Maple Grove School Combines Birthdays and Reading

These days, it’s not easy to encourage kids to read.

With a variety of electronic gadgets at their fingertips, they’ll sooner pick up an iPad than they will a book. Despite the many distractions, librarians at say they have a program that has kids excited about reading.

“We have kids talking about it all the time,” Rush Creek’s Information Technology Specialist Donna Ohlgren said. The program she’s talking about is the Birthday Book Program. Parents can donate money at the beginning of the year, and when their child’s birthday rolls around they get to select a birthday book. The birthday boy or girl is the first one to check the book out and take it home to read. Then they bring it back to the library for others to enjoy.

“Each year I go out and buy quality books for those that want to participate,” Ohlgren said. “We put the child’s name on a sticker inside the book so everyone that checks it out in the future knows that the book was donated by one of their own classmates.”

Each year, about 200 families decide to participate in the program and according Ohlgren, it generates a lot of buzz in the library.

“We have kids in here all the time that say, ‘Oh that’s my birthday book’ or ‘I want to read my friend’s birthday book.’” Ohlgren says this excitement has encouraged a lot of children to read.

“We work really hard to make sure kids are reading and that they are enjoying it,” she said. “The birthday books are just another tool in our tool box to keep kids excited about reading.”

Parents like Jane Stangler say her two children love the program.

“When they brought home their birthday book, they thought it was a real treat to read and to see their name inside,” she said. Stangler says she will participate in the program again since her daughter, Olivia, and her son, Nathan, enjoyed it so much this year.

“I think more parents should participate,” she said. “It’s such a simple way to promote reading.”

The birthday book program is optional. Parents receive a letter at the beginning of each year asking them if they would like to participate.