Summer Reading Program 2010

Let me begin with a little back ground information, our local libraries have sponsored a summer reading program for as long as I can remember. My sister and I were a part of it as kids and thoroughly enjoyed reading during the summer and earning free books. My nine year old has been a part of the program every summer as well and felt proud at every list he filled and every book he earned. He especially enjoyed putting his name on the wall every time he completed a book list. So when I heard the summer reading program was beginning May 24, I naturally signed all three of my kids up, expecting them to earn books this summer by reading 20 picture books or 10 chapter books for each list. (For the little ones, it has always been listening to books.)

A few days ago, we visited the library and I picked up a notice about the reading program. To my surprise it has been totally changed for 2010. Instead the number of books read, it is the hours read. Instead of keeping a paper copy, the lists are completed on-line.

Obviously, the on-line part is not difficult me, but what about those who do not have internet access at home. Their alternative is to keep record on paper, and have a librarian fill in the minutes and titles of books. This seems like a waste of a librarian's time, in my opinion, and could very well deter many parents from allowing their kids to participate in the program this year. Even for parents who do have internet access, many do not have the time to put in the information on a regular basis, where as a paper list barely took any time at all.

I mentioned that this summer the library is asking for minutes read instead of books. How many minutes? 360 minutes, per list! That's six hours of reading or listening that must be achieved to earn the incentive. And this year, only 3 incentives may be earned. (In the past, it was five.) Now for my son, who loves to read, reaching a total of 18 hours reading to earn 3 incentives will probably not be an issue. But when I was speaking to the librarian about signing up my daughters (2 yrs. and 9 mo) she didn't seem to0 confident that they would even reach one goal of 6 hours of listening, but as she said, they have all summer to do it, so maybe.

Why did the library make such a drastic change to the reading program? Money, kids who weren't able to complete a list due to special needs, lack of staff to work the table. I don't know, but I'm sure that the new approach isn't right for all kids either. My suggestion would be to keep the old and the new, just separate it by age. For non-readers or kiddos going into kindergarten and younger, the old way (listen to 20 books to earn an incentive). For 1st grade and up, the new way (read 6 hours to earn an incentive.)

As a sped teacher, I found that society is constantly trying to make a level playing field. We need to make everyone feel good in the same way. But that doesn't work. It hasn't worked in schools, and I have a feeling, it's not going to work for the reading program either.

I did sign the kids up, and so far we're not doing too badly. My 9 yr old is already have way through his first incentive, and would have completed it by now if it weren't for the fact that they have to read library books and not books from other sources. The girls are at about 4% toward their goal. When each book takes an average of 3 minutes to read, and their average attention span is about 3 minutes, it's going to take a while.

Oh well, guess it's time to go read!