Adult Reading Programs
Adult Summer Reading
Summer Reading 2021!
We're creating a summer of games, contests, programs, and of course, reading, all with an animal theme to celebrate Tails and Tales. Complete challenges and log your reading, and you could win a prize!
Program Dates
- Registration & Logging: June 1st - July 17th, 10pm
- Raffle Ticket Purchasing: June 1st - July 24th, 10pm
- Raffle Prize Pickup begins: August 3rd and ends September 7th
Sign in here to purchase tickets for our Raffle Prizes!
Thank you to our Summer Reading Sponsors!
Special Events
June 1st: Magic City Stories Begins! Billings Public Library’s mission statement is to connect community so it can grow together, discover the love of reading, the joy of learning, and the sharing of creative expression. From these ideas: embrace, enrich, empower, the Magic City Stories sketchbook project has sprung! Our Stories are a way for us to connect with one another through our thoughts and feelings, our art, and our hearts; across the miles and across generations.
- Library borrowers can check out a sketchbook from the 2nd floor Help Desk for one week - detailed instructions are included, along with a few drawing & writing tools
- The borrower can fill the pages with family friendly stories, poetry, sketches, memories, collage - whatever ideas they wish to share (prompts are included in case help is needed!).
- At the end of the loan, the borrower returns the sketchbook to the 2nd floor help desk and may check out another.
- Once each book is full, we will digitize it and add it to our collection.
June 1st - July 30th: Pet Supply Drive. Celebrate summer by donating supplies to the Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter. Starting on June 1st, the library will accept donations of Cat and Puppy food & treats and other requested items on behalf of the the largest-volume shelter in Montana, which takes in over 5,000 animals per year. (For a complete list, stop by the library.)
June 23rd: Pet Journaling with Danell Jones (3:00 pm, Online) Join local author and writing instructor Danell Jones for a Zoom journaling workshop that focuses on your life with your pets! Registration is required; please call 406-657-8290 to sign up.
June 26th: Read Along with the Billings Bookmarks! We're taking our Summer Reading theme onto our online book group page for read alongs of The Underdogs: Children, Dogs, and the Power of Unconditional Love by Melissa Fay Greene. The author will be joining us for a Zoom talk on July 22nd! Find the group page on Facebook and join us!
July 12th: Birdfeeding Basics (4:00 pm, Online). Creating a refuge in your own backyard will improve the lives of birds and other wildlife and it is a fun and rewarding activity for your family, too. Join Kathy Haigh, Master Naturalist and Certified Bird Feeding Specialist, to learn about the four elements in creating a backyard refuge for birds and other wildlife. Call 657-8290 or email us at refdesk@billingsmt.gov to register and receive the link for this Zoom class.
Take and Make Craft
July 1st (2nd Floor Help Desk). Grab one of our Tails and Tales Take & Make kits for adults while supplies last. Humphrey the Hedgehog is looking forward to meeting you! The trick is that you have to make him first using an old book and your mad paperfolding skills. Complete instructions and materials are provided.
Contests and Challenges
June 1st - July 18th: Tails and Tales BINGO! Fill out our Summer Reading BINGO card by selecting from our list of program long challenges. If you complete a row, you will be entered to win a special prize at the end of the program.
June 21st - 27th: Pet Tales Photo Contest: You love to share your pet photos and we love to see them, that’s why we are giving you another chance to share. We’re doing a special Tails & Tales pet photo contest for Summer Reading! To join you will need to register for our Summer Reading program, send us a photo of your pet and a story you would like to share about them (only a couple of sentences needed). Photos and stories can be sent through Facebook Messenger or to refdesk@billingsmt.gov..
July 5th - July 11th: Bird Neighbors: Our final challenge for 2021's Adult Summer Reading program is for the birds! Do some birdwatching around your neighborhood. What kinds of feathered friends live near you? Take a photo of the prettiest bird that you find, and submit it to us to earn points and the Bird Neighbors badge!
*All Contest and Challenge entries are eligible to earn extra points and badges during the Adult Summer Reading program. The points earned may be spent on raffle tickets for our Grand Prize drawings in July!
Raffle Prizes
As you earn points by logging books, completing challenges and participating in contests, you can spend them on raffle tickets which you can use to enter drawings for our end-of-program Grand Prize baskets!
- Dog Lovers Gift Basket - Carefully curated delights for both you and your canine friends.
- Cat Lovers Gift Basket - Carefully curated delights for both you and your feline friends.
- Bird Lovers Gift Basket - Carefully curated delights for the best backyard birdfeeding experience.
- Pet Grooming Certificate - A $75 Gift Card from Petlantis to treat your best fur baby.
- U of M Griz Fan's Survival Pack - All the the essentials to get any fanatic through the season.
- MSU Bobcat Fan's Survival Pack - All the the essentials to get any fanatic through the season.
- Diamond Art for the Beginner - Everything a first-time needs to get into the Diamond Art Craft.
- Advanced Diamond Art - Everything a diamond art addict needs to continue the habit.
- Handspinner's Delight - Sampler basket tucked full of the most delightful fibers with which to spin, felt, or craft.
- Journaling Basket - A selection of stationary, writing supplies, and guides to start you on your journaling journey.
The Great Billings Book Hunt
Challenge yourself in the Great Billings Book Hunt! Monthly activities encourage you to search for titles outside your comfort zone. Log your books and complete our challenges, and you might even win a prize.
July 1st - 31st: Food, Fact & Fiction. Nutritional literacy is BPL's yearly theme in 2021, and we think it's time to take a closer look at food. This could be a fictional work centered on a particular dish or special meal. Or if your taste runs to non-fiction, look for books on farming, nutrition through the ages, or how we eat today. Then let us know what you thought to earn a badge and be entered into our drawing for Quarter 3.
This challenge ends on July 31st. The Great Billings Book Hunt will continue with new challenges all year, and you can sign up anytime.