#Succeedingatreading2021!

The printable includes:
Three 8.5 by 11 inch
(21.59 by 27.94 cm)
full page bookshelves with prompts:

One with “Found on BookTok” and “Found on Bookstagram”
One with “Found online” and “Found on Bookstagram”
and one with “Found online” and “Found on Social media.”
You can pick the one that matches the social media you use!

Then there are six pages of two bookshelves each.
Each one has the prompts on one side and a blank bookshelf on the other side.

For each set of prompts there’s a sheet where each bookshelf
is 5.4 by 8.4 inches, 10.8 by 8.4 all together
(13.716 by 21.336 cm, 26.416 by 21.336 cm all together)

and one where each bookshelf is 5 by 7.5 inches, 10 by 7.5 all together.
(12.7 by 19.05 cm, 25.4 by 19.05 cm all together)

Use these for planners/notebooks,
or use the bigger sheet for a notebook or to put on the wall.

There’s also a full page blank bookshelf
if you want to fill in the books you read on that.

Finally, I’ve included a breakdown of all the prompts and a little note to you too!
.

You have a few options.

Print out the full size sheet with the prompts
and color it in when you read a book with that prompt.

Or print out the sheet with the matching shelf on the other side.
When you read a book that matches the prompt,
color the prompt in and write the book title in the book that matches on the other shelf.

You can even color code them by what type of book it is!
I purposely left it simple so you could customize this any way you want!

(definitions adapted from this blogpost; original idea of windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors comes from Rudine Sims Bishop).

A mirror book is a book that reflects part of your identity, experience,
and or values/motivations back at you. You see yourself reflected in the book.

For example:
I am a parent. So reading a book about a mother would be a mirror book for me.

I love basketball and played it through high school and college. Basketball book? Mirror.

I stand up for indie bookstores. A book featuring a bookseller? Mirror.

A window book is a book that lets you look in on the identity, experience, and/or motivations of others. You get to look in and witness a different experience than your own, which helps build empathy and understanding.

For example:
I am white. Reading a joyful book starring a Black main character gives me a window into that experience.

I have never gone to a Lunar New Year Celebration. A book where the festival is celebrated? Window.

I have no intention of running a huge company like Amazon. A book about Jeff Bezos? Window.

You can get as specific as you want with these, or stay as vague as you want.
Remember, no one is going to tell you if a book counts or not, and you don’t have to prove anything.
My intention is not to force anyone to reveal something about their identity, experience, or values that they don’t want to; my intention is to get us thinking about the stories we read and realizing what a gift it is that we can both identify with characters who are like us and ones who have lives not like ours.

Finally, I acknowledge as a white, cisgender female, there are many MANY books for me to choose from where I can see myself reflected in the story. Though more and more books focused and centered on BIPOC are out and coming out, that number is nowhere near where it should be. We can all do our part to hype up and support great books by BIPOC creators. To learn more about the disparity in publishing, see this article.

You didn’t get to it. I get it. It’s okay. You have a whole year to make it up.

You see a video, or a comment. Heck, even a passing spine on a shelf counts.

Any part of the series counts. Finish up that series you’ve been meaning to already! (okay that sentence was strictly aimed at me, sorry)

Listen on, dear readers! 

These are awesome and real books so enjoy!

Read anything by an author you’ve already read something from.

Any kind of nonfiction counts. Get your learning on!

Could be short stories. Poetry. Essays. Single author. Multiple authors. Go wild!

A book with multiple points of view: we see the story from at least two character’s POV. Or six, like in Six Of Crows.

I give you full permission to go ahead and re-read a book you love. You’re welcome.

Really any book works for this. I’m not here to police what lovely is. You do you, friend.

A book that has been on sale for more than six months. New books are frontlist; older books are backlist. So basically any not new release works here.

There are three of these, and they are blank for you to invent a prompt. Let’s see what you come up with! Could be as simple as: “book I really wanted to read”, and as complex as “Book where there’s a werewolf and the characters chat online before meeting in real life.” Whatever works.

From a real librarian if you’d like, a book you see at the library, a book featured in a blogpost by a librarian. Could even be a book recommended by a Little Free Library owner, because, technically, they ARE a librarian.

You see it on Instagram, it counts. Yes, even if you are reading something, think, “CRAP! I need it to fit a prompt!” and then just search it on Instagram. Totally counts.

There are three of these too. Think of these as the free space in Bingo. Literally any book counts for these. I told you I was making this easy for you!

An author that you have not read anything by yet.

Ebook. Audiobook. Physical book. Book from the library sale. Little Free Library book. Any and all count.

Any book sitting on your shelf. You don’t have to own it. It can be borrowed from a friend, from the library. It can be sitting on your virtual shelf. Just has to be a book you haven’t read yet.

I don’t care when it got on the TBR, it just needs to come from the TBR!

Doesn’t matter how you acquire the book (this does not give you permission to steal though!) just that you need to have started this book within 10 days of getting of it!

A paperback book. If you read ebooks/listen to audiobooks, you can fill this space with a book that has been out for more than a year, since typically paperbacks come out about a year after the hardcover is published.

Doesn’t have to be a real place. Doesn’t even have to be a place that you have ever been to. Just needs to be a place you love. Remember, I won’t be interviewing you to make sure you really love the place. You do you here!

A hardback book. If you read ebooks/listen to audiobooks, you can fill this space with a book that has been out for less than a year, since typically paperbacks don’t come out until a year after the publication of the hardback.

A book you’re excited to read, friend. That’s it.

A book that you want to escape into. Doesn’t need to be fantasy or set on another planet. Just needs to be one that you lose yourself in. Any good story will do that.

You get to decide what fast means to you. Maybe that means staying up all night. Maybe that means you finish it in two weeks when it normally takes you three weeks. It’s all relative and it’s all up to you.

A book that has been out for less than a year: a frontlist book if you remember that from a while ago!

A book you learned a lot from. Doesn’t have to be nonfiction either. You can share what you’ve learned or keep that in your head. Just have to have learned something.

PSSST! Any book I recommend counts for this one, because I’m a bookseller! Shelftalkers (those adorable little notes by books that booksellers love) count, posts that promote books from your favorite indie bookstores online count, and if all else fails, head here to check out bookseller recs!

Use the hashtag #succeedingatreading2021 wherever you share about books.

I’ll be posting montly roundups of what I aim to read for the challenge on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and at the end of the month I’ll show what I actually accomplished as well.

I’m thinking I may do a post for each prompt at the end of the year and have people sound off as to what they read for it. I also may make a google form for people to give me feedback/say what they read so I can collect the total number of books read in the challenge. We’ll see!