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2023 Adult Summer Reading Program

Prendergast Library > 2023 Adult Summer Reading Program

How to Participate

Summer Reading Main Page

Printer-Friendly Bingo Sheets

Printer-Friendly Program Brochure

Participants can pick up a Summer Reading Bingo sheet at the Circulation Desk or Information Desk in the library starting June 24.

Finish a “Bingo row’ and get entered into a prize drawing. All participants who finish as least one “Bingo row” get a Prendergast Library tote bag to fill with book sale books.

Complete a whole bingo sheet and get entered into a special prize drawing!

Fun bingo activities:

  • Read outside.
  • Participate in a library program.
  • Try a new recipe.
  • Attend a community event.
  • Read a book by an NYS author.
  • Read a book by an author you haven’t heard of.
  • And lots more!

Want to Participate online?

  • Create an account on our summer reading website at READsquared or download the app from Apple or Google Play.
  • Check off your Bingo Sheet activities online starting June 24.

Prizes:

  • The winner of the completed bingo sheet drawing will receive a $50 gift card to Landmark Restaurant.
  • Halfway prize drawing: $25 gift card to the Labyrinth Press Company.

Special Programs & Events

Community Block Party & Summer Reading Kick-off

Saturday, June 24: 11:00-2:00

Join us to celebrate the start of Summer Reading at our annual Block Party! Enjoy food, games, crafting, music, prizes, and more.

Jamestown Public Market’s Mobile Market

Wednesdays, June 14-September 28: 11:30-12:30

The Mobile Market will be at the library every Wednesday from 11:30-12:30 with local fruit and veggies. All produce is priced below retail value, and SNAP is accepted.

All Ages Drumming with Infinity

Thursdays, July 6 – August 17: 11:00-12:00

Join us on the library’s front lawn for a drum circle. Drums and other percussion instruments will be provided. You are welcome to bring your drum. No experience is necessary.

Eco-Dyeing Class with Pearl City Clayhouse

Tuesday, July 18: 5:00-7:00

Learn how to create and utilize natural dyes for a beautiful product at this program led by Deb Eck. Registration Required. Registration opens June 16.

Fairy Garden Workshop

Saturday, August 19: 1:00-3:00

Build a magical garden. All materials are provided. Registration required. Registration opens June 16. Please call 716-484-7135 x 226.

Books & Brews @ Brazil

Wednesday, July 12 & August 9: 5:30

Books & Brews is a monthly book club that meets at Brazil (10 E. 4th St, Jamestown) on the second Wednesday of each month. Each month we’ll read a novel and then gather to talk about the book in a fun, casual atmosphere, with discussion led by the library staff.

July’s book: Circe by Madeline Miller

August’s book: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

Suggested Book List

Not sure what book to read next? Take a look at our suggested reading list!

A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp
A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp
Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy by Viktor E. Frankl
Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy by Viktor E. Frankl
Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova
Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
The Change by Kirsten Miller
The Change by Kirsten Miller
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia
The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia
The People We Keep by Allison Larkin
The People We Keep by Allison Larkin
The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love with Me by Keah Brown
The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love with Me by Keah Brown
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Wisdom from the World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember by Fred Rogers
Wisdom from the World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember by Fred Rogers
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life by Alice WOng
Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life by Alice WOng

Bingo Book Lists

  1. My Beloved World/Mi Mundo Adorado by Sonya Sotomayor
  2. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
  3. Storyteller by Davd Grohl
  4. The Answer Is… Reflections on My Life by Alex Trebek
  5. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
  6. The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo
  7. Wake Up With Purpose!: What I’ve Learned in My First Hundred Years by Sister Jean Delores Schmidt
  8. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
  9. The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women–and Women to Medicine by Janice P. Nimura
  10. Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life by Alice Wong
  1. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
  2. Naked by David Sedaris
  3. Dreaming in Cuban by Christina Garcia
  4. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
  5. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
  6. Native Son by Richard Wright
  7. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
  8. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
  9. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
  1. Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoag (ASD)
  2. Let’s Pretend This Never happened by Jenny Lawson (Depression)
  3. Fledgling by Octavia Butler (Dyslexia)
  4. Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune (ADHD)
  5. True Biz by Sara Novic (Deaf)
  6. Hild by Nicola Griffith (MS)
  7. Get a Life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (Autism/Fibromyalgia)
  8. Sister by A. Manette Ansay (Wheelchair Bound)
  9. The Grass Harp by Truman Capote (Epilepsy)
  10. Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges (Blind)
  1. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  2. Two Sisters Detective Agency by James Patterson
  3. Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu
  4. Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
  5. Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie
  6. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  7. Seven and 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
  8. The Eight by Katherine Neville
  9. Ninth House by Leah Bardugo
  10. The Woman in Cabin Ten by Ruth Ware
  1. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)
  2. The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (South Africa)
  3. The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami (Japan)
  4. Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney (Ireland)
  5. The Silence of the Sea by Yrsa Sigurdardottir (Iceland)
  6. Love in the Time of Cholera/El Amor en los Tiempos del Colera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia)
  7. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (Brazil)
  8. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (Iran)
  9. The Bat by Jo Nesbo (Norway)
  10. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigera)
  11. The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk (Poland)
  12. Violeta by Isabel Allende (Chile)
  13. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Sweden)
  14. The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury (Lebanon/England)
  15. The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood (Canada)

1930s

  1. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
  2. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

1940s

  1. All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
  2. The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
  3. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

1950s

  1. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
  2. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
  3. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne DuMaurier

1960s

  1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  2. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
  3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
  4. Slaughterhouse- Five by Kurt Vonnegut

1970s

  1. The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
  2. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Persig
  3. The World According to Garp by John Irving
  4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

1980s

  1. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
  2. Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
  3. Mists of Avalon by Marion Bradley Zimmer
  4. Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice

1990s

  1. Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
  2. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
  3. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
  4. Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt
  1. Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
  2. Babysitter by Joyce Carol Oates
  3. Ironweed by William Kennedy
  4. Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry by Mary Higgins Clark
  5. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
  6. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
  7. Lone Women by Victor Lavell
  8. The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer
  9. Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley
  10. Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson
  1. The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
  2. A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin
  3. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
  4. The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon
  5. Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich
  6. Me Before You by JoJo Moyes
  7. Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
  8. The Library Book by Susan Orlean
  9. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
  10. The Rosie Project by Graeme C. Simsion

Reader's Advisory

Still looking for another book to read? Fill out our Reader’s Advisory form and a librarian will send you a personalized list of suggested books!