Goodreads 2017 Reading Challenge. My new reading routine has settled into a rhythm, and it’s incredibly satisfying to be making steady progress through my “To Read” stacks. Here are some recent middlegrade titles.

The Vengekeep Prophecies is the first in a trilogy by Brian Farrey that features a family of thieves. Cunning and witty. I adored everything about it, but especially Jaxter. It’s tough to live up to the Grimjinx family’s reputation when you’re … well … clumsy.

Liar and Spy isn’t my usual genre, but I do dip into slice-of-life stories from time to time. A boy struggles to adjust to apartment life after his parents are forced to sell their house. Then a neighbor boy enrolls his help in spying on the mysterious Mr. X.

The Wanderer counts as another slice-of-life story, but with a journeying twist. A girl and her cousins spend their summer vacation crossing the Atlantic in a small sailing ship called the Wanderer. The story mixes narrative chapters with log entries.

Yesterday, I finished my fiftieth book, so for the second time this year, I had to boost my Reading Challenge goal. Now, I’m aiming for 75 books in 2017. What have you read lately?

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Here are more books I read in July…

The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom is a grin- and giggle-inducing adventure with a fairy tale twist. In the songs of the bards, every princess is known by name, but the princes are simply called … charming. Four prince charmings band together to save the kingdom. There are currently two other books in the series.

Jinx kicks off a fantasy trilogy. The Urwald is a vast forest with an abundance of dangers: tolls, werebears, elves, witches, and evil wizards. When Jinx’s caretakers abandon him in the woods, he’s found by an evil wizard who isn’t so bad. Probably.

The Anybodies is a switched at birth story in which Fern discovers that her very boring parents aren’t hers. She carries a much stranger legacy. Her father is an Anybody. And Fern seems to have her mother’s knack with books.

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I’ve been reading and reviewing more middlegrade books on my GoodReads account, adding to my accumulation of titles for both the 2017 Reading Challenge and for the Great Middle Grade Reads 2017 A-Z Challenge. What’s middlegrade, you may ask? Usually, they’re designated as books for readers aged 8-12. And the category is often divided into lower middlegrade (8-10) and upper middlegrade (12-14).  Here are some of the books I read in June:

The Mark of the Dragonfly is a mystery/adventure set in another world, where humanity mingles with alien races. Dilapidation and steampunk elements abound. It’s the first of three books set in Solace, and I’m eager for more.

Magic Marks the Spot is also the first in The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates trilogy. The admiral’s daughter wants to be a pirate, so she and her family’s gargoyle run off. I adored both the tongue-in-cheek tone of Carlson’s storytelling and the whole crew of the Pigeon.

The Key to Extraordinary is a stand-alone story by Natalie Lloyd, the author of A Snicker of Magic. If there was such a thing as middlegrade chick lit, this is a lovely example. A vivid setting, an intriguing mystery, and a sense of destiny … all touched by magic.

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2017 Reading Challenge. One of the fun features on GoodReads is their annual reading challenge. You can set a goal for how many books you want to read during the year, and they’ll help you track your progress. Over the weekend, I hit the goal I’d set for myself—30 books. So I went ahead and adjusted my goal for 2017. I’m now working toward 50 books for the year. Here are three (great!) titles I read in June.

In addition, I joined a GoodReads group—Great Middle Grade Reads. Members can take part in their annual A-Z Challenge by Continue reading #amreading Challenge →

How’d I do? On May 1, I took up a crazy challenge, trying to read a Book a Day in May. How’d I do? Umm … not too shabby, but not quite 30 books. Still, the challenge yielded some intriguing changes of habit. Ones I plan to carry right on through June. Here are five of my take-aways from May: Continue reading #amreading: Book Report →

I finished The Iron Trial this morning, the first book in the Magisterium series by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. This is one of those off-to-magic-school stories and includes many of my favorite (ahem) elements. The storytelling pulled me in and kept me turning pages with just the right balance of discovery, tension, and deepening danger. Continue reading #amreading: The Iron Trial →

I’m currently reading Fairest by Gail Carson Levine. She’s long been one of my favorite middlegrade authors. Her spins of classic fairy tales are fun and funny. Back when my daughters were younger, we gobbled up the books in her Princess Tales set. Now I’m filling in the gaps by reading some of her newer(ish) and new-new titles.

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After borrowing The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop from the library, I promptly bought my own copy … and its sequel. (I do crazy stuff like that.) Her middlegrade adventures suit my tastes—wildly whimsical, never too scary, and riddled with wit. Saunders wins my heart because she makes me laugh. The Curse of the Chocolate Phoenix sends Continue reading #amreading: Kate Saunders →

…I’m totally not choosing books simply because they’re blue. I could though. Lots of blue books in my To Read Stack.

I’m about halfway through The Gallery by Laura Marx Fitzgerald. It’s a historical, set in New York in 1929, featuring a sassy Irish maid … and an art-laced mystery that’s still culminating. More reviews from my month’s reading to be found on my GoodReads account. #BookADayInMay

So far, so good! I’m indulging my love for middlegrade/YA adventure with A Book a Day in May. Reviews that aren’t posted here can be found on my GoodReads account.

I promise, I’m not choosing books based on the color scheme of the covers … though I did start The Gallery today, and that has a blue cover, too. Hmm.