Countdown to Summer Reading 2025 - Day 8 (Reading Challenges)

Who's ready to read?! WE ARE!

A large part of Summer Reading is trying to prevent the Summer Slide (the idea that kids loose some of their scholastic skills when they have a long break like summer, particularly in their reading skills). To do this, we try to make reading fun for all ages.

For a lot of us, reading is something we like but feel like we can't always justify. There's so much to be done and do in life, that sitting down to dedicate time from reading doesn't always happen. Giving a little prize for building the habit gives that little extra boost!

Adult Reading Challenge: In a spin on our yearly reading challenge, the adults (18+) can play BINGO this summer by completing a column (all of one color cover), a row (all of one prompt), or have fun with different mix-and-match combinations (reading all of the prompts in different colors)! There should be only one book title in a square. When you’ve completed your Summer Reading Challenge, turn in at the library for a prize. These books can also count toward past months of our Yearly Reading Challenge! You can grab your reading challenge by signing up at the Summer Reading table at the library on May 27th!

Teen Reading Challenge: Teen (ages 12 - 18) are building their reading habit! Read 20 minutes each day to color in a "paint blob". You can ABSOLUTELY read more than 20 minutes a day, but you do need to read at least 20 minutes that day to color in a paint blob. BONUS: If you read books in each of the YA genres, color your blobs to match the genre or write which genre in the blob. You don’t have to read a library book; one book can be more than one genre, and you can decide which genre your book is: did you find a Real-life Romantic Comedy that’s written in Verse? That’s 4 out of the 9 genres! Those who complete this bonus will get an added prize 

Kids Reading Challenge: For kids 6-11, we're working on ready a BUNCH! (This sheet has up to 30 hours of reading on the tracker!) Color in a circle on your reading challenge for every 15 minutes you read this summer! When you’ve filled in 4 circles (that’s one hour of reading!), you can come play the claw machine at the library. On the back of your reading challenge, you can find our summer challenge. You can make different artsy challenges or attend an event/program at the library for points. For every 100 points, you can also visit the claw machine!

Little Kids Reading Challenge: Affectionately referred to as the "Littles" by the library staff, children 5 and under have an activities based challenge with prompts such as "visit the library" or "read a story about an artist." Each prompt gets a small prize. Those in this age bracket can also participate in the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program and get prizes through that as well! (To find out more, ask Jessica!)

Frequently Asked Questions About Summer Reading Challenges:

• Do I have to read a library book? No! You can get your books from wherever you like.

• Do they have to be "ACTUAL" books? Not at all. Reading is reading is reading at the Duncan Public Library. Read an ebook, a physical book, listen to an audio book, listen to someone else read to you, grab a comic or graphic novel. Whatever way you get your reading in your day, that's okay with us.

• What books/reading counts toward these challenges? Any reading that happens between Tuesday, May 27th and Saturday, August 9th (the last day for Summer Prizes!) can be counted toward the Reading Challenge.

• Can I do the reading challenge multiple times this summer? If you finish your summer reading challenge, you can (and should!) keep going. But we can only give out prizes for that first challenge sheet. We try to make sure that we have enough prizes for everyone who wants to participate, which means managing how many prizes we're handing out to each participant. And it's not a small amount of prizes! If a child reads they're entire sheet of time and participates in the Summer Challenges on the back they could get as many as 36 prizes from the claw machine!

If you have any questions, email dploutreach@duncanok.gov or ask at the Summer Reading desk after sign up has begun on Tuesday, May 27th.