City Of Fort Worth: Readers Go Wild Over Tails & Tales Summer Reading Challenge

Press release from City of Fort Worth:

September 09, 2021

Fort Worth’s readers packed nearly 40 months’ worth of reading time into the three-month Mayor’s Summer Reading Challenge.

The amount of time represents 173 weeks, more than 1,216 days, nearly 29,200 hours and more than 1.75 million minutes. Put simply, that’s a lot of time spent with books. One of the goals of the annual challenge is to foster a love of reading, or help rekindle a love of reading for adults. Readers went wild for the challenge, which carried the theme “Tails & Tales,” with a focus on animal-related stories.

The 2021 challenge saw a return to limited in-person activities at Fort Worth Public Library locations. Combined with the online reading challenges, more than 8,329 activities were completed. There were 5,620 people who signed up through the Beanstack app to participate, and 1,313 (23%) of those were adults. Most children’s activities were virtual or in-person but conducted outdoors.

The adult programs linked to the reading challenge with the most participation included the return of in-person concerts: 3rd Thursday Jazz and Cliburn in the Community. Tuesday Night Trivia, Business Equity Week  and Your Better Yard programs were among the most popular virtual offerings.

The top five adult book checkouts were:

Young Adult readers chose these five titles the most often:

Children, who comprise the majority of registered summer readers, loved these titles:

Look for exciting events coming up this fall at the library, including thousands of new programs, including the return of in-person story times at all library locations and special events and programs for teens and adults. Notably, an in-person visit with renowned mystery author Charlaine Harris is set for Saturday, Oct. 2, at the Central Library; a 25th-anniversary celebration at the East Regional Library is also set for Oct. 2; a special exhibit highlighting the work of Maurice Sendak, the author of “Where the Wild Things Are,” is coming in November.

Find information on these exciting activities and many others. 

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This press release was produced by City of Fort Worth. The views expressed here are the author’s own.