Episode: 514 Middle Grade

RLW Episode 514 logo

Thank you for joining us on Reading With Libraries! We are so glad you are here to join our book group podcast!

We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, and we work with all types of libraries. It’s hard to be an expert on ALL of the great books out there! So we pick a new genre each week to chat about and hopefully provide you with some insight into what may be a new genre to you.

This week we’re going to be discussing Middle Grade books. We’ve mentioned Middle Grade titles on our other podcasts, and if you’re interested in children’s literature, you should definitely listen to our episodes on Picture Books and YA!

We’re happy to welcome our CMLE Podcast Correspondent Ariel Kirst from the St. Cloud Public Library!

Beverages:

Each week we like to connect the theme of our books with our beverages. Today we have drinks perfect for any gathering of middle grade readers. And since we’re getting so close to summertime, all our beverages include watermelon! You can find links on our show notes page to the recipes for the beverages we are enjoying.

 Watermelon Lemonade

  • 4 cups watermelon,, chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 6 cups cold water
  • Blend together chopped watermelon and lemon juice in blender until very smooth.
  • Pour into large pitcher. Add sugar and cold water and stir well.
  • Pour over ice and enjoy!

Watermelon Lime Spritzer

  • 4 cups diced watermelon, seedless
  • 12 ounces sparkling lime seltzer water, unsweetened
  • 2 limes
  • Place your diced watermelon in the freezer for about 2 hours. Blend frozen, diced watermelon in your blender until smooth. ( You could strain the juice if you want, I did not). Add the juice of 1 lime and stevia and blend until mixed well. Slice the other lime into wedges to garnish glasses. Pour blended watermelon into 4 glasses (filling 3/4 of the glass or 1/2 of the glass depending on how much carbonation you like). Carefully top off each glass by pouring sparkling lime seltzer into each to create foam, stir and enjoy

Watermelon Agua Fresca

  • 3 cups watermelon , cubed
  • 1/4 cup lime juice , freshly squeezed
  • 1/4 cup simple syrup
  • 2 cups of water
  • ice for serving
  • 3-4 mint leaves , have extra for garnish
  • In a blender, mix the watermelon, lime juice, simple syrup and water until well combined. Stir in 3-4 mint leaves and refrigerate overnight for added freshness, if desired.
  • Serve with a lot of ice and garnish with mint leaves.

Genre Discussion:

If you have heard any of our episodes, you know that we are big fans of YA books. And we also like reading Middle Grade books – for ourselves and to help share them with our library community!

So, what is a Middle Grade book? Generally they are “books intended for readers eight to 12 years old. But as with most things pertaining to children’s books, there are gray areas to consider and oft-debated exceptions.”

Reka Simonsen, executive editor at Atheneum Books for Young Readers says this genre speaks to people in this age group and to their interests. “Middle grade fiction deals with the things kids are going through at those ages: friendships made and lost, family relationships changing, physical changes, a wide range of school experiences, and a growing awareness of the wide world outside of oneself and the injustices it often contains.”

The growth of this genre really shows how much attention we are now giving to this age range, and it is really interesting to see the range of books available to them!

Suggested Reading Resources:

Our Book Discussion

We have our beverages, we are familiar with this week’s genre, let’s get to the book discussion! 

Conclusion:

Thank you so much for joining us on Reading With Libraries! We hope you enjoyed our conversation about Middle Grade literature and have some new book titles to check out. 

A special thanks to our CMLE Podcast Consultant Ariel for joining us! And as always, thank you so much for listening. 

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Join us next Thursday with another genre, more guest hosts for our book group, and more books to share and discuss.