Ten Edwardsville-area kids win a bike for reading books this spring
Edwardsville area children in kindergarten through eighth grades put the pedal to the page for a month-and-a-half this spring, and it paid off on April 26 when ten of them received brand-new bicycles their efforts.
Seven-year-old Eddie Turner of Edwardsville was one of them.
“I read 15 books including ‘Dog Man’ about a dog-headed cop,” Turner said. “I’m going to have fun with my friends on this new bike.”
The Cyclery and Fitness Center of Edwardsville presented the ten bicycles during a random drawing for participants on Saturday. The third annual JewelRide Books for Bikes Spring Reading Challenge, which started March 1 at the Edwardsville Public Library and continued through April 15, offered new bikes as prizes for kids after they read and logged in their books during that time.
“You want to keep the mind and the body sharp, and reading and bicycling do that,” said Scott Shaw from The Cyclery and Fitness Center. “Both activities work well together and we try to encourage young people to do both.”
Each child received one raffle ticket for every book they read during the challenge time frame, with a cap of 20 tickets per child. Shannon Wallace’s three daughters, Adeena, Adrienne and Annabell, all took part in the JewelRide Books for Bikes Spring Reading Challenge. The sisters didn’t go home with a bicycle, but they still picked up some positive benefits from participating.
“They are now motivated to read,” Wallace said. “I think this is a great combination of reading and bicycling and it’s a great motivator because my girls are very active. I love that the library constantly does these things to motivate readers.”
Children’s Services Librarian Megan Prueter said the Spring Reading Challenge was all a part of the push to get more people to use the library.
“We like to do a vast array of things to match what the community wants and needs,” Prueter said. “We were really happy with the participation in the reading challenge.”
The bicycle winners in the 2025 JewelRide Books for Bikes Spring Reading Challenge were Teresa Foppe, Giovanni Bolt, Charlotte Doyle, Aurora Chung, Raahi Ray, Clare Hake, Eddie Turner, Oliver Veto, Juniper Dust, and Clara Cartright. The challenge sponsors were Dr. Hyten of Hyten Dental, JewelRide, the Cyclery and Fitness Center, Edwardsville Public Library, YCG Accounting and Thompson Flaherty, and BJ’s Printables.
“One of the things we like to promote in the community is literacy, and we are interested in getting people to read and have healthy lifestyles,” said JewelRide Founder and CEO Tapiwa Mupereki. “The participation of these kids means everything to us. It’s a joy for us as a business and for me as an individual.”
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“Ten Edwardsville-area kids win a bike for reading books this spring” The Edwardsville Intelligencer,
https://www.theintelligencer.com/news/article/edwardsville-il-library-books-for-bikes-winners-20296117.php April 27th, 2025.
