Great Middle Grade Reads discussion

Time to nominate possibilities for our book for November.

To recap on what is suitable to be nominated:

*should be widely available (internationally if possible) at low cost or free e.g. in libraries
* should be age-appropriate, i.e. an MG book (final decision rests on whether it is listed as childrens/MG on Goodreads shelves)
* the first point pretty much eliminates self-published books
* should be on theme!


This month's theme was going to be books beginning with X or Z to help with your A to Z challenge, but after Manybooks put up such wonderful lists to help us, I think that may be redundant.

How about Newberry Medal winners? Make sure that the book you want to nominate has not already been read. Our list is here.

Nominations close 20th October, unless we get a lot of nominations that mean a two-stage poll is needed. Watch this space!

Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright

I am torn between 2 but I'll go with the classic Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell. Because I loved it so much when *I* was a child. :)

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. It is a beautiful book!

The High King by Lloyd Alexander (or Hope Was Here if we're nominating Newbery honor books) so many good choices!

I'd love to read Bridge to Terabithia (1979) or Maniac Magee(1991) this month.

Only seven nominations so far. I’ll close nominations on 20th, or when we have 10 to pick from, whichever comes first.

When you reach me, The Graveyard Book or The Grey King. I read The Dark is Rising series many years ago and would love to reread it I can’t remember if The Grey King #4 stands alone.

We read When You Reach Me last year. Adding the other two brings us to nine...

I am going to assume that all of these are readily available in libraries, because I would expect them to have Newbery winners. And I'm not going to nominate one because we have a great selection already!

Rebecca wrote: "I'm not going to nominate one because we have a great selection a..."

That's kinda where I'm at. A bunch of these are on my To Be Read stack, so I'll wait to choose until the time comes to cast a ballot. Good theme! : )

Jemima wrote: "We read When You Reach Me last year...."

Y'know, I just went through our BOTM archives. Several I've read, but I added a bunch of them to my Want To Read pile. (I have some catching up to do!) Thanks for maintaining that summary post so it's easy!

I'm going to close the nominations now, since we have nine, and if we have a last minute rush we won't have enough time to do a decent run-off poll. If you are desolate you didn't get your choice in, well, please don't wait until the last minute next time!

Right, the poll is up now and ends on 29th October Pacific Time, so some time on the 30th if you're in Europe, Africa, Asia or Australia. Please vote for a book you'd like to read next month - we seem to get lots of winners that people don't then read!

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...