The Susquehannock Library is challenging readers to read a book a month once more with the return of the reader’s challenge for the second semester.
Head librarian Kate Daniels developed the challenge as a way to promote the library and the new books entering circulation.
“We started it last year as a way to encourage more students to read, especially in the second half of the school year when we see sort of a slump in our book circulation statistics,” Daniels said. “This is just giving them a little more incentive to pick something up that they haven’t read before.”
The program features prizes for reading a book each month and leaving a short review. Reviews left on the challenge’s Google Form can be, by participant choice, anonymously posted in the library to provide browsers with recommendations, especially in the fiction section that is being reorganized.
“The reviews are used to promote certain books,” Daniels said. “Once we finally get exactly where we want to be in terms of organization, reviews will also be displayed with certain books that students really liked.”
So far, the themes have been “New Year, New Book” for January and “Romance” for February. These themes are brainstormed by the book club, which helps to run the initiative. The library will announce the next theme towards the start of March.
“I’m going to let our book club students pick out the themes for each month,” Daniels said. “I’m hopeful that they pick some things that are going to be garnered more towards whatever students want to read.”
Aside from deciding the theme for each month, the book club also designs and distributes the stickers certifying participants’ completion of the month’s challenge. Book club president junior Alexious Khory helps to lead the group in decision-making.
“Ms. Daniels came up to us when we were doing one of our usual meetings,” Khory said. “She asked us if we were interested in making the ‘new year, new book’ a month challenge for reading.”
Many students are returning to the challenge, and more are participating for the first time, including sophomore Addie Schwaninger. Schwaninger read “The Great Gatsby” for the first month’s challenge.
“I was motivated to participate in this year’s reading challenge to gain more knowledge on books than I wouldn’t usually read by trying to read a short or medium-length classic every month,” Schwaninger said. “I think that the challenge can benefit students by motivating them to read more outside school and explore books that are not graded, meaning that the reading is far less stressful.”
