[TRW 2017] Do you think your library should celebrate Teen Read "Month" instead of just one week in October, and why?

[Justin C Switzer]

There are many of us who strive to promote literacy and reading year-round, but it is beneficial to set aside time to have a specific focus. I'd like to know how everyone feels about making Teen Read Week into Teen Read Month. Would that take away from the whole experience? Would it improve efforts in teen literacy? I'd like your opinion on it. 

[Sherrie Collins]

I would like to have it as a Teen Read Month. We have a fall break in October, and it is always the same week as Teen Read Week. I have to move it either before or after fall break. If it was a month, then I could promote it all month and not feel like we "missed" it.

[Kate Lewallen]

I'm in the same boat - fall break has fallen during TRW the past 2 years so I don't fully like I can truly celebrate it. With a whole month, I would be able to do much more programming!

[Kathleen Pausch]

I like this idea, but I feel like YALSA gives very little support to librarians in coming up with programming and other ideas related to each year's theme. In speaking with other librarians, I don't feel like I'm alone. Each year, I check this site, and all I see are a few forum posts with very few participants, a name for the theme, and the theme's graphic to promote it.

I have a hard time coming up with enough to fill up a whole week on a somewhat limited budget, so I'm not sure how I'd be able to stretch it to a full month. Nearly all of my ideas have come from talking to other librarians and other online resources. If YALSA could commit to being more helpful in sharing ideas, I'd be interested. 

[Mary Highley]

I would like to see a transition to Teen Read Month as well!  Our students look forward to the extra activities and reading promotions and then due to time restraints come at the end and are disappointed it is almost over.  I actually had a teacher come and ask if I would extend it a week.

Here are some ideas I have done during Teen Read Week just to get high school students to visit the library:

• I-Spy in the display case with 3 different search items each day
• Scavenger hunts that require them to find CALL numbers and locate books
• Book Shout Outs - reviewing a book they checked out and read during Teen Read Week
• Book recommendations using a printed form we created
• Indiana Rosie Reading - a display of the Elliot Rosewater nominated books to read and vote on
• A Teen Top Ten table with nominated books for reading and voting on by using the bookmarks we created to send them to the voting site
• Find the rubber chicken in the books based on clues
• Title poetry - using titles to stack a line of poetry
• What's My Title - clues for book titles