Idaho Youth Ranch Readers Program

I know that all too often I'm apt to rant a bit on this blog and I'm not as quick to rave about some of the cool things I come across offline.

This morning I was needing to kill some time and I stopped at one of the Idaho Youth Ranch locations.  If you aren't familiar with the Idaho Youth Ranch, for most it is just a chain of thrift stores around Boise....which already has a lot of thrift stores.

In actuality the thrift stores are a fundraising element that support actual youth homes here in Idaho, some of which are actual youth ranches.  You can read more about the mission of the Idaho Youth Ranch here.

Today when I was at one of the stores I noticed a sign stating that they were giving away free books

to kids.  I thought that sounded cool.  My grandmother taught me to read well at an early age and as a kid I never had enough books.  This effort to get kids books seems cool enough on its own, but when I got to the register (I bought a couple magazines) I saw this bookmark that took the "free book" thing to a whole new level.

Basically not only can a kid get a free book, but in order to encourage youth reading the Idaho Youth Ranch will keep giving kids books as long as they read them.  If they read five books then they get some "fun" prize.

This just seemed to me to be a good, practical way to encourage children to read.  It makes me wish I had more extra books to donate to this cause, but I've already dropped off a couple of boxes worth.

If you've got some kids who like to read, or who you would like to read more, stop by one of the Idaho Youth Ranch locations. They also take book donations, among other types of donations.

I'm a little biased, but I think youth literacy is the key to adult success in life.  Even if you disagree you'd probably have to admit that illiteracy is a huge barrier to success in life.  That may not have been the case 100 years ago, but it today's time.....