Middle Grade Mondays: 5 Things I Love Right Now, from a Tween
Robin broke her arm, in two places!, so we are punting for this week’s Middle Grade Monday. So I gave my Tween homework: write a post about the things that you love right now. I added some notes because she apparently is a minimalist. But it is always good to know what your patrons are interested in and get their point of view. So here you go . . .
Flappy Bird
A game where you have to get a bird through pipes without hitting them. It is hard, but fun. All of my friends are playing it.
Karen’s note: It is hard, I have only gotten a 2 on it. This game is really popular right now among the Tween set. It is simple in concept, but actually kind of difficult in execution. And like Minecraft, mentioned below, it has kind of that old school video game feel to it.
Minecraft
You probably have heard of this but it’s a game where you build things and in survival mode try not to get killed. I like the create mode because you make your own world.
Karen’s note: Minecraft has been around for a while and is of course very popular. But the tweens around me have just discovered it. They all come over and sit around playing on their iPads after school. Here is a cool Pinterest board for Minecraft in the Library.
Wonder Struck
This book is about a boy whose mother is dead and so he goes to the city where his father lived. It was brilliant and amazing. I can’t stop talking about it.
Karen’s note: I had a copy of this laying around and she picked it up and started reading it. She did a marathon read – couldn’t put it down – and read it all in one day. It is a huge, daunting looking volume but a lot of it is pictures so it’s not as overwhelming as you would think. She then spent days talking about how much she loved this book and has gotten all of her friends to read it.
The Land of Stories
Okay if you have not heard of this book stop reading this and get it, this book is amazing. So two kids get a story book and get stuck in it and have to stop an evil queen. It includes a lot of fairy tale characters and twists.
Karen’s note: For Christmas this year we drove from Texas to Ohio and she read The Land of Stories on the way. She picked it out and purchased it as a Christmas gift from Christie, who of course got her a bookstore gift card for a gift because she is the best auntie ever. She seriously loved this book. And I know she has another friend who read and loved this book.
Dork Diaries
This book is about a girl who is not so popular in school and has a rival who is super mean. It’s funny, and a quick read.
Karen’s note: These books are still really popular in my library. I can’t keep them in on the shelves.
These books and games are super amazing so try them now.
Filed under: Apps, Dork Diaries, Flappy Bird, MG Lit, Middle Grade Monday, Minecraft, Technology, The Land of Stories, Wonderstruck

About Karen Jensen, MLS
Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 32 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).
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Excellent job! I think this should be a regular feature!
Wonderful! Another vote to make this a regular feature!