I have yet to join the reading challenge bandwagon in full force, but even just nearly 5 years out of graduate school, 11 out of high school, and (eek!) 17 out of elementary school, I am already feeling like my reader's advisory is "dated." Meaning, I'm still relying on a lot of things I read when I was a kid to suggest to parents and kids when they're not looking for something like "what else can we try that's like Diary of a Wimpy Kid?" So I mused on Twitter one day asking for advice from my colleagues.

Mel, of Mel's Desk, was very helpful, and threw out a bunch of "non-traditional" type ideas (ie. not a pure book count or genre-based challenge). I did a little embellishing on one of her initial ideas, and this set of goals was born. The focus for me is really on getting to know my library's collections better, so that I can be sure to recommend and think of books we own, increasing the likelihood that I can come up with something I can intelligently talk about that we have on the shelf.

So without further ado...

In 2013 I will be reading:

• A children's fiction book & teen fiction book (that I haven't already read!) by an author from each letter of the alphabet that I find by browsing the shelves (no requesting from the county branches!) (52 total)
• 3 picture books or easy readers by authors from each letter of the alphabet found, again, by browsing my shelves (78 total)
• 13 children's nonfiction books longer than 100 pages. This is always a tough school assignment for kids and parents, so increasing my knowledge of our collection in this respect will be a good thing.