Repeated Categories in the Winter Reading Challenge

As I have mentioned, the library’s Bookends magazine has the list of categories for the 2024 Winter Reading Challenge. And after four years of participating, the categories are looking familiar.

This year, we’re prompted to read:

• Author of Different Race/Religion Than Your Own
• Neurodivergent Character
• LGBTQ+ Character
• Outside Your Comfort Zone

In years past, we’ve already had:

• LGBTQ Author (2021)
• Native American Author (2021)
• Hispanic Author (2022)
• Character/Author with a Disability (2022)
• About Mental Health (2022)
• Immigrant Perspective (2022)
• Author of Color (2023)
• Banned Book (2023)

I mean, would it hurt the librarians to include a Shakespearean play in there sometime?

I have the opportunity to start setting aside books that match the categories, but I am not sure what is outside my comfort zone.