2026 Summer Reading
June 1–August 8
1. Sign up for the challenge
Visit the Henrico Library Beanstack page to sign up your whole family online. Adults with "pre-reader" children (who are not yet reading on their own) can also sign up their little ones to track their time spent reading together. See below for more about Beanstack.
For your reading, you will choose whether you want to count books or minutes of reading time. Look for either the Books Edition or Minutes Edition in Beanstack.
Then visit your favorite Henrico library to pick up your starting prizes—a reading log, a pencil, and a bookmark—and get started on logging all your reading progress this summer!
Follow us on social media for more activities and fun as the summer goes on.
2. Log your reading, reviews, and activities
Your challenge this summer is to complete five literacy milestones by Saturday, August 8, to earn a ticket to our Grand Prize drawing.
What’s a literacy milestone?
- Reading. First, choose whether you want to count books or minutes of reading time. Every book* or 120 minutes of reading counts as one milestone. *Pre-readers should read five books per milestone.
- Activities. There are ten kinds of activities shown on your log and in Beanstack. Each activity counts as one milestone.
Color in your milestones as you reach them. Kids and teens, tell us when you complete a milestone for a small prize.
When you reach five milestones, you’re done! Congratulations!
Bring your completed log to your favorite Henrico library to pick up a Finisher’s Prize (available July 1).
As a bonus, if you write reviews of 5 books and submit them in Beanstack, you'll earn more chances for the Grand Prize drawing!
3. Collect your prizes and enter drawings
As you reach your goals, come in to the library to pick up your prizes. Finisher prizes will be available starting July 1:
| Age Group | Finisher Prize |
|---|---|
Pre-Readers | Library Tote & Reading Champ Pennant |
Kids | Drawstring Backpack & Reading Champ Pennant |
Teens | Water Bottle |
Adults | Collectible Coffee Mug |
Grand Prizes
Be sure to have all your reading and reviews entered in Beanstack by Saturday, August 8 to qualify for the Grand Prize Drawings! Winners will be announced Wednesday, August 12. The more you have read, the more chances you'll have to win one of these great prizes:Pre-reader Grand Prize
set of ten, up to 12" tall
Kid & Teen Grand Prizes
3D Printer
with Mario Kart World
Adult Grand Prize
solar smart bird feeder with camera
Branch Prizes
Branch Prize Drawings can be entered in person at any Henrico library. You can win one of these prizes:Kid Branch Prize
Teen Branch Prize
Adult Branch Prize
assembled by the Friends of your Henrico Library
Pre-reader Branch Prize
We're doing all kinds of fun things this summer! Follow us on social media or visit the information desk at your favorite Henrico library to find out what's going on.
We hope you to see you there!
Find other programs on our Events Calendar.
Track your reading on Beanstack
Beanstack is a free website and app that Henrico Library uses to offer reading challenges like Summer Reading. Once you start an account for yourself and the other readers in your family, you can log all of your reading and reviews in one place. You can join challenges in Beanstack, and as you reach challenge goals, you'll earn prizes ranging from virtual badges to entries in our Grand Prize drawings!
Visit the Henrico Library Beanstack page or download the Beanstack Tracker app from your app store to get ready. Note that only books and reviews logged from June 1–August 8 will count toward the 2026 Summer Reading challenge.
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