YALSA’s The Hub 2016 Reading Challenge Begins!

It’s time to kickoff the 2016 Hub reading challenge! This challenge is intended to encourage librarians, library workers, and YA lit enthusiasts to dive into the award winner and honor books and YALSA selected lists with the hope of providing excellent readers’ advisory and even discovering a new favorite title or exploring a genre outside of your comfort zone.

Eligible books are the YA titles that were named winners or honor titles the following award and selected lists:

This year, based on feedback, we’ve expanded the eligible list of titles to include all YA literature recognized by any ALA division, including:

The titles are compiled into a this list [pdf].

the hub 2016 reading challenge

How to Participate

  • Declare your intentions in a comments on this post.
  • Read 25 of the selected titles to complete the challenge, or the entire list to conquer it.
  • If you’re going to be tracking what you read/listen to on your blog or on Goodreads, LibraryThing, YouTube or some other site, include a link to your blog/shelf/channel/profile in your comment. If you’re not tracking your reading online, keep a list some other way.
  • Make it a social experience! Share your challenge progress and get to know other participants by using the hashtag #hubchallenge on Twitter and Instagram.

  • Every Sunday, we’ll publish a check-in post. Leave a comment to talk about what you’re reading for the challenge. If you’ve reviewed those titles somewhere online, include links to those reviews! Otherwise, let us know what you thought of the books in the comments.
  • There will be an finisher form embedded in each check-in post, so once you’re done with the challenge, fill out the form with your name and contact information. This is how you’ll receive your Finisher’s Badge, how you’ll be contacted about your reader’s response, and how you’ll be entered into the drawing for our grand prize. Please fill out the form only once.
  • If you’ve conquered the challenge, let us know in the comments and we’ll send you your Conqueror’s Badge.

Challenge rewards

Beyond experiencing the best of the best that YA lit has to offer, everyone who finishes the challenge will be invited to submit a response to a book they read for the challenge. The response can be text, graphics, audio, video and will be published on The Hub. Furthermore, everyone who finishes the challenge will be entered into a random drawing for our grand prize: a YALSA tote bag full of 2015 and 2016 YA lit! (If the winner is a teacher or librarian or something similar, we’ll also include a few professional development titles.)

Guidelines

  • Format matters: a title that has been recognized for both the print version and the audiobook version can be both read and listened to and count as two books, but a book that has won multiple awards or appears on multiple lists in the same format only counts as one title.
  • Books must be read/listened to (both begun and finished) since the award winners and selected lists have been released and 11:59pm EST on June 23. If you’ve already read/listened to a title, you must re-read/listen to it for it to count. The only exception is for titles you read for the Morris/Nonfiction Reading Challenge; whether or not you finished that challenge, you may count that reading toward your 25 titles.
  • Just about everyone who doesn’t work for ALA is eligible to participate. Non-ALA/YALSA members are eligible. Teens are eligible. Non-US residents/citizens are eligible. (More eligibility questions? Leave a comment or email us.)
  • Once you finish the challenge, we’ll contact you with details about creating and publishing your response.
  • The grand prize winner will be selected by 11:59pm EST on June 23. The winner will be notified via email.

If you have any questions or problems, let us know in the comments or via email. Happy reading! 

198 thoughts on “YALSA’s The Hub 2016 Reading Challenge Begins!”

  2. It seems too early, but I’m always excited about this challenge. It encourages me to read books that I might never read on my own and introduces me to titles that I may not know already. Happy Reading!

  6. So in for my 5th year! I’ve finished 6 so far. Most recently More Happy Than Not – amazing story!

    1. I just noticed that “Silence of Six” isn’t on the list of Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers. Is this an accidental omission? My TAB participated in the multimedia challenge when the book was first released, but I haven’t gotten a chance to read it yet :)

  16. I’m in. I finished the Morris/Nonfiction challenge, and I’ve got all the Alex winners and Amazing Audiobook winners on hold, so I have a stack to get me started. I will be attempting to conquer the challenge again this year.

  18. I can’t wait to start. When exactly is the start date? It is usually sometime in early Feb. (except for the Morris and non-fiction which we could count if read before Jan. 11).

    1. The “official” start date is now! Anything you’ve read since the YMAs and selected lists for awards counts. The date is usually in February because Midwinter is usually in late January, instead of the beginning.

  19. I’m in! I’ll be tracking on my goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3591728?shelf=2016-hub-challenge-read as well as hopefully posting to my blog (which I say every year and stop doing after 3 titles). I do have two questions:
    Are we only limited to the David Levithan books listed?
    Are the nominated volumes in the graphic novel series counted separately this go round? In the past they have been but I just want to make sure that still applies.

  22. Excited to start the 2016 edition of the Hub Challenge! I have a bit of a head start as I completed the nonfiction and Morris challenges. I’ll be tracking on myGoodreads account.

  26. For once my timing is perfect. I just read The boy in the black suit today. I enjoyed it immensely. Every year I hope to read more than I did the previous year. I can easily handle the 25 required.

  27. I’m totally excited about trying this challenge again. Last year I was completely unsuccessful. I only read 13, but the two years before I finished at least 25 books.

  33. First time participant, looking forward to some great reading. Only hope that I can find that all the titles want to read are available in New Zealand.

  35. Love the Hub Challenge! I will be tracking books read here https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1060755-amy-wheatley?shelf=2016-hub-challenge and tweeting @MHHSELibrary
    I remembered to do the Morris/Nonfiction Challenge this year, so I’ve already read all the nonfiction nominees, but only made it through 3 of the 5 Morris titles. I still have Weight of Feathers & Conviction to go there. I saw some of the Alex titles at my Public Library & thought, no, must wait for Hub Challenge… So excited to get started!

  39. I’m in! I finished 4 of the Morris finalists for that challenge, so this is the first year that I have a head start. :)

  48. I’ll be doing this again! I’m still working my way through the Morris Award finalists and then we’ll see where I go from there!

  51. I’m in! I’ve already read 1 book for the nonfiction challenge (First Flight Around the World). I’m hoping to read at least one book from each category. I’ll keep track of my reading on twitter.

  53. Yes, I’ll be participating again this year. There are so many great titles to choose from! I couldn’t quite finish 25 titles last year, so I’m excited to complete the challenge for 2016.

  55. The 2015 challenge had the specification of “If a book was recognized as a print version, listening to the audiobook does not count.” Is that true again for this year?

    1. Good catch! We made a few changes this year. In addition to adding extra lists, we also dropped that. Even if it’s a print book recognized, reading audio counts (but for audio awards, we encourage the audio version). The thought was that the point of the challenge is to familiarize yourself with great YA literature, and many people have more time or prefer audio, and that it should still “count” as reading. Ultimately, this challenge is what you make it.

      3. This is a great change for me. Thanks for counting the audiobooks too. It makes sense!

  73. If a book is nominated, can you listen to it or does it have to be read unless it is An Amazing Audio? I have an audiobook of Girl at War and want to know if I listen to it will it count as being read? Thanks!

    1. Hi BJ, to make the challenge more flexible and accessible, listening to a book that was honored in print “counts” this year. We’re recognizing that because of time and preferences, many people do most of their reading as listening, and the point of the challenge is to become familiar with excellent YA literature. The challenge is for your benefit, so if it works better for you to listen to a title rather than read print, go for it!

      1. Thanks, Molly! I have participated for 2 years now and since I read many current YA titles before the challenge- I made myself read more graphic novels, nonfiction, and listen to audiobooks so I did not have to re-read books- and I absolutely loved branching out with the new titles, thanks!

  75. I’m going to give it a shot! This will be my first time in the challenge so this should be exciting! How long does the challenge last? Is there an end date or does it just last through the end of the year?

    1. I love your instagram! I just followed you (I’m amysaysread). You’re inspiring me to get more creative with my reading instagrams. :)

  97. Hurray! The Hub Reading Challenge always helps keep me motivated, and I’ve got some of my students joining me in the Challenge! Really excited about the expanded YA inclusions from across ALA’s other divisions this year. I add titles to a YALSA Hub Challenge shelf on Goodreads as I finish, under username Ms. Pansulla.

  98. I’ve started my list on GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2072864-kim?shelf=hub-challenge-2016
    I forgot to post until now though I did start the challenge when it first opened. I love this challenge!
    Anyway, the one thing that’s hard about GoodReads is that it’s not really equipped to show more than one reading of any given book (don’t they read the same books multiple times themselves?), so I’m putting a new note in each one that I’ve read before.

    1. If you hit the “more options” button under the review box, there’s a box where you can tally how many times you’ve read a book, though it will only count for your yearly stats for the date you’ve put for “read.” I like to keep a list of the dates I’ve previously read something, along with previous reviews in the review itself, as well as tally of the total number of times I’ve read something.

  101. Oh, every year I come so close, maybe this is my lucky year. Started Shadowshaper as my first book!!
    I will be logging on my Twitter

  110. I am going to give it a good try! It will provide a real incentive to stay up on the best of YA material!

  112. I am joining the challenge for another year. I enjoy this challenge as it exposes me to the best selection of books for my students. I share with them as I read, both as a role model, but also to catch their interest in the books. I love when my students read my reviews and decide to read the book. I will be tracking my books through GoodReads.

  117. I’ll be participating! I’m at 6 already, thanks to the Morris challenge and reading Between the World and Me in January. Can’t wait to pick my next titles!

  121. I’m in. Didn’t finish last year, but finished the year before. We’ll see what happens for 2016. Let’s do this!

  129. I’m in and very happy to see the additional awards included: Coretta Scott King Awards, Pura Belpre, Amelia Bloomer, and Rainbow list.

    Currently reading Conviction (Morris Award Finalist)

  136. Was holding out to see if I could make the time commitment this year, but I think I may be able to! Gonna try at least. Count me in.

  139. San Diego Central Library’s Teen Book Club will be participating in this challenge! We will be updating via my Twitter account @librarianmo and look forward to reading the best of the best of YA and sharing our journey with everyone.

  149. I’m in and am excited to get started, especially on some NF and graphic novels. I’m currently reading Nimona so I’m off to a good start!

  150. I am in. I am keeping track on Library Thing in the 2016 Category Challenge Group.

  156. Count me in! Been reading already, but just now getting around to stating my intentions. :-)

  162. ! somehow missed this post two months ago! I’m going to try again this year.

  163. I will try again this year–made it over half way last year before other required reading lists overcame me!

  167. Looks like I’m a bit late to the game, but I’ll see if I can get enough titles checked-off by June 23rd. My semester (I’m working on MLIS now) will be over shortly, so I should have a bit of time for fun reading!

    I’m looking forward to tackling the Amelia Bloomer’s and the Stonewalls.

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