Writing and reviews with an environmental, science fiction, and fantasy touch
Castle Hangnail is the GMGR Book of the Month selection for October, Halloween month. I’m very grateful to the Amazon resellers for getting a copy to me in time. It arrived around 12, I started it at 3.30, and finished
Witch Week caught my eye as I was browsing the mobile library shelves. The GMGR and other book of the month choices eluded me, so I hunted for something else that fell into the categories MG and suitable for Halloween
After Zero was published on 1st September. I got a pre-release copy from the publishers via Net-galley on August 31st. Had I not have been in the middle of something else, I might have got this review out by the
Dreamwood is my book review for today. This fantasy adventure for middle grade readers takes place around the north-west coast of a settler-era America. What’s so #30DaysWild about that? Well, with all the things going on with the trees, I thought
Shadows from the Past is an MG historical time travel mystery suspense adventure series by Wendy Leighton-Porter. Wendy has won several awards in the last year. These are thoroughly deserved, as it’s an excellent series, which gives you a real
The Company of Eight was a book I requested on Net-Galley, so I thank them and the publishers for allowing me a review copy. As usual, my review is my honest opinion of the book. The Company of Eight Harriet
The Girl Who Drank the Moon was a Book of the Month from the Great Middle Grade Reads group on Goodreads; it was an excellent choice. It’s won various awards, which can sometimes be off-putting, but I thought it deserved
I got Journey to the River Sea from my library. It was recommended at the conference I went to in 2011, which started me off as a self-published MG author. I read one of Eva Ibbotson’s (many) other books a
Halloween. It’s tomorrow, or if you’re in Australia or New Zealand, it might even be today, depending on when you read this. No matter. From now till 1st November Pacific time, I’m offering a FREE ebook as your Halloween treat.
Ghoulish Guinea Pig and Kit’s Wilderness featured in my TackleTBR in September, and both MG reads, strangely, feature ghosts. I thoroughly enjoyed both of them, although they are probably at opposite ends of the middle grade reader range. Gasp of
Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH was a Book of the Month for the July/August period on the Great Middle Grade Reads Group. We ended up with a shortlist of seven books to read over the summer. A surprising
This book review roundup grabs all the books I read in July and August – many for the GMGR Book of the Month – while I’ve been posting reviews from earlier (mainly for the Clean Sweep ARC). I didn’t do
Blood Moon is the second in the series about the wolf Nashoga and his pack. I thought I had this book, hunted everywhere for it, then realised that in spite of putting it on my TBR in 2013, I hadn’t
The Fourteenth Goldfish was the Goodreads Great Middle Grade Reads group’s Book of the Month for May. They didn’t have it in my library, so I asked for it. They eventually agreed, and only charged me the regular reservation fee.
Shirley Link and the Black Cat follows Shirley Link and the Safe Case, Shirley Link and the Hot Comic and Shirley Link and the Treasure Chest, in this wonderful MG detective series. Shirley Link and the Black Cat by Ben
MG or not MG – a question that came up recently for two books intended for tweens and young teens. Okay, the older end of MG, but still. We often discuss what makes a book suitable for ‘middle grade’ readers
The Camelot Kids is Ben Zackheim’s second series, or at least I think so. He started publishing it after the Shirley Link series, and I’ve already reviewed a few of those. I read Part 1 of the Camelot Kids without realising
Oy Yew is a book I got as a result of the Read 4 Review programme on Goodreads groups. Ana is a member of the Good Middle Grade Reads Group; I took up the offer of a free ebook March last
I was looking forward to finding a title beginning with X for my flash fiction today, although I was also tempted to borrow Rebecca Douglass’s spaceman Xavier Xanthum. Then I realised it was the last Friday of the month, so
Gangsta Granny was a book I picked up last year, although I’d been planning to read it for ages. I’d heard good things about it, and really feel I should read more UK authors works, especially for older children. The
The Whispering Skull is book 2 in the Lockwood & Co series by Jonathan Stroud. You may remember I was swept away by The Screaming Staircase in December. I rated it one of my top reads of 2016. The Blurb In the
Pair Alleles is book 4 in the wonderfully mind-bending Derivatives of Displacement series by Jennifer Ellis. We follow twins Abbey and Caleb, who are both ‘gifted’ – Abbey starts the series at around age 12 studying with the 16-18 year old
This was a book I got from Net-Galley in November. I had a few problems with the reading of it on a technical level, but I assume this will have been sorted out by the time it was published. It might
We start the new year with the first of a terrific new series – Lockwood & Co by Jonathan Stroud. This was the Great Middle Grade Reads group’s book of October, and I got it at the end of the
This went on my TBR list as soon as I heard of it, and I picked up a library copy the same day I picked up the Screaming Staircase (which I’m reviewing first Saturday in January). I wasn’t disappointed! The