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The Teaching Librarian Volume 10, no. 3 37 Silver Birch Award program at EDWARD JOHNSON SCHOOL PARENTS' SURVEY The parents' survey was limited this year to the families of the 40 children invited to attend the Silver Birch Awards ceremony in Toronto. They received a questionnaire asking about the impact of Silver Birch on their children and recommendations for improvements. Thirty-one parents responded, itself a testament to their enthusiasm. Next year a more thor- ough survey is planned. The com- ments were enthusiastic about the impact on their children, indeed the whole family. The recommendation that was repeated over and over was to please continue and a few suggest- ed more copies of the books. However, the latter comment was always qualified with a recognition of cost along with other solutions such as public library borrowing, purchas- es for home library, pleasure that stu- dents spent their allowance to buy their own or asked for Silver Birch books as gifts. The following aspects were identified and received most positive remarks: l introduces different books, styles and genres l reading instead of computers, TV or video games l led to book talks at home l love the conferencing approach l fosters a love of reading l promotes Canadian culture, sense of identity l authors were available l led us to the public library too l gave us good books to buy for our home l reading non-fiction for fun l non-fiction especially led to wonderful family talk l still talking about the Toronto Festival l my child read more l it is fun l promotes Canadian literature