"Blind Date with a Book" offers incentive for reading

"It was a dark and stormy night." Would you pick a book to read based only on that opening line?

That's the operational basis for the "Blind Date with a Book" event happening now at the Ritzville library. We talked with Amy Hille who puts together the Blind Date program. She canvasses her fellow library staff members for book suggestions, selects books that haven't been checked out for a while, and sometimes trolls the stacks for Blind Date candidates.

Various selections are then wrapped in plain brown paper and tied with ribbon. The wrapped cover is then marked with hints at the general nature of the book ("Pick me if you like global travel stories...") as well as other characteristics of the book ("I'm full of mystery and adventure...")-without specific content identification. Think of those wrapping comments as "bait" to draw attention and create attraction for a patron to select the book to read. Participants simply check out their selected "date" and take it out to read.

But that's not all. Inside each wrapped book is an evaluation ("Rate Your Date") to be filled out about how the "blind (reading) date" went. For adults, the rating options run the gamut of awful to great:

"WORST DATE EVER"

"Not terrible. Just not for me."

"It's OK. We can be friends."

"I've got a big crush on this book."

"I'M IN LOVE!"

Return the "Rate Your Date" slip to the library with name and phone number to be eligible to win a prize-one for adults (over 18) and one for minors. Even if no prize comes, the book may have won your heart. If not, there is no obligation to finish reading that particular selection any more than asking a first blind date for a second opportunity.

Hille (Ritzville Library's matchmaker) was quick to pass credit. The "Blind Date with a Book" has been used in many other libraries for years, she said, and in Ritzville for the past few Valentine seasons. Hille noted that the event gives library "regulars" some fun, and is a "hook for those who have shied away."

If you haven't visited the Library recently-or not at all-you may want to schedule a "Bind Date with a Book." It's possible you may meet your match.