Re: Ideas to get kids into reading

[Earl Sande <sandes@CODETEL.NET.DO>]

FMy most successful methods have been, not necessarily in any particular
order of achievement :

1.  a gun to the child's head, or to any suitable nearby friend, teacher,
or relative ;

2.  threaten to have their parent's turn off the television, the Nintendo,
to not take them to the theme park on their summer vacation, or make them
stay all week with Aunt Godzilla ;

3.  remove most of their fingernails, promising to return the items after a
successful interview on one book of their choice ;

4.  play "The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of Music" at volume until
everyone checks out a book ;

5.  have the School Board implement a "No Books, No Leaving" policy (though
that one did curtail my social life drastically, I must admit) ;

6.  place book in hand of student and drag them screaming and kicking all
the way to the circulation desk.  Works on both girls and boys ;

7.  hold up a copy of the "Hardy Boys" or "Nancy Drew" (which you all must
have shelveloads of) and tell them they MUST NOT, under any circumstances,
tell their parents that the library has such titles.  I had such a success
with this one, that I eventually had to mudwrestle the kids, the winner
getting to borrow a copy of the said book ;

8.  remove all interesting titles from the collection as ransom ;

9.  and, finally, threaten to remove all my clothes in the cafeteria.
Circulation soared that day!

But, kidding aside, there seems to be two keys to getting students
(teachers, administrators, etc.) to read :

1.  a keen reading staff who promotes reading as a way to enjoyment and to
success ;

2.  a well developed collection of materials suitable to the user's present
and future needs.

Earl P Sande
Elementary School Librarian
Director of Library Services
Carol Morgan School
Santo Domingo
Dominican Republic
e-mail :  sandes@codetel.net.do

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=
All postings to LM_NET are protected under copyright law.
To quit LM_NET (or set-reset NOMAIL or DIGEST), send email to:
listserv@listserv.syr.edu   In the message write EITHER:
1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL or 3) SET LM_NET DIGEST
4) SET LM_NET MAIL  * Please allow for confirmation from Listserv.
For LM_NET Help see: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/
Archives: http://askeric.org/Virtual/Listserv_Archives/LM_NET.html
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=