Children entering Kindergarten and younger may participate in our Pre-K Summer Reading - 1000 Books Before Kindergarten Program. (If you are under 5 and have already completed 1000 Books Before Kindergarten at the Southbury Public Library, you can choose to do it again or move up to our Elementary Summer Reading Program.) 

Read every day with a parent or caregiver. Each and every book you read counts. If you read the same book over and over, it counts each time! Log your reading on READsquared, our new Summer Reading online program by entering each title you read. One winner will be randomly chosen each week to receive two brand new books, sponsored by the Connecticut State Library and the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

Earn extra points by participating in our daily challenges. Participate in Alphabet Adventures. We will begin with the letter A on Monday, June 29. Follow the Southbury Library Youth Services Facebook page and our library website for daily challenges. Tune in each day for a different activity for each letter of the alphabet. Take a picture or tell us about your Alphabet Adventure on Facebook. Or log your completed challenges in READsquared. Or both!

You can also choose to participate in our Daily At Home Challenges. Each day, we'll spotlight a different activity based on a theme. Just like Alphabet Adventures, take a picture or comment on Facebook and log your challenge in READsquared. These challengers are geared towards kids in grades 1-5 but anyone can participate! 

Daily At Home Challenges include:

STEAMonday: Start off the week with full STEAM ahead with a tutorial for a simple, at home experiment.

Take it Outside Tuesday: Get outside and get active. Get ready for a physical challenge.

Wonder Wednesday: We're asking questions. Can you provide the answer?

Thankful Thursday: Shout out who or what you're thankful for. Do a random act of kindness. 

Fine Art Friday: We provide the topic, you provide the artwork.

There is no requirement and no pressure to participate. We want to make this summer as fun and easy as possible.  

Happy Reading!

Children reading independently entering Grades 1-5 may participate in our Children's Summer Reading Program. (If you are under 5 and have already completed 1000 Books Before Kindergarten at the Southbury Public Library, you can choose to do it again or move up to our Elementary Summer Reading Program.) 

Read as much as you can this summer. Keep track of how much time you read in minutes or hours. For every hour you read, log it in READsquared, our new Summer Reading online program. The more you read, the more entries you have! Weekly random drawings will be held for gift cards. Prizes are sponsored by the Friends of the Southbury Public Library.

Earn extra points by participating in our Daily At Home Challenges. Each day, we'll spotlight a different activity based on a theme. Take a picture or comment on Facebook and log your challenge in READsquared. Or only log your completed challenges in READsquared. Or both!

Daily At Home Challenges include:

STEAMonday: Start off the week with full STEAM ahead with a tutorial for a simple, at home experiment.

Take it Outside Tuesday: Get outside and get active. Get ready for a physical challenge.

Wonder Wednesday: We're asking questions. Can you provide the answer?

Thankful Thursday: Shout out who or what you're thankful for. Do a random act of kindness. 

Fine Art Friday: We provide the topic, you provide the artwork.

You can also participate in Alphabet Adventures. We will begin with the letter A on Monday, June 29. Follow the Southbury Library Youth Services Facebook page and our library website for daily challenges. Tune in each day for a different activity for each letter of the alphabet. Just like the Daily At Home Challenges, take a picture or tell us about your adventure on Facebook. Alphabet Adventures is geared towards children 5 and under but anyone may participate!

There is no requirement and no pressure to participate. We want to make this summer as fun and easy as possible.  

Happy Reading!

We have four parts to this year's Teen Summer Reading Program. You can compete in all four parts, or pick and choose what you're interested in!

Part 1: Hourly Raffle

Once you register for summer reading, keep track of your time reading! Like years past, for every hour you read, you earn one raffle ticket. Enter your tickets each week for the chance to win one of the gift card prizes below. Don't like one week's prize? Save your tickets for a week you're interested in! All submitted tickets are entered in for the Grand Prize, drawn on Friday, August 7.

Differently than years past, registration and hour tracking will all be online through READsquared this year. Instead of physical raffle tickets, each hour you read will earn you points. One hour read is 100 points. Those 100 points can be used to "buy" one raffle ticket towards your interested prize. You can start purchasing raffle tickets for a given prize the Saturday before the drawing. For each day listed, raffle tickets are due by 11:59pm. Winners will be drawn the following Monday and notified.

Prize Schedule:

• Friday, July 3:  $25 Starbucks Gift Card    
• Friday, July 10:  $25 Beauty Store Gift Card (Winner's choice of Sephora, Ulta, or Mac)
• Friday, July 17: $25 Game Store Gift Card (Winner's choice of Playstation, XBox, Steam, or Nintendo eStore)    
• Friday, July 24: $25 Dubl Twister Gift Card    
• Friday, July 31: $25 App Store Gift Card (Winner's choice of Apple App Store or Google Play Store)    
• Friday: August 7: $25 Amazon Store Gift Card    
• Friday August 7: Teen Grand Prize: $125 Visa Gift Card

All submitted tickets go into the Grand Prize, a $125 Visa Gift Card. ALL ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED BY FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2020.

Bonus Points:

New this year, there are other things you can do besides reading to earn points that count towards the raffle prizes. Those activities are:

• ARK Missions: These Acts of (not so) Random Kindness can earn you points towards raffle tickets. Each ARK completed earns 100 points. Find out more in the Missions tab of READsquared.
• Book Reviews: When you enter in your time read, there's an option to add your thoughts about a book. Review your book and own 5 bonus points per review!
• Virtual Program Attendance: Each virtual program you attend will have a secret code- this code earns you an extra 100 points.
• Photo Scavenger Hunt: We've got a photo based scavenger hunt that can also earn you bonus points! Find out more in the Missions tab of READsquared.

Point system: 

• 1 hour = 100 points
• 1 minute = 1.67 points
• ARK (Acts of Not So Random Kindness) Challenge = 100 points
• Book Review = 5 points
• Virtual program attendance = 100 points

How to "Buy" Raffle Tickets with Points:

• Every 100 points is equal to one raffle ticket.
• Prize raffles open up the week prior to the drawing date listed.
• To purchase raffle tickets for this week's prize, go to the "Home" page of READsquared and click on the "Raffle" button in the center of the screen.
• Next, press the "Get Tickets" button. You can then click on the raffle listed to get tickets for that raffle.
• If you are interested in spending tickets on later items, save your points for future weeks.

Part 2: Book Bingo

Compete in this year's 2020 Book Bingo for Grades 6-12! Make bingo by reading books that fit the listed categories! Making bingo (or multiples) can earn you raffle entries for a $50 Amazon Gift Card!

• Complete one row (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) and get one entry into the raffle
• Complete five rows (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) and get five entries into the raffle
• Complete the whole card and get fifteen entries into the raffle

ALL ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED BY FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2020. The winner will be drawn from eligible entries then be notified.

Part 3: Photo Scavenger Hunt

Snap a picture of each of these items and upload them. Each item found is worth 100 points. Your picture will not be shared anywhere on the website for other patrons to see, but library staff will be able to see what you've shared.

Complete the entire Scavenger Hunt for 100 bonus points and a special program badge! ALL ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED BY FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2020.

Part 4: Virtual Programming

See below, or click here. Registration required.