Extreme Book Nerd 2025 – Almost Completed

(Feature photo: a book with multiple narrators)

Once again, we enjoyed participating in the Idaho Falls Public Library Extreme Book Nerd for Kids and Extreme Book Nerd for Teens Challenges 2025. In order to count for the challenges, a book must be at least 100 pages long and no duplicate titles are allowed. Audio books and books read aloud count as well as books read independently.

This year I attempted to complete the challenge with family read-aloud books. I added a ⭐️ next to our favorite titles. We came really close to finishing this year (the deadline was 12/20) but we were a few books shy. I got distracted because I couldn’t decide between doing the kids challenge or the teens challenge and I ended up doing some of each. Next year‘s challenge isn’t released until January 6 which gave us an extra few weeks to squeeze in a few more books that were technically outside of the deadline. I added a ⏰ next to the titles that we finished a little outside of the official deadline. Even with a few extra weeks, we were still a few books shy of completing the challenge. I’ll have to pick a list and stay focused for this coming year’s challenge!

Here’s the kid’s challenge:

1. A Wild Card: “The Tweny-One Balloons” by William Pène du Bois
2. A book with a community helper on the cover: (nurse) “Florence Nightingale: The Courageous Life of the Legendary Nurse” by Catherine Reef
3. A book that is part of a series with more than 4 books: “How to Speak Dragonese” book #3 in the “How to Train Your Dragon” series by Cressida Cowell
4. A book about a group of friends: “The Fellowship of the Ring” by JRR Tolkien ⭐️
5. A book set in summer: “A Long Way From Chicago” by Richard Peck ⭐️ (We listened to this one with my parents and everyone loved it! Each chapter stands alone and it’s a fabulous multigenerational read/listen aloud.)
6. A book set in winter: “Treasures of the Snow” by Patricia M. St. John ⏰ ⭐️
7. A book from a library display: “Sweet & Salty: King Arthur Baking Company’s Cookbook for Young Bakers” by Jessica Battilana with Yekaterina Boytsova photography by Rick Holbrook and illustrations by Jordan Sondler (Honestly, I’m not sure if cookbooks should count for this challenge, but it’s the only thing that caught my eye on display this year. We tried 2 of the recipes in the book: one sweet and one salty.) ⏰
8. A book with a lion, a witch, or a wardrobe in it: “The Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum (I feel like we should get a bonus point because this book has a lion and a few witches in it, plus there is mention of a wardrobe in chapter 11; but it is not “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis. That being said, we didn’t really like the book that much – I know it’s a classic but it wasn’t our favorite.)
9. A book with a mode of transportation in the title: “A Horse Named Sky” by Rosanne Parry
10. A book with multiple narrators: “A Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Park ⭐️ (This was probably my favorite book we read this year!)
11. A book with pictures in it: “A Nest for Celeste: A Story About Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home” by Henry Cole
12. A book published in 2025: “The Puffin Keeper” by Michael Morpurgo and illustrated by Benji Davies
13. A book with royalty in it: “Tuesdays at the Castle” by Jessica Day George ⭐️
14. A book found on the bottom shelf: [0]
15. A book with a ghost in it: “Raymie Nightengale” by Kate DiCamillo (It didn’t really have a ghost in it, but they thought a shadow in a photo of a lake looked like a ghost, so I’m calling it “close enough”. Otherwise, I would’ve read “The Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens for this category.) ⭐️
16. A book whose title starts with “The”: “The Door in the Wall” by Marguerite de Angeli ⭐️
17. A book by an author whose last name ends with a vowel: “Beverly, Right Here” by Kate DiCamillo (Our favorite books in this series were the first two, this one was just okay.)
18. A book with a bird on the cover: “Little Pilgrim’s Progress” by Helen Taylor and illustrated by Joe Sutphin
19. A book with “Good” or “Evil” in the title: “Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices From a Medieval Village” by Laura Amy Schlitz and illustrated by Robert Bryd (This one is only 85 pages long, so it’s not quite long enough to count for the challenge, but it’s a really interesting collection of 17 short monologues and dialogs.)
20. A book whose author has 3 or more names on the cover: “The Return of the Indian” by Lynn Reid Banks (In our opinions, this book was not quite as good as the first one.)
21. A book with no “e” in the title: “Carry On, Mr. Bowditch” by Jean Lee Latham (While reading this book I was inspired to seek out sailing lessons.) ⭐️
22. A book that takes place at school: “The Report Card” by Andrew Clements ⭐️
23. A book published in the 1900s: “The Witch of Blackbird Pond” by Elizabeth George Speare (1958) ⭐️ (btw, there are no actual witches in this book)
24. A book with a purple cover: “American Girl Rebecca (1914) Collection: books 1-6” by Jacqueline Dembar Greene, illustrations by Robert Hunt, vignettes by Susan McAliley ⏰ (We’re still in the middle of reading this series.)
25. A book with a ‘x’, ‘y’, or ‘z’ in title: “Zero G” by Dan Wells ⭐️
26. A historical fiction book: “American Girl Josefina (1824) Collection: Books 1-6” by Valarie Tripp (We listened to these as audiobooks on Libby. In my opinion, the American Girl books are better as read-alouds with the pictures.)

Here’s the teen’s challenge:

1. A book published this year: [0]
2. A book written by two or more authors: [0]
3. A title with an adjective: “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” by Kate DiCamillo (If you’re fuzzy on adjectives, “miraculous” is the adjective that describes the noun “journey”.)
4. A book that has someone you admire: “The Two Towers” by JRR Tolkien (I like Samwise Gamgee best, who is your favorite LOTR character?) ⭐️
5. A book with an adventure: “Iceberg” by Jennifer Nielsen ⭐️
6. A book suggested by another Book Nerd: “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” by J. K. Rowling (We ended up listening to this because another Christian family recommended it, and I thought that I wanted my kids to be familiar with the book because it’s such a part of American culture – I didn’t like it – I disagree with those who regard it as allegorical or beneficial for Christians to read. It’s fine for entertainment, but I didn’t feel like it made me a better person or anything.)
7. A book set in a capital city: (London, England) “The Railway Children” by Edith Nesbit
8. A book picked because of the cover: [0]
9. A book from a library display: [0]
10. A book that increases empathy: “Home of the Brave” by Katherine Applegate ⭐️
11. A book with a hero: “Call it Courage” by Armstrong Sperry
12. A cover that’s the same color as the outside of your home: “Louisiana’s Way Home” by Kate DiCamillo ⭐️
13. A book that features an immigrant or refugee: “Inside Out and Back Again” by Thanhha Lai ⭐️
14. A book you’ve been meaning to read: “A Single Shared” by Linda Sue Park ⭐️
15. A book with a monster: “Dragon Planet” by Dan Wells
16. An author that is new to you: “The Sheep-Pig” or “Babe: The Gallant Pig by Dick King-Smith (This book was originally published under the first title in the UK and then retitled for publication in the US. The author frequently uses an antiquated term meaning a female dog (b****), the use of this word was quite jarring and I highly recommend reading this book aloud so you can read “mama dog” when you see the other word. We listened to the book on Audible, and cringed whenever we heard the word instead. 🤦🏻‍♀️)
17. A book about any war EXCEPT WWII: “John Lincoln Clem: Civil War Drummer Boy” by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb under the pseudonym E. F. Abbott (Did you know there was a 9-year-old boy who fought in the Civil War? Me neither. This was the most graphic account we’ve read about the atrocities of war. It wasn’t horrifically gory but war is ugly and this book didn’t sugarcoat it.) ⭐️
18. A book from the nonfiction section: “Who Was Leonardo Da Vinci?” by Roberta Edwards and “Who Was Michelangelo?” by Kristen Anderson
19. A book from NPR Books We Love 2024: [0]
20. A book you own but have never read: “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler” by E.L. Konigsburg
21. A book set in the present: “The Frindle Files” by Andrew Clements ⭐️ (We’re really loving everything by Andrew Clements, especially “Frindle” and the sequel “The Frindle Files” – this was such a good book!)
22. A book you love, read it again!: “Charlotte’s Web” by E. B. White ⭐️ (Arguably, the best children’s book ever written.)
23. A book that begins with I, F, P, or L: [0]
24. Wild Card: “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” by Barbara Robinson (It’s a Christmas tradition to listen to this on Audible each year. It’s only 80 pages so it’s not quite long enough to count for the challenge.) ⭐️
25. Your choice: “Stargazer” by Dan Wells
26. A book nominated for the Young Reader’s Choice Award (YRCA): [0]

📚 We hope you are enjoying a good book right now!

📚 Perhaps our list will give you an idea for your next read!