Grand Terrace Elementary Student Christopher Washington Wins Big for Reading

Grand Terrace Elementary School fourth grade student Christopher Washington was the grand prize winner of the Summer Reading Program at the San Bernardino County Library. He was presented with a Nook HD Tablet at the Grand Terrace Library on Thursday, Oct. 16. “It was his idea, he was the one that wanted to do it,” Marta Washington, his mother, mentioned. In the reading program, the children can choose to keep track of their reading by the number of books, pages, or minutes. “He wanted to go by minutes. He would read for about forty minutes a day and it was the whole summer so it went on for about eight weeks,” Marta mentioned. Thousands of children throughout San Bernardino County entered the program. Once you meet your intended goal of books, pages, or minutes of reading, you are given one raffle ticket and automatically entered into the raffle to win. San Bernardino County Library’s Liz Smith shared that there were eight winners drawn from the raffle. Washington, while waiting to be presented with his prize, found two books in the library and checked them out immediately. “He already has his own library card,” Marta added. When asked what his favorite books are to read, he responded chuckling, “I like Captain Underpants… it's funny.” In fact, he started reading one of the books he checked out right then and there. Smith actually had to tell him to put his book down for a couple minutes so that they could present him with his brand new Nook HD. He also received a Summer Reading Program case for the Nook. Grand Terrace Library Branch Manager Lisa Llewellyn explained to Washington that he can even check out e-books from the library right from his Nook. “You don’t even have to worry about late fees because they’ll automatically go away on their due date,” she shared. Washington’s grandmother Marta Montelongo was also there to see him be presented with his prize. When they first showed Washington the Nook HD, Smith explained its features to him but Montelongo playfully said, “You’re giving it to grandma though, right?” As everyone laughed, Washington smiled and kept shaking his head ‘no’. Although, Washington is in the fourth grade, he checks books out from the library that are fifth grade level. “He understands these books too… he loves to read,” his mother Marta said.