Middle Grade Madness! discussion
August MG Reading Challenge 2022
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Team Amari Peters
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Mod
1. REFER TO THE RULES
- You can find them here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
- They list every detail from how the points are calculated to information on the bonus tasks.
- If you have a question please check it against the rules and if you’re still looking for an answer please put it to your team captain who will ask me in the Captain's Chat and refer back to you.
2. MAKE SURE YOUR BOOKS COUNT
It’ll be really sad if you spend the time reading a book and then end up realising it doesn’t even count towards the challenge, so always check it counts before starting to read it!
Refer to the rules to remind yourself of what counts as an mg book for the challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Remember you can now check books against the US website: https://www.arbookfind.com/ AND UK website: https://www.arbookfind.co.uk/
If you’re reading a book with a specific task in mind and you’re not sure if your book will count towards the challenge, please check the Task Guidance tab on your team spreadsheet. If it doesn’t help then ask your team captain who will either answer if they can or pass on the question to me on the Captain's Chat and they’ll let you know the answer.
Mod
1. Introduce yourself! Tell your fellow team members what your favourite genres to read are and some things you like to do besides reading.
2. Decide on a team name! Choose the name of a protagonist (or main character) from a middle grade book/series. This challenge has been hosted twice now and here are what past teams have chosen: Coraline, Alice Queensmeadow, Logan Sweet, Lucy Pevensie, Sirius Black, Merlin, and Charlotte, so please don’t choose those!
Hi Team, my name is Lynn and I read mostly romance. I specifically like romantic suspense. Besides reading, I like to swim, go to movies, and watch television. I really don't have a clue about what our team name should be. Hopefully some of you have some suggestions.
Hi everyone! My name is Ilsen and I have participated in this challenge twice already! I’m very excited to read more exciting middle grades! My favorite genres are contemporary and fantasy but I try to branch out to other genres and age groups as well. I mostly read YA but I enjoy middle grades as well and I’ve been trying to read more of them this year! My current favorite middle grades this year have been Amari and the Night Brothers, The Curie Society, and The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane!
My other hobbies include baking, singing, and journaling. That is when I have the time to do them. I also love listening to music such as Taylor Swift, Little Mix, and Blackpink.
My suggestions for names like I said last year is Ivy Lovely from The Crowns of Croswald series. I also think Amari Peters would also be a good name from Amari and the Night Brothers! Tell me what you guys think.
P.S. I’m glad you are on my team, Lynn!
Hi fellow team members! I'm Rory, my nickname here on goodreads. My favorite thing to read is middle grade. Favorite genres are fantasy, contemporary and sci fi. Other hobbies besides reading; drawing, coloring, playing Animal Crossing, Dungeons and Dragons - I do D&D solo in notebooks 1 for the game play, 1 for notes and a bimder with my characters info. Im doing Lost mine of Phandalin at the moment.
Team name ideas first @Ilsen I like the name idea Amari Peters, she sounds like a very adventurous character. That book is on my TBR.
My idea is Zym the cute dragon from the dragon prince Netflix show that has MG companinon books
Hi everyone, I'm Dori, I'm super excited to do this challenge, and hope to have a lot of fun with you guys! My favorite genres are typically dystopias, romances, and thrillers, but i really love reading middle grade books as well(brings me back to my younger days haha). Some things I like to do outside of reading are swimming, composing music, and dancing.Honestly I don't really have any team ideas, but I'd be down for Amari Peters!
Also irrelevant side note: Kaitlyn I love the book you chose! It's one of my favorite books lol.
Anyways, let me know if you have any questions, or if I can help you guys in any way!
Hey Everyone, I’m super excited to be doing this Challenge! My favorite genre’s to read from are Historical Fiction, Dystopian, and Middle Grades☺️ Some of The other activities I enjoy are cooking, working with children especially five and younger, and hosting dinner parties with different countries as themes for my friends. I’m open to whatever you guys feel would be a good name for our group!
Also Dory,
I’m so glad that you enjoyed the book as much as I did. It’s definitely hard to think about some of the discrimination that people face when they have special needs. It was such a beautiful reminder to strive to help people become all they can be.
Alright for possible team names we have: Ivy Lovely, Amari Peters, and Zym. Could you guys comment which one you would prefer to have?
Zym. it'll be like a team name and mascot in one.
I know she said that it needs to be a character and if the character doesn’t have a last name, then it can. But I don’t think creatures would count. I’m fine with Amari Peters as other people have voted for that one!
Amari Peters is fine for me too. Guys, just to let you know going in, I have COVID. I'm starting to feel better, so I'm hoping to feel ready to read starting next week. I will do my best to do my part. I have lots of books ready to go, so I hope I get to read some of them during this month.
Alright, I'm gonna go ahead and let Kadi know that we'll choose Amari Peters. Lynn, I hope you feel better soon, take care of yourself.
cool Amari Peters team. Lynn glad your feeling better, but please don't stress about book count. Let's have fun reading team.
Please feel better Lynn!! I’m also gonna try to read as much as I can but let’s see what happens this month!
Page counts for refrence 
hardcover 288 pages source amazon
hardcover 224 pages Goodreads knows the page count of the rest of the books.
Mod
Your team spreadsheet has been sent to all of you via email invite, so please check your junk mail. If you don’t see the invite soon then please let your captain know or message me privately and I can send you an invite again or we can try with another email if you want.
The spreadsheet has 4 tabs at the bottom:
1. MG Challenge – The official challenge sheet. Points calculate themselves here so please don’t change any of the points coding!
2. Tracking Sheet – An informal tracking sheet for everyone’s book details.
3. Task Guidance – Specific and helpful guidance for individual tasks. Please check this first before asking your captain or me questions.
4. Example of MG Challenge – An example to show you how to fill in the first tab.
Your team captain is in charge of the MG Challenge sheet (the first tab) so please leave it to them to fill in the official challenge sheet unless they’re fine with you doing it too. The tracking sheet is for everyone, fill it in as you please!
For page numbers please either:
1. Use the number in the goodreads’ book entry OR
2. Use the number in your own copy
(They shouldn’t be too wildly different anyway)
Please wait for August 1st in your time zone before you start reading books for the challenge!
The bonus tasks will be added to your spreadsheet on August 15th.
And happy reading!😊
Task 4 a book recommended by a team member - the library has an e book copy of
so I could start it tomorrow and update you if I DNF it. Or task 6 book with 4 or more different colors on cover
Yellow, orange, green and white. I love these books and I own a copy so I could start it tomorrow.
I’m planning on doing number 25 a book set in an African country. I’m going to read where stars are scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
Just wanted to correct my previous statement when stars are scattered!
Happy reading team. Going to start reading
today.
Mod
Quick update:
- I've changed the wording of task 37.
- I've added task guidance for task 36 & 37.
- Rereads count!
- Protagonists and main character are NOT the same thing. All protagonists are main characters but not all main characters are protagonists.
For example: in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry is the protagonist. Harry, Ron & Hermione are main characters. Seamus, Dean, and Neville are minor characters.
Some tasks say protagonist, some say main character so make sure to check!
Book ideas Task 64 if anyone wants it
Task 73
Reserving this book for Task 74
Excited to finally read it. I will only read 2 books for this challenge. So Sink or swim for task 6 is reserved in case I DNF Amari. But if anyone wants task 6 go ahead. Task 100 A book with a graphic novel adaption I can do as
is ready to be picked up so that one can fill in if I DNF Amari.
Aight you guys, if you could add your books to the tracking sheet as you start to read them/finish them that'd be great, just so we can see who's doing which tasks, and if they have overlap we can figure out if we can use the book for a different task. As we finish reading them, I can add them to the MG Challenge sheet for official documentation!
Sounds good I am going to put the book I am working on and all the prompts it might fit ☺️
Dorijana wrote: "Aight you guys, if you could add your books to the tracking sheet as you start to read them/finish them that'd be great, just so we can see who's doing which tasks, and if they have overlap we can ..."It wont let me says i dont have acess to the internet to use app what? Ugh. Old Samsung tablet ugh.
Im reading Amari and the Night brothers by B.B. Alston for task 4 a book reccomended by a team member started it on August 1st.
Update I can edit the spreadsheet with my phone. Its edited now.
So sorry, guys, but my COVID symptoms are starting to flare up again. I'm starting to feel like I'm never going to get over this, and I just don't have the energy to read. I'll try to get some reading in before the end of the month, but right now, it's just not happening.
Lynn wrote: "So sorry, guys, but my COVID symptoms are starting to flare up again. I'm starting to feel like I'm never going to get over this, and I just don't have the energy to read. I'll try to get some read..."Its okay you take care of you. Hope you feel better soon.
Lynn, I am so sorry to hear that you’re so sick. I hope you feel better soon!
Kaitlyn wrote: "Lynn, I am so sorry to hear that you’re so sick. I hope you feel better soon!"Thanks, well apparently, I now have an upper respiratory infection and am on an antibiotic. Right now, I'm just playing it by ear.
Hi Ilsen and Lynn! I've noticed that neither of you guys have written any books into the tracking sheet. It's totally ok if you guys haven't finished anything yet, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything.
Hope everyone's doing well, and enjoying the challenge!
Dorijana wrote: "Hi Ilsen and Lynn! I've noticed that neither of you guys have written any books into the tracking sheet. It's totally ok if you guys haven't finished anything yet, just wanted to make sure I wasn'..."
Sorry about that. Unfortunately, I haven't read anything yet this month. I still just don't feel up to it. I'm so sorry for letting the team down, but I'm just struggling through this period of illness and hoping I'll eventually start to feel better. Sorry.
Mod
The bonus tasks have now been added to your spreadsheet!🎉
How the points work:
- The first 5 bonus tasks are worth 3 points each. If all 5 are completed there’s an extra 10 points.
- The second 7 bonus tasks are worth 5 points each. If all 7 are completed there’s an extra 15 points.
- Page points apply.
- There are no extra points if one or two people complete the first 5 or second 7 tasks alone (like there is for other categories).
Remember: only books started on or after 15th August (your time) can be counted towards the bonus tasks!
Mod
If you feel better enough to read later on then awesome but if not we all totally understand. There’s no pressure at all, and at the end of the day it was the thought that you wanted to take part that counts and what I appreciate.
What’s most important is that you get better!
Hi everyone,Things have been busy and I just haven’t been reading anything. I’ll be lucky if I even finish one book this month. My nephews are here so I am taking care of them but I also feel like I’m an impostor because I am not reading during my free time. I’ve only been watching YouTube and sleeping. I also have been getting ready for school.
I’m sorry for letting the team down. I was honestly thinking of messaging Kadi and dropping out because I just don’t see myself finishing anything right now. I’m sorry to everyone…
Mod
Just do what you can. Maybe check out the bonus tasks I’ve just added now and see if they spark something for you and maybe the next 2 weeks work out better for you. There’s no pressure though, for you or for Lynn, so if either of you guys feel like you want to or need to drop out please send me a private message and we can go with that. I’m here to help everyone!😊
Kadi wrote: "Hey Ilsen please don’t feel bad about it, there’s no need to apologise. And if it’s any comfort you’re certainly not the only one. There’s others on every team who are struggling to find time to re..."Thanks, Kadi.
Finally 58% percent done - Amari and the Night Brothers is a perfect mix of fantasy and sci fi so far. With more than a dash of mystery.Whenever i write reviews goodreads marks them as done so Ill just leave this here to copy and paste into my real review.
Mod
Today is the last day of the Challenge! Please remember only books finished by midnight your time tonight can count towards the challenge!
To give you and your team captain time to organise any last minute additions and changes to your team spreadsheet, the winners of the challenge will be announced on 2nd September.
And if you’d like to share some of your favourite reads of the challenge with others you can do so here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I love seeing all the fun and different books people read for the challenge and getting some great recommendations for next year!
Speaking of next year, if you have any cool ideas of things to add to the challenge or suggestions or improvements that can be made please feel free to leave a comment here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... or private message me if you prefer. I’ll be the first to admit the challenge wasn’t perfect but it never is and every year is a learning curve so I’m looking forward to building on what I’ve learnt this year with an even better challenge for you all next year!
thanks Kadi, this challenge is so fun I'm looking forward to it next year!
also thanks to the other team members and the team captain! hope everyone had a good August.
I'm so sorry that I didn't participate and let you all down. I hope you had a good time anyway. I haven't read anything in 2 months. I just hope I can eventually get back to reading.
Lynn I don't think you let the team down at all. Health comes first, hope your feeling better.
I’m also sorry I didn’t read anything. This month has been crazy and with school starting, my reading has been decreasing. Had I known I’ve been this busy, I wouldn’t have signed up. I’m sorry team!
Hi everyone, I've updated the sheet with all the info you guys have added to the tracking sheet. Could you guys look over it just to make sure I didn't miss anything that you guys have read, because it is due tomorrow.I really enjoyed this challenge, hope you guys did as well!
Mod
The winners have been announced: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... 🎉
I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone for taking part! I hope you all had as much fun as I did and I would love to see you again for our new and improved challenge next year.
We're discussing improvements and new ideas for next year here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... if you're interested in giving your thoughts or just seeing what cards are on the table for next year.
AurorainBookland wrote: "Lynn I don't think you let the team down at all. Health comes first, hope your feeling better."Thanks.
Middle Grade Madness!
Books mentioned in this topic
The Truth About Stacey (other topics)Spy x Family, Vol. 1 (other topics)
Mirror, Mirror (other topics)
A Question of Magic (other topics)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Jamie Sumner (other topics)Eve Yohalem (other topics)
B.B. Alston (other topics)
Sharon M. Draper (other topics)
Jake Burt (other topics)
Members:
1. (CAPTAIN) Dorijana - The Summer of June by Jamie Sumner
2. Rory (Aurora) - The Truth According to Blue by Eve Yohalem
3. Ilsen - Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
4. Kaitlyn - Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
5. Lynn - Greetings from Witness Protection! by Jake Burt
*Please take note of your assigned numbers, they may be important for some of the tasks*
(Each person’s name is linked to their challenge bookshelf and the book listed beside their name is their mg book recommendation)
The spreadsheet containing all the tasks will be shared with every team member via email invite on August 1st: (countdown: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...)
I understand that may make it a bit hard to plan your first few books if you need to borrow them from a library in advance, but the tasks are many and wide enough in criteria that you can read any book at first and easily apply it to a task.