It’s hard for me to believe that today is Book Fifty’s second anniversary! I’ve loved getting to share the books I’m reading with you all, and I’m so thankful to you for following along and offering me great feedback.

In the spirit of celebration, today I have a huge surprise for you–two huge surprises, actually! I had such an amazing response to the free printable reading challenges I provided back in January, that I figured it was time to create some more printables to share with everyone.

When I started brainstorming lists, I was drawn to a few things right off the bat. First, I shared a fun picture featuring some of my favorite girlhood friends over on my Book Fifty Instagram page a few weeks ago. I shared it with a quote from You’ve Got Mail, and the whole thing just made me feel really nostalgic for those childhood heroes and heroines I loved so much. You can see that image here:

That nostalgia was really the first reason for this post. The second reason is that school is already about to start back. Can you believe it? I’m still a little in shock that in a few short days I’ll be back at work!

As an English teacher, it’s always been one of my goals to connect people with books they love. I love providing you with free resources that help you read more. So when I thought about those childhood heroines and heroes, I naturally thought about connecting kids with good books. Sometimes it can be overwhelming to walk into the library with your son or daughter and try to find a book for his or her latest independent reading project. Maybe you’d like your kids to be stronger readers, but you’re not sure where to start. Maybe your kids love to read, but they’ve read everything in the house three times.

With all of those thoughts in mind, I’ve created some free resources for you–two giant lists, each with over 125 books for young readers of all ages. I’m so excited to make these available! I hope they will help as you plan out your child’s independent reading projects, or even help as you pick a book to read aloud as a family.

These lists include different series of books, individual books, classic books, modern books, all kinds of books! I’ve split the lists up into “Elementary School,” “Middle School,” and “High School” lists, but depending on your child’s reading level or tastes, you can pull from any list you’d like.

I think it’s also important to share with you that there are many books that are repeated on both the “boy” list and “girl” list, and some that are different. I think every book on these lists is great for everyone, but I know that sometimes guys are looking for different things in their books–more action and adventure, less romance.

The craziest thing about these lists is that I originally planned to do just 100 books. When I started listing books, though, I had way more than 100. Even after I settled on 125 I kept thinking of other titles to add to the list. These lists aren’t comprehensive, and they don’t include a lot of today’s hottest Young Adult books. These are just some of my favorites–tried and true books for different age groups. There are still so many out there to explore that I’m sure I’ll be sharing newer, bigger lists in the future.

For now I thought I’d offer these up as a helpful resource to parents, teachers, and young readers everywhere. Download them, share them on social media, and let me know which books your kids loved best.

You can access the lists by visiting the “Printable Resources” page under the “Resources” tab, or by clicking on these links!

Confident Guys Printable

Courageous Girls Printable

If you find these lists helpful in any way, PLEASE share this post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest. I’d love to spread the word and the book love.

And thanks again for being such a fun audience. I can hardly believe I’ve been working at this for two years. Here’s to many more in the future.

Keep Reading!

Sarah