It's finally officially summer, but we've known summer is upon us for a few weeks now because our summer reading program is underway and going strong. When we think back to last summer and the fog we were all in, it's a relief to feel things moving forward and having people, young and old back inside the Library. While we've held back on large in person programs for this season, we have moved forward with both virtual and outside in person programs. We also expanded our knowledge of the Beanstack Tracker app for the reading and activity portion of the program and the community has responded. We have 138 people registered on Beanstack and so far the feedback has been positive. The reading program is an all ages program and we have 38 adults signed up this year. As you read and do activities you earn virtual badges and those badges turn into virtual drawing slips for prize baskets.(Watching the black and white badges flip to color when you earn one is rewarding. Who knew?!) Beanstack will choose random winners at the end of the 8 week program and several lucky people will go home with a basket of goodies. Anyone can sign up for the reading program during the 8 weeks it is running. It ends July 30th. Go to manawalibrary.beanstack.org or get the Beanstack Tracker app from your app store. After a simple registration process you will be ready to log your reading and activities.

Recovery after an historical event like a pandemic comes in baby steps. We feel like we've taken a lot of baby steps this summer. The sound of children and adults having fun in the library is something we knew never to take for granted. We missed it so much through much of last year. We're feeling the joy it can bring this summer and we're grateful.