This post would be more appropriate in January, but since I did not create this site until recently, here we go! Every year in Wichita, KS the Wichita Public Library partners up with the local newspaper, the Wichita Eagle, to challenge residents to read 12 books in 12 months. Pretty easy, right? There’s a catch though (because of course there is). Each book you read has to match up with one of the 12 categories they have created, and you have to complete a book in every category by the end of the year. Here are the categories for 2020:
- A book with a number in the title
- A fix-it, how-to or self-help book
- An epistolary novel
- A speed read (less than 100 pages)
- A book about someone you admire
- A book that has been or will be adapted to the big or small screen
- A selection from a celebrity book club
- A book written by an author new to you
- A book featuring a strong female lead
- A book everyone is talking about
- A “cli-fi” (climate fiction) book, or a book about a natural disaster
- A book by an author visiting Kansas in 2020
Fun, right? Once you read a book that fits into one of the categories, you log it using Beanstack and move on to the next book. If you complete all 12 categories, then at the end of the year you’re eligible for a prize. I have no idea what that prize is because I’ve always been a book or two short because I have trouble fitting all the books I read into the categories. But not this year! I am determined to complete the list. I already have four books done and it’s not even April! So here are the books I have read so far for this challenge:
Book that will be adapted to the big/small screen:
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie – Alan Bradley
*This was chosen by the book club I am in, but it also worked for this challenge. I was surprised that the main character was a young girl, yet it was an adult book, and the entire story revolves around a murder (well, actually a couple of murders). Kind of a Nancy Drew meets Sherlock Holmes feel to it.
Book featuring a strong female lead:
The Sound of Life and Everything – Krista Van Dolzer
*The mom and daughter in this middle grade novel are so incredibly strong and willing to stick up for what they know is right despite society telling them it’s wrong. Very good read, involved some sci-fi elements, and I totally ugly-cried at the end.
Book with a number in the title:
The Multiplying Mysteries of Mount Ten – Krista Van Dolzer
*I may have been on a mystery kick after the first book, but this one is a middle grade novel and it incorporated elements of math into the mystery. A great book that allows the reader to solve the problems and riddles along the way.
Book written by a new-to-me author:
Don’t Vote For Me – Krista Van Dolzer
*As you may have noticed, there have been a lot by Krista Van Dolzer. I am trying to read even more recent middle grade, along with an author’s debut novel, and this was the first one I read by her. It is about two very different candidates running for class president, and the author really dives into the theme that you can’t judge people based on the outside.
For more information about the challenge: https://www.wichitalibrary.org/readict#beanstack
Abbi Lee Books 
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