I had a harder time keeping my calendar updated than I did with the reading. Junie B. Jones never failed to make me smile. Now that it’s June, I’ll be back to Book Bingo. Grab your board at MGCarousel, where the theme for this month is Sweets.
Category Archives: #amreading
#amreading Favorites
Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors is Bk4 in the seven-book series. I picked up my copy of Zita the Spacegirl at the thrift store … and immediately ordered the rest of the series online. Funny, exciting, and a solid favorite. And I’m always there for stories with Shakespeare allusions. The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet is about a girl whose parents live a few centuries behind the rest of the world and whose little sister is a genius who’s joining her in the eighth grade.
#amreading Evermore
The Minstrel in the Tower is a short story with a medieval setting. In You Go First, we follow the stories of two kids who only know each other because they play Scrabble together online. And Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy is the third installment in the Children of the Red King series.
#BookADayMay
It’s that time of year again. Our annual challenge. This is where I’ll be tracking my progress through middle grade books for the month of May. The goal: read a book a day. My strategy this year involves a mix of audio books, chapter books, and graphic novels. And something I’ve ALWAYS wanted to do: read a series straight through. (I’m looking at you, Junie B. Jones!)
Join in!
#amreading Dangerously
Anya’s Ghost is a graphic novel about a ghost with a mischievous streak who’s more dangerous than she lets on. Moo is a contemporary story in which two city-bred kids who are transplanted to a small town are hired by a neighbor lady to take care of her temperamental cow. And the series continues with Charlie Bone and the Time Twister. Nimmo is good at layering on new complexities. A solid MG series.
#amreading Beginnings and Endings
In Kenny & the Dragon, a boy makes a friend, then struggles to protect him from his friends and neighbors, who want to drive out the dragon (or worse). There’s a sequel coming out in 2020! Midnight for Charlie Bone is the first book in the Children of the Red King series, which I finished last year. Expect more Charlie Bone books (there are seven) in the weeks to come. And The Buccaneers’ Code is the final book in Carlson’s pirate-themed trilogy.
#amreading Excellence
The Legend of Holly Claus introduces us to Santa and Mrs. Claus’s only daughter, who is doing everything she can to save Christmas. This may be the best holiday lore adventure I’ve ever read. Excellent. Rereading the classics on my shelf led to revisiting Mr. Popper’s Penguins, which was a classroom read-aloud story back when I was in grade school. The Terror of the Southlands is the second book in The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates trilogy, in which an admiral’s daughter (and her trusty gargoyle companion) join up with a pirate crew. Love the tongue-in-cheek humor.
#amreading Across Genres
My Seventh Grade Life in Tights is an upbeat contemporary story about a boy who loves to dance more than anything. Which forces him to make some hard choices. The Hero’s Guide to Being an Outlaw is the dramatic conclusion to the League of Princes trilogy. (Love these guys. So much.) And Twelve Minutes to Midnight is a historical that introduces a girl who writes penny dreadfuls under a penname … and hires an actor to pretend to be her in public. Her quick wits (and his reluctant attendance) are needed to solve a mystery that begins at Bedlam.
#amreading Adventurously
I really enjoyed Loot, which reminded me why a good heist is one of my favorite sub-genres of action/adventure. I need to read the next book, which is called Sting. The Lotterys Plus One warmed my heart in a lot of ways: big family, homeschool, and multi-generational household. The quirk to raise is that the parents of the Lottery household are two couples (M/M, F/F) who have adopted most of their children. N. D. Wilson’s The Chestnut King brings a big finish to his 100 Cupboards trilogy, which takes portal fantasy to giddy heights. Smart and lyrical.
Is the book good?
Elza and I love games almost as much as we love reading middle grade books. You’ll find more of these over on Middle Grade Carousel and posting throughout the day on our Twitter account. Follow us and play along! ~CJ
C. J. Milbrandt 