Beanstack Winter Reading Challenge

Make the Beanstack Winter Reading Challenge one of your goals for 2021! Beanstack, the online tool used by libraries to track summer reading, is now the platform for a Winter Reading Challenge for the Reedsburg community. Area residents of all ages are challenged to collectively read 1,000 books in January.

This winter challenge, officially titled Books Like Us, is jointly hosted by Simon & Schuster and Beanstack, with libraries and schools across the country participating. The theme, Books Like Us is meant to celebrate diversity, but any books read may count toward the 1,000 book goal.

To participate, go to the library’s homepage at reedsburglibrary.org, and click on beanstack.org at the bottom of the page. If you are new to Beanstack, register with a username and password. If adults register first, they may add the names of their children to keep the family under one account. Once registered, click on “Simon & Schuster’s Books Like Us Winter 2021” to start the winter challenge.

Those who would like to read books from Simon & Schuster’s featured authors will find a list of their names under the “activity badges” tab. Six of the eight authors write primary and middle grade books representing a wide cultural spectrum. Area teachers will recognize Sharon Draper as a winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for children’s books about the African American experience. Rebecca Roanhorse and Stephen Graham Jones, both Native Americans, are writers of adult fiction.

If choosing your own books for the challenge, the book titles should be entered under the “Logging Badges” tab. Completing either titles from suggested authors, or your own choices, earns books that will count toward Reedsburg’s goal. Look back on your successful reading by clicking on the “Challenge Log” tab.

Area teachers will be contacted after the holiday break with more information about this reading challenge to share with their students. If 200 people participate in Reedsburg’s Winter Reading Challenge, only five books need to be read by each participant! Top performing libraries will earn rewards from Simon & Schuster, including book collections and virtual author visits.

For more information about the Reedsburg Public Library’s Beanstack Winter Reading Challenge, call the library at 768-READ (7323) or email info@reedsburglibrary.org.