New England Teen Summit 2022

This past week I (virtually) attended the New England Teen Summit and, as always, it was fabulous! I sometimes feel a slight pang that I don’t get to participate in person anymore but, honestly, it’s WAY more convenient virtually (and this way I don’t have to talk to other people if I don’t want to – #introvertlirbarian.) Pre-covid, this event was put on by the Massachusetts Library System, and…

Being Inclusive During the Holidays

Teens around the US and around the world are being raised in houses with different ethnicities and religions. During the holidays, the main focus seems to be on Christmas, but not everyone celebrates it. Yes, there are GREAT YA Christmas books, I have read a bunch and they are cute, but I try to make sure that all holidays are included. Being in Texas, the main holiday that is everywhere is going…

Crackers and Cheez-Whiz Construction

This program was an idea I totally stole from TikTok! And it turned out even better than I expected!    Y’all know that beginning-of-the-year build that middle school teachers do? With gumdrops (or mini marshmallows) and toothpicks?     Think that concept… but instead of toothpicks, you use different kinds of crackers and pretzels. And instead of gumdrops, you use cans of Cheez-Whiz!     We…

All Things Must Come to an End

Hey all! I wanted to let everyone know that the blog will be going in archive/long hiatus come the end of the month. We’ve realized as a whole that our inspiration for new material is dwindling, in addition to the extra time & money it takes. It is possible that down the road, there may be a decision to come back and revive it, but for the foreseeable future it was remain in archive mode. I’m…

My Favorite YA Audiobook Narrator

Anyone else find yourself procrastinating on TikTok? Please tell me I’m not the only one still sucked into this app! When I’m not impatiently waiting for the next Fowlerville District Library One-Star Review Guess Who, I’m a voracious listener of audiobooks. And I think I reached peak reader when I started a new audiobook and instantly thought, “I love this narrator!”   “This” being the queen of…

MA Teen Choice Book Award Winner!

As a member of the committee for the Massachusetts Teen Choice Book Award, I am so excited to share our winner, Heartstopper (Vol. 1) by Alice Oseman! The runner-up is Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown by Steve Sheinkin. It has been wonderful to be a part of this committee and discuss these books with amazing librarians! A shout-out to our incredible PR sub-committee…

Excel with Weeding (Librarians Excel pt. 2)

I’m going to take a 180° turn from book lists and displays and talk about weeding (because I have no display space). Yes, there’s already a ton of information out there already, including on this website. The Crew Method’s practically a bible at this point. But I like to up my game with Excel. I am new(ish) to my current library and I’m working on weeding through sections which have not been…

I’m All Ears: Evaluating Audiobooks

I know a lot of us librarians are audiobook fans, and while we are experts in what makes a good story, it can be hard to say what exactly makes an audiobook good? Most of us have no problem evaluating books in print, but few have had training in critiquing an audiobook. We can often easily spot a bad one, but pinpointing what exactly the problem is harder to do! I myself was pretty clueless about…

Simple display ideas for when you get stuck

If you are anything like me, you have a love-hate relationship with displays and passive programs. Thankfully, I love them more than I hate them. It’s an 80/20 split. And, to be honest, the hate has nothing to do with the projects themselves. The hate has a lot more to do with my guilt around not doing more of them. Displays and passive programs tend to take a back seat to all the other things I…

Teentober Book Display Ideas

Book displays are fun at anytime of the year. But October was always a great month for Teen book displays. I was lucky at Grapevine Public Library to have multiple locations to do teen/YA displays. During October we would do a Teentober display that had teen favorites. I would leave out a box during August and September where teens could write their favorite books and use that to fill the…

LGBTQ+ Halloween Reads for October

In anticipation for Halloween, I’ve already made a horror / thriller book display for my branch. This year, I decided to put novels with LGBTQ+ characters front and center. So without further ado, here are ten of the books I plan to have on display this month: Burn Down, Rise Up / Vincent Tirado: When an urban legend rumored to trap people inside subway tunnels seems to be behind mysterious…

Creepy Creatures Book Display

Photo by silvana amicone on Unsplash ‘Tis the season for horror, thriller, and mystery books. For some of us, it’s always that season, but with Halloween on its way, interest in creepy books is high. One of the displays I’m doing in my high school libraries this month is the one I’m sharing with you today called Creepy Creatures. It features various books and stories, each about a clown, vampire,…

My teen program meets weekly. To help me provide variety and not repeat programs too often, I use a rotation: First Thursday of the month is games Second Thursday of the month is STEAM Third Thursday of the month is food and fun Fourth Thursday is wild card Fifth Thursday is also wild card, if applicable   Food and fun is probably the program I most enjoy putting together because I get to have…

One of my go-to activities for tweens and teens is rock painting. There are just so many fun designs you can make and it can work for almost any theme or holiday. One of my favorites is painting rocks for Halloween (or whatever you may choose to call the spooky October holiday theme.) And since October is almost here, I thought I’d share! I have done this as an in-person program and as a…

Thoughts After A Conference

I recently returned from the ARSL (Association for Rural and Small Libraries) conference, and one of my primary interests in attending was, of course, connecting with other teen librarians and going to as many talks on the subject as I could. It was a blast, and I returned with a lot of thoughts on teen programming and ideas to incorporate into my plans. It’s fascinating to see the many…

All Ages Adventure Hour!

My favorite recurring program that I created for my current library is a craft program for kids in grades Kindergarten through twelfth grade called All Ages Adventure Hour. It came about last fall when I noticed that I had a teen craft the same day as a postponed craft program for kids. I suggested that we just hold it together in the same room, for all ages! Now we do this program each month. We…