Many of the titles on this list of my favourite early middle grade books from 2024 are book club reads. Some, the children enjoyed thoroughly; others, I enjoyed more than the children did! On the whole, I recommend these books for ages nine and up. In no particular order, here are my top ten early middle grade reads from 2024. No Talking Even though I don't usually like books that follow a boys vs girls sort of dynamic, I thoroughly enjoyed No Talking by Andrew Clements! For me, his books are particularly useful because there's just so much I can do with them at a book club. With easy, readable text that is humorous and engaging, they are perfect for all kinds of readers; plus, my book clubbers love them. No Talking was no different! Book activities Kushti Kid So many books by Vibha Batra have featured on my lists of … [Read more...]
Petu Pumpkin: Freedom Fighter
We need more books this length! Petu Pumpkin: Freedom Fighter is perfect for my book club for so many reasons! For one, it's a book about agency and creating change, while also being a humorous read featuring familiar characters. For another, since it's just about a hundred pages long, we have enough time to read as well as do activities based on the book. Interviews Petu Pumpkin and his friends gather quite a crowd as they protest outside their school gates. This is a good prompt for us to explore how interviews worked. What questions would we ask an interviewee? Just like when we read Sita's Chitwan, I look forward to interesting interviews of my book clubbers! Campaign What would you campaign for? What makes you angry, and what do you feel is unjust?With Petu Pumpkin, we'll look at a few elements of a campaign from discussing … [Read more...]
Petu Pumpkin: Freedom Fighter
What would you do if your playground was going to be converted into a shopping mall? Would you be okay with your games period being cancelled indefinitely? Petu and his friends certainly aren't going to take it lying down!Petu Pumpkin Freedom Fighter deals with heavy themes in the lightest possible way -- with not just humour, but hilarity. In this book for slightly older readers than the hOle books, Petu and the rest of his Awesome Fivesome have bigger trouble at hand. It's no longer about a tiffin thief or about his friends suspecting that Petu Pumpkin is a cheat. Now, they need to get together and stage a protest because their school playground is slyly being appropriated by people in power. Even though the themes are bigger, Arundhati Venkatesh's trademark humour remains the same!I love to see how themes and ideas overlap across literature. For instance, the children in … [Read more...]