October 9 –October 15 was Teen Read Week. Teen Read Week started in 1998 as a way to promote “reading for the fun of it.” The theory was that teens have a lot of free time, and instead of reading, they go outside, play video games, or do a number of other activities. By giving them a week during which libraries and bookstores encourage reading for fun and reading what teenagers love, it was hoped that teens would start reading more. The movement has helped.
This year for our TRW program, we decided to hold a book club. This book discussion would not be a typical “here’s a book read it, discuss it” meeting; instead, we asked the teens to bring a favorite book to talk about. We had a pretty great turn out with eight young adults coming. They each brought a different book, and as the particpants lit up when they started talking about the book they had brought. One of the fun parts was when a young man started talking about his book, Eragon, by Christopher Paolini. His book talk spiraled the group into a conversation about just how generic the main character was and how much better the book would have been without him.
The point of the book discussion was to help teens find books they may not have seen or heard of. One girl brought Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger, and by the end of her talk another teen commented that he had seen the book and thought it sounded boring but after hearing her talk about it, he had to give it another chance. Book club success? I think yes!
All in all, the program was successful. . Everyone participated, and everyone had a good time.