Teen Read Week

The Plymouth District Library will celebrate Teen Read Week™ (October 16-22, 2011) with special events and programs aimed at encouraging area teens to read for the fun of it. Thousands of libraries, schools and bookstores across the country will hold similar events centered on this year’s theme, Picture It! @ your library®, which encourages teens to read a variety of materials, including graphic novels, movies, books about photography, and more.

Teen Read Week™ is the national adolescent literacy initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the fastest-growing division of the American Library Association.  “Teens have more activities to fill their free time than ever — web videos, social networking sites, video games, afterschool activities, athletics —and increasingly high expectations in the classroom,” said
Lichtman “It’s important that we show them that reading is
something that’s fun and relaxing that they can do for free. And that reading for fun can translate into better performance at school.”

In addition, Lichtman hopes to show parents and other concerned community members what they library can offer by hosting special programs and events during Teen Read Week™.

The Plymouth Library will be having three events in honor of Teen Read Week:
•   an Illustration Contest beginning Oct.1 with a deadline of Oct. 19. Teens can design their own book cover to a favorite read or create a comic character,
•   a Minicomic Workshop with Matt Feazell on Thursday, Oct. 20 at 6:30 pm.  Feazell is best known for his wryly humorous The Amazing Cynicalman which runs every week in the Hamtramck Review newspaper.  This program is open for anyone in grade 5 and up.  Registration is required for this event,
•   and an open videogame program on Thursday, October 13 from 3 – 4:30 pm using the wii, xBox 360 and Playstation 2 formats.