Summer at Your Library - Read Beyond the Beaten Path
Reading shapes your view of the world, yourself, and other people. Read beyond the beaten path to see what you might find out.
Summer is for Reading and Fun
Every summer when school lets out, the library offers a program of reading, events, and activities that encourage children to explore the fun of reading and keep their ability strong in this essential skill. Children, teens, and adults are welcome to join this free program.
How Summer at Your Library Works
It’s a relaxed program that works for everybody. Participation is simple.
1) Choose your summer challenge - see options below.
2) Read, learn, and play - and track your reading and activities. Check the Library Calendar for Take-&-Make craft kits and other library programs!
3) Complete the summer challenge online or on paper to be eligible for prizes.
Step 1 - Choose your summer challenge!
Would you like to have more fun this summer? Do you want to read more, write more, or stretch to a new level? Sign up for the Summer 2022 Challenge. You can get ideas, set your summer goals, and track your progress.
Pick up a paper log at your local library starting June 14, OR sign up for an online account on the Library's Beanstack site (more about Beanstack to the right).
Step 2 - Read, learn, and play!
Read at home, read in the park. Listen to audio books at home or in the car. Read to your dog or cat, read to your kids, your partner, your grandparents, or your friends - or read quietly by yourself.
Think and talk about what you're reading and doing. Sing a song, share a song, write a song. Write a story, write a poem, write a grocery list. Play with your family and friends, play with sounds and words and stories. Celebrate life together.
Track your reading and activities either in Beanstack or on the paper log to complete your challenge.
Step 3 - Children and teens - claim your prize!
When kids or teens complete their challenge, they can pick up a small prize at their local library, while supplies last. Visit your library by August 13 to claim your prize - turn in your paper log or tell staff you completed the challenge in Beanstack. At the Eureka Library, visit the desk in the children's room to claim your prize.
Plus, all ages have a chance to win a prize drawing at the end of summer.
All readers who complete the challenge online or turn in their paper challenge log by Saturday, August 13 will be entered in a prize drawing for a family pass to the Sequoia Park Zoo.
To get a chance of winning, be sure to include your name and phone number on the paper log (or include your email address and/or phone number in your Beanstack registration) so you can be notified if you win.
Thank You to Our Sponsors
Our 2022 sponsors make Summer at Your Library successful for the children and teens of Humboldt County.
Please thank them if you have the opportunity!
- Los Bagels
- The California Library Association
- The California State Library
- First 5 Humboldt
- The Friends of the Redwood Libraries
- The Humboldt Area Foundation
- Humboldt Sponsors
- The McLean Foundation
- The Patricia D. & William B. Smullin Foundation
- Providence, Community Health Investment
- Root 101
Our Sponsors Support Reading, Learning, & Children's Well-Being in Humboldt
Jessica Gibson created artwork on this page for Summer Reading 2022. it's all protected by a 2021 copyright. Thanks, Jessica!
About the Beanstack App
You have the option of a free online app, Beanstack, to track family reading. You can also share reading logs and book reviews with friends, and complete reading and activity challenges.
Use the Beanstack Tracker app or the Humboldt County Library's Beanstack website to sign up for your family's Beanstack account and enroll your readers in challenges.
Paper, or screen? Try one or both and see what you like best.
Beanstack Tracker
The Beanstack Tracker App
To get started, download the app from Google Play or the App Store.
Then, search in the app for Humboldt County Library (CA). There's a Humboldt County Library in Nevada, too, so look for our logo with the waves and the redwood tree to confirm you have the right library!
Humboldt County Library. Look for this Logo
Beanstack Website
The HCL Beanstack site is now available!
The Humboldt County Library Beanstack site offers challenges year-round. Register for your account and start tracking your reading right away. The Summer 2022 Challenge begins June 14.
The Summer 2022 Challenge
This challenge invites each reader to set a daily reading goal - the number of books, minutes, or pages you plan to read.
For every day you meet your own goal, you log a day of reading.
The challenge also includes fun activities and short book reviews. You can even draw a picture or make a 30-second video about your favorite book to share!
Institute of Museum and Library Services
The library’s Summer Reading program is supported in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.
This help is given under the provision of the Library Services and Technology Act and the CARES Act, and is administered in California by the State Librarian.