Looking for a staycation idea now that the holidays are over and the dark,
cold days of winter have fully arrived?

Sandy and Hoodland libraries invite community members to participate in
Beanstack’s fifth annual winter reading challenge during the month of

January. The “Read for a Better World” reading challenge encourages readers
to explore diversity, empathy and action through literature.

Library patrons are challenged to read for 600 minutes or more from Jan. 1
through Jan. 31. The libraries will award a $50 gift certificate from a local
business to a winner drawn from the participants who complete the challenge.
2022 will be the second year the local libraries take part in the event. In the
winter of 2021, 31 community members participated in the challenge.

“People seemed to really enjoy the program last year,” said Monica Smith,
children’s librarian for Sandy and Hoodland Public Libraries. “We’re hoping to
get more (participants) this year.”

The challenge is sponsored by Lerner Publishing Group. Library patrons will
have access to Lerner’s “Read for a Better World” themed books during the
challenge.

“Readers need a true diversity of books to not only see themselves, but to see
that they are part of a big, beautiful, diverse world... Read for a Better World
provides an inclusive literary collection that will help (participants) grow as
readers and as people,” stated Lerner Publishing on their website.

Libraries and schools throughout the nation are encouraging their
communities to read a target number of minutes and books during the winter
reading challenge. Libraries and schools with the highest performance will
earn prizes from Lerner Publishing Group, including book collections, signed
books and virtual author visits.

Readers can keep track of their progress on the library’s Beanstack site at
Sandy.Beanstack.org or through the Beanstack app for iPhone and Android.
Any age library patron can enter in the reading challenge.

Smith provided a sample list of recommended reading for the program by age
cohort:

Ages 0-6
“H Is for Home: A Sesame Street ® Guide to Homes around the World” by
Karen Latchana Kenney.
“Parents Like Mine” by Marie-Therese Miller.
“Something Special: All Kinds of Foods” by Lisa Bullar.
Ages 5-10
“Thanku: Poems of Gratitude” edited by Miranda Paul.
“Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace
Engineer” by Traci Sorell.
“Ruth and the Green Book” by Calvin Alexander Ramsey.

Ages 10-18
“Immigration, Refugees, and the Fight for a Better Life” by Elliott Smith.
“Mass Incarceration, Black Men, and the Fight for Justice" by Cicely Lewis.
“The Life Heroic: How To Unleash Your Most Amazing Self” by Elizabeth
Svoboda.

Age 18+
“The Four Million: The Gift of the Magi and Other Short Stories” by O. Henry.
“The American Dream? A Journey on Route 66 Discovering Dinosaur Statues,
Muffler Men, and the Perfect Breakfast Burrito” by Shing Yin Khor.
“Walden” and “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau.

Registration and more information is available online at Sandy.beanstack.org.