My reading record posts are a way for me to document all things bookish and reading in my life - typically you will see these posts monthly, however readathons and certain books will have their own specific reading record.
During the month of May I had challenged myself to read largely from my middle grade shelf, wanting to make a good dent in the unread books sitting on it. This post is sharing how I got on during my final week (& a few extra days).
All in all, I'm really happy with the amount of middle grade books I read in May - 12 books in total.
MONDAY 20TH MAY
Today I finished reading Frostfire by Jamie Smith - what I would describe as a high fantasy middle grade book. Whilst I appreciated the story, and greatly enjoyed certain elements such as the history, surroundings and world building, I didn't find myself as engaged with this book as much as others I've read this May.
In the evening I started Explorers on Witch Mountain (5 chapters read), which is the second book in a series by author Alex Bell. Although it has been a good number of months since I read the first book - The Polar Bear Explorers' Club - I found myself falling back into the story & returning to the characters so easily.
TUESDAY 21ST MAY
Further reading done in Explorers on Witch Mountain - I'm now on page 122.
WEDNESDAY 22ND MAY
I actually started reading a nonfiction book today that doesn't fall into the MG category, so I'm not going to talk about it a lot here in this reading record - but I did want to acknowledge it; this is the first time I have deviated from middle grade reading this month.
THURSDAY 23RD MAY
No reading done.
FRIDAY 24TH MAY
I read a further 70 pages in Explorers on Witch Mountain today, which means I have now passed the half way mark.
SATURDAY 25TH MAY
I finished reading Explorers on Witch Mountain by Alex Bell. I thoroughly enjoyed returning to the world of explorers, and the ending of this book definitely alluded to another adventure being in the works - which is exciting!
If you're looking for a fun middle grade read then I highly recommend this series. Not only are the plots and adventures engaging, but the dynamics of the friendship group are written well & authentically, the humour weaved throughout is wonderful, and there are morals and messages to be found along the way which I always appreciate in books written for this audience.
Before bed today I read the first 5 chapters of the next book in the Find-Outers series by Enid Blyton - The Mystery of the Strange Messages (book 14).
SUNDAY 26TH MAY
I read up to page 182 in The Mystery of the Strange Messages by Enid Blyton.
MONDAY 27TH MAY
Today I finished book 14 in the Find-Outers series. I have just the one to go now before completing the entire series - I think that is totally doable in the remaining days of May.
TUESDAY 28TH MAY
Moving on to the final book of the series, today I read just under 100 pages of The Mystery of Banshee Towers by Enid Blyton - with this book being 190(ish) pages (one of the shorter ones in the series), I'm already half way through.
WEDNESDAY 29TH MAY
Today I finished book 15, and the Find-Outers series as a whole. This is the second series I have completed of Enid Blyton's now... The first series was The Adventure series, which had 8 books, and that I think I enjoyed perhaps marginally more. I'm happy to have read the Find-Outers series and been involved in all the fun mysteries, however it seemed to lose focus a bit towards the end, in my opinion.
READ THIS WEEK
Happy reading!