Whitman County libraries challenge readers

COLFAX – Readers are facing two challenges by the Whitman County Rural Library District.

Both the Genre Challenge and the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten use the library’s online reading to track books read. The app is called Beanstack, Interim Director Sheri Miller said.

“Beanstack’s website and app serve as an interactive home for reading challenges created by (Whitman County Library). Tring to serve patrons through COVID, (we) jumped on the online reading bandwagon last spring,” Miller said. “Even prior to COVID, many public libraries throughout the U.S. use an online service to encourage reading.”

The Genre Challenge is for everyone to read a different type of book than their normal kind.

When using the Beanstack app, people can log reading and earn badges.

The 1,000 Books before Kindergarten Challenge is to encourage families to read to their babies and preschoolers and reach the 1,000-book goal before the kids enter school.

The library continues the online challenges with a Summer Reading program starting in June.

“This is especially helpful to rural families that want to participate in (the library’s) Summer Reading but can’t always make it to the in-person library programs,” said Miller.

Go to http://www.whitcolib.org to register or download the Beanstack app on your phone or mobile device.