Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

I heard this title this morning from NPR Book Concierge 2020 books for Kids and young adults. Midnight At The Barclay Hotel by Fleur T. Bradley, Xavier Bonet Illustrator. It looks good so this is my first choice right now.

I may revisit some Nancy Drew mystery from my youth.

Old favourites of mine are the Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence. First book The Thieves of Ostia. Set in 79 AD Italy. The second book is about the eruption of Vesuvius.

I'm contemplating Cemetery Boys by Maiden Thomas. Any thoughts on if this would count?

Emily wrote: "I'm contemplating Cemetery Boys by Maiden Thomas. Any thoughts on if this would count?"

I definitely wouldn't call Cemetery Boys middle grade. There's a bit of a mystery, but it's not really a "mystery novel" either. Good book though! And would work for book by a trans or nonbinary author.

Hannah wrote: "I'm going to read Three Times Lucky. I teach fifth grade and just got it for my classroom so I think it will be a great choice to share with my students."

Thanks I will give this a go!

Would Scritch Scratch work for this prompt? It seems mostly horror but it is sometimes shelved as Mystery...

I recently discovered that Lemony Snicket had written another series other that A Series of Unfortunate Events, so my aim for 2021 is to read the four books in that series, so I will read the second one (When Did You See Her Last?) here

I went for nostalgia and read The Island of Adventure for this,
The casual racism which I accepted back in the late 60s/early 70s made me shudder, as did the horrendous child protection issues with orphaned children being shunted casually from adult to adult, fully aware that no one wanted them. The sexism that never let the girls have as much fun/adventure as their brothers annoyed me even back then.
This was written in 1946, and is a product of its time. It was interesting to read it nearly fifty years after my first read through a more enlightened and adult lens. If you ignore the racism, sexism and child protection issues (big things to ignore, I know), it's a rollicking good story.

There are a lot of free books available on Audible Stories at the moment. I'm going to listen to Viva Durant and The Secret of the Silver Buttons, a musical mystery set in New Orleans.

Madina wrote: "Hannah wrote: "I'm going to read Three Times Lucky. I teach fifth grade and just got it for my classroom so I think it will be a great choice to share with my students."

Thanks I w..."

Three Times Lucky was great! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. :)

MIDNIGHT AT THE BARCLAY HOTEL..for this choice

superawesomekt wrote: "I already have Greenglass House so I'll read this as part of the challenge!"

I loved Greenglass House! Hope you will too!

Cora wrote: "Eglė wrote: "Has anyone read Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling and think this would fit the prompt?"

I have read that one. While there is a mystery in t..."

I already read Small Spaces for this challenge, but now I want to read this one too! I love middle grade mystery. Small Spaces is a good one for kids who like their books to be well written, and creepy.

I read a lot of middle grade mysteries curating for my grandchildren and a new one is The Van Gogh Deception by Deron Hicks. Kept me entertained the whole time.

Dani wrote: "I don’t know if I’d consider Flavia middle grade. Cozy mystery, yeah, but I don’t think they were specifically written for young teens. "

Agree. Flavia is amazing, but definitely not written as a kids book.

The 2021 Edgar Award nominations are up and they have a category for "best juvenile": http://www.theedgars.com/nominees.html

I'm thinking either by Nnedi Okorafor or by Elizabeth Bunce

I usually just lurk here and read through everyone's posts for suggestions for my own challenges (which I often don't even get to complete thanks to my small children), but I had to come here to say that thanks to this thread, I just finished When You Reach Me and oh my, it was so wonderful and beautiful. Thank you to everyone who recommended it!

I read The Clockwork Sparrow, The Painted Dragon, and The Midnight Peacock with my daughter, and we both enjoyed them!

superawesomekt wrote: "I already have Greenglass House so I'll read this as part of the challenge!"

I am reading this for the February Buzzwordathon challenge as this month it is colours but I can totally see why this would work!

I read From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil. E Frankweiler, very cute :)

Stina wrote: "My SinC-Colorado book club is reading Midnight at the Barclay Hotel in February, so that makes this one easy!"

This was a lot of fun. The hotel in the story is inspired by the Stanley Hotel, which also inspired King to write The Shining, and there are definitely some nods to that.

Would Pet by Akwaeke Emezi count? Or is that more YA than Middle Grade?

Maria wrote: "Would Pet by Akwaeke Emezi count? Or is that more YA than Middle Grade?"

My friend's 10 year old just read this and told me about it last week, so it definitely has a middle grade audience. I have not read it, but she and her BFF loved it.

I believe this book counts Winterborne Home for Mayhem and Mystery. It was a fun read!

Making a post about it here because I'm shocked nobody else has mentioned them yet. The 39 Clues books are a really fun series I remember from being around middle school age. Each book is by a different author (the first one is Rick Riordan) and they're sort of a huge, high-stakes scavenger hunt. Also, if I remember correctly, a really fun romp with a lot of history trivia. The Maze of Bones

Katie wrote: "This prompt lead me to realize that a eries I adored in 8th grade has a sequel I never read! The book is The Calder Game, and if you haven't read Chasing Vermeer or [bo..."

Ooh, I love these! Maybe I can get my son to read them with me this time.

For anyone looking for graphic novels, the Goldie Vance series fits this perfectly.

I read Goldie Vance Vol. 2 for this prompt.

I'm reading The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel with my 11-year-old, about the Broad Street cholera epidemic, which is a famous medical mystery that was solved through some first-class sleuthing by Dr. John Snow, since the cholera bacterium was too small to be seen by the microscopes of the time. There's also a secondary mystery/thriller because the protagonist is being pursued by his criminal stepfather. My son is thoroughly into it, and as he just missed celebrating his birthday with his friends due to COVID, he really was struck by the fact that the protagonist spends his 13th birthday helping the coffin man load dead neighbours into coffins. Maybe not appropriate for more sensitive or younger middle-graders, but my son is really interested in the historical aspect and the parallels with the current pandemic.

I read Midnight At The Barclay Hotel by Fleur Bradley. Illustrated by Xavier Bonet. 4 stars. Reading this book triggered a memory of when I read middle grade books. I remembered reading short squatty books with illustrations. Fun memory.

How about a paranormal option to add to the list? The Lockwood & Co. series is just absolutely brilliant (and about to become a Netflix series). Its premise is this: There's an epidemic of ghosts taking over London, and only children are sensitive enough to detect their presence and fight against what's known as "The Problem." The series follows one psychic investigation company with a great trio of characters (just like another series you might have heard of). The world building is convincing, and the writing is a great mix of horror/creepy/dry humor/suspense. Truly a book for all ages!

After expecting to struggle with this prompt, I'm now three books into this series and plan to read them all!

Book 1: The Screaming Staircase
Book 2: The Whispering Skull

Meredith wrote: "How about a paranormal option to add to the list? The Lockwood & Co. series is just absolutely brilliant (and about to become a Netflix series). Its premise is this: There's an epidemic of ghosts t..."

Such a good series! Hope the TV series thats coming does it justice.

Trying to work out what to read for this challenge and I could really do with some help: Brits don't use the grade system so can someone tell me what counts in age instead?

Google says it's between the ages of 8 and 12

The Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E. is a good one,

There are a bunch of suggestions on here 😊 or I just googled the actual question and it came up with the some suggestions too, there is also some suggestions on the Book Riot website 😊 I hope find something exciting to read 😊

Just thinking possibly A Wrinkle Through Time could be considered a middle grade mystery 😊

I read The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin for this, and though I didn't love it, I liked it well enough. It was certainly very cleverly put together.