natalie Smillie (illustrator of The Griffen Gate, by Vashti Hardy) at Scope for Imagination

Alysa Wishingrad (The Verdigris Pawn), at Caroline Starr Rose

Other Good Stuff

"The Children's Sci Fi Renaissance" at Science Meets Fiction podcast

A look at 8 upcoming stand-alone books, at A Dance With Books

A Comb of Wishes, by Lisa Stringfellow

A Comb of Wishes, by Lisa Stringfellow (February 8th 2022 by Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins), is a truly enticing mix of grief and magic.

Kela and her mother collected sea glass together on the beaches of their Caribbean island home of St. Rita.  Then her mother died.  Stuck in her grief, and with her last angry words to her mother playing on repeat in her head, she pushes away her best friend, Lissy, and gathers the "mermaid's tears" (as the bits of glass are called) alone, but the joy has gone out of making them into lovely jewelry for sale to tourists.  Lissy is the kind of awesome friend who keeps showing up though, and it's on a day when she goes to down to the beach too that Kela finds an old wooden box that pulls her.  It's on a protected part of the beach that's strictly off limits.  So when Kela take the box home, she knows she's transgressed, but can't imagine the supernatural and real world problems that are about to make her life very complicated indeed.

Inside the box is an old comb, beautifully made.  And out in the ocean is the mermaid whose comb it is, who desperately needs it back in order to stay immortal.  Ophidia, the mermaid, will stop at nothing to retrieve it.  And when she tracks Kela down, she offers a bargain, a wish in exchange for the comb.  Though Kela has grown up on stories of mermaid magic (her mother was a folklorist, and keeper of the island's stories), and knows that bargains with mermaids are tricky, her wish to have her mother back is irresistible.  But in making the wish, the comb breaks in her hand....and then is stolen from her.  

Her mother is back, and everyone but Kela seems to take it for granted.   It's as if she never died.  But she's not herself; she's tired and sad....and Ophidia is furiously trying to get her comb back, threatening Kela and lashing the island with storms.

Together Kela and Lissy set out to get the comb back from the thief....and find themselves not just in danger from Ophidia, but from a desperate man who has gone so far wrong that their lives are in danger.

(And then a sea monster, summoned by Ophidia, attacks...)

Reading this avidly, my mood vacillated between wonder and enjoyment of the mermaid magic and the folk tales of the island, with light touches of great fondness for Lissy (currently in 1st place for middle grade supporting friend of the year!) and anxiety and sadness for Kela, mixed with horror/sadness when her dead mother returns.  It says a lot for Lisa Stringfellow's writing that these two sides of the story stayed beautifully balanced, with scene shifts from one aspect to the other just when I as a reader needed them. It's told both from Kela's point of view and Ophidia's, which adds considerable interest--Ophidia is much more than a one-dimensional angry magical villain.

There's a touch of horror (the sea monster attack is rather gruesomely fatal), but there's so much warmth in the story that the horror fades like a bad dream.  Grief stays, as it must, but life and love go on.

side note--I loved that Kela's mom was both a keeper and teller of stories of  the island, and an academic folklorist (not something I can recall every seeing in a mg book before).  One of my favorite parts of the story was Kela and Lissy sneaking into the mom's office at the island's museum, and going through her files.  It was a nice way of showing young readers that stories aren't just for kids, but valuable parts of history and heritage, worthy of museum archives! One of my other favorite bits was when Lissy's grandmother tells a story, using the same traditional call and response beginning and end that frames the book's narrative, that draws the listeners (and readers) in....

I say Crick, you say Crack.

Crick.

Crack.

This is a story.

and ending thus--

Crick.

Crack.

The story is put on you.

It will stay with me for a long time.

Thirty Talks Weird Love, by Alessandra Narváez Varela, for Timeslip Tuesday

Thirty Talks Weird Love, by Alessandra Narváez Varela (January 1st 2021 by Cinco Puntos Press), is a stunning book, combining a vividly real slice of life story of a girl on the brink of suicide with time travel, set in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico in the 1990s, when girls  are being murdered with horrible, terrifying regularity.

Thirteen-year-old Anamaria is academically driven, and has messed up being a friend.  Lonely and stressed, and scared by the terror stalking her city, she's at a breaking point.  Though her parents love her and care about her well-being, they have no idea how bad things are getting.  There is someone who knows, though--Anamaria's thirty-year-old self, who come back to get her younger self through this bad time.

Anamaria is understandably unwelcoming, and doesn't want to hear what this stranger tries to tell her.  But "Thirty" is able to nudge her, changing enough of the time line to make things better for her past self, but failing in the other task she had travelled through time to set right.

Though this is a  hybrid verse/paragarph novel, and there aren't lots and lots of words, Varela manages to convey an astoundingly vivid and rich picture of Anamaria's thoughts, her daily life, and her experiences at school.  I'm not sure I've ever used the word "masterful" in a review before, but I shall do so now--this is a masterful story.  It twists the heart something fierce.

The time travel part is strange, and never explained (which is a tad frustrating), but very interesting.  Thirty is not a dea ex machina, but she is able to push in just the right places to get Anamaria on a healthier path--mostly, and most importantly for young depressed readers, by getting her to tell her parents that she is depressed and needs help.   It was satisfying, as a Time Travel pureist, to read in the epilogue that briefly lays out what happens to Anamaria in the following years, that she doesn't in fact time travel again--her other self had changed enough so this was no longer necessary.

One of the things that made this such a believable book is that Anamaria thinks in both English and Spanish, and so there is considerable untranslated Spanish in the text.  I don't speak Spanish, but context and generic familiarity were enough to understand what was being said.  And, on the subject of this being clearly a Mexican book, one of the things that made it a viscerally appealing reading experience was all the delicious food!  Though Anamaria is prone to unhealthy comfort eating (so relatable), food is still integral to her loving relationship with her parents (who have a small restaurant)  and with the coffee shop owner next door, a loving uncle figure.

The title, "Thirty Talks Weird Love," refers to Thirty's main message that Anamaria must find a way to love herself, but it's not heavy handed or preachy.  I can imagine many 11-14 year-olds really seeing themselves in this one, and quite possibly being not just entertained by a good story, well told, but helped to be more compassionate to themselves and to others.  

The book is being marketed as YA, but I do think it counts as upper middle grade just as much--a 13-year-old with friendship drama is more middle grade to me than a 14-year-old with relationship drama would be.

Highly recommended.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (3/13/22)

Good morning fellow US time travelers.  I hate springing foreword, but here we are.  And here's what I found this week.  Let me know if I missed your post please!

The Reviews

The Boy in the Post, by Holly Rivers, at Book Craic

Girl Giant and the Monkey King by Van Hoang, at Feed Your Fiction Addiction

Kingston & the Magician’s Lost and Found, by Rucker Moses & Theo Gangi, at Valinora Troy

The Last Firefox, by Lee Newbery, at alexsfictionaddiction

The Legend of the Dream Giants, by Dustin Hansen, at Cracking the Cover and She Just Loves Books

Secret Beneath the Sand (Unicorn Island #2), by Donna Galanti, at Charlotte's Library

Thirteens, by Kate Alice Marshall, at The Wandering Wordsmith

Tristan Strong Keeps Punching (Tristan Strong #3) by Kwame Mbalia, at Eye-Rolling Demigod's Book Blog

Three at The Guardian- Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Being Good, by Louie Stowell,  Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms, by Jamar J Perry,  and Into the Sideways World, by Ross Welford.

Authors and Interviews

Kelly Barnhill (The Ogress and the Orphans) at Publishers Weekly

Dhonielle Clayton (The Marvellers) at Publishers Weekly

Donna Galanti (Unicorn Island 2: Secret Beneath the Sand) at From the Mixed Up Files

Shakirah Bourne (Josephine Against the Sea), at Sarah Nicolas

Other Good Stuff

New in the UK, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

8 books for mg D and D fans at Book Riot

Here are the finalists for the Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction, glad to see two mg books I loved!  (Thornwood and Root Magic)

• Victories Greater Than Death, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor Teen; Titan)
• Thornwood, Leah Cypess (Delacorte)
• Redemptor, Jordan Ifueko (Amulet; Hot Key)
• A Snake Falls to Earth, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
• Root Magic, Eden Royce (Walden Pond)
• Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao (Penguin Teen; Rock the Boat)

Secret Beneath the Sand (Unicorn Island #2), by Donna Galanti, illustrated by Bethany Stancliffe

In my review of Unicorn Island: The Secret of Lost Luck, the first book in Donna Galanti's series for elementary school readers, I said:   "This is very much a "book 1," introducing the characters and setting the stage for the series. It's more than just an introduction--the new friendship, the discoveries, and the baby unicorn are a solid story--but readers might feel when then finish it that they were just getting started, and will want the next book right away!"  And now I have read the next book, Secret Beneath the Sand (March 8th 2022, Andrews McMeel Publishing). and can say once again that young readers will want the 3rd book straight away too!

Sam now knows her uncle's big secret--he's the caretaker of a magical island off the coast that's shielded by magical mist to keep it safe from discovery.  It's home to unicorns and other magical creatures, and Sam is gung-ho to pitch right in and help out!  But her uncle hasn't shared all his secrets.  When the magic of the island starts draining away, threating the unicorns, one of the darkest of his secrets proves to be responsible for a monstrous manifestation on the island must be confronted.  And Sam is the one who has to lead the charge, even though it upends her world.

This is a perfect series to give to an elementary school kid who loves fantasy and who is still getting their reading feet firmly under them!  The sparkly cover with its shiny stars and the pleasant interior illustrations add kid friendliness.  Although I enjoyed reading this, and appreciated that there was some complexity to the plot involving family secrets, I think the story doesn't have quite enough heft for the older "middle grade" age range of 11-12, but younger readers may well love it!  I would have devoured this joyfully when I was seven or so....so give it to the kid that's been binging Early Reader and young graphic novels about unicorns!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (3/6/22)

Hi all, here's what I found this week!  let me know if I missed your post. Also--I'm always looking for blogs reviewing mg sci fi/fantasy to my list--if you have such a blog, please let me know in the comments!

The Reviews

Attack of the Killer Komodos, by Summer Rachel Short, at Kidlit Underground

August of the Zombies, by K.G. Campbell, at Say What?

Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms, by Jamar J. Perry, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

Children of the Flying City, by Jason Sheehan, at The Nerd Daily

A Glasshouse of Stars,  by Shirley Marr, at Books YA Love

Girl Giant and the Jade War (Girl Giant and the Monkey King #2), by Van Hoang, at Charlotte's Library

The Guardian (Sprout #2), by Carolyn Tweed, at Why Not? Because I Said So!

Kingston and the Echoes of Magic, by Rucker Moses and Theo Gangi, at Proseandkahn

The Last Firefox, by Lee Newbery, at Geek Dad

Operation Do-over, by Gordon Korman, at Charlotte's Library

The Silk Road (Lucy & Dee) by Kirsten Marion, at The Prairies Book Review

Solimar, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, at The NY Times

Spell Sweeper, by Lee Edward Födi, at Bit About Books

Too Bright to See, by Kyle Lukoff, at Sonderbooks

A Wish in the Dark, by Christine Soontornvat, at Of Maria Antonia

Three at A little but a lot--The Last Firefox, by Lee Newberry, Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Being Good, by Louie Stowell, and The Ship of Cloud and Stars, by Amy Raphael

Authors and Interviews

Julian Randall (Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa) at Fuse #8 

Jamar J. Perry (Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms) at Fuse #8, Shelf Awarenes, and Sadé Magazine

Erika Lewis (Kelcie Murphy and the Academy for the Unbreakable Arts) at Middle Grade Ninja and LiveWriters

Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp (translator of The Raven's Children) at Words & Pictures 

Ben Gartner (The Eye of Ra series), at Jazzy Book Reviews

Greg van Eekhout (Weird Kid), at San Diego News Fix

Girl Giant and the Jade War (Girl Giant and the Monkey King #2), by Van Hoang

Girl Giant and the Jade War (Girl Giant and the Monkey King #2), by Van Hoang, is not so much as sequel to Girl Giant and the Monkey King (2020) as the second half of the story.  In the first book, eleven-year-old Thom Ngo accidently frees the Monkey King, who promises to help rid her of her incredible strength.  Thom learns the hard way that the Monkey King can't be trusted, and learns as well that her father, from whom she inherited her preternatural strength, is one of the powerful Immortals.  The first book ends with the Monkey King, who has used Thom to bring back the full extent of his powers, about to attack the realm of the Immortals, Thom appalled by the mistakes she's made, and her mother transformed into a cricket....It's a gripping, fast-paced story that I enjoyed very much!

So I was eager to rejoin Thom as she tries to stop the Monkey King in his tracks.  It is a pretty difficult proposition--she has to find her way back into the Heavens, and figure out if there is any weakness she can use against the Monkey King.  Much of the story involves a quest for allies.  Accompanied by her dragon friend, Kha, and a fox demon who was once a fairy, Thom tries to find someone who will help her get back to the Heavens before the Monkey King and his demons take over...though she's not at all sure what she'll do when she gets there!

Interestingly, the more she thinks about what the Monkey King wants--respect, and a place for demons in the Heavens--the more she can understand his point of view, though she can't condone his approach.  Adding to her confusion are visits from the Monkey King's magical doubles--she can remember trusting him (though memories of betrayal are sharper).  Her friendship with Kha is strained, and when she gets to the Heavens, she has to get the person she herself betrayed most unforgivably, the daughter of the Jade Emperor, to believe she knows what's she doing.

There's all the cultural richness that filled the first book, and plenty of adventures, but it's a bit more thought-provoking, in a good way.   An excellent series for middle grade readers who enjoy kids having their lives upended by magical figures of legend, and a nice addition of Vietnamese mythology to the "books for kids who love Rick Riordan" genre. Thom is a very relatable kid (though the universal "finding one's self" middle school ARC is of course complicated by being the child of a deity, and also complicated by Thom's feeling out of place as a Vietnamese American kid) and even her sometimes questionable choices make sense for someone her age, and work well within the framework of the story.  

This second book closes everything nicely, but I wouldn't mind more....

Operation Do-over, by Gordon Korman, for Timeslip Tuesday

I often wonder what it would be like to slip through time and be my 12-year-old self again....I will buy apple stock with my babysitting money, avoid the fashionable trends of the 1980s, and excel academically by actually applying myself...Unlike me, the hero of Operation Do-over, by Gordon Korman (January 18th 2022 by Balzer & Bray/Harperteen), has rather higher, more personal, stakes in mind when he does in fact bounce from being 17 back to being 12 again....

Mason and Ty were the best of friends, as close as it is possible for two twelve year old boys to be.  But then new kid Ava arrives at their school, they both crush on her hard, and she unwittingly destroys their friendship when she picks Mason....even when they are 17, the wound is still raw, and leads to trouble that gets Mason expelled from school.

Then, bang.  A car accident sends Mason back in time, and now he is 12 again, still remembering the original time-line.  Knowing what went wrong last time, can he save his friendship with Ty? (and while he's at it, his dog from a fatal encounter with a Rotter-rooter truck, and his parents' marriage?)  

It is not the deepest time-travel story in the world, but not without interest and entertainment.   Mason #2 decides to shake his life up by joining the football team (and as one of the top geeky nerds of the school, the others being Ty and Clarisse, a girl whose been their third wheel for year).  This is a shocker to everyone, and leads to some quite funny football bits).  It hits one main bulls eye of the middle grade experience--friendships of childhood strained by adolescence, and the whole exploration of other possibilities and identities will ring true to the target audience.  

I would have preferred it, I think, from a time travel perspective, if Mason had lived out the entirety of his new timeline; instead, he gets another blow to the head that shoots him back to being 17 again, and it's rather abrupt--17 the second time around is a mix of the original timeline and difference from his being 12 a second time, and the reader is presented with this rather abruptly.  I would have liked more time exploring this, but I realize this isn't the point of the book....

In any event, it's fun, fast read, and its easy to imagine kids liking it lots, though as an adult, it mostly evokes even more reflections on what a do-over like this would involve for oneself....