Shameless Boasting, of Interest Primarily to Grandparents

Josie was captain of her Global Reading Challenge Team in the Seattle semi-finals today. The Orca Reading Rockets didn't win, but they did great -- it was a very close round.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Global Reading Challenge, it's this contest where they assign ten books (kid novels set in different cultures) and then your team of six competes to answer trivia questions about them: "What street did so-and-so live on?" "How many hours was the bus ride from school to the reservation?" It's a little weird that it is such trivial trivia, and not anything about whether you've comprehended the deeper themes of the book... But hey, it's all about reading, the books look pretty good, and the kids had fun.

But I'll admit my proudest moment was when the lady running the contest said, "Now folks, isn't this a great program? Do you think if we'd handed these kids ten books and said 'Go read them,' they would have done it? No! But if they know they'll win a pencil in the Global Reading Challenge -- well, then they'll read!" As the parent of a child who has to be forcibly prevented from reading past midnight every night, with nary a pencil at stake, I was a little taken aback by this statement. Or really, by its triumphant tone: I mean, even if it's true for some kids, is it really something we should be crowing about?

So I turned to roll my eyes at John, our school librarian, who was sitting next to me in the audience. And just as I was biting my tongue to keep from insisting that my daughter would have read the books anyway, he said "Yes, Josie had to make room in her busy reading schedule for these ten books, didn't she?"

Which reminds me, I'd better go up there and make her turn out the light.