Winter Reading
by Kaitlyn Ring, Readers’ Advisory Librarian
Each winter I find myself wanting to get through all those books that have been waiting on my shelf all summer long. The days are starting to feel so short and there is no better remedy to these dark nights than getting into bed and reading a good book. Manhattan Public Library’s winter reading challenge can help you track those books and reach your reading goals! Enjoy cozy winter tales and snowy trails while tracking your reading and earning online badges.
📅 Program Dates: December 1, 2025 – January 31, 2026
🎉 Who Can Join? All Ages
💰 Cost: Free
How it works
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- Set your own reading goal. You can choose one of our reading levels to work toward, from Snuggly Hedgehog (5 hours) up to Majestic Moose (25 hours).
- Earn 1 point for every minute you read or listen to a book.
- Log your reading time using the Beanstack app—create an account or sign in if you’ve joined past MPL reading challenges. Or track your reading on a paper log available from the Children’s Desk or 2nd Floor Reference Desk.
- Complete fun activities for extra points (found in the Beanstack app under “Activities” or “Badges”).
- All reading counts: books, magazines, graphic novels, audiobooks— even being read to!
Note: This challenge doesn’t include prizes or coupons, but it’s a great way to read together as a community and celebrate your progress! Let’s see how many winter reading hours we can put in together!
Personalized Reading Lists
Need some suggestions for what to read this winter? Personalized Reading Lists (PRLs) are a perfect option to get recommendations for books you will love without having to do the research yourself! PRLs are librarian-created lists based on the information you give us about your reading interests. To get your own PRL, you can complete the application form online or in person. To locate the online form, you will need to first go to our website at mhklibrary.org. Click on “Recommendations,” which is located directly under the catalog search box. This will take you to our “Books & More” page. Click on the “Personalized Reading List” option, MPL Personalized Reading Lists Form, and begin to fill out your form. If you prefer a paper option, you’ll find physical forms located near each service desk. When you complete a physical form, write as neatly as possible and make sure to return it to the Reference Desk, located on the second floor.
Recommended Reading
While you wait on those PRLs, here are some new books out this fall that would draw any reader in!
“The Everlasting” by Alix E. Harrow
“Sir Una Everlasting was Dominion’s greatest hero: the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her legend lives on in songs and stories, in children’s books and recruiting posters―but her life as it truly happened has been forgotten.
Centuries later, Owen Mallory―failed soldier, struggling scholar―falls in love with the tale of Una Everlasting. Her story takes him to war, to the archives―and then into the past itself. Una and Owen are tangled together in time, bound to retell the same story over and over again, no matter what it costs.
But that story always ends the same way. If they want to rewrite Una’s legend―if they want to tell a different story–they’ll have to rewrite history itself.”
“The Staircase in the Woods” by Chuck Wendig
“A group of friends investigates the mystery of a strange staircase in the woods in this mesmerizing horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of ‘The Book of Accidents.’
Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what.
Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something: a mysterious staircase to nowhere.
One friend walks up and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears.
Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods. . . .”
“And Then There Was You” by Sophie Cousens
“What if you could date someone perfect for you in every way? There’s just one catch… and it’s a big one. Stuck in a PA job and living at home with her parents after a painful breakup, thirty-one-year-old Chloe Fairway isn’t where she wants to be in life. The last thing she needs is to face the people who once voted her ‘most likely to succeed’ at her upcoming ten-year college reunion. And she definitely doesn’t want to see her former best friend, Sean Adler, who is now a hotshot film director living the life Chloe dreamed of.
Desperate to make a splash–and to save face in front of the man who might be the one that got away–she turns to a mysterious dating service. Enter Rob, her handsome, well-read, and charming match, the perfect plus-one to take to her reunion. The more she gets to know him, the more perfect he appears to be. Could it be that this dating service knows what she needs better than she knows herself? And can she overlook the one big catch?
As Chloe reconnects with old friends, she begins to question everything she thought she wanted. Maybe, just maybe, revisiting the past is exactly what she needs to move forward.”
Manhattan Public Library is a cornerstone of free and equal access to a world of ideas and information for the Manhattan, Kansas, community. Learn more at mhklibrary.org.