C.J. Milbrandt's Blog, page 19

F and G. Making steady progress through the alphabet with this year’s reading challenges.

One good book can lead to another! Both of these books are set in South America. The Dreamer is about the boyhood of a poet, and When You Look Up shares the imaginative point of view of a boy whose imagination is captured by an artist’s journal.

2022 READING CHALLENGES. This year, #MGCarousel is giving us more time to tackle our bingo boards, and I think it’s great. Here’s the new board for January & February.

Nab your own board & check out this month’s theme over at Middle Grade Carousel >>

February 2022 Calendar. Since I’m reading my MG books in alphabetical order this year, it’s a lot harder to fit them onto the BINGO board. But there’s always room on my calendar.

So Far, So Good. I’ve been reading three books for each letter of the alphabet, and this week, I hit the letter E. Not bad for progress through the Great Middle Grade Reads 2022 A to Z Reading Challenge.

Galleries of Stone. My, my, how a decade can fly. It’s been ten years since I challenged myself to write a story day-by-day, scene-by-scene, using the Word of the Day from Dictionary.com as a writing prompt. That daily effort added up to a story I’m still incredibly proud to call mine. And finding a way to celebrate the 10th Anniversary turned out to be simple. This year, I’ll be bringing out the Galleries of Stone trilogy in audio format, narrated by Travis Baldree. Meadowsweet will release in ...

2022 READING CHALLENGES. This year, #MGCarousel is giving us more time to tackle our bingo boards, and I think it’s great. Here’s the new board for January & February.

Nab your own board & check out this month’s theme over at Middle Grade Carousel >>

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

Goodreads. The beginning of a new year means signing up for new reading challenges over at Goodreads. This year, I’m tackling another A to Z Challenge at Great Middle Grade Reads, where I’m a moderator. While I still hope to get through the alphabet twice, I’m going to do it with a twist. Just for the fun of it, I’ll be reading my MG books in alphabetical order. (Why not?)

I’ve set my annual goal on Goodreads at 100 books, though I may adjust that if I happen to have a really good reading ye...