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To help you find books to add to your A to Z Reading list that beging with Q, here are some suggestions from our BOTM discussions.

(this nomination list is closed; it is just for your reference)


To kick off our new year of reading, and in particular to help with the harder letters in our A to Z challenge, please nominate books with

TITLES BEGINNING WITH Q

That could be The Q... or A Q...., but should not have anything else, so For The Love Of Q... doesn't count.

In addition to the theme, normal criteria apply: traditionally published, at least two years old so it is readily available in libraries, and/or inexpensive if bought online. And of course, it must be a Middle Grade read!

To give you a little longer to get the winning book, I will close nominations on January 18th and put the poll up until 25th Jan.

Next month we will be trialling both a book and a theme selection. More of that later.

The only things I could think of may cross the line too far into YA.

The Queen of Attolia

and the first 3 Talia books by Mercedes Lackey have been released in an omnibus titles Queen's Own (Though I did give these to my son when he was in 4th grade and looking for somewhere to go after finishing Ranger's Apprentice)

Edited to fix the Talia/Alanna slip (I keep interchanging the Tamora Pierce and Mercedes Lacey protagonists....)

This is actually a longer alphabet type picture book, but content and scope wise, it is definitely not for younger children, more for middle grades and even interested teenagers and adults. As a picture book, The Queen's Progress: An Elizabethan Alphabet is of course rather short, but it is dense in content (and certainly leads itself to further discussions and expansions, both with regard to British history and the history of dress/costumes). Now if the moderators feel this book might not fit the bill so to speak, that is fine, but this is a true gem that I most strongly recommend.

Another with Q in title that would be worth considering is Two Weeks with the Queen by Morris Gleitzman.

Would it count if a series starts with Q? If so, there is the Quantum Prophecy series, by Michael Carroll. (First book is The Awakening ). Otherwise, if that wouldn't count, then I could suggest Gary Paulsen's The Quilt .

At this stage of the year, I wouldn't accept the series name as an entry in an A to Z Challenge. Last year I squeezed through an X series as a last resort in December, but that really is it. The point of this theme in February is to find a book STARTING with Q!

So Carmel, yours doesn't count either ;)

If you think I'm being mean, SW (who controls the Challenge) disqualified my attempt to put I Am Malala under M last year - I had to read another :)

The only two I can think of are:

Quidditch Through the Ages by J.K. Rowling, or

The Queen of Attoliaby Megan Whalen Turner as J suggested.

I'll keep racking my brain....

The Queen of Dreams

Does it have to be a novel? Or would this work: Queen of the Falls by Chris Van Allsburg

It's a NF picture book meant for MG readers, I'd say ages 7 through 10 or so.

I haven't been able to think of any so far. I'll scan the shelves at work Tuesday and see if I can get any ideas.

Well, last year I managed to add A Quill Ladder which is part of a series where I seriously suggest you have to start at the beginning with A Pair of Docks, so I'm not nominating that - but I do recommend it for anyone's ten+ year olds who are seriously geeky, especially about maths or time travel.

The only other two on my shelf are both horsey books - Quicksand - The Mysterious Disappearance of Dakotaroo which is suitable but indie published, and The Quicksilver Horse which is trad published and definitely old enough, but maybe too old and obscure to be in libraries internationally.

Maybe these will be helpful for others looking for Q books, but it looks like whatever we go for here will be my Q for 2017!

Okay, since series don't count, I will give one more nomination to go along with Gary Paulsen's The Quilt - and that would be The Quest Begins by Erin Hunter. It is the first in the Seekers series.

Jennifer wrote: "I change my nomination to Lily Quench and the Dragon of Ashby, which is the first in the series."

I think since we are getting some actual Q nominations, we probably won't accept this one, since it in fact starts with L.

Blast. Was working on a list from the library catalog, and made it go away. Suffice to say there are a number of juvvy biographies on various queens, from Elizabeths I & II, and Victoria, to Isabelle of Spain and Noor of Jordan, all originally titled "Queen X: Further elucidation."

Maybe more interesting, Queen of the Track: Alice Coachman Olympic High-Jump Champion, a less predictable biography.

Also found one titled "The Queen Loved to See Shakespeare's Backside," which isn't listed in GR, but is a book about facts and myths about the period, apparently written in a humorous tone.

And in fiction, Queen Liliuokalani: Royal Prisoner

Queen's Own Fool
Queen of the Empire (Star Wars novel)
The Queen's Nose (An actual bit of fiction that isn't about any actual queen!)

Now, instead of nominating any of these right now, I'll leave them here for others to check out and see if YOU want to nominate any (and I may pick one to nominate myself later).

BTW, I also did a search under "quest" but didn't get anything in children's at our library. It's easy to do a title search for any "Q" word you think of, though most bibliography software will give you anything with that word in the title, not necessarily up first, so you have to sift.

It's my library day on Tuesday, so I'll see if they've got anything on board (it's a mobile library that comes to my village once every four weeks).

Meanwhile I've been browsing Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ' Listopia lists of books beginning with Q, and found a few on my TBR, but they're adult books, or at least, grown up ones.

I rather fancy The Queen's Nose which Rebecca has already listed - it's by Dick King-Smith who I'd like to read.
Queen Zixi of Ix is by L Frank Baum, and it looks even weirder than Wizard of Oz. It appears to have been republished in 2002, but I'd never heard of it. Have you?
Quidditch through the Ages is on my (real) shelf... I'd like to raise it up to the top of the list, so I don't mind it being short.

I'll post the poll Wednesday or Thursday, so keep hunting! :)

I can't imagine only being able to access the library once a month (we're often there 2-3 times a week)!

I fancy The Queen's Nose too, I loved Dick King Smith's books when I was MG age. Do any Brits here remember the tv show of the book back in the 90s (I think)?

J wrote: "I can't imagine only being able to access the library once a month (we're often there 2-3 times a week)!"

... and then there's my bookshelves, my kindle, my bookclub, and the second-hand bookshelves at the sports club and the village hall... :D

Okay, well, nominations seem to have dried up, and there's a lot of pruning of the list to go through since many are listed as YA, and some are a fair way into a series, which might not work for a lot of people.

Unless anyone makes a good case for including something else, here is what I propose putting up on the poll tomorrow.

The Queen's Progress: An Elizabethan Alphabet
The Quilt
Quidditch through the Ages
The Queen of Dreams
Queen of the Falls
The Quest Begins
Queen of the Track: Alice Coachman Olympic High-Jump Champion
The Queen's Nose

OK, the nominations are closed, and the poll is up now, closing on 25th January to give you more time to find the winning book.
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