Encourage Reading for Pleasure with a Reading Challenge!

Yesterday was a day that I look forward to every year. I spent the afternoon sitting at my desk trying to draft a blog post. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I was a little distracted. I was compelled to keep changing browser tabs and hitting refresh on a website for an announcement that I was eagerly waiting for. You see, I’m a huge bookworm. Reading for pleasure is really important for me and Popsugar’s long-awaited Reading Challenge for 2021 was due to be published.

Whilst trying to wait patiently, I remembered an idea that I was toying with at the start of the year. Inspired by the Popsugar challenge, I wanted to create a children’s challenge to promote reading for pleasure. Well, there’s no time like the present, right? So I put the post that I was trying to write on the back burner to write this one instead!

In this post, I’m excited to introduce you to my idea of launching a 2021 reading challenge for kids. There are quite a lot of reading challenges for children out there, but many of them are Summer reading challenges. My goal is to help you create a buzz for reading in your home all year round, to make choosing books and reading even more fun and to introduce your kids – and you – to books that they wouldn’t otherwise choose.

Fingers crossed, there will be something to inspire even the most reluctant readers!

What is a Reading Challenge?

Reading challenges can take many forms and are often themed, such as A-Z reading challenges (titles starting with each letter of the alphabet). Some are more competitive and rigidly structured than others. Tanya Patrice at GirlXOXO.com wrote a great post, The Master List of 2020 Reading Challenges – if you fancy a bit of inspiration yourself.

If you haven’t heard of it, the Popsugar Reading Challenge is where I got my inspiration from. This is an annual event which is now in its seventh year. They publish a list of 40 – 50 prompts that encourage participants to broaden their reading scope and to try authors, genres and formats that they normally wouldn’t consider. The challenge is purely for fun and enjoyment. Some people challenge themselves to complete every prompt, others aim to read more titles than the previous year. It’s a personal challenge and you can participate however you wish.

A couple of prompts that I love from this year’s challenge include, “A book with only words on the cover, no images or graphics” (I chose Where the Crawdads Sing) and “A book with a made-up language” (I re-read an old favourite – Watership Down). I’ve lost count of the number of wonderful books that I’ve read through the challenge that I wouldn’t have known otherwise.

But more than being a great source of inspiration, the challenge has created an active global community of engaged readers. Readers reach out for ideas, swap recommendations and spur each other on in a brilliant Goodreads group and Facebook group. I’ve had some amazing recommendations that I wouldn’t have heard of otherwise from through these communities.

Why Create a Reading Challenge for Children?

As both a bibliophile and an educator, one of my biggest passions is fostering a love of reading for pleasure. Having a love of reading, and reading often has so many benefits for all of us.

For children, reading for pleasure is strongly linked to higher educational attainment. Children who enjoy reading in their everyday routines have a better relationships with themselves, other people and animals. They also have a better understanding of the world around them.

I’m also really excited about creating a bookish community for readers to inspire and cheer one another on.

How Will this Reading for Pleasure Challenge Work?

Once I finish planning the prompts, I will publish them here on the website. Hopefully, I’ll be ready to launch the challenge next week. There will be a printable version so that you can check off each prompt once it’s completed.

There will be plenty of prompts to choose from and I am aiming to make them suitable for all ages – you included! It doesn’t matter if participants read one book or all of them.

It is purely a personal challenge to encourage more reading for pleasure. Although it might be fun for children to invite their friends to participate too.

The challenge isn’t a competition – there are no prizes. Everyone taking part will do so as their own personal challenge.

I have also created a Goodreads group, where we can build a community for sharing ideas, recommendations and encouragement. Hop on over there, join the group and let’s start this bookish family community!

So are you in? Share your thoughts and ideas…

I hope that you are as excited as I am about this idea and will be joining in?

It’s going to be a really fun way to broaden children’s reading horizons. They will read more and hopefully grow their love of reading for pleasure for life. This challenge allows kids to explore and enjoy a world of books that they might not encounter otherwise.

Even better, why not join in yourself? The more the merrier!

In the meantime, if you’d like some inspiration, take a look at Brightly’s website, where they publish fantastic monthly reading challenges for children.

I’d love to know if you’ve got some fun, inspiring ideas for reading prompts or any other suggestions about this idea – let me know in the comments below.