Middle Grade Madness! discussion

Feel free to leave a comment below on how you think the group can be improved. Please make the comments constructive, though. And if you have any serious problems or issues within the group I would prefer it if you could message me privately and we can sort it all out👏🏻

Really I want to hear some ideas from you all about what you would like to do in this group. Competition/challenge ideas you have, discussions you want to generate, read-alongs, themed 24hr readathons, etc etc.
You have any ideas? Don't hesitate to let me know below! And I'll let you know below how I think we can incorporate your idea into the group! I also have a ton of ideas myself so I'd like to take this opportunity to share them all with you...

Definitely have some buddy reads and some 24 hour readathons! I mean I would love a readathon that is open to all genres instead of just middle grade but yea!

Great ideas! I was thinking for buddy reads people could organise their own and just host it on the group by creating a new topic in the buddy reads folder I’m going to create. I’m not sure if group members can create new topics I need to check the settings. But yeah so you can organise your own BRs and invite a specific person/people to join you.

Or I could organise it all so I’d have a main page where you would say what you want to BR and the start date and I would set up the thread page for you. I know a couple of other groups do it that way. Would be easier to control like that.
What are your thoughts?

I like the second idea.

24hr readathons yeah! I need to do some research on what those entail because I’m never sure. While I think it would be interesting to expand to other reading age group genre things like YA or new adult I think that would defeat the purpose of the group.
HOWEVER there are a ton of middle grade books that are so close to being YA books that people just bunch them in with YA when technically they are middle grade and I think hosting some kind of event involving more advanced/adult middle grade books could be interesting and definitely something I want to do!

Grace wrote: “I like the second idea.”

Great! I know it’s worked for a lot of other groups. Plus this way I can keep stuff organised and I think it’s easier for others.

Upcoming plans:
2019 Schedule:
June:
1. Book of the Month - Aru Shah and the End of Time
2. 24hr Pride themed readathon - Saturday 15th June 2019 AND Sunday 16th June 2019
3. 24hr nature and happiness themed readathon - Saturday 22nd June 2019 AND Sunday 23rd June 2019
4. Poll set up: I want to start a several month long readalong where we read a series (you guys choose) with 5 or 6 books and read 1 book each month.

July:
1. Book of the Month
2. Sign ups for August challenge/teams assigned
3. No time constraint task-filled challenge set up.

August:
1. Book of the Month
2. 1st book in the series of the several month long readalong
3. August reading challenge

September:
1. Book of the Month
2. 2nd book in the series of the several month long readalong
3. Superhero September! We read 3 superhero middle grade books; 1 every 10 days.

October:
1. Book of the Month
2. 3rd book in the series of the several month long readalong
3. Spooky themed 24hr readathon - Saturday 12th October 2019
4. Spooky themed 24hr readathon - Sunday 20th October 2019

November:
1. Book of the Month
2. 4th book in the series of the several month long readalong

December:
1. Book of the Month (winter/celebration themed)
2. 5th (hopefully last) book in the series of the several month long readalong
3. Winter themed 24hr readathon - Friday 3rd December 2019
4. Winter themed 24hr readathon - Saturday 11th December 2019
5. Winter themed 24hr readathon - Sunday 19th December 2019

*Dates subject to change but not likely. You will always be notified of upcoming events at least 2 weeks prior.*

If you’re wondering why every 24hr readathon each month is on both a Saturday and a Sunday is because I understand that people are free on one day or the other.
Oh and Friday is included for December as my festive gift to all those who are only available to do a 24hr readathon on Friday!

*Please note plans have been amended since the original publication of this comment*

I know it would defeat the purpose of the group but usually in 24 hour readathons, I’m already reading something that is usually YA. So that’s why I say that but I guess we will try to do a lot of middle grade! I do want to own a lot of middle grade in the future! And the way you organize buddy reads is just perfect

OMG all of those sound amazing! My suggestion for June is to have a readathon on the side for the month for just LGBTQ+ middle grade reads for Pride Month? Maybe that’s an idea

Ilsen wrote: "I know it would defeat the purpose of the group but usually in 24 hour readathons, I’m already reading something that is usually YA. So that’s why I say that but I guess we will try to do a lot of ..."

Yayayay for the buddy reads! And you’re so sweet thanks😊😊
And maybe for the 24hr readathons we can loosen the rules and allow YA too. I don’t think they will be very restrictive anyway. I know for the August challenge only middle grade books will be allowed because that’s the challenge of it but for the readathons I think it’s better to be more encouraging to read middle grade rather than only allowing it so people actually want to take part then

Ilsen wrote: "OMG all of those sound amazing! My suggestion for June is to have a readathon on the side for the month for just LGBTQ+ middle grade reads for Pride Month? Maybe that’s an idea"

Hey that’s cool! I never would’ve come up with that. Maybe it could be the theme of the readathons... thoughts?
Also, super nice to talk to you guys on here Ilsen and Grace. First full convo I’ve had on the group!

Oh yea for the August challenge, definitely keep it to middle grade only because that’s the challenge of it. I’m just saying for readathons but that’s just because my middle grade TBR is not humongous but maybe that will change

Ilsen wrote: "Oh yea for the August challenge, definitely keep it to middle grade only because that’s the challenge of it. I’m just saying for readathons but that’s just because my middle grade TBR is not humong..."

I’m hoping that will change! I’m going to set up a recommendation thread soon so we can all recommend great MG books to each other.

Kadi wrote: "Ilsen wrote: "OMG all of those sound amazing! My suggestion for June is to have a readathon on the side for the month for just LGBTQ+ middle grade reads for Pride Month? Maybe that’s an idea"

Hey ..."

Yay!! I’m glad! I love active groups and making new friends in the community! I think to make it the theme of the readathons is definitely doable so yay!

Hey Kadi. I can be mod if you need any kind of help with the group. I'm frequently online too.

Graceeee that is a really sweet and helpful thing to offer thank you! Traffic on the group is minimum right now plus my exams just finished I had the last 2 today so I’m free for ages now.
Do you mind if I keep you in mind for the future? I somehow can’t imagine the group really getting busy but if it does I will come running to you to help me😂😂 only if it’s chill with you tho of course

If you need any help, I can be a mod too. I’m also active as much as I can.

Ilsen wrote: "If you need any help, I can be a mod too. I’m also active as much as I can."

Thank you Ilsen :)))) You guys are gonna be my first and only go to people😂

Kadi wrote: "Graceeee that is a really sweet and helpful thing to offer thank you! Traffic on the group is minimum right now plus my exams just finished I had the last 2 today so I’m free for ages now.
Do you ..."

😂That's totally fine.

What about a chat room?
Also a "What are you reading?" Room.

What about a challenge with no time limit that consists of 50+boooks or whatever. It's a list of things we need to read such as...
1. Book with a season in the title
2. Book we pick based on cover only, don't read blurb
3. Book from author you have never read before
4. Book with color in title
Etc.
No time limit and we just fill in our list as we go!

Montzalee wrote: "What about a chat room?
Also a "What are you reading?" Room."

That’s a good idea! A nice way to generate conversation.
As of now the group is very quiet but I’m hoping once June starts things will liven up. We’ll see...
Maybe the chat room can help us do that

Right now I noticed there is no place to talk but here

Montzalee wrote: "What about a challenge with no time limit that consists of 50+boooks or whatever. It's a list of things we need to read such as...
1. Book with a season in the title
2. Book you pick based on cover..."

That’s a good idea. Kind of similar to the August challenge but individual and without a time constraint. It’s too late to fit that in for June but I would be excited to introduce that in July.
Would be a good idea too because there’s nothing planned for July except for the book of the Month, a poll on what series we should read and the August challenge sign ups and team allocation. So July is filled with admin for August😂

Also games are fun!

Montzalee wrote: "Also games are fun!"

I have to do more research on bookish games but they would be fun to do

Kadi wrote: "Montzalee wrote: "What about a challenge with no time limit that consists of 50+boooks or whatever. It's a list of things we need to read such as...
1. Book with a season in the title
2. Book you p..."
Other groups have similar challenges and it can last for a year!

Montzalee wrote: "What about a chat room?
Also a "What are you reading?" Room."

I would really like a currently reading room especially since we will know everyone’s different tastes

Montzalee wrote: "What about a challenge with no time limit that consists of 50+boooks or whatever. It's a list of things we need to read such as...
1. Book with a season in the title
2. Book we pick based on cover ..."

I wouldn’t mind this either but I know that over time people will lose motivation for this. Like I had this in my other group and at some point I gave up trying to do it. It just takes the fun out of the challenge when we don’t have a time limit at least for me. But you can still propose it in the group.

Montzalee wrote: "What about a challenge with no time limit that consists of 50+boooks or whatever. It's a list of things we need to read such as...
1. Book with a season in the title
2. Book we pick based on cover ..."


Sorry. I'm a bit late. But another idea is to just go to the library and randomly pick a book from a genre you don't normally read. Or what you like, and if you've already read the book you would have to put it back.

Since this group is concerned with reading Middle Grade books, I was thinking we could do "A theme a Month" for Middle Grade books. Like each month we could keep a theme : read sci-fi MG, romance MG, fantasy MG, horror MG, etc. Readers can read one or more books in that genre each month and update progress. It could be more like a challenge too.

Hey Grace, Zaiyah, Ilsen and Montzalee,
I love all your ideas and I'm looking for ways to incorporate them into what I already have planned which shouldn't be hard because they're not much of a stretch from some of the ideas I already had which is great!

I wanted all of your opinions on the timings I've picked out for the readathons:
24hr Pride themed readathon - Saturday 15th June 2019 AND Sunday 16th June 2019
24hr nature and happiness themed readathon - Saturday 22nd June 2019 AND Sunday 23rd June 2019
What do you think of them? Are the different time zones too confusing? (That's why I added the countdown) Should I make it less rigid by saying everyone can do it according to whenever they start and end? Or is it more fun this way keeping it all together in the group because everyone will follow the same 24hrs?

That's a lot of questions😂 I just want to see what you all think :)

I think the countdown is great! Just so people know when to actually start and we can actually start at the same time.

I totally agree! It's a great idea!!

Yay! Glad you guys like it😊😊

What if for the read-a-thons we have a poll or a discussion or something to say what book would be good to read for those read-a-thons in particular?

Oh like a recommendation page for books to read for those readathons! I think that should be included in the actual page to not keep things so cluttered.

Yeah! That would work well.

Yeah I was thinking of setting up a recommendations topic but I wasn’t sure if it should be recommendations in general or if I should have separate topic for separate genres/themes.
Like one page for mystery recommendations and another for contemporary recommendations.
What do you guys think? Which one should I do?

I think separate pages will make it less messy.

I agree. Separate pages would make so much more organized.

Ok ladies thanks for the help👍🏻❤️
I’ll set up the pages sooooon

Sounds good.

Maybe do an "Ask the Mod." page just so that we can ask you on a separate page instead of clogging up other threads. Also, you may want to dial back on the scheduling stuff until a month or two before. It can be very overwhelming to some people.

Zaiyah wrote: "Maybe do an "Ask the Mod." page just so that we can ask you on a separate page instead of clogging up other threads. Also, you may want to dial back on the scheduling..."

Thanks for the suggestions Zaiyah and I promise the scheduling is over now😂 The only things that could change now are dates. And I like to plan in advance so I thought I might as well let people know what I have planned. I hope it hasn’t overwhelmed anyone it’s just to give a better idea of what’s coming in the future.

As for the Ask the Mod page I don’t mind people asking questions wherever as the whole point of the threads is to generate conversation but if it gets too much I will create a specific questions page.

I don't mind your monthly plan, I think it's better, we are more prepared for what is coming and we can start planning what books to read and see if we can keep those dates clear to complete challenges
that's me personally though

Yeah, I think it would just be easier to understand and I think more people would engage, you know?

Yeah Zaiyah I get you it makes sense👌🏻

And yay Karen I’m glad the schedule is helpful for you :)