{"id":347799,"date":"2026-06-24T00:38:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T00:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/347799\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T00:38:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T00:38:29","slug":"austin-public-library-invites-families-to-unearth-a-story-this-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/347799\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Public Library invites families to “Unearth a Story” this summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summer is officially underway at the Austin Public Library<\/a>, and that means reading challenges, hands-on activities, free events, and plenty of family fun across the city.<\/p>\n

Trevor Scott and Sierra Waggoner welcomed Baylor Johnson and Alanna Graves from Austin Public Library<\/a> to We Are Austin to share details about this year’s summer programming. The 2026 theme, “Unearth a Story,” celebrates dinosaurs, paleontology, archaeology, and history through interactive events and educational experiences for all ages.<\/p>\n

\"Trevor<\/p>\n

Trevor Scott and Sierra Waggoner recently welcomed Baylor Johnson and Alanna Graves from Austin Public Library to We Are Austin to share details about this year’s summer programming. The 2026 theme, “Unearth a Story,” celebrates dinosaurs, paleontology, archaeology, and history through interactive events and educational experiences for all ages.<\/p>\n

“As you said, the theme this year is Unearth a Story,” Johnson explained. “We’re celebrating dinosaurs, paleontology, archaeology, history, all sorts of stuff to get folks involved in our summer reading challenges and our free summer activities happening at libraries throughout the city.”<\/p>\n

The theme is part of a nationwide initiative through the Collaborative Summer Library Program, which encourages libraries across the country to participate in shared literacy-focused programming.<\/p>\n

\""As<\/p>\n

“As you said, the theme this year is Unearth a Story,” Johnson explained. “We’re celebrating dinosaurs, paleontology, archaeology, history, all sorts of stuff to get folks involved in our summer reading challenges and our free summer activities happening at libraries throughout the city.”<\/p>\n

“When they said, ‘Hey, 2026, we’re doing dinosaurs,’ we said, ‘We’re in,'” Graves said. “Libraries across the nation are also doing Unearth a Story programs.”<\/p>\n

\"Whether<\/p>\n

Whether you’re searching for your next favorite book, attending a dinosaur-themed event, or participating in the Summer Reading Challenge, library staff hope families will discover that learning can be just as exciting as any summer adventure.<\/p>\n

One of the summer’s biggest highlights is a partnership with the Austin Symphony Orchestra. Through the library’s popular Tuneful Tales program, musicians bring children’s books to life through live performances. This summer’s featured story is How Do Dinosaurs Go to School?, combining music, storytelling, and a little back-to-school preparation before classes resume in the fall.<\/p>\n

Another major component of the program is the annual Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages Austinites of all ages to log 600 minutes of reading throughout the summer.<\/p>\n

The challenge isn’t limited to traditional books.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/p>\n

One of the summer’s biggest highlights is a partnership with the Austin Symphony Orchestra. Through the library’s popular Tuneful Tales program, musicians bring children’s books to life through live performances. This summer’s featured story is How Do Dinosaurs Go to School?, combining music, storytelling, and a little back-to-school preparation before classes resume in the fall.<\/p>\n

“Audiobooks, novels, regular books\u2014you can read anything you want,” Johnson said. “We’re not going to quiz you. We just want you to read for fun.”<\/p>\n

Library leaders say the challenge helps combat the well-known “summer slide,” when students can lose reading skills during months away from the classroom.<\/p>\n

“We know there’s this regression,” Johnson explained. “Kids lose about 20% of their reading comprehension from the previous year over the summer. Just ten minutes of reading a day can really help with that.”<\/p>\n

Participants who complete the challenge can earn prizes. Children receive a free book of their choice, while adults can take home limited-edition Austin Public Library collectible mugs. This year’s dinosaur-themed mugs even reveal a hidden fossil design when filled with a hot beverage.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Participants who complete the challenge can earn prizes. Children receive a free book of their choice, while adults can take home limited-edition Austin Public Library collectible mugs. This year’s dinosaur-themed mugs even reveal a hidden fossil design when filled with a hot beverage.<\/p>\n

Beyond reading, the library is offering dozens of free educational activities throughout the summer. During their appearance on We Are Austin, Johnson and Graves demonstrated a dinosaur fossil craft inspired by actual library programming, where children can create their own fossil impressions using clay, dinosaur models, shells, and other materials.<\/p>\n

\"{p}Summer<\/p>\n

Summer is officially underway at the Austin Public Library, and that means reading challenges, hands-on activities, free events, and plenty of family fun across the city.<\/p>\n

The excitement comes on the heels of another major accomplishment for Austin Public Library. The system recently won the Austin Chronicle’s Best of Austin “Kids & Family Wild Card” Readers Poll, recognition that reflects the library’s ongoing impact on families throughout Central Texas.<\/p>\n

Whether you’re searching for your next favorite book, attending a dinosaur-themed event, or participating in the Summer Reading Challenge, library staff hope families will discover that learning can be just as exciting as any summer adventure.<\/p>\n

For more information about the Summer Reading Challenge, events, and activities happening throughout the city, visit Austin Public Library’s summer programming page library.austintexas.gov\/summer!<\/a><\/p>\n

\"For<\/p>\n

For more information about the Summer Reading Challenge, events, and activities happening throughout the city, visit Austin Public Library’s summer programming page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summer is officially underway at the Austin Public Library, and that means reading challenges, hands-on activities, free events,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-347799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}