NLF Reading Challenge 2026

Looking for the best reading challenge for kids in 2026 The NLF Reading Challenge 2026 is an exciting opportunity for students in Grades 4–6 to explore books, meet authors, and develop a lifelong love for reading.

With 30 curated books over 3 months , this program combines learning, fun, and competition—making it one of the most engaging reading programs for students in India .

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🌟 What is the NLF Reading Challenge?

The NLF Reading Challenge is a structured reading initiative that encourages children to:

• Build strong reading habits
• Improve comprehension and critical thinking
• Engage in meaningful discussions
• Interact with renowned authors
• Connect with fellow young readers

📅 Duration: May to September 2026
📖 Total Books: 30

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👧 Who Can Participate?

This reading challenge for Grades 4–6 is open to:

• Students (Academic Year 2026–27)
• Schools, teachers, and librarians
• Parents and guardians (for non-competitive track)

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🔄 How the Reading Challenge Works

Participants receive a curated book list and reading schedule to guide them through the challenge.

✔️ Read assigned books
✔️ Attend live author interaction sessions
✔️ Participate in school-based reading activities
✔️ Engage in quizzes (competitive track only)

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🛤️ Participation Tracks

🏆 Competitive Track (Team-Based)

Perfect for students who enjoy competition and teamwork.

• Teams of 3 students from the same school
• Minimum 5 teams per school required
• Guided by a teacher/librarian (Reading Coordinator)

Includes:

• Reading all 30 books
• Author sessions
• Online quizzes
• Finals at Neev Literature Festival, Bengaluru

Rewards:

• 🥇 Gold, 🥈 Silver, 🥉 Bronze trophies
• Certificates & book prizes
• Travel and stay for finalists covered

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📖 Non-Competitive Track (Flexible & Fun)

Ideal for students who want a relaxed reading experience.

• Individual participation
• Self-paced reading
• Access to author sessions
• No exams or competition

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🧑‍🏫 Role of Mentors

• Reading Coordinators: Teachers/librarians guiding competitive teams
• Reading Guides: Parents or mentors supporting non-competitive readers

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🧠 Selection Process (Competitive Track)

• Preliminary Round: Online quiz (school monitored)
• Semi-Finals: Virtual rounds via Zoom
• Finals: Live at Neev Literature Festival

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📚 Curated Book List Highlights

The challenge features a diverse mix of:

• Fiction & non-fiction
• Poetry & graphic novels
• Indian & international authors

This ensures students explore different genres, cultures, and perspectives

📖 Complete Book List – NLF Reading Challenge 2026

Links are provided to Amazon.

🟢 Easy to Read Books

• Fox Goes North – Huw Aaron
• Unfairies – Huw Aaron
• Kishore Ashore – Jane De Suza
• The Impossible Pet – C.G. Salamander & Jane De Suza
• My Soul, A Shining Tree – Jamila Gavin
• Shadow Thieves – Peter Burns
• The Spick and the Span – Pil Van Martin
• The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good – Kirsty Applebaum
• The Mizzy Mysteries: A Skeleton in the Closet – Claire Hatcher-Smith
• Chronicles of Whetherwhy: The Age of Enchantment – Anna James
• Swept Away – Karuna Riazi
• Inkbound: Meticulous Jones and the Skull Tattoo – Philippa Leathley
• Midnight Treasure – Piers Torday
• Murder! By Narwhal! – Alex T. Smith
• The Cartoonists Club – Raina Telgemeier & Scott McCloud
• Stitch – Padraig Kenny
• Relic Hamilton, Genie Hunter
• Ancient Indians – Tony Joseph & Devika Cariapa
• An Absence of Squirrels – Aparna Kapur
• Wildlands – Brogen Murphy
• Sneaker Paati – Anita Nair
• Tidemagic: The Many Faces of Ista Flit – Clare Harlow & Maz Evans

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🔵 Challenging Books

• A Girl, A Tiger and A Very Strange Story – Paro Anand & Priya Kuriyan
• Olivetti – Allie Millington
• The Spindle of Fate – Aimee Lim
• Defanged – H.E. Edgmon
• Gloam – Jack Mackay
• Popcorn – Rob Harrell
• Dancing Frogs and Other Creatures in Verse – Zai Whitaker

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📅 Registration Details

• 🗓️ Dates: March 30 – April 30, 2026
• 🌐 Registration Mode: Online
• 📩 Updates via email and official channels 

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CBSE Reading Challenge -2025-26

The CBSE Reading Challenge 2025-26 is here, offering students a chance to enhance their reading and comprehension skills in an exciting way!

Who Can Participate

• Open to students of classes 6 to 10.

• Two categories:

  • Category I: Classes 6 – 7

  • Category II: Classes 8 – 10

• Available in English and Hindi.

How It Works

• Round I: Conducted within schools.

  • CBSE provides the Question Paper and Answer Key to registered schools.

• Round II: Top-performing students from Round I will be nominated by their schools.

  • Schools may register up to 10 students (two from each class, one per language).

  • Each student can participate in only one language per class.

Key Points

• No fee — this is a free student enrichment activity.

• Schools need to register to receive the question papers for Round I.

• Round II gives students a chance to compete at a higher level and showcase their reading skills.

Timeline: August, September and October, 2025

Why Participate?

The CBSE Reading Challenge encourages students to:

• Improve comprehension and analytical skills.

• Explore literature in English and Hindi.

• Engage in healthy competition while having fun with reading.

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Reading Quiz 2025 by MyGov.in and National Book Trust

Join the Reading Quiz 2025: Celebrating 75 Years of India as a Republic!

As India marks 75 glorious years as a republic (1950-2025), the National Book Trust, India, in collaboration with MyGov, invites all Indian citizens to participate in the Reading Quiz 2025! This exciting quiz is designed to enhance your knowledge while giving you a chance to win exciting rewards.

Why Participate?

• Every participant will receive a complimentary subscription to the National Book Trust Books Club Membership.
• A Digital Participation Certificate will be awarded to all participants.
• Test your reading and comprehension skills while celebrating India’s literary heritage.

Quiz Details:

• Eligibility: Open to all Indian citizens.
• Platform: Accessible only through the MyGov platform.
• Format: The quiz consists of 10 multiple-choice questions (MCQs), with only one correct answer per question.
• Duration: 300 seconds (5 minutes) to complete all questions.
• Scoring: There is no negative marking.
• Selection of Winners: The participant who answers the most questions correctly in the shortest time wins.

Rules and Guidelines:

1. Participants can attempt the quiz only once; multiple entries are not allowed.
2. The quiz starts when you click the “Start Quiz” button.
3. Questions are selected randomly from a pre-set question bank.
4. The page should not be refreshed during the quiz; answers must be submitted to register your entry.
5. Participants must provide their name, email address, mobile number, and city to take part.
6. The same mobile number and email cannot be used for multiple attempts.
7. In case of a tie, the shortest completion time will determine the winner.
8. Participants can auto-download their digital participation certificate after successful completion.
9. Any misconduct or irregularity may lead to disqualification.
10. The organisers reserve the right to modify or discontinue the quiz at any time.

How to Participate?

1. Visit the MyGov platform.
2. Register with your details.
3. Click on Start Quiz and begin answering the questions.
4. Complete the quiz within 300 seconds.
5. Download your Digital Participation Certificate upon successful submission.

Stay Updated!

Keep checking the MyGov platform for any updates related to the quiz. Don’t miss this opportunity to challenge yourself, explore new books, and be a part of India’s reading movement!

Start your journey into the world of books today! 

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Read India Celebration - Reading Contest for Students

#RIC2023 - India’s biggest reading festival - Open for registrations!

Categories:

1. Category 1 – 3rd to 5th Class Students

2. Category 2 – 6th to 9th Class Students

3. Category 3 – 10th to 12th Class Students

4. Category 4 – Undergraduate & Graduate Students

5. Category 5 – Citizens (no age limit)

 

Participation (In 3 simple steps):

1. Register on www.readindia.info

2. Read any non-academic book, story, situation, or entity in existence, personal experience or research a topic

3. Submit 1 A4 page document & 1 video file online (Round#1)

  a. Document (with 2 sections) of A4 size with learning/key message from the book, story, experience, or views on the topic (Top half of the page) + Propose an innovative solution to any school, college, social, community, regional, global, or humanitarian problem of your choice (Bottom half of the page)

  b. Video (Maximum 2 mins summarizing the key message or learning or findings from the story/book/views on topic) staring with a self-introduction

*Round#1: A total of 25 to 100 students from each of the 4 categories make their way to Round#2 based on the video and document evaluations from online submissions

 

*Round#2 (Face2Face Online Screening):

1. Participants are asked to prepare on any 5 - 25 non-academic/social topics (They may choose from the proposed list on the website under Initiatives/RIC2022 or of their own preference.)

2. Round# 2 consists of the topic and the question segment

  a. Each participant must speak on 2 topics (3 minutes each)

   i. Topic#1: Is a participant’s choice

  ii. Topic#2: Is the judge’s choice

  iii. Question segment: Judges will give each participant a problem/a social/community situation asking them for solutions

  b. A total of 5 – 10 participants make it to the grand finale

 

*Grand Finale/Round#3 (Assignments & Finale)

a. Assignments

  i. Week#1/Assignment#1 – Identify your top weakness and overcome it

  - Create a 2-minute video with a self-introduction and share the details i.e., what is the weakness, how you have overcome that weakness + benefits, and submit the video online

  ii. Week#2/Assignment#2 – Identify your top strength and prepare a roadmap to success/goal/aspiration/future direction

  - Create a 2-minute video with a self-introduction and share the details i.e., what is the top strength, how you plan to achieve success/goal/pursue the aspiration of your life using your strength and submit the video online

 

b. Finale (category-wise)

i. Finale details shall be announced at the end of the assignments (*Only those who submit assignments are eligible for the finale round)

ii. A winner & a runner-up shall be declared based on the grand finale group event from each of the 4 student categories

*Winner in each category gets a laptop while the runner-up gets a tablet + Certificates for All

 Timelines for #RIC2024:

✣ Online Registrations – June thru Aug 5th

✣ Last Date For The Online Video & Document Submissions – Aug 25th

✣ Evaluations – Sep & Oct

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The New York Times 14th Annual Summer Reading Contest 2023

Middle and high school students are invited to tell The New York Times what they’re reading in The Times and why and get your work published. 

The Reading Contest

Every Friday starting on June 9, The New York Times will post a fresh version of the question, What got your attention in The Times this week?

Students can then choose any New York Times article, essay, image, graph, video or podcast episode that sparked their interest and write a short response telling them why. At the end of the week, judges from the Times newsroom will pick their favorites and they will publish the top response.

Eligibility

The contest is open to students aged 13 to 19 in middle or high school anywhere in the world.

How to Participate?

Students can choose anything that was published on NYTimes.com in 2023.

Every Friday beginning on June 9, a post will be published asking the same question: “What got your attention in The Times this week?” 

That’s where you should post an answer any time until the following Friday at 9 a.m. Eastern, when  that post will be closed to comment and open a new one that asks the same question. On Aug. 11 the final question of the summer will be posted, open until 9 a.m. on Aug. 18.

For an idea visit https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/05/learning/summer-reading-contest-week-9-what-got-your-attention-in-the-times-this-week.html to see last year posts.

You can participate as often as every week, but only one submission per person per week is allowed.

Responses must be 1,500 characters or fewer.

Every Tuesday during the contest, starting June 27 and ending Aug. 29,  the previous week’s winner or winners will be published in a separate post.

All Learning Network posts for students, as well as all Times articles linked from them, are accessible without a digital subscription. So, no subscription required and no fee for participation

Activity for Classroom

Teachers can make use of this contest as a classroom activity. 

When a student is submitting a response by posting a comment, make sure to check the box that asks if you would like to be emailed when your comment is published. If the student do so, the system will send the student a link to his/her comment, which they can use to show to the teacher,  parents,  friends or anyone else 

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Read India Celebration (International)

Read India Celebration (International) is not a competition but a grand stage to celebrate readers, knowers, gyani’s, vidyavan and leaders from India and across the world. It’s an annual Readership and Leadership festival for school (standard 3rd – 12th) & college (undergraduate & graduate) students. It is a unique initiative for students to indulge in a transformative non-academic reading, problem solving and leadership experience. A platform for students from all backgrounds, geographies, cultures, societies to share knowledge, opinions, discuss ideas & solutions to issues that matter to them. A platform to celebrate knowledge and propagators of Gyan and Independent Thinking (Jagruth Swatantra Soonch) based culture. It’s a stage to reinforce the value and importance of Gyan & Independent Thinking as a means to prosperity & peaceful coexistence.

A stage to remind students that our ignorance, ignorant people & ignorant societies are the greatest threat to our own wellness, humanity and the ecosystem we live in. RIC is a platform to empower Shikshit (literate) to become Vidyavan. A platform where every participant is a winner in their own way.

RIC 2022 – Read, Think, Act – Is to Enable / Enhance / Empower the Read (3R’s), Think (Independent), Act (Intelligent) factor in students for success…

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മാതൃഭൂമി ആഴ്ച്ചപ്പതിപ്പ് നവതി വര്‍ഷ വായന മത്സരം - Mathrubhumi Reading Competition for Students

ഹൈ സ്കൂള്‍ വിദ്യാര്‍ഥികള്‍ക്കായി മാതൃഭൂമി ആഴ്ച്ചപ്പതിപ്പ് നവതി വര്‍ഷ വായന മത്സരം ഒരുക്കുന്നു

മാതൃഭൂമി ആഴ്ച്ചപ്പതിപ്പ് 2022 ജൂലായ് 17ണ്ടെ ലക്കം മുതല്‍ 2022 ഓണപ്പതിപ്പ് വരെ ആഴ്ചപ്പതിപ്പില്‍ പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിക്കുന്ന ഏതെങ്കിലും ലേഖനമോ കഥയോ കവിതയോ നോവെല്‍ഭാഗമോ ശ്രദ്ധയോടെ വായിച്ചു മനസ്സിലാക്കി അതേക്കുറിച്ച് ഒരു ആസ്വാദനക്കുറിപ്പ് സ്വന്തം കൈപ്പടയില്‍ തയ്യാറാക്കി അയക്കണം.

മികച്ച കുറിപ്പുകളെഴുതിയ 100 പെര്‍ക്ക് 200 രൂപയുടെ മാതൃഭൂമി ബുക്സ് ഗിഫ്റ്റ് വൌച്ചറും അടുത്ത വര്ഷം ജനുവരിയില്‍ തിരുവനന്തപുരത്ത് നടക്കുന്ന മാതൃഭൂമി അന്തരാഷ്ട്ര അക്ഷരോത്സവത്തില്‍ പങ്കെടുക്കാനുള്ള സൌജന്യ പാസും സമ്മാനം

അവസാന തീയതി സെപ്തംബര്‍ 10

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Oxford University Press India Summer School - Activities & Contests

Oxford University Press India launches the fourth edition of Summer School!

Make the best of this time at home with live storytelling sessions, read and draw sessions and a specially curated summer reading list. Participate in exciting contests, watch stories come to life through videos, and explore various activities to keep children engaged and busy during the summer break!

Summer Activities

Participate in the contests to win exciting gift hampers. Each participant will receive a certificate from Oxford University Press India.

Story-writing Contest: Read, listen to, or watch a story and retell it in your own words. Contest starts on 11th May, 2022.

GK Contest: Test your knowledge by participating in the GK quiz.

Contest starts on 16th May, 2022.

Short Stories

Make this summer more enjoyable by watching animated short stories by Oxford University Press India.

Short Stories

Make this summer more enjoyable by watching animated short stories by Oxford University Press India.

Practice at home

The Read with Oxford series, developed by our reading experts to help you choose books to use at home to support your child – from their first steps in phonics all the way through to being independent readers.

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National level online Competition for Students: Ignite, Imagine, Inspire

School Library Association-India celebrates National Library Week in November 2021 and announces a national level online competition Ignite, Imagine, Inspire for school students . The contest aims at developing imagination, creativity, and scientific temper through reading selected stories and completing the given tasks.

 Who can participate?

Any school going student in India (includes CBSE affiliated schools in other countries).

Categories & Fee

Category I : Classes 1 & 2

Category II: Classes 3 – 5

Category III:  Classes 6 – 8

Category IV: Classes 9 -12

No fee for registration.

What to Do?

Category 1:

Read the story available at https://storyweaver.org.in/stories/23466-tra-s-red-bean-plant

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