I’m very passionate about diversity in YA and children’s literature. As a former bilingual teacher, I found a huge discrepancy on what was out there during the 1990s/2000s especially stories with Latin@ protagonists. This was the driving force behind me writing Earrings of Ixtumea which has a Latina protagonist being thrust into a parallel world where she has to confront the …
Interview with Paul Durham
First off, congrats!! We all really enjoyed The Luck Uglies. Could you tell us a bit about how you came up with the idea for it? PD: Thank you so much for your kind words. It was a complete surprise and a total delight to learn that I had received the Cybils Award for MG Speculative Fiction. The Luck Uglies …
List Fun: Young Adult High Fantasy
Game of Thrones returns to television this week, and in celebration, here’s a list for those who can’t get enough high fantasy. The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997) defines high fantasy as “Fantasies set in Otherworlds, specifically Secondary Worlds, and which deal with matters affecting the destiny of those worlds.” In essence, high fantasy stories are set in fully imaginary worlds …
List Fun: Fun and Funny Fantasy Read Alouds for the Whole Family
Family story time is a special time and if, like me, you have a wide span of years between your kids, finding a book that will satisfy all those young minds and hearts can be a challenge. Here are some books that combine fun adventure and humor sure to appeal and entertain everyone from the youngest kids able to listen …
Review: Death Sworn
Young Adult Speculative Fiction Judge Cecelia, who blogs at Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia, is a voracious reader of all types of books, from adult down through middle grade. Back in April of last year she reviewed her category finalist Death Sworn, by Leah Cypess, writing: I own Leah Cypess’ two previous novels, but I never made a concerted effort to …
Review: Jupiter Pirates: Hunt for the Hydra
Today’s featured review of Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction finalist Jupiter Pirates: Hunt for the Hydra, by Jason Fry comes from the category chair, Charlotte. She blogs at Charlotte’s Library where she is an incredible resource for elementary/middle grade speculative fiction books. Of the finalist, she writes: Jupiter Pirates: Hunt For the Hydra, by Jason Fry (HarperCollins, Dec. 2013), is the best “kid …
Review: The Living
Today’s review of Young Adult Speculative Fiction finalist The Living, by Matt De La Peña, comes from our very own social media guru, Jen Robinson. Jen has been blogging at Jen Robinson’s Book Reviews for nine years and has become an indispensable presence in the Kidlit community. She reviewed The Living a year ago, writing: The Living by Matt De La Peña …
Review: Boys of Blur
Today’s featured review is of Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction finalist Boys of Blur by N. D. Wilson. It was featured on quite a few blogs, but I think EMFSF panelist Brandy, blogging over at Random Musings of a Bibliophile said it best: The imagery and descriptiveness of the book are pretty much perfect. As I read, I felt like I …
Review: Don’t Even Think About It
Today’s review comes from Cybils Young Adult Speculative Fiction panelist Liviana, who blogs at In Bed With Books. She read nominee Don’t Even Think About It, by Sarah Mlynowski earlier this year and wrote: Sarah Mlynowski’s newest novel, Don’t Even Think About It pulls off a very neat trick: it’s written in fourth person. It’s a little disorienting at first, but then I …
Review: Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor
Perhaps it was because I was just listening to the PW Kidscast interview with Jon Scieszka but that drew me to the Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative fiction nominee Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor. Thankfully, Ms. Yingling, the Middle Grade fiction chair, librarian, and super blogger (at Ms. Yingling Reads) reviewed the book. She wrote: It is a rare book that includes BOTH …