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Book List: Summer Scares Recommendations (Middle Grade)

With school nearly out and summer reading just around the corner, we can probably expect to see programming and suggestions from the HWA regarding their Summer Scares program.

I think it’s really cool that Summer Scares includes middle-grade fiction. Middle-grade fiction is a slippery creature. As a children’s librarian I have always identified it as what’s appropriate for and aimed at ages 8-12.  However, there are 11 and 12 year olds who are already in sixth grade, which can be elementary or middle school depending on your district, and if sixth grade is in the middle school, then MAYBE some people stretch it  a few years later. Problem is, there starts to be an overlap with YA fiction by the end of middle school, and it’s a huge developmental leap from grade 3 (yes, there are 8 year olds in third grade) to grade 6, much less to grade 8.  In my world, middle grade fiction is ages 8-12.  If I can’t put it in the elementary library, it’s not middle grade. I don’t think this is necessarily the age range the Summer Scares committee was considering, though. Kiera Parrot, one of the committee members, made some additional recommendations for middle-grade horror, which I want to share with you.

 

 

Out of the Wild Night by Blue Balliett

I am a huge fan of Blue Balliett, so when the school librarian at my kids’ middle school handed this to me and said, “You like these kinds of books, right? I just can’t get into this, would you give it a shot?” I said yes right away. I can’t begin to tell you how disappointing Out of the Wild Night was for me. Balliett does a good job of building atmosphere but it is so slow, and the plot is confusing, while the vocabulary is advanced. Only very persistent readers will push through to the end. I would love to be able to recommend this as an outstanding ghost story for middle grade students, especially as an author’s note explains that this story was very close to her heart, but there are better ones out there, and much better books by Balliett.  I did review this one in detail here.

 

Dreaming Dangerous by Lauren DeStefano

This didn’t really strike me as horror– it’s more of a science-fictiony dystopia where scientists are experimenting on children. It’s horrific that anyone would do that, but I’d call this more of a dystopian thriller. The main character, Plum, and three of her peers, have been dreaming in tandem since they were babies, and based on the way the book starts, with the kids getting blood tests and psychological testing, it’s not terribly surprising to find out that the adults in charge don’t really have the children’s best interests at heart.  Booklist  suggested this for fans of Stranger Things (which I hope is not being watched by elementary-aged kids, although I’m sure it is) but this lacks the 1980s aesthetic or realism on the show. I can see it maybe appealing to kids who liked Gathering Blue. 

 

Nightbooks by J.A. White

This is a dark, fairytale-like story both fantastic, wondrous, and frightening, perfect for the young horror lover feeling out of place. A boy on his way to destroy the scary stories he has been writing is lured into the equivalent of a gingerbread house by the promise of getting to see his favorite movie, Night of the Living Dead. He is forced to tell the witch a new scary story each night, as he tries to find a way to escape, and comes to the realization that he actually has something to be proud of, rather than something to hide. The same librarian who gave a thumbs-down to Out of the Wild Blue ran excitedly up to me with this one, saying, “You’ve gotta read this!” At that point, I already had. It’s probably one of my favorite books for any age that I’ve read this year. J. A. White is also the author of The Thickety, and we’ve reviewed a couple of the books in that series. We are fans.

 

The Girl in the Locked Room by Mary Downing Hahn

This one starts out promisingly, with a truly disorienting beginning, but I quickly started to feel like Hahn was phoning it in. As with many a ghost story (and many of Hahn’s ghost stories) a family is involved with an old house in need of repair. In this case, Dad restores old houses, Mom is an absentminded writer, and Jules is the resentful daughter who is tired of moving from place to place. The three move into a modern addition to the old house that will be their home over the course of the renovation. Jules has nothing to do except wander around. She’s pretty sure she’s seen a ghost but her only company is her skeptical parents. She makes one friend on a visit to the library, who comes to visit and investigate the old house. There’s not a lot at stake for Jules here. The ghost is silent, afraid, and in a locked room. The backstory is interesting, but while there’s tension, this isn’t something that will make the heart race. Hahn has done so much better; her previous book, Took, was much more suspenseful and definitely scarier, with better character development, even though there were many more characters and the story was more complex. Hahn has written many excellent ghost stories, including All The Lovely Bad Ones and Deep and Dark and Dangerous. Author Grady Hendrix, also on the Summer Scares committee, recommended another, older, book of Hahn’s, Wait Til Helen Comes, which is well-known as a classic children’s ghost story. Many kids in the target age range for this book will enjoy The Girl in the Locked Roombut if I had a shelf of her ghost stories to choose a recommendation from, this wouldn’t be the first one I suggested.

 

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

I first encountered Victoria Schwab when we were sent her first book, The Near Witch, for review, many years back. Since then, she’s written the Shades of Magic books as V.E. Schwab, but on the cover of City of Ghosts, she is back to Victoria Schwab again. Our main character, Cassidy, fell into an icy river with her new camera and drowned a year ago, but was brought back by Jacob, a ghost, who is now her best friend. Cassidy can now cross the “Veil” and see ghosts. Her camera, altered by her fall, can capture photos of the ghosts. When Cassidy starts losing track of herself, Jacob is always with her to bring her back from beyond the Veil.

Cassidy’s parents are “ghost hunters.” One is a historian, the other is a storyteller, and while they don’t actually believe in ghosts, they do make a living writing and talking about them. Her parents are offered a “reality” show where they will travel to haunted places, tour them, and talk about them. They decide to take Cassidy with them, and their first stop is Edinburgh, in Scotland. The catacombs, cemeteries, and execution grounds they visit are not for the weak even if they can’t see ghosts, but Cassidy’s ability means we experience her panic and dread.

City of Ghosts is creepy, ominous, and at times terrifying. Schwab is great at creating atmosphere; you feel like you are in Edinburgh, especially the oppressiveness of the “haunted” areas.  It is compelling and, at times, truly scary. There’s also a mystery– clearly unsolved– that will lead to sequels I can only look forward to.

The House in Poplar Wood  by K.E. Ormsbee

Reminiscent of Tuck Everlasting, this fable/fairytale feels “out of time”.  Twin brothers Felix and Lee are the sons of the apprentices of Death and Memory, tricked by Passion into falling in love. While they live in the same house, Felix must live with his father in Death’s half of the house and Lee must live with his mother in Memory’s half of the house. Their parents are not allowed to meet or see each other. Their father can only see Felix, and their mother can only see Lee. Outside the house, the two boys can meet, but never inside. When they come of age, both boys will have to choose whether to also become apprentices or to walk away. Gretchen is the daughter of the town’s Summoner, who is responsible for keeping the balance between Death, Memory, and Passion to benefit the town. When Passion’s apprentice dies in a mysterious accident, and her father covers it up, Gretchen decides to do some detective work, and involves Felix and Lee in her schemes. Death in particular is horrific in this book, abusing his power and disciplining Felix in an abusive manner that his father is unable to act against. At heart this is a story about family, friendship, and self-determination, but with strong mythic bones that take it out of the everyday and into the universal.

 

Well, that’s all for now. I’m compiling some additional middle-grade recommendations, but this should get you, and the young readers you know, started with your summer reading!

 

 

 

 

Interview with Ellen Archer, CEO of Hyperion

Digital Book World just presented an interview with Ellen Archer, the CEO of Hyperion. For those who don’t know, Hyperion is a publisher that is part of  Disney. We’ve received many excellent books for review from Hyperion Teen, including the stellar Generation Dead, and several books they sent us ended up on our  2011 Top Picks list for Young Adults, including Mercy by Rebecca Lim and the Near Witch by Victoria Schwab.

That they sent us these books doesn’t really have anything to do with why I’m sharing this interview with you, though. Here’s the deal: in spite of the fact that Hyperion is not one of the Big Six publishers we hear about and write about so much of the time, it is a reasonably good-sized publisher that puts out some really quality books, and it’s also part of a major media empire. Disney is about a lot more than princesses, and it has an impressive marketing machine. Hyperion, as part of that media empire, has the opportunity to produce transmedia experiences that will really stand out.  I wrote about transmedia over the summer last year (and while I continue to be fascinated by it, I still favor physical books for children, which seems to be true for many parents, even those addicted to ebooks themselves), and I can see from this interview that Archer is headed in this direction (in a much more complex way than I described) from what she says here:

 

Maybe we have to drop “books” from the way we think. I think that’s keeping us from not thinking as big and broadly as we need to.

I have authors come in and I suggest we start with e-books and then have a print companion later on and they say, “what about the ‘book’ book?”

What I see Hyperion as is a producer of great reading experiences in the form that someone enjoys.

I continue to see debates about the value of ebooks vs. physical books. I think it’s pretty clear now that in order for publishers to survive that debate has to be reframed. There are going to be ebooks, physical books, and media of all kinds in play. And it’s not just going to be about how we consume media, but how our experiences of a variety of media bring us together. Have the Big Six publishers recognized this? They seem to be moving tentatively into this sphere, but if other publishers, like Hyperion, move faster, I think we’ll see the structure of the publishing industry change considerably. For those of us who are used to categorizing media into discrete areas (like some librarians and many, many digital immigrants) it won’t be an easy transition. But it’s coming, and, if Archer’s ideas about the future of publishing are on target, it’s coming sooner than we think.

MonsterLibrarian.com’s Top Picks for 2011- Young Adult and Children’s Books

So here we are- part two of the Top Picks list for 2011.

Each book on the list below was reviewed in the past year, although not all the books were published in 2011. If the book made a Top Picks list in the past, it won’t be on this year’s list (Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson, was first reviewed in 2009 and made the list that year, so it’s not on this year’s list).

Books that made this list were chosen by our reviewers as exceptional examples of compelling writing, creativity, and original illustration or presentation. Many of them provided considerable food for thought as well as entertainment value. The choices were made only from books reviewed for the site, so there are many fine titles that do not appear here. The Monster Librarian’s Top Picks for 2011, listed below, have not been ranked in any order(although I tried to list them alphabetically). We created lists for adult books, young adult books, and kids’ books. I previously posted the Top Picks for Adult Fiction in 2011. You’ll find the Top Picks booklists for young adults and children below. Enjoy!

Note for librarians and readers: As with all recommended reading lists, not all of The Monster Librarian’s Top Picks for 2011 will be appropriate for or appreciated by every reader. Please take the time to check out reviews of these titles at MonsterLibrarian.com before making a decision about reading them or recommending them to others.

 

The Monster Librarian’s Top Picks for Young Adults, 2011

A special mention goes to Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs, chosen as a top pick by four different reviewers independently of each other.

 

Abarat series by Clive Barker (Abarat, Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War, and  Abarat: Absolute Midnight)

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Cryer’s Cross by Lisa McMann

Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst

Ghost Town (Morganville Vampires, Book 9) by Rachel Caine

Ink Exchange (Wicked Lovely) by Melissa Marr

Lockdown: Escape from Furnace 1 by Alexander Gordon Smith

Mercy by Rebecca Lim

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Nickel Plated by Aric Davis

Red Moon Rising by Peter Moore

Shiver (Wolves of Mercy Falls) by Maggie Stiefvater

Skulls by Tim Marquitz

Subject Seven by James A. Moore

Teeth: Vampire Tales edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.

The Dead (An Enemy Novel) by Charlie Higson

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

 

 

The Monster Librarian’s Top Picks for Kids, 2011

A special mention goes to Crooked Hills: Book One by Cullen Bunn, reviewed independently by two different reviewers and highly recommended by both.

 

Crooked Hills by Cullen Bunn

Dragonbreath series, books 1-3, by Ursula Vernon (Dragonbreath,

Attack of the Ninja Frogs,

Curse of the Were-wiener

)

Fear: 13 Stories of Suspense and Horror edited by R.L. Stine

Monster and Me (Monster and Me) by Robert Marsh

Scary School by Derek the Ghost

Little Goblins Ten by Pamela Jane, illustrated by Jane Manning

The Island of the Skog by Steven Kellogg

The Shadows: The Books of Elsewhere: Volume 1 by Jacqueline West