Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
If you like fun fantasy, you’ll like Castle Hangnail (Dial Books for Young Readers, 2015) by Ursula Vernon, who not only wrote the story, but did the illustrations.
The minions at Castle Hangnail are worried. If they don’t get a master soon, the castle will be decommissioned. The ravens say someone is on the way, but no one expects it to be the twelve-year-old girl who shows up. Can she really be a wicked witch? Molly, the “evil” twin, has to convince them she is.
I loved the humor in this book. How can one not enjoy lines like these that open the story? “It was a marvelously dark and dour twilight at the castle. Clouds the color of bruises lay across the hills.”
I also loved the characters from the nonhunchback guardian to the suit of armor and the minotaur cook to the doll made out of burlap, and, of course, Molly, the Wicked Witch, who is bad, er, good at being wicked.
Ursula Vernon is the author of the Dragonbreath books, too. Read more on her website: http://ursulavernon.com/.
Tag: MMGM
Kids Reading Books and Saying What They Think
image courtesy of Phaedra Wilkinson on morguefile.com
I recently ran across some blogs of preteen and teen bloggers because of MMGM (Marvelous Middle Grade Monday). Which made me interested in looking for more teens blogging about books.
It’s fun seeing how articulate these kid bloggers are and what they are interested in reading. These kids are promoting good books now, which is so exciting. It was also fun seeing the books we like in common. We may be many years apart in age, but we share a love for some of the same stories.
What does that mean for me as a writer? It’s a reminder that inside at some level we are still the same no matter what age we are. We still have hopes and dreams, struggle with issues of self-esteem or failure, have worries in our lives, etc. Those universal experiences are what make it possible for our stories to reach others and for others’ stories to reach us.
It also is giving me a chance to see what books are appealing to some of today’s kids. (I have grandsons and we discuss books they are reading, but no granddaughters, so don’t get much firsthand experience on the girl side.) And, yes, this means my to-be-read list is getting longer and longer.
In case you are interested in checking out these young reviewers yourself, here’s some I found.
Personal Websites:
The Paige Turner
Cindy Reads A Lot
Libraries:
This LA County Library has a teen review board! What a great idea!
Oh, look, the New Hampshire Nesmith Library does something similar.
Other:
Teen Ink is a magazine that features book reviews (and much more) by teens. Of course, at this age, many are reading “adult” books, too.
LitPick Student Book Reviews features reviews from kids all over the world.
Reader View Kids is a company that posts kids’ book reviews.
Like many blogs, I found ones started by teens that have lasted a number of years and then the teen (or now adult) quit posting. Even found one library system that quit having teen posts although the old ones are still up.
If you know of any teens blogging about books, I’d love to hear about it.
Rooftoppers
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
Rooftoppers (Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2013) by Katherine Rundell is a very fun read, although twelve-year-old Sophie has a very big problem. The National Childcare Agency says Charles, the bachelor who rescued her from the sea when she was one and floating in a cello case, can’t be allowed to keep raising her. What will Sophie do without her beloved Charles? The two escape to Paris to search for her Sophie’s long lost mother. On this adventure, when Sophie goes on the roof of her hotel, she makes some unusual friends.
A mix of historical and fantasy, the book is winning awards. Rooftoppers is the winner of the 2014 Blue Peter Book Award and the 2014 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, and was shortlisted for the 2014 CILIP Carnegie Medal.
You can read about the author here or follow her on twitter here. She has another book out, Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, that I need to check out.
Badger Knight
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
Badger Knight (Scholastic Press, 2014) by Kathryn Erskin may be historical since it is sent in England 1346, but it definitely isn’t boring. I found the book hard to put down as I experienced life with the main character.
13-year-old Adrian isn’t content to be small and sickly–he’s going to be an archer. And help in the war against the Scots, or at least become an apprentice bowyer to his father. But no one–not his father or his friend Hugh and especially Good Aunt–think he’s much use beyond collecting goose feathers to fletch arrows. The village bullies call him Badger since he puts dirt under his eyes to dim the brightness of his white face when shooting arrows. Adrian claims the name Badger himself when he goes to help his friend Hugh in the war.
This book is a 2014 Junior Library Guild Selection–you won’t want to miss reading it! And isn’t the cover gorgeous?
Adrian isn’t the only traveler–so’s Kathryn. See her bio!
I have a review of another of Kathryn’s books here: Mockingbird.
The Rithmatist
The Rithmatist (Dragonsteel Entertainment/Tor, 2013) by Brandon Sanderson was one of those lucky finds off the library shelf. It has an interesting premise and surprising plot twists. Aimed at the YA market, as the main character is 16, it’s definitely appropriate for upper middle grade readers who like Harry Potter.
Rithmatists–those who can make chalk drawings come to life to fight the wild chalklings in far off Nebrask–are set apart in school society. Poor scholarship student Joel desperately wishes he could become a Rithmatist even though he wasn’t chosen. When Rithmatist students start disappearing from Armedius Academy, Joel manages to get himself assigned as an assistant to the professor who is investigating the disappearances, but doesn’t realize how dangerous that will be.
Fascinating Illustrations of chalklings and the rithmatists defenses are done by Ben McSweeney.
This is the first book in a series. Go here to read an interview of Brandon about this book.
The author has written both children and adults series. Of those, I’ve read and enjoyed Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians (Scholastic, 2007)–the first of his middle grade series. Doesn’t the title just make you want to read it? See more on his website.
Of interest, too, is Sanderson’s 3 laws of magic and links to 14 University Lectures by Brandon Sanderson on Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy on this page of writing advice.