Choosing the size
Count back over the last year before you pick. If you finished six books, 12 is a real step up and 52 is a recipe for a sheet that stops at row nine in March. If you already read a book most weeks, 52 keeps things interesting and the prompts push you toward shelves you usually walk past.
The sheets differ in more than the number. The 12 book sheet has a separate line for the title and the author under each prompt, with room for a long title. The 24 book sheet fits on one page in two columns with one line per book. The 52 book sheet runs over two pages with the numbering carrying on. Pick the size that matches your pace, not the one that sounds best out loud; you can always print a second sheet in July.
Swapping and writing prompts
The suggested prompts are deliberately open. "A book set in a city you want to visit" can be a novel, a travel memoir or a history. If a prompt does not work for you, cross it out and write your own next to it, or switch to Your own and type the whole list. Good prompts name one feature of a book, not a title: a place, a time, a length, a format, a way you found it. Prompts about where the book came from, such as "A book from the library" or "A book a friend lent you", send you to new sources, and prompts about format, such as a play, a comic or a book of poems, keep the list from turning into 52 novels.
For a book club or a class, print the same sheet for everyone and agree that each person decides which prompt a book fits. Three readers can read three very different books for "A book with a journey in it" and compare them at the next meeting.
Children's challenges work best with short, concrete prompts: "A book with a dog in it", "A book you read to someone else", "A book you chose at the library yourself". Use 12 or 24 so the sheet fills up visibly, and let the child write the title in their own handwriting.
Filling the sheet during the year
Write the title and author in as soon as you finish, while you still remember the name, and tick the box. The tally at the top right is for a quick count: write the number of finished books there every month or two. If you keep falling behind, the fix is usually not more speed but shorter books. Novellas, essay collections and graphic novels all count, and the prompts include them on purpose.
Do not read in order. Scan the sheet when you choose your next book and pick a prompt that matches your mood. Near the end of the year, the empty rows show you what is left, and they are often the prompts that take you furthest from your usual reading, which is the point.
Keeping the sheet where you will see it
A reading challenge works when it is visible. Pin it to the inside of a cupboard door, keep it as a bookmark in the book you are reading, or stick it to the fridge next to the shopping list. For the 52 book challenge, put the two pages side by side so you see the whole year at once. A photo of the sheet on your phone helps in the bookshop or the library, when you want to know which prompts are still open.
Tools and printables that go with it
The random number generator picks a number from 1 to 12, 24 or 52 when you cannot decide which prompt to read next, and it can draw several numbers at once without repeats for a short list of candidates. The percentage calculator turns the tally into a percentage, so 19 books out of 52 in June tells you whether you are on pace for the year. The countdown timer counts the days left until the end of the year or the date of your book club meeting, and you can share the link with the group.
For the details of each book, the printable reading log has a list with start and finish dates, pages and a star rating, and a daily minutes page for children. The habit tracker gives you a tick box for every day of the month for a habit such as twenty minutes of reading before bed, which is how most challenges actually get finished.
Frequently asked questions
Is the reading challenge free?
Yes. Print it for yourself, your book club or a whole class, as often as you like. There is no signup and no watermark; one small line at the bottom of each page names our website.
Which size should I pick?
12 books is one a month and leaves room for long novels. 24 is one every two weeks. 52 is one a week, which suits fast readers, audiobook listeners and anyone who mixes in short books, poetry and comics. You can print a 12 book sheet now and a 24 book sheet later if the first one fills up early.
Can I write my own prompts?
Yes. Choose Your own and type one prompt per line, up to 60. If you type fewer prompts than the size of the challenge, the list starts again from the top, so three prompts on a 12 book sheet print four times each. If you type more, the extra lines are left off. With the box empty, every row gets a blank prompt line to fill in by hand.
Do the prompts have to be done in order?
No. The numbers only help you count. Read whatever comes next and tick the prompt it fits. Many books fit several prompts; pick one and leave the others for later. A row you cannot fill by the end of the year is simply a row you cannot fill, not a failed challenge.
Why does the 52 book challenge have two pages?
Each page holds 26 prompts in two columns with a line for the title and author under each one. The second page repeats the title, the name line and the tally box and carries on with number 27, so you can pin both pages next to each other or keep them in a folder.
Why are some characters missing from my prompts?
The PDF uses a standard font that covers English and most Western European letters, but no emoji and no other scripts such as Greek, Cyrillic or Chinese. Those characters are left out, a few rare accented letters lose the accent, and a note under the fields tells you when that happens. The preview shows the text exactly as it will print.