For some reason, 2010 sounds so far off, but it’s really just a few short weeks away and there are plenty of challenges to join to help us become better readers and better people. Next year, I’ll be participating in the Social Justice Blog which is sponsored by Natasha at Maw Books, Amy at My Friend Amy, and Hannah at Word Lily.

A description of the challenge:

Reading opens new worlds to us and can sometimes expose the injustice in our own. We have all been powerfully moved by the injustice we have learned about in books and decided we wanted to host a reading project that would encourage us to learn more about these issues in the world.

It can sometimes be overwhelming and disheartening to read about the powerful obstacles others in the world face. So this reading challenge is different. Not only will we be encouraging you to learn about issues of social injustice in the world through books, essays, blogs, and other media–we will also be challenging you to take an action step and make a difference as a result of what you’ve learned. Let’s put our knowledge into action and make a difference!

We have chosen to focus each month on a different area of social injustice in the world. During that month, we are asking that you read something from the list of resources or watch something suggested by that month’s host. That will complete step one of this challenge: Learn.

Throughout the month we will also be posting ways you can make a difference in this area. Don’t worry, we will provide several different options at many different levels of commitment. The important thing is to take an action step towards doing something to change things! That fulfills step 2–Take Action.

There are plenty of good challenges out there to get readers further involved in causes and genres they already enjoy or to push them to explore new areas. Most offer a various levels of participation. All are lots of fun!