Read Around the USA – 2026 States Reading Challenge
Welcome to the 2026 Read Around the USA Challenge! This popular challenge has two fun options to help you armchair travel through the United States as you read. Choose a 50-state or regional path, with free trackers and curated book lists for every state, DC, and the US territories.
- Two Ways to Participate in the 2026 Read Around the USA Challenge
- Join the Read Around the USA Challenge
- Book Recommendations & Rating Logs for All 50+ States
- Regional Reading Schedule & Rating Logs
- Printable Book Lists
- What Do I Do When I Finish Reading My Book Each Month?
- Additional Frequently Asked Questions
Two Ways to Participate in the 2026 Read Around the USA Challenge
Option 1: 50 States Reading Challenge
We heard from many readers that they had a goal of reading a book from every state. You can aim to tackle all 50 states in one year or spread them out over several years. Either way, we also recommend including Washington, DC, as well as some or all of the five inhabited U.S. Territories as part of your goal. For every state, we do the research for you, providing a carefully curated list of book recommendations spanning a wide range of genres. This allows you to spend more time reading and less time researching.
Option 2: Regional USA Reading Challenge
Alternatively, we designed an option for those who want to armchair travel around the USA without such a big commitment. This version of the challenge includes monthly reading prompts, each covering a specific region of the USA. Challenge participants read ONE book from each region throughout the year, for a total of twelve books. You’ll find a recommended reading schedule below, along with links to our book recommendation lists.
Join the Read Around the USA Challenge
When you sign up using the box below, you’ll get a welcome email with links to both of the printable trackers for this challenge.
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 tracker (you won’t receive duplicate emails).
Once you’ve signed up for the challenge, you’ll begin receiving our Friday email newsletter. Plus, we’ll send one bonus email on the third Monday of each month with reminders and updates for the Read Around the USA challenge. This is the easiest way to help you stay on track.
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 & Rating Logs for All 50+ States
If you plan to read a book from every state, this alphabetical book list gives you quick links to all of our curated book recommendations.
After you finish reading, share your feedback by completing our short book rating form. We also invite you to join our Facebook group to chat with other challenge participants.
Books Set in Every US State
We also have a pretty index page where you can browse all of the state posts in a visual format. This page also includes links to some bonus book lists.
Regional Reading Schedule & Rating Logs
If you want to participate in the regional version of this challenge, the chart below includes the recommended monthly reading schedule, along with links to all of our book recommendation lists. To complete this challenge, you only need to read ONE book from each region throughout the year, for a total of twelve books.
After you finish reading, share your feedback by completing our short book rating form. We also invite you to join our Facebook group to chat about what you’re reading for each region.
| Reading Month | Choose 1 Book From Each Region | After Reading* |
|---|---|---|
| January | New England MA, ME, NH, RI, VT | Rate Your Book MA, ME, NH, RI, VT |
| February | Southwest AZ, CO, NM, UT, WY | Rate Your Book AZ, CO, NM, UT, WY |
| March | Southeast AL, FL, GA, SC, TN | Rate Your Book AL, FL, GA, SC, TN |
| April | Heartland IA, KS, KY, MO, NE | Rate Your Book IA, KS, KY, MO, NE |
| May | Northeast CT, DE, NJ, NY, PA | Rate Your Book CT, DE, NJ, NY, PA |
| June | South Central AR, LA, MS, OK, TX | Rate Your Book AR, LA, MS, OK, TX |
| July | Pacific CA, HI, NV, OR, WA | Rate Your Book CA, HI, NV, OR, WA |
| August | Northern AK, ID, MT, ND, SD | Rate Your Book AK, ID, MT, ND, SD |
| September | Eastern Appalachian DC, MD, NC, OH, VA, WV | Rate Your Book DC, MD, NC, OH, VA, WV |
| October | Upper Midwest IL, IN, MI, MN, WI | Rate Your Book IL, IN, MI, MN, WI |
| November | US Territories (includes all five) | Rate Your Book |
| December | Traveling the USA | Rate Your Book |
Printable Book Lists
Readers who support The Book Girls’ Guide through our Buy Me a Coffee (BMAC) membership site can access single-page printable versions of the state book lists.
We offer two membership levels. Both our BFF members and our Inner Circle members get access to the single-page printables for the year-long reading challenges. Visit our Buy Me a Coffee membership page for a full list of benefits for each level.
Our BMAC members help cover the cost of running the challenges so we can keep them free for everyone!
What Do I Do When I Finish Reading My Book Each Month?
As a member of our email list and Facebook group, you can share your rating and other feedback about your challenge reads via our book rating logs.
The book rating forms help us determine which books should stay on our recommendation lists, which should be removed, and whether any changes are needed to our descriptions. Additionally, we use the data to calculate the “BGG Reader Ratings” that you’ll see noted for many of the books.
We’ll send a reminder to log your books in your 3rd Monday Challenge email, but you can also always find the links above.
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! It takes an extraordinary amount of time to put together and administer the challenges, but 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 willing to help support our work.
What type of books are included?
For each state, we do the research for you! Our carefully curated book recommendation lists will allow you to find something that suits your reading style and mood without forcing you to spend hours researching novels on your own.
Each book list includes a wide variety of genres, from contemporary and literary fiction to mystery, romance, and non-fiction. Additionally, we always try to include diverse characters and authors. For this challenge, we include many books by authors with strong ties to the region to add authenticity to your state reading.
Within the book lists, each recommendation includes a synopsis of the book and additional notes to help you select your perfect read. Many also have ratings from our readers who participated in prior years.
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 in 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!
Do audiobooks count?
Yes! We’re equal-opportunity readers. Whether you choose a paper book, ebook, or 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, we’d love for you to share your feedback in our rating logs (select “Other” from the book title dropdown).
Can I recommend a book for one of the state book lists?
Yes, we’d love to hear your recommendation, and you can submit it using this form. Please only recommend books that you’ve already read and rated highly.
How do I get the printable reading challenge tracker?
To get the printable reading challenge tracker, just click here to jump to the “Join the Read Around the USA Challenge” sign-up form, which is located above the links to all the book lists.
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. If you’re reading a book for all 50 states, you can start and finish the challenge anytime you’d like.
If you’re doing the regional version of the challenge, any month is 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 just 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 all 12 months 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 read the month you skipped if you’d like, but please don’t feel any pressure to do that.
And if you are aiming to read a book from all 50 states, we encourage you to give yourself plenty of time. There’s no need to read all 50 in one year. You’ll likely enjoy the challenge more if you allow yourself to read other books in between.
For the regional version of the challenge, do I have to read in the recommended order?
Yes and no. If you follow the recommended monthly reading prompts outlined above, you’ll be able to chat with other readers in our Facebook group who are reading about the region of the USA as you.
Can we use the challenge for our book club?
Absolutely! We’ve had many book clubs use our challenges and reading prompts to help guide their book selections throughout the year. One suggestion is to put each member in charge of the book selection for one region of the USA. We also have a list of Universal Book Club Discussion Questions to spark insightful conversations, no matter what title your club is exploring.
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!
First I want to say a huge “Thank You” to Angela and Melissa. I joined the group in January 2025, and have read so many great books by new to authors that I would have never thought to try if I went to the library or bookstore.
I also just signed up for the Read Around the USA Challenge. Do I have to read one book from each state feature for the month,or just one? Also I want to do the 50 state version over a period of years. How does that work?
Thank you, again, for all you do! You ladies are the greatest! Having Book Girls randomly pop up on my Facebook page and signing up was the best thing I’ve done just for me in a very long time.
We know that some readers enjoy having a monthly challenge to complete and others prefer a self-paced challenge, so we offer both options.
If you enjoy a guided, monthly challenge, then you can start with the “Regional” version, where you read just one book from a different region of the USA each month, allowing you to complete the challenge with 12 total books over the course of one year.
Many of our readers like to start with the monthly, regional version of the challenge for the first year, and then from there, they set the goal to continue reading books at their own pace until they eventually read a book from all 50 states. It sounds like that’s what you have in mind, and we think that’s a great way to go!
As you work toward your longer term goal of reading a book from all 50 states, just remember that you can come back to our website at any time to find a currated list of book recommendations for each state: https://bookgirlsguide.com/book-recommendations-for-each-us-state/
Are the books in the Read Around the USA 2024 challenge different from the books that were included in the 2023 challenge? If they are the same books, then I’ll probably choose a different challenge for 2024. Thanks for all the hard work you put in to ALL the challenges!
Hi Kelly, the core lists would remain the same as there is a surprising lack of highly-rated books for many states. However, we are going to TRY to add at least one new recommendation for each state (the New England list is already updated with those titles for 2024).
I requested the tracking map and received an email from you, but none of the links in my email are working.
Hi Kerry, Do you use Eero routers for your home internet? They are notorious for blocking links they shouldn’t (Melissa has them and constantly struggles, and we’ve recently identified two other readers who said the links didn’t work, but they had the same routers blocking the links. To test if it’s the home network, we recommend trying to access the links from your phone with the wifi on the phone turned off. If you’re still having trouble, please email us at hello @ bookgirlsguide.com for more assistance.
I have teen grand daughters looking to join book challenges. Are these books clean? Also are they easily accessible, such as through the library or kindle unlimited?
Hi Cheryl, there is a wide range of books on each of the challenge lists, ranging from clean to adult content. We would recommending doing additional research on the content of the specific titles that interest them to check for any content warnings. We do indicate in the descriptions when books are included with Kindle Unlimited, and most books on the lists are available through most libraries, but there may be wait lists for newer titles.
Thanks! Can’t wait to get started
I am so excited about this new challenge! The US is such a large and diverse country with a lot different perspectives, and I’m so happy to see that represented already in the first list!
Thank you! We work really hard to make every list include characters with a range of perspectives and backgrounds in addition to the range of genres. Sometimes it’s hard just based on books not existing, but it’s important to us to help readers (and ourselves) step into as many different shoes as they can throughout the year!
I’ve done the new reading challenges every year for the past 3 years. This is the first one I won’t be doing. As someone who doesn’t live in the USA, and who wants to read more diverse books published outside of the states, this challenge is disappointing. I’ve always loved that the challenges pushed me to read diverse authors from all over the world. This one is the opposite.
Hi Cindy, The Book Voyage Challenge has also been updated for 2023, with new books being added each month. We set up that challenge before a US challenge on purpose to provide a global view for readers. We hope you’ll participate in that challenge again. Now, we are excited about the opportunity to add armchair travel around our diverse country in addition to our armchair world travel this year. We hope that it brings new perspectives to our readers, just as reading world books brings new perspectives.
@Cindy, I am sure there is a challenge for you out there. I for one love these. We can always choose to complain and find fault, or we can be positive and look on the bright side. “While it is not for me, others enjoy it-diversity”.
Fun! Great challenge. I look forward to participating!
So excited to get started on this new challenge!
I am amazed and so appreciative of the work you put into these challenges! 2023 will be another fun reading challenge year!
Thank you so much, Deb! It’s been a lot of long days to get everything set up, but it’s worth it knowing how much everyone appreciate it!