JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, James River Valley Library System is unable to provide our typical Summer Reading Program.

“Instead, through a partnership with the North Dakota State Library, we are excited to offer a virtual Summer Reading Program using a program called Beanstack,” Jennifer Senger of JRVSL stated. “This is an online platform where kids, teens, and adults will be able to register for the Summer Reading Program and keep track of how many books or minutes they have read. Users can also register multiple family members online with one account.”

The goal of the Summer Reading Program is to keep people of all ages reading during the summer months, ensuring that they maintain or develop new literacy skills year-round and avoid the summer slide.

To encourage young readers to participate in the Summer Reading Program, prize incentives will be offered to participants aged 0-12 after completion of certain milestones during the program, with a grand prize drawing at the end of the summer.

Teen and adult categories are also part of the Beanstack Summer Reading Program, with a grand prize drawing for each group at the end of the summer.

In addition to the Beanstack program, teens ages 13 and up will have another option: the Level Up! Reading Program for advanced readers. There will be separate prizes for this program. Contact the library at 252-2990 to register for Level Up!

To register online for the Virtual Summer Reading Programs through Beanstack, or to access the complete rules and instructions, go to www.jrvls.org and click on Summer Reading. The Summer Reading Programs will run June 15 to August 31, 2020.

Please call (701) 252-2990 or by e-mail at adpl@daktel.com if you have any questions or need assistance.