Summer Passport Challenge: Bringing Long Island SBC Chapters Together

We're excited to invite Robyn, host of SBC Sea Cliff, to chat with us on the blog today about the Silent Book Club Summer Passport program! 

Q: Tell us about the program. How did it work, and what inspired you to organize it?

The Silent Book Club Summer Passport was something I dreamed up after seeing how incredible the Long Island Silent Book Club community really is. So many of our members already hop around to different meetings across Long Island, and I thought, why not make it into something fun for the summer?

The idea is simple: each participant gets a passport with all 15 participating chapters listed. In our case, that was Silent Book Clubs: Sea Cliff, Glen Cove, Bayshore, Huntington, Garden City, Farmingdale, Port Washington, Babylon, Wantagh, Stony Brook, Tiny Racoon Books, A Bookplace Boutique, Patchogue/Medford, Rockville Centre, and West Hampton.

Every time you visit a new chapter, you get your passport “stamped” by the host of that chapter. At the end of the summer, your stamps turn into raffle tickets for our epic prize basket! Collect 5 stamps and snag 1 entry, hit 10 stamps and score 3 entries, and if you fill all 15 stamps, you’ll have 5 chances to win a basket overflowing with books, gift cards, and treats from our favorite local authors, bookstores, and coffee shops.

I designed the first version of the passport and shared the idea with the other 14 Long Island chapters, and they jumped on board immediately. Cindy, the host of Silent Book Club Glen Cove, worked magic with Google Sheets, creating both a physical sign-up sheet and a shared online tracker so we could easily update attendance after each meeting. From there, every chapter pitched in — editing the design, helping with logistics, and gathering donations for the prize basket (huge shout-out to Krista, host of Silent Book Club Bayshore, for organizing the raffle basket).

Q: Why did you decide to bring this program to life, and how has the response been from your community?

Honestly, we all just wanted to create something fun and low-pressure that would bring our community together even more. The goal was to encourage people to check out new chapters, meet new friends, and explore all the different spaces that make Long Island’s Silent Book Clubs so unique.

The response has been beyond what any of us expected — in the best way possible! Across all 15 chapters, we have over 2,000 people who follow our social media and attend our meetings, and more than 250 readers signed up for the passport challenge this summer. It’s been so exciting to see the enthusiasm from both our members and the local businesses who support us.

Q: Do you have a favorite moment or memory from the program so far?
One of our favorite things has been seeing people walk into a new meeting for the first time, passport in hand, and immediately get welcomed like family. The energy is contagious — people compare stamps, swap book recommendations, and plan which chapters they’re visiting next. It really feels like the passport turned our 15 separate chapters into one big, connected community.

Q: What advice would you give to other Silent Book Club chapters that might want to try something similar?
The biggest thing I’d say is: make it a group effort. There are a few key pieces you’ll want to divide up:

• Someone to design the passport
  

• Someone to create both a sign-up sheet and a shared online tracker (Google Sheets worked great for us)
  

• Someone to organize the prize basket
  

• And, most importantly, everyone pitching in to keep things running smoothly
  

When every chapter helps out — whether it’s editing the design, donating books or gift cards, or just cheering the project along — it really does come together in the best way.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share with chapters or readers who are curious about starting their own version of the passport challenge?

This whole project has been such a reminder of why Silent Book Club is so special. It’s about books, yes, but it’s also about community, about supporting local authors and small businesses, and about creating a welcoming space where readers instantly feel at home.

I hope other chapters feel inspired to try something similar! It doesn’t have to look exactly like ours — make it your own, and let your community’s personality shine through.

 Getting help from trusted members with the same vision and who understand the goals of Silent Book Club really goes a long way!

Abingdon Silent Book Club had a fabulous day out on the Thames for its Reading Cruise from Abingdon to Oxford, followed by drinks and nibbles at The Head of the River Pub!

Just in time for summer reading, we had the pleasure of asking best-selling author Liane Moriarty a few questions about travel habits, dream reading escapes, and the inspiration for her latest novel, Here One Moment.

To celebrate the much-anticipated paperback release of Liane Moriarty's #1 New York Times bestseller, Here One Moment, we've teamed up with our friends at Crown and Pacifica Hotels to bring you a Summer Getaway Giveaway designed to help you unwind, recharge, and dive into an unforgettable reading experience.

Silent Book Club chapters across the U.S. are participating in #Read25Day on June 25th, organized by The Happiness Project author Gretchen Rubin in partnership with Bookshop.org. Thousands of readers nationwide are pledging to spend 25 minutes on June 25 reading silently.

At Silent Book Club, we believe everyone deserves a welcoming space to connect through books, and our incredible queer chapters are shining examples of this mission in action. From Seattle to Chicago, Salem to Denton, these communities are more than just book clubs; they're vital havens of affirmation, connection, and joy. Join us as we shine a spotlight on how these inspiring organizers are creating inclusive spaces where every reader can truly belong.

In honor of Pride month and Juneteenth, Silent Book Club has created a Collective Liberation Bookshelf stacked with voices that resist, reimagine, and rise. The books in this collection celebrate queer joy, Black brilliance, resistance, and the kind of freedom that lives in both protest and poetry.

Join the Silent Book Club of Death NYC for a special meetup at the Met Cloisters on July 2nd! Read with fellow bookworms in companionable silence, with a twist: you can choose to read books on death, dying, grief, aging, mortality, and chat about death awareness in good company.

Our latest playlist highlights and celebrates libraries, books, readers, and at least a little bit, librarians. Tune in, drop in to your local library, and support these historic institutions of literacy and learning.