We know reading feeds the imagination, curiosity and knowledge. But did you know that your Summer Reading is helping feed others around the world?
This year, through Heifer International's Read to Feed Initiative your Summer Reading will help support access to fruit and vegetable seeds for home gardens, clean water for health and sanitation, flocks of chickens that can provide hundreds of eggs each year, and even honeybees that help pollinate future harvests.
Here's how it works!
- For every 2,000 minutes read by Summer Reading participants of all ages, Heifer International's sponsors donate $20 to the organization's work around the world.
- Funds donated are from corporate sponsors which partner with Heifer International. No local library funds are used.
- Books logged into Beanstack, either by participants or library staff, are automatically converted to minutes for the Heifer International program. Log your reading as you normally do, Beanstack will do the rest!
- All Summer Reading participants can continue to log their reading even after they have earned their t-shirt, either through the Beanstack app, or on a paper log. For those tracking on paper, simply bring your log into the library and we'll be happy to log your reading.
- Reading logged between June 1 and July 31 counts toward the Heifer International donation.
As of June 28, AAPLD Summer Reading participants have completed 1,518,601 minutes of reading which equals a donation of $15,186.
Check out our Heifer International Progress Trackers at both Harnish and Eastgate and help AAPLD meet our donation goal of $25,000. Watch our contribution grow as together, we plant a seed to read, and feed!
Jane Hamilton is the author of eight novels, including The Book of Ruth, and A Map of The World, which were both Oprah's Book Club selections. A Map of the World was also adapted for a film starring Sigourney Weaver. Hamilton's latest novel, The Phoebe Variations, is a coming of age story set in the 1970s, and was published in September, 2025. It was selected as an Oprah Daily Best Book of Fall, an Indie Next Pick, and a Library Reads. She is a recipient of the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, among other recognitions.
Elizabeth Berg has published thirty-one books, including novels, novellas, non-fiction, short story and essay collections. Her best-known works include Open House (an Oprah's Book Club selection), Talk Before Sleep, and The Story of Arthur Truluv. Her latest novel, Life, A Love Story tells the story of a 92-year-old woman who creates a legacy through the objects she plans to leave to her dearest friend, while rediscovering the joys of life. It was published in March, 2026.
Take a look at the 
Choose from over 130 varieties of vegetable, fruit, flower and herb seeds! Options include:
Although we call it a "Seed Library," no library card is required and you don't need to return seeds from your harvest. However, we'd love to see photos of your garden and crops! Email them to us at 
AAPLD welcomes award-winning landscape photographer Cory Anne Cosman to the Art Wall at the Main Library. Cory's work captures the essence of nature. She loves traveling to National Parks, and her adventures have taken her to the Badlands of South Dakota, the Rocky Mountains, Moab, Utah, Bryce Canyon, Haleakala, Waimea Canyon, and Death Valley.
2023); the Dole Mansion in Crystal Lake's Fourth Fridays Art Event (2024 and 2025), Woodstock Public Library Artist Showcase (2025), and Kishwaukee Brewing Co., Woodstock (2025). In 2022, she was the 3rd place winner of the Land Conservancy's Amateur Photography Contest, and in 2024, she received the People's Choice Award from the Fourth Fridays Art Event at the Dole Mansion.