Reading Contests

At both Muir and Bancroft we host the California Young Reader Medal Contest (CYRM). In recent years the John Muir Librarian has noticed a drop in participation. We spent some time thinking about why students were not interested in participating and what we could do about it. I know this year due to budget constraints I couldn't purchase all the copies and titles we had in the past and that hurt our participation numbers. But we both were wondering if a reason why students may be reluctant to read is that the titles don't appeal to them. Maybe we could have a reading contest that is specific to the interests of our students. Although the CYRM is state wide and our students can nominate books (we should do this in years to come), it might be more fun to have a local contest. This could also be a great opportunity to partner with the local library and involve more students in planning library events...sounds like this might be a project idea...