The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an increasingly hot topic across various fields and levels of education, and it is not unusual to see them used as a framework or a reference for curricula that engage with social change as early as elementary school. Yet for many students, the SDGs are often just abstract concepts whose issues are perceived to be only related to communities and/or countries rather than ones that impacts their own lives. We discuss how SDG-based extensive reading programs can promote both local and global engagement by educating students with a passion for reading, and through that platform learning about the significance of the SDGs not only on a global scale, but also on a national level. Furthermore, we demonstrate how extensive reading can be a stepping stone to critical thinking about the SDGs and issues they can see in their everyday lives. In addition, the readers encourage students to make connections between the goals and encourage students to see social issues in that way as well. In conclusion, we introduce the process of creating locally engaged SDG-inspired extensive reading programs, student reactions to these materials, and conclude with a discussion of feedback from our students to reveal how your students can benefit from them.