The plain and simple answer is there are no official criteria for the moniker but anyone who thinks Tifton isn’t serious about learning and reading should have visited the Reading Center on Tift Avenue Tuesday. Children and adults took time out of their day to take a short comprehension test and add their Accelerated Reader points to the ever-growing total.

The Summer Reading Program officially kicked off Tuesday and it marked a wonderful time for us to re-commit ourselves to the cause. We should beam with pride each time someone travels down the interstate and see a billboard or stops in a hotel and sees a sign boasting our reading prowess. Chances are they may tell someone else who will also wonder what’s going on in Tifton
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Maybe they’re so moved, they’ll start a similar effort in their own community. We hope so. We hope to be a model for many communities who strive to open doors for those who otherwise may never step foot in a library or never read a book just for the sake of reading.

If you’ve taken an AR test in the past, make sure you do it again, at least twice, this summer. If you’ve never done it, make the commitment to do it now. Visit www.readingcapital.com for a list of books or simply visit the library and look for the green dots. Or if you find a book that’s not on the list but one which you’ve been meaning to read for years, go ahead. The tests and the points and the prizes are just the bait to get us interested in reading.

Such things, like most anything else, are generational. If a child sees a parent or older brother or sister reading a book, chances are they’ll want to do the same. There are few greater gifts we can give than the gift of curiosity and the thirst for knowledge.

Will this reading fervor result in better educated people down the road? How could it not? We don’t recall ever hearing a parent wonder if their child is reading too much. And the summer program gives adults, who often cite a lack of time as an excuse, a reason to dust off that library card and check out a book, take a test and become a part of something that makes Tift County very special.