Middle Grade Madness! discussion

Meet Lynn:
I'm a retired middle school language arts teacher. Besides teaching, much of my career was spent reading and recommending books to my middle grade students. For me, the best days were the ones when we could go to the school library or book fair and look for books.

Lynn’s Favourite Genres:
Middle grade, young adult, new adult, romantic suspense, mysteries and adventure.

Connect with Lynn on Goodreads!
https://www.goodreads.com/ftbooklover

Lynn’s MG Recommendations:
The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander
Lynn’s bullet-point breakdown:
- 4+ star rating on goodreads
- Very funny.
- Main character has a very strong voice that comes through in the book.
- Takes place in middle school.

The Detention Club by David Yoo
Lynn’s bullet-point breakdown:
- Very funny.
- Part mystery, part coming-of-age story.
- 6th grade character entering middle school for the first time.

Lynn’s non-MG Recommendations:
Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck
Lynn’s bullet-point breakdown:
- 1st in 5 book Tiger's Curse Saga.
- 4+ star rating on Goodreads.
- Includes fantasy quest, romance, action, suspense.
- Unique twists and atmosphere.

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Lynn’s bullet-point breakdown:
- 1st in The Naturals 4 book series.
- 4+ star rating on Goodreads
- This author always makes her characters come to life.
- Teens who solve cold case mysteries.
- Quirky characters with tragic backgrounds.
- I love the whole series.

Starters by Lissa Price
Lynn’s thoughts:
- 1st in 2 book series.
- Futuristic & sci-fi genres.
- Asks the question: what would you do for those you love.

Trouble Is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly
Lynn’s bullet-point breakdown:
- 1st of 3 book Trouble series.
- Laugh-out-loud funny with lots of twists & mystery.
- Mad-capped adventure with some poignant moments
- Digby is a unique and quirky character.

Surviving Antarctica: Reality TV 2083 (aka No Child's Game: Reality TV 2083) by Andrea White
Lynn’s bullet-point breakdown:
- Stand-alone book.
- Futuristic society takes "Survivor" to a whole new level.
- Raises many thought-provoking questions about society.

Yeah! Excited for this!
When will it be posted? I want to make my TBR video tomorrow and can hopefully include some of these books

@Robin Coming tonight! (so in a few hours)

Great!!!

Hey guys, sorry for adding them so late, but the recommendations are finally up. Check them out above!

Oooh I owned The Naturals for a while! I think I’m going to try to read that one!

@Ilsen I’ve been meaning to read that book (and the whole series really) for ages! I’ve been hearing that it’s awesome. I think I’m going to be quite busy next month and I have such a backlog of books to read for reviewing so even if I don’t fit it in next month I’m definitely going to read it this year!

Deaflower (Dee's New Name) wrote: "I've read Starters by Lissa Price, and it is a good read! I might try The Naturals as well. I'm really into the whole mystery thing at the moment, so this book will fit in well."

Did you ever read the sequel Enders? It's not as good as Starters, but it does tie up the loose ends. I have a special place in my heart for The Naturals
series. It's one of those series that just got better and better with each book.

Haven't heard of any of these books. Will do some research to find out more about them.

@Robin yesss looking forward to see which ones you'll maybe end up reading!

Also can I just say that The Fourth Stall sounds like so much fun and that ominous looking cover has me so intrigued! I hope I can find time to read it next month!

There weren't a lot available to me and the ones that were, didn't sound super interesting. I'm only focussing on books that I really want to read at the moment. These unfortunately don't get me very excited. Sorry about that.

@Robin no need to apologise! Each to their own and it's always the case with recommendations that your views may not match the recommender's; it doesn't discredit either of you or your opinions, it just means we all have different tastes. Which I 100% support us all having😊

Maybe from the ones that weren't available to you (it's a pain when books aren't available) and if any of them interest you then you can add it to your TBR and read it in the future. I know a lot of these recommendations from all our readers in these events go on my TBR and when I read it in the future when I'm freer I can come back and discuss it! Everyone is welcome to do that too👏🏻

A Robin Reads wrote: "There weren't a lot available to me and the ones that were, didn't sound super interesting. I'm only focussing on books that I really want to read at the moment. These unfortunately don't get me ve..."

Hey, that is no problem, Robin. Everybody's interests are different, and that TBR list is always there waiting. Better luck next month.
These books aren't recent, so I'm not surprised that you had trouble getting access to them. I just haven't found any books recently that I like as well. I seem to be giving fewer and fewer 5 stars all the time.

I don't think they will be available to me, so yeah.

Thanks for the support :)

@Lynn Yeah, I have the same with giving books less 5 stars. Sometimes I do give a book 5 stars, because it's such a good book, but I sometimes don't feel it. Complicated

A Robin Reads wrote: "I don't think they will be available to me, so yeah.

Thanks for the support :)

@Lynn Yeah, I have the same with giving books less 5 stars. Sometimes I do give a book 5 stars, because it's such a ..."

Hey, that's what reading is all about, right?

@Lynn I find that the more you read, the more experience you have with what in your opinion constitutes a good book and that means you have more good reading experiences to compare books with and can more easily define what's good and what's bad in your opinion. I guess it's only natural that the more you read the more judgmental you become of books or at least that's the case for me. Especially since I've started reviewing every book I read; it's made me more critical of books. Already this year I've given out more 1 and 2 star ratings than I have in the past 2 years combined I think! That could also be because I'm taking more chances with what I read and reading out of my comfort zone sometimes so that could also explain the more low ratings.
Lately I've been reading lots of books that I haven't really enjoyed😔 Every book I walk into it like this is one I'm going to love wholeheartedly and then I don't. I really miss those books I read in the past that I loved and enjoyed so much. I'm missing the fun reading experiences!

Kadi wrote: "@Lynn I find that the more you read, the more experience you have with what in your opinion constitutes a good book and that means you have more good reading experiences to compare books with and c..."

You may be right, but that makes me sad, knowing that I'm probably never going to enjoy books the way I once did. One of the Booktubers that I watch said that she gets butterflies when she reads certain books, and I remember that happening to me years ago. There used to be a kind of zing that I would get when I read a really good book, but that just doesn't happen anymore.
I have noticed recently, though, that there are more books that are well written than there used to be. I used to say that I could write better than the writing in the books I was reading, but that's not the case anymore - probably a result of more computers and more diverse authors.
There are still books that I enjoy reading, but it just isn't the same.

@Lynn that's exactly what I mean! Those butterflies, that zing! That's what I miss right now. Every book right now is either terrible, mediocre, kind of alright, or good but flawed. Where are the truly amazing books that'll give me the zing?😭
Like when I read any of the books on my all time faves shelf:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list... I had that zing and I loved it. That's the real joy of reading. I keep looking for the next rare gem that'll give me that feeling again, hopefully I'll find at least one this year!

I've read some of your favorites - mostly 4 star reads for me. I really liked , but the last time I had a real "zing" was which is the third book in The Naturals series.

Deaflower (Dee's New Name) wrote: "Lynn wrote: "Deaflower (Dee's New Name) wrote: "I've read Starters by Lissa Price, and it is a good read! I might try The Naturals as well. I'm really into the whole mystery thing at the moment, so..."

You are very welcome.