How to Get Free Kids' Books from Barnes & Noble This Summer

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• Book retailer Barnes & Noble has announced the details of its 2024 Summer Reading Program.

• Kids can receive a free book, from a list of selected titles, if they participate.

• The program runs from July 1, 2024 to August 31, 2024.

I have a bookworm at home, and while it warms my heart to see her tearing through her favorite series (hello, Wings of Fire graphic novels), it can be daunting to keep up with her need for books. We go to the library and the bookstore, grab tomes by the stackful, and often she's finished at least one of them by the time we get home.

That's why I'm grateful to events like Barnes & Noble's Summer Reading Program, which will at least give our family a little reward for all that work. In this case, a free book.

The details of the program are simple. The program is open to kids who are in grades 1 through 6. Kids who fall into that age range just have to follow three easy steps to reap their reward. The first is that kids have to read a total of eight books. There's no specific list, it can be any gripping yarns of their choosing. If you have a reader like mine at home, that should be the easy part.

In addition to finishing the books, kids also have to fill out a reading log with the titles of their books, and what their favorite parts were. You can find the reading logs on the Barnes & Noble corporate website, both in English and in Spanish. Adults can download them and print as many as they need, and hand them over to kids to fill in. In the journal, the blank space where kids have to describe their favorite part looks like it can accommodate one sentence, so they're not writing huge book reports or anything.

Then, the fun part: Between July 1, 2024 and August 31, they can turn in their reading logs at any Barnes & Noble store to receive their free book. Sadly, they don't get their pick of anything in the store. There's a pre-selected list, with a little more than 10 titles for grades 1 and 2, grades 3 and 4 and grades 5 and 6. There are more options for the older kids, but the lists are diverse enough that there should be something to appeal to every reader.

The best part: The eight books that the kids read don't have to be from Barnes & Noble. They can be books that have been lying around in your home, books from the library, even books from other bookstores. Everything counts!

The free books include classics that parents might remember like The Boxcar Children or A Wrinkle in Time, new hits like The Princess in Black and Dog Man, books for Minecraft fans and beloved authors like Rick Riordan and Kate DiCamillo. Who knows — maybe they'll walk away with a new (non-Wings of Fire) obsession. (Please? The next one doesn't come out until December!) And if they're looking for inspiration for what to read to count toward their eight-book requirement? They can always check out the Good Housekeeping Kids' Book Award winners.

The Good Egg and the Talent Show

The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza

Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan

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