Challenges: Examples and Types

[Tiffany, Mod]

For the uninitiated, reading challenges are a great way to make reading more interesting and fun, particularly if you enjoy a little competition or can't get enough of playing games. They consist of a series of tasks which you must accomplish by--you guessed it!--reading some books. We will host challenges each month, and your mission, should you choose to accept it, will be to sign up for then read books to achieve the objectives of the challenge. Below, I will include examples of the types of challenges we may host here. Please do not consider this to be an all-inclusive list. There are a lot of creative people and where challenges are concerned, the sky's the limit!
If you wish to host a challenge here, please make sure that you are posting your original work. If you copy a challenge from another group, it must be your own or you must have express and written consent from the original creator to do so.

Spell Out Challenge
In this type of challenge, you are provided a word or phrase, and you must read a book where the first or last name of the author or words in the title spell out that given word or phrase.
Example: Read books to spell out bells.
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

Scavenger Hunt

In this type of challenge, you will need to find books that fit (however loosely) under certain categories. As an example, here is a Christmas scavenger hunt.

1. Santa
Letters to Santa Claus by the Elves
2. Snow
Scott Free by John Gilstrap
3. Gingerbread
The Gingerbread Girl by Stephen King

Based on a well-known game such as Bingo


Halloween Bingo

Read books from any column, row, or along the diagonal to create a BINGO. If you are particularly ambitious, aim for multiple BINGOS.

Each cell in the row will be separated by a semicolon.

B: death; witches; horror; treats; night
I: pumpkins; werewolves; vampires; masquerade ball; rotten children
N: poltergeists; goblins; free square; haunted places; spirits
G: Egypt; garlic; superstitions; feline; full moon
O: cauldron; zombies; voodoo; vines; legends

You may also be challenged to read books from a certain time period, by a specific author, within a particular series, categorized within a genre, written by an author from a specific city, or any number of other factors. Challenges may have deadlines or you may be required to set your own pace.

Have fun and happy reading!