A Great Plan, But ...
Dear CMPL Librarians,
Thank-you for implementing a reading incentive program this summer. I know you do this every summer, my children are self-proclaimed non-readers, so the programs never have appealed to this family. Then we met your reference librarian named Lisa. She is a true extrovert and made certain that my kids were signed up to participate this year.
Here is the program you have going.
For teens: cross off a book for each hour of reading. After four crossed off hours, come in and get a prize. After the next five hours, come in and get a prize. After the last group of hours, come in and get a prize. Then the teen's name will be entered into a drawing for a Wii.
For elementary kids: the program is pretty similar with different increments for prizes.
Good enough for my kids. They were determined to get to those prizes.
My teen has been devouring the Clique series by Lisi Harrison.
My 10 year old has been reading How Angel Peterson Got His Name
My 8 year old has been reading The Day My Butt Went Psycho
And my 6 year old has been reading any book I put in front of him and call a chapter book.
Boy oh boy, did they read and read and read.
We crossed off lots of checks on the reading charts and finally three of the kids were ready to claim their prizes.
And here is where you, my CMPL went horribly, horribly wrong.
My 5th and 3rd grade boys got a sticker and a wind-up 1 inch car. It is actually inferior in quality to a McDonald's toy. They stared mutely at their "prizes."
My teen happily opened her first level of prizes: a pencil and a tiny post-it note pad thingie.
She had read so many clique books, she also qualified for the second level of prizes: even better things here.
She got:
We were so shocked at how inappropriate the prizes were that all we could do was laugh.
And then from the far back seat came the sonorous voice of the 6 year old:
"And THAT'S why I don't read!"
So thank-you, librarians for the program. Thank-you for Lisa, the reference librarian who got my kids to participate and who always finds great books for them. And thank-you for the laugh when we saw the prizes.
Sincerely,
A library patron who has single-handedly funded all your building projects through her overdue book fees
Thank-you for implementing a reading incentive program this summer. I know you do this every summer, my children are self-proclaimed non-readers, so the programs never have appealed to this family. Then we met your reference librarian named Lisa. She is a true extrovert and made certain that my kids were signed up to participate this year.
Here is the program you have going.
For teens: cross off a book for each hour of reading. After four crossed off hours, come in and get a prize. After the next five hours, come in and get a prize. After the last group of hours, come in and get a prize. Then the teen's name will be entered into a drawing for a Wii.
For elementary kids: the program is pretty similar with different increments for prizes.
Good enough for my kids. They were determined to get to those prizes.
My teen has been devouring the Clique series by Lisi Harrison.
My 10 year old has been reading How Angel Peterson Got His Name
My 8 year old has been reading The Day My Butt Went Psycho
And my 6 year old has been reading any book I put in front of him and call a chapter book.
Boy oh boy, did they read and read and read.
We crossed off lots of checks on the reading charts and finally three of the kids were ready to claim their prizes.
And here is where you, my CMPL went horribly, horribly wrong.
My 5th and 3rd grade boys got a sticker and a wind-up 1 inch car. It is actually inferior in quality to a McDonald's toy. They stared mutely at their "prizes."
My teen happily opened her first level of prizes: a pencil and a tiny post-it note pad thingie.
She had read so many clique books, she also qualified for the second level of prizes: even better things here.
She got:
- a plastic spider
- one piece of candy
- and
- a rub-on tattoo.
We were so shocked at how inappropriate the prizes were that all we could do was laugh.
And then from the far back seat came the sonorous voice of the 6 year old:
"And THAT'S why I don't read!"
So thank-you, librarians for the program. Thank-you for Lisa, the reference librarian who got my kids to participate and who always finds great books for them. And thank-you for the laugh when we saw the prizes.
Sincerely,
A library patron who has single-handedly funded all your building projects through her overdue book fees
Man I wanted to be a teen and get a chance at the wii but sheesh I can see where those silly things would turn a kid way off! sheesh...
today I came to visit your blog an about had a heart attack everything, I do mean EVERYTHING was gone except for the side bar... what a sigh of relief to come back tonight and see its all there!
at 12 01 my next installment will post... I think I hit the highlights ... of course tons was left out but... thats to be expected I think.
lemmie know what you think LOL like you would do anything less HA HA
HUGS laura
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If the disappearing website happens again try scrolling all the way down to the bottom. That's where my computer usually has it. Not always and I'm not sure why.
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That's unfortunate...I was on the Friends of the Library Board in Westport for 10 years, and while the budget doesn't usually allow for extravagant prizes. The kids all got a nametag on a big board for each level they passed. That was the biggest prize of all...how many nametags you could get on that big board before school started back!
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