If you follow me on Instagram or Threads, you may have seen my reading BINGO board. If you don’t follow me, not to worry. Here I’m sharing the BINGO Board with you, along with my picks for 2026 as well as a link to make your own!
Here’s my blank board:
I chose these 25 categories for my reading challenge:
- by a Black author
- by an Indigenous or Native author
- by a Latinx author
- by an AAPI author
- by a queer author
- by a neurodivergent author
- by a disabled author
- newly published this year
- an anti-racist read
- the MC (main character) has an interesting job
- a pretty cover
- set in a familiar-to-you setting
- FREE space or reread
- set in a place you want to visit
- a novel about one of your hobbies
- an interesting title
- a young adult book
- a graphic novel
- a middle grade
- a book by an author you’ve liked
- a mystery
- historical fiction
- romance
- nonfiction
- retelling
Because I’m a planner, I also figured out what all of my books would be ahead of time. I chose mostly from my TBR (my “to-be-read” list), but for some of the categories, I had to do some research to find books that fit. I’ll share my picks for this inaugural challenge at the end.
Once you read the books, you can place the cover over the BINGO board space. As you can see, at the end of April, I had one BINGO! My goal is to have a full blackout by the end of the year. You could set a goal of one BINGO by the end of summer if you don’t think you’ll finish all 25 books by the end of the year.
To create your own BINGO board reading challenge, all you need is a Google account so you can open up my Google Slides version of this board.
Once you open up the Slides, go to File > Make a Copy.
- Rename the presentation with your name and save it to your Drive.
- Optional: Customize the categories or change the look of your board.
- In another tab, search for the images of your book covers.
- Copy the picture of your book cover by tapping with two fingers (or right-clicking if you use a mouse).
- Go back to your Slides and paste the image (tap with two fingers and select “paste” or use the shortcuts Ctrl + V or Command + V).
- Resize the image so that it fits the dimensions of the BINGO space. In Format Options, go to Size and Rotation, select the “Lock aspect ratio” box, and change the width to 1.25 inches.
- When you are ready to share your board on social media, go to File > Download > PNG Image. Do this for each slide if you have multiples.
- Tag me @larathelark or use the hashtag #LarasBookBINGO when you share! 🙂
Tip: Duplicate your slide twice so you have three versions: a blank one where you can read all the categories, one that shows your current status (how many books you’ve read), and one that shows all of the books you’ve chosen for all the categories. That way, you can copy book covers from the “blackout” version and paste them easily into the right spot on your running BINGO board. Mine look like this:
I’d love to see what you all are reading!
Finally, here are the books that I selected for my twenty-five. Many of these books could fit in more than one category!
- by a Black author—An Arcane Inheritance by Kamila Cole
- by an Indigenous or Native author—To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage
- by a Latinx author—Breathe and Count Back from Ten by Natalia Sylvester
- by an AAPI author—Blood over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang
- by a queer author—Isaac’s Song by Daniel Black
- by a neurodivergent author—Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic by Michael McCreary
- by a disabled author—True or False: A CIA Analyst’s Guide to Spotting Fake News by Cindy L. Otis
- newly published this year—To Drown a Witch by Lindsey Olsson
- an anti-racist read—How to Raise an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
- the MC (main character) has an interesting job—The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love by India Holton
- a pretty cover—This Could Be Forever by Ebony LaDelle
- set in a familiar-to-you setting—Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez
- FREE space or reread—My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
- set in a place you want to visit—The Many Mothers of Dolores Moore by Anika Fajardo
- a novel about one of your hobbies—The Poet Empress by Shen Tao
- an interesting title—The Shark House by Sara Ackerman
- a young adult book—Fake Skating by Lynn Painter
- a graphic novel—Armaveni by Nadine Takvorian
- a middle grade—All the Blues in the Sky by Renée Watson
- a book by an author you’ve liked—The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez
- a mystery—Together We See by Ari Tison
- historical fiction—All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
- romance—Rings of Fate by Melissa de la Cruz
- nonfiction—Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- retelling—The Other Merlin by Robyn Schneider
Need a recommendation for any of these categories? Let me know in the comments or find me on Threads or BlueSky @Larathelark. Happy reading!
Lara Willard 