Do the whole challenge online with the Beanstack app (downloaded from your app store) or via your web browser.

OR

Download and print the Bingo sheet, Reading Record, and Puzzles or pick one up at your branch.

1. Complete your BINGO squares, lines, and even your whole card!  Did you read something that qualifies for more than one square?  Mark it down for each one it applies to!  (Audiobooks always count as reading.  Feel free to adapt challenges to be more accessible or more fun for you!)
2. Make sure you check out our the bonus activity sheets in your Reading Record Package for more summer fun.
3. Draw slips and prizes work like this:
   • Find downloadable draw slips below. Participants can visit their branch to fill out them out.
   • Each BINGO square = one draw slip
   • Each BINGO line = a bonus draw slip
   • Each Puzzle sheet = a bonus draw slip
   • Each completed whole BINGO card = an entry for a system wide prize of your choosing

1. Read a book with a nautical setting
   • Find books with nautical settings in the catalogue.
2. Read about a sea creature 
   • Check out these books about sea creatures.
3. Watch a series, movie or documentary with a sea theme or sea themed title 
   • Look at this list in Kanopy, the library’s free video streaming service, for suggestions.
4. Read a book with OR or OAR in the title. 
   • There are LOTS of books with “or” in the title; not so many with “oar”.
5. Convert 20 000 leagues to kilometres. 
   • If you need a reference book, try The Economist Desk Companion : How to Measure, Convert, Calculate and Define Practically Anything. Or try an online conversion tool.
6. Take some time and look at the sea 
   • The ocean is all around the VIRL service area!
7. Read a book about a sea-faring Indigenous nation. 
   • How about a book by a Coast Salish author, for example? Or maybe a Maori author? 
8. Read a blue book. 
   • This is a browsing challenge. Visit your local branch and scour the shelves for blue books!
9. Sing along to a sea shanty or enjoy some nautical music
   
   • Check out a CD by Stan Rogers or a library book about sea shanties.
   • Browse the library’s free music streaming service, Freegal, for albums like “Under the Southern Cross (New Zealand Sea Shanties)” by The Maritime Crew.
   • Have a look at Naxos Music Library World (a free streaming service with your library card), and do a keyword search for “sea shanties” to listen to traditional, authentic recordings of sea songs, including those from Smithsonian Folkways.
   • If your tastes are more modern, read this online article for suggestions of “the best sailing songs” and then find those songs in Freegal.
10. Enjoy a piece or two from a volume of our own literary magazine, Sea & Cedar
    • Borrow one of the volumes from the library. To find out more about Sea & Cedar and submit your own art or writing, visit our website.
11. Read a book with a boat, kayak, ship, canoe, or other water vessel in it: 
    • Search the catalogue using a search term of your choice, or try the following links:
      • Boat
      • Canoe
      • Kayak
      • Ship
12. Eat a dish made with something from the sea:
    • Try searching “seafood” in the catalogue to find seafood recipe books. Or, try a recipe inspired by Vancouver Island. 
13. Check out a library book
    • Visit our online catalogue to put a book on hold or pick up a book at your local branch!
14. Read a graphic novel featuring water. 
    • Find a book on this booklist! Or, browse the graphic novel collections at your local branch.
15. Read a book about something unknown or poorly understood:
    • Look through this list to find inspiration or search the catalogue for a topic you find interesting!
16. Identify something you find at the beach, like a seaweed, sea shell, or critter. 
    • Check out field guides for BC wildlife on Know BC. Or, consult a book about shells and beachcombing or book about seaweed.
17. Read a book that features an island.
    
    • Try one of these books about islands, including Island by Johanna Skibsrud.
      
18. Read a book that grapples with climate change. 
    • Try a climate fiction book, or a non-fiction book about climate change if that’s more your speed.
19. Learn how to speak some pirate on Mango Languages. 
    • Check out our free language learning app, Mango Languages, and how to speak like a pirate (arr matey!).
20. Read on a beach, on a water vessel, or in the tub. 
    • Without damaging the book! 
21. Listen to an episode of Meet Me in the Stacks podcast that is sea-themed in some way. 
    • Browse the episodes of Meet Me in the Stacks and check out episode 7, “Beach Reads and Tips for Reading More”; Episode 39 -“Murder in Echo Bay with Yvonne Maximchuk,” Episode 40 – “Beach Listening: Sea & Sea-darr Storytime,” or Episode 41 – “All Things Seaweed.”
22. Read a book featuring a shipwreck or scuba diver.
    • Try fiction about shipwrecks, like The Salvage by Anbara Salam, a spooky wintery novel about a marine archaeologist set in the 1960s on a Scottish island. Or, non-fiction about shipwrecks, like A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks by David Gibbins, a marine archaeologist himself who writes about the glittering Bronze Age through the era of the Vikings and the exploration of the Arctic. Or, if scuba diving is more your thing, check out these fiction and these non-fiction titles.
23. Read a book with water on the cover.
    • There are lots of choose from: drop into your library and browse the displays! If you need a few suggestions, try:
      • Palm Meridian by Grace Flahive, a rollicking, big-hearted story of love, friendship and a life well-lived, set at a Florida retirement resort for queer women
      • Carley Fortune’s romance books are mostly set in Ontario lake country and all feature water on the cover
      • Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao, a captivating and romantic fantasy novel about a woman in Japan who inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets.
24. If you were stranded on a desert island with only one book. Which book would it be? Read that book!
    • Would you pick a classic like Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, or a huge fantasy book like The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon? Or perhaps something more practical, like non-fiction books on how to survive in the wilderness?
25. Read a book with OCEAN, MARINE, or SEA in the title.
    • Books with “sea” in the title, like Vampires at Sea by Lindsay Merbaum, a horror-comedy featuring a pair of chic emotional vampires from San Francisco who set off on a cruise ship
    • Books with “marine” in the title, like Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest by Andy Lamb, a photographic encyclopedia of invertebrates, seaweed, and fish — available using your library card or online through KnowBC
    • Books with “ocean” in the title, like The Painted Ocean by Gabriel Packard, an utterly compelling depiction of a British Indian childhood and exploration of the human condition

• Bingo sheet, Reading Record, and Puzzles
  • PDF format
• Draw slips
  • PDF format of BINGO square draw slips
  • PDF format of BINGO line draw slips
• Poster to put up in your community
  • PDF format

Complete your Bingo card for a chance at a system-wide grand prize! These include a Kobo, Beats earbuds, a Singer sewing machine, and a gift card for a book store of the winner’s choice!

Local branches may also provide prizes throughout the challenge, so be sure to check in with them to see what you might win!

Participants need to be over the age of 18 to join the Adult Summer Reading Challenge and live within the Vancouver Island Regional Library service area to be considered a winner. The winner(s) must also be able to pick up their prize at a local Vancouver Island Regional Library branch.

A skill-testing question will be required to pick up the prize.

Vancouver Island Regional Library employees and their immediate family members are not eligible to enter and win prizes. 

For any contestant who has not reached the age of majority, a parent or guardian’s consent is necessary to obtain the prize, should the minor win. Where appropriate, the terms “contestant” and “winner” mean parent or guardian of that person.

A random draw will be made by a VIRL representative from all qualifying entries. The winner(s) will be contacted using the contact information provided at the time of entry (e.g. telephone number, email address, or Facebook account).

The prize will be forfeited, and VIRL will select another winner if a selected contestant:
• cannot be reached or qualified using the information provided at the time of
entry, within five business days
• incorrectly answers the mathematical skill testing question (where applicable)
• declines the prize
• fails to return any required release form.

Winners will be required to pick up physical prizes at their local VIRL branch. Unless otherwise stated, for VIRL Contests or Giveaways where the winner is responsible for picking up the prize, the prize must be picked up within 15 days or it shall be forfeited. VIRL reserves the right to select another winner at its sole discretion.

To be declared a winner, in the case of a draw or giveaway, the selected contestant may first be asked to correctly answer a mathematical skill-testing question.

Winner(s) may also be required to sign a release declaring their eligibility as stipulated in these rules; and releasing VIRL, any sponsor or prize donor and their directors, officers, and employees (the “Contest Parties”) from all liability for any damage or loss arising from participation in the contest or from the awarding, acceptance or use of the
prize.

Prizes must be accepted as is and may not be exchanged or refunded for an amount of money, sold, or transferred. No substitutions will be allowed. Any unused portion of a prize will be forfeited.

If the prize cannot be awarded as described in these rules, VIRL reserves the right to substitute a prize or prize component with another of comparable value, at its sole discretion.

Refusal to accept the prize releases the Contest Parties from any obligation toward the winner.

If a contestant makes any false statement, (s)he will be automatically disqualified from the VIRL Contest or Giveaway.

By participating in any VIRL Contest, contestants agree to VIRL using their name, image or Instagram/Facebook handle for advertising purposes related to a VIRL Contest or Giveaway free of charge.

The Contest Parties assume no liability for any loss, damage, or injury, including without limitation: (i) lost, stolen, delayed, damaged, misdirected, late, destroyed, illegible, or incomplete entries; (ii) loss, theft or damage to software or computer or telephone data, including any breach of privacy; (iii) fraudulent calls; (iv) inability of any person to participate in the VIRL Contest or Giveaway for any reason including mistaken addresses on mail or email; technical, computer or telephone malfunctions or other problems with computer online systems, servers, access providers, computer equipment, or software; congestion on the internet or at any website, or any combination of the foregoing; (v) damage to any person’s computer, including as a result of playing or downloading any material relating to the VIRL Contest or Giveaway; (vi) any delay or inability to act resulting from an event or situation beyond their control, including a strike, lockout or other labour dispute at their location or the locations of the organizations and businesses whose services are used to administer the VIRL Contest; (vii) any injury, damage or loss arising from participation in the VIRL contest or from the awarding, acceptance, or use of any prize, or (viii) prizes that are lost, damaged, or misdirected during shipping.

VIRL reserves the right to cancel or suspend the VIRL Contest or Giveaway should a virus, bug, or other cause beyond their reasonable control corrupt the security or proper administration of the VIRL Contest or Giveaway.

Any attempt to deliberately damage any website or to undermine the legitimate operation of the VIRL Contest or Giveaway is a violation of criminal and civil laws. Should such an attempt be made, VIRL reserves the right to seek remedies and damages to the fullest extent permitted by law, including criminal prosecution.

All personal information, such as name and contact information, required to enter a VIRL Contest or Giveaway is collected by VIRL solely for the purposes of administering the VIRL Contest or Giveaway and shall not be used for any other purpose without your express consent. By providing this information, you consent to it being used for the stated purposes.

If the identity of a contestant is disputed, the authorized account holder of the email address, phone number or Instagram/Facebook handle submitted at the time of entry will be deemed to be the contestant. The individual assigned to the email address, phone number or Instagram/Facebook handle for the domain associated with the submitted email address, phone number or Instagram/Facebook handle is considered the authorized account holder. A selected contestant may be required to provide proof that (s)he is the authorized account older of the email address, phone number or Instagram/Facebook handle associated with the selected entry.

VIRL reserves the right to amend the Contest or Giveaway Rules or to terminate any VIRL Contest or Giveaway at any time without any liability to any contestant.

The decisions VIRL makes, with respect to any dispute or issue involving a VIRL Contest or Giveaway, are final and binding for all contestants.