ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵ

Abron created a program called the Book Concert Series, in which a concert/party is held that features a booktalk event with approximately 20 titles from a chosen genre, as well as music, food, a photo booth and a craft. This is an ongoing event, and a different genre is chosen every two months. Teens earn raffle tickets by bringing friends, tweeting/Facebooking their photo booth picture and answering trivia questions. They use their raffle tickets to win prizes that include the books featured at the event, autographed books, bags, bookmarks and posters. The concert portion of the event always features a Skype visit from an author or viewing of a live author event.

The purpose of the Book Concert Series is to show teens that there are a vast amount of books in each genre, and this program introduces them to read-a-likes and encourages continued reading. District teachers have heard about the program and have chosen books from the lists to introduce to their teens. The library sees an influx of visits following these events.

“I believe my program is significant because all libraries do readers’ advisory at the reference desk and booktalks at school but we go the extra mile to make readers’ advisory fun for larger groups,” explained Abron in her winning application. “The value in this is teens do not have an opportunity to stop reading. They are consistently presented with new books, genres, and authors.”