Program Ideas

Choose a Real Winner!
Provide booktalks for the Printz winners and honor books and/or create a display of the books. Encourage teens to vote for the one they'd most like to read. Provide copies of the book, and host a Pizza & Pages event where teens can come to the library and discuss the book over pizza. Ask local businesses if they can donate money for you to buy multiple copies of the selected book so that teens can keep it.

Real Eating
Invite a nutritionist, dietician, or personal trainer to speak about health and nutrition. Hand out a list of information on common misconceptions about nutrition (How healthy is your cafe mocha or fruit smoothie? Do you really need three servings of fruit a day?) Be sure to include a display of books about nutrition, fitness and cooking and provide healthy snacks.

Real Life: I am a __(enter profession here)__
Invite someone with an interesting career to come talk about his or her job. Possibilities: The police officer who trains bloodhounds or administers lie detector tests, a firefighter who investigates how a fire starts, an EMT, the undercover security at a mall or department store, or a funeral director. Provide a display of career related books and resources.

Your Real Life: Journaling and Scrap booking
Help teens make their own scrap book from scratch. Have them to bring photos and mementos and provide supplies for them to create their book. Invite teens to display their finished books in the library. Or give the program a creative writing angle. Help teens make or decorate their own journal or diary. One possible resource . 

Your Real Life: Photo Essay
Buy a pack of disposable cameras and distribute to teens. Have them take pictures of their everyday life, then turn the cameras in. Process the photos then invite all teens to a program to create a "real life photo mural" in the teen area. Enhance the program with a display of books on photography and famous photographers.

We Really Recommend…
Invite members of your Teen Advisory Group or other teen group to write nonfiction book, music and/or film reviews to post on the library web site, blog, or newsletter. Help teens create and film booktalks to air at local schools or on the community public access channel.

Get Reel
Create a display of books that have been turned into movies. Have teens vote on the book they would most like to read. After they’ve read the book, host a screening of one of the movies, then lead a discussion comparing the book versus the movie. Serve popcorn, drinks, and give out bookmarks that list other books that have been made into movies.

Bring Books to Real Life
Partner with an English or literature teacher and have teens prepare a soundtrack to their favorite book. They can play the music while they booktalk their book and explain their musical choices.

Get Real or Get Fake
Read news articles to teens--some true, some false--and have teens decide which one is which! You can use articles from The Onion or a tabloid and the local paper. Then offer a creative writing class where teens create their own library tabloid.

Real or Not?
Have a detective or private investigator bring a lie detector into the library, demonstrate how it works and discuss other methods they use to sort the real facts from lies when they are investigating crimes. Provide a display with true crime books and/or detective novels.

Get Real About…
…Acting: work with a drama teacher or local theater group to have an acting class &/or set and costume design workshop. Bring in a local actor to give a talk about choosing acting as a career. Create a display and reading list of plays of interest to teens, or with roles that teens could play.
…Music: work with the music teacher or a local musician or music shop and host a music appreciation workshop, or have a local musician or career counselor give a talk about possible careers in the music industry. Create a related display and reading list.
…Art: collaborate with the art teacher or local artist or museum to host an art class. Bring in a local artist or career counselor to talk about the different possible careers in art. Create a display of art books and recommended reading list.
…Helping Your Community : locate a representative from as many different local agencies as possible who need volunteers. Have an event similar to a job fair, where teens can go from one table to another and learn about each agency and what they’re looking for volunteers to do.
…Skincare and Make Up : Help teens prepare their skin for the upcoming Homecoming Dance! The Craft Girl series by Jennifer Traig includes Beauty: Things to Make and Do, and Makeup: Things to Make and Do, which feature recipes made from basic ingredients found in the grocery store. Have on hand a list of other books about beauty, make up, or school dances!
…Cooking: Offer a cooking class in the library. This could be a recurring program were each week students learn about a different type of cuisine (which is perfect if you have a diverse group of teens). You could also have teens take turns teaching how to cook their favorite meal. Work with a local restaurant to donate gift certificates for participants. Enhance the experience with a display of cookbooks, or have teens bring in favorite recipes and compile their own cookbook.
Get Real Horrified : invite a make up artist and costume designer to host a program to help teens create scary costumes for Halloween. Provide a list of books that offer tips for making costumes. Have teens judge the costumes, and provide prizes for the best ones.
Get Real Spooked : have teens collect local ghost stories and give dramatic readings of them to their peers. As an extension teens can also do some basic research on the stories to sort the real facts from the fiction in the tales. Provide a list of other books in your library that contain ghost stories.

Freedom is for Real: Combine your Banned Books Week  Celebration with your Teen Read Week events. This year's Banned Books Week theme is "Banned Books: It's Your Freedom We're Talking About!" Invite your teens to celebrate their freedom to read with a Banned Books Read-out. You can choose nonfiction or realistic fiction titles to go with the Teen Read Week theme. Set up a reading area in a visible space and have teens read silently or aloud from a banned book of their choosing. Decorate the area to make it stand out, and include a display of banned books. Consider having your teens organize a paperback drive to collect books to send to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

  Display Ideas

Autobiographies: Props like an old typewriter, journal or diary, photo album, etc. can help make the display more eye catching.

Biographies: Library workers or teachers could recommend their favorites and write up a little teaser to be displayed with each book.

How-to or DIY books : make the display appealing to the eye by adding props like empty old paint cans, paint brushes, a tool belt, etc.

Strange but true books : work with the art class at school to have them design an eye-catching poster to go with the display.

Career books : ask the school councilors for any career-related pamphlets they have and display them with the books. Take photos of local workers doing various jobs and display with the books.

Subject of local/current interest : Check the newspaper for ideas, and use old newspapers to cut out lettering and/or create a table covering.

Realistic fiction : collect recommendations from teens and display the books with a photo of the student and a short explanation as to why they recommend it.

Documentary films : for a good visual, weave an old reel of film around the books and videos on the display or include relevant movie posters with the books.

Health books : to make it more eye-catching, round up props like scrubs, a surgical mask, a crutch, etc. to incorporate into the display.

  Contests

Host a "Who’s Really?" Trivia Contest . Divide teens into teams and have them answer trivia questions that you develop. Prizes can be given for the most correct answers (or library fines forgiven!). Supplement the game with a display of trivia books and list of recommended reading. Here are some sample questions to get you started:

"Who’s Really… the richest individual in the world?
a) Bill Gates
b) Oprah Winfrey
c) Donald Trump
d) Queen Elizabeth"

"Who’s Really … published the most books?
a) R.L. Stine
b) Stephen King
c) Danielle Steel
d) Charles Dickens"

OR you could have the questions be about local librarians/teachers/community members:
"Who’s Really … certified to SCUBA dive?
a) Ms. Malafi
b) Ms. McCarthy
c) Mr. Gessner
d) Ms. Squires"

"Who’s Really … seen Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl 5 times?
a) Lunchlady Doris
b) Principal Skinner
c) Mrs. Krabapple
d) Miss Hoover"

Poster contest: Spotlight on a Real Winner! Teens select a winner of the Margaret Edwards award and design a poster that highlights the author and their books. Invite parents, teachers, local business owners and/or politicians to judge the posters. Invite teens and community members to an art gallery type event to show off the posters and award prizes. Enhance the event with a display of books by Edwards winners.

Poetry contest: Real Verses . The rules are that the poem must contain the words "get real at your library" (in any order, singly or together). Host a poetry slam where the contestants share their works. Allow teens to vote on their favorite. Ask local businesses to donate prizes for the winners, and see if the local newspaper will print the winning poem(s).

Reading contest: Real Reading . At school English classes compete all week to see which one can read the most pages. Reading will be done on teens’ free time outside of class and required readings for class will not count. Teens agree to be honest and accurate in reporting the number of pages they read each evening, and sign a pledge to that effect. Reading nonfiction will be encouraged but not required. Keep and announce a daily tally to heighten the competition. Ask local businesses to donate prizes for the winners.

Essay contest: Real Life in Words . Teens write an autobiographical essay or memoir. Host a reading where teens share what they wrote. Work with English teachers to see if they will give extra credit to teens who participate. Have local community members agree to be judges. Ask local businesses to donate prizes for the winners, and see if the local newspaper will agree to print the winning essay.

Short film contest: Real Life on the Screen . Team up with the local news or cable station or AV department at the school and have teens produce a short documentary. Host a film festival to show them, and ask teens to vote for their favorite. Ask local businesses to donate prizes for the winners.

Photo contest: Real Life Through the Lens . Teens take and submit photos that relate to the "get real" theme. Display them in the library and hold an art gallery opening type of event. Have local community members agree to be judges. Ask local businesses to donate prizes for the winners.

  Multitasking

Short on time? Want the biggest bang for your buck? Why not incorporate another event into Teen Read Week? Here are some possibilities :

National Book Month (Oct.)

National Domestic Violence Awareness Month (Oct.)

World Vegetarian Month (Oct.)

Health Literacy Month (Oct.)

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (Oct.)

National Crime Prevention Month (Oct.)

Banned Books Week  (Sept. 24 - Oct. 1) This year's Banned Books Week theme is "Banned Books: It's Your Freedom We're Talking About!"

National Chemistry Week (Oct. 16-22)

World Rainforest Week (Oct. 17-23)

World Food Day (Oct. 16)

Click here for more events and celebrations!