ACDS Library - Summer Ideas Blog

Second Lady's 2026 Summer Reading Challenge

6/1/2026

All participants will receive a digital certificate, a personalized letter, and an America-250th themed bookmark, plus a chance to win a trip to the Nation’s Capital and the White House on September 25th, 2026. Additionally, this year, we will have more prizes for participants. Each reader will be able to choose one prize from the prize website.
After submitting, keep an eye on your inbox for a special email with more details!

Click here to find out more.

Washington Nationals All Star Readers

6/17/2025

The Washington Nationals are proud to partner with library systems across the D.C. metro area to bring the joys of reading to as many people as possible! Fans who complete their local library’s summer reading program are eligible to select up to two (2) complimentary Upper Gallery tickets for a 2025 regular season game at Nationals Park.

Click here to find out more.

Celebrate National Ocean Month - June 2025

6/16/2025

Five ways to celebrate world ocean month

New York Times Summer Reading Contest 2023

5/25/2023

What got your attention in The Times this week?

Every Friday, Starting on June 9th, The New York Times ask participants to choose something in The Times that has piqued their interest, and then write a short response. At the end of the week, judges from the Times newsroom and The Learning Network pick their favorite responses and publish them. It’s that simple. Find out more about the contest here

Nationals summer reading program 2022

6/7/2022

This season, the Nationals launch Summer Reading Sundays, which occur prior to select home games and feature Nationals first baseman Josh Bell and relief pitcher Sean Doolittle as Player Ambassadors.Summer Reading Sundays will take place prior to four home games this season. For more information, visit nationals.com/SummerReading.

KidsPost Summer Book Club 2020

5/27/2020

The Washington Post KidsPost is sponsoring a summer book club, and has selected eight books with the theme of keeping secrets. According to the Post:

If someone offers to share a secret, it’s hard to say no. It’s exciting to learn something other people don’t know. Once you know, however, you’ve got to decide what to do with that information. That decision can be complicated. This year’s Summer Book Club features eight books that include secrets — some are between friends, others involve neighbors or even characters from another world.

You can read about all of the books and the club here. I have not read any of these books yet, but I look forward to it! I'll keep you posted.

Second Summer Book Club review

6/19/2019

You can read my review of The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman here.

Happy summer reading!

First KidsPost Summer Book Club review

6/12/2019

In my last post, I mentioned the KidsPost Summer Book Club. You can read my review of the first book in their series, Ruby in the Sky by Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo here.

I hope you are enjoying whatever you are reading this summer!

Summer Reading Challenges 2019

6/6/2019

Summer is here and now you can read anything you want! What are your passions? What do you want to know more about? What book have you been meaning to read? What book did your best friend tell you you absolutely had to check out? You get to decide!

If so many options seems overwhelming, you can find a lot of good book recommendations here. Also, I wanted to highlight a couple of summer reading challenges in the area that might give you some ideas too.

First, I'm super excited about the Washington Post KidsPost challenge because the theme is "Make a Difference." The Post has selected eight books where kids step up to make a difference in the world. I am planning to read all of their choices. I will be blogging about them over at the ACDS Summer Blog. If you want, you can join the Summer Book Club and receive a slap watch. Sign up here.

Second, the Alexandria Library is running a summer book program called Summer Quest. If you keep track of your reading through their program you can earn a free book. Plus, each of the library branches has a lot of activities planned throughout the summer. You should check it out!

Summer Reading Challenges

6/15/2017

There are so many great books to read over the summer, but sometimes it's hard deciding which ones to pick. Here is a opportunity that might inspire you to try some different books.

The Washington Post Kidspost has a Summer Book Club. The theme is Unlikely Heroes. Each of the eight weeks of the club features a different book. You can read more about the books here. The Summer Book Club is open to kids ages 5 to 14. You may read some or all of the books on the list. The books are available at Hooray for Books! in Old Town. Most are also available at libraries, including the ACDS library. If you would like to check one out from ACDS, you can find them on the bookshelf behind the check out computer in the library. Mrs. Chhipa can check them out for you.

The Alexandria Library Summer Reading program is called Summer Quest. The theme is Libraries Rock! (Hard to argue with that!) Keep track of your reading, get reading recommendations, and win prizes.