Jim Jordan’s local school district in Doylestown, Pennsylvania asks all kids in middle school and up to choose and read at least one book from a summer reading list that the school provides. The Doylestown Bookstore, an independent book seller here in downtown Doylestown prominently displays all the books on the list on tables in their store. Jim broke a $100 bill into 10 x $10 bills and slipped the bills somewhere near the back of randomly selected books on these tables. On each bill was attached a sticky note with a message, such as:
• See – your teachers were right. Reading is rewarding.
• You never know what kind of surprises you’ll find in the pages of a book. #nonfiction
• Congratulations! Read on young blood.
• You’re almost to the best part. Keep reading!
• The value of reading cannot be overestimated
• Bet you never found one of these in a book you got from Amazon. Keep reading!
Jim’s goal was to simultaneously reward kids for reading and encourage them to keep doing so, as well as to support my local, independent bookstore.
Jim had fun and he writes, “…And oddly enough, a slightly nerve-wrackin experience”. Great idea!
[By Jim Jordan]