Blog: Summer Reading

Summer Reading Award Ceremony 8.14.26

Posted on by Cait Quinn

You’re Invited!

To the Malden Public Library’s End of Summer Award Ceremony enjoy cake and music while we celebrate this summer’s top readers! We’ll see you at 11am in the Maccario Room for prizes and fun.

Grand Prize winners will be notified in advance.

Top child reader recieves a family membership to the Museum of Science.

The Teen winner gets a gift certificate to Boda Borg for 4 players.

And the Adult grand prize winner will have their own rain barrel

Submit your minutes on Beanstack (you can back date for more prizes) to qualify to win!

Dinosaurs with the DinoMan! – Kids Program July 8th @ 3PM

Posted on by Patrick Brennan

Dinosaur tracks lead right to our library! Have no fear, Dinoman is here! With magic, merry mayhem, and magnificent props, you will be taken on a trip throughout the Mesozoic era. How do we know dinosaurs were here? What is a fossil? How are they made? This program is fun and informative for all ages: we will learn about the age of the earth, how it is divided into eras, how fossils are formed, dinosaur behavior, and the newest finds. And did we mention that there will be life-size inflatable dinosaurs on stage?

Recommended for children ages 4 and up and their caregivers.

This free program is generously funded by Preotle, Lane & Associates, Ltd.

Annual Ice Cream Social and Summer Reading Kick off 6.25.26

Posted on by Cait Quinn

This Thursday, June 25th at 1pm, join the library staff in celebrating the start of summer…reading! We’ve once again invited Dairy Delight to dish up their tasty ice cream to all our friends in the community. We’ll also be hosting a dinosaur or two, a musical guest, and the Friends of the Malden Public Library will be hosting a book give away to help encourage kids to find their first read of the summer.

The event is free, but in order to move things efficiently, we ask that each family sign up for our Summer Reading Challenge in Beanstack ahead of time. If you participated last year, you can just log into your account and go to the challenges section and select Dig Into Reading Challenge. If you haven’t used Beanstack before you can log in on the website:  bit.ly/BeanstackMPL or download the mobile app via your device store. Search Beanstack and then follow the prompts. Hate tech? Stop by the Information desk and we can help get you started with an account, or just log your minutes for you.

And even if you can’t make it, we’d still love to see you this summer. We will have 8 weeks packed with activities for all ages. Oh and for reader’s who complete their reading challenges, we have prizes provided by local businesses to thank you for helping meet our community reading goals. For kids and teens, we’ll have coupons for food at local restaurants. For adults we’ll be holding a weekly raffle for bigger prizes. And then, for the end of summer the top reader in each category will receive a grand prize. For kids there is a family membership to the Museum of Science. For Teens a gift certificate for 4 to Boda Borg. And finally Adults will win a city of Malden rain barrel with a custom library logo.

Summer Reading Ending Soon!

Posted on by Cait Quinn

This is not a drill! Summer session is ending soon. We have just two more weeks of prizes before we wrap up our summer reading program and move onto the Fall season. Minutes must be submitted before August 31st and prizes must be picked up before September 1st. Also the week 8 prize in this year’s summer reading iron on patch. It is an exclusive MPL design and the most fashionable accessory of the year.

Stil need to sign up? You can back date all your minutes for the summer and collect prizes now before we run out. (We have supplemental prizes for the weeks that have run out, so don’t worry). To add to our minutes and help us reach our goal of 600,000 hours read as a community log in or set up your Beanstack account. It is the Beanstack Tracker app on mobile or use this link to get to the website. bit.ly/BeanstackMPL

Special Event Summer Movie Night: Wed., August 6th: 6:00-8:00pm

Posted on by Stacy Holder

Please join us for a Special Event Summer Movie Night on Wednesday, August 6, 2025: 6:00-8:00pm at the Malden Public Library. We will be showing one of the best films of the year about Flow. This movie won the Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2025. It is directed by Gints Zilbalodois.

This film is “A wondrous journey, through realms natural and mystical, [it] follows a courageous cat after his home is devastated by a great flood. Teaming up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog to navigate a boat in search of dry land, they must rely on trust, courage, and wits to survive the perils of a newly aquatic planet. From the boundless imagination of the award-winning Gints Zilbalodis (Away) comes a thrilling animated spectacle as well as a profound meditation on the fragility of the environment and the spirit of friendship and community. Steeped in the soaring possibilities of visual storytelling, [this film] is a feast for the senses and a treasure for the heart.” Rated PG (85 min.) (2025) 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

This Special Event Summer Movie Night is generously supported by The Friends Of The Malden Public Library. Thank you Friends!

We will have a free raffle of movie-themed prizes. Free snacks will be provided. Movie times are approximate.

Summer Movie Night: Wed., July 16th: 6:00-8:00pm

Posted on by Stacy Holder

Please join us for Movie Night on Wednesday, July 16, 2025: 6:00-8:00pm at the Malden Public Library. We will be showing a recent comedy starring, Keke Palmer and Sza, who are having One Of Them Days.

“When best friends and roommates Dreux and Alyssa discover Alyssa’s boyfriend has blown their rent money, the duo finds themselves going to extremes in a race against the clock to avoid eviction and keep their friendship intact.” Rated R (97 min.) (2025) 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Free snacks will be provided. Movie times are approximate.

Summer Reading Prize Week 4

Posted on by Katie Walsh

Summer Reading Week 4 means a tasty new prize for kids and teens who have logged their reading minutes: a free, small ice cream with one topping from Monkey King Tea! Monkey King Tea is located at 249 Highland Ave. in Malden, and you can check out their website HERE.

Once you’ve logged your minutes in Beanstack, you can pick up your certificate at either the Information desk (for Teens) or the children’s desk (for kids in 5th grade or younger).

If you haven’t registered for summer reading yet, it’s not too late! Sign up on our Beanstack site HERE or via the Beanstack app on your phone, and you can backlog your previous weeks’ reading minutes (honest estimates are okay)!

Happy reading and stay cool!

Gatsby Community Workshop

Posted on by Stephen Deloney
The Malden Public Library will host a free workshop by the American Repertoire Theater for  ages 16+. The workshop will held in the Maccarrio Room Thursday July 25th from 6-8PM. RSVPs are required. Sign up here.
Inspired by A.R.T.’s production of Gatsby, these workshops use theater as a framework to explore themes of belonging, aspirations for the future, and what the American Dream means today, and activate our Essential Question: How can we build a new world that is in conversation with those that came before? 
 
A.R.T.’s Engagement workshops allow community members from across Greater Boston to deeply engage in the themes, questions, and ideas sparked by our productions through theatrical frameworks, generative dialogue, and community-building activities. 
 
RSVPs are recommended Sign up here

Summer Reading Prize Week 1

Posted on by Cait Quinn
We are wrapping up our first week of reading here at the Library and we just want to remind you to log your minutes for the prize this week. We are very excited to announce our first summer reading prize is a certificate good for $5 at Bam Bam Chicken! They are very kindly sponsoring this week of reading by encouraging kids and teens dive into a good book or 10.
 
Bam Bam Chicken is located at 2 Florence Street, Malden right across from the Malden Train station. You can pick up your certificate at either the Information desk (for Teens) or the children’s desk (for kids in 5th grade or younger). To see their menu or get location details check out their website. 
 
Did you forget to register? No problem, you can sign up and log your reading at our Beanstack site, the app (search Beanstack), or at any desk at the Library. Don’t forget to register for the summer reading challenge for your age group when you sign up!
 
Psst…Adults we don’t have Bam Bam Chicken, but we have cool prizes you can win for Summer Reading, if you submit your minutes, we’ll enter you in a raffle. More details in a different post!

Summer Reading Kickoff!

Posted on by Katie Walsh

NOTICE: Due to the expected high temperatures, the summer reading kickoff and ice cream social will now be held in the Malden Public High School cafeteria, directly across the street from the library.

It’s that time of year again! Come celebrate the 2024 Summer Reading Challenge Kickoff, here on the front lawn of the Malden Public Library! Featuring music by musician Steve Blunt, and ice cream treats from Dairy Delight. Throughout the summer, you can log your reading minutes on the Beanstack reading app to enter to win great prizes (for kids, and adults). Pre-register for summer reading at this link to get started:
bit.ly/BeanstackMPL