Open Books Challenge 2026: Purple Cover or Purple in the Title or Subject

The Open Books Reading Challenge is a year-long reading challenge for people interested in pushing the boundaries of their reading. For full details of the program, please check-out our page at: https://www.rplmn.org/books-more/discover-more/open-books-reading-challenge

These are some ideas that fit the 2026 category "Purple cover or purple in the title or subject, to mark the 10th anniversary of Prince's death."

Happy Reading!

Updated December 31, 2025
RPL Staff
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The only purple house in town
Aguirre, Ann
Paper Book
Iris Collins is the messy one in her family. The "chaos bunny." Her sisters are all wildly successful, while she can't balance her budget for a single month. It's no wonder she's in debt to her roommates. When she unexpectedly inherits a house from her great aunt, her plan to turn it into a B&B...
The world needs more purple people
Bell, Kristen
Paper Book
#1 New York Times bestseller! Actress, producer, and parent Kristen Bell (The Good Place, Veronica Mars, Frozen) and creative director and parent Benjamin Hart have a new challenge for you and your kids- become a purple person by embracing what makes YOU special while...
Purple cane road : a novel
Burke, James Lee
Paper Book
Dave Robicheaux has spent his life confronting the age-old adage that the sins of the father pass onto the son. But what has his mother's legacy left him? Dead to him since youth, Mae Guillory has been shuttered away in the deep recesses of Dave's mind. He's lived with the fact that he would never...
Eat your superpowers! : how colorful foods keep you healthy and strong
Buzzeo, Toni
Paper Book
Twenty-five different foods, grouped by color, are nutritionally decoded in this reference book for the preschool set. From grapes to beets and oatmeal to cashews, this reference book highlights and explains the benefits of 25 fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains, each grouped...
We are villains
Callender, Kacen
Paper Book
From bestselling and award-winning author Kacen Callendar comes a thrilling, dark academia YA about murder, blackmail, and the one person determined to discover the truth, no matter the cost What happened to Arianna Reynolds? Ari's...
Sunrise on the reaping
Collins, Suzanne
Paper Book
The unforgettable fifth book in the Hunger Games series: Haymitch's story. Feature film scheduled for November 2026. #1 USA Today Bestseller * #1 New York Times Bestseller * #1 Indie Bestseller * #1 Publishers Weekly Bestseller * A New York Times Editors'...
Nightshade
Connelly, Michael
Paper Book
AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Introducing Detective Stilwell: a cop relentlessly following his mission in the seemingly idyllic setting of Catalina Island.   Los Angeles County Sheriff's Detective Stilwell...
The one hundred years of Lenni and Margot : a novel
Cronin, Marianne
Paper Book
"A beautiful debut, funny, tender, and animated by a willingness to confront life's obstacles and find a way to survive. . . . It celebrates friendship, finds meaning in difficulty and lets the reader explore dark places while always allowing for the possibility of light. Lenni and Margot are...
Spike, the penguin with rainbow hair
Cullen, Sarah
Paper Book
He only wants to fit in. How far will this penguin go to try to fit in? Spike the Penguin wishes he wasn't different. Even though his parents tell him his bright red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple mohawk is beautiful, he still wants to hide his head under his flippers. Determined to...
Happy Father's Day from the Crayons
Daywalt, Drew
Paper Book
For this wonderful mini hardcover celebration of Father's Day, the hilarious Crayons from the #1 New York Times bestselling The Day the Crayons Quit love their dads--and father figures in their lives--so much, they wrote a book about it! Red Crayon loves his dad...
Run like a girl
Egbe, Amaka
Paper Book
Dera Edwards knows her life is over when she's shipped off to live with her estranged father in the middle of White Suburbia. To make matters worse, Dera learns that her new school doesn't have a girls' track team, shattering her dreams of getting a track scholarship and, one day, competing in the...
Etta Invincible
Eschmann, Reese
Paper Book
In this touching debut middle grade novel, a girl with hearing loss and a boy adjusting to life in a new country connect through their love of comics and get entangled in their own fantastical adventure. Twelve-year-old Etta Johnson has Loud Days where she can hear just fine and...
Riders of the purple sage
Grey, Zane
Paper Book
This splendid, powerful, classic novel was written in 1911, but for over ninety years it has existed only in a profoundly censored version, one that undermined the truth of the characters and the integrity of Zane Grey's masterpiece. In this restored edition, with text based on Grey's original...
Fly like a girl : one woman's dramatic fight in Afghanistan and on the home front
Hegar, Mary Jennings
Paper Book
A Young Readers Edition of a compelling story of courage and triumph, this is the inspiring true story of Major Mary Jennings Hegar--a brave and determined woman who gave her all for her country, her sense of justice, and for women everywhere. On July 29, 2009, Air National Guard...
Act your age, Eve Brown
Hibbert, Talia
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In Talia Hibbert's newest rom-com, the flightiest Brown sister crashes into the life of an uptight B&B owner and has him falling hard--literally. Featured on Parade, PopSugar, Marie Claire, Oprah Mag, Bustle, Shondaland, CNN.com,...
Appetite for change : soulful recipes from a North Minneapolis kitchen
Horovitz, Michelle
Paper Book
The delicious recipes and community spirit that have made Appetite for Change a force for good in North Minneapolis Feed someone a delicious meal, and you've satisfied a moment's hunger. Show someone how to cultivate, cook, and share good food, and you satisfy the hungry soul of a...
King of pride
Huang, Ana
Paper Book
A diverse and steamy, forbidden billionaire romance from New York Times bestselling author and BookTok sensation Ana Huang! She's his opposite in every way...and the greatest temptation he's ever known. Reserved, controlled, and proper to a fault, Kai Young has neither the time nor...
Braiding sweetgrass for young adults : indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Paper Book
I could hand you a braid of sweetgrass as thick and shining as the braid that hung down my grandmother's back. But it is not mine to give, nor yours to take. Wiingaashk belongs to herself. I offer, in her place, a braid of stories meant to heal our relationship with the world. As a...
The purple swamp hen and other stories
Lively, Penelope
Ebook
A glimmering collection of new short fiction from the Booker Prize winner. "Lively writes with an astringent blend of sympathy and detachment, emotional wisdom and satiric wit." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times In such acclaimed novels as The...
Secrets of the purple pearl
McKinnon, Kate
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller! From Saturday Night Live legend Kate McKinnon comes the highly anticipated second book in her #1 New York Times bestselling series about mad science, three peculiar sisters, and the mysterious Millicent Quibb!<...
Major Monster Mess
Miedoso, Andres.
Paper Book
It's Desmond and Andres versus creepy monster lunch ladies in the sixth book of the Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol series! Usually the cafeteria is where good food goes to meet its maker, but at Kersville Elementary, lunchtime is a little different. For starters, the food is delicious...
Heir of storms
Murray, Lauryn Hamilton
Paper Book
A #1 Sunday Times Bestseller! This deluxe edition features lush purple sprayed edges, foiled jacket, printed endpapers, and a stunning world map Red Queen meets Shadow and Bone in this captivating romantasy about an outcast...
The starfish sisters : a novel
O'Neal, Barbara
Paper Book
From the USA Today bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids comes an emotional novel about two women facing the betrayals, heartbreaks, and refuge of true friendship. Phoebe and Suze used to be closer than sisters. Growing up in a quiet and wildly beautiful...
Captain Underpants and the preposterous plight of the purple potty people : the eighth epic novel
Pilkey, Dav
Paper Book
The eighth book in Dav Pilkey's mega-bestselling Captain Underpants series. Now with super-cool foil covers! Shiny! Fun!When we last saw George and Harold, they were about to take their pet pterodactyl Crackers back to the Cretaceous period. But things didn't work out quite as they had hoped....
Creepy crayon!
Reynolds, Aaron
Paper Book
A #1 New York Times bestseller! From the team behind the New York Times bestselling Creepy Carrots! and Creepy Pair of Underwear! comes the third in this hilariously spooky series about a young rabbit and his peculiar encounters--featuring a...
Surrendering to Hunt
Ryan, Jennifer
Paper Book
New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Ryan returns to the Wyoming Wilde series as a by-the-book lawman tangles with a stubborn young woman. Perfect for fans of authors like Maisey Yates, Joanne Kennedy and Carolyn Brown as well as Diana Palmer, Linda Lael Miller,...
The beasts we bury
Taylor, D. L.
Paper Book
"Will appeal to fans of Brigid Kemmerer and Adrienne Young." --BCCB "Full of compelling twists and high-stakes magic . . . a captivating romantic fantasy that had me rooting for the protagonists from the very first page." --Kelly Andrew, New York Times...
Wicked darlings
Taylor, Jordyn
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER . From the author of The Revenge Game comes a twisty YA thriller about the underbelly of Manhattan's high society, where nothing is off-limits-not even murder. Aspiring journalist Noa has a secret she's been keeping. Ever since her sister's tragic death...
Bunny will not be quiet!
Tharp, Jason
Paper Book
From the endless imagination of Jason Tharp comes a brand-new, interactive Level 1 Ready-to-Read that's perfect for fans of Mo Willems, Jim Benton, David Milgrim, and for beginning readers who like to giggle! Bunny is being loud. His friend Big keeps asking him to be quiet, but...
House of purple cedar
Tingle, Tim
Paper Book
A Choctaw tale of tragedy, good and evil, revenge and ultimately forgiveness, laced with healing Choctaw humor and a little magical realism thrown in. "The hour has come to speak of troubled times. It is time we spoke of Skullyville." Thus begins Rose Goode's story of growing...
¡Fiesta! : a festival of colors
Tonatiuh, Duncan
Explore a world of colors in ¡Fiesta!, a vibrant, bilingual picture book from award-winning author-illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh.   A celebratory bilingual concept picture book, this book of colors features a street fiesta with green avocados, yellow...
The color purple
Walker, Alice
Paper Book
A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick Winner of the Pulitzer Prize * Winner of the National Book Award   Published to unprecedented acclaim,The Color Purple established Alice Walker as a major voice in...

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