Beanstack
Nope! Because the challenge is minute-based, we encourage you to spend time reading the things that get you excited to read. It could be a book, but it could also be fanficiton, a webcomic, listening to an audiobook, magazines, newspapers, or anything else you find that looks (or sounds) like fun.
MPL patrons are welcome to reserve items on the library’s website. There are also thousands of e-books available through our website. We encourage you to check out Hoopla, Overdrive & Tumblebooks.
Absolutely! You can register children 0-5 years for our Preschool Summer Reading Club because we know that reading to your child is a very important thing to do! Just track the minutes you spend reading to them.
That’s OK. You can read as much, or as little as you wish. You will still earn badges and tickets.
It’s never too late for reading! You can add new readers to your account at any time. You can register for the challenge right up until the last day!
If you participate in a self-directed activity (e.g. checking out the beehives or one of the Storywalks) you can follow the directions noted with the badge to send us an email. We will make sure you receive your secret code. When in doubt, please reach out to us via email at beanstack@beinspired.ca.
The Summer Reading Club is available in 100+ different languages. This feature is only available when accessing the program(s) on a desktop computer. Look for the “select language” button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
Some of the prizes will only allow you to put a certain amount of tickets towards them. However, there are lots of prizes with no maximums.
Sign in to Beanstack using a desktop computer. Click on the “ticket drawings” tab to view the prizes that are available. At the top of the page, it will tell you how many tickets you have to spend. You can decide which prize(s) you most want to win, and put your tickets towards those drawings.
Wow! Well done! We hope you will keep reading but you have earned the final tracking badge for this challenge. For our Summer Reading Club, you can earn more badges/tickets by completing some of the Activity Challenges and by participating in some of MPL’s summer programs.
Click on the plus (+) sign, and select “reading”. Select the reader (child) you want to track the reading for. You can scan the ISBN on the book or manually add the information. If you scan the ISBN, it will ask you to start the reading session or log past reading. Select the latter if you have already read all or some of the book. Answer the rest of the questions and click “finish”.
Select the reader (child) you want to track the reading for. Click on the “logging badges” tab. Select the first grey badge available. Record the time you spent reading, in minutes.
You must meet the required time to unlock each reading badge. For example, you must read 60 minutes before you unlock a reading badge in the Preschool Summer Reading Club and 120 minutes in the School Age Challenge.
All of the virtual badges will appear grey in colour until the participant has earned them. Once they are earned/unlocked, they will change colour.
There are no books available within the Beanstack app. Children & Teens are invited to read anything they wish, at any time, and simply track the time they spend reading.
Milton Public Library (MPL) plans to continue using Beanstack after the summer months, offering a variety of challenges year-round to all age groups. If there is more than one person in your house that may wish to participate in a reading challenge at some point in the future, we strongly encourage you to register as a family. If you register as an individual now, and someone else from your house tries to register down the road, they will have difficulty doing so, as Beanstack will note that a registered user has the same information (e.g. phone number, postal code, etc.)
