CBR17 Book Bingo Reading Challenge Begins

This reading challenge runs the gamut from as basic BINGO as you can get to engaging with some important concepts – migration, citizenship, and culture. As always, your time is precious, so please pick books you will enjoy or appreciate.

The check-ins will return to being monthly, starting Tuesday August 5. but if you have a question, please don’t hesitate to comment here, or use the contact form.

As always, a huge thanks to yesknopemaybe for creating the best bingo cards on the internet.

Official CBR17 Book Bingo Reading Challenge Card

Download Game Card, Descriptions, and Rules

The Squares

Row 1

Migrant: Many living entities, including humans, migrate. Migration has always happened, will always happen, and occurs for many reasons. Any book with migrants, or migration (can be humans, could also be butterflies, or fictional species) as a significant theme will count.
Review: A book you chose because a review intrigued you. If it was a review on Cannonball Read, please mention the reviewer, or link to the review.
Black: The cover of the book has the color black on it. Please include a picture of the cover.
School: School – any grade level or kind – features prominently as the setting or plot.
Rec’d: A book that was recommended to you by a friend, librarian, bookseller, celebrity, podcast, etc. (Any of the other books mentioned below in the square descriptions count as a recommendation.)

Row 2

Play: Play is an important part of life. Any book in which play of any kind – sports, board games, swimming, tag, etc are a significant theme will count. You could also read and review a play.
Purple: The cover of the book has the color purple on it. Please include a picture of the cover.
TBR: That book that you’ve been meaning to read, but you just haven’t gotten around to it.
Diaspora: A diaspora is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently reside elsewhere. The author may be a member of a diaspora, the book might be set within a diasporic community, it might be a cookbook featuring diaspora cooking like Illyanna Maisonet’s Diasporican, or a fictional diaspora like Makana Yamamoto’s scifi heist banger, Hamajang Luck (this also counts as a recommendation for the Rec’d square).
Culture: Culture is shared customs, beliefs, arts, language, food, and so on.

Row 3

B: The first letter, or first major word of the title begins with a B. For example, Brigands & Breadknives and The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold would both count.
I: The first letter, or first major word of the title begins with a I.
N: The first letter, or first major word of the title begins with a N.
G: The first letter, or first major word of the title begins with a G.
O: The first letter, or first major word of the title begins with a O.

Row 4

Favorite: A reread of a favorite book, a book by a favorite author, a book in a favorite genre, or about a favorite topic.
Red: The cover of the book has the color red on it. Please include a picture of the cover.
Family: A book in which family – family of origin, found family, or taxonomic hierarchy in biological designation – are significant.
Border: A border is a boundary, usually a geographical boundary that might be physical like a body of water, or political. Political borders are often sources of tension and conflict, but they are also places of cultural exchange.
Green: The cover of the book has the color green on it. Please include a picture of the cover.

Row 5

Arts: A book in which art and/or artists are significant.
Borrow: A book you borrowed, maybe from a friend, a library, or a subscription service.
Citizen: A citizen has a legal relationship with a nation, beyond a guest or visitor status, that includes rights and responsibilities. Any book in which the subject matter, or a character is engaging the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, or seeking to gain full citizenship rights. Annalee Newitz’s forthcoming novella, Automatic Noodle is an excellent meditation on living with limited citizenship rights.
Work: A book with a workplace setting or about someone doing their job.
White: The cover of the book has the color white on it. Please include a picture of the cover.

Free: Replaces one square that you don’t want to think about.

The Rules

The CBR17 Book Bingo Reading Challenge begins on Monday, July 7, 2025 and ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, November 7, 2025. Only books that have reviews posted during this time period count towards completing a bingo. You can begin the reading challenge at any time during this period.
Books must have been read during 2025.
You must tag the review on cannonballread.com with cbr17bingo and not any other variation. When using the auto-fill, start typing “c…b…r…17…b…,” and make sure you are selecting cbr17bingo from the dropdown below.. Please do not add the ‘#’ in your tag, just the text cbr17bingo, all one word. Do not add any level-related tags; cbr17bingo is the only bingo-related tag necessary.
All squares can be fiction or non-fiction, graphic novel, audiobook, or any other genre. Fanfiction is also allowable for any square.
Follow the bingo card graphic above to make your book choices.
Once a square is crossed off, it’s crossed off for good! (Feel free to print the bingo card in color, or black and white, to keep track.)
Bingo: Complete a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line. Four corners plus center square counts as a bingo too.
Blackout Card: Complete all 25 squares.
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! Please note in the review how the book fulfills the category.
Select your first square carefully. You can only start a new board if you have completed a full bingo board, or blackout (See #8). If you realize you have labeled a review in error after publication, please use the contact form to let us know.
One book fulfills one square. If a book can fit multiple squares, pick the one that works best for you.
All Cannonball Read rules apply to the CBR17 Book Bingo Reading Challenge.