Middle Grade Madness! discussion

Hi to my fellow Captains!

Grace and Jessica you are Captains of Team 2 and 3, respectively. If you or your team members have any questions (that aren’t addressed in the Rules) please feel free to ask them here so I can answer them.

I’ll also be using this space to announce stuff like the Bonus Tasks and the Winners so keep an eye on this topic!

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Explaining the spreadsheets:

The spreadsheets are a Captain's responsibility to maintain!
Fill them in at your own pace! I recommend filling it in as you go along. Leaving everything to the end of the month might overwhelm/confuse you.

It's split into 3 sections:

1. Tracking Sheet
- This is a really informal spreadsheet that you can fill in however you like.
- It's to help you keep track of what books your team members have read.
- You don't even have to fill it in if you don't want to but I recommend that you do because it'll help you keep track of the books your team members have read without constantly having to ask them.
- You can also tell your team members to feel free to fill in the tracking sheet themselves. Up to you!

2. MG Challenge
- This is the actual challenge itself.
- It would be really helpful if everyone left the points coding alone because as of now they work and I don't remember exactly how I managed to make it work so I'm not sure I'd be able to fix it if someone changed it up.
- Points for each task autopopulate when the "Date Finished" cell is filled in: so don't fill in that cell unless the book has actually been read.
- All the points add themselves up, including bonus points for when all tasks in a category are complete so don't worry about that (the spreadsheet knows all!!😂)
- And to figure out how to fill in the spreadsheet check out:

3. Example of MG Challenge
- This is a copy of the challenge spreadsheet.
- Task 3 and 31 have been filled in to show you how to format the challenge spreadsheet.

Hopefully this helps. If you have any questions please ask :)

I am super excited for this. So many middle grade books to read!
I do have a question: can we use multiple books in a series for multiple tasks? For example (because I think that makes 0 sense lol):

The (original) Percy Jackson series is made up of 5 books. Could we use Book 1 for one task, Book 2 for another task, and then Book 3 for another task? As long as they fulfill the requirements?

Hopefully that makes sense.

Makes perfect sense so definitely! That’s fine.

You can also use one book for multiple tasks but ONLY if they are read by different team members.
For example:
Person A reads Percy Jackson book 1 for task 1
Person B reads Percy Jackson book 1 for task 2
Person C reads Percy Jackson book 1 for task 3

As long as that book fulfils those tasks then that’s fine.

Ooh! Okay that's awesome!

Another question: Dana has ARCs for some books that are listed as middle-grade on both NetGalley and Goodreads, but she can't find them on the site you said to look at. If they're middle-grade on both Goodreads and NetGalley, would that be okay for her to read?

Yeah that’s fine. Especially if they both say it’s middle grade😊

Thanks!

Jessica wrote: "Thanks!"

No problemo :) And guys when your teams have decided on a team name please let me know and I'll change the spreadsheet name and topic name accordingly!

Team 2 decided on Coraline!

Team 3 decided on Logan Sweet

Umma change the stuff😊 Funnily enough my team hasn’t come up with a name yet. I’m still waiting for 2 members to show up. I’m going to message them late today. Have all your team members shown up on you chat pages?

😂 lol. all of my team has shown up and messaged!

I have another question. Does candy-making count as baking? The book focuses on candy-making, but Zaiyah can't remember if there's actually a baking scene in it. Or does it need to be actual baking to fulfill that task?

Hmm. No I think it should be actual baking. Like I’m willing to be lenient but then once you’re lenient for one thing it’s hard not to be lenient for everything else so it should be baking, but baking of any kind so cookie, muffins, cakes, bread, etc. Unfortunately candy making doesn’t count but hopefully that book can fulfil another task instead!

That definitely makes sense. Thanks!

Hey! For the task where the character is fighting cancer / has cancer, does it count if they've finished their treatment?

They have to have cancer at some point in the book. So if they just finished treatment during like the beginning of the book then that counts because they technically just had cancer and have gotten rid of it. But if it’s like “a month ago I finished my treatment” then it doesn’t count because they didn’t have cancer during the book.
Does that help?

Yup! Thank you!

😊👍🏻👍🏻

I have two questions:
1) is there anything special that happens for the first people to complete all of the tasks or is it just for every team that finishes before the month is over?

2) for the task that has to have a red cover, does the dust jacket have to be red, or can it count if the physical book under the dusk jacket (for hard backs) is red?

I guess the first team who finishes are the winners I guess. Buuut I never really thought any team would finish so my original idea was whoever had the highest number of points wins. Do you think I should add more tasks? Or more bonus tasks? Because you guys are shredding through these at a super fast pace and it’s only been a week! I feel like I should add more tasks. Or bonus tasks at least. Like maybe 5 more.

For the second q the answer is the dust jacket must be more than 50% red not the actual book underneath.

I know that I'd definitely be cool with more tasks. But whatever you feel works best!

And gotchu, thanks.

Okey doks! Imma work on hmmm maybe 10 more bonus tasks? And make them all increasingly harder😏😂👏🏻

I fully support and am all for a more difficult challenge 😂

😂😂🙌🏻

I have another question (surprise surprise lol).
As long as the edition of a book we're reading meets the requirements, it's fine right?

Specific example: Dana is reading The Giver for one of the tasks. Normally the cover is relatively darker / monotone, but her edition has a red cover.

And since the edition she is reading is red, would that work for Task 24: A book with a red cover?

Jessica wrote: "I have another question (surprise surprise lol).
As long as the edition of a book we're reading meets the requirements, it's fine right?

Specific example: Dana is reading The Giver for one of the..."

ASking questions is fine😂 that's the point of the chat.
And yep her book would count then but the version of the book she adds to her challenge shelf must be the version she is reading.

thanks!

When the bonus tasks come out, are we allowed to count books that we have already read (after august 1 of course) for the tasks if they fit, or do the bonus task books have to be read after august 15?

I’m too lazy to type but the second part of what you said is the correct answer.

Also I’m sending a message out today explaining all the bonus tasks stuff in more detail so that should be helpful

lol sounds good, thanks!

👍🏻👍🏻

is it possible that chocolate icing counts as chocolate for task 8, or is that stretching too far?

Stretching too far! It’s gotta be explicitly chocolate or sweets. Like a chocolate bar or something... making me hungry with these sweet thoughts😂

same though. i really want chocolate now.
and thanks!

There’s no chocolate in my house though. Only lemon cupcakes. I baked them a couple of days ago! And no problemo😂👍🏻

agh send some to my house that sounds so good! (also i suppose you’ll have to go and get some chocolate too lol)

I’m sending it now! Also don’t tempt I will actually go buy some😂

i excitedly await them! and if you insist 😂 although i'm sure the chocolates are also eagerly awaiting you lol.

do macarons count as sweets?

Nope. Sweets are more like your generic candy if that makes sense...

yah, that's what i was thinking too but i wanted to make 100% sure. i don't generally eat macarons so i wasn't sure if some people considered them sweets?

Yeah I don't like the taste of macarons so I don't eat them either. They have a very strange texture to them

they really do. i have a friend who is absolutely obsessed with them but i've just been sort of eh about them

Cake Pop Crush << this work since it has the sprinkles stuff on it? sort of candy? or not candy enough?

If it's a lollipop then it's fine, yeah. But I think it's a cake pop isn't it? (I'm guessing by the title) So then it doesn't count because cake pops are cake not sweets. Sorry! I feel like I'm making this so difficult for you guys!

nope it's all good! i figured it was a cake pop too so i was just wondering if the sprinkles were enough so that's why i asked first. we have another option that has chocolates on the cover so it works out lol
and plus, difficulty makes the challenge more interesting 🤣

Ok great! I just wanted to ask: is your group ok with me adding 2 extra categories to the challenge? It's just that you guys are close to finishing and I don't want the challenge to be over before the month is

i'm definitely good with two extra categories. i'll ask and see with them, but i think the extra two are a great idea.