In this episode of Unreadable, Ross speaks with Programming Manager
Sarah Brubaker about the Georgia Reads for America250 Challenge. This
challenge, designed to celebrate Georgia's history, encourages you to read
a book from a curated Georgia250 list and complete a few activities that
explore our wonderful state, including its history, natural features, and
culture.
Introduction
[bouncy piano and brass music]
Ross Gericke: Hello and welcome to Unreadable, the official
Forsyth County Public Library Podcast for news, upcoming programs, and
recommendations.
I’m your host, Ross Gericke, the branch manager at Hampton Park.
In this episode I speak with podcast regular Sarah Brubaker, Programming
Manager at FCPL about
The Georgia Reads for America250 Challenge. This statewide reading challenge celebrates the founding of
Georgia by offering a curated list of books and activities for readers
in grades K-12 and for adults. You can find more information by
creating or by logging into
your current Beanstack account, if you’ve already created one for one of our Summer or Winter reading
challenges in the past.
Now on to the show.
Interview
Ross Gericke: Hello, Sarah and welcome back to the podcast.
Sarah Brubaker: Thank you for having me.
Ross Gericke: So, it's not just America that's turning 250 years
old this year. As one of the 13 original colonies, Georgia is also
turning 250 years old. And we're gonna celebrate in the most library way
possible with a reading challenge.
Sarah Brubaker: Absolutely. We are so excited to take part of the
Georgia Reads for America 250 Reading Challenges that were put together
by the Georgia Public Library Service. So, the whole state is getting
together to celebrate with this reading challenge. We've got challenges
for elementary, middle school, high school, and adults. So, all ages are
able to participate.
Ross Gericke: So, how do you take part in this challenge?
Sarah Brubaker: So, for our patrons who are familiar with our
reading challenges, you're going to be using Beanstack. It is an awesome
reading tracker app that you can just put right on your phone or access
through the internet, and it is going to guide you through the
challenge.
This one is a little bit different from the ones that we do for summer
and winter. It's not just reading anything that counts. There is
actually a specific curated reading list. So, librarians across the
state of Georgia, including our own Molly Moore, were on a committee
that chose titles that represent Georgian and American history for all
ages. So, each of those age groups is going to have their own reading
list. And to complete the challenge, you'll need to read one of the
titles from that reading list. So, Beanstack will have all of those
books listed out, and you can just select the one that you want to
read.
Each of the challenges has eight activities that you need to complete to
finish that challenge. These activities are based on different aspects
of American history and political science. So we've got categories like
artifacts, culture, history, people, places. Eight different categories,
and each of those activities has five different options for you to
choose from. Those activities give you a chance to dive a little deeper
into Georgian and American history. Some of those activities are things
like taking a virtual tour or checking out an experience pass. So you'll
be able to see the full list of activity options in Beanstack and choose
one from each category. You'll complete all eight activity badges in
order to finish the challenge. So this will just give you a chance to
dig a little deeper into our history and have a little fun while you're
at it.
Ross Gericke: Well, I've got the list of books pulled up right
next to me and there's some great ones on here and there's a wide
variety of things, too. I see March, the graphic novel by and
about John Lewis, which I really enjoyed that one a lot. Um, so I think
there's some really cool stuff here that people can read.
Sarah Brubaker: Absolutely.
Ross Gericke: Well, reading is great and everything, Sarah, but I
know that some of our patrons are going to want to know, is there a
prize at the end of this challenge?
Sarah Brubaker: And our patrons will be delighted to learn that
the prize is a button. So for all of our patrons who love love love
their buttons, we have a special America 250 button that has a special
dinosaur guest on it. So, it's a very cute dinosaur button with a little
top hat celebrating America 250. So, that'll be a fun addition to the
collection of any of our patrons who are participating in the Summer
Reading challenge so they can add it to their beautiful lanyard.
Ross Gericke: I love it, Sarah. Who doesn't love a good dinosaur?
Thank you for coming on the podcast.
Sarah Brubaker: You're so welcome, Ross.
Closing
[bouncy piano and brass music]
Ross Gericke: Thank you for listening to the April 2026 episode
of Unreadable.
Please subscribe to our podcast on the Apple Podcasts app, Spotify, or
wherever you get your podcasts. Contact the podcast directly with any
comments by
email at Unreadable@ForsythPL.org
Keep up with all the excitement happening each month on our interactive
calendar available on our website,
www.ForsythPL.org. You can also
stay connected with the library through
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and
Instagram @FoCo Library.
Our theme music is “Open Those Bright Eyes” composed by Kevin MacLeod.
This and
other compositions by Kevin MacLeod are available at
Incompetech.com.
I’m Ross Gericke, and this podcast has been Unreadable.
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