BSA Reading Merit Badge

Reading Merit Badge

Please note this Blog is meant to help my own students to be able to Advance in Scouting by staying organized. This Blog is run and managed by the scouts themselves plus all members of our family. The content in this blog is not attended to replace BSA materials but rather to organize all our materials into one place. I hope this can help your scout! Have any comments to share or suggested changes?

Merit_Badge Reading

Worksheets Reading

scouting magazine book share-bsa-open-a-new-chapter

Requirements for the Reading merit badge:

1. Do EACH of the following:
   1. Take a tour of a library. Discuss with your counselor how the library is organized and what resources and/or services are offered in the library.
   2. Learn how to search a library's card catalog or computerized catalog by author, title, and subject.
   3. In a library, search the card catalog or computerized catalog for six books of four different types, such as poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and biographies.
   4. With the assistance of your merit badge counselor or the librarian, see if you can locate on the shelves the six books you selected.
2. Do EACH of the following:
   1. Identify a book you have enjoyed. Find out what other books the author has written.
   2. Look at one or more "best books" lists. These can be based on year, subject, or even all time. Identify at least one book you would like to read.
3. Read four different types of books, such as poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or biographies. Do any ONE of the following for each book you have read:
   1. Write a review of the book. Include what you liked/didn't like about the book. Include if you would recommend this book, and if so, who might enjoy reading it.
   2. Watch a movie based on the book. What was the same between the book and movie? What was different? Which did you enjoy more? Discuss this with your merit badge counselor.
4. Read a nonfiction book or magazine that teaches you how to do something like cooking, wood-building projects, video game design, science experiments, knot-tying, etc. With your counselor's and parent's or guardian's permission, complete a project from the book. Share your experience with your merit badge counselor. Reading a merit badge pamphlet will not count toward completing this requirement.
5. Read about the world around you from any two sources: books, magazines, newspapers, the Internet (with your parent's or guardian's permission), field manuals, etc. Topics may include Scouting, sports, environmental problems, politics, social issues, current events, nature, religion, etc. Discuss what you have learned with your counselor.
6. With your counselor's and parent's or guardian's permission, choose ONE of the following activities and devote at least four hours of service to that activity. Discuss your participation with your counselor.
1. Read to a sick, blind, or homebound person in a hospital or in an extended-care facility.
2. Perform volunteer work at your school library or a public library.
3. Read stories to younger children, in a group or individually.
4. Organize a book swap in your troop, school, or place of worship.
5. Organize a book drive to collect books. Donate them to an organization in need.

Suggested Websites:

Book Lists

Book lists or reading lists are put together every year by readers, librarians, and others who know books. Your school or public library will have lists to get you started. Many lists are published on the Web; the Internet address of some are given here. Also ask your librarian or teacher for a list of books that have won (or are competing for) your state’s awards for children’s and young adult books.

American Library Association: Best Books for Young Adults

http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/bbya

Newbery Medal Winners and Honor Books

http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal

Education World: Summer Reading Lists

https://www.educationworld.com/summer_reading/

International Literacy Association Reading Lists

https://www.literacyworldwide.org/get-resources/reading-lists

National Book Awards for Young People’s Literature

https://www.nationalbook.org/national-book-awards/search/?type=category&search=fiction#yp

TeachersFirst.com: 100 Best Books

https://www.teachersfirst.com/100books.cfm

Teenreads.com

https://www.teenreads.com/

Young Adult Books Central

https://www.yabookscentral.com/

Books Online 

Many classic books are available online for no charge. Several websites have free e-books (electronic books) that you can read on a computer or print out to read later. The websites listed here offer hundreds of e-books.

The Online Books Page

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/

Project Gutenberg

http://www.gutenberg.org/

Magazines

Readers your age can choose from many magazines published especially for you. Some of these magazines also publish stories and articles written by young people. Check your school or public library for these and other magazines.

Boys’ Life

https://boyslife.org/

Cricket (ages 9 to 14)

http://shop.cricketmedia.com/

Kids Discover

https://www.kidsdiscover.com/

National Geographic Kids

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/

Skipping Stones

http://www.skippingstones.org/wp/

Sports Illustrated Kids

https://www.sikids.com/

Stone Soup: The Magazine by Young Writers and Artists

https://stonesoup.com/

Newspapers 

Ask your counselor or a librarian to help you find newspaper articles on subjects that interest you. Listed here is a website that contains online newspaper indexes. Your librarian can show you how to search for articles using this or other indexes.

Refdesk.com

https://www.refdesk.com/paper.html

Reference Books 

Check the reference section of your school or public library for these and many other useful reference books. 

Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges. 

Barron’s Educational Series, annual. 

Books in Print. Bowker, annual. 

Contemporary Authors. Gale, annual. 

Current Biography. H.W. Wilson, annual. 

Guinness World Records. Bantam Books, annual. 

Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature. H.W. Wilson, annual. 

Subject Guide to Books in Print. Bowker, annual. 

Subject Guide to Children’s Books in Print. Bowker, annual.

Organizations and Websites 

Ask your counselor, parent, or librarian to recommend Web-related guides, directories, and search engines that are good for Internet users your age. 

Bookshare 

http://www.bookshare.org

Internet Search Engines for Kids

http://www.ivyjoy.com/rayne/kidssearch.html

Literacy Programs 

Hundreds of organizations promote literacy. Here are a few of the major programs. Through them you may find local opportunities.

America’s Literacy Directory

https://www.nld.org/

American Foundation for the Blind

 https://www.afb.org/

The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy

https://www.barbarabush.org/

Read Across America

https://www.readacrossamerica.org/

Reading Is Fundamental Inc

https://www.rif.org/

Bookshare has signed a memorandum of mutual support with the Boy Scouts of America that emphasizes an ongoing relationship to provide Scouts and their leaders access to an electronic library of key Scouting publications. Individuals with disabilities can have resources like the Boy Scout Handbook and dozens of merit badge pamphlets at their fingertips—on their PCs, smartphones, and e-readers via audiobooks, or can hear books being read as words are highlighted on a screen. These resources can even be accessed using a Braille “reader”—a display that can be hooked up to a computer to generate a Braille translation. For more information about Bookshare and its agreement with the BSA, go to http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2011/09/28/bookshare-bsa-open-a-new-chapter.