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School Programs
AFTER SCHOOL | SUMMER CAMPS | LIBRARY ENRICHMENT
The 16 Paws Adventure Club
Where Stories Come to Life
What if a children's book became an adventure?
What if reading inspired children to explore their own hometowns, plant gardens, cook together, create art, interview local heroes, care for the environment, and discover that kindness is one of life's greatest adventures?
The 16 Paws Adventure Club is more than a book series. It is a complete educational experience that transforms literature into hands-on learning and helps children build meaningful connections with their communities.
Designed as an adaptable model for schools, libraries, museums, parks, homeschool groups, and community organizations, the program can become an after-school club, summer camp, family enrichment program, literacy initiative, or interdisciplinary curriculum.
The best part? Every community can make it its own.
Every Community Has a Story
While the original adventures take place in Oyster Bay, New York, the 16 Paws model is designed to celebrate your community.
Whether you're in a small rural town, a bustling city, or somewhere in between, children explore the people, places, history, traditions, businesses, parks, and landmarks that make their hometown special.
Imagine Bentley leading children through the history of your town.
Imagine Cosette encouraging young poets to write about the beauty they discover.
Imagine Honeybear inspiring children to plant pollinator gardens.
Imagine Valentine reminding every child that kindness changes lives.
Every school writes its own adventure.
Reading Becomes Doing
Each chapter naturally expands into engaging, hands-on experiences that integrate multiple subjects while making learning joyful and memorable.
Literacy & Creative Writing
Children write stories, poetry, journals, newspapers, plays, and their own 16 Paws adventures inspired by their community.
History & Civics
Students discover the remarkable stories hidden in their own hometown while learning how local history connects to the larger story of America.
Gardening & Environmental Stewardship
Children plant vegetable, herb, butterfly, and pollinator gardens while learning about sustainability, conservation, wildlife, and caring for the natural world.
Cooking & Culture
Families prepare recipes inspired by local traditions, seasonal harvests, and the adventures in each story.
Art & Creativity
Painting, sculpture, illustration, photography, filmmaking, music, nature journaling, architecture, and community art projects allow children to express themselves while celebrating their hometown.
Science & Nature
From birds and butterflies to forests, beaches, rivers, farms, and ecosystems, children learn by observing and exploring the world around them.
Service Learning
Because every great adventure should leave the world a little better than we found it.
The Adventure Doesn't End With the Book
The 16 Paws Adventure Club extends beyond the classroom through unforgettable family experiences.
Families can follow clues left behind by Bentley, Cosette, Honeybear, Valentine, and the rest of the pack as they solve puzzles, visit historic landmarks, discover hidden treasures, complete creative challenges, and support local businesses along the way.
Each community can create its own signature scavenger hunts, seasonal events, festivals, and celebrations that encourage families to explore together.
Meet the Real 16 Paws
One of the most magical parts of the program is meeting the real dogs who inspired the stories.
The 16 Paws team can visit schools, libraries, bookstores, museums, hospitals, senior centers, festivals, and community events for:
Read-aloud story times
Literacy celebrations
Character education programs
Community festivals
Kindness initiatives
Family literacy nights
Book signings
Service-learning events
Schools anywhere in the country can also schedule live virtual visits, allowing students to meet Bentley, Cosette, Honeybear, Valentine, and the rest of the pack through interactive Zoom sessions filled with storytelling, questions, activities, and laughter.
For many children, meeting the real pups transforms reading from something they do into something they experience.
Learning Through Service
The heart of 16 Paws has always been kindness.
Inspired by our years of visiting the Oyster Bay Life Enrichment Center with our service dogs, the program encourages schools to partner with senior centers, veterans' organizations, libraries, hospitals, food pantries, shelters, and community nonprofits.
Students might:
Read aloud to older adults
Create artwork and handmade gifts
Deliver flowers from school gardens
Interview local veterans
Preserve community stories
Write letters of encouragement
Complete neighborhood kindness projects
Children quickly discover that the greatest adventures often come from bringing joy to someone else's life.
A Program That Grows With Your Community
The 16 Paws Adventure Club can become:
An after-school enrichment program
A boutique summer camp
A literacy initiative
A family engagement program
A homeschool curriculum
A library series
A museum education program
A community-wide celebration of local history
Every community tells a different story.
Every child discovers that extraordinary adventures can begin just outside their own front door.
Our Vision
We believe education is at its best when children are curious, connected, creative, and engaged in the world around them.
Our dream is to build a nationwide network of schools and communities using the 16 Paws Adventure Club to celebrate local history, strengthen civic pride, inspire creativity, foster environmental stewardship, and encourage meaningful service.
Because books should not simply be read.
They should be lived.
Meet The Poets
Poetry has a special place in the world of 16 Paws.
Poems written by Cosette, the pack's resident poet, are featured in Voices of the Valley, a community poetry anthology celebrating the beauty, history, wildlife, and spirit of Locust Valley and the surrounding North Shore communities.
Through this connection, students discover that poetry isn't something found only in old books or classrooms. It is a living art form that grows out of the places we call home.
As part of the 16 Paws Adventure Club, young writers are encouraged to become poets themselves. Children explore local parks, gardens, beaches, historic sites, and neighborhoods, learning to observe the world with curiosity and wonder before transforming those experiences into poems, stories, and personal reflections.
Students can participate in poetry walks, nature journaling, author workshops, community readings, and creative writing celebrations. Schools can even partner with local poets, writers, bookstores, libraries, and literary organizations to create their own Voices of the Valley-style anthologies that preserve the stories, landscapes, and voices unique to their own communities.
Every child has a story worth telling.
Sometimes all it takes is a little inspiration from a few four-legged friends to help them find their voice.
Meet the Historians
Dressed in his signature top hat and always ready with another fascinating story, Bentley is the official historian of the 16 Paws Adventure Club.
Throughout the books, Bentley introduces children to the remarkable people, places, and moments that shaped their community. But his adventures don't stop when the story ends. Bentley serves as a guide for educators, helping schools bring local history to life through engaging, interdisciplinary activities that inspire curiosity and civic pride.
Each historical adventure can be expanded into classroom lessons and enrichment experiences, including:
Creative writing prompts inspired by local history and historical figures
Historical fiction and storytelling activities
Arts and crafts connected to different eras and cultural traditions
Architecture and landmark sketching
Map-making and community exploration projects
Living history presentations and dramatic reenactments
Primary source investigations and oral history interviews
Community research projects and local museum partnerships
Walking tours and neighborhood history scavenger hunts
Field trip guides featuring museums, historic homes, nature preserves, monuments, libraries, and cultural institutions
Service-learning projects that help students preserve and celebrate their community's heritage
While Bentley's original adventures explore the rich history of Oyster Bay and Long Island, every school can create its own local version. Whether students are learning about Native cultures, Revolutionary War history, local inventors, artists, scientists, civil rights leaders, architecture, industry, or the natural history of their region, Bentley helps connect young learners to the stories that make their hometown unique.
By encouraging children to become historians themselves, Bentley reminds us that history isn't just something we read about—it's something we discover, preserve, and continue to write every day.