Summer Reading Program 2022

Summer Reading is a program designed to engage all age groups in exploring new ideas, books, and activities. The program, as always, is free to register and participate. As you read books and engage in the activities, you are eligible to win badges and prizes.

For the last two years, we incorporated a new method for participating in Summer Reading through an online platform called Beanstack. Beanstack is back for 2022, packed full of new adventures, badges, and fun!

Just like 2021, this year's program is simplified for all ages. All ages are invited to join the same program and work toward common goals. We challenge the Auglaize County community as a whole to read and log 1.5 million minutes this summer! We challenge each individual reader to read and log their minutes and participate in the activities located in Beanstack.

Every hour read earns you a special badge and a virtual drawing ticket to enter into your choice of awesome prize drawings—from tickets to amusement parks & museums, gift cards, and toys & electronics. Once fifteen different badges have been earned by any participant (including at least 5 hours of reading), the reader "completes" the program and qualifies for a reward—a prize of their choosing—available for pickup in mid-August. This year, completers may choose from a $5 gift card, a stuffed shark, or a Pool Party Invitation for a very special party on July 24 at the Wapak WaterPark!

Readers in Beanstack will be able to earn badges in a variety of ways:

• Reading and logging your minutes into the tracker app or website (1 hour = 1 badge = 1 ticket)
• Writing a book review for a book you’ve read (1 review = 1 badge = 1 ticket)
• Completing activities such as online escape rooms, short missions, creative play, etc. (5 activities completed in a group = 1 badge = 5 tickets)
• Completing Scavenger Hunts arounds our libraries, our downtowns, and our county (various activities = various badges = lots of tickets)

And again, any reader who earns 15 badges earns a guaranteed reward from the reader’s choice of $5 gift card or prize from the above list.

As a reader earns badges and tickets, they can submit their tickets in for various prizes they would like to try to win. Drawing prizes this year include Kings Island tickets, museum passes, YETI cooler, tablets, LEGO sets, earbuds, Echo Dots, gift cards to Amazon & much, much more! Winners will be drawn for prizes after July 16. Winners will be notified and will be required to pick up prizes at their local library.

Readers who registered in the last two years for a Beanstack account simply need to log in with their established username and password to start the new 2022 program. New readers need to create a free Beanstack account for themselves or their family. One family can use the same login for all readers! You can access each family member’s page in the same account and even log minutes read one time for the whole family. Let’s say a dad reads to his toddler and preteen for half an hour before bed. He could later go into Beanstack and log 30 minutes for “All Readers” and have those 30 minutes count toward each child and his own reading goal, saving time and headache. To register yourself or your family, visit the Beanstack website or login through the app.

Beanstack Tracker App is available for iOS and Android.

This year’s Summer Reading theme is underwater--in Oceans of Possibilities! We will encourage you to learn more about the world under the sea and the stories that surround oceans--pirates, mermaids, whales, lobsters galore! Look for lots of our activities to be ocean-themed this summer. We encourage you to expand your knowledge and check out books featuring adventure on the high seas or fantasies featuring the beach—but you can really read anything you like! Our doors are open and are shelves are stocked. You can check out items inside, request items for drive-thru or curbside pickup, fill out a PACKED survey and receive a personalized bag of books, or check out eBooks or eAudiobooks online through Libby (the Ohio Digital Library) or Hoopla! As always, readers are also welcome to read any material they have at home.

Our branches have a jam-packed line-up of great events ready for you to attend--from storytimes to glow parties, from live animals to water fights! More information on each branch’s events (including date, time, and location) is available now in the clickable online publication and on our Events Calendar. 

If you have any questions, contact us at 419-738-5964 or email kspyker@auglaizelibraries.org.

Video - How to Register on Beanstack