In 2012, I read an awesome book by Donalyn Miller called The Book Whisperer. She is a sixth-grade teacher in Texas whose classes consistently score the highest on their State test, the TAKS. She believes her students' success is related to their love of reading. He classroom culture is based on reading whenever there is a moment of down time. She believes that for teachers to encourage students to read, they have to show kids that they read too! She challenges her students each year to read at least 40 books during the course of the school year. She also keeps track of the books she has read. I thought it was a wonderful idea, so I set out to read 40 novel-length books during the school year.
The first year or so I did this, I was on my own - no adults, no kids played along. Since then , some of my beloved coworkers have gotten on board, some kids I know have passed me by a LOT, and I even have some friends and family who have joined the 'mission' via Facebook.
There is no prize or real competition, but we do have lively conversation about all the amazing books we are reading!