Story provided by Stillwater Public Library
Beware, this Winter Reading Program is not like the others! Participants will have to use their interests, talents and intelligence to maneuver through the Stillwater Public Library’s virtual “Choose Your Own Adventure” portal. The program opens for registration on Monday, Dec. 7, and will run through Monday, Feb. 15, 2021. The Library invites all ages to participate.
“I remember reading ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books as a kid and loved feeling like I had power over how the story unfolded,” said Teen Librarian Jessica Howe. “We still can’t have in-person programs just yet, but we can give participants choices to tailor the winter reading program to fit their interests.”
The Library will use BookPoints, the same online platform used for the Summer Reading Program. BookPoints tracks time spent reading, titles of books read and completed activities. It even has a family registration feature making it simple to manage multiple accounts from one login. Users can also attain digital badges for accomplishing librarian assigned goals such as listening to an audiobook or reading a book of a specific genre.
Upon starting the adventure, participants will enter into a virtual library, starring cartoon versions of librarians. Readers choose which librarian to follow based on age group, including kids, teen or adult. Then the real journey begins as the first choice must be made about the type of adventure to take – art, nature or history? Each path selected gives different options to choose from, allowing the user to do hands-on activities, read or participate in online learning opportunities.
In addition to digital badges in BookPoints, participants can collect cool buttons that they can pick-up at the Library or have delivered curbside at the end of the program. Participants will have the ability to earn five buttons in total. Completing adventures can earn up to three buttons total, one for each type of adventure completed. Reading at least five hours gets participants a button, and so does reaching “super reader” status or reading 25 hours or more.
“The buttons were popular this summer, and we hope that readers will be excited to add the new Winter Reading Program buttons to their collection,” Howe said. “One of the cool things about this program is that users can go through the activities more than once following a different path each time. They can have an art adventure, a nature adventure and a history adventure and earn an awesome button for completing each one!”
The Friends of the Stillwater Public Library is sponsoring the grand prize drawings for kids, teens and adults. At the end of the program, one lucky winner from each age group will win a $50 book card to the local bookstore of their choice. Participants earn an entry every time they read five hours and log their time in BookPoints.
Sign-up for “Choose Your Own Adventure” starting Dec. 7 by visiting http://library.stillwater.org/. For additional information or to get help with registration or using BookPoints, call the Help Desk at (405) 372-3633 x8106, send the library a message on Facebook or email askalibrarian@stillwater.org.
The Stillwater Public Library is located at 1107 S. Duck St. Library hours are Monday-Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Thursday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.