On Tuesday night, January 5th, kids came to the Donald R. Wright Auditorium to do battle in Lucha Libros and answer questions about the book Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary. The questions are always in English and Spanish because the books are, too! Many kids come to us from the dual-language immersion programs at San Rafael Elementary and Jackson Elementary. They take the Spanish books home to practice their Spanish reading comprehension and increase their Spanish vocabulary. Other kids check out the book in Spanish so that a Spanish-speaking parent or caregiver can read it along with them. And every month on the first Tuesday, they come to the library prepared to show the world how BOSS they are at remembering details from the text!
The reward: other than demonstrating great reading skills and memory skills, COOL PRIZES! I buy a plethora of stuff from places like Oriental Trading, Dollar Tree and the 99-Cent Store, so that the kids have lots of fun things to choose from. On Tuesday some of the most popular prizes were a paint-it-yourself ceramic bank and a toy ninja sword with a decorative sheath. But another popular prize every month is a free book, and many kids select that, furthering their reading.
The kids are truly excelling at answering questions correctly. Their scores overall are very high this year. Way to go, luchadores!
If you have a 2nd or 3rd grade student who would like to participate in this program (there are still four more months of fun left!), please call 626-744-4725 or email anhurtado@cityofpasadena.net.