The Flame in the Mist

by Kit Grindstaff
This book was published in April 2013

        I was looking for some magic and fantasy so I picked up The Flame in the Mist. The cover was well done and it seemed to reek of magic. So far so good. I launched into Jemma's world where she and her family live in a castle and rule over the land. They love to eat rotten food and spoiled milk, and every week make an offering to Mordrake and Mordrana, their family ancestors. Using magic they summon up evil things like bats, spiders, and monsters. However Jemma hates the weekly ceremonies and falters at doing anything evil. Obviously, she is different.

        I read one fourth of the book before I skipped to the last page, read the last paragraph, and declared the book finished.

        The plot moves a bit too quickly and awkwardly, using sleeping, escaping, and sneaking around heavily and repetitively in the plot. Too repetitively. In the first 24 hours of the book Jemma sleeps four times, sneaks around more than that, and attempts escape three times. This is essentially the first 100 pages of the book with 450 more pages to go. You might see now why I didn't finish it. Stephanie agrees with me although she was able to finish it.

       However, I think that this book has a place where it can find success. Middle schoolers and below will probably be more forgiving of the errors I find glaring and sympathize better with Jemma, who is 13. They won't find it immature and more they will be more likely to glaze over the oddly repetitive, shallow bits.

       Since I didn't enjoy this book I rate it a 2. I think a younger audience would give it a 3 or slightly higher. If this book were a food, it would be candy dots. Were they actually that good when I was young? I don't think so, but I also didn't care. Older teens and adults know to spend money on something else.

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The Crazy Things Girls Do for Love

By: Dyan Sheldon Genre: YA fiction, School Lit Cody is perhaps the coolest, most gorgeous, charismatic and dynamic teen ever to walk through the pages of YA fiction. When he transfers into Clifton Springs High School hearts are set afire, and the Environmental Club will never be the same. Which girl will win his heart? There are three who are about to start an epic quest for love. This is one of the most delightful YA novels I have read in years. The clash of cliques is genuine and the pursuit of love single-minded and realistic. Even better was the deft weave of environmental education. Dyan Sheldon should be commended for not only telling a great story, but for effectively embedding the environmental message of "reduce, reuse, recycle." The gradual evolution of environmental awareness among the main characters, as well as the school and community, was authentic. Best of all was the highly satisfactory ending. The Crazy Things Girls do for Love should be part of every hig...

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This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (5/5/19)

Welcome to this week's round-up; please let me know if I missed your post! Here's why I do these round-ups-- --for selfish reasons I started because I wanted someone else to present me with all the mg sff reviews, but had to do it myself --for another reason I want to connect with all the other folks reviewing mg sff so that I can plug the Cybils Awards . I'm the Cybil's organizer for the Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category, and in just a few months, the call for Cybils Awards panelists will be going out. I love all the panelists that have joined me in years past, but it would be great to have some fresh faces, and I would really love more diversity in my group of panelists. You don't have to have a blog, just an online platform you use to talk about books (goodreads, youtube, podcasting, Instagram, etc.) In the first round, which is most of the reading, we keep it to folks in North America, but international folks can be second round panelists ...

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Tim Defender of the Earth

By: Sam Enthoven Imagine a giant bowl of green Jello. You find it amusing for no other reason than the way it jiggles back and forth after just a slight tap. This is sort of how I feel about Tim Defender of the Earth . It was amusing but I not always because of the actual content of the book. Sometimes just the idea of what was happening was funny. Tim Defender of the Earth was a book about a giant dinosaur who British scientists created beneath London. He learns that he is and ho to be the Defender of the Earth from a giant 9 million year old kraken. This dinosaur's name is Tim, hence the name of the book. He defends the Earth from a swarm of nanobots that can genetically modify anything so that they can turn anything into anything else which includes into more nanobots. There are also two human characters, Chris and Anna. I just thought I should mention them because they are also sort of important. This book was very funny and the ...

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