This is so exciting. I can’t believe Ryan’s letting me use his JCLS Connect Blog account for a guest piece!
I’m Opal: JCLS’s new cephalopod celebrity mascot for Rogue Reads and beyond.
I love good books (I’ve usually got at least three going at a time, despite my best efforts; I’ve got plenty of arms to hold them!), dusting my meticulously organized library, and tending my shell garden. (I have a vintage ’78 sand dollar in the northeast corner that I found for a song on SeaBay a few months back.)
Wait, too much? We just met, but the introduction-in-excess happens unexpectedly sometimes. Did you know each of my eight arms has its own “mini brain?” They’re little sucker-clad franchises that can do their own thing but also take orders from my gray matter in headquarters. (Haha, get it? Headquarters?)
Anyway, sometimes they just…overshare. And tell Dad Jokes, I guess.
But despite my mess of sometimes-rebellious arms, I live a tidy, orderly life, and I’m always looking for ways to get more organized. Maybe you are, too!
Either way, I have a secret for you; a best-kept one! And even its name screams pro-organization, pro-tidiness: Beanstack!
Man, I love a good stack: scattered papers, unified; a mess of books made whole. But in this case, it’s a little different. Beanstack, a free app, tracks and organizes your reading! And if you’re not already on there, our Rogue Reads winter reading program gives you another excuse! You can track your reading and stack the amount of time you’ve read, along with every title you’ve finished!
There are also awesome virtual aquatic badges and a Bingo card for any serotonin boost fans who appreciate bragging rights.
Read 1 hour: puffer fish badge.
Read 1 book: sea horse badge.
Read our flagship book, Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, and you get a badge of me!
By the way, if you’re more the analog type, we also have paper Bingo cards you can fill out and hand in. We’re all about format inclusivity at Jackson County Library Services.
Either way, keeping track of your reading is a great way to keep you organized. It can also serve as a good trip down memory lane if you ever want to look back through all the words and pages you’ve conquered.
Oh! And speaking of Remarkably Bright Creatures, Beanstack is also a great way to stay connected with our Rogue Reads program offerings! That includes a Shelby Van Pelt author talk, which is basically the Rogue Reads finale program. Please RSVP if you want to come, though. In the spirit of tidiness and neat stacking, we want to make sure we have enough room!
Well, I think that’s it for me! I appreciate JCLS allowing me this opportunity to do an eight-armed takeover of their blog. I’m so excited to share this winter program with you, and I’ll take any chance I can to hype it. You’ll have fun if you give it a chance. It’s a shore thing.
I know, I know: more Dad Jokes. I really should sea kelp for that.