Wednesday was the start of the Washington Wizards winter reading challenge, a free-to-join challenge that aims to encourage early readers, children and teens to build reading habits and connect with local libraries.
Montgomery County Public Libraries partnered with the D.C. basketball team to promote the challenge, which runs from Jan. 3 to March 20.
This is the second year the county has collaborated with the Wizards on the challenge. MCPL also partners with the Wizards on a book of the month club, with reading material selected by local librarians.
“We are thrilled to team up again with the Washington Wizards for the Winter Reading Challenge. The Wizards are an important institution in the DMV area and a big part of life for their many fans,” said Anita Vassallo, the Montgomery County Public Libraries (MCPL) director in a press release.
The challenge is targeted toward school-aged children and teens from three to 19 years old. Those who sign up and begin logging their reading minutes can earn badges such as the ‘Reading’ badge, the ‘Fitness Fun’ badge, the ‘Programs’ badge and the ‘Connect and Share’ badge.
Those who complete at least three out of four badges can earn prizes. The Wizards are providing the prizes, which may include backpacks, head and wristbands, pennants to color in, mini book lights and mini basketball hoops. Prizes are available while supplies last, according to county officials.
Those who register and complete the challenge will be placed in a raffle for a chance to win two tickets to the April 12 Wizards/Bulls game. The raffle winners are randomly drawn through READsquared, a reading tracker application MCPL uses for the challenge.
According to county officials, winners will be contacted on March 20 and the library system has been given 20 sets of game tickets, with two tickets per set.
Readers can log their activity online through READsquared and on a game board that is available in English and Spanish. The game board can be printed at home or is available for pick up at a local library.
“It is important to make reading enticing and attractive for children and to keep them reading through their teen years,” said Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) in the release. “A great way to promote life-long reading is to connect readers with books that capture their attention. I am pleased the Washington Wizards are working with our public libraries to make those connections.”