Great Middle Grade Reads discussion

I started this Reviews by Kids section late last year after there were many requests and support by members for such a feature in the group.

Initially the interest was great and there were a good amount of books being donated and reviewed.

Over time, the excitement seems to have dwindled to an occasional trickle.

I'm keen to know what GMGR member thoughts are for this section ......

Should it stay?
or
Should it go?

There's got to be a way to revive this. It would be so valuable if we could get participation. Can anyone adopt it? Preferably someone who has access to children, which unfortunately excludes me.

Hmmm... this is such a great resource, it is shame it does not get more traffic. Maybe we can encourage authors who have their book there to post about it on their blogs and such. I'm just starting to get back in the swing of things and would certainly do that to see if it helps at all.

Hmm. I got one request, and as far as I know, never got a review. So I'm not sure if it was working or not, in a broader sense.

My kids are too old for MG.

It would be great to have young readers review books we publish for their age level. Their comments can be so helpful. Do we have anyone in this group who has kids in this age group or knows kids?

Hi. I am just setting up a book blogging site specifically for MG books with 9-12 year old reviewers. It's very much in its infancy at the moment as I only designed the website last week and haven't even started to think about search optimisation! But we are hoping to get things moving reasonably quickly and get good levels of traffic by Xmas. I am more than happy to post the kids' reviews on Goodreads and perhaps when we are more established we can be part of this reviews by kids section. If you want to check it out in its in foetal stage, do pop along to www.book-walrus.com. All comments/advice/criticism welcome. Rachel x

Rachel wrote: "Hi. I am just setting up a book blogging site specifically for MG books with 9-12 year old reviewers. It's very much in its infancy at the moment as I only designed the website last week and haven'..."

Looks like a fantastic website! Please keep us in the loop as it takes off.

Andrew wrote: "It would be great to have young readers review books we publish for their age level. Their comments can be so helpful. Do we have anyone in this group who has kids in this age group or knows kids?"

No, I don't, but having just published a MG/Tween novel, I'd love feedback from this age group. I think it's hard to get a lot of kids to read outside of what they have to do for school. Follow-through is definitely a problem. I don't know how to accomplish it, but if teachers belonged to GRs perhaps part of a reading assignment for a student would be for them to learn how to use GR to select then review the book. I don't know if kids can be members, but assume so if you're trying to do a review site for them. I'm just getting in to this end of GRs, so if I'm redundant with what's already done, my apologies.

Children have to be 13 to be a member - this site does not censor for erotica, obscenity, etc., and it has to comply with laws in the US.

Teachers and parents sometimes set up 'dummy' accounts for their kids and visit GR *together* - and I think that's a good idea. So what you suggest is interesting, and worthwhile, but perhaps not fully feasible.

Thanks for the clarification. Nothing is foul-proof. Too bad, as these sites are great resources for everyone.

Back when we started Reviews by Kids, there were some discussions on the best way for it to work. The intention was for any kids reviews to be posted on an adult's account (maintained by the adult), with a tag/heading mentioning the review was by a kid.

Is there any way to make this easier for kids?

Last year I helped my son's teacher with his 4th grade class's reading assignments, which included a worksheet that had them summarize the story they had read, highlight the main points, and tell what they did and didn't like about the story. For most of the kids in the class, even kids that I considered good readers, writing out a summary was still a difficult exercise.

I think providing some simple, fun questions might help. Ex: "Are there any characters in this book you'd like as a BFF? Why?" (Just to give an example)

Hmmmmm.... I'm working on a free printable site... maybe I can add a couple of book summary/ writing prompt pages to it. What do you think?

right now the site is primarily for my daughter's book. Once she gets back in school and I can get the many ideas out of my head out on the website, I hope to eventually open it up to others - just not sure what that will look like yet. But I could post a few versions there and anyone can use them. Just a thought if you all think it might be worthwhile.

I don't know how much of that will translate into goodreads/amazon reviews - that is the difficulty we have found. DD has many kids who LOVE her book but they don't have access to Amazon/Goodreads. :)

OH, here is the site if you want to take a look: www.kidlitprintables.com - It is still in its infancy.

Well, on GoodReads, we don't need the kids to provide the summary. We need them to say:
what was the best part of the book,
what they didn't like about the book,
why they read it,
who they'd recommend it to and why,
what point was the author trying to make,
are they going to read more books like it,
or are they going to read more books by that author...
etc.

Maybe give them a template or list of questions (but of course make it clear that it's only a guide and they don't have to answer it exactly).

Cheryl in CC NV wrote: "Well, on GoodReads, we don't need the kids to provide the summary. We need them to say: what was the best part of the book, what they didn't like about the book, why they read it, who they'd recom..."

That's exactly what I meant to say, but you said it so much better. That a guide might be helpful and make writing book reviews a little less intimidating.

I've noticed that on Amazon there often seem to be reviews from kids...do they not have a cut-off age policy either? Or maybe they're just using their parents' account? But I definitely do see a lot of reviews that start by saying they're "a kid" or "9yrs old" or something...

The one-sentence review that I've seen work the best for kids has been used in summer reading programs. If you don't want to use a whole guide or template, just ask "Who should read this book, and why?" The first time you show them the question, give them some ideas, like for example:

"Nobody, because the it's boring and the characters are stupid."
"Moms, because it's about mushy stuff."
"Teachers, because it will help them understand kids better."
"All my friends, because it's scary and funny."

Cheryl, this is great! Definitely going into my toolbox. Thanks.

M.G. wrote: "Is there any way to make this easier for kids?

Last year I helped my son's teacher with his 4th grade class's reading assignments, which included a worksheet that had them summarize the story the..."

M.G. wrote: "Is there any way to make this easier for kids?

Last year I helped my son's teacher with his 4th grade class's reading assignments, which included a worksheet that had them summarize the story the..."

Great idea. I'm working on a guide (5th & 6th for now) to go with my novel, so any directions, ideas, and language for those age group are helpful.

I like the idea of providing guidance, and maybe even making it a one-line review, if it will get the kids to actually review it. It's easy for us writer-types to forget that not everything needs to use a lot of words. . .

I'd love to get middle-graders' feedback on my books. But kids may be scared away at the thought of writing a "review." I like the idea of making it easy to do by limiting the comments to two or three sentences about what they liked about the story and what made them turn the pages.

Hi! Thanks for the reminder - I made three blank mini book reports/reviews for kids. My child even said she'd do one b/c she liked the template. Feel free to use them - all I ask is you link back to the site somewhere. If you picture something else and would like me to create it, let me know. I have fun making these as time allows.

http://www.kidlitprintables.com/book-...

I hope this is okay to post here, if not, just remove it.

Christine wrote: "Hi! Thanks for the reminder - I made three blank mini book reports/reviews for kids. My child even said she'd do one b/c she liked the template. Feel free to use them - all I ask is you link back t..."

Christine, love the templates! I think these might help out some budding book reviewers. Thanks for sharing.

You are so welcome, M.G. Glad you like them. I hope to get more stuff out there shortly. I have more ideas in my head than time to create them. :)

Christine wrote: "You are so welcome, M.G. Glad you like them. I hope to get more stuff out there shortly. I have more ideas in my head than time to create them. :)"

Time, that's always the problem, isn't it? : )

Always. I have so many books I need to finish reading, creative projects and such - oh, and then supporting these crazy pet authors. But it is all good. All in due time. :) Have a wonderful week!

Christine wrote: "Hi! Thanks for the reminder - I made three blank mini book reports/reviews for kids. My child even said she'd do one b/c she liked the template. Feel free to use them - all I ask is you link back t..."

Christine, I LOVE the blank book reports you made!!!

Cheryl in CC NV wrote: "The one-sentence review that I've seen work the best for kids has been used in summer reading programs. If you don't want to use a whole guide or template, just ask "Who should read this book, and..."

Cheryl, I love the categories!
Nobody
Moms
Teachers
All my friends
That could be a great start!

Rachel wrote: "Hi. I am just setting up a book blogging site specifically for MG books with 9-12 year old reviewers. It's very much in its infancy at the moment as I only designed the website last week and haven'..."

Rachel,
I love your book blogging site!

Thanks, Renata! :)
Renata wrote: "Christine wrote: "Hi! Thanks for the reminder - I made three blank mini book reports/reviews for kids. My child even said she'd do one b/c she liked the template. Feel free to use them - all I ask ..."

Rachel wrote: "Hi. I am just setting up a book blogging site specifically for MG books with 9-12 year old reviewers. It's very much in its infancy at the moment as I only designed the website last week and haven'..."

Rachel - the site looks FANTASTIC!!!