Get Caught Reading

The local elementary school is really lucky to have a school librarian (I mean seriously, last year they cut over half of the school librarian positions in our area and it's a minor miracle and a testament to the great work she does that Mrs. Z was spared). And we're lucky enough to have a good relationship with her. 

Mrs. Z, in conjunction with us, just started a program she's calling "GET CAUGHT READING." The name is reminiscent of summer reading a few years ago, but there are no fishhooks or underwater graphics for this program. Instead, when Mrs. Z sees a child reading during her day at the school, she gives them a coupon redeemable for a prize at our library.

We're about a month into GET CAUGHT READING and so far we've gotten about 12 kids in  to claim prizes. I would say 7 or 8 of them are our regular kids, ones we see every day, but at least 4 of them are kids I didn't know at all. I love that this program gives us face time with kids we wouldn't otherwise see. The coupon that Mrs. Z came up with includes the name of the book the child was caught reading so it gives us an easy way to begin a conversation and recommend similar things. While they're here they usually also take a second to look around and realize that we have movies(!) and computers with awesome games (!) and a lot of their friends (!). 

I also love this program because it gives us a chance to get rid of all of the old summer reading prizes languishing in our drawers. We have so many nightlights and book lights left over from Dream Big that I've been handing them out to everyone who signs up for a library card, and I've been considering giving them away on checkout. 

But this? This is way more fun.