Summer Starts at EPL
Popular Questions:
Summer Starts - FAQs
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Entering the contest is easy!
Every Monday, read the clues that we post to guess where (or who) she’s visiting. Once you think you know her location, enter your guess. You can guess as many times as you want. Correct guesses will be entered into a draw for a free book – we'll have five winners every week!
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There are two ways you can enter to win a prize:
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- Read! For every week that you enter your reading minutes, you’ll get one entry into our grand prize draw. Enter your reading minutes.
- Find clues! Our mascot, Turtle Swift, will be travelling around Edmonton every week. Use the clues that we post every Monday to guess where (or who) she’s visiting. You can guess as many times as you want. Correct guesses will be entered into a draw for a free book – we'll have five winners every week! Enter your guess.
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You can read whatever you want: books, recipes, websites, magazines, graphic novels, even the text on video games—it all counts as reading. You can also listen to audiobooks or have someone read to you.
Win One of 21 Stanley Bear Prize Packages!
EPL participates in the TD Summer Reading Club (TD SRC), Canada’s biggest, bilingual summer reading program for kids. Enter your reading minutes by Sunday of each week to enter the grand prize draw. View contest rules. Remember: every week you submit your reading minutes is another chance to win!
Do you like reading books? Graphic novels? Recipes? It all counts as reading!
Want to track your minutes as you go? Download our weekly reading log.
Get to Know the TD SRC
Recommended Reads
Summer Starts - Check Out
Summer Starts - Reading Inspiration
Learn something new, create a masterpiece or simply have fun! We've got new videos every week, plus a handful of live events too.
Latest Video
Upcoming Live Event
Summer Starts - Featured Event
Even More Great Videos
To continue the fun at home, make sure you download the instruction sheets.
Summer Starts - Live Events
Poll
Summer Starts - Poll
Which of the following is your literary hero?
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Dog Man0
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Katniss Everdeen0
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Percy Jackson0
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Rey Skywalker0
Which of the following is your literary hero?
Thank you for taking the poll!
Last week's poll winner: Unsurprisingly, most of you want Harry Potter's firebolt as a special item form a fictional world!
Spotlight On: The Summer Story Project
Sounds like fun, right? Submit your idea for the next line of our story below!
Activities and More
Summer Starts - Explore
Weekly Contest
Every week, the Summer Starts mascot, Turtle Swift, will be visiting a popular landmark in Edmonton, not an EPL branch. Can you figure out her location?
Read the clues below then guess correctly by Sunday of each week to enter the weekly book prize draw. View contest rules.
Clues for the Week of August 10:
Turtle Swift visited this building because she remembered the beautiful trees were lit up during winter holidays. She slowly made her way up five floors and along the way discovered a fountain, the Mace Case and portraits of the Famous Five. On the fifth floor, Turtle Swift stopped to rest under five indoor palm trees. Turtle Swift learned a lot about the Alberta Government this week!
Where is Turtle Swift visiting? (Remember: it's not an EPL branch)
Join children’s author and Capital City Press Featured Writer Alison Hughes as we create a story together. She's provided the first line below and then it's up to you! Submit one line to continue the story by Sunday of each week and Alison will choose the best one. Watch for a Zoom Q&A with Alison halfway through summer.
After 11 weeks, who knows what we'll create?
Our Story So Far:
The huge, mysterious square stone had sat for hundreds of years in the special room in the old house. As Annie watched it crack and wobble, she realized with shock that it wasn’t a stone at all – it was an egg.
Curious, Annie crouched down onto her knees, reached out a cautious hand and gently picked up this turquoise egg that was speckled with black dots, letting it balance into the scoop of her palm. As she stared in wonder at the cryptic egg, it splintered and a small hole appeared; a beak, no larger than her pinky finger, broke through the thin surface.
Suddenly, the egg exploded in a blizzard of egg shards, and out of curiosity, Annie glanced at the now broken egg with a million questions in her head; but she now realized what the egg had held for centuries, and screamed. There peeked out a dragon with slitted eyes that seemed like they glowed, a clear goo covering its body, dark blue scales dappled with white like the night sky, and the teeth–they were knives, sharp and glistening, and dangerous... very dangerous.
Suddenly a massive roar came from the darkness above, Annie looked up and was face to face with a full size dragon that looked exactly the the one that just hatched; oh no, thought Annie! The dragon landed, looked at Annie as if judging her, then carefully picked up the dragon hatchling, threw Annie over its massive shoulder and took off, flying into the starry night.
The dragon, Annie and the dragon hatchling flew and flew until they reached outer space, then boarded a spaceship as Annie cried, “Take me home! Take me home!”.
Winning line for week of August 3, submitted by Abdullah: The large, circular spaceship was made of a strange metal that seemed like it radiated heat; it made a low, unearthly hum and inside there were flashing blue lights and controls everywhere, plus half a dozen extraterrestrial creatures that were twelve feet tall and had noses on the backs of their heads, big ears, green bodies, and one eye on the top of their heads, which stared at everything in sight and made poor Annie feel even more frightened than before.
Hey parents! Here's what you can expect each week of the program. Help your children make the most of summer—get them to enter their reading minutes, mascot contest entry and suggested story line every week!
Clues for the weekly Find the Mascot contest are released!
Watch the latest video for a new fun activity to try at home.
It's a good day to catch up on some reading.
Check out our second video of the week.
Encourage your child to suggest the next line in our story.
Check out the EPL newsletter for a roundup of this week's fun.
Last call to enter your child's weekly submissions.
Looking for a summer reading club for adults?
Resources for Parents
Summer Starts - Resources for Parents
6 Resources to Help Keep Your Kids Active
Moving, Sitting and Sleeping for Healthy Young People
8 Tips Get Kids Reading (In Summer and All the Time!)
Help Kids Understand Anti-Racism and Diversity Through Books
