This summer, Berks County readers are challenged to help one lucky shelter pet find a forever home by reading books. Pages for Pets is a library initiative aimed at sponsoring the adoption fee of a shelter pet by encouraging readers to work towards a county-wide goal of 500,000 minutes read.

The event is being hosted by Reading District Libraries in collaboration with the Animal Rescue League (ARL) of Berks County and will run concurrent with the annual library Summer Reading Program. Local participating libraries include the Boone Area Library in Birdsboro and the Village Library of Morgantown.

Readers from across Berks County will have until Friday, July 26, to successfully read a combined total of 500,000 minutes. Every minute counts towards the financial sponsorship of a pet's adoption at the ARL.

The ARL will announce which pet will be sponsored thanks to readers' efforts on Monday, July 29.

Readers of all ages are welcome to join the challenge and are free to read whatever they choose, including novels, ebooks, audiobooks, comics and graphic novels and newspapers. 

After successfully reaching the reading goal last summer, the ARL announced that Agent 007, a senior black cat, was the pet whose adoption fees were sponsored by the readers' efforts. He was adopted shortly after the announcement.

In addition to Pages for Pets, each of the 25 library locations in Berks County will host their own Summer Reading Programs, with a full schedule of free activities and programs for children, teens and adults.

For more information, visit http://www.berkslibraries.org/kids/p4p.