Today we have two brief books, each a “fractured fairy tale” version of Snow White. First up, Catherynne Valente’s Six-Gun Snow White shares connections with a couple of recent posts on this site. As the first half of the title should make clear, it shares with Six-Gun Tarot a Western setting, but also partakes of the same intense genre-blending [...]
The Six-Gun Tarot
By on January 25, 2013
Pick of the Day: The Fire Chronicle: The Books of Beginning, Bk. 2 (Audiobook)
By on January 24, 2013 Leave a Comment
The Fire Chronicle: The Books of Beginning, Book 2. By John Stephens. 10 CDs. 12:22 hrs. Prod. by Listening Library. Dist. by Listening Library/Books on Tape. 2012. ISBN 978-0-307-87982-0. $37.
Gr 4-7–In The Emerald Atlas (2011), the first book in John Stephens’s series, we met Kate, Michael, and Emma who were searching for their missing parents and got caught up in a magical adventure that nearly turned deadly, tested their family bonds, and gained them the first Book. In this second [...]
Review: The Brides of Rollrock Island
By on January 20, 2013
The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan. Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House. 2012. Reviewed from ARC from publisher. The Plot: Misskaella Prout is the witch of Rollrock Island, so ugly and disagreeable and witchy that no man would have her for a wife. Misskaella has her revenge on those who keep her [...]
Pick of the Day: Splendors & Glooms (Audiobook)
By on January 11, 2013 Leave a Comment
Splendors & Glooms. By Laura Amy Schlitz. 10 cassettes or 10 CDs. 12 hrs. Recorded Books. 2012. cassette: ISBN 978-1-4498-3568-2, CD: ISBN 978-1-4498-3572-9. $108.75
Gr 4-8–Set in a Dickensian London, Davina Porter is the perfect narrator to capture the nuances of the characters and the time period in Schlitz’s exceptional Victorian fantasy (Candlewick, 2012). Listeners will ache for the orphan children, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall, when they come up with money after pawning a watch. Should they have a proper meal [...]
Scholastic Launches New Multi-Platform Fantasy Series
By on January 10, 2013 1 Comment
Scholastic has announced it will release Spirit Animals, a new multi-platform, multi-author fantasy adventure series for readers ages 8–12, in September. The story arc of the seven-book series and online game will be established by New York Times bestselling author Brandon Mull, with a second title launching next year from bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater.
Pick of the Day: The Savage Fortress
By on January 9, 2013 1 Comment
CHADDA, Sarwat. The Savage Fortress. 292p. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-38516-9; ebook $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-46996-8. LC 2011046291
Gr 8 Up–On vacation in India with his aunt, uncle, and younger sister, pudgy Ash Mistry can’t wait to get back home to his video games and London friends. But when his uncle is offered a million pounds to assist mysterious Lord Savage with translations from an archaeological find, Ash becomes embroiled in an overwhelming and deadly real-life battle. He realizes [...]
Pick of the Day: Jinx
By on January 7, 2013 Leave a Comment
BLACKWOOD, Sage. Jinx. 360p. HarperCollins/Harper. Jan. 2013. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-06-212990-1; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-0-06-212992-5.
Gr 4-8–“In the Urwald you grow up fast or not at all,” readers learn in the opening of this rich and fecund fantasy. Jinx is that staple of children’s literature: the scorned, ill-used orphan who proves to be so much more gifted and important than he ever imagined possible. He occupies a world that is simultaneously original and familiar, influenced by centuries of folklore, but newly [...]
Fairy Tales
By on December 31, 2012
Adaptations of the fairy tales collected by the Grimm brothers are among my great pleasures in life. They account for one of my favorite picture books, Trina Schart Hyman outrageously gorgeous (and even more outrageously out-of-print) version of “Snow White” (Little, Brown, 1974); one of my favorite YA novels, Margo Lanagan’s Tender Morsels (Knopf, 2008), [...]
Fairy Tales
By on December 31, 2012
Adaptations of the fairy tales collected by the Grimm brothers are among my great pleasures in life. They account for one of my favorite picture books, Trina Schart Hyman outrageously gorgeous (and even more outrageously out-of-print) version of “Snow White” (Little, Brown, 1974); one of my favorite YA novels, Margo Lanagan’s Tender Morsels (Knopf, 2008), [...]
Review of the Day: The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy
By on December 29, 2012
The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom By Christopher Healy Walden Pond Press (an imprint of Harper Collins) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-06-211743-4 Ages 9-12 On shelves now. Since when did fairytales become the realm of the girly? I blame Disney. Back in the days of Grimm your average everyday fairytale might contain princesses and pretty gowns [...]
From Exploring Tolkien’s Symbolic Language to Making Furry Feet, Teachers and Librarians Gear up for ‘The Hobbit’
By on December 11, 2012 1 Comment
As librarians and teachers prepare for the release of the new film “The Hobbit,” they’re incorporating Tolkien-related activities and events into their libraries and classrooms.
Guest Post by Maria Selke… There and Back Again: (Re)Visiting ‘The Hobbit’ in Image and Text (2)
By on December 11, 2012
Guest Post by Maria Selke… There and Back Again: (Re)Visiting ‘The Hobbit’ in Image and Text (1)
By on December 10, 2012
Review: Kill Me Softly
By on December 6, 2012
Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross. Egmont USA. 2012. Review copy from publisher.
The Plot: Mirabelle has been raised by her godmothers, Elsa and Bliss, since the death of her parents while she was still an infant. As Mira’s sixteenth birthday approaches, she decides that she wants to find out more about the place she was [...]
Seraphina
By on November 30, 2012
Seraphina, Rachel Hartman
Random House, July 2012
Reviewed from ARC
Gosh golly, but I love rereading.
Book change upon acquaintance. They get deeper (or, sometimes, shallower, but let’s not go there); different aspects bubble to the top; when the reader is no longer at the mercy of the plot’s momentum there is time to really savor all the different [...]
Seraphina
By on November 30, 2012
Seraphina, Rachel Hartman
Random House, July 2012
Reviewed from ARC
Gosh golly, but I love rereading.
Books change upon acquaintance. They get deeper (or, sometimes, shallower, but let’s not go there); different aspects bubble to the top; when the reader is no longer at the mercy of the plot’s momentum there is time to really savor all the different [...]
Guest Post by Gabrielle Bondi… Five Things Readers and Fans Don’t Know About YA Movies But Should (Part 2)
By on November 28, 2012
Review: Ferragost
By on November 27, 2012
Back in August, I blogged about Melina Marchetta’s short story, Ferragost, a companion to her Lumatere books. As Marchetta explained in a blog post, “Ferragost is a stand alone short story. If you are a reader of the Lumatere Chronicles, you’ll remember that Celie is the daughter of Lord August and Lady Abian and is [...]
Angel’s Ink
By on November 14, 2012
Jocelynn Drake is known for her Dark Days series. With Angel’s Ink she begins a new urban fantasy/paranormal romance series (The Asylum Tales) which, for a change, features a male protagonist.
Fans will be glad to see that there are already two prequel tales to this story available.
DRAKE, Jocelynn. Angel’s Ink. Bk. 1. 352p. (The Asylum [...]
