Story Action Pod: Election Edition!

I went back and forth a lot as to whether I should put something in the Story Action Pod about the election. I've heard of other libraries doing Vote-for-Characters, such as Best Bear in a book or something; I'm sure that works for them, but I just couldn't get excited about it. And as Joyce Sidman said in her luncheon address at the Wisconsin Library Association Conference last week (more on WLA later): "Kids know when you're really into something." And I just wasn't. (On a personal note, the first election I could legally vote in ever was the 2000 presidential election. Hopefully, you can see how that would be a total bummer).


More than that, though, I have a problem with any kind of program that doesn't have a far reach. If they have to come at just a certain time, or they have to come back to get anything out of it, or if they have to read widely to even know what they're talking about... okay, so I know I sound like a jerkface, like I don't want kids to read or something, but our regular patrons are just a small scope of who we serve.

BUT: the Story Action Pod allows for a small engagement in the library no matter when you're there, who you're with, what you read.

So I decided to create a Story Action Pod based on a book that kids could use to make an informed opinion in one sitting: Shark vs Train by Chris Barton and Tom Lichtenheld.

If you don't have this book in your collection, you should probably get it immediately. We have 2 copies that are ALWAYS OUT, except for today, so I could check it out, because it's a Shark vs. Train miracle.

As always, I set up the book with directions for voting and the ballot (located below for easy download).  Then, my coworker created some awesome "I Voted Today" stickers. Suddenly, this idea had a trifecta of Kid Friendly Things:
1) Sharks
2) Trains
3) Stickers

DONE!

I totally figured out how to share with Google Docs. Sorry they're in PDF so they're non-customizable. Didn't do that to be all Big Brother, just Word Doc wasn't translating well when I opened on Firefox.

Shark vs. Train Directions: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3Xfsh6UaBOSVlRqSGZQSmgzOG8
Shark vs. Train voting sticker: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3Xfsh6UaBOSZk5KWkJ5QmI2MFE
Shark vs. Train Ballot: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3Xfsh6UaBOSakpKQklTSVB3eFk

Enjoy! And may the best candidate win.