Extreme Book Nerd 2024 – Completed!

We enjoy participating in the Idaho Falls extreme book nerd challenges even though we live in Nevada now. The challenges are a lot of fun. The books have to be at least 100 pages in length to count for this challenge. Here’s what we listened to together or read independently to complete the Idaho Falls Library Kids Extreme Book Nerd Challenge 2024. Sometimes two or three of my kiddos read the same book and sometimes they all read something different for a category. Occasionally, two or three of them read the same book but counted the books in different categories.

1. A Wild Card: Book over 200 pages:
   • “All Creatures Great and Small” by James Herriot – 448 pages
2. A book where an animal is a main character:
   • “Odder” by Katherine Applegate (sea otter)
   • “Runaway Ralph” by Beverly Cleary (mouse)
   • “Ranger in Time: Race to the South Pole” by Kate Messner (golden retriever)
3. A book that won an award:
   • “The One and Only Ivan” by Katherine Applegate (John Newbery Medal)
   • “Ginger Pye” by Eleanor Estes (John Newbery Medal)
   • “Johnny Tremain” by Esther Forbes (John Newbery Medal)
4. A book with a plant/flower on the cover:
   • “Science Comics: Frogs: Awesome Amphibians” by Liz Prince
   • “My Life With the Chimpanzees” by Jane Goodall
   • “Science Comics: Elephants: Living Large” by Jason Viola and Falynn Koch
5. A book recommended by a friend:
   • “The Monster in the Hollows” by Andrew Peterson
   • “Odder” by Katherine Applegate
6. A book with a body of water in it:
   • “Tino and the Typhoon” by Alice Green Kelsey (Bucong River and South China Sea”
   • “The Wild River and the Great Dam: The Construction of the Hoover Dam and the Vanishing Colorado River” by Simon Boughton
   • “How to Train Your Dragon (book 2): How to Be a Pirate” by Cressida Cowell
7. A book with a famous landmark in it:
   • “The Oregon Trail #1: The Race to Chimney Rock” by Jesse Wiley (Chimney Rock)
   • “The Oregon Trail #4: The Road to Oregon City” (Columbia River)
   • “The Man Who Beat Death Valley: Based on the True Story of William Lewis Manly” by Deborah A. Fox (Death Valley)
8. A book about food:
   • “Food Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of Our Edible World” by Julia Rothman
   • “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” by Beverly Cleary
   • “The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street” by Karina Yan Glaser
9. A book with an insect or rodent in it:
   • “Runaway Ralph” by Beverly Cleary (mouse)
   • “D.J. Dillon Adventure Series #3: Dooger, The Grasshopper Hound” by Lee Roddy (grasshoppers)
   • “The Complete Brambly Hedge” by Jill Barklem (mice)
10. The middle book of a trilogy:
    • “The Wild Robot Escapes” by Peter Brown
    • “Spies in the Civil War for Kids: A History Book” by Daniel Lewer
11. A book with a person’s name in the title:
    • “Who Was Sacagawea?” by Judith Bloom Fradin
    • “Who Was Frank Lloyd Wright?” by Ellen Labrecque
    • “Wildheart: The Daring Adventures of John Muir” by Julie Bertagna and William Goldsmith
12. A book not in a series:
    • “My Life With the Chimpanzees” by Jane Goodall
    • “Understood Betsy” by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
    • “Taught by a Tiger” by Norma Youngberg
13. A book with a circle/spiral on the cover:
    • “The Wild Robot” by Peter Brown
    • “Where is Our Solar System?” by Stephanie Sabol
    • “Spies, Code Breakers, and Secret Agents: A World War II Book for Kids” by Carole P. Roman
14. A book with a map inside it:
    • “The Oregon Trail #2: Danger at the Haunted Gate” by Jesse Wiley
    • “The Oregon Trail #4: The Road to Oregon City” by Jesse Wiley
15. A book with a portal in it:
    • “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” by C.S. Lewis
16. A book about siblings:
    • “The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street” by Karina Yan Glaser
    • “The Moffats” by Eleanor Estes
    • “The Penderwicks: a Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy” by Jeanne Birdsall
    • “The Saturdays” by Elizabeth Enright
17. A book containing a mystery:
    • “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH” by Robert C. O’Brien
    • “The Boxcar Children #52: The Mystery of the Lost Mine” created by Gertrude Chandler Warner
    • “D.J. Dillon Adventure Series #2″ The City Bear’s Adventures” by Lee Roddy
18. A book that makes you happy/smile:
    • “How to Train Your Dragon” by Cressida Cowell
    • Scientific Progress Goes “Boink”: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection” by Bill Watterson
    • “Science Comics Solar System: Our Place in Space” by Rosemary Mosco and Jon Chad
19. A book you have read before:
    • “Anne of Green Gables” by Lucy Maud Montgomery
    • “Pablo and Birdy” by Alison McGhee
    • “Frindle” by Andrew Clements
20. A book with a yellow spine:
    • “The Oregon Trail #1″ Race to Chimney Rock” by Jesse Wiley
    • “Follow My Leader” by James Garfield
21. A book one of your parents read as a kid:
    • “Mandie and the Secret Tunnel” by Lois Gladys Leppard
    • “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” by Mildred D. Taylor
    • “Ramona Forever” by Beverly Cleary
22. A book with a verb in the title:
    • “D.J. Dillon Adventure Series #1: The Hair-Pulling Bear Dog” by Lee Roddy
    • “Esperanza Rising” by Pam Munoz Ryan
    • “The Imagination Station: Captured on the High Seas” by Mariann Hering and Nancy I. Sanders
23. A book with mythical creatures in it:
    • “The Silver Chair” by C.S. Lewis (Audible)
    • “The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster
24. A book containing a natural disaster:
    • “I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871” by Lauren Tarshis
    • “I Survived True Stories: Tornado Terror” by Lauren Tarshis
    • “Science Comics: Wild Weather: Storms, Meteorology, and Climate” by MK Reed and Jonathan Hill
25. A book you found on a library display:
    • “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio
    • “What Was the Donner Party?” by Ben Hubbard
26. A book with a vehicle on the cover:
    • “The Oregon Trail #3: The Search for Snake River” by Jesse Wiley (covered wagon)
    • “Maker Comics: Fix a Car” by Chris Schweizer (car)

My personal favorite books from this list are: “Pablo and Birdy”, “Anne of Green Gables”, “All Creatures Great and Small”, “Wonder”, “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH”, “The Phantom Tollbooth”, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”, “Esperanza Rising”, “Follow My Leader”, “The Wild Robot”, “Odder”, “The One and Only Ivan”, “The Complete Brambly Hedge”, and “The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street”. If you haven’t read them, they are definitely worth checking out!

Some of our favorite family reading adventures included listening to the entire Chronicles of Narnia Series on Audible. We completed several of the books on our road trip to Arizona last March. We all loved listening to “All Creatures Great and Small”, while also watching the newest version of the television program streaming on PBS Masterpiece. The kiddos got hooked on the Choose Your Own Adventure style of “The Oregon Trail” series. We’re all looking forward to seeing the new theatrical release of, “The Wild Robot” since we read the first two books in that series. We listened to some fun sibling-themed books over the summer to see which siblings we liked best. In order of preference, they were: “The Vanderbeekers”, “The Penderwicks”, “The Moffats” and “The Saturdays”.

📚 Have you read any of the books on our list?