Hello fellow Book Dragons! Some time ago, I started writing down some new projects I’d like to try to complete, and new ideas. So, since I renamed my YouTube channel, “Becca B. | The Book Dragon”, I decided to plan and write down my own reading challenge book tasks. In a small, leather bound journal I bought an Amazon, I started to handwrite each book task based on dragons, reading, book burning, and challenged/banned books. Usually, most reading challenges, like the one I’ve never completed from PopSugar, have 52 book tasks, with the last 10-12 being “advanced”. 52 books equals 52 weeks in a year, one book per week. However, I came up with 26 book tasks. Half the time, half the books, but no less challenging, with the last two I would consider “advanced”. The real reason for the 26? Students are in school on average for 180 days. Due to excessive amounts of homework, they won’t have much time for extra reading. I wanted these book reading tasks to be fun, but also educational. This challenge is based on my first attempt to get my own former students to read, but also to earn incentives.

A handful of my former high school students accepted the reading challenge questionnaire I created based on the PopSugar Reading Challenge of 2017. I created a dedicated page for each of the 52 book tasks that required students to seek and find the information direct from the books they chose to read. These questions included the copyright information (title, author, publication date), genre, a quote with their commentary, a summary in their own words, and 2-3 additional questions that connected to the different book tasks. For every 5 books read, and 5 questionnaire pages completed (with no sign of plagiarism) prior to the end of the semester/year, the student(s) would earn $25 in gift cards of their choice. I sought out gift cards the school had already for other incentives, but I ended up buying the gift cards using money I earned from my paycheck(s). One student earned $75 for reading 15 books and answered the questions in great detail. After that semester, I became too busy with other professional learning, and so I didn’t do it again.

You may download The Book Dragon Reading Challenge from the newest page added to my website. I do plan to make a reading journal for this challenge, that I eventually want to sell. I’ve seen reading journals in bookstores for people to jot down the books they read that year, and some include questions for the readers to answer. “My Reading Life”, and “Bibliophile” are two of the reading journals I bought for myself.

However, I decided to think outside the box. Why not take it to next level? A real reading challenge every student is worthy of? A TUITION SCHOLARSHIP! That’s the dream that I hope one to turn into a reality for anyone who takes up my reading challenge, and completes the entire reading journal questionnaire whilst they’re still in school. College costs. Students have ample opportunities to earn scholarships to help pay for college tuition, books, room and board. I came across a letter that was sent to me in 2001, entitled “Who’s Who in America”, that acknowledges high school students for their academic prowess and achievements. I wish I would have thoroughly read the fine print: I could have filled out the form, sent it in, and could have earned a scholarship of $1,000 for college, and I didn’t think of it at the time. So, I missed out on a financial opportunity.

Some of the horror stories I’ve seen online include homeless people with both bachelor’s and master’s degrees, some even with a doctorate’. Why are they homeless? Because they couldn’t pay back the student loans, or if they paid back the student loans, they couldn’t keep up with other added expenses, like medical and apartment housing. It’s crazy. While I was working as a teacher, almost half the teachers I worked with were still paying off student loans, and a few were lucky to have partners earning other income so they could live well off until all student depts were paid.

I have a story in mind that will connect to the reading challenge scholarship. Once the story is written and published, the idea is that whoever buys the book, a certain percentage of the proceeds will go towards funding the scholarship. If there’s anyone who knows other legit ways to start a scholarship, I’d love your knowledge and feedback. This is one dream of mine as an educator I would love to actually manifest and to help others. Please let me know what you think by commenting below. If the type from the reading challenge list isn’t legible for you, please let me know and I’ll upload another reader friendly version. Thank you.