WILLIAMSBURG — The Williamsburg Regional Library (WRL) invites the public to join the fun at its Summer Reading Kickoff celebration Sunday, June 12, from 1-4 p.m., at the James City County Library.
Families can enjoy fun activities like face painting, crafts, a bounce house, and barrel train rides.
The event launches WRL’s Summer Reading program, which aims to combat the summer reading slide through fun reading challenges and events, runs from June 1 through the end of August and offers programming for all ages. Find out more about the event on the WRL website.
Summer Reading for Children
This year’s theme for the children’s Summer Reading program is Camp Read S’more. Participants can register at either library location or on Beanstack, WRL’s online summer reading tool. Readers will use Beanstack to log their books, and they earn points for reading, writing book reviews, and completing activities on the website.
Starting Monday, June 13, the Summer Reading Rooms at both library locations will be open for children to share their book titles with WRL volunteers. Prizes will also be available for children who are participating; students up to fifth grade can create a beaded keychain that marks their reading progress throughout the summer, and they’ll receive ice cream coupons to celebrate. Babies and toddlers will receive an alternate prize.
Children who reach their reading goal for the summer will earn a golden library card. If they already have a library card, they will receive a golden ticket that awards them a second free book during Free Book Week from August 1 to August 7.
Summer Reading for Teens
Teens in grades 6-12 who participate in the Summer Reading program earn weekly prizes and virtual tickets for Beanstack prize drawings which will occur in August. Teens who achieve their reading goal will receive a $10 gift card to Barnes & Noble.
Summer Reading for Adults
Adults can also register with Beanstack to participate in a Summer Reading challenge. Adults can log up to five books per log with a maximum of five completed logs to be turned in for a prize. Each log is entered into a drawing for one of 12 Grand Prizes to be drawn at the end of the summer.
Paper reading logs are accessible at the Adult Services desk at either library location. Starting June 13, adults can come to Adult Services or to the Mobile Library Services stops to turn in their log.
To learn more about the Summer Reading program, go to wrl.org/summer-reading.
