Summer Reading Program

Jane signed our family up for the Summer Reading Program at the Library. You read 8 books over the course of 2 months. Shouldn't be that hard, right? Well, for Jane and the boys, it wasn't. But I struggled a little bit.

The first book I read was a western. I don't remember the name of the book or the author, but I flew through it. Then I took Deacon to the zoo's presentation at the Library which counted as reading 1 book. So I had 2 done with no problems. But after that, I hit a wall.

Growing up, I used to read quite a bit. But I haven't done much reading since...middle school? I have no problem reading a Sports Illustrated or picking up the latest Fantasy Baseball magazine, but to sit down and read an entire book...I just don't have the attention span for it. I think I probaby have 4 or 5 books laying around the house that I am "reading" (which being interpreted means, I have started them and will probably never finish them). Not that there is anything wrong with any of the books, I just lose interest extremely quickly. And a few weeks into the Summer Reading Program, I ran into the same problem.

The theme of the Summer Reading Program this year was "Making a Splash" (or something like that), so one of your books had to have the word "river", "water" or "fish" either in the title of the book or in the author's name. I checked out another western book with the word "river" in the title. It was brutal. I read the 1st chapter and realized I would never get through it.

By this point, Jane had probably already read 5 Francine Rivers books. Rivers...that counts as your required reading. So I came up with the brilliant idea of checking out a Francine Rivers book on tape! That way I could multi-task. It's tough to read while you are driving, but I could listen to the tape every day driving to and from work. What a great plan! The book I checked out was "As Sure As The Dawn". It was 14 tapes. It lasted 20 hours. I have an 8 minute drive to work. It wasn't nearly as easy as I thought it would be.

During this time, I read 3 books: The Code (about the unwritten rules of baseball), Glory Road (the autobiography of Coach Don Haskins (there is movie about him by the same name)), and Winterdance by Gary Paulsen (about running the Iditarod sled dog race (which has now been added to my Bucket List)). I finished Winterdance Tuesday night. The Summer Reading program ended on Friday. If you are keeping track, I had 5 done and I was almost done with the tape. I had 2 days to read 2 books.

So I went back to the carefree days of my childhood....The Hardy Boys! If you read a children's book, it has to be at least 125 pages (so unfortunately, the Berenstain Bears were not an option). Wednesday night after work, I went to the library and checked out 2 Hardy Boys books. I didn't spend much time searching for the 2 shortest, I just made sure they were over 125 pages. One was around 130 and the other was around 178. I started with the longer book. Wednesday night before bed, I read 90 pages. Thursday morning, before work, I finished the first book. By this point, I had also finished listening to the tapes. So I had 1 book left and less than 1 day to read it. (I'm sure you all are sitting on the edge of your seats by now. Can he do it? The suspense is probably killing you.) I read the 2nd book, all 130 pages, before I went to bed Thursday night. Hooray, I conquered the Summer Reading Program!

Friday after work, I went to the library to turn in my form and pick up my prize. I got there around 5:45...15 minutes before they closed and the Summer Reading Program was over. I turned in my form and was awarded 2 $1 coupons to the library (which I will probably use to pay my late fees that I accrued during this time) and a free book (which I will probably never read).

But at least I now am prepared for the Winter Reading program. I will check out a book on tape that meets the "required reading" requirements and ...7 Hardy Boys books!

Make it a great week!