Summer Reading Program

This summer, adventure awaits beneath the surface! Youth ages 0-12 can join our “Unearth a Story” reading program and dig into exciting books as you journey through our tunnel-themed reading challenge. Everyone who completes five reading sessions gets a free book. Participants can continue reading for a chance to win the prizes below.

Raffle Prizes Include:

• $40 gift certificate to Montshire Museum Store
• $40 gift certificate to Still North Books
• $40 gift certificate to The Fourth Place
• Lego Triceratops Skull Fossil Kit 76969
• Squishmallows: Jerome the Triceratops and Nichelle The Orange Dinosaur
• A set of jumbo dinosaur action figures

Instructions

1. Pick up a reading log at the children’s desk to join in the fun! A reading session is up to you! It can be based on the number of pages you read or the amount of time you spend reading — whatever works best. The program begins Monday, June 15, and ends Friday, August 14.

2. As you complete each reading session, mark off a section of your log as you move through the tunnel system. In some spots, you may choose between completing a reading session or another fun challenge.

3. After you complete five sections, return to the library to collect your prize: a free book!

4. Keep going to earn even more rewards! For each completed step from numbers 6–10, you’ll receive one raffle ticket to enter drawings for awesome prizes. Raffle tickets are located on the back of the log, so you may fill them out ahead of time if you’d like.

5. Finished your first reading log and want to keep reading? Ask us for another log! You’ll earn two raffle tickets for every additional completed log. (Please note: the free book is only awarded for your first completed reading log.)

6. You have a few extra days to turn in your reading log (until August 22). Winners will be notified the following week.

Happy reading!

This summer the Howe Library is hosting a teen specific Summer Reading Challenge!

We are asking that you “Unearth a Story” this summer by reading books! Pick up a game board to track your reading at the Reference Desk, or download and print a copy below.

The Prizes:

If you read two books, you can earn a free book from our selection of teen prize books! The prize book selection ranges from classic to modern novels and includes graphic novels and nonfiction, so there is something for everyone!

But don’t stop there, for each book you read (up to 10), you will earn a raffle ticket which you can put towards a grand prize of your choosing.

We have six exciting grand prize bundles:

1. Cute Scoops Bundle: Fred the Dinosaur Woobles Crochet Kit and a $20 Gift Card to Scoops
2. Nugget Bundle: A Dinosaur Nugget Pillow, a Dinosaur Nugget Artwork, and a $25 Gift Card to the Nugget
3. Blast from the Past Bundle: Jurassic Park trilogy on DVD, 90’s Cuties Coloring Book, Glittery Gel Pens, a Tamagotchi, and a Hacky Sack
4. Still North “Bundle”: $50 Gift Card to Still North Bookstore
5. Hanover Bundle 1: $20 Gift Card to Ramuntos, $10 Gift Card to Red Kite Candy, and a $20 Gift Card to Still North Bookstore
6. Hanover Bundle 2: $20 Gift Card to BOCASOCA, $10 Gift Card to Red Kite Candy, and a $20 Gift Card to Still North Bookstore

One book per person. One winner per each bundle. Books and Raffle tickets must be claimed at the Reference Desk of the Howe Library by August 22, 2026. Raffle winners will be asked to claim their prize from the Reference Desk at the Howe Library by September 15, 2026.

Print out the game board below to track your reading progress – or pick up a free copy of the game board at the Reference Desk!

Pick up a physical copy of the challenge at the reference desk or print out a copy below!

Join us this summer for another collaboration between the Howe Library and the Hood Museum! Visit the Little Hood @ the Howe, in the New Books area, and find adult art kits supplied by the Hood. Take these kits home or do them at the library, and check back every week or so for new kits!

Learn more about this collaboration

This summer, we’ll be reading Otherlands by Thomas Halliday.

“The past is past, but it does leave clues, and Thomas Halliday has used cutting-edge science to decipher them more completely than ever before. In Otherlands, Halliday makes sixteen fossil sites burst to life on the page.

This book is an exploration of the Earth as it used to exist, the changes that have occurred during its history, and the ways that life has found to adapt―or not.

Pick up a free copy of Otherlands, by Thomas Halliday, at the Information Desk at Howe Library, or at the Etna Library starting June 15.

Join your community in reading this summer reading-themed book, and for these programs:

Summer Community Reads Book Discussion: Otherlands – Tuesday, August 4 at 6:00 p.m. (Hybrid)
More Info

Searching for the Oldest Animal Fossils – Wednesday, August 5 at 6:30 p.m. (Hybrid)
with Justin Strauss, Associate Professor of Earth Sciences at Dartmouth College
More Info