Is my blog useful?

I am constantly wondering if my blog is useful. I am constantly wondering about other things--are the children are eating properly, if the ...

Range of Ghosts, by Elizabeth Bear

For my mother's most recent birthday, I bought her Range of Ghosts , by Elizabeth Bear, mainly because I had heard good things of it, a...

Deadweather and Sunrise (The Chronicles of Egg, Book 1), by Geoff Rodkey

Deadweather and Sunrise , by Geoff Rodkey (Putnam, May 29, 2012, middle grade) is an intriguing and entertaining adventure set in a piratica...

City of a Thousand Dolls-- Waiting (for a long time) on Wednesday

So City of a Thousand Dolls , by Miriam Forster, doesn't come out till February 2013, but that just gives me time to read all the other ...

Parsley Sage, Rosemary, and Time, by Jane Louise Curry, for Timeslipe Tuesday

Parsley Sage, Rosemary, and Time , by Jane Louise Curry (Atheneum, 1975, younger middle grade) Ten year old Rosemary is distressed when her ...

Just to fill in the empty space, more Castaway Blobs!

Still not entirely back from vacation, in terms of having reviews written and ready to go, so here, to pass the time, is another thrilling e...

This week's middle grade fantasy and science ficiton blog posts, rounded-up for your reading pleasure

I have been spending the last few days on vacation, mostly rotting my mind playing Civilization...but am now rested and refreshed (and very,...

Bansi O'Hara and the Bloodline Prophecy, by John Dougherty

Bansi O'Hara and the Bloodline Prophecy , by John Dougherty (Random House Children's Books, 2008) was tremendously enjoyable. Neve...

This Sunday's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs

The problem with a regular feature such as this is that it is boring to write the same introduction every week: Welcome to another week of t...

Because I love Lord Peter's mother

My favorite bit of Dorothy Sayers is the begining of Busman's Honeymoon, in which the reader gets to meet Lord Peter Wimsey's mother...

Things (of a bookish nature) that keep me awake at night--Numbers 4 and 27

Although, of course, I lead a rich, full life in which books are only part of a whole ensemble of richness and fullness, and although I worr...

Burn Mark, by Laura Powell

Burn Mark , by Laura Powell (Bloomsbury, June 19, 2012, YA)-- fascinating witch crime noir , set in London with magically-gifted teenage pr...

Waiting on Wednesday--The Shadow Society, by Marie Rutkoski

I am an enthusiastic fan of Marie Rutkoski--her Kronos Chronicles series, that begins with the lovely Cabinet of Wonders , is a favorite of ...

Stonewords, by Pam Conrad

Stonewords , by Pam Conrad (HarperCollins, 1991, middle grade, 144 pages--books sure were shorter back then...) Note: usually I have a cov...

factoids for my monday

right now, it's 8:10pm.  i'm drinking a vanilla steamer as my pre-bed time treat. i've been working on a deployment post and i c...

My BEA books, and 2 other nice things that came home recently

So the sad remains of my 48 hour book challenge stack have been cleared away, and now I can use the wood stove as a handy place for my BEA ...

The Stones of Ravenglass (Chronicles of the Red King, Book 2), by Jenny Nimmo

The Stones of Ravenglass (Chronicles of the Red King, Book 2), by Jenny Nimmo (Scholastic, June 1, 2012, ages 8 and up). Long before the st...

48 Hour Reading Challenge--my finish line

I put down my last book almost exactly at my finishing time of 6:15, and hurried out into the garden to do some hard manual labor while it w...

The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, by David Kertzer

Thanks to this year's 48 Hour Reading Challenge (of which I have two hours left...) I have finally finished a book I have owned unread f...

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs

Welcome to another week of what I found in my blog reading of interest to readers of middle grade fantasy and science fiction! Please let m...

a little saturday hello

hello:) it's been a rough week.  one of those ones you'd simply like to leave in the past.  unfortunately, i've brought this one...