LEWISTON — Longer, hotter days aren’t the only signs that summer is officially here. With the launch of  Lewiston Public Library’s 2025 summer reading program ‘Read, Make, Explore’ on June 23, it seems like we’ve officially settled into the season.

The annual program encourages community members of all ages to read books while making and exploring new things, especially in the surrounding area.

To participate, adults, teens and children — with or without a library card — are encouraged to fill out a bookmark with five instances when they have been reading, making something or exploring.

Once it’s completed, adults can return the bookmark to be entered into prize drawings at the end of the summer to win various gift cards, tote bags and water bottles. Kids and teens can return the bookmark and receive a new free book of their choice. Teens’ and children’s bookmarks will also enter them into an end-of-summer prize drawing.

“The more you read and the more you turn in the bookmarks, the better chance you have of winning a prize,” said Sara Turner, deputy director of the library.

The library also carries a wide variety of new books for kids to pick once they’ve completed a bookmark. 

“I very much think it’s important for kids to have their own self-selected book collection in their home as much as possible,” she said.

There is no limit to how many bookmarks participants can turn in. “We’ve had kids turn in like 20 bookmarks because they’re just participating in the whole summer,” Turner said. “We highly encourage that.”

In the past, the library has utilized a more complex summer reading system that required tracking how long people were reading and included a randomized process for winning a prize. However, once Turner began at the library, she revamped the program to make participation more simple. 

Turner helped the library rebrand its summer reading program a couple of years ago, breaking away from the nationwide Collaborative Summer Library Program. She wanted to tailor the program to Lewiston. 

“I really wanted to focus summer reading on ‘What is summer in Lewiston?’ ‘What do kids care about doing in the summer here?” she said.

Library programming centered around the theme will also occur all summer. Programs for adults include a beginner yoga series, a monthly crafting day and a puzzle swap.

Kids and teens can participate in video game afternoons, crafting, and a magic show among other events on the library’s calendar. 

“It really isn’t about trying to read so that you can get a prize,” Turner said. “But it’s just encouragement and excitement. It keeps them engaged. I think that that is important.” 

The program runs from June 23 to Aug. 23.