six printable trackers for reading challenges

How Our Reading Challenges Are Different

When we launched The Book Girls Guide in 2019, our first big idea was to host a year-long reading challenge. We wanted it to be fun, flexible, and pressure-free while still being intentional and with a bit of structure. Other challenges we had seen followed two main formats. Either everyone was assigned the same book each month, or there was a set of prompts, and you were on your own to find a book that fit each prompt.

We developed a hybrid model where we provide a challenge theme with monthly reading prompts, along with a curated list of book recommendations for each prompt. Unlike many other challenges, we also provide an opportunity for participants to discuss their books with other readers. It’s been so successful that each year we’ve followed the same format, adding an additional reading challenge theme. Many readers are participating in more than one!

Yearlong Reading Challenges

All of our reading challenges allow you to find books that you’ll love within your preferred genre, or to push yourself outside of your reading comfort zone if that’s your goal.

Below, you’ll find a quick overview of each challenge. Click the pink button to get all the details and register. Once you’ve picked your challenge (of course, you can do more than one if you’d like), be sure to join our Facebook Group!

printable book lovers challenge coloring sheet with markers and books

BOOK LOVER’S CHALLENGE

New for 2025, our Book Lover’s Reading Challenge celebrates different aspects of reading that we all love, from browsing the aisles of our favorite bookstore or library to losing ourselves in the world of a story.

hand filling in printable book tracker for this challenge

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
BACKLIST CHALLENGE

Our ICYMI Challenge will guide you through the best books of the last twelve years. For each publication year prompt, we’ll provide a curated book list with suggestions to fit every reading style.

2023 Reading Challenge-9

DECADES READING CHALLENGE

Through this challenge, you’ll read some of the best books set in each decade from the 1880s through the 2010s, and you’ll experience the dramatic changes of day-to-day life over the last 140 years!

BOOK VOYAGE: READ AROUND THE WORLD

Are you ready to go on an unforgettable journey from the comfort of your favorite reading chair? Let us be your travel guide! Through the challenge, you’ll experience every continent and the vastly different landscapes and cultures that make up our beautiful planet.

READ AROUND THE USA

Choose from two options: Read regionally as a one-book-per-month reading challenge or take a comprehensive approach that doesn’t have to be completed in a single year.

LIFETIME OF READING CHALLENGE

Throughout this self-paced challenge, you’ll enjoy a wide range of books featuring main characters of different age ranges. Each decade of life brings different joys and challenges. It’s easy to dismiss those younger or older, but we believe that each generation is worth embracing.

Mini Challenges

In addition to our annual challenges, we have shorter challenges to enjoy seasonally. Each comes with a printable coloring sheet with space to track your reads. Like our annual challenges, each prompt within these mini-challenges includes plenty of book recommendations.

Just when I would start forgetting I was doing a challenge, I'd get an email with a new curated list and would get back on track. The curated lists were a great starting point. So many good books recommended. - Lindea