Your favorite books are red-hot and ready to be read!
Red Alert! March Madness is back featuring the very best of the backlist! It’s March Madness 2026: To Be RED, featuring 16 sizzling books across 8 colorful categories from Crimson Classics to Fiery Fantasy, Ruby Retellings to Vermilion Verse.
Each week, vote for the titles you think should advance as they battle it out for the title of March Madness Champion 2026!
Registration is not required, but by registering you will receive email reminders each week when voting becomes available.
How to Participate
- Vote Weekly: Voting opens on Monday mornings and that round of voting will be open through Sunday night. Vote once per week from Monday, March 2 through Sunday, March 29.
Prize Drawing: Each time you vote, you'll be entered into a drawing to win a prize bundle.
Prizes and certificates must be picked up in person and will not be mailed.
- Bonus Entry: Want extra chances to win? Fill out a bracket with your predictions before the tournament starts for a bonus prize drawing entry! Brackets will be available at the Adult and Teen Services Desk starting March 2.
- Perfect Bracket Prize: Think you can predict every winner? If you correctly guess your entire bracket, you'll win the Perfect Bracket Prize!
- Beanstack Tracking (optional):
If you enjoy tracking your reading or collecting badges, you can follow your March Madness activity using your Beanstack account. Log the time you spend reading any of the Sweet Sixteen titles to earn red themed reading badges, and log your weekly votes to collect voting badges. These badges do not earn you any prize drawing entries and have no bearing on the tournament results, they are just a fun way to track your progress and gamify your reading. Must have a Beanstack account to use this feature. Beanstack App recommended. Register for March Madness tracking here!
Dates:
- Bracket Predictions Due: Sunday, March 1
- Round 1: Monday, March 2 - Sunday March 8
- Round 2: Monday, March 9 - Sunday, March 15
- Round 3: Monday, March 16 - Sunday, March 22
- Championship: Monday, March 23 - Sunday, March 29
- Final Champion Revealed: Monday, March 30th
How to Submit Your Bracket
- Pick up a printed bracket: Grab a form at the Adult & Teen Services Desk.
- Submit online: Download, print, and bring it to the Library or fill in and email it to kcunningham@newlenoxlibrary.org.
Voting and Registration
- Online: Voting links will be available on our website and social media pages.
- In-Person: Pick up a ballot at the Library during each round’s voting window.
- Register (optional): Sign up through our calendar to get weekly reminder emails and voting links
Voting Links
Voting for each bracket is available during the following dates below. Click the linked bracket name to cast your vote!
March 2-8: Sweet Sixteen
March 9-15: Elite Eight
March 16-22: Final Four
March 23-29: Championship
Crimson Classics
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Mahogany Memoirs
- How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones
- Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Fiery Fantasy
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
- An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
Vermilion Verse
- Solo by Kwame Alexander
- Impulse by Ellen Hopkins
Ruby Retellings
- The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh
- Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow
Scarlet Science Fiction
- Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
- Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Maroon Mysteries
- The Maid by Nita Prose
- The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
Burgundy Bestsellers
- Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
- The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead