Celebrate National Teen Read Week
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Young Adult Library Services Association’s (YALSA) Teen Read Week. Taking place October 7-13, the theme – “It’s Written in the Stars: READ” – is meant to inspire teens to think and read outside the box, as well as explore out-of-this-world genres like fantasy and science fiction. Encourage teens in your library to do just that using these ideas in this excerpt from Check It Out magazine.
Library Dopplegangers
Challenge teens to find their book cover doppelganger for a prize! To enter, have them take a picture of their “twinning” cover, then share the photos on social media and on a bulletin board in your library. While they search for the perfect book, they’ll hopefully also discover some new titles that pique their interest and get them to explore past the cover.
Spooky Celebrations
Since Teen Read Week takes place so close to Halloween, incorporate some frighteninglygood programming into your celebration. Feature scary titles in a book display, host a Halloween party where teens come costumed as a literary character, show a Halloween-themed flick or challenge teens to create original ghost stories as part of a writing competition.
"The mission of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) is to support library staff in alleviating the challenges teens face, and in putting all teens ‒ especially those with the greatest needs ‒ on the path to successful and fulfilling lives." - The American Library Association
Book-to-Movie Film Series
Encourage teens to read by creating a book-to-movie film series! You can show a couple of these during the week, or spread out a larger number of films throughout the entire month of October. Check out some of our top title picks teens will love like "Ready Player One," "Every Day," "Midnight Sun," "Please Stand By," and "A Wrinkle in Time."
Main Course
For a low-budget, high-impact event, host a book tasting! Simply select titles that match the theme of this year’s Teen Read Week, then lay them out on tables with one book per chair. Give each teen a “menu” for them to write down their favorite picks, then give them 3-5 minutes to read each book. Afterward, have a table of treats to play into the “tasting” aspect. You could also have participants bring in canned food items to help out a local food bank. One can could equal one entry into a book raffle!
Book Bracket
March Madness has nothing on a reading tournament! In the month leading up to Teen Read Week, challenge teens to read all the fantasy and sci-fi books featured on the bracket and fill out their selections. Then have them vote each week for the winner of each matchup. Offer the winning bracket a great prize!
Stargazing Literacy
Why not put a fun spin on your Teen Read Week activities by taking it literally. Have an astronomy expert come teach them how to locate constellations, stars and planets as an introduction to stargazing. Make sure to pass out a list of books and resources for teens to seek out if they’re interested in learning more.
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