The CBR11 Book Bingo Reading Challenge Begins

After the success of last year’s inaugural Book Bingo Reading Challenge, we are delighted to bring it back for a second year! Select five squares across, down, diagonally, or 5-up (four corners + center square), and get an entry into a drawing for some cool prizes. Complete the entire card – a blackout! – and get 15 entries into our drawing. Download your game card below, and post your reviews tagged with cbr11bingo for chances in our prize raffle. You can ask questions, ask for suggestions, and look for a review partner in the comments below and in the monthly check in posts. You can also ask for suggested books and clarifications in the comments here, the check in posts, and it the Facebook group Cannonball Read Book Chat.

The Official CBR11 Book Bingo Reading Challenge Card

• Printable PDF Version (Squares, Descriptions, and Rules)
• High-resolution JPG (Squares Only)

The Squares

• Remix – An update, retelling, or reimagining of a classic, a fairytale, or folklore. This can be your #CannonBookClub Classics and Retellings read, or an unrelated book.
• True Story – non-fiction: biography, memoir, current event, or history.
• Far and Away – Choose a book set on Earth as far away from you as you can imagine. It can be physical distance, cultural distance, fiction, or non-fiction.
• Youths! – a children’s or Young Adult book (fiction or non-fiction).
• Reading the TBR – Any book from your To-Be-Read list.
• Pajiba – Any book referenced in the Pajiba Book Archive in any year.
• The Collection – a collection of short pieces – fiction or non-fiction – short stories, essays, poems, etc. It can be by the same author or a group of authors.
• Travel – A book, fiction or non-fiction, that includes a journey. A classic example would be The Hobbit. A non-fiction example would be something like Blue Highways.
• Illustrated – a book of photographs, graphic novel, comic book, or other book where the images or illustrations are the focus.
• Science! – Non-fiction or fiction, a book in any genre where science is the star. This might be a fantasy book like Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons in which the protagonist is a scientist, a science fiction book like John Scalzi’s The Collapsing Empire in which science is used or denied to further political agendas, or a non-fiction book about science or scientists.
• Two Heads are Better Than One – Do a partner review: review a book with a fellow Cannonballer, a non-Cannonballer, or with a child/teen.
• Back to School – either a book you read for school (any level of school) that you remember loving/hating, or revisiting an assigned book you didn’t understand then, but you might now.
• Own Voices – Select an author from a marginalized group writing non-fiction about their own group, or writing a main character who is from the same marginalized group – for example Susan Stryker’s Transgender History (non-fiction about the history of transgender people written by a trans woman) or Sandhya Menon’s When Dimple Met Rishi (an Indian American author writing about an Indian American teen girl).
• Classics – a generally accepted classic, can be in association with #CannonBookClub Classics and Retellings read, or an unrelated book.
• History/Schmistory – a book about a historical period, history itself, historical fiction, or alternate history.
• I Love This – a book you love or a book about a thing you love. It can be a book you have previously reviewed for Cannonball, but you must write a new review for bingo. Feel free to link to your previous review as well.
• Not My Wheelhouse – Review a book in a genre you don’t typically read.
• Listicle – People love making lists. Review a book from a list.
• Rainbow Flag – a book written by an author who self identifies as part of the LGBTQ community. Books can be fiction, non-fiction, about LGBTQ characters/issues or not.
• Award Winner – Review a book that won a major literary or genre specific prize in any year. Any of the literary awards in this list on Wikipedia will count, plus the Grammys or the Audies.
• Cannonballer Says – Review a book you chose because you liked another Cannonballer’s review, or it was recommended by a Cannonballer. (Don’t forget to say who!)
• And So it Begins – Review the first book in a series.
• Birthday – Review a book by an author (ex. J.K. Rowling) with a birthday between July 1 and October 31 or featuring a beloved character (ex. Harry Dresden) with a birthday between those dates.
• Banned/Challenged Books – A book that has been banned or challenged in any country. You can start with either of these lists: The American Library Association’s list of Frequently Challenged Books in the US or the Wikipedia entry of books banned by governments around the world. Please either state which list you found it on, or when and where the book was banned or challenged.
• Summer Read – the kind of book you would take on vacation for “light reading.”

The Rules

1. Bingo begins when the Bingo card is posted on Monday, July 1, 2019 and ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on Thursday, October 31, 2019. Only books that have reviews posted during this time period count towards the bingo. You can start CBR Bingo at any time during this period.
2. Books must have been read during 2019.
3. You must tag the review on cannonballread.com with cbr11bingo.
4. Follow the bingo card graphic above to make your book choices.
5. Once a square is crossed off, it’s crossed off for good! (Feel free to print off the bingo card to keep track!)
6. Bingo: Complete a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line and receive one entry into our prize drawing raffle. Four corners plus center square counts as a bingo too.
7. Blackout Card: Complete all 25 squares and receive 2 entries into our prize drawing raffle.
8. ​In your review, state which square the book fulfilled, either at the top or the bottom of the review. Please make it easy to find!
9. Please state in the review how the book fulfills the category. Some categories are subjective, and some are more specific. Some books will be self-explanatory, but some, like Banned/Challenged or Listicle need a sentence such as, “this book was challenged in this school district in 2008” or “this book was on Barack Obama’s list of best books 2018.”
10. Select your first square carefully. You can only start a new board if you have completed a full bingo board, a blackout. If you realize you have labeled a review in error after publication, please email rochelle at cannonballread dot com and let her know.
11. If you choose to do the Two Heads are Better Than One square, your review partner does not have to be registered for CBR11. If your partner is registered for CBR11, email rochelle at cannonballread dot com and to tell her which person’s tally needs to be adjusted to reflect the review. If your partner is not registered, but would like to, contact mswas at cannonballread dot com.
12. New for 2019 – Reader’s Choice: This is a “floating” square that you can use to skip one category and review the book of your choice instead. Only one floating square may be used per player per card. You must review a book for this square, but you don’t have to follow the category/topic. Please state which square you are replacing with “Reader’s Choice” at the top or the bottom of the review.
13. Clarification 1 – One book fulfills one square. If a book fits multiple squares, pick the one that works best for you.
14. Clarification 2 – All Cannonball Read rules apply to Bingo.

Prizes

By completing each bingo, you’ll receive one entry into our prize drawing to be held after October 31. Complete all 25 squares and receive 2 additional entries into our prize drawing raffle (for a total of 15 entries). Detailed prize information to follow. Note on Prizes – as this is no longer an anniversary year, there will be fewer prizes this year. We are still excited about the prizes we will have.