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By DONALD MOTTERN | Staff Writer

PELHAM – Avid book worms of all ages are being invited to log minutes and take part in the Pelham Public Library’s summer reading program which is now underway.

Currently open and available to all interested readers, this year’s summer reading program carries the theme of “Adventure Begins at Your Library,” and is broken down into three distinct age categories for children, teens and adults to take part, log minutes, leave book reviews and complete tasks with the opportunity for prizes.

Participants can currently sign up for the summer reading program, organized through Beanstack, and log minutes until the end of July. The children and teens branches of the program will conclude on Saturday, July 20 and the adult branch will close out on Wednesday, July 31.

This year’s summer reading program will be the fourth that the Pelham library has organized and hosted over Beanstack. Those wishing to take part in the program are free to sign-up and register through the library’s website at Pelhamlibraryal.beanstack.org/reader365.

Using that program, kids age 12 and under will be able to track their minutes spent reading and their entries will then be utilized in weekly prize drawings.

“As they reach certain milestones, they will earn badges in Beanstack,” said Rebecca Burchfield, a librarian at the Pelham Public Library. “For each reading badge, they can come to the library to select a prize from our treasure box. They can earn extra badges for attending library events throughout the summer. These activity badges earn readers extra entries into the grand prize drawing.”

The grand prize for this year’s program was made available with cooperation from Specialized and Bike Link who have helped to supply the Pelham Public Library with a brand new bike that will go to one of the program’s participants.

“The more you read and participate, the more entries you have for the drawing,” Burchfield said.

The teen branch of the program is intended for teens who are in sixth though 12th grade. They will also be able to track minutes in Beanstack and earn reading badges. For each badge earned, teens will be able to select a prize from the library’s prize box and be entered in for a chance to win a weekly gift card drawing.

“The overall goal for each teen reader this summer is 1,000 minutes,” Burchfield said. “Readers who earn all logging badges will be entered into the grand prize drawing at the end of the summer where one lucky reader will win a pair of Apple AirPods.”

Anyone 18 or older will be able to take part in the adult branch of the program. Anyone who checks out three or more adult books, or audio books, will be able to fill out an entry for the summer reading drawing at the end of the summer. Adults will also be able to log the books they are reading in Beanstack and can earn badges and rewards that will accumulate additional entries for their prize drawings.

In addition to the normal credit allotted by logging minutes, those in the children and teen branches of the program will also be able to receive credit for attending a number of activities and events presented at the Pelham Public Library during the duration of the summer reading program.

“The events for kids and teens are all tied to the Summer Reading theme, ‘Adventure Begins at Your Library,’ and we have something almost every day for them to do,” Burchfield said.

This summer’s theme of “Adventure Begins at Your Library” was selected by CSLP Reads and organized by the Collaborative Summer Library Program.

“They partner with well-known authors and illustrators to design the artwork each year and promote Summer Reading for all age groups,” Burchfield said. “This year, the artwork is designed by Juana Martinez-Neal and Rob Donnelly.”