Read Across America: The Reading Challenge for Kids & Their Families

Posted on February 19, 2025 at 6:00 am

Read Across America

MARCH 1–31

Reading can take you anywhere!

Students in grades K–5 and their families are invited to Read Across America during March to explore new places they’d like to go and others they have already visited.

You can search our catalog, check out books from your library, and read about states and cities, national parks and landmarks, people and animals, and even food and treats from different regions around the U.S.

Stop by your local library for books and activities that celebrate stories from across America.

When you sign up on Beanstack (website and/or app) and track your reading, you earn badges for the books you read on your journey. Check with your teacher to see if schools in your school district are competing to find out which school can read the most books in March.

Reading Challenge Tips

One Book, Two Challenges

When you’re signed up for more than one challenge during the same time period, be sure to track your reading in both challenges.

For example, each time you read about a person, place, or thing for Read Across America, you can also log that book for the Game Quest Challenge.

Read with Friends & Family

If you love reading aloud to your friends and family or listening to someone else read to you, everyone can get credit for it. So, be sure to log shared reading time for the reader and all listeners.

Earn Badges with Digital Reads

You can skip a trip to the library and check out books online. With an in-district library card, you get access to eBooks, audiobooks, and read-along animated books.

Here are some of our favorite digital resources that you can access with a mobile device or home computer with an internet connection and your in-district library card:

• BookFlix (website) – animated fiction paired with nonfiction eBooks on the same topic, specifically for kids
• TumbleBook Library (website and app) – a collection of early reader chapter books, kids’ classics, graphic novels, and animated picture books with audio narration, specifically for kids
• OverDrive (website) and Libby (app) – audiobooks and eBooks for all ages, including kids
• hoopla (website and app) – audiobooks, eBooks, and comics for all ages, including kids
• AudioBookCloud (website) – streaming audiobooks for all ages, including kids

Digital reads can be fun and easy to access. We love them too.

But remember, we also enjoy seeing you in the library and helping you find awesome books. So be sure to say hello to library staff when you visit your library.

Tracking with the Timer

This tip is helpful for challenges where you earn badges for the number of minutes you read, such as Summer Reading.

The Beanstack app for mobile devices has a built-in timer. You simply start the timer and start reading. When you’re done reading, stop the timer and Beanstack will automatically log your minutes. That’s convenient.

Tags: Beanstack, books, challenge, family, kids, parents, reading