2026 Book Girls’ Guide Reading Challenge Bingo
We’re thrilled to unveil our newest reading challenge for 2026: The Book Girls’ Guide Reading Challenge Bingo! This flexible, customizable challenge combines the best of both worlds – curated book lists you can start reading from right away, PLUS the excitement of monthly surprise prompts revealed throughout the year.
How the 2026 Reading Challenge Works
The 2026 Bingo Challenge features a bingo card with 24 reading prompts plus a free space in the center. Here’s what makes this challenge unique:
12 Prompts Available Now – These prompts already have book recommendations available, including three brand-new book lists we’ve never shared outside the Inner Circle!
12 Surprise Prompts – One new surprise prompt and corresponding book list will be revealed each month on the third Friday, keeping the challenge exciting all year long.
Two Ways to Participate
Option 1: Play Book Bingo! Print your bingo card and tackle the prompts in any order you choose. Set your own goal based on what works for your reading life:
- Complete a traditional bingo (five in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally)
- Try a different pattern like four corners, an X-shape, or the outer frame
- Go for a full blackout and complete all 24 prompts
All the currently available prompts on the bingo card (you’ll find them below) can be completed at your own pace throughout the year, while the 12 surprise prompts follow a monthly schedule.
Option 2: Surprise Prompts Only Participate in just the 12 surprise prompts, on a one book per month schedule, like our other yearlong challenges. We even made a separate printable tracker for this option, with space for you to fill in the prompts and what you read throughout the year.
Feel free to use both trackers if you’d like, whatever works best for you!
Join the 2026 Reading Challenge
Ready to get started? Sign up below to receive:
- Your printable Book Bingo card
- Reading tracker for the surprise prompts option
- Email updates with the new prompt reveals and book recommendations
Even if you’re already on the email list, you can provide the same email address in the box below to receive this year’s trackers (you won’t receive duplicate emails).
Your printables should arrive in your email within the next few minutes!
If you’re new to Book Girls’ Guide, you’ll also begin receiving our Friday email newsletter. On the third Friday, your newsletter will include the surprise prompt reveal and book list for the following month.
In addition to signing up for the challenge, we recommend joining our Read with the Book Girls Facebook group. It’s a friendly place where we discuss books, both for the challenges and anything else that we’re reading.
Book Recommendations for Every Bingo Prompt
You can start planning your reading year today with the Bingo prompts! Every prompt has at least one great list to choose from, including three previously available only to Inner Circle members.
We also plan to create a few bonus lists for these existing prompts throughout 2026, and we’ll send them out via the newsletter when they’re ready.
2026 Surprise Prompt Reveal Schedule & Logs
Mark your calendars! Here are the dates of each 3rd Friday when you’ll get each new monthly prompt and book list:
| Reading Month | Challenge Prompt | Prompt Release Date* |
| January | SURPRISE PROMPT | 12/12/2025 |
| February | SURPRISE PROMPT | 1/16/2026 |
| March | SURPRISE PROMPT | 2/20/2026 |
| April | SURPRISE PROMPT | 3/20/2026 |
| May | SURPRISE PROMPT | 4/17/2026 |
| June | SURPRISE PROMPT | 5/15/2026 |
| July | SURPRISE PROMPT | 6/19/2026 |
| August | SURPRISE PROMPT | 7/17/2026 |
| September | SURPRISE PROMPT | 8/21/2026 |
| October | SURPRISE PROMPT | 9/18/2026 |
| November | SURPRISE PROMPT | 10/16/2026 |
| December | SURPRISE PROMPT | 11/20/2026 |
Printable Book Lists
The Book Girls’ Guide reading challenges are made possible by our incredible members! As a thank-you, readers who support us through our Buy Me a Coffee (BMAC) membership site receive exclusive benefits.
For the 2026 Bingo Challenge, both BFF and Inner Circle members receive:
- Printable versions of all 12 surprise prompt book lists in a convenient single-page format and a second journal page format with space to indicate your interest level, jot down notes, and rate books for your own records.
Inner Circle members also receive:
- Printable versions of all new book lists, including the three new non-surprise lists for this challenge: Epistolary Novels, Books That Explore the Senses, and Books About Animal Lovers.
- Early access to the new surprise prompts and their corresponding book lists one week before other readers!
Visit our membership page to see the complete list of benefits for each level and to become a member or to upgrade your BFF membership to the Inner Circle level.
What Do I Do When I Finish Reading My Book Each Month?
After reading books for the 12 surprise monthly prompts, we’d love to hear what you think! Share your rating and feedback via our book rating logs, which we’ll link in the third Friday newsletter as new prompts are revealed. Once they’re available, we’ll also add the rating log links to the schedule chart above. You don’t need to log your books for other Bingo prompts since some of them have a broad range of books to choose from.
Your input is invaluable—it helps us determine which books should stay on our recommendation lists, which should be removed, and whether any descriptions need updating. We also use this data to calculate the “BGG Reader Ratings” you’ll see noted for many books throughout our site.
Additional Frequently Asked Questions
If you’ve signed up for the challenge above, you’re all set, and our emails will help guide you through everything throughout the year.
If you have any questions, you can continue reading the most commonly asked questions below.
How much does it cost to participate?
All our reading challenges, as well as our other book lists and resources, are free for everyone! Although putting together and administering the challenges takes an extraordinary amount of time, we never want finances to be a barrier to participation.
At the request of some of our readers, we established a totally optional Buy Me a Coffee membership for anyone who wants to support our work. As a thank you, members receive some fun perks!
When does the challenge officially start?
While our challenges are designed to run on a calendar year, you’re welcome to start reading from the available bingo prompts now.
What types of books are included?
As with our other challenges, we provide carefully researched lists of highly-rated titles for you to choose from for each reading prompt.
Each list includes a wide variety of genres, from contemporary and historical fiction to mysteries, romance, and magical realism. We aim for a mix of newer releases and backlist titles that are easier to get from the library without a long wait. We also always try to include diverse characters and authors.
Within the book list, each recommendation includes a synopsis of the book and additional notes to help you select your perfect read.
Do you host any other reading challenges?
Yes! We host numerous yearlong reading challenges, as well as fun mini-challenges. You are welcome to join as many challenges as you would like each year. Many of our readers participate in more than one.
If I’m doing more than one challenge, can a single book count twice?
Yes, absolutely! We’ll even create a crossover list that highlights books that meet that month’s surprise prompt AND one of the monthly prompts for our other yearlong reading challenges.
Do audiobooks count?
Yes! We’re equal-opportunity readers. Whether you choose a paper book, an ebook, or an audiobook, if you finish the material knowing the story the author set out to tell, you’ve “read” the book!
Can I choose my own book?
Absolutely! You can choose any book from our recommendation lists or any other book that meets the challenge prompt. In fact, if you really enjoy an off-list book you select for one of the 12 surprise prompts, we’d love for you to share your feedback in our rating logs (select “Other” from the book title dropdown).
How do I get the printable tracker for this reading challenge?
To get the printable reading challenge tracker, just jump back up to the “Join the 2026 Challenge” email sign-up form, which is located above the book list links.
What if I signed up, but didn’t receive the email?
Sometimes, our emails might get trapped in your spam filter. If you signed up but haven’t received the email with the printable reading tracker, be sure to check your spam folder. To keep future emails out of the spam folder, be sure to add our email address to your address book, or drag our emails over to your Primary tab in Gmail.
If you’ve checked your spam folder and still don’t see the email from us, then please send us a quick email to hello(at)bookgirlsguide(dot)com and we’ll get it sorted out for you as quickly as we can.
Can I join a reading challenge after January?
Absolutely! How you choose to participate is totally up to you, so there’s no such thing as being behind. Any month can be a great time to start!
If you’re a voracious reader, you can double up and complete multiple prompts in one month. Or feel free to start with the current month and move forward.
No pressure from us. We’re happy for you to join in whenever and wherever!
What happens if I miss a month?
Nothing at all! Life happens, and we’re committed to our challenges being fun and not stressful.
While it feels great to make it to the end of the year with your reading goal completed, sometimes it’s better to skip a month and move on to the next prompt when you can. You can also go back and catch up later, but please don’t feel any pressure to do that.
What if I need help or have another question?
Feel free to email us anytime at hello(at)bookgirlsguide(dot)com, and we’re happy to help!
We look forward to reading with you this year!
