Raptors 905 Summer Reading Challenge

First Book Canada is inviting Grade 5 students to a virtual Summer Reading Challenge, run with Raptors 905, Tangerine Bank and University of Guelph-Humber

Students currently in grades 4, 5, or 6 in elementary schools across Canada can take on the challenge to read 5 books over 5 weeks for a total of 905 minutes of reading this summer!

Each week you can follow along at our virtual meetings to discuss the books with the authors themselves and other special guests!

All 5 books focus on BIPOC representation to encourage students to read books that reflect and are inclusive of all voices, stories, and experiences. 

Reading begins July 7th and will run until August 11th, 2025. Are you ready for the challenge?

Registrations for the 2025 Raptors 905 Summer Reading Challenge are closed. Please email lyates@firstbook.org with any questions.

Check out the line-up of books for this year!

Way Off Track by Carl Brundtland, Illustrated by Claudia Dávila

Nansi has never lost a race … until snobby Tania beats her in an unofficial event. Surely it’s Tania’s flashy shoes that gave her the edge. Nansi has to get a pair before the track tryouts! But how will she kick up $338?

No Place Like Home by Linh S. Nguyen

Sweeping in scope and timeless in tone, No Place like Home is a middle-grade portal fantasy unlike any other.

A Copycat Conundrum (The Misfits) by Lisa Yee

Oof! After solving the case of the Royal Rumpus, Olive Cobin Zang and her elite team of underdogs are on top of the world. As the awkward, crime-fighting Misfits, they’re acing every mission thrown at them from NOCK (aka No One Can Know, the covert agency they work for).

Izzy Wong’s Nose for News by Marty Chan

A sixth-grade student with a purpose, Izzy wants to start her own hit investigative podcast. When the girls’ washroom at her school mysteriously floods, she’s finally got the perfect subject. It doesn’t take long to figure out that a student did it on purpose—but who?

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor

Percy Jackson meets Tristan Strong in this hilarious middle grade “edge-of-your-seat adventure” (James Ponti, New York Times bestselling author of City Spies) that follows a young boy as he journeys across China to seal the underworld shut and save the mortal realm.

This was a very commendable effort by Raptors 905 and First Book Canada, we enjoyed it immensely and the whole process was smooth, summer time made even better, perfect mix of off-screen time, enjoyment and improvement in reading skills!

Nida A., Parent

We can't do it without the help of these organizations

Reading Challenge in the Media

Raptors 905 challenge kids to hit the books

905 minutes of reading in five weeks. Are you up to that challenge? A few hundred elementary school kids are. And they are being coached by one of the best.

Raptors 905 summer reading challenge invites Peel students to read books by BIPOC authors

Participants are invited to read one book a week for five weeks.

Read for 905 Minutes with Raptors 905

Raptors 905 Summer Reading Challenge – The Raptors 905 and Head Coach Patrick Mutombo is challenging kids to read 5 books in 5 weeks for 905 minutes of reading.

Raptors 905 is encouraging kids to read with this challenge

Breakfast Television is joined by Tammy Sutton Brown, Canadian Olympian/ WNBA Champion, to discuss the Raptors 905 Summer Reading Challenge for students in grades 4, 5 and 6.