Voting Eligibility and Sticker Savvy

Each participating school is able to set up its own requirements for voting. Some schools read the Crown/Lamplighter books in each classroom for a specified time. This method gives closer access to the current titles. In general, it has worked well for students to read one Crown book per level. The breakdown is as follows:

          3rd grade = 3 books (one must be a chapter book)
          4th grade = 4 books (one must be a chapter book)
          5th grade = 5 books (two must be chapter books)
          6th grade = 6 books (two must be chapter books)
          7th & 8th (& 6th if they are in junior high) bribe them however you can! Usually teachers will give extra credit or accept these books for reports. Most teachers/and librarians give a brunch or serve cokes and cookies at the time of voting for those who have read one or more books. The requirements are determined by you.

Elementary teachers read at least one of the chapter books to their classes and those certainly count in the overall total that each student accumulates. Theses books also count toward Book It! incentives and Scholastic's Reading Counts or Accelerated Reader points.

Some schools that have sixth grade in elementary read both lists. They read the Lamplighter titles during the second semester. These students are able to vote from both ballots. The following is a further breakdown of rewards that some schools give for those students who read:

          10 books = a special bookmark
          15 books = a letter size legal pad (purple, pink, or blue) and a special pencil to encourage them to write
          20 books = a certificate or a medal (see the participation form)

Most schools have simple refreshments at the time of voting. The purpose and privilege of voting is emphasized and voting usually occurs first. Some schools that have two or more of each grade vote by grade so that it does not get too big to handle.

The stickers are placed on the spine of each nominee that quickly identifies it as such in the year it was a nominee. Type the last two digits of the current year in the small blank space in the upper left hand corner. If the title is a runner-up, a silver star can be glued to the sticker to designate that honor. The winner is given a gold star.