What Works- Get Me a Lifeline

Excitement fills the air at our Library in Hodgenville, KY. The audience is hushed as the host enters the room, and the contestants, looking intent, listen to the first question. "In the books by Marc Brown, what does D. W. pick : Is it (a) her nose, (b) her guitar, (c) her fingernails, or (d) her food?"

No, it isn't the Regis Philbin game show on TV, but, rather, "Who Wants to Be a Million Dollar Reader?" at the LaRue County Public Library. The idea for the show came to me after reading about a summer reading program that used the "millionaire" theme to track reading progress. I thought a book-based version of the show would make a great after-school program for elementary school students.

Looking for a sponsor, I contacted a representative of Hilliard Lyons, an investment chain with an office here in Hodgenville. We had previously asked the company to help sponsor our summer reading program, but they preferred to be the single sponsor of an event. When we approached them about the millionaire game, they agreed right away. The cost? About $150.We decided to introduce our program with an evening family version. A representative from Hilliard Lyons answered questions about saving money for a college education, and then we played the game. Afterward, each weekly game took place on Wednesdays at 3 p.m. The sessions began with a snack, followed by the game. I would start by asking a "fastest stander-upper" question. These were based on nursery rhymes or classic stories that almost every child knows. The child who stood up first and answered the question moved to the hot seat. All the questions were based on one's knowledge of books and library skills. We had four prize levels. At levels one and two, the children had to get one question right to receive the prize. At level three, they had to answer two questions, and at level four, they answered three. Each week, all the children were allowed one turn in the hot seat. This way, everyone was guaranteed a turn for each of the seven sessions. Everyone who reached level four proceeded to our tournament of champions later in the year.

We tracked each child's progress by writing his or her name on a play dollar bill placed on a large gold-covered board that was surrounded by flashing Christmas lights. At level one, the prizes included a miniature Grand candy bar, a miniature Hershey's Nugget bar, and some extra-large play money. At level two, the prize was a bag of Gold Nugget gum. At level three, the children could choose a book, and at level four, they won five dollars. Tournament winners from each grade level received ten dollars.

Of course, we also had "lifelines." A contestant could choose to take the fifty-fifty option (which takes away two wrong answers), to poll the audience, or to go use the library. If they chose the last option, they could either ask someone in the library or look up the answer themselves. The library option turned out to be the favorite. I ended each session by giving a clue to the upcoming session's featured book. Anyone who could tell me the title of the book got to compete in the first round of "stander-upper" questions the next week. The kids actually stood in line at the catalog to find the answers!

For the two-week tournament of champions, we held a competition at each grade level, with one grand-prize winner per grade. I asked each group five questions, and the one with the most answers won.

This program was fun for me as well as for the kids, and once we got started, it took very little work beyond preparing questions. Each week, I needed a minimum of two questions per child: one for the "stander-upper" question and one for the hot seat, plus extra questions in case we had any new participants. After the program was almost over, I found Book Adventure (www.bookadventure.com), a Web site with quizzes based on children's books. The multiple choices on this site were harder than the ones I used, but to adapt some of their questions, all I had to do was change some of the answers, always adding a funny one or two.

One of the most gratifying aspects of the program was that 14 of the 17 participants were boys. As you know, boys are much harder to draw in to book-based programs than girls. When I asked two brothers what they'd liked about the game, one said, "I liked answering the questions." The other said, "I liked winning the money."