2026 UNEARTH A STORY Summer Reading at Princeton Public Library for Youth |

Track your reading minutes for the Youth program on the Reader Zone app for Android, Apple, or Amazon devices (or at readerzone.com). You may sign up at any time to create an account using our Reading Program Code 85a40 (you may have multiple readers for one account). Begin logging your reading between June 15 and July 31. There will be incentives along the way and you will be entered in our Grand Prize Raffle drawings the first week of August.

2026 Youth Summer Reading Prize Registry

(INFO STILL TO COME! PLEASE STOP BACK) The prizes for Youth Summer Reading (for ages 2-14) are on display in the main circulation lobby, but you can also see them on our registration form HERE. Your total reading minutes entitle you to enter drawings for THREE of the 19 reading prizes pictured. Check the boxes for the THREE prizes you would like. We will weight each prize drawing by the number of minutes each reader has read. (You may go back and edit your responses before the last day of summer reading, July 31).

Summer Reading Programs

Storytime (Preschool and up)

Every Tuesday • 10:30 am • Matson Meeting Room (through July 28—Storytime goes on hiatus in August)

Crafty Activities for Elementary and Junior High

Thursday, June 18• 10:30 am • Matson Meeting Room
Seed Mosaics—Discover the ancient art of mosaics using seeds instead of glass or stone tiles.
Thursday, June 25 • 10:30 am • Matson Meeting Room
Rock Painting—Be it a friendship rock, a good luck stone, or just a friend to add to your garden, painting rocks is a perennial favorite summertime activity.
Thursday, July 2 • 10:30 am • Starts in Matson Meeting Room
Murder Mystery Scavenger Hunt—Team up to use skill, logic, and the power of deduction to find clues and solve a “murder” in the library!
Thursday, July 9 • 10:30 am • Matson Meeting Room
Light-up Dino Eggs—Paint clear plastic eggs, add a baby dino silhouette and an LED light for an amazing effect!
Thursday, July 16 • 10:30 am • Matson Meeting Room
Strata Jars—Rainbow jars with a geological/archaeological twist. Layer sand, stones, and artifacts for to recreate the stratigraphy of a dig site. NOTE: We’re collecting clean 16-24 oz glass or clear plastic jars (WITH LIDS) for this.
Thursday, July 23 • 10:30 am • Matson Meeting Room
Dino Soap Bars—Mold clear soap and insect toys to create an amber inclusion that will hold pride of place on your bathroom counter!
Thursday, July 30 • 10:30 am • Matson Meeting Room
Dig Grid Drawings—practice your sketching skills to create a gridded drawing of a recreated archaeological dig—we’ll do this collaboratively to produce a large drawing for the Youth Services wall.

Princeton Summer Youth Band Concert

Friday, June 26 • 2 pm • Main Circulation Area

T-Rexplorers

Saturday, July 11 • 1–2 pm • Main Circulation and Youth Services
Step back in time as the T-Rexplorers take you on an adventure straight from the Cretaceous period! Get a peek into the world of dinosaur science and paleontology as you see fossils from species like Triceratops and T-Rex, while learning about what it’s like to go on a paleontological dig.