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Hey everyone! Here's a place to discuss some of your favourite reads from all you read during the challenge! Feel free to list as many books as you like and why you recommend them but please remember to hide spoilers in spoiler tags!

after looking through the list of books i read for this challenge, i'd already forgotten some of them, which just made me more excited as i remembered them😂

my top favorites:
Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo - this might be more of a nostalgia favorite, but i read it ages ago and just reread it and it brought all the memories back. i just really love the world creation, or the idea of the other world that exists.

The Girl Who Could Not Dream - so with both this and level thumps, i think i just have a thing for books about dreams lol. but the characters are so cute and the idea of it is fascinating and creative

Amari and the Night Brothers - MAGIC. and dealing with an ability that's extremely frowned upon by others in that society. it deals with some prominent issues, which is great, and i'm also just a sucker for secret magic societies.

A Dash of Trouble and A Sprinkle of Spirits - cooking + magic = marvelous (and when you're inevitably hungry at the end, she includes recipes!). i read books one and two for the challenge, but i definitely plan on reading the rest on my own

The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane - sort of predictable as for people involved, but it was still extremely intriguing and i definitely want to read the next. again, while not magic, still a sucker for secret societies lol

Out of My Mind - this was an emotionally involved read. the mc has cerebral palsy, so she can't walk or speak and is confined to a wheelchair, but it's about her trying to be herself in a world that views her as different and less

The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise - this one was both extremely heartwarming and extremely heart wrenching. it takes place 5 years after a tragic loss, for the mc and her dad, but the characters are super quirky and it's a fun read while also discussing how people handle and deal with grief

Lalani of the Distant Sea - this one was beautiful. i haven't read any books with Filipino culture in them before, so this was a really unique and creative introduction, and it's also got some stories-within-stories going on, which i think rounds it out quite nicely

Inkheart - this was a reread, but since i didn't get the chance to read it during the readathon a bit ago, i'm glad i got to do so now😊 i'll always have a thing for a book about books. and this book just elicits a warm cozy and nostalgic feeling for me. it's definitely one book that i will never read as an ebook or an audiobook, just because i feel like i need to hold the physical thing in my hands for the magic to take place lol

so yeah! this has definitely pulled me out of my reading slump, and now all i want to do is spend every moment of my time in the worlds created by books😌

I ended up not liking Leven Thumps when I read it a few years ago.

I re-read two favorites, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH and Fall of Hades from the Michael Vey series, which I adore.

I think my favorite new book was The Girl is Murder. It was one of two books I could find that had an old phone on the cover. The other book that qualified also looks interesting, but the library sent me a newer edition, so The Girl Is Murder was literally my only option but I really liked it. I think I'll hold on to the other book anyway.

yeah Leven Thumps has a whole lot of mixed reviews, so it definitely doesn’t seem to be for everyone!

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is an old favorite of mine. Lots of themes including the pros and cons of animal experimentation. I really liked The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane. I agree that it was predictable but it was so entertaining. I read the sequel, The Secret of White Stone Gate for the readathon, but I didn't think it was nearly as good as the original. Amari and the Night Brothers included several themes and had Harry Potter vibes.

@Jessica @Lynn See when you say The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane is predictable it makes me think nah I shouldn’t bother but also you both said it’s enjoyable all the same. I’m so conflicted now! I downloaded it a couple of months back for one of our readathons. I can’t remember which but it was on one of the book lists for an event.

@Audrey I’ve read the first book of the Michael Vey series (buddy read it with Lynn actually!) and overall it was like 3 stars but that ending was fantastic 4 stars worthy. Is it worth continuing the series? Because it’s quite long so does the series maintain a good plot or does it start to drag?

@Lynn ah, that's disappointing to hear that the second one isn't as good because i was looking forward to reading it. i probably still will, just not with as high expectations

@Kadi you should definitely still read it! it's not one of those books where the predictability ruins it because it's still a really entertaining book, like Lynn said, and i'd still highly recommend it, especially if you like more mysterious books

The big readathon winners for me:
Winterhouse - luxurious and creepy hotel, lots of secrets, mysterious codes, wonderful illustrations
The Explorer's Code - another story with clues and codes - family dynamics. Three kids, three sets of clues - come together at the end in this dandy mystery tale.
A Guide to the Other Side - Baylor's twin sister, Kristina is dead, but helps him deliver messages from dead loved ones to the living.
The Unteachables - Hilarious situations highlight this one, especially for educators. Ex.. teacher's name is Zachary Kermit and they call him Mr. Ribbit.
Con Quest! fun ride through a comic convention like San Diego Comic Con with characters such as Whom M. D. instead of Dr. Who and Star Worlds instead of Star Wars.
Lola Benko, Treasure Hunter Three very clever kids use their intelligence to get out of outrageous and hilarious situations.
Dead City - Read all three books - Organization to keep zombies in New York City in line. Funny and, well, zombies.
Framed! - Florian Bates uses TOAST - Theory of All Small Things to solve an art theft for the FBI. Read all three books.

Lots of others too and no real duds. Had a great time and read some really fun books.

Kadi wrote: "@Jessica @Lynn See when you say The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane is predictable it makes me think nah I shouldn’t bother but also you both said it’s enjoyable all the same. I’m so conflicted now! I..."

I loved all the Michael Vey books. It's total cat-and-mouse, escapes, and break-ins, and I just love that kind of adventure. And they don't take very long to read.

Will we retain access to our team's spreadsheet? Also, is October a team read-athon too?

@Abigael yeah sure, I don’t do anything with them now. I already have a separate spreadsheet template for the points coding so I just archive the teams spreadsheets. Although I’m not sure what use it’d be to you, I create completely different tasks every time I host the challenge as it’s more fun and unexpected that way so it probably won’t be useful for next year’s Challenge. In any case, your access to it will stay the same!

The October readathon isn’t team-based. It’s an individual readathon style event so we all recommend books beforehand and create a book list and then we read them separately throughout the month. The only team-based event I’ve ever hosted on the group is the August Reading Challenge! Team events are hard to host because you have to find enough people who are able to commit whereas the readathons and other individual events are easier for people to participate in. Plus it’s always a fun event and I’m looking forward to it😊

I found a nice copy of Inkheart at the thrift store, but I read Dragon Rider by the same author and was kind of bored, so I've been hesitant to read it.

@Audrey a lot of people love it, Spencer recommended it during his Reader Recommends and I think it was also on the book list during our Moody May Readathon out one of our other events. So with all that insistence I psyched myself up and started it, I think I got like 4% in and then got bored because it’s really slow paced. I love the concept but I’m not sold on the execution. Admittedly I didn’t get very far into it so I’m not the best person to ask. It’s probably one of those books you need to try and see for yourself if you like it.

Inkheart is definitely a slower-paced book, so if you're looking for something that moves quickly and has a lot of action or things happening, you probably won't enjoy it much. i mean stuff obviously happens, but it isn't exactly edge-of-your-seat type of stuff.

Can You See Me? own voices Libby is autistic and Tally is based on herself and experiences. I think the title letters should have been red because of red instead campagin acceptance not awareness listening to actually autsistic people. It was a good read and I will read the second book about Tally sometime.


Inkheart is good sadly the series gets darker as it goes book 3 and 4 I never read for this reason.

If I don't like Inkheart, I can give it away. It's a nice copy, and someone should appreciate it. It's possible the author is just not for me.

A book I almost read was Real, co-written by a severely autistic woman and based on her life. My youngest son is autistic, but he's high-functioning, more like what used to be called Asperger's.

@Jessica A lot of your list looks like books I would really enjoy! I'll have to check them out! I haven't read Out of My Mind, but please don't say "confined to a wheelchair." Terms like that and "wheelchair-bound" reinforce ableist attitudes and are really harmful. Wheelchairs are liberating, not confining!

@Audrey I re-read a couple of favorites for the challenge too! The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle and Holes! Both are ones I've always loved and have re-read more times than I can count. It's been years since I read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Now I think I need to re-read it sometime soon. But please don't use functioning labels (e.g., high-functioning, severely autistic). They're inaccurate and harmful. I'm Autistic, and the majority of Autistic people oppose functioning labels.

@Lynn I love going to comic and anime cons and cosplaying, so I definitely need to check out Con Quest!!

@AurorainBookland I read Can You See Me? earlier this year, but I kept getting distracted by how it was Americanised. I wish they had just kept it the same as the original UK edition for the US publication. I ended up ordering UK copies of it and the sequel from Blackwell's, but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet. I like the UK cover better too because I think it fits the story more. Another middle grade with own voices Autistic representation I liked is Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen!.

I had a lot of fun reading for this challenge and there's some books I read that I might not have picked up otherwise!

The Ordinary Princess was wonderful, and I definitely recommend it for fairy tale lovers. The Color of My Words was also excellent, and Betty Before X and The Comeback: A Figure Skating Novel were both really good too. I would have loved Because of Winn-Dixie if it hadn't used the word "retard." I still liked it, but I really wish it hadn't repeatedly used that word.

Tiffany wrote: "@AurorainBookland I read Can You See Me? earlier this year, but I kept getting distracted by how it was Americanised. I wish they had just kept it the same as the original UK edition for the US pub..."

I didnt know there was a UK edition is there a listing of goodreads? I like seeing diffrent versions of covers. That books on my to read list Im trying to only read own voices especially if a character is autistic. Ableism is wrong and theres a lot needing to be done to fix it in many communites who arent represented much.

Tiffany wrote: "@Audrey I re-read a couple of favorites for the challenge too! The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle and Holes! Both are ones I've always loved and have re-read more ti..."

I love Holes, too. I didn't even think of it for the challenge.
If you enjoy cons, there's the (adult) book The Longest Con, which is a comedy-horror.

I hate when British books get Americanized. It feels like they're saying Americans are too dumb to understand British English. Have you ever seen British-ized American books?

I'm trying to remember terms the doctors used when doing the diagnosis for autism. I think there was "language impairment" and degrees of impairment. I do hate the term "confined to a wheelchair." The AP Styleguide says something like "wheelchairs aid in movement; they do not confine it."

@Tiffany oh gosh I’m so sorry! i definitely did not think about that at all, but it’ll be something i’ll remember in the future for certain!

but the other books are really good too and you should definitely check them out 👍🏼

@Audrey the truly sad thing is that that’s exactly what publishers are suggesting when they Americanise a British book. The prime example is Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone or as it’s known in America: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The publisher’s apparent reasoning behind the change from Philosopher to Sorcerer was primarily that American children would not be smart enough to understand what a philosopher is or already know the philosopher’s stone is, and would find its presence in the title to be off-putting or signify the book was boring. Moreover, the switch to sorcerer suggested that the publisher believed that American kids would not be able to understand the book was magic related without that word in the title.

I’m not American, I’m British, but I find this kind of attitude from publishers to be unnecessarily rude and demeaning toward American children who are no smarter and no dumber than British children. If anything, books are what teach you so dumbing it down is entirely counterintuitive.

Kadi wrote: "@Audrey the truly sad thing is that that’s exactly what publishers are suggesting when they Americanise a British book. The prime example is Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone or as it’s know..."

With Harry Potter I learned that biscuit means the american equivialent to cookie. And jumper means sweater not a skirt and overalls type straps attached. Its quite interesting so yeah just leave stuff the same and have a glossary of terms in the back.

I grew up on Narnia and Monty Python -- a pretty solid foundation. I now have collections of Doctor Who and Red Dwarf, but I'm going to need a different DVD player to get more of the shows I want. That's why I was so glad to get to hear Stephen Fry's narration of Harry Potter 1. It was like, "I knew that word had been changed!" I just find it weird when British characters start talking about trucks and fries and tennis shoes.

@Audrey I find that the majority of the books I read are American and that’s not even because I’m reading a certain genre or going out of my way to read American books, I think it’s just that there are more American books out there than British ones or even Australian ones or any other country. On the off chance a book I read is British I’m thoroughly surprised and find it refreshing.

This is kind of going off topic from the purpose of this discussion page but seeing as we’re discussing it, I have to say that whilst I do agree that they should keep all the british words the same so that kids can learn, I also do see the benefit of changing them like for ease of reading. Isn’t it to some extent just like reading a book in translation? If a book is in French and I can’t read French then the English translation is beneficial to me because then I can read the story but my understanding of the story won’t be the same because you can never have a direct translation. It’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that some of our objections to this “Americanisation�� of books stem from the fact that it’s still English just orientated around a different countries�� versions of the language.

In any case it’s an interesting discussion to have and you can make arguments on all sides. It’s always interesting to hear people’s thoughts on this one.

Kadi wrote: "@Audrey I find that the majority of the books I read are American and that’s not even because I’m reading a certain genre or going out of my way to read American books, I think it’s just that there..."

I get where people are coming from. I think keep the words the same but have glossary in the back for less confusion.

Yeah translations arent direct neither are auto captions but they are helpful. I read Kiki's delivery service and that was originally published in Japan and just translated to English and I was so happy to be able to read the book the inspired one of my favorite movies.

@AurorainBookland Yep, it was originally published by Scholastic UK. I can't figure out how to link a specific edition on ŷ������, but it's here on Blackwell's:
There's actually a prequel out now in the UK. I'm not sure if/when it will be published in the US, but I'll probably order it from Blackwell's anyway since I already have the UK copies of the first two. And absolutely! I'm multiply Disabled and Autistic. Own voices representation is so important!

I love Studio Ghibli movies! I've been wanting to read both Kiki's Delivery Service and Howl's Moving Castle because I love the movies! Also, just so you know auto-captions are known as "craptions" in the Deaf and HoH community because often they're so bad.

@Tiffany omg yes auto-captions are the worst!! Subtitles or there’s no point. I’m not deaf or HoH but I’m not confident in my hearing and I read faster than I hear so I always watch stuff with subtitles. The cinemas here don’t have english subtitles, only Arabic and for some reason French and there are so many times where I’ll be unable to comfortably watch. I feel like I have to really pay attention if there’s no subtitles so it’s like I’m on the edge of my seat the whole time.

@Rory I haven’t watched that Studio Ghibli movie. Controversial opinion possibly but I think Studio Ghibli is kind of overrated. Idk I was very underwhelmed when watching Spirited Away. I really ripped it apart in my review but I was lenient with the rating, looking back on it now it deserved less stars (see my review here if you’re interested: ) But Kiki’s Delivery Service does look cute. Is it good? (As either manga or the movie)

Americanising (or Americanizing, depending on your persuasion) British books in general gets on my nerves. I don't mind the spelling changes so much, although I think they're unnecessary, as changing words or editing entire passages to fit an American context and readership. I think the major difference between this and translating a book is that it's not an entirely different language, only a different dialect. If I pick up a book written in French, I might be able to pick out a word or two but I can't read or understand it because I don't know French. However, if I pick up a book written in British English, I can still read and understand it perfectly well even if a few words might be different than what I use in my own speech.

But with Can You See Me? it was also inconsistent, which I found really distracting. There's also things that just didn't make sense by putting it in an American context. For example, Tally is starting middle school (US term), but they're required to wear uniforms. I don't know of any public schools in the States that wear uniforms. The terms about her autism diagnosis are also the UK terms because there aren't always equivalents in the US. The UK and US use different diagnostic manuals and the US does not recognize Pathological Demand Avoidance, but Tally's PDA is a huge part of the book and couldn't be changed or left out. I know most readers won't know that, but I found it incredibly distracting.

@Audrey I can’t read any horror because I get scared too easily, but thanks anyway!

There’s actually a lot of problems with the terms that doctors use even. There is a long, complicated history of autism research being very problematic, pathologizing autism, not consulting actual autistic people about anything, and studies and diagnostic criteria being primarily centered around white boys and excluding girls, people of color, and adults. It’s more than I want to get into here, but I definitely recommend learning more about it and reading/listening to what autistic adults have to say about our experiences.

Tiffany wrote: "@AurorainBookland Yep, it was originally published by Scholastic UK. I can't figure out how to link a specific edition on ŷ������, but it's here on Blackwell's: ..."

Thanks! I have seen that cover on goodreads thats the default cover for the book the one that pops up when you search it to add the cover as a link.

Theres a prequal, thats interesting. Howls moving castle book is so good if you like it I reccomend House of many ways by the same author so many funny Howl quotes.

Thats intresting I recently started using captions on youtube and yeah some things you have to know what theyre saying to understand it but the captions on Netflix and Disney plus seem pretty accurate from what Ive seen. I use captions because sonetime the aduio is super quiet then loud and I try to keep the volume to just as loud as you can hear it like its reccomeded by some hearing regulations, if you get new headphones it will say in the papers to only listen as loud as you can hear it not super loud that people next you can hear it to protect your hearing. Im big on protecting hearing and eyesight you only have one set of ears and eyes got to take care of them.

Kadi wrote: "@Tiffany omg yes auto-captions are the worst!! Subtitles or there’s no point. I’m not deaf or HoH but I’m not confident in my hearing and I read faster than I hear so I always watch stuff with subt..."

Ive only seen the movie, its so cute! You could probably find the dvd at a used bookstore or rent it on amazon video for a couple of dollars or whatever currency your area uses if you dont want to pay for a new dvd.

@Kadi Yeah, captions definitely benefit more than just Deaf/HoH people. I don't use captions usually, unless I'm watching without the sound on for some reason, but I've seen some really awful auto-captions. I have a booktube channel (although I haven't made any new videos in months, oops), and I add CC by editing the auto-generated captions. The stuff it comes up with sometimes is wild! It's strange there aren't English subtitles there. Aren't you in the UK?

Oh, and I love Studio Ghibli but have always thought Spirited Away was a bit overrated. I like it, but it's not my favorite Ghibli film and its popularity has always surprised me.

Tiffany wrote: "Americanising (or Americanizing, depending on your persuasion) British books in general gets on my nerves. I don't mind the spelling changes so much, although I think they're unnecessary, as changi..."

I just assumed her school decided to require uniforms or was a magnet school or private school. I dont remember it stating it was a public school.

spirited away wasn't my cup of tea either. It seemed like a sad movie to me.

@AurorainBookland Thanks, I'll have to look for Howl's Moving Castle and House of Many Ways at my library! I would hope that Netflix and Disney+ use professional captioning services not auto-generated captions, but they might not. If you like using headphones and can find some kid's ones that fit you, children's headphones often have volume protection built in so it can't be turned up loud enough to damage hearing.

I thought it was a public school Tally went to, but I could very well be remembering wrong.

Tiffany wrote: "@AurorainBookland Thanks, I'll have to look for Howl's Moving Castle and House of Many Ways at my library! I would hope that Netflix and Disney+ use professional captioning services not auto-genera..."

Cool, I hope you enjoy them.

Thanks, I found some regular headphones with foam thats not covered in fake leather or anything and they have a volume control on the cord so I have my tablet set at low volume and use the volume control on the headphones cord it works very well.

@Tiffany one of the most hilarious things is when the auto captions try to figure out what someone with a strong accent said. I used to put auto captions on for lectures given by this strong Irish accented professor I had last year and it was so funny how wrong they would be. The lectures were always really long so at least I had a good laugh at the auto-captions at times.

Yeah I’m technically in England right now. I haven’t been to the cinemas here in years but from what I remember they don’t have any subtitles at all. But I actually meant the cinemas in Dubai, the cinema company there also has branches in Lebanon so that could explain the French subtitles. Probably a bit confusing that I said “here�� but meant somewhere where I’m not. It’s confusing in general because I’ll tell someone I’m in Dubai and then the next time we speak I’m in England or vice versa.

Also if you do read Howl’s Moving Castle it’ll be interesting to see what you think. Have you watched the movie?

@Rory last I saw they have it on Netflix so I’ll watch it on there if I get around to it any time soon. I’ve got a relatively small watch list actually but I have a tonnnn of ARCs and books to read. I haven’t even started reading the one book I want to read for Steampunk September! I find anime very distracting because when I’m tired I know it takes less brain power to watch than to read.

Kadi wrote: "@Rory last I saw they have it on Netflix so I’ll watch it on there if I get around to it any time soon. I’ve got a relatively small watch list actually but I have a tonnnn of ARCs and books to read..."

Okay.

My cousin is a closed captioner by profession and has some choice words about auto captions.

My husband's family has many autistic members, most of them still children, and all over the spectrum. Apparently Grandma and/or her mother had autism, but it wasn't discussed or understood back then, and it was kept all hush-hush, which caused some strain in their relationships.

Another reason I don't like Americanizing British language (or vice versa) is there is a question of where to draw the line. What about other dialects that may be hard to understand? What if we turned language with a Deep South or Scottish or whatever dialect into "standard" English? Does that imply their use of the language is substandard? Is their voice erased by doing this? I'd rather stay away from such iffy territory.

I found the book and movie of Howl's Moving Castle very different from each other. The book made more sense to me.