Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Newbery Reading Challenge



January 1, 2014 – December 31, 2014


It’s been a goal of mine for quite awhile to read all of the Newbery Award winners. I'm sure I read some as a kid, but I also know I only touched the tip of the iceberg. I needed a way to inspire myself to focus on this goal. What better way than a reading challenge?
I'm so excited about hosting this reading challenge that I may have made it a bit more complicated than it needed to be. But I didn't want to leave out the Newbery HonorBooks. Are they any less of a good book just because they didn't win the Medal? Certainly not. So here's my compromise:
Each book you read is worth points. You get:
3 points for a Newbery Medal Winner
2 points for a Newbery Honor Book
1 point for a Caldecott Medal Winner (Gotta give the picture books some love, too.) 
In addition to that, you pick a level to aim for: 
L'Engle: 15 - 29 points
Spinelli: 30 - 44 points
Avi: 45 - 59 points
Lowry: 60 - 74 points
Konigsburg: 75+ points 
You can get to this level with any combination of points you want. You can read all Newbery Medal winners. You can throw in a few Honor Books. If you want, you can even read 75 Caldecott Medal winners! How you get to your point level is totally up to you. 
(And just to make it extra fun, every couple of months I'll give you a mini-challenge. You can earn bonus points by completing mini-challenges!) 
Challenge Guidelines: 

  • Rereads count (because you were probably a kid when you read it last, and your perspective on the story just might have changed since then).
  • Audiobooks and ebooks count.
  • And paper books count, too. :)
  • All books must be read between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2014. Books begun before January 1 don’t count.
  • Books can be used for other challenges as well.
  • You don’t have to have a blog to participate. You can link up reviews from Amazon, Goodreads, etc., or just hang out with us in the comments!
  • Reviews are encouraged, but not necessary. There will be a monthly post for you to link up your reviews if you want to share your thoughts.
  • Choose your point level. You can always aim for a higher point level, but you can't move to a lower one. 
To join the Newbery Reading Challenge:
Write a post (or a comment) stating your intention to join. Choose your point level. You can find the challenge button below to use in your post.
Add your link to the Linky at the bottom of this post. Make sure you include the link to your sign-up post, not just your homepage.
This reading event is hosted by Smiling Shelves. For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.