Monday, July 27, 2009

A run in with a librarian

It is not often that the blog becomes a platform for moaning but having gone to the library there was something I had to get off my chest.

My kids have signed up with great enthusiasm for this summer's reading challenge, Quest Seekers. Six books have to be read and for each two there are stickers and a reward. The children are very excited and really motivated in a way I have not seen before to read, read, read.

So imagine the horror when getting to the library to register our success finishing stage one. A grumpy librarian subjected the kids to an oral exam asking for plot, characters and a review before handing over the stickers. Why I agree it's good to ask if they enjoyed reading this felt like a test that someone wanted us to fail.

Sometimes you want to scream from the rooftops. If I worked in MacDonalds my main measure of success would be to see people tucking into their burgers contendedly. If I worked at a library surely i would measure success by seeing readers, particualrly from the next generaton, showing such interest in books?