Parents’ Choice, and a few more Icefall reviews

Some more good news and reviews have been coming in for Icefall.

First, it was recently announced that Icefall has been given the 2011 Parents’ Choice Gold Award in the Fiction category! I’m honored and grateful. Icefall is sharing the award with Brian Selznick’s Wonderstruck, and there are some other great titles on the lists, including The Cheshire Cheese Cat by fellow Utah writer Randall Wright and Carmen Agra Deedy. Be sure to check them all out here.

Second, Icefall is a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults nominee, along with many other wonderful books.

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I recently gave an interview to the Scholastic Book Clubs about Icefall, and you can read it here. Additionally, Icefall was featured in the Editor’s Picks video, which you can watch below.

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Icefall has received some very nice reviews from School Library Journal and Booklist.

School Library Journal said, “In a page-turning climax… the ensuing battle and survival scenes are vividly portrayed, and characters fight back with the epic heroism of gods. Solveig is an empathetic heroine and Hake, the hulky berserker war chief, is also a well-developed and (eventually) endearing character. Fans of John Flanagan’s “Ranger’s Apprentice” series (Philomel) will enjoy this adventure tale.”

And Booklist said, “Over the course of the brutal winter, Solveig learns the delicate art of storytelling from her father’s skald (“the poet of the living past”) and also forms a bond of mutual affection with the most fearsome berserker of the bunch. Her stories provide comfort, distraction, and hope for the starving people, but are tested to the utmost when blood begins to spill. Both elegant and exciting, this work recalls Jonathan Stroud’s Heroes of the Valley (2009) in its treatment of the lofty spot that lore occupies in a warrior society and how stories give meaning to both life and death.”

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Ann Cannon recently mentioned Icefall in a round-up of some great fall titles by Utah writers. Lots of fine recommendations there. Check out the article here. Of course, Ann should have mentioned in the article that her wonderful middle grade novel Charlotte’s Rose is also back in print.

And Ann Diener, owner of the Yellow Book Road, recently recommended Icefall in the San Diego Union-Tribune, which you can read here.

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Finally, a few more bloggers have reviewed Icefall, and you can read their thoughts by following the links below.

BooksYALove

Kinnelon Library Teen Blog

Collected Miscellany