Read Books • Attend Online Events • Write Reviews • Earn Badges • Win Prizes
Online Summer Reading • May 21–Sep 12
How It Works
1. SIGN UP
Get the Beanstack app or sign up here
3. READ
Read 20 minutes a day for a total of 30 hours
2. EXPLORE
Find books, events, and activities for all ages
4. LOG + WIN
Log your minutes, earn badges, and win prizes
After months of being cooped up and having our lives upended, a good old-fashioned community reading challenge is just what we need right now.
Social distancing is essential, so this year we’re trying something new and moving Summer Reading to Beanstack, an online service designed for readers of any age who like a challenge, ideas for what to read next, and our famously fantastic prizes.
Summer Reading is proven to improve our mental health as adults and prevent students from losing what they learned in school during summer vacation, a.k.a. the "summer slide, opens a new window".
Get your free mobile Beanstack Tracker
DOWNLOAD, opens a new window the app from Google Play
DOWNLOAD, opens a new window the app from the App Store
USE, opens a new window Beanstack on your desktop
ADULTS
ADULTS
TEENS
TEENS
KIDS
KIDS
The Beanstalk app is awesome, but for you old-school Summer Readers who love holding a paper log in your hands, here's a downloadable 8.5x11" record for capturing your efforts. Each dragon egg counts for 20 minutes — color them as you go. This is what 30 hours looks like!
Click images to enlarge and print
What's your nature story?
Explore the outdoors together this summer by creating a summer nature journal with help from Kansas Land Trust. It's for all ages!
Get your own journal log and start walking, drawing, observing, and writing. Nature is thriving and you can document it all this summer.
Made possible by the Douglas County Community Foundation
All proceeds benefit the artists and Lawrence Public Library
See Lawrence: Parks and Green Spaces
Lawrence Magazine teamed up with local artists to, "envision a location in the spirit of the National Parks' See America posters commissioned in the 1930s and ’40s by the WPA Federal Art Project."
SEE THEM ALL HERE, opens a new window
PURCHASE POSTERS HERE, opens a new window
With funds from the Lawrence Public Library Summer Reading Program (sponsored in part by the Douglas County Community Foundation) and in partnership with the Kansas Land Trust, these posters are on display in the Lawrence Public Library windows and visible from the lawn from June–July 2020.
Click image to enlarge
- Combat summer learning loss
- Improve reading skills
- Increase desire to read
- Improve self-esteem
- Improve comprehension
- Improve memory skills
This summer may be the best opportunity in a generation, opens a new window to connect kids and teens with books.
With the school year finishing at home and cabin fever setting in, we've got extra time on our hands. Summer Reading is a great way to spend it and our brains will thank us for it!, opens a new window
There’s SO MUCH free stuff, opens a new window available to you with a library card. Endless entertainment and learning tools to keep your brain active and engaged.
Numerous studies indicate that students who don’t read or read infrequently during their summer vacation see their reading abilities stagnate or decline. This effect becomes more pronounced as students get older and advance through the school system. The situation for economically disadvantaged students is especially grim: if students from low-income families don’t read over the summer, they are much more likely to fall behind their more privileged peers, widening the “achievement gap.”
Imagine More.
Huge thanks to our literacy partners and prize sponsors...
