Compendium – Youth Services
Summer Reading - summer hasn’t officially ended but with schoolbeginning, cooler evenings, the angle of sun, and the end of the 2011 Summer Reading Program, the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) begins to look ahead and is requesting input for the 2013 Summer Reading Program Manuals. Pennsylvania is one of the 49 states, along with Washington, D.C., and several territories that have membership in CSLP. The word, “collaborative” is taken seriously and feedback and input for the themes of upcoming years and slogan suggestions are welcomed, discussed and voted on at the annual meeting in the spring of each year.
At this time of year a call goes out to CSLP members (all of you) for ideas for the manuals. Because we work ahead the broad subject for 2013 is Underground and the three slogans chosen are:
Children / Early Literacy - Dig into Reading
Teen - Beneath the Surface
Adult – Groundbreaking Reads
There are brief outlines, concepts, ideas, proposals that were part of brainstorming sessions at the spring meeting. Please use these as a jumping off point for any programs, songs, books, movies, crafts, activities you’d like to share by suggesting them for the manuals.
For the Early Literacy Manual:
Dig Into Reading—Early Literacy Manual
2013 Collaborative Summer Library Program
Call for Ideas by October 12, 2011- send to Anne Kruger
Our writers for the 2013 Early Literacy Manual are Kapila Love and Sarah Northshield. Both are experienced (and creative!) children’s librarians who specialize in programs for the very young. Please help them make this a fantastic manual.
Here are the ten working chapter themes that have been suggested for the 2013 Dig into Reading manual. “Underground” is the broad concept. The writers will choose eight of them based on available materials and ideas.
Gardening (with some focus on root vegetables, if possible)
Big Machines (earth movers, etc.)
Dinosaurs (this could also include fossils)
Dirt/Mud/Getting Dirty
Burrowing Animals (moles, prairie dogs, chipmunks, rabbits, worms, etc.)
Hidden/Buried Treasures (gems, gold, etc.)
Spatial Relationships (up/down, above/below, over/under - this could be things like train/subway, tunnel/bridge, dig down/haul up, etc.)
Holes (what lives in them, burying things in them, circles)
Underground Insects (ants)
The Earth (rocks, mining, volcanoes, etc.)
What do we need?
- Book titles (books should be in print and please include both the suggested age group and any literacy skills that could be practiced with the title)
- Program ideas (both story times and other programs), activities, crafts, music, etc.
- Setting the Scene: If you have suggestions for library decorations, bulletin boards, or props especially targeted to the very young
- Early Literacy/Family Literacy Ideas—e.g. for reproducible take-home pages (see past children’s manuals for the Family Fun Pages—that’s the idea)
- Suggestions for underserved groups
- Bilingual storytime ideas
For the Children’s Summer Reading Manual:
Dig Into Reading
2013 CSLP Children’s Summer Library Program Manual
Broad concept: Underground
The Chapters
These are the “working” chapters
1. Dig into the Past
- Ancient Egypt
Pyramid Party Family Program, Kick-off?
Mummies, tombs, etc.
- Rick Riordan—Red Pyramid, etc.
- Other Digs: Stonehenge, Chinese Terra Cotta Figures, Pompeii etc.
- Labyrinths
- Dinosaurs (only for Primary if you do one), Fossils—Jurassic…
- Archaeology
2. Digging Up Trouble
- Mischief Makers, Tricksters
- Mysteries related to earth
- Gnomes, Elves, Trolls, Fairies, or Goblins—creatures that are known to live underground/in mountains at least in some legends. Books:-Sea of Trolls? Norse trolls (I keep thinking there should be something we could do with those funny garden gnomes)
- Underground worlds in fantasy, etc. (Nightshade City by Hilary Wagner, Firewing by Kenneth Oppel, The Search for WondLa by Toni DiTerlizzi, The Folkkeeper by Franny Billingsley, Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins, City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, etc.) Book club or program based on a book.
- Dig It Up! Hunting for Treasure, Pirates and treasure
- Create your underground world
3. Dig into Life Underground
- Worms. Worm composting (if not done in Dig It gardening chapter)
- Moles, meerkats, mice, prairie dogs, ground squirrels, foxes, bears, and other animals
- Ants, ant farms,
- Burrowing Owls
- Underground insects
- Sea turtles who bury eggs in sand, crabs, etc. endangered species angle ;Sand critters
- Animals that Dig
- Kangaroo Rats/Pocket Mice
- Fiction: Fantastic Mr. Fox, Redwall series, Watership Down?, Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
4. Just Dig It!
- Gardening, (Great Big Enormous Turnip --Creative Dramatics? Jack and the Beanstalk? Puppet Show?), root vegetables, Terrariums,
- Get Dirty—All About Dirt, Composting
- Possibly something with sand castles?
- Earth Diggers (Big Machines) family program? Or put this with Early Lit Manual
5. Digging Deep Down/Deep Down Explorations
- Caves ( I have 2-3 booklets of word puzzles, stuff on caves from a recent vacation) Spelunking/ what lives in caves, Cave Men, Pretend you are a cave painter
- Sewers, Fear Factor type program for tweens? Rats?
- Tunnels, Subways
- People Who Work Underground (Dirty Jobs Program?)—miners, subway workers, etc.
- Rocks and gems, etc. treasure hunt, crystal growing
- Digging for Gold
- Volcanoes
- Earthquakes
Other ideas: Digging for facts trivia game, time capsules
For the Teen Manual:
Beneath the Surface
2013 Teen Summer Library Program Manual
Call for Ideas—Deadline December 1, 2011
Below you’ll find the suggestions for programming for the 2013 teen summer library program manual, Beneath the Surface. Please send ideas (or expand on those below) by November 28, 2011 to Anne Kruger at
In addition, I am especially interested in your ideas for:
- Setting the Scene
- Some basic ideas on how to do a display
- Making a teen space inviting
- What else to display besides books
- Send in your ideas on using teen volunteers. What kinds of programs are good for teens to be in charge of?
- Social networking. What free online tools can you use to promote the teen program
- Do you use Podcasting with teens?
- Do you have a MySpace or Facebook to promote teen summer reading?
- Do you have blogs?
Below are some concepts suggested to spur your creative ideas:
Subcultures
- Underground Music
- Alternative zines, music, etc.
- Steampunk site, steampunk prom
- Zombies? Vampires? As a subculture (we did vampires and werewolves in 2012)
Identity and Self Expression
- Layers of rock/layers of identity
- Photoshop: with and without makeup, etc.
- Masks
- Sexual and gender identity-what kind of program? Who would conduct?
- Journaling: explore beneath own surface
- Gender deception: girls as boys. What was this idea about?
- Hiding/Disguising Who You Are
- AVATARS
- Zines as underground culture
- Create your own underground world/sea (art/writing project?)
Fashion
- Jewelry making: gems
- Fashion knock-offs
- Beneaththe surface of popular fashion items: sneakers, blue jeans, etc.
History
- Underground railroad;
- Different personas?
- Reenacting historical people in graveyards “Stories in Stories”
- History: Civil War, etc. Underground political movements
- Genealogy
- Should we add Ancient Egypt or is that too un-teen? I’m just reading Stacy Schiff’s biography of Cleopatra.
Science and Nature
- Diving, scuba diving, slides?, coasts, larger rivers
- Science programs with local engineers: how things work, making flashlights, LED throwies
- How It’s Made/disassembling
- Archaeology
- Caving, rock climbing
- Inside a dam, inside a power plant, inside germs. Too school like?
- How your brain works: invite a psychologist “The Teen Brain”
- USGS partnership/National Parks
- Eating worms, bugs, roots/
- Raw food movement
- Figure out the human skeleton (display?)
Culture
- Media Literacy: beneath the surface of media/deconstruct ads
- Investigative reporting
- People who had to go undercover/incognito, graphic novel
- Paranormal: Beneath what’s normal
- Inside Job: under the surface of the financial industry(more adult?)
Miscellaneous
- Post Secret postcards website checked out this site. Interesting. Had some adult content.
- Underground bunkers/survival competitions/survival skills
- Geocaching
- Airport security
- Alien Autopsies- uncovering the fake documentaries?
- Underground Worlds/Dystopian Worlds—Book Club possibly or display idea?—Abhorsen Trilogy, Escape from Furnace series, Incarceron, Roderick Gordon’s Tunnels, Closer, etc. series, Nightshade Chronicles, Ship Breaker,etc.
- Revisit the 70s. Make a Pet Rock. Donate to local humane society. Play on Rock and Digging into the past
Decorating ideas
- Graphic art: cavernous, angular ropes, depth
- Teen role models on display covered by masks
- Owl pellets
- Time capsule activity or display
August 31, 2011