Fistful of Ideas available for library summer reading programs

Contact: Stephen Kershner, executive director
Michigan Library Association

6810 S. Cedar, Suite #6
Lansing, MI 48911
(517) 694-6615, ext. 24

www.mla.lib.mi.us

LANSING, Mich.—Let Michigan teen librarians give you “a fistful of ideas” to add punch to your teen summer reading program—or perhaps the confidence to start a teen reading program at your library.

The Michigan Library Association’s Teen Services (formerly Young Adult) Division has just published “Teen Summer Reading Programs: A Fistful of Ideas” (51 pages, spiral bound, soft cover).

Merry Beth Tacy, Farmington Hills, Mich., teen librarian and division chair, coordinated the publication. “There are lots of ideas out there for children’s reading programs, but librarians in charge of older kids usually want to do something different,” she said.

To get ideas for the book, division members solicited teen reading program suggestions through a statewide listserv and selected the best ideas for the book.

The book offers:

Teen summer reading promotion tips. Sample letters and suggestions for approaching schools, celebrities and potential sponsors are included.

Themed program ideas tested by real librarians and real teenagers. Learn how to put the Extreme Read, the Food Fight and eight other ideas to work for you.

Reading lists for middle and high school students. Both lists are divided into 12 genres, including adventure, classics, science fiction, romance and mysteries.

The book also includes craft activity suggestions and suggested prizes. “It’s sometimes hard to know what teenagers will think is a cool enough prize for reading a lot of books,” said Tacy.

A list of additional program events—auction parties, guest D.J., gross-out story contest, poetry slam, theater improvisation—as well as Web sites with online summer reading clubs is also included.

Finally, contact information for contributors is listed, and librarians using the book are encouraged to ask questions and get advice if needed.

“Teen Summer Reading Programs: A Fistful of Ideas” is available from the Michigan Library Association for $10 to members ($12 non-members). To order, call the Michigan Library Association, (517) 694-6615, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. M-F.

Or order online by visiting www.mla.lib.mi.us/index.htm. Click on “Publications and Special Reports.”

Two other children and youth publications are also available from the Michigan Library Association: “Yikes! Cool Young Adult Programming Ideas Made Easy” and “Too Good to Be True,” a reading list for toddlers and preschoolers. Orders may be placed by phone or online.

The Michigan Library Association, founded in1890 is a 1,600-member association representing library personnel. Headquartered in Lansing, MLA provides continuing education, advocacy services and networking resources for all types of libraries throughout the state.