ANNIVERSARY BINGO TIPS AND IDEAS
Here are some ideas to get you started with MCB 25th Anniversary Bingo, but feel free to be creative!
Take a field trip to a MA literary site or author house museum
Check out the American Writers Museum List for inspiration, or here are some to get you started:
Emily Dickinson Museum
Website: https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/visit/
Address: 280 Main Street, Amherst MA 01002
Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art
Website: https://carlemuseum.org/
Address: 125 W. Bay Rd., Amherst, MA 01002
Yiddish Book Center
Website: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/
Address: 1021 West St., Amherst, MA 01002
Longfellow House
Website: https://www.nps.gov/long/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm
Address: 105 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA
Louisa May Alcott Orchard House
Website: https://louisamayalcott.org/visit
Address: 399 Lexington Rd., Concord, MA 01742
Ralph Waldo Emerson House
Website: https://www.ralphwaldoemersonhouse.org/
Address: 28 Cambridge Turnpike, Concord, MA 01742
Thoreau Farm
Website: https://thoreaufarm.org/
Address: 341 Virginia Rd, Concord, MA 01742
W.E.B. Du Bois National Historic Site
Website: https://www.duboisnhs.org/visit/
Address: 612 S. Egremont Rd, Great Barrington, MA
The Mount, Edith Wharton’s Home
Website: https://www.edithwharton.org/
Address: 2 Plunkett St, Lenox, MA 01240
Herman Melville’s Arrowhead
Website: https://berkshirehistory.org/
Address: 780 Holmes Rd, Pittsfield, MA 01201
The House of the Seven Gables
Website: https://7gables.org/tickets/
Address: 115 Derby St, Salem, MA 01970
The Edward Gorey House
Website: https://www.edwardgoreyhouse.org/pages/plan-your-visit-today
Address: 8 Strawberry Lane, Yarmouth Port, MA 02675
Volunteer with a literacy program in your community
Here’s a short list of programs operating in Massachusetts. This list is just a starting point—ask friends and family about literacy programs in your community.
English at Large (website)
Link to Libraries (website)
Literacy Volunteers of Massachusetts (website)
Mass Literacy (website)
Massachusetts Reading Association (website)
More Than Words (website)
Reach Out and Read Massachusetts (website)
Reader to Reader (website)
The Immigrant Learning Center (website)
The Literacy Center (website)
Wondermore (website)
Visit a Little Free Library near you
Check out the Little Free Library World Map and enter your location!
Discover an event through our Mass Literary Events Calendar
Click here to be directed to the calendar
Join a book club
Ask your local librarian or independent bookseller about book clubs in your area. Or grab a few friends and start your own!
Read a book from a MA based publisher
Here are a few publishers to get you started:
Restless Books in Amherst, MA (website)
Interlink Publishing in Northampton, MA (website)
Storey Publishing in North Adams, MA (website)
Candlewick Press in Somerville, MA (website)
Barefoot Books in Concord, MA (website)
Charlesbridge Publishing in Watertown, MA (website)
Godine in Boston, MA (website)
Page Street Publishing in Boston, MA (website)
Small Beer Press in Easthampton, MA (website)
Mariner Books in Boston, MA (website)
Bulgilhan Press in Somerville, MA (website)
University of Massachusetts Press in Amherst, MA (website)
Beacon Press in Boston, MA (website)
Brandeis University Press in Waltham, MA (website)
Harvard University Press in Cambridge, MA (website)
MIT Press in Cambridge, MA (website)
Follow MCB on Social Media
Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Twitter
Go to an Independent Bookstore Day event
April 26, 2025! Check with your local indie bookstore or visit this website.
Visit a MA bookstore
New England Independent Booksellers Association has compiled a list of MA independent bookstores
Read a banned book
Lists of banned books can be found at the following websites:
Participate in a MCB program or event
Visit our website for event information. Programs include Letters about Literature, the 2025 Reading Challenge, Mass Kids Lit Fest, and more.
Make a book donation
Ask your library, local used bookstore, or thrift store if they accept book donations, or find a Better World Books drop box near you. Check out the Prison Book Program for organizations that arrange book donations to incarcerated people all around the country.
Go to a MA book festival
Here are some to get you started:
Martha’s Vineyard Book Festival
Newton Children’s Book Festival
Read a Mass Book Award-winning title
Visit our website for a list of previous winners
Visit a famous MA author’s grave
Here’s a list to get you started:
John Greenleaf Whittier at Union Cemetery in Amesbury, MA
Emily Dickinson at West Cemetery in Amherst, MA
Harriet Beecher Stowe at Chapel Cemetery in Andover, MA
e.e. cummings, Anne Sexton, Lucy Stone, and Eugene O’Neill at Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston, MA
Phyllis Wheatley at Copp’s Hill Burial Ground in Boston, MA
Harriet Jacobs at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge/Watertown, MA
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge/Watertown, MA
Henry James at the Cambridge Cemetery in Cambridge, MA
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and Louisa May Alcott at Author’s Ridge at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, MA
John Kerouac at Edson Cemetery in Lowell, MA
Peter Benchley at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Nantucket, MA
Anne Bradstreet at Old North Parish Burying Ground in North Andover, MA
Norman Mailer at the Provincetown Cemetery in Provincetown, MA