Summer Reading Ideas

I stumbled on this page on GoodReads this morning: What Book Made You Fall in Love With Reading?  So far, there are 373 responses to the question, some folks are even older than I am (who knew that was possible), more are thirty  to forty something and there is a large group of teens and twenty somethings. The number one book/series mentioned by the later group is Harry Potter, no surprise there. That series turned my oldest grandson into an avid reader a decade and a half ago. Charlotte's Web is mentioned by all age groups. My youngest daughter became  an ardent reader after I read it to my kids.  The Percy Jackson series is mentioned numerous times, as is Nancy Drew (and not only by old people), The Baby Sitter's Club series, The Secret Garden (which would have made me into a voracious reader if I wasn't one already) and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Some people gave specific credit to mom or dad for reading to them. A bonus at the top of the page is a preview of  The BFG. Could one of the many books mentioned in this article be the one that hooks your kid?

Our local independent bookstore, Copperfield's is offering their Festival of Characters, kid's summer reading program for 2016. Go online or into a store to register and pick up a reading

bingo card. Five books in a row entitles you to a prize.

The website includes book lists, you might get an idea by looking at the graphics above what some of the books are (Ramona Quimby and Greg Heffley for the uniniated) 

Free Money Extended

 

The Give With Target was supposed to end yesterday, but there is still more than a half million dollars that has not been claimed. The program has been extended until September 30th or until all the money has been claimed. Boost your school’s total by voting here.

Free Money: Continued

As of this evening,  2.87 million dollars of the 5 million dollars Target is giving away to schools has been allocated. Two schools, St. Charles School and Northside Elementary  in Benson, MN have maxed out at $10,000. I don’t know anything about St. Charles School but I went to college near Benson, MN. It is a small town of less than 3500 people, but somehow they managed to come up with 10,000 votes on the Give With Target program. How is your school doing? If you are not on Facebook or Twitter, vote here. The program ends September 21 or when all the money has been allocated. You can vote once a week. Do it now!

Give With Target Update

Have you voted yet? If you voted for your school last week, you can vote again this week and every week until the program ends on Sept 21 or the $5 million has been allocated. To see what one school did to raise $2750 last year and how they spent the money, check out this You Tube video. You can vote here.

Free Money For Your School.

Again this year, Target is giving away millions of dollars to schools in the United States using the social media sites  Facebook and Twitter. A school needs a minimum of 25 votes to receive money. Twenty-five votes equals $25 for your school. Each additional vote brings one additional dollar to your school. Target is giving 5 million dollars away between now and Sept 21st or until all the money has been allocated. Last year, Target gave 2.5 million dollars this way and it took less than three weeks to give the money away. You can vote once per week. Vote and read about it here.

Win a Visit to Your School by Jan Brett

How would you like children’s book author, Jan Brett,  to come to your school next year? The third annual win a visit to your school or library by Jan Brett Facebook Contest has started. It ends April 8, 2013. Is is simple to enter. Go to Jan Brett's Contest page, click like. A form will pop up. It asks for your first name, your e-mail address, the name of your school or library, the city, state and zipcode. That’s it. I entered this contest last year and had maybe a half dozen posts from Jan Brett  since. One entry per person. The 2nd to 10th place prize is 10 Jan Brett books and the 11th to 100th prize is a signed Jan Brett poster.

Jan’s visit would be sometime in the 2013-2014 school year.

Jan’s website has games, videos, coloring pages and cards. You can also find out about her books and find out how she writes and illustrates her books by reading her blog. Her next book is called Cinders, A Chicken Cinderella.

Free Money!

Target is giving away up to 2.5 million dollars to U.S. elementary and secondary schools. The way they have chosen to allocate the money is by the number of votes on the Give With Target Facebook page. For every 25 votes a school gets, the school will receive a $25 Target Gift Card. The contest ends on September 8, 2012 or when the 2.5 million has been completely allocated. If you are on Facebook, you may vote for your favorite school(s) just once a week. The week starts on Saturday (if you vote on a Monday, you can vote again on Saturday). Tell your friends! It is FREE MONEY!!