This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (9/1/19)

Nothing from me this week; it was "taking kid back to college" time. But here's what I found on other blogs! Let me know if I missed your post. And just a reminder--you have a little less than 2 weeks to apply to be a judge in this year's Cybils Awards! I'd love to welcome new folks to the Middle Grade Speculative Fiction team!

The Reviews

The Author's Blood by Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry (The Wormling #5) at Say What?

The Battle, by Karuna Riazi, at Muslim Reads

Cape (The League of Secret Heroes Book 1 by Kate Hannigan, at The Children's War

Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation, by Stuart Gibbs, at Geo Librarian

City of Ghosts, by Victoria Schwab, at proseandkahn

Dead Voices, by Katherine Arden, at Ms. Yingling Reads and Word Spelunking

The Dragon Princess, by E.D. Baker, at Puss Reboots

The Little Grey Girl (The Wild Magic Trilogy #2) by Celine Kiernan, at Log Cabin Library

Oh, Rats! by Tor Seidler, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Riverland, by Fran Wilde, at alibrarymama

Shadow School: Archimancy, by J.A. White, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Simon Grey and the March of a Hundred Ghosts, by Charles Kowalski, at Rosi Hollinbeck

Authors and Interviews

Heather Kassner (The Bone Garden) at Spooky MG

Ryan Calejo (Charlie Hernadez and the League of Shadows) at Two Chicks On Books

Karuna Riazi (The Battle) at Middle Grade Minded

Other Good Stuff

a new trailer for His Dark Materials, via Tor

Nhận xét

The Princess Who Flew with Dragons, by Stephanie Burgis

I still am busily reading elementary/middle grade speculative fiction a in my roles as a judge for the Cybils Awards (mainly going back to re-read things I read early last year), but I am in good enough shape that I treated myself one dreary day last week to a shiny and new and much anticipated book-- The Princess Who Flew with Dragons , by Stephanie Burgis (Bloomsbury, November 2019). This is the third in the series that began with The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart (link to my review), and it's possibly the one I enjoyed most. I certainly think it was the fastest read; it was a (more or less) single-sitting of about an hour read for me (when I like a book and need to know what's going to happen next, I read faster, and it was relatively short-- 216 pages). Princess Sophia, who we met in Book 2, The Girl with a Dragon Heart , is the main character here, and when her story begins, she's being sent by her older sister, the ruling princess, to a distant city to attend a Worl...

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The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away, by Ronald L. Smith (review and interview)

I first had the pleasure of meeting Ronald L. Smith at Kidlitcon back in 2015 (PSA--come to Kidlitcon 2020 in Ann Arbor next March!). His first middle grade book, Hoodoo, a tale of supernatural horror in the south, had just been published, and I enjoyed it very much ( my review ). I likewise enjoyed The Mesmerist (2017), about kids fighting evil in 19th century London ( my review ). I never reviewed Black Panther: the Young Prince (2018)….someday I will. So in any event, I was very excited about his most recent book, The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away (Clarion Books, February 2019). This is the story of an air force kid, Simon, son of a black mom and a white dad, who's obsessed with aliens. He's convinced owl-like aliens have arrived, watching and experimenting on humans. His family has no time or patience for aliens, so Simon is alone with his fears of the Grays, as he calls them. When something very strange happens on a camping trip with hi...

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'Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend' by Matthew Green

This book is enchanting at first sight. Even before I saw the cover, I wanted to read this book. The cover of my galley is very pretty too - although I say I don't judge a book by it's cover, I do. I really do. Budo is Max's imaginary friend. However, Budo is quite real: he has is own thoughts and controls his own actions; he cannot be seen by other people, though, and cannot interact with the "real world". This book follows Budo through Max's daily life and struggles, and through the conflicts and worries of an imaginary friend. Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend is narrated wonderfully - from a 9-year-old's imagination's point of view - and delves into major concepts such as death, family, and loss. It's one of those book which you can't really classify into "children's book", "young adult novel" or, "adult fiction". It really can be appreciated at any age. It's also unique - you don't get many books tha...

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