Summer Reading Program

Recreate your favorite book cover using: 

• Yourself 
• Common household objects 
• Drawing tools
• Mixed media 

Check out the Getty’s Household Artworks for inspiration! 

Sharing your redesign on social media? Help us find your work with the hashtag #AustinPublicLibrary 

PLAY QUEST
Build a fort out of furniture, sheets, blankets, pillows. You can play, read, nap, or snuggle inside your fort! 

Welcome to the Choose Your Own Adventure Quest. Pick your favorite, or if you prefer, do them all!

Quest 1: Afternoon Adventure
On a bright and sunny afternoon, you and your summer camp group decide to take a hike in the nearby forest. There is a clear path lined with white stones, but your counselor knows a secret way up the hills and they take you up a winding dirt trail. The underbrush is thick and pulls at your socks as you follow as fast as your feet will carry you. As you rush along the path, your foot snags on an exposed tree root, causing you to stumble and fall. The next thing you know, you're alone in the woods, your group long gone. Do you...

Quest 2: In the Realm of the Monkey King
You and a few friends are taking a hike in the forest around Black Wind Mountain. After lots of tripping over rocks, you all take a break to find walking sticks. Everyone finds one that works, but your friend finds a really cool one with patterns that almost look like carvings. You continue on your hike, having a great time, until you come upon. . .

Quest 3: A Visit to Baba Yaga
On a cold spring morning, your stepmother shakes you awake. “We need candles,” she shouts gruffly as you sit bolt upright. “Go to Baba Yaga’s house and ask for light, but be back before dark!” She hurries off to get breakfast ready. You rub the sleep out of your eyes and grab a coat.

Quest 4: Working at the Haunted Mansion
You love your job working weekends and after school at The Shunned House Haunted Mansion, but tonight has not been your favorite. It’s been threatening to storm all day, and… OK, there it goes. Vicious streaks of lightning flash right outside your station in the Phosphorescent Fungi Basement, illuminating the creepy interior through narrow, smudged windows

Let's discover the beauty and meaning of life with internationally recognized artist, author and illustrator Misha Maynerick Blaise. Complete coloring pages selected from her best-selling book, This Phenomenal Life. Expand the fun by turning them into different crafts, bookmarks, postcards, gift bags, gift boxes...you name it. Color the infinite universe within you, unfold your imagination, and fill your summer with creativity and lots of fun!

WRITE QUEST

Have your child draw with different kinds of materials like crayons, markers, pencils, pens, chalk. Ask them to describe their drawing, then write what they say underneath the drawing. This conveys the message that written words have meaning and drawing helps build up fine motor skills needed for writing. Display it so your child can feel proud of their creation, as well as to encourage talking about it later.  

Gather your art supplies, junk drawer items, recycling bin contents, and donation pile. Behold the supplies for your fairy art masterpiece. Your quest is to let go of the idea of making something “good,” beautiful, useful, or meaningful. Channel your inner playful fairy, silence your inner critic, and don’t stop till it’s finished! 

Sharing your creation on social media? Help us find your work with the hashtag #AustinPublicLibrary 

Welcome to the Families Write Together Quest. Pick your favorite, or if you prefer, complete them all! 

Quest 1: Write and Illustrate a Favorite Memory or Tradition

• Choose the Story: Look through old photos and letters together or interview other family members to gather ideas and inspiration for your writing.
• Work Together: Give everyone a job in the process of writing down your story or take turns to make it fun!
• Have Fun: Your story can be as long or short as you want or in any language you choose just be creative. If you need some inspiration check out this site for more suggestions: https://writeshop.com/writing-family-stories/

Quest 2: Write and Illustrate a Family Newspaper!

• Choose the Story: Decide on which important stories, updates, and new to include in your newspaper. Interview family and friends to gather ideas and inspiration for your writing.
• Work Together: Give everyone a job in the process of creating your newspaper.
• Have Fun: Be creative and have fun creating your newspaper. Send it out to family and friends when it’s hot off the press!
• Need inspiration? Use your library card to check out digital newspapers from our website.

Quest 3: Write and Illustrate a Family Recipe!

• Choose the Recipe: Decide on which recipe is the one you want to write down. This can be one that was passed down from other family or your family’s favorite recipe.
• Work Together: Give everyone a job in the process of cooking, writing, illustrating, and taste testing your recipe.
• Have Fun: Take a picture of the family enjoying the recipe to remember this special memory.

Create a scene or a story using a combination of books and yourself. Your books can become wings, fairy houses, dense forest, armor, or anything else you can imagine.  

We'd love to see your creation on social media! Help us find your work with the hashtag #AustinPublicLibrary. 

Share your favorite song from Electric Lady Bird. Featuring Central Texas musicians, enjoy listening local with this free music streaming service curated by the Austin Public Library.

Help us find your recommendation with the hashtag #AustinPublicLibrary

Welcome to The Little Maverick Graphic Novel List Quest. Pick your favorite, or if you prefer complete them all!

The Little Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List is a recommended reading list designed for children in grades K-5.

Quest 1: Read a Graphic Novel
Many of the titles from the 2020 list are available in our virtual collection! Check out one (or more) to read!

Quest 2: Recommend a Comic Book to a Friend
Share a review of your book in writing, in person or on social media. Include a picture of your favorite character!

Quest 3: Read Rocket to the Moon
Read this true story about the people and technology that made the moon landing possible. Then build your own rocket!

Quest 4: You have a lot to say!
You have a lot to say! Make your own word or thought bubble, take a picture, and share with your friends!

Quest 5: Learn to Draw a Comic Book Character
Drawing comics are fun! Lots of illustrators have online guides, here are some of our favorites:

• Baby Mouse & Squish
• Black Panther
• Dog Man
• Miles Morales
• Owly
• Phoebe and her Unicorn
• Wonder Woman

Is your next amazing read ready and waiting for you? Try your luck with cloudLibrary's Lucky Day collection. Lucky Day items are high-demand eBooks and audiobooks available for immediate checkout, with no holds, no renewals, and a 10-day loan period.  

Sharing your good luck on social media? Help us find you with the hashtag #AustinPublicLibrary 

PLAY QUEST

What can you come up with? An egg carton to sort objects by color or shape, like buttons or bottle caps? An oatmeal carton drum? A toilet paper roll maraca? 

TALK CHALLENGE

Tell each other a story. make it up! or write random words on bits of paper, mix them up, draw one at a time, and make up a silly story.  

How you imagine the story is unique. Draw, paint, or recreate your favorite book moment however you want!

Wow. So book. Much story. Make your best viral-worthy book meme and share it!

Tell the story your way! Turn that book you read, that news story you heard about, or that new fact you learned into a personalized zine.

Welcome to the Master Builder Quest. Pick your favorite to build, or if you prefer, complete them all!

This Stay-At-Home-Summer we challenge you to build your dreams! Use LEGO, other materials around your house, even things from nature, to build each of our Master Builder Quests!

Quest 1: Mirror on the Wall
Make a picture frame for a favorite drawing or painting. Have you made some amazing art recently? It’s time to frame it and open your own home gallery. A picture frame has a fun border and a flat back to hold your masterpiece in place. Read along with this Master Builder Quest here.

Quest 2: You can Fly
Invent a flying machine that can travel through any space, and tell us where you would go in it. Jupiter? Bermuda? To the center of the Earth?  Need inspiration? Here’s a cool virtual tour of Frontiers of Flight, an aviation museum in Dallas.   

Quest 3: The Troll Bridge
 “Who goes trip-trapping over my bridge?!?,” shouted the troll. Build a bridge for The Three Billy Goats Gruff to cross.  *Hint* it doesn’t have to be out of legos! 

Quest 4: You be the Architect
Build your perfect home with materials around your house.That may be popsicle sticks, or things from nature, or even LEGO. Is it a castle? A small hut on the beach? Or a huge mansion full of mysteries?   

Quest 5: Time to Travel
Create a machine that can travel through time. When will you go? The future? Age of dinosaurs? To the day you graduate from college? 

Quest 6: Labrynth 
The Minotaur awaits you at the center, how will you defeat him? Build a maze that challenges your skills and takes us into the heart of mythology. 

Quest 7: Tallest Tower
Build the tallest tower you can, and make sure to use all of your favorite colors.Tell us, who lives in your tower?

SING QUEST

Narrate your day in song? Pick a specific moment like bathtime, a diaper change, or getting dressed. Here are two songs to get you started: 

Welcome to the Nerdy for Nature Quest. Pick your favorite challenge, or if you prefer, complete them all!

Quest 1: Outside Scavenger Hunt
Enjoy a walk around your neighborhood as you search for 17 different items. 

Quest 2: Sounds Around
Sounds are all around us! Make-your-own animal ears craft and then find a safe and comfortable outdoor space. Sit down, close your eyes and listen for several minutes. What sounds do you identify? What is your favorite sound? Which one is the loudest? Which one is the softest? Can you point in the direction each sound is coming from? Cool Fact: Having ears on each sides of our head enables us (and other animals) to find the location a sound comes from. Now, wear your animal ears to check how a fox hears. How do sounds change? Foxes have large ears for picking up sounds. (credit: Project Learning tree)

• Listen to some owl calls. Which owls do you think live around your neighborhood?
• Make this this cool mask and listen carefully to the sounds around you!

Quest 3: Poet-tree
Get ready with paper and a pen, go outside and choose a special tree, insect, spider or anything that attracts your attention to observe. Take time to observe it from different perspectives (in front, behind, around..) Write down your ideas, thoughts and feelings. Remember to use your senses (touch, smell, sight and sound) to have more words to describe what you observed. Write your own poetry by choosing a Poetic Form (Windspark, acrostic, Haiku, Cinquain, shape or free verse, etc) from the link below. Create an illustration for your poem or poems. Another idea: Imagine a world without sun, trees or insects and write a poem describing that world or how would you feel. Credit: Project Learning Tree

Quest 4: Landscape Drawing in 5 easy steps
Need an art break? Ambray our Art Smart expert has put together a short tutorial on how to draw a landscape. See her example below.

1. Draw horizon line: where earth meets sky.
   
2. Draw background: furthest from you.
   
3. Draw middle ground.
   
4. Draw foreground: things here are largest.
   
5. Shading: Background-lightest/ middle ground or mid-ground- medium dark/ foreground-dark
   

Brighten up your day with colorful mini piñatas. Upcycle cardboard containers, old newspapers or magazines, tissue paper, crepe streamers, or any colorful paper. Then all you need are glue, scissors, tape, and string to create and decorate. With these tiny shapes, your imagination is the limit.

Sharing your creation on social media? Help us find your work with the hashtag #AustinPublicLibrary. 

PLAY QUEST

Play pretend! Act out a favorite book or story: This activity will help your child practice narrative skills! (Use silly voices and props for bonus points!)  

You've got a time machine on your shelf. Grab a book that turns the clock to an entirely different time period.

Step into the Restricted Section! Pick up a book that's been on a Challenged or Banned Books list.

New perspectives are waiting for you to discover them! Open a book about a culture that's new to you and see what you learn.

Print out our traditional summer reading log! For every 20 minutes you read, color in a jewel to collect it. Color and complete each reading challenge to move farther in the maze. Or, if you prefer, list your books on the back.

Download Reading Log - English
Download Reading Log - Spanish

TALK QUEST

Practice words that rhyme. Think of a word, and ask your child to think of words that rhyme. Like fish rhymes with dish. Give them time to think! 

Just finished a book and have no one to talk about it with? Recommend it to a friend and spread the word!

When those reading sessions go extra-long, what do you snack on to keep you going? Snap a pic with you, your book and your reading snack of choice!

Welcome to the Share the Joy Quest. Pick your favorite challenge, or if you prefer, complete them all! As a Swedish proverb says, "shared joy is double joy," so share your joy and raise everyone's spirits.

Quest 1: Sidewalk Chalk
Chalk an inspirational message or drawing on the sidewalk of a neighbor! Need some ideas? Grab a quote from "Say It With Style" in BiblioBoard. Be sure to snap a photo and post it on twitter, Facebook, and Instagram #AustinPublicLibrary to share your joy even more!

Quest 2: Share a Rainbow
Paint or draw a picture of a rainbow to put in your window at home, so that neighbors passing by can see it.

Quest 3: Write a Postcard
Send a message in a letter or postcard along with a drawing to a relative, friend, nursing home (did you know that you could “adopt” a nursing home), or healthcare provider. Or drop a note in a neighbor’s mailbox. Leave a note of appreciation on your mailbox for your postal worker!

Quest 4: Kindness Rocks
Make a kindness rock, because Kindness Rocks...in more ways than one! When you are out and about taking a walk at a distance or exploring nature, collect rocks and then paint them with a positive message. After that, find a good, safe spot to leave them for others to see and to add a little brightness to their day. Smooth ones with non-shiny surfaces work best. All sizes can work, but think about your image or message when you choose. 

SING QUEST

Singing helps children understand the sounds that make up a word because we slow down and elongate the word’s componant parts. Good books for this challenge are ones with rhyme. Find some great rhyming, singable books available through the virtual library listed below!

• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
• Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes
• I Got the Rhythm
• Dancing Feet!
• There's a Hole in the Log on the Bottom of the Lake

READ QUEST

Many authors are reading their books for you on their social media pages! We listed some favorites that we found below.

• Yuyi Morales reading many of her amazing books
• Oge Mora reading her delightful book Saturday
• Pete the Cat and his author James Dean
• Ame Dyckman reading her You Don’t Want a Unicorn
• Oliver Jeffers and some of his friends
• Eva Chen reading Juno Valentine and the Magical Shoes

Complete one segment of a Mango Languages course through the Virtual Library. 

Say hello using your new language skills on social media. Help us find you with the hashtag #AustinPublicLibrary 

Create a mini-journal from the pages of a damaged book, extra paper, needle and thread!  

Sharing your creation on social media? Help us find your work with the hashtag #AustinPublicLibrary 

They say the book is better than the movie. Let’s test that theory. Watch the film version of your favorite book and see how it measures up!

TALK QUEST

Have your kiddo assist with a task and talk about all of the steps. Talking through your day builds literacy because you use ordinal words like "first," "second," and "next." By doing this you teach them the skills they need to know such as the order in which things happen (like how to sort and fold laundry!)  And it builds vocabulary! 

Write a haiku using one of these themes: my window, on a quest, or July. 

Haiku [pronounced: high-koo], is a Japanese verse form, most often composed in English of 17 syllables or less in three unrhymed lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. A haiku traditionally contains a kigo, a defined word or phrase that symbolizes or implies the season of the poem. 

Sharing your poem? Help us find your work with the hashtag #AustinPublicLibrary