Summer Challenge 2026: Decade you were born

Looking for help completing your Summer Challenge Bingo Card? Here are some books that are set in different decades over the last century.

Updated June 27, 2026
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Greater Victoria Public Library
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Sisters in yellow
Kawakami, Mieko
Paper Book
A gripping, hypnotic account of young women making their way in Tokyo and the wounds of the past that won't heal, Sisters in Yellow is the bold and brilliant new novel from International Booker shortlisted author, Mieko Kawakami. Kimiko Yoshikawa, a sixty-year-old woman, is on trial...

Set in the 1990s.

The riveter : a novel
Wang, Jack
Paper Book
In the vein of All the Light We Cannot See, a cross-cultural love story set against the dramatic backdrop of the Allied invasion of Europe during WWII. Vancouver, 1942. Josiah Chang arrives in the bustling city ready to make a new life for himself. The Second World War...

Set in the 1940s.

The Saturday Night Ghost Club A Novel
Davidson, Craig
Ebook
SOME TOWNS ARE MORE HAUNTED THAN OTHERS... An irresistible and bittersweet coming-of-age story in the vein of Stranger Things and Stand by Me about a group of misfit kids who spend an unforgettable summer investigating local ghost stories and urban legends

Set in the 1980s.

Daisy Jones & the Six a novel
Reid, Taylor Jenkins
Paper Book
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * OVER TWO MILLION COPIES SOLD! A gripping novel about the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer, revealing the mystery behind their infamous breakup--from the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Malibu Rising, and...

Set in the 1970s.

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine
Honeyman, Gail
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick "Beautifully written and incredibly funny, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is about the importance of friendship and human connection. I fell in love with Eleanor, an eccentric...

Set in the 2010s.

The help
Stockett, Kathryn.
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestselling novel and basis for the Academy Award-winning film--a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't--nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read. Aibileen is a...

Set in the 1960s.

Little fires everywhere
Ng, Celeste
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestseller * Named a Best Book of the Year by People, The Washington Post, Bustle, Esquire, Southern Living, The Daily Beast, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Audible, Goodreads, Library Reads, Book of the Month,...

Set in the 1990s.

Mexican gothic
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "It's Lovecraft meets the Brontës in Latin America, and after a slow-burn start Mexican Gothic gets seriously weird."--The Guardian   ONE OF TIME'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME * WINNER OF THE LOCUS...

Set in the 1950s.

Malibu rising
Reid, Taylor Jenkins
Paper Book
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six. 'Immerses us in a glamorous, star-studded world, but is full of raw human emotion. Its characters felt completely real to me - each one is flawed...

Set in the 1980s.

To kill a mockingbird
Lee, Harper.
Paper Book
"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel--a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and...

Set in the 1930s.

It : a novel
King, Stephen
Paper Book
Stephen King's classic #1 New York Times bestseller and the basis for the massively successful films It: Chapter One and It: Chapter Two as well as inspiration for HBO Max's series It: Welcome to Derry--about an evil without a name: It. Welcome...

Set in the 1950s.

Wonder
Palacio, R. J.
Paper Book
THE ICONIC #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER WITH MORE THAN 16 MILLION COPIES SOLD "A crackling page-turner filled with characters you can't help but root for."--Entertainment Weekly Meet Auggie Pullman, an ordinary kid with an extraordinary face-...

Set in the 2010s.

Lessons in chemistry
Garmus, Bonnie
Paper Book
#1 GLOBAL BESTSELLER WITH MORE THAN 8 MILLION COPIES SOLD * Meet Elizabeth Zott: "a gifted research chemist, absurdly self-assured and immune to social convention" (The Washington Post) in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a ...

Set in 1960s.

A very large expanse of sea
Mafi, Tahereh
Paper Book
Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature! From the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Shatter Me series comes a powerful, heartrending contemporary novel about fear, first love, and the devastating...

Set in the 2000s.

Eleanor & Park
Rowell, Rainbow.
Paper Book
#1 New York Times Best Seller! "Eleanor & Park reminded me not just what it's like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it's like to be young and in love with a book."-John Green, The New York Times Book Review Bono met his...

Set in the 1980s.

Tell the wolves I'm home
Brunt, Carol Rifka.
Paper Book
"A moving story of love, grief, and renewal as two lonely people become the unlikeliest of friends and find that sometimes you don't know you've lost someone until you've found them. 1987. There's only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that's her uncle, the...

Set in the 1980s.

The perks of being a wallflower
Chbosky, Stephen.
Paper Book
"A timeless story for every young person who needs to understand that they are not alone." --Judy Blume "Once in a while, a novel comes along that becomes a generational touchstone. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of those books." --R. J. Palacio, #1 New York...

Set in the 1990s.

Attachments
Rowell, Rainbow.
Paper Book
It's 1999 and for the staff of one newspaper office, the internet is still a novelty. By day, two young women, Beth and Jennifer, spend their hours emailing each other, discussing in hilarious detail every aspect of their lives, from love troubles to family dramas. And by night, Lincoln, a shy,...

Set in the 1990s.

Wrong place, wrong time
McAllister, Gillian
Paper Book
It's every parent's nightmare. Your happy, funny, innocent son commits a terrible crime- murdering a complete stranger. You don't know who. You don't know why. You only know your teenage boy is in custody and his future lost. That night you fall asleep in...

Set in the 2000s.

Silver nitrate
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * From the author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican Gothic comes a fabulous meld of Mexican horror movies and Nazi occultism: a dark thriller about the curse that haunts a legendary lost film--and awakens one woman's hidden powers. ...

Set in the 1990s.

A town called Solace
Lawson, Mary
Paper Book
Set in the frozen north of Canada in 1972, this is a beautiful Booker Prize longlisted novel about painful histories that need reckoning with and the moments in life when we can change for the better. 'I've been telling everyone I know about Mary Lawson . . . Each of her...

Set in the 1970s.

Young Mungo : a novel
Stuart, Douglas
Paper Book
A story of queer love and working-class families, Young Mungo is the brilliant second novel from the Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain A national bestseller, acclaimed as one of the best books of the year by NPR, Kirkus Reviews, Time, and...

Set in the 1990s.

The edge of darkness
Khan, Vaseem
Paper Book

Set in the 1950s.

Deep cuts : a novel
Brickley, Holly
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * "Tender as a ballad and pleasurable as a pop song, Deep Cuts is both a romp into the indie sleaze era of the early aughts and a timeless love story."--Coco Mellors, New York Times bestselling author of Blue Sisters SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION...

Set in the 2000s.

Idlewild : a novel
Thomas, James Frankie
Paper Book
Idlewild is a tiny, artsy Quaker high school in lower Manhattan. Students call their teachers by their first names, there are no grades, and every day begins with 20 minutes of contemplative silence in the Meetinghouse. It is during one of those meetings that an airplane hits the Twin Towers.

Set in the 2000s.


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