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2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


30 / 30 books. 100% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama (1)
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas (1)
- California (11)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut (2)
- Delaware (1)
- Florida (3)
- Georgia (4)
- Hawaii (1)
- Idaho (3)
- Illinois (4)
- Indiana (4)
- Iowa (1)
- Kansas (1)
- Kentucky (2)
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland (1)
- Massachusetts (4)
- Michigan (1)
- Minnesota (2)
- Mississippi (1)
- Missouri (1)
- Montana (1)
- Nebraska (1)
- Nevada (2)
- New Hampshire (1)
- New Jersey (1)
- New Mexico (1)
- New York (10)
- North Carolina (4)
- North Dakota (1)
- Ohio (3)
- Oklahoma (2)
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania (2)
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina (1)
- South Dakota (1)
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (4)
- Utah (5)
- Vermont (2)
- Virginia (2)
- Washington (3)
- West Virginia (1)
- Wisconsin (1)
- Wyoming (2)
- Washington, D.C.* (2)

International:
- Argentina (1)
- Australia (6)
- Austria (1)
- Bolivia (1)
- Canada (4)
- China (2)
- England (27)
- France (2)
- Ghana (1)
- India (1)
- Indonesia (1)
- Ireland (4)
- Italy (1)
- Poland (2)
- Russia (2)
- Scotland (4)
- The Netherlands (1)

My Progress:


51 / 51 states. 100% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 50 books. 104% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


36 / 50 books. 72% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


51 / 52 books. 98% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


37 / 40 books. 93% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


18 / 40 books. 45% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


25 / 25 cozies. 100% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


5 / 26.2 miles (4th lap). 19% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


51 / 100 books. 51% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


99 / 109 books. 91% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

My Progress


139 / 165 books. 84% done!

The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge

My Progress:


88 / 100 names. 88% done!

The Life Skills Reading Challenge

My Progress:


45 / 80 skills. 56% done!
Saturday, December 05, 2020

The Children's Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2021

With the end of the year fast approaching, I've become a little obsessed with finishing up my 2020 reading challenges and deciding which I want to take on for 2021.  Not only have I created a reading challenge roundup blog, but I've also decided to host my own challenge for the first time ever!  I've wanted to do this for some time and just haven't ever taken the plunge.  So, drumroll please, let me introduce you to The Children's Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.  It features one of my favorite genres, plus my favorite kind of reading challenge (reading prompts).  I hope you'll join me for what I hope is a fun, horizon-expanding, and rewarding (that means a prize!) challenge.

 

The Nitty-Gritty:

  • Challenge runs from January 1, 2021 - December 31, 2021
  • You may sign-up to participate at any time during the challenge.
  • You do not need to have a blog to participate.  You can keep track of your reading on social media, Goodreads, etc.  Just be sure to link back here any time you post about the challenge.
  • All books read must be historical fiction written for children (including teens).  Picture books do not count.  Books must be at least 50 pages in length to qualify.  
  • Any genre counts as long as at least part of the book occurs in a real place at a real time in the past.  For example, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis would count because at least part of the book is set in 1940s London.  A book set entirely in a made-up country in 1855 would not count because although it is set in a real time, it's not set in a real place.  Since the point of the challenge is to learn about real history, alternative history stories that occur in a real place in a real time where real history did not actually occur (say, a book set in space in 1702) will not count.
  • For the purposes of this challenge, "historical" will refer to any time before the year 2000.
  • Although the goal of this challenge is to celebrate children's historical fiction, expand our reading inside the genre, and have fun doing it, in order to be eligible for the prize, you must read books that fulfill 20 of the reading prompts.  There are 25 prompts given to allow flexibility of choice, but only 20 need to be fulfilled in order to complete the challenge and be eligible for the prize.
  • A prize of a new book of your choice (up to a $20 value) from Amazon or Book Depository is on offer.  A winner will be chosen at random from among those who complete the challenge.
  • I will post a review link-up each month as a way to check-in with challenge participants and share books read.
  • Since I don't have a fancy widget, you can sign up by commenting below. Just kidding!  There's now a fancy widget below. Please use it to officially sign up for the challenge.
  • Okay, I think that's it.  Any questions or comments?  Comment on this post or email me with questions: blogginboutbooks@gmail.com
The Reading Prompts:

  • About a war other than World War II

  • Takes place before 1800

  • Set in a country you do not live in

  • Main character travels on a ship, train, or covered wagon

  • Set in a decade you don’t usually choose to read about

  • A major holiday is celebrated

  • Takes place in a city or region where you have lived

  • Features time travel to the past

  • About a historical disaster, natural or otherwise

  • With a proper noun in the title

  • Features a real female hero from the past

  • Book that relates somehow to your own family history (the main character emigrates from the same country your ancestors did, the MC participates in a historical event your family member did, about someone you’re related to, etc.)

  • Written by a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) author

  • Features a main character with a different ethnicity, religion, or culture than your own

  • Has an animal on the cover

  • A ghost story

  • Features a castle or an old house

  • Set in South or Central America

  • A mystery

  • Set in the decade that one of your parents was born in

  • Concerns an event of historical significance that happened during your lifetime (or your parents’ lifetimes if you were born after 2000)

  • Features a search for gold or other kinds of treasure

  • A person in period clothing on the cover

  • Based on a true story

  • A main character who is a Native American, Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian


Want a printable checklist? Click here.



First Cookie House Mystery Serves Up Fresh-Baked Fun

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

After losing her pastry chef job at a Manhattan restaurant and her fiancé in one fell swoop, Kate McGuire is at loose ends.  Desperate for a new start, she heads to Coral Cay, a charming beach town in Florida.  When she spies a Help Wanted sign in the window of a local cookie shop, it seems like fate is finally smiling on her.  Sam Hepplewhite, The Cookie House's cantankerous owner, isn't so sure he needs Kate's help.  It's her job to convince him.

When money-grubbing bully Stewart Lord ends up dead after eating one of Sam's cinnamon rolls, the baker finds himself in hot water.  To save her boss and his beloved cookie shop, Kate knows she has to prove Sam's innocence.  With the help of her new Coral Cay friends, she sets about doing just that.  Can she find the killer before she ends up as dead as Stewart Lord?  

And Then There Were Crumbs is the first installment in Eve Calder's super fun Cookie House Mystery series.  It features a warm, friendly community setting; likable, upbeat characters; and a mystery that's intriguing enough (even if it's not very twisty or original).  The story's not very realistic (few cozies are), but it's not totally ridiculous either.  For all these reasons, I quite enjoyed this engaging series opener.  I'll definitely be reading on.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of cozy mysteries by Ellie Alexander, Vivien Chien, Amanda Flower, and Lena Gregory)  

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for brief, mild language (no F-bombs) and violence

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

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Reading

<i>Reading</i>
Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie

Listening

<i>Listening</i>
The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth



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2024 Reading Challenge

2024 Reading Challenge
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2024 - Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction

2024 - Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction

2023 - Middle Grade Fiction

2023 - Middle Grade Fiction

2022 - Middle Grade Fiction

2022 - Middle Grade Fiction

2021 - Middle Grade Fiction

2021 - Middle Grade Fiction

2020 - Middle Grade Fiction

2020 - Middle Grade Fiction