The Pittsburgh region’s new “Won’t You Be a Reader?” campaign is bringing all kinds of fun and inspiration to local families. And one of the very best parts of this yearlong celebration is the Jerome Bettis Summer Reading Challenge. It’s a wonderful way to get your entire family excited about reading this summer… and you might just win four tickets to the first Steelers home game in September!
Here’s how it works:
To participate, your family must commit to reading 36 books between May 12 and Aug. 31, 2026, OR reading for a minimum of 36 hours between those dates.
Download a chart to keep track of the books your family has read or the hours that family members have spent reading (or both, if you’d like!. Click here to download charts.
By or before Aug. 31, fill out and submit this Google form, which asks a few questions so you can tell us about your summer reading journey. As part of the Google form, upload a photo or scan of the chart(s) you filled out as you kept track of the books your family read and/or the hours your family spent reading.
Once we have received all of the Google forms with attached photos or scans from participating families, we will pick one family at random to receive four tickets to the first Steelers home game in September.
“Football has given me so much in this life. But beyond the field, reading has shaped who I am in ways I never could have imagined,” says Jerome Bettis. “It opened my eyes to the journeys of others. It introduced me to generations of people who inspired me and helped me find my own path.”
The Kidsburgh team is excited to help Jerome share the joy and enrichment of reading with as many local families as possible, as part of the “Won’t You Be a Reader?” campaign, spearheaded by Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and funded by the Grable Foundation.
Happy reading!