1,000 Books Before Kindergarten
Early Literacy sets the stage for Academic Success. Reading aloud sparks creativity and imagination and is a wonderful way to bond with your child. Every time you read a book together, your child receives the gifts of language, vocabulary, and the necessary pre-reading skills for kindergarten.
Our 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program incentivizes reading together in 50 book increments, to help you prepare your child for a lifetime of reading. Learn more about our program through our FAQ section.
1,000 Books Before Kindergarten is an incentivized reading challenge. We've challenged you to read 1,000 books for your child, and as you work towards that goal there will be prizes and special events to encourage you along the way. Every child who reaches their 10 book goal will receive a Reading Buddy to join them in their big reading adventure. We'll hold quarterly special Story Times for our 1,000 Book kids, (and their reading buddies), so your child can celebrate their 1,000 book journey with other young readers. Along the way, your little reader will unlock treasure box prizes every 50 books, and at the end, a special t-shirt for them and their reading buddy, so everyone can see their big accomplishment.
Go to chrl.beanstack.org and select the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten challenge. Make sure you are signed in to your child's Beanstack account! The challenge will only be visible for children aged 0-5! If you've never created a Beanstack account before (this is the platform we use to track Summer Reading) your child will need their library card number handy. Make sure the first five digits start with "21010" before you begin!
The Prizes
| 10 Books | Reading Buddy |
| 50, 100, 150 Books...etc | Treasure Box Prize |
| 500, 1000 Books | Free Book for your home library |
| 1,000 Books! | "We read 1000 Books B4 Kindergarten" t-shirt and matching bandana for your Reading Buddy |
Special Events
- Quarterly Storytimes for 1,000 Book Kids only! Participants will bring their reading buddy—with the option to leave them behind for a sleepover.
- At our special 1,000 book Storytime, we will recognize our Graduates at that point.
- These exclusive Storytimes will be scheduled in January, April, August, November, so check our calendar to stay updated.
During challenge registration, you will be asked to select one of our four branch libraries. But if you can't get to your home library to pick up your prize, you are welcome to pick one up at another branch, or attend another branch's special event if it works better with your schedule. If you find that a different branch has become your 1,000 Books "home library" please ask circulation staff to change your home library within the Beanstack app.
We've had the 1,000 Book Before Kindergarten program for many years--so if you are already working towards that goal, there's nothing you need to do now. We are creating a new challenge in Beanstack, and will automatically register you for that challenge, and have your reading data transferred over so you don't lose your place.
Yes! While you won't receive duplicates of all the treasure box prizes you've unlocked along the way, you will be notified that you've unlocked the Reading Buddy prize once we've transferred your old reading data over to the new challenge. This is a new feature of the program, and we hope an exciting one, that will help encourage you and your child to push through to the very end of the program."
