Library Director Says 9-year-old Should ‘step Aside’ to Let Others Win Reading Contest

Posted on the 20 August 2013 by Eowyn @DrEowyn

Fox News: A 9-year-old who has won five straight reading contests at a New York library  now has a new challenger to his throne – the library’s director, who says the young reader “hogs” the contest prizes each year and should “step aside.”

Tyler Weaver, who starts fifth grade in September, won the “Dig Into Reading” contest at the Hudson Falls Public Library this summer by reading 63 books from June 24 to Aug. 3, the Post-Star reports.

Weaver said he felt “great” that he won the contest again, winning prizes  such as an atlas, a water bottle and certificates of achievement. “Everybody he tells, he gets high-fives. Everybody’s so proud of him,” his  mother Katie told the Post-Star.

Everyone except the library’s director.

“Other kids quit because they can’t keep up,” Marie Gandron said, adding that she considered changing the rules of the contest so prizes are given to children whose names are pulled out of a hat instead of reading the most books.

But Gandron says she won’t change the contest now that Katie Weaver has come forward to the Post-Star with Tyler’s accomplishments. Lita Casey, a library aide, called Gandron’s plans to change the contest  “ridiculous.”

Heaven forbid Weaver keeps winning, the nerve of him to read to many books! Maybe other children should follow his lead.

DCG