2015 Newbery Reading Challenge - Completed !!! 5/17/2015

Julie @ Smiling Shelves, "I created this challenge in 2014 as an encouragement for myself to read more Newbery Award winners and Newbery Honor books. It worked! So far this year, I've read eleven Newbery books, and I'm hoping to sneak a few more in before the end of the year.

I also discovered that there were people out there like me who wanted to read more Newbery books, so I've decided to host this challenge again in 2015. The rules are basically the same. Check it out below, and I hope you decide to join us!"

Each book you read is worth points. You get:

• 3 points for a Newbery Medal Winner
• 2 points for a Newbery Honor Book
• 1 point for a Caldecott Medal Winner (Gotta give the picture books some love, too.)

In addition to that, you pick a level to aim for:

• L'Engle: 15 - 29 points
• Spinelli: 30 - 44 points
• Avi: 45 - 59 points
• Lowry: 60 - 74 points
• Konigsburg: 75+ points

I am going for the Spinelli Level --

More Rules are from Julie are below, but I want to put my list of read books here so I don't have to scroll down so far to list the titles.

Newbery  List - 3 points

1. Walk Two Moons - Sharon Creech
2. The Midwife's Apprentice - Karen Cushman
3. A Visit to William Blake's Inn - Nancy Willard
4. A Gathering of Days - Joan W. Blos

Newbery Honor List - 2 points

1. Nothing But the Truth - Avi
2. Fog Magic - Julia Sauer
3. The Great Fire - Jim Murphy
4. Joey Pigza Loses Control - Jerry Spinelli
5. Sing Down the Moon - Scott O'Dell
6. Annie and the Old One - Patricia Miles Martin
7. A String in the Harp - Nancy Bond
8. The Road From Home - David Kherdian
9. The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm - Nancy Farmer
10. The Perilous Road - William O. Steele
11. The Perilous Gard - Elizabeth Marie Pope
12. The Dream Coach - Anne Parrish
13. Belling the Tiger - Mary Stolz

Caldecott Medal - 1 point

1. A Visit to William Blake's Inn - Nancy Willard (Honor)

You can get to this level with any combination of points you want. You can read all Newbery Medal winners. You can throw in a few Honor Books. If you want, you can even read 75 Caldecott Medal winners! How you get to your point level is totally up to you. 

Also, anywhere is the point range for your level counts as completing that level. So for example, if you signed up for the Avi level and read 46 points' worth of books, then you have completed that level!

Challenge Guidelines:

• Rereads count (because you were probably a kid when you read it last, and your perspective on the story just might have changed since then).
• Audiobooks and ebooks count.
• And paper books count, too. :)
• All books must be read between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2015. Books begun before January 1 don’t count.
• Books can be used for other challenges as well.
• You don’t have to have a blog to participate. You can link up reviews from Amazon, Goodreads, etc., or just hang out with us in the comments!
• Reviews are encouraged, but not necessary. There will be a headquarters page for you to link up your reviews if you want to share your thoughts.
• Choose your point level. You can always aim for a higher point level, but you can't move to a lower one.

To join the Newbery Reading Challenge:

• Write a post (or a comment) stating your intention to join. Choose your point level. You can find the challenge button below to use in your post.
• Add your link to the Linky at the bottom of this post. Make sure you include the link to your sign-up post, not just your homepage.

2015 Monthly Keyword Challenge

Welcome to the 3rd Annual Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge! For this challenge I have chosen six key words associated with each month in 2015. Your task is to read one book each month whose title includes one or more of the key words for that month.

Rules:
* The title you choose can be a variation on one of the key words. For example- your title could include the word 'snowing' or 'snowflake' even though the key word is 'snow.'

* Key words can be tweaked. For example- You could read "Cinder" or "Ashes" for the key word 'Fire' and that would be just fine. If the key word is 'family' then your title could include the word 'sister' or 'mother.'If the key word is 'food' then your title could include the word 'cake.'

* Link up below to participate and add additional links any time you post about the challenge or post about a book you read for the challenge.

This challenge is just for fun so please don't worry if you have to skip a month or if you have to read your books out of order! Just have fun with it! 

(Please read the linky instructions carefully)

LINKY:

* If you plan on participating, please sign up on the linky with your blog name and the words Sign Up (example: Bookmark to Blog Sign Up)

*  Different this Year! I'll be posting only one linky for all the reviews rather than posting a new one each month. When you post your review post the name of the book and the month.

MONTHLY KEY WORDS:

JAN- Truth
Nothing But the Truth  

FEB- Once    
The Once and Future King

MAR-  City
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity

APR- Dream
The Dream Coach

MAY- Road
The Perilous Road

JUN-  Soul
Every Soul a Star

JUL- Sun
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

AUG-  Lost
Dog Lost

SEP- How
How to Eat a Small Country

OCT-  Home
Dracula, Go Home!

NOV-  Dark
A Curse Dark as Gold

DEC- Over
Girl Overboard (Chen)

2015 What's in a Name VII

This is the sign-up post for the eighth annual What’s In A Name challenge, originally started by Annie, handed to Beth Fish Reads, and now continued at The Worm Hole.

The basics

The challenge runs from January to December. During this time you choose a book to read from each of the following categories (examples of books you could choose are in brackets):

• A word including ‘ing’ in it (The Time Of Singing, Dancing To The Flute, Lex Trent Fighting With Fire) My examples are verbs but you can of course use other words.
• A colour (The Red Queen, White Truffles In Winter, On Gold Mountain)
• A familial relation (Daughter Of Smoke And Bone, Dombey And Son, My Cousin Rachel) By all means include in-laws, step, and halves.
• A body of water (The River Of No Return, Black Lake, Beside The Sea)
• A city (Barcelona Shadows, Shanghai Girls, Under The Tripoli Sky)
• An animal (Black Swan Rising, The Leopard Unleashed, The Horse And His Boy)

My Books:

• Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool
• Greenwitch by Susan Cooper
• Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
• Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson
• Looking After Minidoka by Neil Nakadate
• Belling the Tiger by Mary Stolz

2015 Monthly Motif Challenge

2015 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge! For this challenge, each month is assigned a certain motif or theme. Your task is to read one book per month that fits in with the motif for that particular month. If you participated in this challenge last year you'll see that some of the motifs are the same while others have been changed up or switched around. 
   
This challenge is just for fun so please don't worry if you have to skip a month or if you have to read your books out of order! If you don't have anywhere to link your reviews- don't worry about it. Just come back and comment telling us what you read and if you liked it! Just have fun with it! (Please read the linky instructions carefully.) 

LINKY:

* If you plan on participating, please sign up on the linky with your blog name and the words Sign Up (example: Bookmark to Blog Sign Up)

*  Different this Year! I'll be posting only one linky for all the reviews rather than posting a new one each month. When you post your review post the name of the book and the month.

* You'll find the review linky in the sidebar starting January 2015.

JAN- Book to Movie or Audio
Read a book that has a movie based off of it. For an extra challenge, see the movie as well.

Life of Pi

FEB- Award Winner
Read a book that has won recognition or a literary award.  

Joey Pigza Loses Control

MAR-  Genre Jumble 

Read a book in a genre that you've never tried or that you're least familiar with. 

Eve and the Mortal Journey

APR- Mystery, Murder, and Mayhem 

Read a murder/mystery book.

Heirs and Graces

MAY- Library Love

Show your library some love and visit your local branch. Choose a book to read that they have on display.

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust

JUN-  Take A Trip

Choose a book to read that takes place in a country different than the one you live in or choose a book written by an author that is from a country different than your own.

The African Queen

JUL- Standing Up

Read a book in which the main character stands up for themselves, stands against an enemy, or stands up for something they believe in.

Left for Dead 

AUG- Alternate Reality

Read a book that's set in the future, on another planet, in another dimension, or in an unknown world. A Dystopian book will count this month as well. 
Brilliant Devices

SEP- Furry Friends

Read a book that includes an animal either as a main character or supporting character. Horses, cats, dogs, insects, bird, etc. The book doesn't have to be about the animal but the animal needs to play some sort of role in the story or be mentioned several times throughout the book.

The Blue Cat of Castle Town 

OCT- Goblins, and Ghost, and Ghouls, Oh My!

Cozy mystery ghost stories, paranormal creeptastic, funky fantasy creatures- it's up to you!

Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well

NOV- An Oldie but a Goodie

Pick a book published before 2000 that you've always wanted to read, but just never got to. Or pick a book set in the past (before 2000). 

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

DEC- That's a Wrap

Finish a series you've been meaning to finish or read the next book in a series you started but never finished. 

???