August MG Reading Challenge Info/SIGN UP > Likes and Comments
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Kadi
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Jun 03, 2026 03:53PM
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A month and a half-long, team-based reading challenge involving ONLY middle-grade books. (Sign up link below)
7th year and going strong!🎉 We’re back and bigger than ever!
This year’s Challenge will run for 6 weeks which is the longest we’ve ever done. We’ll also have the biggest teams we’ve ever had (hopefully) with at least 8 people in each team.
Not to get too sentimental, but I didn’t think all those years ago that setting up this group and running this challenge would really change my life and introduce me to so many amazing people and wonderful books, so thank you everyone! I hope we all have a super fun time again this year👏🏻
The Rules:- Each team has 1 and a half months to try and complete as many tasks as possible.
- 1 book read can fulfil 1 task ONLY.
- 1 task is worth 1 point.
- There are 100 tasks with each 5 tasks grouped into 20 different thematic categories.
- Tasks and categories can be completed in ANY order you as a team decide on.
- There are 5 bonus points for each category completed.
- Page points are also awarded depending on how many pages the book read is. Every 100 pages is equal to 1 page point. (Half points are not awarded so all the page numbers are rounded down to the nearest 100)
- The team with the most points at the end of the month and a half wins!
Tripwire Tasks:
- 20 of the 100 regular Tasks are also secret Tripwire Tasks.
- Each Tripwire Task is randomly assigned to a corresponding Bonus Task.
- Completing a Tripwire Task will reveal the hidden Bonus Task.
- Each Tripwire Task is worth 5 points.
Bonus Tasks:
- There are 20 Bonus Tasks in total. These are split into 4 Bonus Categories with 5 Bonus Tasks each: Platinum, Bronze, Silver, and Gold.
- Platinum Bonus Tasks are worth 2 points each.
- Bronze Bonus Tasks are worth 3 points each.
- Silver Bonus Tasks are worth 4 points each.
- Gold Bonus Tasks are worth 5 points each.
- Each completed Bonus Category is worth an extra 5 points each.
Personal Task points:
- Each member has chosen a task number which will be their Personal Task.
- Reading a book that fulfils your own Personal Task number is worth 10 points.
- Reading a book that fulfils one of your team member’s Personal Task number is worth 5 points.
- Reading a book that fulfils the other team’s team member’s Personal Task number is worth 2 points.
- These points won’t auto-populate on the spreadsheet so I will put the points in for this.
An example of tasks from the category “Holiday”
1. Read a book with the word “Summer” in the title.
2. Read a book where the protagonist gets lost.
3. Read a book with the sun on the cover
WHAT COUNTS AS A MIDDLE GRADE BOOK:
- Must be more than 100 pages long.
*For audio books*: The print edition must be more than 100 pages long.
*For graphic novels*: must be more than 150 pages long.
- Must be categorised as MG+ or MG on this website: https://www.arbookfind.com/
If it says LG or UG on the website it DOESN’T COUNT.
OR
Must be categorised as MY+ or MY on this website: https://www.arbookfind.co.uk/
If it says LY or UY on the website it DOESN’T COUNT.
- Only books started on/after 1st August count!
The Teams:
- Each team has 8 to 10 team members (subject to change depending on number of sign ups)
- Each team will have 1 Captain responsible for the tracking of the team.
- Each member must create a GR shelf called “mg challenge 2026” or “middle-grade challenge 2026” or some other variation and place all books they read for the challenge in that shelf. This is to help you and your Captain keep track of what you've read for the challenge.
- Teams are allocated not chosen and depends on the amount of time people have to read.
- Please make sure you all communicate and have fun!
- If you have any questions please ask your Captain who can then put the question to me on the Captain’s Chat.
Captain's responsibilities:- Captains are in charge of editing and maintaining their team's spreadsheet.
- Captains are in charge of organising which book is applied to which task within their team.
- Captains should make sure that the info their members give them is correct, i.e. checking their members' GR challenge shelves to see when they started and finished the book, and checking the book counts as MG.
- Captains will be in charge of relaying info regarding questions between the moderator (me) and their team members.
- It's not a dictatorship! Remember to have fun with it and discuss with your team members as their ideas on what book should be applied to what task can be helpful.
*A word of advice:*
There are tons of tasks to complete. At first it will be easy to read whatever MG book you like and then apply it to a task that it fulfils.
After a while, when there are less tasks it will be harder, so it may be smarter to pick a book that can specifically fulfil one task.
This is just an idea... it's up to every team and their Captain to decide their strategy.
If you have any questions please ask below!! You should all receive a message by 23rd July to announce the team allocations. Please make sure you check in with your team Captain before 28th July otherwise you may be replaced or removed.
SIGN UP!
SIGN UP LINK IS IN THE COMMENT BELOW!
*SIGN UP HERE*
https://forms.gle/SDPVehWFeMfXUCtn6
Here’s the timeline:
Sign ups open 14th June
I will be MIA 10th July to 22nd July
Teams will be announced 23rd July
Sign ups close 25th July
You must check in with your Captain by 28th July
Challenge starts 1st August at midnight
Challenge ends 13th September at midnight
Hello one and all! I know you’re shocked I’m here 2 MONTHS before the Challenge, I’ve never been so organised lol.The reason why I’m here super early is because I have exams in July so I will not be on goodreads from 10th July to 22nd July. I won’t be checking comments or responding. I’m really sorry but I have to be strict with myself on this because these exams are really crazy important. All of the time before and after these dates I am available so feel free to drop a comment and I’m happy to help so the Challenge can run as smoothly as possible!
If you have any issues with signing up whilst I’m MIA, don’t worry the sign ups close after I return so you will 100% be assigned to a team if you want to take part😊
Also I’m aware that we have tragically lost the ability to private message on goodreads😞It’s not ideal but we can find work arounds. The Captain’s Chat will be more important than ever, so please communicate with your Captain on your team discussion page as much as you can.
I will be setting up and sharing a new email address for any questions you want to drop me privately. This is only for personal circumstance discussions, private concerns about the Challenge, technical difficulty issues, and anything urgent. Please do not send emails for task guidance, this is for your Captain to pass on via the Captain’s Chat!
*Please do not share sensitive information like email addresses on any Challenge discussion pages. This group is public and is accessible to anyone on the internet even if they are not a member of goodreads!*
Have I missed where sign-up is? :O
Hey Capn no sorry it’s going to be next weekend now! My private email was hacked so it’s taken up a lot of time trying to fix it all😞Thankfully the challenge stuff isn’t on that email but I haven’t got the sign up sheet ready because of that
Oh no! What a drag - I'm sorry to hear it! :( I hope you've got it under control again. Yuckers. :(
I did thanks but it still sucks😭 The hacker used a bot to override some of my emails and the email provider says they can’t undo that so it seems I’ve lost some important emails forever. The hacker also tried to force access to another account I have so that has been put under review. That account wants me to send them an email but my email provider has put a block on my emails so I can’t send any emails to unlock that other account. Hackers are pathetic!🤦🏻♀️
Moral of the story: put on 2 factor authentication for your email to avoid all this headache!
Oh no such a shame Kadi! But so so excited for this again this yearCant believe ive been joining in it since 2021
Yes Eden! Have you started gathering some books to read? I’m always on the search for good short books like 150-200 pages length
Kadi wrote: "Yes Eden! Have you started gathering some books to read? I’m always on the search for good short books like 150-200 pages length"Thanks I'll start looking for books.
EdenB15 happy to have you joining again! :)
Hope the hunt for books goes well for you Aurora! The longer Challenge this time might mean we’ll have to have a bigger stack of books to get ready for the Challenge👏🏻
Kadi wrote: "Hope the hunt for books goes well for you Aurora! The longer Challenge this time might mean we’ll have to have a bigger stack of books to get ready for the Challenge👏🏻"Thanks :)
Ooh yay!! I’m so excited!! Even if I read some before, I will always have enough for this challenge! Also I’ve been here since the beginning so I’m glad I can take part in it again. Definitely going to prioritize some of my series and get to a couple for Labor Day weekend!
Having a good hunt been on scholastic website to have a look
Ilsen wrote: "Ooh yay!! I’m so excited!! Even if I read some before, I will always have enough for this challenge! Also I’ve been here since the beginning so I’m glad I can take part in it again. Definitely goin..."Omg yes Ilsen you're an OG!! And you were in my team that first year! Super glad to have you back again, hopefully you'll like the longer time period for the Challenge, it's something I'm super interested to try out
EdenB15 wrote: "Having a good hunt been on scholastic website to have a look"That's such a good idea, I've never thought to do that. I've been scrolling Goosebumps books on Goodreads because they're always reliable short reads
Still no sign-up, right? :) Anxiously awaiting it! Running out of weekend on my side of the planet. :)
Hi Capn, thanks for the reminder, sign ups are now open🎉The link is at the top of the page and also here to save you having to search lol:
https://forms.gle/iMRXqd3saT2krRQ17
This sounds so fun i would love to take part but can't quite commit to aug yet as idk my schedule so will signup a bit closer to july end.But just wanted to say this is a great challenge Kadi!
Hi Bhavya thanks so much! And we’d love to have you along but of course no pressure I know we all have busy schedules. There’s loads of time to think about it anyway, so circle back around to signing up if you can make it😊
So I thought it’d be fun to share the Category titles so you can get a feel for the themes of each category or see where the titles have been taken from…Category 1. Back to Reality
Category 2. Mirror, Mirror
Category 3. Time Flies
Category 4. Shed Thy Skin
Category 5. The I's Have It
Category 6. Pretty Dark Youth
Category 7. Se7en
Category 8. Go Green!
Category 9. Until I Feared I Would Lose It...
Category 10. It's the Quenchiest!
Category 11. Get Lucky
Category 12. Wolfsbane
Category 13. Somewhere in the Grey
Category 14. A Change is Gonna Come
Category 15. Where is the Justice?
Category 16. The Silver Screen
Category…
Category 18. Let Down Your Hair
Category 19. Under the Cloak of Night
Category 20. Fade to Black
My son is getting married in August, so I will probably be absent for a few days but not too long.
Ooh thanks Kadi need to add some more books to my TBR shelf.
Kadi wrote: "Ilsen wrote: "Ooh yay!! I’m so excited!! Even if I read some before, I will always have enough for this challenge! Also I’ve been here since the beginning so I’m glad I can take part in it again. D..."Omg yes I really am an OG participator! I love being here doing the challenges even though we basically only do the yearly one. I’m so glad you took my suggestion and also the categories do give me a good idea! Ooh I’m so excited! I’m going to sign up for it now!
Kadi wrote: "Hi Bhavya thanks so much! And we’d love to have you along but of course no pressure I know we all have busy schedules. There’s loads of time to think about it anyway, so circle back around to signi..."Ty!
@Audrey wow congratulations that’s awesome news! And no worries of course hope you have a lovely time with your family😊@Ilsen yay thanks for signing up🎉
W00T!!!! YEAR 7!!!!!! Looking forward to the quietest, most intense time of my year!!!!! Happy to see some returning names & photos!!!!Question: I didn't have internet access for a long time over winter, so I'm behind in updating my Read shelf on GR. How important will my 2025-2026 Read books be in August/September?
Yes Abigael that is the right level of enthusiasm😂👏🏻 Glad to see you’re back for year 7!!!!Hmm I would say if you’re having trouble adding it to your Challenge shelf then it’s alright but not ideal so you would have to then make sure you put all the details on your team’s discussion page or on the spreadsheet tracking tab.
The reason why the Challenge shelf is a thing is so your Captain can cross reference the details you tell them about like your read dates and the book’s name, etc and make sure all the info is correct. It’s also so they don’t have to bother you for that info if you’re busy lol. I remember a few Team members in the past who didn’t use the tracking tab at all and I would update it for them from the books they added to their Challenge shelf and they would just tell me what tasks the book fit. But everyone does it differently which is why the Challenge shelf is key. If you can’t use it then please let me know and I can make an exception for you! But for everyone else please use the Challenge shelf it’s super helpful👏🏻
But definitely the books read during the Challenge need to be marked as Read and on your Read shelf otherwise it would be confusing to know whether they’d actually been read or not. Would that be an issue for you? Let me know😊
Signed up! Looking forward August. I hoard all my middle grades book for this task.
Yay Chara! And my subconscious has made me do that too! I’ve read predominantly YA books this year so I’m looking forward to a month and a half of MG only.Also for anyone who’s interested Category 17 is called “The Rat Race”. I hope revealing the Category names early has got your creative cogs whirring… Task sneak peeks (1 task from each category) will be revealed on 4th July!!
Sorry, Kadi, I realised I made a mistake in how I said my question: I now have internet very consistently & will be on Goodreads a lot like I usually do. Back in the winter, I didn't have internet & I got behind in updating Goodreads with the books I read from January to May. Does my Read shelf not being up to date put my team & I at a disadvantage for August/September since reading a book someone read earlier this year is sometimes a Challenge Task?
Also, both the links in the DM go to the same place when I click them. Maybe I keep pressing the wrong link, but you probably want to check those
Hey Abigael, haha thanks for letting me know! One of the links are supposed to take you to this discussion page and the other link is supposed to take you to the specific comment on this discussion page which has the sign up link on it. But if you’re using the dreadful mobile app then that probably won’t work because the app hates us😂🤦🏻♀️Oh well, if anyone has any difficulty finding the sign up link please just drop a comment below and I can resend it for you!
Also ooooh I misunderstood! And that’s a very good question, love the thinking👏🏻 We do have some tasks this year that are about reading what other team members have read, I love those kind of tasks. But there’s none about what someone’s been reading this year, so if you have gaps in your shelf from this year then you’re fine.
I signed up and am getting a TBR shelf ready. Excited to be a part of this event again!
Thank you!Signed up! Let the book scavenging begin!
Guess whose back, back again, I am back! I signed up again! I look forward to this every year! Hi Kadi!!
Yes Aeriell welcome back!Aurora, Abigael lovely to have you thanks so much guys!
Aeriell wrote: "Guess whose back, back again, I am back! I signed up again! I look forward to this every year! Hi Kadi!!"waves like a goofball Hi Bestie! 😁
Anissa wrote: "Aeriell wrote: "Guess whose back, back again, I am back! I signed up again! I look forward to this every year! Hi Kadi!!"waves like a goofball Hi Bestie! 😁"
jumps up and down Heyyyyy😊 good to have you back Anissa!
EdenB15 wrote: "Yay for the regulars hehe"Yesss Eden! Thanks so much for returning guys!
Also I've been putting out some feelers so here's hoping we get some new faces joining us soon too😊 The more the merrier as they say!
Kadi, did you forget to post the sneak peeks link? It's okay if you got the date wrong especially since July 4th was a holiday for the US.