I felt nostalgic for the days that I anxiously awaited the seasonal reading challenges hosted by Megan Stroup Tristao on her former blog, Semi-Charmed Kind of Life. Fortunately, I still follow Megan on social media, so I reached out and asked her if I could use her format for one of my own, and she graciously agreed. What I enjoyed most about her challenges were they lasted for a few months, the prompts allowed me to read whatever age group or genre I wanted, and the points maxed out at 200. It was a great way to connect with other readers, and pushed me to try books I might not otherwise pick up.
So Laurie and I are kicking off the first Bit About Books Winter 2021 Reading Challenge. We invite you to take part and use the #bitaboutbooks hashtag on social media to let us know what you’re reading. Although we encourage you to read middle grade books, you’re welcome to read books outside that age group. At the beginning of the January, we’d love it if you share the book titles you plan to read for the prompts (totally subject to change!), and we’ll do a check in on February 1st and March 1st here on the website so you can update us with your progress. We’ll also put out some posts with middle grade recommendations for each prompt throughout the challenge to help you out in case you need inspiration.
You can keep track of our books any way you choose, but feel free to use the checklist above if you want to print it out for your reading journal. We’d love it if you also tag Laurie (hnatiukl_turningthepage on Instagram and @lhnatiuk on Twitter) and I (@the_neverending_stack on Instagram and @kmcmac74 on Twitter) so we can follow your progress and see what you’re reading. Hopefully we can all find some great new titles to read.
The guidelines are simple:
- The challenge will run from January 1st until March 30th
- Audiobooks count as books
- A book can only be used for one category
- If the challenge is a success, the first four people who reach 200 points and comment here will be asked to contribute a category for the next challenge. If it’s not a success…well, you get bragging rights.
This is just for fun, so there’s no pressure to complete the challenge. Read at your own pace, and enjoy!
Here are the prompts and point value system:
5 points: Read any book of your choice
10 points: Read a book with 100-200 pages
10 points: Read a book with one word in the title
10 points: Read an author’s debut book
15 points: Read a book with an animal main character
15 points: Read a book that has a direction in the title (eg. up/down/here/there/top/bottom/over/under, etc.)
15 points: Read a book published in 2021
20 points: Read a book set in a country that is not where you currently live
20 points: Read a book that’s won an award
20 points: Read a book with a person’s first or last name in the title
30 points: Read two books by the same author
TOTAL POINTS: 200
We look forward to seeing you on January 1st for the start of the challenge!
Oh, this sounds like fun! I love a good challenge. They’re a great motivation to make time for reading.
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It’s flexible enough to work with whatever genre of book you enjoy, and manageable enough over the three month time period. Absolutely no pressure, but it would be lovely to have you take part.
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I was not planning on setting any reading goals or signing up for any challenges in 2021 buuuuuut I like the sound of this one, haha. Nice mix of structure and flexibility. I will keep it in mind!
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You’re welcome to join in if it works for you, but I totally understand needing a break from goals and challenges, too.
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Great idea and fun categories–I’m in!
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So excited for the challenge and particularly excited to share it with my students!
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I really hope they like it! I’ll be working on resources for some of the prompts over the next few weeks to post on the blog, but if you need any suggestions before then, let me know!
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Thanks for this. I will see how many books from my reading goals I can fit into this. I’m reading Hatch by Kenneth Oppel so one is already covered.
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