Reading Challenges

2025–26 Winter Reading Bingo! December 1–February 27

Sign up on Beanstack beginning December 1.

Choose one of six challenges. You can read books aimed at any age group. 

One BINGO earns a completion prize. Every BINGO earns tickets for the prize drawings. The more BINGOs you complete, the more tickets you earn.

Use one of our sticker sheets. Stop by either of our service desks and pick up a sticker sheet that corresponds with your challenge. Use them with a blank BINGO card and place them on any blank space to work toward your BINGOs.

Ages 0–5 Booklist  |  Ages 0–5 Sticker Sheet

Monarch Booklist  |  Monarch Sticker Sheet

Bluestem Booklist  |  Bluestem Sticker Sheet

Caudill Booklist  |  Caudill Sticker Sheet

Lincoln Booklist  |  Lincoln Sticker Sheet

Adult Booklist  |  Adult Sticker Sheet
 

1,000 Books Before Kindergarten is an education initiative with three main goals: to promote early childhood literacy, to prepare young children for kindergarten, and to facilitate family bonding through reading.

Parents and caregivers may register any child between the ages of 0–6. Any book may be counted, and books may be repeated. Repetition is even encouraged as it increases both comprehension and confidence in young children. Keep track on your paper log or in Beanstack. Prizes can be selected by filling out this form or by stopping by the Children's Desk on the 2nd floor.

All children who have not entered kindergarten or the equivalent are eligible to register. Participants are not required to be Normal Public Library cardholders or residents of Normal. Participants are welcome to register for this program even if they are completing other area 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten programs.

January 2, 2025–January 3, 2026

Register for the 2025 Adult Reading Challenge and receive an NPL keychain and this year’s reading notebook (while supplies last)! Every month read a book on that month's theme, log it in Beanstack, and earn a themed sticker (pick up at the front desk or via our Curb-It service) and an entry into that month's drawing for a gift card to a local business! Participate nine months out of the year and you are eligible for entry into the grand prize drawing

Readers are also encouraged to sign up for a monthly newsletter with suggestions for that month's theme. Select the Year-Round Adult Reading Challenge on our NextReads sign up page to get the newsletter or view the current issue.

For readers 18 and older.

This challenge is supported by the Normal Public Library Foundation.

Monthly Themes

January—Read a book about books
February—Read a memoir by a Black author
March—Read a book about an animal
April—Read a book about or set in a historical period outside the United States or United Kingdom
May—Read a book about mental health
June—Read the first book in a series
July—Read a book by a multiracial author
August—Read a book about or set at a circus
September—Read a fantasy book
October—Read a book with a place name in the title
November—Read a book about a family
December—Read a book you can read in one day

2025 Summer Reading Challenge has ended!

Continue to track your reading  on Beanstack and keep an eye out for our next reading challenge.

Beanstack is our website and app for tracking your reading anytime and for our library reading challenges.

You can create an account in Beanstack anytime and use it to keep track of your reading. When a reading challenge becomes available for you, keep tracking your reading and it will count for your challenge!

Use Beanstack on any computer or find the Beanstack Tracker app on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. If you have already created an account on Beanstack online you can use that. New readers will need to register.

If your child is already signed up for 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten then you have a Beanstack login!

Your email address

Password: beanstack

Once you login, you may change it to something more personal.

Members of a family can all be on the same account, just change readers using the top-left menu (on both the website and app).

Use Beanstack anytime! Keep track of your reading year-round and join our challenges when they are available.