Packages upon packages have been arriving at the library almost daily in this busy month of May, delivering all kinds of delightful books! A few more are still on their way, but I wanted to show everyone just what the Read-a-Thon money did for the CHESS library. So I recruited a helper to give us some perspective, and behold, a tower of books!

I am so enormously grateful for support of our CHESS library during the Read-a-Thon, and so excited for this lovely stack of books that we've been able to add to our collection because of it. Now of course, this school year is almost over, but we're not going to have to wait until next year to enjoy our new additions, because our summer reading challenge is just a few weeks away! And as it happens, our tower of books is the perfect way to introduce our reading program. So...here's what you need to know:


1. We'll be kicking off the "Tower of Books Reading Challenge" on  Thursday, June 7 (times TBA). Rising Kindergartners through high school students (new and returning students) will be invited to participate.

2. Students will select their challenges, based on grade level, as well as the number of books they think they'll be able to read over the summer (for most grades, there are 20, 30, and 40 book options). We don't want our challenge to compete with the summer reading programs at local libraries, so we'll encourage students to use their challenges alongside those reading programs. Ours will simply direct students to books from particular genres and categories.

3. Students can read books in whatever order they wish, and as they finish books, they will begin to build their towers! And if they find themselves going faster or slower than they had anticipated, they can always switch challenges. We want this to be an enjoyable and successful experience for everyone.

4. Throughout the summer, we'll be offering a number of events that will allow CHESS students to visit our library, but also to fellowship with friends! We'll be announcing these dates in the next couple of weeks.

5. At Back-to-School Night, students will turn in their completed book towers and will receive a prize!


Questions? Email Mrs. Meester at library@chesschristian.com, or better yet, stop by the library and see what the challenges and the book towers actually look like. I'll be more than happy to talk to anyone and everyone about it! I'm excited about this fun opportunity for CHESS students to read, learn, and stay connected over the summer, and can hardly wait for June!

-Mrs. Meester