Programming Ideas

For more great programming ideas or to share your own, visit the Teen Read Week Wiki! Looking for books to inspire your programming? Be sure to register and download the pocket-sized Books with Bite pamphlet.

Podcasting

Teach kids to create podcasts (you can use the YALSA Teen Tech Week Guide to Podcasting [PDF]) and promote books with byte. Distribute the Books with Bite pamphlet that you can download when you register and check out the Books with Byte section for ideas.

Tech Programs

Continue the Books with Byte theme with tech programs centered around books! Discuss techie novels, like Feed by M. T. Anderson or Rob&Sara.com by P.J. Peterson and Ivy Ruckman, or encourage teens to make short videos about their favorite books, then post them to the library blog or Web site. Create a survey using the Teen Tech Week Guide to Surveys (PDF)  for your teens and ask them to vote for their favorites!

Film Festival

Show teen-friendly movies with a bit of bite— after all, Halloween is pretty close to Teen Read Week! Have parents sign permission slips to approve PG or PG-13 rated flicks first. Try Reality Bites, Jurassic Park, old horror films like Nosferatu or Frankenstein, or movies that were nominated for Razzies (because they bite? Get it?). Be sure to obtain a Public Performance License before showing any movies at the library.

Taste Test

Hold your own tasting event! You can go the Fear Factor route and try unusual and adventurous items or choose a cuisine or cookbook and sample its featured items. You can also do a blind taste test—see if your teens can identify food by taste or if they can really tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi.

Display Contests and Read-Alikes

Get your teens involved! Ask them to recommend their favorite Books with Bite, and post their choices on your shelves and in the teen area. Ask them to create displays and reward the best display with a gift certificate to a bookstore

Cookoff!

Offer your teens a chance to take a cooking class with a local chef or invite them to submit their favorite recipes in a contest. And you can always have a bake sale—ask your teens to bring in their favorite desserts.

Feature Creatures

Ask a someone from the local zoo or shelter to come in and talk to your teens about taking care of animals, from big apes to tiny kittens. Find a scientist from a local museum or hospital who can talk about microbes and parasites.

Bite the Bullet

Everyone loves an adventure! Ask someone from a camping store or a local forest/park ranger to come in and discuss hiking, camping, and other wilderness activities with your teens. Plan a discussion around true adventure tales, like 1998 Alex Award winner Into Thin Air or fiction that’s adventurous, like The White Darkness, the 2008 Printz Winner.

Play Games

Host a gaming night at your library! Have your teens play Dungeons & Dragons, or set up your computers to host the Worst Case Scenario game, Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man, or Runescape. Get more gaming ideas from the Gaming Interest Group’s top 50 recommended titles.