Ideas for School Presentations to Teens to Promote Summer Reading Programs
From pubyac listserv
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Each year I visit the schools and I play title Pictionary. I divide the class
into 2 teams and they compete. They get an extra point if they know the authors
of the titles. At the end, everyone gets a piece of candy or a bookmark. Never
go into a middle school without candy. It works like a charm. If you are following
a theme, I choose juvenile and YA books that go with the theme. This game goes
over really well. Also, If you have a heckler, I choose that person to be my
special assistant and they help me keep score or whatever. I give them the
attention they want. When you visit that class the next time, you will have
no problem.
Cara Romeo
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One thing I would suggest is having some candy or something (just small pieces
of chocolate or whatever) to toss out. What I mean is, ask some questions like
how many of you visit the library regularly? And toss candy to those with raised
hands (“Good for you!”). Raise your hand if you’ve read a good book lately,
then point to students and ask for titles. When people answer simple questions,
toss them a piece of candy. This will work if you are talking to classrooms
and isn’t terribly expensive to do depending on the size and number of classes
you’re visiting. Hopefully at the end, you’ve given candy to most students.
Then you can simply say, “Who hasn’t gotten candy yet?” and toss them some so
no one is left out.
If you are talking to large groups, you can do the same questions
without offering the candy. It gets them engaged and interacting with you. After
they tell you some titles they’ve liked, tell them you’ve got some titles they
might like to pick up over the summer and do some book talks. Bookmarks are
an inexpensive alternative to candy. Print up some bookmarks with the SRP theme
on them and dates or whatever. I don’t physically go to schools to promote
because we are a small public library and my program has been growing in leaps
and bounds since I started. I do give out incentives for signing up. Last year
it was a mini-candy bar with a SRP wrapper that I made and taped to each (time
consuming). In two of them, I put golden tickets for a little larger prize.
The kids loved it. This year, we are doing a water theme so the incentive is
a surfboard key chain that will be given out when teens register. I make a big
deal of this on promotional fliers and those do go to the schools along with
sign up sheets, etc. The media specialists have been great about displaying
these for me. Also, emphasize the fun programs and prizes you’ll be offering.
The teens here are always amazed at the incentives we offer. The more enthusiasm
you show for the programs, the more interest you’ll generate. Make it sound
exciting to be part of this brand new program.
Jennie Garner, Asst. Director/Teen Librarian
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I have heard of this being used with a booktalk for summer reading:
Bring the books in a picnic basket, spread out a tablecloth, and tell them that
summer reading is going to be a picnic this year.
Donna Childs, Teen Loft Librarian Newburyport Public Library, MA
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Talk about baseball and anything else that’s on their minds
and in the news that would interest them. In this part of the country, the
Yankees just recruited Alex Rodriguez and I know I’ll get a rise out of the
boys when I say: “Do you think he’s worth the fuss?” Just playing devil’s advocate.
Many of them probably watch “American Idol”. If you can tie in anything book
or movie-wise to lead in to the booktalks, they will be very receptive. They
are a great audience if you strike the right cord. Also make a poster out of
the some covers of the books you are book talking, especially if you are presenting
in front of a large group. Good luck.
Peggy McCarthy Smithtown Library Long Island
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I recommend being extremely flexible and let the teens feel
like they are calling the shots, if possible. What I do is hand out a quarter
page checklist of all the titles I’m book talking that day before I start.
After I finish my spiel about the summer program, I ask the teens if there are
any titles in particular that they are interested in hearing about. I leave
the books face up on the table until I book talk them and then have them standing
up facing the teens, so they know what has already been picked. Usually I get
through the whole list this way, as there is no wrong answer and therefore no
wrong reason to raise your hand...they seem to like that. If it slows down
at all, I go ahead and pick the next book, usually with some sort of transition
like, oh...if you like books with really rotten bad guys like that one, you
might like...etc. Mostly though, I just try to keep things going, and make
sure my enthusiasm for the books shows through.This is usually enough to keep
them interested! Hope this helps.
Dawn Rutherford Teen Services Librarian King County Library System Lake Hills
Branchdrutherf@kcls.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In my experience, one of the best approaches is to go for
the gross and/or humorous right off the bat. After you’ve got their attention,
you can move on to other stuff. I’ve had good results with books like these:
For younger middle school kids only:
Oh Yuck: The Encyclopedia of Everything Nasty
Rats: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
It’s Disgusting and We Ate It
Grossology
For 5th grade on up, including high school
kids:
Got Tape? Roll Out the Fun with Duct Tape
Hey Idiot! : Chronicles of Human Stupidity
The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family
Strange Foods by Jerry Hopkins [really disgusting - older boys love it!]
The Stupid Crook Book
What’s the Number for 911?
America’s Wackiest 911 Calls
The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook
There are many more books like these. Just keep an eye out
for the weird, the gross, and the humorous!
Rebecca Christy
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As a high school librarian who has to spark the interest of teens on a regular
basis, here are a few suggestions:
1. Don’t book talk too many books. I usually do about 5. After that, you’ve
lost them.
2. Relate books to things that are popular or meaningful to them, when possible
(movies, music, popular sports or hobbies, something local that affects them)
if the book is short, point that out to them as an advantage. If it’s long,
convince them why it’s worth their time. My students appreciate that I “understand”
their hesitation about “long” books
3. Give them a cool looking “cheat sheet” with all the need-to-know stuff on
it, because even the ones who want to participate will forget half of what you
said within a short time. However, don’t hand it out until after your talk or
they’ll read it/play with it/tear it up/throw it and not listen to you.
4. Give the teacher extras because they will lose the sheets and ask their teacher
for them later. Ask the teacher to do a reminder before school is out
5. Contact the school librarian, if you haven’t already talked to her. If she
knows what the kids like, she can help you shape your presentation to meet their
likes/dislikes. If she’s totally out of touch and suggests book talking a book
on beekeeping (as a former librarian here did), then ignore everything she tells
you.:)
6. Make the program as little work for them as possible. If they have to do
a lot of “stuff” to get their prizes, it will be less appealing. Make sure the
prizes are stuff they’ll like.
7. Hand out a treat, even if it’s just a piece of candy for each student. Food
always gets hem, and they’ll think you’re cool. Also, if you haven’t already
thought of it, have food at the programs. I’m convinced part of the success
of my book clubs can be attributed to the fact that the kids get pizza and soda.
They pay - but they still think it’s cool they can do that.
Let me know if you have any more questions!
Anita Beaman Media Director Olympia High School
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It should help if you have prizes to show the kids. Bring
many books to booktalk, as well as videos, computer software, manga and graphic
novels if you have them, magazines, popular music CDs. Bring every cool thing
you can think of that your library loans. If you know of a special interest
that your area teens are focused on, bring bookmarks with a list of great Internet
sites about that topic. If not, search for some cool, funny Internet sites
for teens and use those for the bookmarks to give away (on the back of the bookmark,
print a short paragraph about Teen SRP and your library locations/hours information).
You can find great ideas in a book titled: Invitations, celebrations: a
handbook of ideas and techniques for promoting reading in junior and senior
high schools by Fay Blostein. My favorites are promoting books using a
newspaper advertising page format. One I wrote reads: Feeling tired? In need
of rejuvenation? Call 1-800-VAM-PIRE. Evening appointments only. Vampires;
a collection of original stories by Jane Yolen. And the other one I enjoyed
writing used general horoscope statements to promote particular books. Then
you can offer to read some kids’ horoscopes. I always used positive character
type statements, such as “You are romantic, and always listen to your strong
intuition.” I don’t remember offhand which book went with that one, but at
any rate, handouts are always good. Hope this helps.
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Has anyone suggested telling a story to you yet? I’m not
sure how comfortable you are with memorization and being in front of a group
without a book, but I usually learn a scary story to tell the young teens during
my school visits to promote the Summer Reading Club. I look through all my
compilations of scary story readers, record a short story, and then play it
in my car or at home over and over again to memorize it. They really seem to
respond well to it. It gets them interested in the library again and reminds
them that it could be fun to visit to check out pleasure books instead of books
for school assignments. I also bring word searches, mazes, etc. that are library
or summer theme-related to work on at the end of my schpiel and/or to take home.
Good luck with the program.
Dana Hegquist, Southold Free Library, Long Island, NY
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I work at a high school and how I do my book talks is quite
different. I create a PowerPoint presentation about the author, the books, time
period and symbols, themes, etc about the book. With these presentations I add
animation, photos, art work that all mesh with the book. The kids love it, they
ask questions and are always fascinated about the author and want to know more.
As of this date I have created over 30 of these types of presentations and I
am always being asked to do more. I hope this help
Robyn Doppke Jones Librarian PCHS Pensacola, Florida
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I’m a library media specialist who invites my public librarian
into the school to promote her summer reading program as well as our summer
reading list. I would suggest you talk to your school librarian to see what
you can coordinate together. I have enjoyed book talking with my colleague and
the kids seem to respect and appreciate our working together. Also, I would
make as big an impact as quickly as possible. My English teachers are extremely
supportive of our collaboration, but at this time of the year, schedules are
tight! Have fun!
Toni Baller
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I just read your request on pubyac. I will be going to the
local schools during the month of May to promote reading and the Summer Reading
Program. One thing that I have found really fun with the 6th, 7th,
and 8th grade crowd is to introduce myself and tell them that I will
be talking about the program-how it works and then ask questions about what
I just finished telling them about. I will give out prizes to those who answer
my questions correctly. I am always amazed at how well this works. I ask the
teachers to help me with calling on the students. For example: 1. What is
my name? 2. What do you have to do to be in the reading program? 3. What
kind of prizes can you get? I have coupons from Culver’s Ice Cream for a free
waffle cone. I have also found that they like different pens and mechanical
pencils for prizes. I usually allow for 10 prizes for each grade. The kids
have fun and so do I! Jill Hasseler Youth Services Librarian Little Chute-Kimberly
Public Library
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I’m probably a few years behind the times but how about
doing something on a Survivor or Who wants to be a Millionaire or whatever the
current favorite is where the questions or challenges
all relate to how the program work? Or if your program has a theme, go with
that.
Julie Rinesjrines@ocln.org
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I’ve been visiting the middle schools and high schools for
over five years. What I always use to liven it up are urban legends or local
ghost stories. They love the gross, scary, funny, and of course improbable.
There are lots of legends on the web and lots of books with urban legend collections.
Let me know if you need any more specific assistance with this.
Rosalie