Canton's Clash of the Readers

One of the most common requests I get as a youth services consultant is for information on teen programming. People want to do more for teens, but they don't know what to do or where to start.  I think that creating an inviting environment for teens and having someone on staff who has an affinity for that particular age group is a great place to start, but after that, the sky really is the limit, and teens love to help design their own programs.

Teen Services Specialist Krista Briggs from the Canton Free Library talks about the Clash of the Readers - an unconventional book trivia competition she held recently at her library:

The booklist consisted of four books: one fantasy, one realistic fiction, one nonfiction, and one award winner. We read Here There be Dragons, by James A. Owen; Marcelo in the Real World, by Francisco X. Stork; The Diary of Ma Yan, by Ma Yan; and Maggot Moon, by Sally Gardner.

Our execution was unorthodox, but it worked out and everyone had a great time. While answering questions, teens would often discuss the relevant scene in the book, and the result was a series of very insightful discussions on educations, poverty, love, and fascism that showed a great deal of critical thinking, which is exactly what I was hoping for!

We ended up with four teams, totaling six teens. Ages ranged from 12-15. There were also two teens, two tweens, and three children in the audience. We had many more teens register, but I suspect the registration period was too far removed from the event itself. A number of teens forgot they had registered and did not read the books in time. No worries! A lesson for the next one, and it definitely shows there is interest! We had a decent sized audience including parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends. The audience even participated from time to time. It was very fun!

That sounds like a great event! It's so interesting; it sounds like what you did was a cross between a competition and a book club.

A cross between a competition and a book club is pretty much what I was thinking of doing to address the suggestions of the teens!

How did you come up with the idea for this program?

It was very loosely based on the Battle of the Books. We had a couple 7th graders who had graduated out of that program, and were looking for something else. That's where the idea began. What seems like many years ago, we held a Teen Read Week tournament which revolved around the Twilight series (when it was still wildly popular). It wasn't universally loved, but our teens loved it, and I've been looking for the same level of interest upon which to build a new program.

I contacted Julie Firman-Bailey in the Canton Central School District libraries, and we bounced ideas back and forth. We agreed that the booklist should be small, given the reading obligations of middle- and high-school students. And since we were doing this, it would be worthwhile to try to hit some common core points, so we decided on the genres: one scifi/fantasy, one realistic fiction, one nonfiction, and one award-winner. We also decided that the questions should be more in depth than what they may have been used to. I chose the scifi/fantasy, realistic fiction, and nonfiction books. Julie sent letters to teachers. Ultimately, we decided that it was the opinions of the teens that really mattered in the details.

I held a meeting at the middle school library, and spoke with Steve Molnar at the Little River Community School to hold another one there, to get a read on teen interest and gather their ideas. I asked them to vote on which award-winner would be included by giving them ballots based on the most recent list of Morris and Printz winners and runners-up. They also helped decide the day of the event, team size, prizes, and gave input on the desired format. They were thrilled to have an opportunity to build their own competition!​

Initially, the idea was to conduct two booklists, based on grade-level: grades 7-9 and grades 9-12. The overlap was meant to give those teens just transitioning out of middle school an opportunity to choose where they felt they belonged, or go where their friends were. That idea was scrapped for this year because the majority of the interest was in the lower grades, and the older teens were happy with that booklist. (Also, I'm enrolled in school full-time and knew I would be writing the majority of the questions myself, so I was secretly relieved to cut the work in half!) I do hold out hope that word of this success will spread and cultivate interest among older teens.​

I love the collaboration element with your local schools. That's great! What advice would you give to somebody wanting to try this program at their library?

I think our libraries are all very different, so it's hard to give advice that suits every segment of our varied teen patron populations. However, I definitely learned some lessons from the experience, which I could offer to someone wanting to try this program.

This program would not have had the range it did without collaboration with the schools. That's not always the easiest task, particularly in the teen years, but it helps if you can find just one ally in the schools, even if that ally is a teen who can talk to other teens to spread the word.

The success of this event owed a great deal to the collaboration with the teens as well. Giving them input gave them ownership over the program and made them feel invested in it. 

Similarly, at the event itself, my absolute favorite thing to see was teens holding up the question asking to discuss relevant aspects of the book after having answered a question. We had one girl who clearly knew the answer to the question, but could not remember the name of the character. Instead, she gave a detailed summary of the character, including his significance to the story. Audience members, competing teams, everyone agreed that she deserved the point, so we gave it to her! It was just so great to here such a full understanding of the book, rather than just memorized details! And that was just the most extreme example. After it was over, while everyone was eating lunch, they debated whether Maggot Moon was a historical re-imagining or a dystopian future; as well as whether it took place in Russia, England, Germany, or just a conquered Europe. I suppose the advice there is to embrace the disruption. Their enthusiasm for the books was so much more important than maintaining structure. 

Finally, during lunch, I gave them all surveys, even the teen audience members. Doing this gave me so much information! It showed me where we need to improve for next time, and what they really loved. The next time we do this it will be that much closer to the program the teens are actually looking for. 

Krista Briggs has worked at the Canton Free Library since 2006 and has served as the Teen Services Specialist since 2008.