Inspired by the success of GSHE’s past reading challenges and similar programs offered by public libraries, GSHE is continuing its monthly Reading Challenge for 2026, created especially for New Hampshire’s homeschool community.
This challenge is designed to be simple, flexible, and enjoyable. Each month offers a broad reading theme that encourages children to explore new authors, subjects, and genres in ways that fit your homeschool style.
Families may choose any book that matches the monthly theme and feels appropriate for their child’s age, interests, and reading level.
There are no required book reports, projects, logs, or submissions to GSHE. If you choose to keep a record of your child’s participation, it may be included in your homeschool portfolio, but that is entirely optional.
Participation
GSHE does not collect reading logs, track participation, or offer prizes for the Reading Challenge. Families are welcome to extend the challenge in their own creative ways, such as offering a small monthly incentive, planning special library visits, or setting aside dedicated family reading time.
For children who are not yet reading independently, audiobooks and family read-alouds count. Readers of all abilities are welcome.
If you’d like encouragement and ideas for reading together as a family, you may also enjoy:
Read Alouds: Benefits, Research, and Favorite Books – Part 1
Read Alouds: Tips and Favorite Books – Part 2
Finding Books on a Budget
Your local library is a great place to start, including access to interlibrary loan (ILL) programs.
GSHE members also have access to a wide range of free book and audiobook resources through the GSHE Resource Directory. Create a free account at gshenh.org/join to explore options such as:
Libby by OverDrive
LibriVox (public-domain audiobooks)
NH Downloadable Books Consortium
Project Gutenberg
Storyberries (especially helpful for younger readers)
Ben and Me (free Kindle books for children)
For March, the reading challenge is to read some fairy tales!
Fairy tales have an important role in literature: they cultivate the imagination; convey moral lessons and values; explore basic human conditions such as love and loss, good versus evil, responsibility and consequence; and impart themes of hope and redemption. They often communicate fundamental truths about how the world works. In simple, memorable ways, fairy tales can teach children problem-solving skills, resilience, courage, and perseverance.
For many children, fairy tales are among the earliest forms of literature they encounter. Many originated as oral stories passed from one generation to the next. Because these stories are relatively brief, they remain accessible and easy to remember.
Fairy tales frequently exist in multiple variations—likely a result of their oral origins—making them ideal for comparison. It can be an engaging study to read different versions of Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, or Rumpelstiltskin and consider how details and lessons shift over time and culture.
Although often introduced in childhood, fairy tales contain deeper layers of meaning that make them well suited for older readers as well. These layered meanings are part of what makes fairy tales enduring and culturally significant.
Fairy tales are found across cultures and centuries. Ancient Greek and Roman mythology may represent some of the earliest examples, and there are rich anthologies of Irish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and African fairy tales and folk stories. It could be an interesting study to explore several tales from different cultures and compare common themes and distinct traditions.
We hope you enjoy this month’s challenge!
Suggestions
Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm
Aesop’s Fables
Aladdin
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
Arabian Nights
Beauty and the Beast
Cinderella
Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen
The Firebird
The Frog Prince
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Greek and Roman mythology
Into the Woods
Jack and the Beanstalk
Little Red Riding Hood
Mother Goose
Peter and the Wolf
Puss in Boots
Rumplestiltskin
Sleeping Beauty
The Princess Bride
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
The Three Little Pigs
Vasilisa the Beautiful
