Another summer reading program is officially over! Yes, we just finished the Book Bucks Week #2 and boy, was it successful!
This was the second summer we ran the program, but this year, it was a little different. Since kids in grades 5 and up aren’t really into posters and stickers anymore, we decided we wanted something for them to stay focused and keep reading all summer long. And of course, if they had a few rewards along the way, all the better! So, they started out with a blank Book Buck Bingo card and began reading.
Some readers chose books based on things they would normally read anyway and just supplemented their reading with a few ideas from the bingo card. Others chose books exclusively that would get them a book buck once they finished reading. The more they read, the more book bucks they could collect to spend later.
The Book Buck Bingo card contained squares that would allow readers to choose things they liked, but to read different genres or authors this summer. There were squares such as “Read a book by a dead author” and “Re-read a book you loved”. We heard so many great stories from this—like the girl who took home a cookbook ( “Read a book from the adult section”) and made a fabulous dinner for her entire family, having never really cooked before! Did we start a chef on the path?
To complete a card, the kids had to read 24 books, all from different genres & parts of the library. Overall, we had 8 readers finish their cards, which is absolutely fabulous considering each book ran anywhere from 100-300 pages. That’s a lot of reading! And once they collected some book bucks, they kept them and brought them in to spend on some fabulous items in our special Book Buck Sale window! Don’t these girls look happy?
Overall, our tweens and teens read over 300 books this summer. We can’t wait to expand this program next year! Congratulations everyone!
