KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs and the Knox County Library are encouraging everyone to Read Around the World twenty times in 2020.
The county has partnered with Read City USA for the challenge, which is meant to promote education, fun, and literacy in both kids and adults.
To participate, all you have to do is log your reading hours--- and listening to audiobooks or podcasts count, in one of three ways:
- Download the Beanstack Tracker App, set up an account through Knox County Library, and join the Read Around the World challenge.
- Pick up a Passport booklet (avail. January 13) at any Knox County Library and start logging.
- Keep it simple with the Boarding Pass bookmark. If you want to help our community, but don't want to earn prizes, this is the choice for you. Pick up a Boarding Pass at the Library and estimate your time spent reading.
Wait, did we mention the prizes?
For every 10 hours you read, you are eligible to receive a prize! You just have to go to the library to redeem your winnings!
Here's how the prize system will work:
- For every 10 hours logged, earn a travel sticker, a Read City stamp, and your name on our Flight Board! (Available January 13)
- At 30 hours, take a dive into the treasure chest
- At 60 hours, you've earned your wings--an airplane keychain
- At 120 hours, you've made it! You've earned your toy airplane (kids) or tote bag (teens/adults) (Available March 16)
- Frequent flyers who've logged 50 or more hours each quarter will be entered into a drawing for one of ten $50 Visa cards
Knox County is hoping to log 500,000 hours of reading. They say that breaks down to just 20 minutes a day per person.
To make it even more fun and educational, the library will highlight different regions around the world through book talks, story times, and other programs. You can check their calendar for the latest events.
There also suggested reading lists to go along with the featured regions. Click here and scroll down to find those.