I don't know if it's a nationwide thing, but the Barnes & Noble I work at has a summer reading program for the kids--if they read any ten books, they can turn in their list and get a free book from a decent selection to choose from.

My parents love taking me out to eat when they visit & I know they won't let me pay, so I don't want to sock it to them.

Sara, holler if you want recs for when you're in DC. If you're museum hopping, the Museum of the American Indian is supposed to have a good cafeteria.

I remember reading prizes when I was a teen in London. Got me into a Dr Who reading by Terrance Dicks, if memory serves. I remember being stunned at how low the bar was set, but really, that was their mistake, not mine.

Man, I loved the London library system. I haven't needed the libraries here like I needed those, so I haven't explored them as deeply, but the US doesn't seem to have matched up yet.

I just doubled checked on the site - I can't find anywhere that there are prizes. A drawing per age group per branch seems doable, right? Kinda makes me want to buy something to donate to my local branch, but really, they have tote bags they could donate. I wonder if it is because people complain about making it a competition.

Anyhoo - I have made my reading bucks and will look into whether the B&N here do anything.

A hilarious post by the Manolo: [link]

As a kid, I only remember te MS Read-a-thon, where the reward for reading was other people's philanthropy! Maybe there was a prize here and there, but I don't remember. I am thinking that books aren't ideal prizes -- any kid who would be motivated by more books probably doesn't need the outside motivation! Although it would save the parents some dough, so that's nice.

OK, the Manolo was tl;dr, but there was an ad on the page that confused me: Cool Whip now in a can? What was it in before? Junk food is complicated.

a book of his own will motivate mac, because 1) he loves buying/getting things 2) he cannot get superhero books at the library.

ita- Redi whip is in a can. Cool whip is in the freezer section, for some reason.

My family used to eat so much cool whip (we had "dessert" each night, and it was usually Jello) that my mom has, like 400 Cool whip containers in her house being used for storage.

from what I ate, you would think I grew up in the 50's! (My grandma cooked, so I guess it sort of was like that)

I never understood Cool Whip. It's so easy to make whipped cream. Is it dairy free? Is that the draw?

Cool Whip is kept frozen and has, as far as I can tell, no natural ingredients, so it doesn't go bad.