Henrico Library's Summer Reading Challenge continues through Aug. 1

School’s out and summer reading is in.

The Henrico County Public Library Summer Reading Challenge is back this year and continues until Aug. 1. Pre-readers, children, teens and adults are invited to participate in the challenge to read 1,000 minutes this summer. 

The challenge, whose theme is "Color Our World," is hosted across all nine library locations and the mobile library. To celebrate this year’s theme, each location also will host programs throughout the summer, including interactive classes about Alma Woodsey Thomas, the first Black woman to have her work added to the White House Collection of Art; shadow puppet shows; meet-and-greets with illustrators; and board game days. 

Summer reading programs are a long-standing tradition at public libraries to encourage reading among people of all ages. 

The challenge also is meant to combat the “summer slide,” a phenomenon during which students experience a decline in reading skills and knowledge retention during the off-school months, Henrico County Public Library communications and media manager Beth Monroe said. 

Participants receive a pencil, bookmark and reading log for signing up. There also are midpoint and final prizes like free books, art supplies, ring lights, coffee mugs and a ticket to win the grand prize – a light table for pre-readers, an Apple iPad or 3-D printer for kids and teens and a Cricut crafting machine for adults. 

The Henrico County Public Library also hosts about 180 programs each month, year-round, Monroe said, including media and computer labs on photoshop, restoration and digitization.

“There’s just so many wonderful things that you can do at the library,” Monroe said. “I think people tend to think about books, which are great, but libraries are really community centers.”

The libraries also are open to help people cool off from the summer heat or use book study and meeting rooms. Librarians are available to provide resources, as well. 

To sign-up and start logging, visit the Beanstack app or website, or pick up a printed log at any Henrico Library locations. 

For details about the reading challenge and events, click here.  To sign-up for a library card, click here.

The library also has a reciprocal agreement with Chesterfield County, the City of Richmond and the Pamunkey library system. Card-holders are eligible for a library card in the Henrico library system.