Imagine your story with library reading challenge

Summer reading at the library is almost here. The theme this year, is “Imagine Your Story!” The library hopes to have all ages, even adults, log their reading with the libray staff, to see how many books the Cornell-Holcombe community can read this summer.

With restrictions from the COVID- 19 virus, people are asked to call the library at 715-239-3709, for appointments to bring the family to the library to pick out books.

“We are having a limited number of patrons in the library at any time, to make it a safer environment for staff and our patrons,” said director Sharon Shepard.

The reading challenge will start June 15, and go through Aug. 14. There will be four age groups this summer: Pre-K to six years, seven to nine, 10 to 13, and 14 through adults.

There are a couple options this summer for participation in the program. People can participate as usual, picking up reading logs and dropping them off at the library, but they can also participate online. The online website can be found at cornellpl.beanstack.org.

“It will be a great way to easily participate from home at any time and help make the summer fun,” said Shepard. “You can also find the Beanstack Tracker on Google Play, to have an even more mobile way to track your reading and activities.”

To begin, click to register an individual or family, then hit “I am registering myself,” and fill out the form. Click “Next” to add additional family members and register for the 2020 Summer Challenge. Begin tracking reading and activities, by clicking on “Log Reading and Activities” on the top of the page.

Then, follow the challenges throughout the summer, and earn incentives.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, and The Institute of Museum and Library Services, provided a grant to all Wisconsin libraries, for access to “Beanstack,” a summer program website for summer reading challenges.

Participants can log the books they read online (titles aren’t required, just the number of books read) to earn incentives as they move through the reading “challenge” and earn “badges” to record their progress. There are also some suggested activities that children, and parents or adults, can do to earn additional badges.

“None of the activities count or are required in the reading challenge,” said Shepard, “but are just available for people as suggestions of things to do just for fun during the summer.”

Each participant will receive a reusable library bag when they register for the program and the three youngest age groups will pick out a new book to take home at the conclusion of the program in August. The top reader in each age group will also receive a gift card for Books A Million in Eau Claire.