This is it, the final check-in of the 2014 Hub Reading Challenge! Anything from the list of eligible titles that you read or listen to up until 11:59pm EDT tonight, June 22, counts. So fill out the form below and let us know that you’ve finished the challenge before 11:59pm EDT!
After the deadline passes we’ll do a drawing to determine our grand prize winner, who will receive a YALSA tote bag full of 2013 and 2014 YA lit! (If the winner is a teacher or librarian or something similar, we’ll also include a few professional development titles.) Everyone who completed the challenge will receive an elite digital badge of achievement, as well as an invitation to submit a reader response to a book they read for the challenge that will be published on The Hub. Check out some of the amazing Reader Responses from last year if you’re curious.
We’re also interested in knowing what you thought of the 2014 challenge! What worked for you? What didn’t? Did you participate on social media? Why or why not? Leave us a comment and let us know what you enjoyed most about participating, what you’d like us to change for the next reading challenge, or anything else you want to share. You can also email us if you’d like to respond privately.
One last time, then, don’t forget to check out social media using the #hubchallenge hashtag and jump into the discussion over at the Goodreads 2014 Hub Challenge group if you haven’t already.
If you’ve completed the challenge by reading or listening to 25 titles from the list of eligible books, be sure to fill out the form below by 11:59pm EDT tonight, Sunday, June 22. Please be sure to use an email you check frequently so we can send you your Challenge Finisher badge, get in touch to coordinate your reader’s response, and, perhaps best of all, notify you if you win the grand prize drawing! Thanks for participating in the 2014 Hub Reading Challenge! I can’t wait till next year!
Finished Two Boys Kissing yesterday. It was amazing.
This year’s Hub Challenge was pretty cool, and I’m looking forward to doing it again next year. I am also moving some of the titles from the list that I didn’t get to during the challenge to my to-read list. :)
Thanks for running this!
Sadly, I’m not going to finish the challenge, but I made it to 18 books, which is way better than I did last year.
I read:
4 Alex Award winners – Relish, The Universe Vs Alex Woods, Help for the Haunted, and Lexicon
4 Quick Picks – Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, The Testing, Boy Nobody, and How to Speak Dog
4 Great Graphic Novels – Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, Dogs of War, Boxers, Saints
3 BFYA – Out of the Easy, All the Truth That’s in Me, and Far Far Away
3 Morris – In the Shadow of Blackbirds, Sex and Violence, and Belle Epoque
1 Amazing Audiobook – Etiquette and Espionage
Some favorites were The Universe Vs Alex Woods, Lexicon, The Testing and Far, Far Away.
Lexicon made my favorites list as well.
Officially ending it with 57 books. Can’t wait for next year’s challenge! :)
I finished my last book this afternoon!!
My comments for the books are posted on the Goodreads website – I posted under my username jmrunninglib.
I enjoyed the challenge of reading some books that I might have missed otherwise. I look forward to participating again next year.
Great job, everyone!
I finished earlier this week, and was able to complete my own personal mini-challenge by reading at least 1 book from each category along with all of the great graphic novels.
Goals for next year:
I plan to read at least 1 book from each category and all of the amazing audio books. Graphic novels and audio books are difficult for me so I use the challenge for motivation.
I plan to participate more on social media.
My Favorites:
All The Truth That’s In Me
Beautiful Music For Ugly Children
Boxers & Saints
Dodger
I Am The Messenger
Lexicon
Will & Whit
Finished my last three today putting me at 25 with an hour to spare!
In the Shadow of Black Birds- Really liked it, looking forward to more from this author.
Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design- loved it!
Crap Kingdom- Started off promising but in the end I thought it really fell short.
I had a great time participating and will definitely do it next year!
I have failed on weekly updates and finished just under the wire this year with book 25 a few minutes ago, but I must say, I enjoyed most of what I read and this has introduced me to many new books. I enjoy getting out of my normal comfort zone and still wish to read several more on this list.
Whew! Just submitted my form in the nick of time! Finished my last book this afternoon. My list was heavy on the graphic novels and audiobooks, but I really enjoyed participating and look forward to doing it again. I doubt I’ll ever go for conquering the challenge as I don’t see myself re-reading a lot of things (so many books, so little time), but, as long as there’s 25 books on the list I haven’t read before (and let’s be real – there’s probably ALWAYS going to be 25 books on the list I haven’t read before), this is a great way to keep up with some of the best, current YA books.
I did not participate on social media except for posting my reviews to my Goodreads account (which is how I currently track all my reading – although, thanks to Amazon, I’m thinking I should maybe switch that……) which then posts them to Facebook and Twitter. 2014 Hub Challenge Shelf here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/66673-jennifer?order=d&shelf=2014hubchallenge. I don’t tweet very often in general and my Facebook community is mostly non-Library/book world people so I don’t talk about this kind of stuff there much. I’ve never really gotten into the actual social portions of Goodreads either – I mostly just use it as a record keeping service. Perhaps next year I’ll try to expand my conversational horizons.
There’s still lots more I’d like to read off the list, but I feel like I need to get started on 2014 titles as well as finishing this year’s Abraham Lincoln list (Illinois’ High School Readers’ Choice Award). I did really like having the motivation to look at some things I might have otherwise missed. There wasn’t anything I read that I really disliked or couldn’t understand why it was picked – there were things not to my taste (Scowler, I’m looking at you!), but not a one I felt I was wasting my time on.
I loved RUST and The Adventures of Super Hero Girl – neither of which I think I would have found on my own – and Etiquette & Espionage was such a delightful audio experience that I immediately listened to Curtsies & Conspiracies.
Thanks so much for running this challenge! I hope to be back next year.
I love this challenge! I believe I have done it every year. It started in 2012?
I read the check-ins every week and post periodically, but have not done anything on social media. I would have done a goodreads group in the past but this year have a new baby, so just finishing was enough of a challenge. I’ve done a goodreads shelf in past years but have not had the time this year.
Feedback:
I like the form that is new this year and solves some of the “which titles are eligable” problems. I also like that you do a pdf of eligable titles. If the form stays, perhaps all the audio titles can be marked as such? That may help with some of the confusion on what can be listened to and what can’t–I have noticed that several people each year don’t realize that it has to win an audio award to be eligable to be listened to. (A rule, by the way, that I understand but don’t agree with. I understand why you would have to listen to a book that won an audio award, but I don’t agree that other titles must be read in physical form. So if that rule disappeared, I wouldn’t be upset.)
Overall, I love the challenge and look forward to it every year!
I beat my total from last year and read 65 books! I’m still listening/reading to Eleanor & Park and reading Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttlein. I’m planning on reading the rest of the Alex books for my summer reading.
Some of my favorites are:
Rose Under Fire
Star Wars Jedi Academy (so cute)
Freakboy (I love and am amazed by Verse Novels)
Out of the Easy
Winger
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer
If You Could Be Mine
Etiquette & Espionage (I love listening to the accents)
can’t wait for next year!
I didn’t complete the challenge, as I had read a fair amount of books before it started and also, I just suck. I did modify it for my school, which you can read about here. But I will say that I would love to see us include more ALA affiliate awards in the future to further diversify the eligible titles list! And I certainly still plan to read many of the titles that were on the challenge list; some of them were so popular that my students always had them checked out, so I couldn’t!
This is my 2nd year participating in the challenge. Last year, I read 50+ books, but read/listened to the complete list this year 10 days before the deadline. While I still do not like the GN format, some of the subject matter was very interesting. I would like to have read them in traditional format. I do not post anywhere but here on this forum. I am not on any social media whatsoever. I think the list was quite diverse & covered many award winning books. Don’t see any reason to change. I printed out the list and kept a copy on my desk at work and at home so I could keep track of what I needed to reserve at county (even out of county) public libraries. If not for these out of county libraries, I would not have been able to get the audio books. The challenge has pulled me out of my comfort zone a little. Before last year’s challenge, I would never pick up any book that couldn’t really happen – no sci fi, no fantasy, no paranormal, etc. My favorite books – The Testing, All the Truth That’s In Me, Proxy, Golden Boy (Sullivan), Between Shades of Gray,Boy Nobody, Etiquette & Espionage. My least favorites were any GN that was fiction, especially the 6 Strobe books. I would like to know (via some kind of form/survey next year?) the makeup of my fellow readers – ages, genders, career, state in which you live, type of community in which you live. I think that all of these things influence our preferences. Many of my dislikes are generational. I loved the challenge and maybe annoyed/bored my friends with run-downs at times. Looking forward to next year.