By Sara Truuvert When your novel is deemed “the greatest idea for a book ever”, you’re probably on to something. That certainly seems to be the case for debut author Victor Piñeiro, whose novel Time Villains has garnered a starred review from Kirkus and a spot as an Amazon Best Book of the Month. The book promises time-hopping high jinx, historic and . . .
A while back, I raved about how much I enjoyed Kevin Sylvester’s first and second MINRs books for middle grade. Here’s my #BookADay post about the first MINRS book. With the third book in the series coming, I asked Kevin to tell my readers about his MiNRS series, offer some advice . . .
I first met Kate Blair at CANSCAIP’s Packaging Your Imagination conference, when she was helping during my presentation. Her debut YA, TRANSFERRAL, came out from Dancing Cat/Cormorant soon after; I posted about it here. I enjoyed Transferral so much that I couldn’t wait until Kate’s second book came out…and I wasn’t disappointed. TANGLED PLANET is fantastic. Canadians . . .
LOVED Kate Blair‘s debut YA novel, TRANSFERRAL. Such a good read: great pacing, engaging characters, thought-provoking, thoroughly satisfying ending. Love the original twist on the dystopian theme. This would make an excellent holiday gift for a teen reader! For more info including reviews and awards, see the TRANSFERRAL page on the Dancing Cats . . .
Just read Kevin Sylvester’s MiNRS 2 in one sitting, on the train to Buffalo. Or almost one sitting: I had to stop reading for a few minutes at U.S. Customs to answer the standard border crossing questions (I did keep reading in line until the very last minute). We were all told . . .
Wow, loved S.J. Kincaid‘s THE DIABOLIC so much. I strongly recommend this standalone action-adventure thriller, especially if you’re a fan of Erin Bow’s THE SCORPION RULES. Fantastic world-building and character relationships. What I especially enjoyed about THE DIABOLIC: – Wonderful world-building, as mentioned above. I’m a big sf nerd and come across lots of . . .
Like many authors, Megan Crewe finds writing about herself much more difficult than making things up. A few definite facts: she lives with her family in Toronto, she tutors teens with special needs, and she can’t look at the night sky without speculating about who else might be out there. I met . . .
I cannot resist a middle grade novel with unique/cool technology as a hook, so was intrigued by the basic synopsis of SIX by M. M. Vaughan (Margaret K. McElderry, 2015): Parker and his sister Emma, with the help of secret advanced technology, can communicate between themselves through their thoughts. When their father . . .
Appropriately enough, I began and finished Kevin Sylvester‘s MiNRS underground. It was soOooOooOOoo good that I missed my subway stop. Twice. MiNRS is Kevin’s upcoming action-adventure sf book for middle grade … though honestly, I believe older readers will enjoy it as well. The premise: A 12-year-old boy and his friends have to . . .
One of my favourite recent reads is THE BLACKTHORN KEY, a debut novel from Kevin Sands, coming out from Aladdin/Simon & Schuster this September. Wow. Really, REALLY loved this. When people ask me for recommendations for good, new middle grade novels, I will not hesitate to list this book. It’s a . . .