Readers hop aboard BHML's summer challenge

Wed, 06/24/2026 - 11:24am

ISABELLE CURTIS

An outfit is never complete without some accessories! Kids craft their own bedazzled pirate hats June 23 during Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library's summer reading event. ISABELLE CURTIS/Boothbay Register

Each participant got a passport photo taken to put in their booklet. ISABELLE CURTIS/Boothbay Register

ISABELLE CURTIS/Boothbay Register

Each participant got a passport photo taken to put in their booklet. ISABELLE CURTIS/Boothbay Register

ISABELLE CURTIS/Boothbay Register

Dreary conditions forced activities indoors, but Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library (BHML) enjoyed another successful kickoff to its summer reading challenge on June 23.

This year's theme was "Unearth a Story." Each child received a handout that lets them embrace their inner archaeologist or paleontologist with a time reading section where they can color in layers of the Earth's crust for every 15 minutes they spend reading, book challenges that encourage them to pick out different topics or genres, and design activities, such as drawing an ancient coin or original dinosaur. Raffle tickets to earn prizes are available as children progress through the challenge.

In coordination with Windjammer Days, BHML also offered a variety of pirate-related activities, including a (temporary) tattoo parlor, face painting and a pirate-hat making station. Creating scallywag swag out of old newspapers, stickers and stick-on gemstones was by far the most popular.

According to BHML Executive Director Joanna Breen, 50 children signed up for the program.