☀️ It’s time for our annual Youth Summer Reading Challenge! ☀️
Each summer, public libraries across the country host Summer Reading programs to combat the “summer slide” and encourage kids to keep learning and exercising their cognitive muscles while school is out. As the old adage goes: if you don’t use it, you just might lose it — but reading just 15-30 minutes per day has been shown to mitigate this summer learning loss, keep academic skills sharp, and help kids start the next school year with confidence.
At the Carnegie Carnegie, our 2026 Youth Summer Reading Challenge is guided by this principle of making reading a habit, something that you practice daily. This year, we encourage kids to track how many minutes they spend reading each day between June 13th and August 14th, 2026. Kids will receive virtual tickets to enter into prize drawings at weekly milestones up to 100 minutes of reading per week, and then again once they reach a cumulative 900 minutes read over the 9-week program.
Believe it or not, but that’s all it takes to read 15 minutes per day and become a Summer Reading Superstar!
Frequently Asked Questions
Click each question to expand and view the answer.
Who can participate in Summer Reading?
Youth from ages 0 to 18 can participate — whether they’re reading independently or sharing bedtime stories with a beloved grown-up, all can join the challenge!
What can my child read for Summer Reading?
All kinds of reading count towards our Summer Reading goals — we encourage reading in any format, either print or digital! Fiction or nonfiction, school-assigned reading, graphic novels, webcomics, poetry, audiobooks, the 15th re-read of a favorite bedtime story… you name it, you can log it.
Not sure what to read next? Ask a librarian for a recommendation, check out some of the staff-curated booklists on our library catalog, or see what is available on Hoopla or Libby.
How do I register for Summer Reading?
To register for the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall’s Summer Reading Challenge, you can go to www.carnegiewest.beanstack.org or download the Beanstack app for iOS / Android.
Then, create an account and choose “Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall: Youth Summer Reading 2026” as your challenge.
You can also register by attending our Summer Reading Kick-Off event on Saturday, June 13th, or by visiting the Library anytime during the challenge window.
After registering for the challenge, all readers will receive 1 FREE virtual ticket 🎟️ to enter into our Summer Reading prize drawings, as well as one of the following rewards:
• Kids entering grade 4 or younger: choose a FREE BOOK to keep (while supplies last)
• Kids/teens entering grades 5 and older: receive a $10 Target gift card (while supplies last)
How do I log my child’s reading?
We encourage participants to use the Beanstack app or website to log their reading, as it provides a streamlined experience for tracking minutes and entering our Summer Reading prize drawings.
However, if you prefer a tech-free experience, you can use one of our paper reading logs and show it to a staff member when you visit the library. We’ll give you a stamp, log the minutes into Beanstack for you, and help you enter the drawings!
How does my child earn tickets for the prize drawings?
By logging the minutes they read or by attending designated library programs and completing the associated activity badges in Beanstack.
Each week during the challenge period, every 20 minutes of reading logged (up to the 100 minute weekly goal) will earn virtual tickets to enter into our prize drawings.
• at each weekly 20, 40, 60, and 80-minute milestone = earn 1 virtual ticket 🎟️
• when you reach the 100 minute weekly goal = earn 5 tickets! 🎟️🎟️🎟️🎟️🎟️
Finally, whenever your child reaches 900 minutes of reading (cumulative), they will have completed the challenge, earning another 5 tickets! 🎟️🎟️🎟️🎟️🎟️
NOTE: Please make sure that your minutes logged are dated within the appropriate week, as the weekly minute goals are time-dependent. Weeks start on Saturday and end on Friday, for the purposes of logging. Entries can be backdated.
How do the prize drawings work?
Prize drawings will be run exclusively through Beanstack, so be sure to allocate your child’s virtual tickets to the desired prize drawings on the Tickets tab on or before August 14th. You may allocate tickets all to one drawing or spread them out between multiple.
Prize winners will be drawn and announced at our End of Summer Celebration on Saturday, August 15th. You do not have to be present at this event to win; we will contact any winners who are not present at the phone number attached to their Beanstack account.
What happens if my child reads 900 minutes total?
Congratulations, your child has completed the challenge and officially become a “Summer Reading Superstar!”
That said — you don’t have to stop there! We encourage readers to read and log as much as they can, not just stopping once they reach one of the ticketing milestones, either weekly or cumulative. It’s not just about reaching a goal, but about making reading a habit, a consistent and intentional part of your day. At our End-of-Summer Celebration on Saturday, August 15th, we will recognize all of our Superstars with a special congratulations and a certificate.
Have other questions about our Summer Reading Challenge? Give us a call at (412) 276-3456, or email Miss Mikayla at wobrakm@carnegiecarnegie.org.
Youth Summer Programs Guide
Thank you to Edgar Snyder & Associates for their generous sponsorship and support of this year’s Summer Reading programming.
