The other day I noticed Simon snuggled in on the couch reading another fantasy book. Reading the same genre is okay. Really. But I want my kids to at least take a bite of books from other categories.

I remember creating some book challenges for Elijah after he had read about fifteen-million mystery books. The trick worked–he began reading many different genres. Although he is a big fan of fiction, he’ll read just about anything I throw at him.

Simon is a good sport, too, and a bit competitive, so I decided to give him a challenge he wouldn’t be able to resist: Read 25 biographies.

This challenge comes in the form of a reading bingo game.

How Biography Bingo Works

1. Print the Biography Bingo Board
2. Determine if you will give your student a prize for his work.
3. Let your student decide if he wants to read five in a row (a traditional bingo), or if he wants to accept the challenge of reading the entire board.
4. Go to the library and get some books!
5. Have your student mark them off as he reads. You can be fancy and use a bingo marker, but we just used plain-old-markers because we aren’t fancy.

Our Favorite Biography Series

Through the years my voracious readers have read a lot of biographies. These series have stood out above the rest, and you will be able to find options for every category if you use these series:

• Childhood of Famous Americans
• Who Was ______? Series
• Young Patriots Series
• YWAM Heroes of the Faith

Biography Bingo Book Suggestions

Here are some suggestions for your student for his bingo board:

• Astronaut or Astronomer: Neil Armstrong, Maria Mitchell, Galileo, John Glenn
• Person of Royalty: Princess Diana, Queen Victoria, Henry VIII, Marie Antoinette
• Explorer: Leif Erikson, Ernest Shackleton
• Entertainer: Harry Houdini, Jim Henson, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin
• Composer: Mozart, George Gershwin
• Movie Director: George Lucas, Alfred Hitchcock
• President: Thomas Jefferson, Harry Truman, William Henry Harrison, Andrew Jackson
• Singer: Mahalia Jackson, The Beatles, Elvis Presley
• Native American: Sacagawea, Geronimo
• Famous Woman: Amelia Earhart, Anne Frank, Helen Keller, Clara Barton
• Poet: James Whitcomb Riley, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou
• Cowboy or Cowgirl: Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill
• Scientist: Albert Einstein, John Audubon, Jane Goodall, Marie Curie, George Washington Carver
• Missionary: Mother Teresa (or any from the YWAM series)
• Pioneer: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Daniel Boone
• African American: Harriet Tubman, Phillis Wheatley
• First Lady: Martha Washington, Eleanor Roosevelt, Abigail Adams
• Author: Maurice Sendak, Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain, Jane Austen
• Athlete: Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph, Pele
• Inventor: Ben Franklin, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison
• Artist: Leonardo da Vinci, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol
• Actor or Actress: Christopher Reeve, William Shakespeare, Lucille Ball
• Political or Spiritual Leader: Ghandi, Pope Francis, Winston Churchill
• Person from Ancient History: King Tut, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great

Simon hasn’t finished the challenge yet, but he has read oodles of biographies, and he’s still interested in reading more! He snuck in a fantasy book today (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea), but I don’t mind one bit.

Happy Reading!