FUN, GAMES GIVE LIBRARY AN EDGE ON COMPETITION

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

As the tension built midway through the game's second round, 3rd grader Brianna Kush not only had her first two fingers crossed on each hand, she also had squeezed each pair over the next set of fingers, then locked her thumbs together and was trying to keep her elbows nestled inside one another.

Such physical bewitchment may be the prescription for success as Brianna and her three fellow teammates came up the winners in the "Back to Jeopardy" game held last week for children in 3rd through 6th grades at the Plum Public Library.

While squirming in their seats, rocking in the chairs or sitting on their feet, 16 children competed in teams of four, answering simple and not-so-simple questions in categories that included social studies, math, English and science.

"We have these after-school specials as a way to keep children in this age group still interested in the library," said youth services librarian Mary Marshall, who started the monthly specials last year.

"After we get through the storytime sessions when they are littler, we tend not to see them in the library so much. They're not doing as much reading and if they come into the library, it tends to be for their homework.

"We want them to see the library as a fun place," she said, "and that there's other things we can do here."

Like "Jeopardy!" the television game show, each category had questions that were divided into different monetary values between $5 and $25 and players chose their questions by subject and monetary value.

Unlike the television show, each subject had questions geared to each grade so that 3rd graders weren't trying to answer a 6th-grade level question. Teams had members of each grade and team members took turns picking the subject and answering the questions. Play paper money was rewarded for each correct answer.

"I think (the specials) have been successful because I see a lot more kids that age in the library," Marshall said, "and it's nice for us because we get to really know the kids."

Sixth grader Hector Rivera-Melo summed up fellow game players' sentiments as they answered questions like "When did the U.S. buy the Louisiana Territories?" and "When a country spends more money than it has-is it a deficit, a GNP or interest?" or pondered math questions using baseball averages or grams of sugar in a bowl of cereal.

"It's pretty fun. Some of the questions are hard, but most are pretty easy," he said.

Copyright © 2018, Chicago Tribune
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