Helmet Reading Challenge 2025
In this year’s Helmet reading challenge, we are looking for family trees, illegalities and well-known buildings.
The Helmet reading challenge is running for the 11th time. In this playful challenge, you have 50 challenge items that introduce you to the world of literature in a diverse manner. Welcome!
As usual, a variety of challenge items have been included on the list. In 2025, we are celebrating the Year of Built Heritage. Therefore, we are looking for a book with a famous building (34). Movie and TV fanatics get to choose books they would like to see on the big screen (20).
In the coming year, we will stay up with books (4) and go to the movies (10). The double section (47–48) includes books with protagonists of the same name. The characters also find themselves shipwrecked, either figuratively or literally (15).
We hope that the reading challenge has plenty of new, fun and challenging items for both new and old participants.
The Helmet reading challenge has been compiled by library professionals. The challenge items are based on suggestions gathered from the participants of the reading challenge over the years.
If the full 50-item Reading Challenge feels too daunting, we also have a lighter option. As the name suggests, the Little Helmet Reading Challenge is a smaller reading challenge with a list of 25 items. The Little Reading Challenge is compiled of challenge items that are particularly well-suited to children, but readers of all ages are welcome to participate. All of the Little Reading Challenge items are also included in the Helmet Reading Challenge, so you can easily shift from one challenge to another, should you be surprised at how quickly you are making progress.
Five key points for successfully completing the Reading Challenge:
- The Reading Challenge is open to all readers. Everyone is welcome to participate.
- The idea is that the Reading Challenge should increase your joy of reading, not cause you stress. So find your own way to participate that you find inspiring! You do not have to set out to read a certain number of books. You can read in any form you wish, meaning that physical, audio, and e-books are all welcome.
- Everyone is welcome to participate in the Reading Challenge in their own way and make up their own rules. It is up to you to decide whether you want to use the same book to check off more than one item on the list, focus on a particular genre or only read books you have never read before. If you want to keep track of your progress in the challenge, tools for this purpose are available below the item list.
- As sharing multiplies the joy of reading, feel free to share your Reading Challenge experience with others! Join the Reading Challenge Facebook group (the discussion is mainly in Finnish, but you are also welcome to communicate in Swedish or English), discuss the Reading Challenge elsewhere on social media, or challenge your friends to participate, so you can discuss your reading experiences throughout the year.
- Help is always available! If you need help finding a suitable book, you can, for example, head to your local library and ask the staff for their tips. Tips on suitable books are also shared on the Reading Challenge Facebook group. Help is also available from the Ask a Librarian service.
Have a great reading year 2025!
Helmet Reading Challenge 2025
1. The book title has a subordinating conjunction (for example: after, although, as if, as much as, because, before, if, once, since, than, unless, until, whenever, while)
2. Fantasy book
3. The main character of the book is younger than you
4. The characters of the book stay up at night
5. A book someone else has chosen for you
6. The book has a prologue, i.e. a preface
7. A book that brings you joy
8. The main colour of the book cover is green or the book title has the word green in it
9. There is a conflict in the book
10. The characters of the book go to the movies
11. A non-fiction book published in the 2020s
12. The book has a mean or evil female character
13. The author has worked in the library
14. The translator of the book has won the Mikael Agricola Prize or some other translation award
15. The characters are shipwrecked
16. A book with a family tree or character list
17. The main character of the book has a cat or a dog as a pet
18. The author’s name has more than two parts
19. The book is on Keltainen kirjasto’s list of books
20. You think the book would make a good movie or TV series
21. There is a musician in the book
22. The characters are on holiday
23. You like the book’s name
24. The characters do something illegal
25. There is a snake on the cover or in the title of the book
26. The book includes a chosen family
27. A book that is banned in some country and published in the 21st century
28. The book takes place on a lake
29. The author’s latest book
30. There is a wedding or a funeral in the book
31. Career is important to the main character
32. The book has something to do with Tove Jansson (Moomins 80 years)
33. The characters ride horses
34. There is a famous building in the book (The Year of Built Heritage 2025)
35. The title of the book has the word “man” or “boy” or their conjugation
36. The characters study at a boarding school
37. The author is from a country you would like to visit
38. Biographical novel
39. The characters are solving a mystery
40. In the book, time or a clock/watch plays an important role
41. The book takes place in an era you would not want to live in
42. The main character of the book makes bad choices
43. There is a spice in the title, cover or description of the book
44. The characters take care of a person (Finnish Nurses 100 years)
45. The characters include a father and daughter
46. A popular book that everyone else seems to have read
47. Two books in which the main characters have the same name
48. Two books in which the main characters have the same name
49. The book was published in 2025
50. The book was recommended by a library employee
Help with the reading challenge:
Tables for following up with the reading challenge
Facebook Group for the Reading Challenge
Materials for libraries, blogs, bookstagrammers and media
Previous Helmet Reading Challenges:
Text: Lotta Autio, Vantaa City Library and Jutta Hakala, Vantaa City Library