Off the Shelf: America's 250 Reading Challenge
By Angela Spatafore on July 01, 2026 from Off the Shelf
To celebrate, America’s 250th anniversary, the library is hosting a special reading challenge that officially starts today. Join our America 250 Bingo Challenge and honor 250 years of stories, innovation, and history. Log your reading, earn fun digital badges, and help us celebrate the nation's past, present, and future. From July 1st through July 31st, you'll have an opportunity to fill your digital bingo card by completing
various challenges such as reading a title from one of our Beanstack book lists and completing an activity or reading a certain amount of minutes.
various challenges such as reading a title from one of our Beanstack book lists and completing an activity or reading a certain amount of minutes.
You can join the fun over on our Beanstack site (bplwv.beanstack.org or the Beanstack Tracker mobile app), or you can opt for the paper version of America’s 250th Bingo Challenge from the library’s Help Desk. As the name suggests, this challenge is bingo-style. For each bingo square you fill, you will earn a ticket that you can submit towards any of the following prizes:
• Boxed set of the graphic novel trilogy, March, created by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
• Bald eagle stuffy paired with the board book USA by Jolle Retener and Sarah Walsh
• 3' x 5' Grace Alley American flag
Since the America’s 250th challenge overlaps with Unearth a Story, our summer reading challenge, any minutes you log will count towards both challenges if you joined both. Both challenges are for all ages, so there is no reason to not join both challenges, and as a bonus, your reading minutes get us closer to the 1-million-minute reading goal we set for 2026.
To further celebrate America’s 250th, we are hosting the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution to come talk about the Bill of Rights and Constitution on Tuesday, July 7 from 6:00-7:00 PM. This educational event is open to all ages. Registration for this event is open on our website: https://www.bplwv.org/event/16736573 We hope you will join us!
Editor's Note: Photo shows blogger Angela Spatafore with the online and paper version of the challenge.
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