The Springfield-Greene County libraries host a summer reading program every year, and since my girls love to read and be read to, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to let them be rewarded for their time spent with their books.
In 2018 (maybe every year?) the program was called Libraries Rock! Each year I’m sure the dates change a little, but it seems that mid-May through the beginning of August is the general time for the summer reading program.
We heard about Libraries Rock! through one of our library story times and went home that day to register online (https://thelibrary.beanstack.com/reader365). However, a few weeks later, I learned that the kids could each get a “game board” to record their reading. I had been logging their reading online and it was a little tedious to log in every time and record the time we spent reading, especially if it was just for five or ten minutes. Plus, I think that it was more fun and beneficial for them to have the gameboards (and much easier for me to remember!) because they could color in the circles each time they read. It also gave them a little more ownership and pride in what they were doing since they could more easily see their progress. 
By the way, ANYONE can participate, even kids too young to read on their own. A parent reading to their children counts, too!
There are three different age groups for kids (tiny tots – birth to age four, kids – 4-12, teens – grades 6-12). We got two different game boards for the ages represented in our family. For babies, toddlers and early preschool (birth – 4 years), we got the Tiny Tots Game Board, which only required that the kids participate in eight activities, listed on the back. We also used the game board designed for the kids age group, which had lots of little circles in five-minute increments. Once all of the circles are colored in, your child would have read 600 minutes.
Before getting the game boards, one thing that I could not find any information about online was what constitutes an “activity.” The activity list is on the back of the game board, but the librarian said that we could count pretty much anything that was a learningexperience. The game board activities included things like reading a non-fiction book, attending a story time, designing a book cover, etc. It was fun as a parent to get more ideas to do with my kids.
Once we finished coloring in all of our circles and checking off our activities, we brought our game boards to the children’s section of any of the Springfield-Greene County libraries or the Mobil Library before the deadline (prizes won’t be given out after the deadline). The librarian was amazing, congratulating my girls and telling them about their prizes. They each got a Summer Reading Passport, with eight prizes including: one free virtual reality game at Andy B’s, one free small cone at Andy’s Custard, a six-piece nuggets at Chick-fil-A, a free medium Italian Ice at Fazoli’s, a free magnet and studio time at Firehouse Pottery, a free mini cookie at Mudhouse, a free crazy bread at Little Caesar’s and a free youth admission to any outdoor pool. Honestly, the girls would have been happy with a free custard at Andy’s, but the other treats were definitely a bonus! The prizes also included a fine waiver card (that can be used for their cards or for mine if they didn’t have cards). They were also allowed to each pick out one (free) book from the cart behind the desk to keep. There were good books to choose from and they had fun deciding which ones they liked. Oh yeah, and the last prize was a fine waiver card for you or your kids in case you have any fines from misplaced books! 
Once you finish the first part of the program, you can go on to read even more and have the chance to win bigger prizes. We opted to finish at that point, but as they get older and read more on their own, it would be fun to continue on.
What You Need to Know:
- Who: All ages (babies – adults)
- FREE
- When: May 18 – August 4 (2018)
- How to Register: You can register online or pick up a “game board” from any of the Springfield-Greene branch libraries
- Where to redeem prizes: Children’s Section desk at any library (including the Mobil Library)
- For more information: https://thelibrary.org/librariesrock/faq.pdf