Happy Fourth of July!
How’s your summer reading going? In May, I had great expectations of sitting pool side and enjoying several books between June and August.
We’ve been to the pool three times.
Hopefully, you are faring better than I. Maybe you’re even looking for a way to challenge yourself to read a variety of books for the next few months. I found a cool idea for encouraging summer reading, and even though we’re a third of the way through the season, you might like it.
Michael Kindness and Ann Kingman are publishing industry insiders who run a podcast called Books on the Nightstand (BOTNS). I get great reviews and book news from them. At the beginning of summer, they introduced Beach Blanket Book Bingo, an idea they credit to the blog Retreat by Random House.
Here’s the deal: print up a bingo card using the link on BOTNS. You can generate a new bingo card by hitting the refresh button. Then check off squares as you read the book described on each square. Try to get four corners, or a row of five in any direction. Book prompts include:
- by an author of a different culture
- a middle grade (ages 8-12) book
- a play
- with only words on the cover
- 10 short stories
The Retreat by Random House site also has bingo cards, one for adult and one for YA. Retreat presented the idea for a year-long reading challenge; BOTNS is using it for the summer.
This will be a fun way to encourage my kids to pick a variety of books this summer; I plan to print up four bingo cards! **Please note that BOTNS used the website BS Bingo (I inserted a euphemism there) to generate its bingo cards; protect young eyes.
I can already check off about three boxes on my card; unfortunately, not in the same row.
Check out the bingo cards and let me know if you’re in to play!
Thanks for getting nerdy with me.
Julia
Click to share on Twitter: Summer reading challenge: book bingo! Via @juliatomiak
