Read, get involved with library activities, and earn prizes in the adult summer reading program.
June 1 through August 19
Sign up via Beanstack, track your reading, complete activities, and earn badges for chances to win prizes.
You earn badges by participating in activities such as:
- Reading your favorite book or watching a favorite movie
- Selecting a title from a librarian-curated list
- Taking a course in Creativebug or LinkedIn Learning
- Visiting the Creative Studio
- Attending library events like the Friends of the Oak Park Public Library Book Fair
For every badge a participant earns, their name will be added to a drawing for an Oak Park-River Forest Chamber of Commerce gift card for local businesses.
Bonus badge
“A library’s function is to give the public in the quickest and cheapest way: information, inspiration, and recreation. If a better way than the book can be found, we should use it.”
— Melvil Dewey
Looking for the clue to unlock this year’s bonus badge? You’re in the right place! We’ve partnered with the official Geocaching community to host a geocache in our library.
What is geocaching? It’s like a real-life scavenger hunt. A small container or logbook (a “cache”) is hidden in a fun place, and clues help people find the spot and discover the cache.
Ready to find it? Here’s what you need to know:
- The cache is hidden somewhere in the Main Library.
- Crack the code below to guide you in your search.
- Here’s a clue you’ll also need in your search: Beyond the Buzz
- Put the cracked code and the clue together to search for the geocache.
- Enter your answer in Beanstack to earn the Bonus Badge. Happy hunting!
Here’s the code: nfx Qrjrl sbe pnyy ahzore
Crack this code using the key below (where a letter above equals the one below, and vice versa).
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M |
| N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
More ways to get the most out of summer reading
Last year’s winners recommend…
Thanks to last year’s prizewinners (Devon, Brenna, Mira, and Hannah, pictured above) for sharing books they read in the 2024 summer reading program!
- The Cabinet by Kim Un-su
- The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
- An Immense World by Ed Yong
- The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
“The challenges encouraged me to try some of the digital resources from the library, which I appreciated,” one told us. “One of my goals for 2024 was to make reading a regular habit again, and having the added encouragement of potential prizes and logging time each day helped a lot.”