Public Service Announcement

My family moved to the Denver area when I was two and lived there until a month or two after I began first grade. I had lived in Indiana and Illinois, but this was the first time I was old enough to develop any sort of attachment to a place, and Denver is where my first significant childhood memories take place. After our family reunion in the Rockies a couple weeks ago, my parents and I had an afternoon to drive around our old neighborhood in Littleton.

This wasn't my first time back. My dad's sister and her family moved out to the area awhile back and we've visited a few times. But my visits to Littleton in the past have been mostly limited to our old house and the temple (which was under construction while we lived there). This time we had lots of time to explore, and I saw places I had almost forgotten about. One of those was the library. As a family, we always took regular trips to the library, but while I have very clear memories of our public library in California, my memories of the library in Littleton are fuzzy. The one thing I do remember is some sort of summer reading program for which my brothers and I earned several free books, including the family favorite Mystery on the Docks, a Reading Rainbow book whose story, populated entirely by rodents, centers on Ralph, the short-order cook who recognizes his favorite opera star, Eduardo Bombasto, from a gang of rats, with the help of Mr. Bombasto's incredible, booming voice. There were other books, too, but this is the one I remember.

I mention this because I learned something the other day while talking to a friend who works as the branch manager of the Traverwood Branch of the Ann Arbor District Library. Like any good library, the AADL has its own summer reading program (not unexpected). But what I just learned is that they have a reading program for adults, as well. !!! Throughout elementary school I got used to earning stickers on charts and competing with my best friend to read more books than anyone else in class and getting coupons for Pizza Hut through the Book It! program. But I thought my days of reading for prizes and recognition ended after the sixth grade. I was thrilled to learn that someone is still willing to reward me. Forget internal motivation.

If you are an Ann Arbor District Library card holder, you can drop by your favorite branch or register online. Kids have to read ten books over the course of the summer, but the standards for adults are lower and we just have to read five (I already have!). If you fill out a form by August 14, you'll get a Great Harvest Bread Company coupon, a free DVD Zoom Lend, or a $5 fine forgiveness. This is perfect for me because I have accumlated exactly $5 in library fines for not turning in my DVDs on time since the last time I paid off my account. You have to enter in your favorite library branch (I recommend Traverwood), because according to my branch manager friend, the library branches have a competition for the greatest number of library patrons signing up for the summer reading program.

So go do it! Support the Traverwood library branch! Read books! Remember your childhood! Let someone else motivate you for a change!

Happy summer reading, everyone :).