A Friday Night Family
Literary Festival
You can use your public library to
obtain free materials for your very own family literary festival. Everybody
should pick a favorite author, playwright or movie actor or producer, and make
a list of the literary or video works of art that you want to read or see.
Maybe you want both the book and the DVD of the same story, to compare and
contrast with your own discussion afterwards. Or it might be fun for everybody
to watch the same movie, discuss the story, and then split up to read your
separate choices of books.
The point is to shut off the darn TV
for the weekend, let the weekend chores go just a little bit, and set aside
some quality time just for reading and sharing ideas within your family. That
shows your kids that books are a top priority in your life, when too often in
the crush of your daily routine, kids might be getting the message that reading
isn't a big deal.
Here's how to set up your private
literary festival:
Using your library's online consumer catalog system - iBistro is a common one -
you can search for books and movies from your own computer and have them
delivered to your hometown library.
If the title you want isn't in your
regional cluster, you state should have a library information database through
which you can borrow what you want from another library in far-flung regions of
the state.
Work about a week ahead of time to
make sure everything has time to arrive. Then on a Friday afternoon before the
library closes, pick up your "order" and maybe a pizza and some popcorn, and
then relax and have your own little family festival.
It may be so much fun that you
decide to do it again, with some friends next time. After that, who knows? The
sky's the limit! Maybe you'll have the whole town doing it with you! That's
what a festival is supposed to be, isn't it? Fun!
By Susan Darst Williams • www.GoBigEd.com • Read to Me 011 • © 2006
