More than 500 youngsters read 4,957 books as part of a Lambton County Library winter reading program last January and February, its organizer says.
And they hope the program, which rewards reading with free books, ballots for gift-card draws and other prizes, attracts even more participants in 2023, Vanitia Campbell said.
“I’d love to break the 5,000 barrier for books reported,” she said.
That tally was specifically for kids younger than 13 in the library’s annual Bundle Up With a Book program, she said.
A similar program, Teen Freedom to Read, had 13 participants in 2022, “which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it was the first time we’d ever run anything in the winter (specifically for) teens, so we were quite happy with that participation,” Campbell said.
Again, organizers hope each challenge adds another 50 participants when they return from Jan. 9 to Feb. 19, said the public services co-ordinator for youth programs and outreach.
The teen portion also encourages 13- to 18-year-olds to read titles from a list of books that have faced limited access or censorship in schools and on library shelves, she said.
Titles like A Clockwork Orange, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Golden Compass, The Handmaid’s Tale and the Harry Potter Series are some featured on the list at freedomtoread.ca/challenged-works.
“Last year, we encouraged teens to only read items off the challenged works list and, this year, we’ve broadened it a little bit because we understand that some of those books are relatively large because a lot of them are classics,” Campbell said.
The end of the challenge coincides with Freedom to Read Week from Feb. 19 to Feb. 25, she said.
“This is a celebration in Canada of people’s right to intellectual freedom and the freedom to read what they choose,” she said, adding “libraries are big champions of freedom to read.”
The library’s long-running winter reading program, which went digital after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2023, is moving to the Beanstack app for reading tracking, Campbell said.
“Someone once described it as Fitbit for reading,” she said.
The library itself started using Beanstack in October, and it’s also useful if people just want to track their reading outside of specific library programming, Campbell noted.
“It’s actually a much easier process than we’ve had in the past few years,” she said.
Registration is at lambton.beanstack.org.
Events are also being held at library branches throughout the twin challenges, Campbell said.
Animals from Heaven’s Wildlife Rescue return for 1 pm to 2 pm visits at the downtown Sarnia, Petrolia, Corunna and Bright’s Grove branches Saturdays consecutively from Jan. 14 to Feb. 4.
There’s also Indigenous storytelling and interactive sharing with Kettle and Stony Point First Nation members Deb and Barry Milliken from 1 pm to 2 pm on Jan. 21 at the Forest branch, a family read-along on Jan. 28 from 11 am to noon at the Port Lambton branch, and a series of ice-age theme escape rooms at various library locations.
The local library system starting hosting a traveling escape room at various branches during it’s summer reading program as a way to draw people to branches, Campbell said.
“It’s just meant to be fun, but also something that’s kind of intellectually stimulating,” she said, noting it was successful during the summer.
Dates, locations and registration information are available at lclibrary.ca/wrp.