Empowering readers and closing the literacy gap without stigma.
The Mission: Building Lifelong Literacy Across Generations
Leaders, educators, and advocates know that strong literacy and reading skills are essential to successfully navigating the modern world.
Literacy forms the foundation for personal growth, critical thinking, and community connection. While establishing strong reading habits early in life creates the greatest long-term impact, literacy is ultimately a lifelong journey.
By pairing Lanternway with a curated directory of local community resources, we break down barriers for readers of all ages: empowering young minds by building early confidence, supporting teens in finding their voices, and re-engaging adults through accessible, high-interest literature.
Why Organizations Choose Lanternway
Traditional reading programs tend to only engage and reward the individuals who already love to read, abandoning those who need the support and encouragement.
We believe that the tools we use to track reading should be as diverse and supportive as the people using them, creating a unified space where every type of reader can thrive.
Lanternway gives libraries, schools, churches, and workplaces a calm, modern reading tracker for every age, with group goals, prizes, and grant-ready reports. Readers never pay anything.
Intentional Design
- Year-round, not just summer. Supplement literacy instruction, power seasonal reading challenges, or offer a safe, positive space for youth and adult literacy ministries. Levels, badges, and reading history are retained between campaigns, so readers keep coming back.
- Fair to every reader. Minutes count the same in every format, including audiobooks, graphic novels, and manga. Fair-play limits keep logs honest without policing anyone.
- Built for privacy. Your dashboard shows totals only: no names, no reading lists, nothing for groups smaller than 10. Readers can’t see or message each other.
- Accessible. We aim for WCAG 2.1 AA, the level U.S. public libraries and public schools must meet under the ADA, and testing is under way. The Lexend font, adjustable text, and dark mode are built in. Our Accessibility page says what’s done and what’s left, and our accessibility reports will be posted there.
- Activities, right for every age. Write your own, like reading outside or coming to story time with a code you post there, and see how many members did each one. We check every activity before members see it.
- Easy to join. Members join with your code, by scanning the QR code on a poster you print from your dashboard, or by tapping the link you share in your newsletter or emails. Nobody needs a library card number.
- Easy for staff. Sign in with a code sent to your work email, or with your organization’s Google or Apple account. Invite as many staff as your plan includes.
- Prizes without paperwork. Readers will show a completion screen at your desk to claim a prize. No names or card numbers change hands.
The reader app, the staff dashboard, join codes, and activities are built and in beta testing now. Campaign tools and prize screens open with our first pilots in 2027.
Core pillars
- Non-Punitive Gamification: Traditional gamified platforms often rely on stressful tactics to keep users hooked. Lanternway takes a different approach by using steady, positive reinforcement that lets readers build routines at their own pace.
- Neuro-Inclusive Design: Lanternway is designed to reduce sensory overload. We use clean typography, generous line spacing, and a minimalist interface designed to support readers with ADHD, dyslexia, or other learning and attention or visual processing differences.
- Validating High-Interest Formats: Manga, graphic novels, sci-fi, fantasy, and audiobooks are treated as top-tier reading materials. By validating the stories readers actually enjoy, we help them turn engagement into long-term habits.
What Your Dashboard Shows
Your admin dashboard shows:
- Readers who joined, readers active this month, hours read, and books finished
- Age groups (kids, teens, adults) when each group has 10 or more readers
- Progress toward your campaign goal(s)
- Whole calendar months only, so no single reader can be picked out
- Live and inactive activities and how many members completed each one, once 10 or more have completed them
Privacy protections
Your admin dashboard never shows:
- Names, email addresses, or book titles
- Any one reader’s minutes, books, or badges
- Anything about groups of fewer than 10 readers
Plans & Pricing
Every plan includes the full Lanternway app for every reader, free, and there are no per-user microtransactions to penalize your organization as your program grows.
Starter
Free
- 1 campaign at a time
- 5 activities at a time
- Up to 50 readers
- 1 staff login
- Monthly totals dashboard
Perfect for book clubs, small classrooms (after our library pilots in 2027), homeschool groups, or a first try before you commit.
Sponsored
Free
- Unlimited campaigns, activities, and readers
- Unlimited staff logins
- Monthly totals dashboard
For rural libraries now, and Title I schools once schools can join, paid for by sponsors when funding is available.
Community
$390 a year
- Unlimited campaigns and activities
- Up to 500 readers
- Up to 5 staff logins
- Downloadable reports
Perfect for churches, community groups, larger classrooms (after our library pilots in 2027), homeschool co-ops, and small libraries.
Schools & Districts
$490 a year per school
- Unlimited campaigns, activities, and readers
- Unlimited staff logins
- Downloadable reports
Opens to schools after our first library pilots. 15% off for 5 or more schools in a district. We sign the Illinois student data privacy agreement with every district before any student joins.
Libraries
From $590 a year
- Unlimited campaigns, activities, and readers
- Unlimited staff logins
- Grant-ready impact reports
Starts at $590 for libraries serving under 25,000 people, $1,090 for 25,000 to 100,000, and $1,690 over 100,000.
Corporate Wellness
From $790 a year
- Unlimited campaigns, activities, and readers
- Unlimited staff logins
- Downloadable reports
Perfect for reading challenges as a wellness benefit. Starts at $790 for up to 250 employees, $1,490 for up to 1,000. Larger teams on request.
Plans are paid yearly, by invoice, with check or Zelle. A 3-year agreement saves 10% and locks the price. Founding partners who pilot Lanternway in 2027 get their first season free.
Sponsorship Note: Mars Theory is dedicated to making literacy accessible to all. If funding is a barrier, please contact us.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you protect children’s privacy?
Children under 13 join only through a parent’s account, after the parent agrees to our notice, as federal law (COPPA) requires. Lanternway has no ads, no outside tracking, and no social features. Please visit our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service pages for full details.
Do you work with schools?
Not yet. Lanternway opens to schools after our first library pilots. Before any student joins, the district and Mars Theory will sign a student data privacy agreement (the standard Illinois one, the IL-NDPA), as Illinois’s student privacy law requires. Schools will see totals only, never a student’s own reading.
Do readers need to download an app?
Readers can use Lanternway in any web browser now, and on iPhone and Android once our phone apps arrive. It’s free in every case.
For the 2027 pilots, your staff will also be able to add paper reading logs as group totals, so readers without a phone count too.
Can we run our summer reading program in Lanternway?
Yes. Campaigns count minutes read, the same way for everyone. Activities you write count events and visits too: readers type a code you post at each one.
For the 2027 pilots, your staff will also be able to add paper reading logs as group totals, so readers without a phone count too.
Can patrons sign in with their library card?
No, on purpose. Lanternway never asks for library card numbers or PINs and never connects to your catalog, so there’s nothing in Lanternway that could expose a patron’s library account, checkouts or the personal details your library keeps. We never have them to leak.
Patrons join your program with your join code instead, and they sign in with an email code, Apple or Google; your staff sign in the same way.
What Lanternway does keep is protected: every connection is encrypted, the database lets each person see only their own reading, your staff see only totals for groups of 10 or more, and unused accounts are deleted after 24 months.
When can we start?
Lanternway’s public beta opens in early 2027, and our first library pilots run in summer 2027. Contact us to be a founding partner.
Need more information?
Email hello@marstheory.org if you have a question that’s not already on this page. We typically respond within 5 business days.
Prefer to send mail? Drop us a line at:
Mars Theory
2735 Hassert Blvd., Suite 135 #206
Naperville, IL 60564