Reading Challenges

Summer Reading Challenge

The 2026 Collaborative Summer Learning Program invites us to journey into a world of dinosaurs, archaeology, and paleontology! This year’s theme, Unearth a Story: Desentierra una Historia, celebrates curiosity, discovery, and the joy of learning, and the library is the perfect place for our community to explore it all together.

Beanstack

The Washoe County Library System uses Beanstack for all our reading challenges. Beanstack automatically offers you all active challenges for which you are eligible. You can also use Beanstack to track your reading time and keep an ongoing log of the books you've read, even if you aren't participating in a reading challenge.

100 Books Before Graduation

Keep yourself motivated to read with this teen reading challenge. Read whatever books you want, and earn digital badges along the way. Not sure what to read? For some ideas, visit our For Teens page, or check out our reading lists, including New Fiction, Graphic Novels, and Teen Books on Order.

A Thousand Miles of Desert and Mountains

In partnership with the University Libraries, the Washoe County Library System is offering a virtual exploration of a Special Collections and University Archives collection titled A Thousand Miles of Desert and Mountains. This reading challenge, aimed at fourth through seventh graders but appropriate for all ages, explores a set of diaries written by two prospectors as they traveled across Nevada in search of the next big bonanza. It also features maps and worksheets that can be completed for digital badges.

1,000 Books Before Kindergarten

The 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program is a fun, exciting, and free way to start your child on the path to success. Any child five years or younger can participate. Just follow these steps:

• Get Started: Download the Beanstack app to your smartphone.
• Track Your Reading: record the titles in the app. 
• Every Book Counts: New book, same book, or story time book, it all counts. 
• Keep on Reading: Don’t stop at 1,000! Keep on reading together. There’s more learning ahead!

If you read just one book a night, you’ll meet your goal in less than three years. Visit the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten website for printable certificates and reading logs.

Coloring Sheets   Letter to Parents