While Eliana has always been a bookworm, this year has exploded that passion! Her school sets the expectation that each student will read 100 books throughout the school year, and they held a read-a-thon in the fall to spark the students’ excitement and raise funds to build a Little Free Library. Eliana was determined to win, and her persistence paid off! 740 minutes of reading in two weeks earned her first place in kindergarten. Proud teacher mama moment!
Fast forward a few months, and she’s reached another big milestone: reading 200 books so far this school year! How do you celebrate accomplished reading? With more books, of course!
We decided to take Eliana to Barnes & Noble to let her pick out any book she wanted. This was a big deal for a couple of reasons: One, I’m a bargain hunter. We get the vast majority of our books from the library because otherwise, we’d literally be spending thousands of dollars on books a year, and I’d rather put that towards a Disney vacation! Two, I wanted Eliana to have a special keepsake to mark this milestone.
After perusing ALL of her favorites, she settled on a collection of 12 Pinkalicious stories in one binding. She definitely got her money’s worth!
As we were checking out, Eliana excitedly informed the cashier that she was buying a new, special book because she had read 200 books, and the cashier sweetly congratulated her. Then she asked me if we were part of the Barnes & Noble Kids’ Club. What?! I pride myself on knowing every possible teacher discount and summer reading program in the city, but I had never heard of the Barnes & Noble Kids’ Club. I was disappointed in myself!
In a nutshell, the B&N Kids’ Club is a FREE rewards program that sends you a $5 certificate for every $100 you spend on children’s items online/in stores. You also get a 30% off welcome coupon and a free cupcake from the cafe on your birthday. I know, I know, $5 doesn’t sound like that much of a reward, but if you’re buying books anyway, you might as well take advantage of it. Plus, it’s fun for kids to decide how to spend their precious $5. (I am not affiliated with B&N in any way except to be addicted to their new book smell. Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about!)
Eliana is determined to reach 300 books read by the end of the school year. I love her enthusiasm, and I’m quite optimistic that she will reach her goal!