Atherton — A reading journal built around one repeating book-review spread

The brief

Atherton came to us for a reading journal that would sit with each student across the year — somewhere to log every book they finished, what they thought of it, and the new words they picked up along the way.
The department wanted one consistent format repeated through the book, so a student opening it for their tenth read uses the same fields as their first. The journal also needed an opening page that set the tone — reading as something that takes you places, not a chore.

What we designed

Working with Atherton, we built a slim reading journal anchored on a single repeating template.
• An opening Dr. Seuss quote — "The more that you READ, the more things you KNOW. The more that you LEARN, the more places you'll GO." — as the first thing a student sees on opening the journal.
• A repeating book-review spread used for every entry: title and author at the top, date started and date finished, genre, a star rating, a plot summary, a review section, a "Who would you recommend this book to?" prompt, and a vocabulary learned panel for new words picked up from the text.
• The same template repeated through the journal so there's no decision to make — each new book goes in the next blank spread.

The finished book

400 journals land at Atherton every year — one for each student — and the school has reordered for every cohort since 2023.