The end of the school year is typically a time marked by graduations and new beginnings; promises of a better future than what came before. While this year feels starkly different than any we’ve previously encountered, there are some things that, thankfully, remain the same. At the core of the library is the belief that there is power in stories – the stories on our shelves and the stories we create for ourselves. For the next two months, we invite you to Imagine Your Story by taking part in our summer reading programs for all ages, kids, teens and adults.
There is power in imagination, words and in actions. This year’s summer reading challenges include a wide variety of actions to accompany your book selections, including transcribing a document for the Library of Congress or the Smithsonian (teens); making a new recipe (all ages); reading to someone (adults), and more. Children and adults have the option to track progress entirely online through Beanstack or print a copy of the reading logs and work through them with an old fashioned pen-and-paper approach.
To imagine your story is to imagine better days for all of us. In an interview with Krista Tippett, host of the radio show and podcast “On Being,” author Ocean Vuong says, “We often tell our students, ‘The future’s in your hands.’ But, I think the future is actually in your mouth. You have to articulate the world you want to live in first.” Thousands of people across the country and the world are using their voices to articulate the world in which they wish to live. The act of using our voices and our imagination appear to be the strongest tools we have for change. This year, it feels as though we are mostly all newly minted graduates. We hope that whatever age you are, you’ll share with us the stories you imagine for yourself.
Photo by Suad Kamardeen on Unsplash