Summer Reading for 2025 is June 1 – Aug. 31
Summer reading is for everyone — early learners, kids, teens and adults — and it begins June 1 throughout Bellingham and runs through August 31.
This year Bellingham Public Library has Summer Reading activity cards for early learners, kids, teens and adults. Pick up your Summer Reading Activity Cards at any BPL branch, or print them at home by clicking on the appropriate buttons below. Then, fill out the activity cards and return them for prizes between June 1 – Aug. 31. All children ages birth – teen will receive a free book. We will celebrate early learners with a special prize, kids will receive a mystery coupon from a local business, and there will be prize drawings for teens and adults! Plus, all ages will receive a Summer Reading Superstar yard or window sign.
Thank you to our Summer Reading sponsor the Friends of the Bellingham Public Library. Thank you also to our Summer Reading prize partners – local businesses who have donated mystery coupons for Summer Reading prize winners ages 5 – 12.
Our 2025 prize partners are:
- 20th Century Bowl
- The Bagelry
- Boomers Drive-In
- Colophon Cafe
- Emerald City Smoothies
- Great Harvest Bread Co.
- Mallard Ice Cream
- Mammoth Mini Golf
- Next Chapter Cafe (formerly It’s the Sweet Things)
- Pizza Time
- PlayDate BLI
- Pure Bliss Desserts
- Robeks
- The Ruckus Room
- Shirlee Bird Cafe
- SPARK Museum
- Yeager’s Toyland
Summer Reading Activity Cards
Print your own Summer Reading Activity Cards at home. Choose from the following lists:
Early Literacy Summer Reading Cards (recommended for birth through 5 years)
Kids Summer Reading Cards (ages 5 – 12)
Teen Summer Reading Cards (ages 12 – 19)
Adult Summer Reading Cards (ages 18+)
Summer Reading Staff Recommendations
Summer is a great time for a little fun in the sun and for reading and relaxing! Bellingham Public Library staff have some great reading lists and book recommendations to get you started filling in the squares on your Summer Reading activity cards.
Visit our Staff Picks page anytime of year to view ALL of the booklists our Librarians have created with reading recommendations on a wide variety of categories for all ages. Many of the books you’ll find there can be used to fill in the squares on your Summer Reading activity cards. Click HERE to visit our Staff Picks page!
Adult Summer Reading Activity Card Recommendations
“Published in 2025” square
The Harder I Fight the More I Love You by Neko Case
“In this biography, Neko Case discusses her life and growing up in the Pacific Northwest. Several early chapters are spent on her childhood in Bellingham and Lynden. I highly recommend the audiobook, as Neko narrates it herself (available on Libby). If you love her music, you’ll love this book.
If you haven’t heard her music, check out some of her CDs along with the book. My personal favorites in our catalog are:
Furnace Room Lullaby (2000)
The Tigers Have Spoken (2004)
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (2006)
Middle Cyclone (2009)”
– James, Public Services Clerk
“Vacation spot” square
Beer Hiking Pacific Northwest by Brandon Fralic
“This book combines two of my most favorite activities, hiking around the beautiful Pacific Northwest and drinking great local beers! What I love most about this book is that it includes a wide variety of hiking experiences from easy to very challenging and offers a tasty reward to enjoy at the conclusion of each one.”
– Jenni, Community Relations Specialist
“Indie Darling” square
“This book got its start being self-published chapter by chapter online, and now it’s a properly printed book! It’s like Howl’s Moving Castle meets Pride and Prejudice. There’s a faerie curse, and a grumpy wizard! There are fancy regency balls, scandalous behavior (dancing with the same person more than twice?!), and the single most romantic scene I’ve ever read, without contest.”
– Lorena, Public Services Clerk
“Audiobook” square
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
“Who hasn’t wanted work to just go away so you can watch your favorite soap operas? I love how caring (and yet deeply sarcastic) Murderbot is, and I love watching the character progress throughout the series. These books are fun to read and with Kevin R. Free as the audiobook reader, they’re delightful to listen to as well.”
– Lorena, Public Services Clerk
“Great Cover” square
“Look at this beauty! It looks exactly like a cheesy high-fantasy romance novel, and that’s what it is! This book was originally made up on the fly for a D&D game and now it’s become an actual, delightfully real book coming to the library in July and I am so excited about it!”
– Lorena, Public Services Clerk
“Recommendation” square
Circe, A Novel by Madeline Miller
“This book came highly recommended by members of my book club. It’s a fantastic summer read! I was fascinated by Greek and Roman mythology in my youth, and this book pulled me right in. It felt like I already knew the characters! And as you might imagine, this book provides them with dimension and personality that my old copy of D’Aulaire’s left out.”
– Miranda, Library Events Coordinator
“Start a New Series” square
“A murder mystery set in an alternate Seattle where a small subset of the population has the ability to sense others’ emotions. I think my favorite part about this book as a mystery is that the question is never really who did it (you’re told who did it fairly early). The real question is why and how they did it, and the answers are both predictable and terrifying.”
– Lorena, Public Services Clerk
Teen Summer Reading Activity Card Recommendations
“Start a New Series” or “Watch Something with Subtitles” square
Spy Family by Tatsuya Endo (Teen Manga/ DVD Anime)
“A lighthearted, campy, slice-of-life family comedy about espionage during a cold war. This whole series is just outrageous fun. I love watching this makeshift family try to make things work while keeping all their secrets. The manga has also been adapted into an equally fun and campy anime!”
– Lorena, Public Services Clerk
“Play a Game” square
“Work together with your friends to gather artifacts and escape a sinking island before you all drown. With different roles and skillsets to choose from (along with the random chance of what part of the island floods when), each playthrough is different. This game is surprisingly difficult and a lot of fun.”
– Lorena, Public Services Clerk
“Non-Human Characters” square
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
“This book kicks off the Tiffany Aching arc of the Discworld series, and makes an excellent entry point to Discworld as a whole. This story has so much to say about humanity and community, justice and growing up, and it manages to say it all while being incredibly funny. I love our practical witch Tiffany Aching (wielding the dependable magic of observation and hitting things with a frying pan), and I love the Nac Mac Feegle (the titular Wee Free Men) with all their fighting and drinking and stealing (affectionate). This story is beautiful, poignant, and hilarious, and one of my all time favorites.”
– Lorena, Public Services Clerk
I am a Cat Barista by Hiro Majima
“I just really love the idea of a café where they’ll make you custom drinks to help with whatever ails you at the moment. Having the barista be a kind, caring, literal cat is just a bonus feature. This series is so sweet and fluffy (both literally and metaphorically), I love it!”
– Lorena, Public Services Clerk
Children’s Summer Reading Activity Card Recommendations
“Animals” square
Our Woolly Bear by Katie Arthur
“Caterpillars, Beatles songs, and a family marveling together over the wonders of the natural world—this book could not be any sweeter.” Recommended for anyone with a pulse (or ages 3+)
– Ali, Children’s Librarian
Meet the Megafauna by Gabrielle Balkan
“Get to know 20 of the largest animals to ever roam the Earth! This awesome book has fold outs and facts of Super Croc, Giant Shark, Giant Ground Sloth, Giant Ape, Wooly Mammoth and more!” Recommended for ages 7 and up
– James, Public Services Clerk
“Nonfiction” square
“A gorgeous compilation of everything in nature that creates its’ own light, from algae, to glowworms, to fungi! Each illustration is done in an array of dayglow colors that practically glow on their own.”
– Lorena, Public Services Clerk
“Make a Postcard” square
The Postcard Project by Maggie Lauren Brown
“A sweet story about why you might send a postcard, and also a variety of ways you could make one. I got so many good ideas from this story!” Children’s Picture Book
– Lorena, Public Services Clerk
“Graphic Novel” square
Little Monarchs by Jonathan Case
“This is a really interesting take on a post-apocalyptic setting, both in what caused the apocalypse, and how our main characters are handling it. I also really love how the the story is set up to give us so much information through our main characters nature journal.”
– Lorena, Public Services Clerk
“Listen to a Book” square
Ruby Finley vs. the Interstellar Invasion by K. Tempest Bradley
“This story is just fun. There’s peril, hijinks, school trouble, and a fun little twist at the end. The whole thing gave me powerful Disney Channel Original Movie vibes, and the audiobook reader was excellent.”
– Lorena, Public Services Clerk
“Wordless” square
Once Upon a Forest by Pam Fong (Children’s Picture Book)
“This adorable little marmot is going to save the forest with patience and determination and I love them.”
– Lorena, Public Services Clerk
Viewfinder by Christine D.U. Chung (Children’s Graphic Novel)
“A beautiful (and a little tense) story about a young traveler from another world exploring an abandoned Earth. The story both of our young traveler, and of what happened to empty the Earth of humans, is told creatively and without a single word.”
– Lorena, Public Services Clerk
