Middle Grade Carousel is a series of monthly challenges for lovers and readers of middle grade books. Our theme for June is…
Books of a Feather
We’ll be flying high as we head into summer with books featuring our feathered friends!
Category: CHALLENGES
Because Biscuits
The smell from the biscuits seemed to fill the room, fill the world, and when she wiped them with a small cloth smeared with butter so the hot biscuits shone, the smell grew even more powerful. He swallowed again and again, and she smiled and handed him a biscuit split that she’d filled with honey, so hot he almost couldn’t hold it, but he ate it and could think of nothing else then. Just the biscuit and the honey and the butter.
The Cookcamp
Gary Paulsen
Snacks for Bookworms
Finding the best reading snack can be tricky. Too sticky, and you might accidentally glue the book. Dusty foods would leave fingerprints. Juggling utensils and turning pages is a dangerous business. But, as connoisseurs and well-practiced Snack-While-You-Readers, we have come up with some go-to favorites.
Duo Bingo
A fun twist on the personality bingo that’s been sweeping the internet nation! Which Kinde Lady do you more closely resemble?
Did you fill out the Bingo meme, too? Link us up so we can take the test!
And if you love Bingo, check out our Summer Reading Bingo challenge.
#MGCarousel – Summer Reading Bingo
Summer is the perfect time to break out some special reading challenges, so Middle Grade Carousel is happy to present you with one of our own. It’s Summer Reading Bingo time!
(click the image for full-sized graphic)
Meat Mush
She pushes a bowl in front of Bailey, motions for me to get the ground meat and eggs and salt and onions, and soon we are mushing our hands in the meat mush, squishing it and squeezing it, and the garlic-onion-spareribs-bay-leaf-oregano-tomatoes are swirling in the big pot, and the smells are wrapping around us, and I am dizzy with it, with the smells and the squished meat and the play going on in my head.
Granny Torrelli Makes Soup
Sharon Creech
Classic Cooking
Homer got down from the chair and pushed a button on the machine marked, “Start.” Rings of batter stated dropping into the hot fat. After a ring of batter was cooked on one side an automatic gadget turned it over and the other side would cook. then another automatic gadget gave the doughnut a little push and it rolled neatly down a little chute, all ready to eat.
—Homer Price, “The Doughnuts,” by Robert McCloskey, 1943
Wishes, Kisses, and Pigs
The Great Cake Mystery
She closed her eyes and thought about some of the cakes she enjoyed. Cakes with thick icing. Cakes with jam on top of them. Cakes sprinkled with sugar and then dipped in little colored sugarballs. There were so many cakes… and all of them were so delicious.
―The Great Cake Mystery by Alexander McCall Smith
National Pack Rat Day
May 17 is National Pack Rat Day! If you are a collector of things, a hoarder of random objects, or loathe to throw anything out, you’re probably one of us. Do you recognize this famous fictional pack rat?
“Look,” he began in his sharp voice, “you say you have seven goslings. There were eight eggs. What happened to the other egg? Why didn’t it hatch?”
“It’s a dud, I guess,” said the goose.
“What are you going to do with it?” continued Templeton, his little round beady eyes fixed on the goose.
“You can have it,” replied the goose. “Roll it away and add it to that nasty collection of yours.” (Templeton had a habit of picking up unusual objects around the farm and storing them in his home. He saved everything.)
―Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
What do you collect?
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