Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Are the Champions!

We did it! Teens from the Escondido Public Library's Teen Summer Reading Club won the Minute to Win It National Teen Lock-In Challenge! And according to the judges, there was no competition! Check out our trophy!

But Minute to Win It was just one part of the amazing Creatures of the Night Lock-In that we hosted for the teens who read and/or attended library events for 25 hours or more. This was the first time I had ever hosted an after-hours lock-in, and once the logistics of creating permission slips and getting staff coverage were taken care of, the rest was a piece of cake...zombie cake that is! Yes, those are gummy body parts! :)

As with all of my teen events, I set this up carnival style with multiple stations that the teens could participate in so that there was never a back-up. Teens could create Zombie Barbies...

Work with a former Rockstar Games video game animator, Tom Carroll, to create flip book and claymation monsters...

Make themselves over at the America's Next Top Monster Make-Over Station...

Create Zombigami...

Compete in the Zombie Apocalypse Survival Challenge...

Chat with the author of Rot & Ruin, Jonathan Maberry...

And, of course, pig out!!!

The night ended with a monster runway show and prizes for all of the winners!

You can view all of our lock-in photos (including the runway show) on Flickr.

If you'd like to host your own Creatures of the Night party or have any questions about participating in next year's nationwide lock-in feel free to ask!

Teen Novel Team (TNT) is Dyno-Mite!

As the only Teen Librarian in my library I often feel like a lone ranger when it comes to juggling the many balls required to advocate for and provide excellent service and programming for my community's teens. One of the biggest challenges I face in my project management is trying to preview books for my In BeT(w)een Book Club. Ideally, we are asked to schedule out our programming on a quarterly basis. In order to find 3 suitable books for the book club, I often have to read upwards of 12. I read all of the usual professional review journals and scope out teen literature blogs, but sometimes that's just not enough. This can become overwhelming on top of listening to audio books for my role on the Odyssey Award committee, reading books to book talk during my Summer Reading Club Burritos & Books program, covering desk hours, keeping up with collection development, managing my other ongoing programs, and the other day-to-day tasks that come along with running the Teen Department.

During a recent pity party with my mentor, she reminded me that I am NOT alone and that I should tap into the wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm that exists among staff members in other departments. And thus was born the TNT - Teen Novel Team.

I sent out a call to our entire library staff - from pages all the way up to the City Librarian - asking for people who enjoy reading teen fiction and would be willing to help me select books for my book club. I received very positive responses from 5 people right away, and I'm expecting that a few more will join up soon.

I didn't ask for any kind of commitment or give them a specific time frame. I simply asked them to keep my criteria in mind as they read the teen novels they already enjoy and then email me a short summary if they think their book fits the bill. The criteria I use for selecting book club books are that they:

• Are appropriate for ages 11-16 (note any gratuitous sex, swearing, drug use, etc)
• Available in paperback (I purchase a copy for each teen to keep)
• Have enough depth to generate a discussion 
• Cover a variety of different genres (so I wouldn’t plan two sci fi books back to back)
• I always provide a snack related to the book, so as you’re reading if you can keep that in mind and make note of any foods that’re discussed that’s also very helpful.
• I always plan an activity to go along with the book in case the discussion falls flat. So if you keep that in mind as you’re reading and suggest any fun things that tie in with the book that’s great.

Creating this inter-departmental team has not only lightened my workload, but it has also allowed me to engage members of other departments who have an interest in teen culture thus breaking down some of the departmentalization (and negative stereotyping of teens) that exists in my library. This, in turn, will hopefully make them more willing to champion our causes, staff our events, and forgive the minor indiscretions that teens sometimes commit.  So if you're feeling overwhelmed or like a lone ranger fighting the good fight by yourself, try asking your coworkers for their input. You never know who has a hidden talent or passion that could benefit you and your teens.

The Best National Library Week Gift Ever

Yesterday I presented to six English 9 Intensive classes (these are freshmen who are reading at a 4th - 7th grade reading level) on all the "rah rah" amazing things the library has to offer to try and dispel some of the stereotypes that they probably have about libraries. These are the kids who need my help the most, but I'll admit that I left feeling deflated after some of the sessions because they were a TOUGH crowd. As I was leaving, I stopped in to say hi to the Library Media Tech and while we were chatting a student delivered a National Library Week gift to her from his class.

I was jealous that not only had one of her faculty members actually remembered that it was National Library Week, but that he was also thoughtful enough to acknowledge the hard work that librarians do and the impact they make on students by giving her a gift.

Well, I shouldn't have been jealous at all because today I received the most wonderful gift any librarian could ask for. One of the teachers that I presented for emailed me this morning and the story she told makes all my outreach totally worthwhile! Here's what she said...

This morning, one of my students came in and told me he started reading The Price of Loyalty (a book you gave away) and read 3 chapters. This is a student who does not do homework or read outside of class. He said it reminded him of a story he read in one of our books--Survivors (by Scholastic). He said he started the book when he got home from school, took a break and read until bedtime. This is amazing! When he is finished, he will trade his book with another student who is reading Grafitti Moon. Thank you for the books! and recommendations! This is awesome! Thank you.

So if there are other teen librarians out there who feel like their outreach efforts are for naught, share in this small victory with me and keep doing what you're doing!

Happy National Library Week!

How to Host a Hunger Games Party

Last night was our Hunger Games Movie Release Party, and it was AWESOME! We had about 75 people which was the perfect size for our space, number of activities, staffing levels, and timeline. I thought I'd share with you what we did and how we did it in case you're planning to host your own party.

I set up almost all of my teen programs in a carnival-style setting where there are multiple activities going on at the same time. This helps reduce congestion and bottle necking because teens can do the activities in any order and come back to the ones with long lines. We kept the décor pretty simple by blowing up the District symbols and taping them up across the room. I did everything else (table cloths, plates, cups, etc) in shades of red, orange, and yellow. When teens first walked into the room we had a registration table where they picked up their score cards already pre-printed with District #s.

They then filled out Reaping slips with the name and District # and dropped them into their corresponding District’s bag.

Then I had everyone gather at the tables which divided the room between the survival stations and the arena where the Cornucopia Challenge would be held. This gave everyone a chance to get in the door and allowed me to have their undivided attention to explain how the day would work.

Once I explained all of the stations, I let them free to have fun. The different survival stations where teens could earn points were…

• Knot tying
• Edible Plant Identification
• Wii Archery

We also had Cinna's Makeover Station where teens could get their faces painted and temporary mockingjay tattoos as well as Project Runway: Katniss where teens could design an outfit for a paper doll version of Katniss.

I gave the teens about 45 minutes to work visit each station, and then I got on the microphone to announce “Attention in the arena! You are being rewarded for your skills and good behavior with parachute snacks. Help yourselves!” and we tossed individual snack bags that we had attached homemade parachutes to into the room. The teens ran around collecting them and LOVED it. I call this the Snack Bomb.

Then we went right into the Reaping where I selected 2 names from each District to compete in the Cornucopia Challenge. I got the Cornucopia Challenge off the ya-yaak listserv (sorry I can’t remember who specifically posted it) but I modified it in order to have two rounds so that 24 teens could compete instead of just 12. Before starting, I laid down the ground rules of “no pushing, shoving, or stealing” and then I released them to race in and grab 1 item from the pile of survival necessities. Then I read the survival scenarios and whoever had the items I read off earned points. The points they earned were then rewarded to everyone in their District. Everyone came away from this unscathed and with no major injuries so I was happy about that. The other teens enjoyed cheering on their Tributes and/or continued to visit the stations they hadn’t made it to yet.

After the CC, we cut the cake and in exchange for their piece the teens had to turn in their orange score cards and their green plant ID forms. While we were tabulating scores and the teens were eating, we showed the movie trailer and some other interviews with cast members on a projector screen at the front of the room. That, combined with our background Hunger Games soundtrack, really added to the atmosphere.

The only area where we didn’t quite stick to our schedule was at this point right before the program was scheduled to end. There were teens who came in later than the 4:00 PM start time and therefore took longer to complete each other stations. In order to make it fair, we had to wait for their score cards before handing out the prizes, so that pushed us about 8 minutes over schedule, but I always end my programs at least 30 minutes prior to closing so that we have leeway and still have time to clean up and get everyone out of the building.

Once the scores were tabulated, we awarded prizes. I had 12 total prizes including 7 giveaway readalike books, a copy of the special edition People magazine that was devoted to the movie, a Hunger Games notepad that a colleague brought back from PLA, a boxed set of the trilogy, and two movie ticket bundles (tickets, gift cards to the theater for snacks, and movie sized boxes of candy.

In addition, everyone who participated got a mockingjay pin (we made these in-house) and a bookmark that I got for free from Scholastic (that’s where I got the mockingjay tattoos as well).

All-in-all it was one of the most successful programs I’ve run to date, and everyone who helped out said they really enjoyed it. I also got some great comments from parents thanking me for putting on such a cool program to encourage teens to read. *pat on the back…job well done* J

If you would like more detailed info, copies of any of the documents I created, instructions for making the snack parachutes, or anything else just comment here with your email address. I’m more than happy to share! You can view all our pictures on the Escondido Public Library Facebook page: /escondidolibrary