Trick-or-reading: Should you give out candy or books?

Books and candy is what it's all about. So it's our talk of the day. I don't know, understand why that's even a thing, but maybe growing up, that would not fascinate. I would be rioting. Yeah, I think so too. So let's talk about this. So of course it's almost time for trick-or-treating, right? Coming up very soon, almost Halloween and kids, when they go trick or treating, what do they expect? They expect candy, but what if, and lots of candy, like a pillowcase full of candy, but what if they got a book instead? What, this is a trend, right? yeah apparently it's called trick or reading and so you get your costume on and Paul, are you gonna have a costume this year you're gonna go door-to-door i haven't decided yet i want you to help me decide what i should be but i will trick-or-treat you should go with yourself i will and then so you get your costume on especially as a kid you grab the biggest bag you can find and you head out for candy for me it was always a trash bag i would just grab because i didn't want to like a little pillowcase yeah absolutely i wanted something big because i want to be able to you know grab as much as I could I was a little fat kid I want pictures immediately Tyler we all want pictures of you trick-or-treating and so you ring that first doorbell and someone hands you a book what would you do this is tough because at this age at my age now I I say yes like I'm like yeah give kids books I love that idea like reading people people are not reading the way they used to maybe they are I don't know but I I like it now if I were a kid trick-or-treating i wanted candy yeah you go trick-or-treating for the candy and so apparently there is a trend and i i don't understand why this is a trend maybe i mean one time a year just give them all the candy give them the sugar it's a good point it's once a year yeah yeah i mean and you know all of the candy companies just want you to be able to you're right they're like banned they're trying to ban all the candy companies is this story about a book publisher trying to sell more books that could be that actually that could be yeah and so it's called trick-or-reading as we said i'm right Yeah, trick-or-reading. And giving kids a book is a Halloween treat. And so the spooky story might be a hit. Like if you have a book that's about something spooky. Like Goosebumps or something. Yeah, that might be something nice. That's a fun idea. And we were talking earlier. It would be nice if it not only included a book but also like a full-size candy bar. So you can provide some value beyond just frustrating parents with all the sugar. And, you know, I just don't – I mean, kids are obviously growing up. They know Halloween. They know that it includes candy. yeah and so i mean i just don't know what a kid would think if you get handed a book yeah i mean i think i think that's the thing i think if it's both if you're getting a book and candy that's exciting but yeah i mean the expectation is you're going to get candy you might have a kid you probably will have a kid that would be very disappointed if they didn't get candy and only got the book now me as a grown-up if i trick-or-treat give me books i want the books and i could picture paul as a child you know like when you go to a door yeah people sometimes you had to knock on the door but other times they just left the bowl out he would be the type of person who probably poured all of the candy into the bowl and at this point he would just take all the books because he'd be like i want to leave it out there if you leave it out there you got to expect someone's going to take it all and it might as well be me instead of some other kid okay you're a kid at heart always absolutely but yeah i think both my my vote is for like is is for both so like maybe you get the book and the candy and then you're you're encouraging reading which is great, but you're also still getting kind of what you went out to trick-or-treat for. And so we've been asking you guys to comment. There's the QR code on the other side of the screen. I get confused on which direction all around. But scan the QR code, you're joining the conversation. We obviously have Ella Talmadge joining us now. She's been going through all the viewer comments. So Ella, what are people saying? Definitely divisive, but people are really passionate, like you said, about the candy. Let's take a look at some of these comments now. Nikki F says, definitely candy and specifically Reese's Cups, please. Nice. So I really resonate with that as a peanut butter lover. This one about knocked me on my chair. I don't care how much eggs or toilet paper cost, you might get a book later. Walt, I love it. Yes, so Walt Kowalski from Facebook definitely coming in hot with that. Then we have Christina Edgar says, reading a book is great for their little minds, but on Halloween, kids are only thinking of candy, candy, and more candy, which is kind of what we've been saying. One time a year, let's give them a sugar high. Tawny Lindsey says, candy for sure, and add a golden book if you wish. Nothing wrong with that. Just don't cheat them out of the tradition of candy. And I think that's what a lot of the comments were kind of circling around, is like, let's do both. But this one, this one kind of caught me off guard. Heather Service says with the last reporting from national assessment that 68% of our fourth graders are reading at the low grade level in the book and a small piece of candy. Yeah, yeah. Heather's saying our kids need to earn the candy by being literate. So I thought that was pretty interesting. I mean, that's like I said, I mean, you do sort of feel like reading is down a little bit. So if you can promote reading while also giving them the candy, then let's do it. Yeah, I don't know if that statistic is correct, we didn't check that, I wanna point that out. But interesting point, definitely. Yeah, it is a good point. I added just one more that we just got in a moment ago from Gwendolyn. Okay. So it says trick or treat, she's from Hampton, trick or treat, yes, I would take both. The book will be the trick and the candy for the treat. There you go, see, let's just spread the wealth, give them both people. As I was preparing for this segment, I was debating whether I was gonna use that exact phrasing. Oh, Gwendolyn beat you to it. And so she said, are you serious? Give me candy, most definitely. Yeah, again, I mean, the book and the candy is great. But I kind of like the idea of like a Goosebumps book or something. That'd be kind of fun, I think, yeah. I would love that. Or give us a movie, too. Yeah. Hey, Ella, did you bring us candy? Like, is that how this segment ends? No, she brought coffee today for some people in the newsroom, but not others. Well, I didn't get that. Tyler did not give me his order. I didn't get that. Don't slam my name like that. I got here at 7. We're going to wrap this show up since we didn't get the candy. Ella, thank you. Tyler, you'll be back soon with more. And thank you all for being here with us for our 11 o'clock news hour.