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UPDATE: July 31, 2023 - WINNERS for the 2023 Summer Reading Challenge have been announced on our Facebook page and via email. Visit our Facebook page for a list of all winners. Prizes can be picked up at all library locations. Did you qualify for a Completion Prize? Completion prizes are available for pick-up too. Visit your local library. 

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR READERS, SPONSORS, and STAFF FOR A GREAT SUMMER!

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From June 1 through July 17, 2023, join in All Together Now at your Auglaize County Libraries' Summer Reading Challenge! 

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 three years, we have incorporated a fun method for participating in Summer Reading through an online platform called Beanstack. Beanstack is back for 2023, packed full of new adventures, badges, and fun!

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 you 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. 

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 other prize (stay tuned for the 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, Squishmallows, Ninja Air Fryers, tablets, LEGO sets, speakers, Echo Dots, gift cards to Amazon & much, much more! Winners will be drawn for prizes after July 17. Winners will be notified and will be required to pick up prizes at their local library.

Readers who registered in the last few years for a Beanstack account simply need to log in with their established username and password to start the new 2023 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.

Looking for a paper log to track your progress? Our print forms (coming very soon!) can serve as a companion to the online Beanstack app. Log on the paper and then enter it later online.

Beanstack Tracker App is available for iOS and Android.

This year’s Summer Reading theme is about spreading kindness and friendship--All Together Now! We encourage participants to find ways to show kindness to others this summer. Look for many of our activities to be open to multigenerational interactions, where grandparents and little ones, teens and adults are invited to participate as one together. We encourage readers to delve into great tales and real accounts of courage, friendship, collaboration, and communication. The Library is full of great ideas! You can check out items inside our libraries, request items for drive-thru or quick 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 juggling to drawing, from live animals to live music, from storytimes to crafts! More information on each branch’s events (including date, time, and location) are available now on our Events Calendar and soon on our clickable online publication. 

	Juggling Events		Cartoonist Events
	Science Storyteller Events		Live Animal Events
	Craft Events		All Events

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