Summer Reading 2011: The Final Frontier

Summer reading's finally over, and I've done most of the tabulation for participation and program attendance. We have a slack week between when we end and when we really end (which gives stragglers a chance to collect prizes), so my numbers are based on the numbers before slack week, which is good enough for me.

I'm thrilled with increases just about everywhere, and I have so many ideas for improving the program next year. I'm saving up my post on that for later this week.

Our library serves a population of about 14,000, with a wide geographical reach (a lot of it rural and without any public transportation). I'm the only youth services librarian, but I was so lucky this summer to have an intern help me out nearly 20 hours a week, as well as an adult volunteer who helped out about that much, and I had 2 members of our Friends of the Library who helped in running our twice-a-week prize store.

Registration

We had a total of 532 under the age of 19 register for the program. That broke down as 78 pre-readers, 240 youth between 4 and 12, and 114 teens. That surpassed last year's numbers, which had 520 registered, with 45 pre-readers, 413 youth, and 62 teens. In 2009, 509 registered, with 39 pre-readers, 400 youth, and 70 teens.

For the pre-readers, we had 45% of all the available activities completed by participants (I took the number of participants by the number of total activities to get that number). More than 50% of those who signed up came back to check in, which is an excellent return rate. 30% of the pre-readers completed the entire program. All together, this group completed a total of 1,055 literacy activities.

For the youth, we had 31% of all the possible hours read by participants (I took the total number of participants by the total number of possible hours to get that number). 21% of the youth checked in their logs, and 16% completed the entire program. All together, this group read for a total of 2,597.5 hours this summer.

For the teens, we had 33% of all the possible hours read by participants (I took the total number of participants by the total number of possible hours to get that number). 50% of the teens checked in their logs, and 20% completed the entire program. All together, this group read for a total of 1,885 hours.

Programming

The teen mobile collection, which ran twice a week during lunch hours at the high school, we had 12 teens sign up for the reading club, and we circulated 25 items.

This summer, we offered 16 all-ages programs, 7 tween programs, 9 teen programs, and 10 story times. We had a total of 42 programs that brought out 1,342 attendees. Last year, by comparison, there were a total of 51 program and a total attendance of 1,464. Last year, there were two story hours offered, and if you take out the story time sessions for both this year and last year, we had a total of 1,200 attendees at our programs, compared to 1,121 last year. It makes me think if we had offered two story times like we did before, we'd have easily beat last year's attendance numbers, but I'm thrilled with how high program attendance without story time included was.

By comparison, in 2009 thee were 50 programs total for an attendance of 1,706. Taking out story times, which were offered 5 different times during the week (including two as outreach), there were only 10 programs and an attendance of 831.

I broke out teen programming into another category, as well, and we had a total of 9 programs this summer for teens, with an attendance of 117. Last year, there were 3 teen programs, with 21 attendees. In 2009, there were 3 programs offered for teens and 15 attended. Our numbers here have skyrocketed. I think the idea that "if you build it, they will come" is true, and I think getting into the schools a lot has helped greatly. We also had 8 teens sign up for library cards this summer, which is a great number to see.

Other thoughts

When the program ended, the first thing I did was open up a document and begin planning out improvements for next year. I've got a handle on what the scope of the program is, and I have goals for where I can expand. As much as I'm completely burned out and over summer reading (and eager to get rid of our decorations, prizes, fliers, etc.), I'm also a little excited about planning ahead.

Lego Club: A How-To Guide

I've been asked how I run Lego Club at my library, and while I don't think I do anything radically different from other libraries, I thought I'd share what I do and what I've sort of adapted over the course of this fun program.

Getting a Lego Club Started

The very first step in getting a Lego Club started is...getting Legos. Anyone who has ever purchased Legos knows they are not inexpensive. I was lucky because in my storage closet at work, I found a small starter box of Legos. But I knew that small box would in no way cut it.

I didn't want to spend too much building the collection, so I turned to the community. Through our monthly newsletter and in in-library advertising, I asked for donations. I got a couple enthusiastic responses from the start, and I collected another small lot of Legos. Again, it wasn't quite enough for the club I envisioned. I turned, too, to my friend Brian, who is a huge Lego enthusiast, and he hooked me up with another donation. But still, I knew I didn't have enough, so I had to figure out where to buy some Legos with a tight budget.

Enter MegaBlox.

MegaBlox are sold in 1,000 piece kits and they work with regular Legos. They happened to be on sale at my local box store, and I picked up 2 kits for $40. I also bought a couple packs of mini-figurines and with what I'd collected, I just hoped for the best.

Lucky for me, after the club met a couple times, we began ROLLING in donations. I mean it when I say I have 3 huge Rubbermaid tubs full of Legos. I have tons of cool pieces, and I have tons of the bases and figures. When word got out about the club and the kids started showing off their works, people began bringing us so many Legos, I almost had to start turning them away. It was fantastic.

The Club Set up

I run my club twice a month after school at 4 pm for one hour (I made adjustments in the summer). I began the club thinking each week I'd come up with a theme for the kids to build on, but in the end, I scrapped it. My kids were interested in building whatever they wanted, and who was I to stop that creativity?

In setting up the room, I put out 3 or 4 tables to build on, but I put them on the sides of the room and leave the center of the room completely open. I lay down two large table cloths (the heavy duty kind) and dump the Legos onto the table cloths. This lets the kids dig and explore all they want to -- which for some kids, is the entire point of Legos -- and then at the end, clean up is as easy as getting the pieces onto the table cloths, folding them up, and dumping the Legos into the container. Painless.

As the kids finish their creations, they come up to me and tell me what they made and what they're calling it. My first couple of meetings, I had the kids share with everyone what they made, but I found out they hated this, and some didn't want to talk in front of the group at all. So, I decided they could come talk to me and just me. When they tell me their creation's name, I write it down on a small piece of card stock, along with their first name, and then they are free to put the creation anywhere on top of the shelves in the children's area they wish.

When all of the kids have their creations up, they can wander and see what the other kids made.

After Lego Club

I leave the kids' Lego creations up until the next Lego Club. The day of the next club meeting, I take them apart and they get to start all over again.

Lessons Learned

Honestly, this is an easy to run program and one that, despite some initial costs, is cheap. Anyone can supervise it, and I've toyed with the idea of having it become a volunteer-run program.

I began the program by limiting it to those in 2nd grade and older, but I kept getting younger kids who wanted to participate. And you know, I let them. Whenever parents bring their kids, I say that the only age requirement is that the kids are able to play with regular Legos themselves. Most of the time, the littler kids come with parents who stay and play with them. I love this -- I believe Lego Club is one that is really a great family program, as so often, the parents come and play with the kids. Seeing dads with their sons is wonderful.

Which brings me to this: it's a big boys program, but not all boy. If you can, get ahold of brightly colored, pink, purple, and neon colored Legos, too. We have a pink kit, and in it were flowers, birds, and other little things that both the girls and boys have loved using. I would say bulk up, if you can, on mini figures for your Lego collection, since those are the most popular things in my sets.

When I began, I thought that having a lot of bases to building would be important. It's not. If you don't have many, you will be just fine. The kids are so imaginative and creative that they will make something from nothing. And the stories they will tell you about what they make are fascinating.

In room set up, I discovered some kids are going to gravitate to using tables and chairs, but most of mine prefer to lie on the floor in front of the Lego platter. They help one another find pieces they need, and they're cooperative in sharing. The social skills they learn here are important, and the bonding they have over the activity is one that's not easy to replicate in many other youth programs. One thing I do is provide buckets -- I have some from the Legos themselves -- and the kids who want to collect Legos to build on a table can use one of those to scour the pile then build elsewhere.

I average between 18 and 30 kids each time I run the program, which for a twice a month program that requires nothing of me other than setting out Legos and taking them down, is a great turn out.

You can make this program as challenging or not challenging as you wish, but I prefer to keep it really laid back. My kids have enjoyed it greatly, and everyone loves to look at the Lego creations the kids make. I think putting the things on display is key to a successful Lego Club: it gives the kids a sense of accomplishment AND it's perfect advertising for the next club. I do think I am going to invest in a bag of Duplos though to have out in our children's area for anytime use because the kids who look at the display have a tendency to want to play with the items. Alas. I don't yell at them about it. It's natural curiosity.

I did have one tricky incident in Lego Club that's worth noting. I mentioned that I got a lot of really good mini figs through donation; apparently, they were SO good, that one of my kids pocketed a handful during Lego Club and took them home. Fortunately for me, his mom brought it to my attention and made him bring them to me and apologize the next week. It was a hard lesson for him, and I think it's one to just be aware could happen. I don't operate with that on my mind, but it is a slight possibility. Speaking of the mini figs, I had a mom and her kids want to buy a few pieces off me, too, since they loved what I had received so much. I didn't sell them, but instead, I directed her to a couple websites that might be able to help her. In short: be familiar with where you can acquire Star Wars and other popular figures.

Bonus: this program works for teens, too! My teens are rabid about Legos. So there you go!

Planning for Fall

One of the truths of youth librarianship is that there is never a break. In the midst of summer reading, you have to plan out fall and winter programming to get publicity rolling enough in advance and to start thinking about using whatever you have left in your budget. Plus, as soon as summer reading's finished, you want your kids to know what's coming up in the fall.

I've been planning and brainstorming for a month or so about programs for the fall, and last week, I turned in my final plans and ideas, and I thought I'd share them, perhaps spurring some ideas for others who are scrambling or for those who can offer me some tips and ideas in advance.

First and foremost, we're offering up two story times again, one for toddlers and one for preschoolers. I don't do in-house story time, but I will be doing outreach story time again. So far, I'm going to the elementary school 4K classes again twice a month, and it's likely I'll be doing the same with one of the local parochial schools. I love getting out and reaching the kids in the classroom, and I'm excited for a couple weeks to plot out my themes and pick out my stories and crafts. I'm going to try a bunch of new ideas and techniques this coming year, especially since I'm now a storytime veteran, rather than a storytime newbie. I don't feel like I'm going in blind and clueless now -- I've got it down, and I LOVE the preschool/4K age group. They're fun to see regularly.

We're offering Lego Club again on Monday afternoons twice a month. I think this year will be a great start, since the kids are already familiar with it, and I'm debating whether I want to mix it up with offering themes/challenges or if I want to keep it as it is, which is a complete free build.

I'm starting up a new program this fall that I am extremely excited about. I planned it without funding in mind, but I did receive a small grant from Kohl's, and the funds will go toward it. It's my Exploration Art Studio, geared for preschool through first graders. The goal is to have an open art studio for the little kids, where we'll offer 2 or 3 different art stations and ideas, and the kids can get messy. It's once a month after school. For our first session in September, we'll be painting with glue and making sticky collages; in October, we'll be doing nature weaving, leaf rubbings, and other nature art; in November, we'll be having a huge Play Doh creation session; and in December, we'll do rock painting, food painting, and bubble painting.

We have three sorts of age groups for stand along programming, and that's all ages, tween, and teen. We're offering something for every group every month.

All ages

For September, we're doing a stuffed animal sleepover on a Thursday night, so our patrons can pick up their animals the next morning, which is when our preschool story time is. They'll come in their pajamas for a night-themed story time, then we'll make a small craft, followed by a night in the library (with photos!) for their toys.

October means we'll be doing our pumpkin carving program again, and this time, we're doing it so that we clean out the pumpkins during the day before hand (when the kids don't have school) and then the carving will be the day after (another day off school for the kids). I'm hoping this cuts down on a late night at the library and entices a larger group of kids helping clean out the pumpkins.

In November, we're going to do Giant Monopoly again. I did it in the spring to a good size group, and they were super eager to keep playing. I figured since we have all of the pieces, we might as well do it again. It's a free and easy-to-run program, and one that's a lot of fun.

In December, we're switching things up. The idea of doing a gingerbread house making program turns my stomach a bit after last year. It's SO costly and labor intensive, and I really don't care for it. Instead, we're doing the traditional program of bringing Santa to the library for pictures, and while that's going on, we'll also be making ornaments for the kids to keep and ornaments they can hang in our trees outside the library (oranges and pine cones to attract the birds).

I've become quite serious about the idea of giving kids things to do during their school breaks, since it's when they ask for things to do (and when they tend to get dropped off at the library), so I'm also offering a pizza and a movie during the holiday break. I'm not sure what we'll watch yet, but that's one of those things I can figure out a couple weeks before and be fine.

Tween Programs

After having such great turnout and excitement for this programming during the summer, I'm continuing it in the school year once a month. All of these programs involve making something, which is what this age group LOVES doing.

In September, we're making wrapped bracelets and marble magnets to celebrate school being back in session.

October is when we'll be combining our tween program with a teen program, and we'll be having a Monster Mash. We'll make monster bookmarks, monster tubes, and felt monsters. The kids will be able to make one or all of them.

I'm actually mixing it up in November and doing something wild: steal bingo. They'll play a normal game of bingo, but instead of picking out a prize, they'll pick out a mystery present that'll be wrapped. A lot of them will be weird things from the dollar store or left over summer reading prizes. After playing for a while, the kids will all open their prizes, and then the fun begins -- we'll keep playing bingo, but this time when someone wins, they can steal a prize from someone else. It should be a blast, since this age group sees this as fun instead of competitive.

December's program will be a recycle. Since our duct tape program was so popular this summer, we'll be doing it again. It'll be right before Christmas, so we'll make duct tape presents, naturally.

Again, since I want to offer something during the winter break, we'll be doing an additional program in December for tweens (and teens): bleached shirts. The kids'll bring a dark shirt, and we'll provide some creative ideas and bleach pens. Easy and fun.

Teens

It feels like I offer a lot of teen programs, but that's because the book club meets 2 or 3 times a month in addition to other programs. This fall/winter, we'll be reading I am J, Clarity, Rot and Ruin, Glow, Want to Go Private, Small Town Sinners, Between Shades of Gray, Brooklyn Burning, Divergent and My Beating Teenage Heart. I think it's a great mix of mystery, paranormal, realistic, dystopian, and historical, and they're all titles my teens were eager to dive into.

In September, we're doing a lock in that my teens have pretty much planned out for me. We'll be doing some craft-y stuff (non-pressured at tables they can choose from if they want to), gaming on the big screen, music, food, a pinata, and we'll also be doing cover redesigns. I cannot wait to talk about that because my kids came up with the idea. Oh, and we'll also be giving Justin Bieber a makeover. Ahem.

In October, we'll be celebrating Teen Read Week by having a week-long contest for the teens, and we'll be offering programs that include the Monster Mash (with the tweens), Pizza and a Movie (we'll be watching I am Number Four and serving pizza since one of my regular teens is obsessed with this book), and perhaps the program I'm most excited for, which I'm calling If It Floats Your Boat. We'll offer up stuff for making root beer floats and playing book trailers on loop. They can enjoy a treat and pick out books without any pressure.

November's program is going to happen on 11/11/11 and it is -- wait for it -- Minute-to-Win-It. My teens loved the Death by Chocolate Party, and when I proposed this idea, they were equally as excited. Wacky minute long challenges in the library? Who could resist it?

In December, the teen program will be the same one as the tween program with bleach tee creation.

Volunteer Fun

Both my tweens and teens will be able to help out with pumpkin cleaning, which I am billing as a program itself. They'll get pizza and pop and help gut pumpkins all while earning volunteer hours. I did this last year, making it sound more like a program than a volunteer event, and I had a good turn out. I'm hoping by doing it on a day off school for the kids and advertising it in advance, we'll get a bigger turn out and it can become an event itself.

I can't wait to put these plans into action, as I feel like the line up of programs is really strong. And if you're curious, I have started plotting out next year already, too, and I'm super excited about those as well. Now that I've been in the job for a year (and in the field for three now!), I feel like I'm beginning to get a good grip of what works and what doesn't work. I'm also able to gauge what my skills are and whether I need them or not to make something happen -- see the Superhero Party, where I had no idea or background whatsoever and feel like I put together something fun and exciting for the kids.

What's on your plate for the fall/winter? Anything you're excited about? I'd love more ideas, so spill 'em if you've got 'em!

Week 8: The Last Week of Summer Reading

The end has come! As of today, my Summer Reading Club is over -- and it's been exhausting and exhilarating and every other emotion possible. We had our last couple of programs, and we're opening our prize store one more time on Saturday next week for kids to pick out prizes. Because of that, I don't have my final registration or completion numbers yet, but I will next week and I'll be posting a huge final rundown of the entire summer, including my plans for improving next year's program.

This week though, we had a couple programs.

Monday was Lego Club, as has been all summer long, and we had one of our bigger turnouts, too. We had 24 show up, and almost every single one was a boy. I love this. It's such a perfect group for boys, and they're all so nice to one another while they're there.

Tuesday, which is our usual all ages programming day, was a non-programming day for me. I used the opportunity to take inventory of all my programming supplies for the fall, since I'm already figuring out what I need. I got a $500 grant, and I plan on using it to bulk up on art supplies for a fall program I'm going to try out. It was a nice, zen activity to do, and I'm eager to finish this job up in the next week or two. I thrive on cleanliness and organization, so the mess that came with summer has been begging for that attention.

We made up for our no program Tuesday with our big end-of-summer program on Wednesday. Jennifer had suggested we do this program early in the year, and it's one I was so pleased with that I would consider doing again in a heartbeat. I'm not much of a name-the-performer person on this blog for many reasons, but I definitely will say that any library who can, should consider bringing out Dino from Nature's Niche for a program. He brought out a ton of live exotic animals and presented about the animals, how he came to rescue them and rehabilitate them, and he really engaged the kids in the program. They got to be involved, and they got to touch or hold nearly everything. We had over 85 kids show up for the program -- all ages -- and we drew in a lot of people who just happened by the library that morning, which was wonderful. Not only did he engage the kids, his program was longer than most. It went for nearly 2 hours, which was huge bang for the buck.

After the program, one of the dads I knew from Lego Club came up and told me he didn't even think to bring his camera and write about this for the paper. But he gave me his email, and we'll get a nice little piece in the local paper about the program, too. That was one of the things I didn't think enough about this summer and one of the changes for next year. Alas -- I got some fantastic pictures of the kids with the animals, and I'm thrilled the community will get to see some of them. The ones here are of a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach (my favorite animal of the day which, indeed, I did pet!) and my second favorite, the little alligator who liked being held like a baby. He apparently feels very soft, except if you rub his tail the wrong way. That apparently feels like a razor blade (I let the kids enjoy that one, so I didn't get to confirm this first hand).

Thursday, we had our last teen program of the summer, which was a teen Lego Club. We had a low turnout for the program, and none of the kids who were begging me to run this program for them showed up. It happens. But the boys who did come had a good time, and their conversations were hilarious to listen to. And surprisingly, they made less violent Lego creations than the younger kids usually do.

Friday was a no program day, but since I worked the reference desk half the day, I got the chance to check kids in and dole out prize dollars. It was fun to reward the kids who worked hard all summer, and I actually got a compliment from one of the parents saying how fun the program had been and how much her kids enjoyed it. After a summer that feels like it drags and feels like it's one disaster after another, hearing that from a parent really felt nice. She'd approached me before about my style of programming and how different it was from my predecessor and from the people in neighboring libraries, and her kids liked how laid back I was. Refreshing!

In my down time this week, I did a lot of brain storming on improvements for the next summer reading club, and I can't wait to share them, along with my final numbers. I already know my teen programming attendance has increased significantly from the part two years, though this year it seems my all ages programming numbers have dropped a bit (though their registration numbers are the same). I think there's a few reasons for it, which I'll hit upon next week.

That said, this has been one huge sigh of relief. I'm so glad the summer reading program is over, and though this has been my third summer reading club, this felt like the most challenging because I was taking care of the entire youth program, from birth to 18, rather than from 12 to 18. And honestly, I've begun to question my own feelings about summer reading clubs in general. That's not to say I don't think it has a value, but I think that sort of gets diminished in the everyday management/administrative aspects of the program. It's given me a lot to think about for doing some new things in the future, that's for sure.

Teen Displays!

Since summer reading is so close to done and I'm tired of looking at the same displays in the teen area, I decided to switch it up this week. I made a huge display space earlier this summer, and I decided to utilize it for two displays this month.

First up, my display on books that feature food in some way:


I've got sweets, coffee, scones, cheese shops, and even some non-fiction about cooking well. I plan on posting a lengthier book list on this topic over at STACKED in the next week or so, since there are a ton of books that fit. I did make myself laugh a little as I stood in front of the Sarah Dessen titles and tried to remember which was the one that featured the catering job -- I think I've read too much Dessen if I'm so familiar with that small plot detail (for the record, it's The Truth About Forever, probably my favorite of her books).

Then, to celebrate August as happiness month, I thought it would be worthwhile to do a completely color-filled display:


It's books that have yellow covers, and there's no other connection among them. I love my sign, where I was able to put the name of the display ("August is get happy month. Brighten your reading all month long.") as the smile. It really is the little things.

Summer Reading Club: Week 7 or - ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT -

See that drink there? I am waiting until the end of this week to indulge in a few because that means summer reading club is over and it's time to celebrate. But for now, here's how week seven stacked up.

We didn't get any new teen sign ups this week, so we're still at 114 teens participating this year in the summer reading club. I got a stack of registrations this week from one of the summer school teachers who had her class participate (something I think I might try more thoughtfully next year to do), and we're up to 335 youth signed up. We had another pre-reader sign up, and we were at 79 for that group. That brings us to a total of 527 participants for summer reading club. For what it's worth, I planned for 100 teens and surpassed that, and I planned for 45 pre-readers, and I also surpassed that. Color me thrilled. I'm more eager to see completion rates, which I'll know at the middle of the month.


Monday we had our regular Lego Club, with 15 people coming out. We had no internet for a period of time on Monday, and part of me wonders if that's part of why attendance for Lego Club's been down the last couple of weeks (we were internet-down last Monday, too).

Tuesday, which we called International Day, was a shot in the dark for me. I gave the responsibility for the program over to a coworker before summer started, and when she left for a new job, it was given to another coworker. I was in the dark mostly about what the plans were, but I trusted it'd work -- and I got quite an interesting shopping list of supplies, which in the end, only one of the things ended up being used (but we can always use tissue paper and gold wrapping paper later, at least). My coworker took the kids on a trip to England, where they got to learn a bit about the royal family, played a game of trying to make the soldier laugh, and then she took them to Peru, where they learned about the government, the rain forests, and the Inca. They got to make these beautiful Incan fans as their craft at the end. It was a nice program and kept the kids interested, and we had 54 come out. I was thrilled we could do it outside since the weather finally cooperated. This was the program where my intern finally understood what the strange stress of being a librarian was like -- as much as it's sort of a strange thing to say, I feel like this was an important moment for her to experience. I had gone inside to take care of something, and she was dropped into the program, wherein a mother approached her and another coworker and complained that we didn't have enough glue that worked for all of the kids. That was the straw, folks, but it was an important one to learn: you're never going to make everyone happy, and the things people will complain about are bizarre (because really, my small library having over 50 working glue bottles so each kid can have one . . .).

Wednesday was our last official Tween program of the summer, and when I told the kids that, they were really upset. They absolutely loved having a program of their own, and they have been rabid about making things. Perhaps it was the insanity of summer hitting me, but my program was Potato Art -- I gave the kids potatoes and knives and let them make stamps of the potatoes. Did you read that? I gave the kids knives. We only had one small nick, and the girl who did it was kind of the one I'd expect it from (and she was fine, bandaged it, and kept on carving). They had more fun carving designs than painting, which leads me again to think I could just hand them anything and they'd keep themselves entertained for an hour. We had 15 tweens out for the program.

Thursday was our last teen book club of the summer (officially -- the regular school-time program picks up again on the 18th) and this was where we did the thing with the balloons. So funny story: just earlier that day, my intern and I were talking about success with teen programming, since I'd seen it come up on one of the YALSA list servs. I told her I think any book discussion with at least 2 people is a success, and programs that bring out 5-7 are good, and anything above that is total gravy -- I've had a gravy of a summer, as it turns out, but more on that in a later wrap up post. I bring this up because this week's book club was on the small side, but it was just as successful to me as if we'd had 10 or 12 out, like we've had at some other book club meetings.

The summer mobile collection had its last day on Wednesday, and in the end, we checked out nearly 30 books, and we signed up 15 kids for summer reading club. There were also 21 entries into our prize drawings, meaning the kids were using it to do the program quite well. Though the numbers sound low, I'm quite impressed. We had no advertising of the mobile collection, and it gave me a real jumping off point for the future. Incorporating this sort of program is something I want to do more of, and I think I have reason to do so. Especially when it comes to getting kids participating with the library and getting our faces out there. I feel like I got to meet a lot of my patrons this summer through this program, which is important with this age group. This is something I'm going to talk more about later, too.

I just have to make it through this week, and I will be so, so happy. Plans for this week, besides surviving, include cleaning my office out and going on a shopping trip for supplies to replenish the waning stuff (and cash in on back-to-school sales).

Teen Book Club: Up, Up, and Away!

No one would suggest I run a conventional teen book club, and that's one of the things I'm proud of. I know teens like to be silly and do fun things, and it's not always necessary to sit and discuss a book in depth. I've done book club using Legos and using Play Doh and making Post Secret cards.

While I was reading this week's book, which was Nova Ren Suma's June release Imaginary Girls, I was thinking about how I could run with something in the book and twist it enough to make it an activity for book discussion. What kept coming back to me was the imagery in the book, and one image that kept coming back to me was one in which the main character's older sister writes a series of demands on balloons that she ties with red ribbon. She lets them go and because of her magical powers, people do what the balloons say when they find them.

So I thought....why can't we?



I decorated our meeting room with colorful balloons that were tied with red ribbon.


I was impressed with how close the blue balloon matched the book's cover color.

Then when the group came in, they began writing their little demands/wishes onto the balloons with permanent markers.


Then we untied them from the backs of the chairs (proof the ribbon is red here!). I told everyone we had a place to take the balloons. I got some amused looks at this point, but then everything clicked into place when I led them outside.


One of our group members is wearing sunglasses in this photo, which, if you've read the book, you know fits the story so well. But, here's the pile of balloons. We wrote on each and every one of them. The wishes ran from things like wishing one of our group members would never stop talking, to receiving a pile of books in one's room, to having a cheesecake delivered to the library, and mine, which was having someone bring me $22 in $2 bills only.

Then we each took our balloons from the ground, and it was time to let the demands find their new homes.


Up!


Up!!


And away!

This was a fun activity, and it was definitely a way to tie the story to the discussion quite easily.

As you probably saw in the first picture, we also pulled down our big screen and had a chat with Nova Ren Suma herself. I've had a lot of people ask how I do our author chats, and really, it's simple. I get in touch with the author a month or more in advance and ask if we can chat. Our chats are about 20 minutes long, and as of yet, we haven't done a Skype chat (we will come fall). Instead, we've used Chatzy to set up private chat rooms and type to talk. It's free to set one up, and you can email the link to the other party. What I like about this set up is that coming up with questions can be done on the spot, so the conversation can build as it flows naturally, and it allows us to chat between typing. There's not pressure on the teens to come up with something on the spot, and there's less pressure to be completely focused on the chat. Plus, when you let the teens type, they get to talk to an author themselves! It's a huge thrill for them, and it's fun to connect them with the people writing books for them.

So after our balloon demand release, a short book club discussion about characters and setting, and then a chat with the author, we'd used up an hour and a half and had a LOT of fun.