Here's a quick and easy contest to do at a library -- we are having a Picture Your Pet Reading contest! Families can take a picture of their pet reading, and we will display it in the library (and on our blog: http://www.longhillreads.blogspot.com/). We have gotten such cute entries, we knew there was no way we could choose the best one, so we are just going to choose a winner at random (or maybe several winners). The prize? Probably a gift card to a local pet store.

 

We marketed this event not only on our website and in our email newsletter, but also by sending home a flyer with all the kids in grades K thru 5. This worked really well -- several mothers came in and said they were being bugged by their kids to take the picture. One woman checked out several books about mice and about cats because she wasn't sure what her cat would want to read. (!)

 

A study OCLC did a few years ago mentioned that the thing people associate with libraries the most is STILL books, no matter how we try to "update" our image. Hey, being associated with books is fine with me, and this type of thing is a great (and cheap!) way to get kids excited about books and reading.