Teen Reading Lounge is an award-winning, nontraditional book club for teens ages 12-18. Teens help to create the reading list for their program sites and, working with trained facilitators, to design creative projects that bring the books to life. Participants report stronger interpersonal, communication, literacy, and critical-thinking skills, and increased confidence.
In 2018, the teens at Baden Memorial Library read The Hate U Give and had important discussions on race and code switching. They were inspired to hold a Teens Against Bullying event at PJ Paul Park. They also created anti-bullying posters informed by what they learned about damaging effects of discrimination.
In 2016, they used Aveyard’s Red Queen to discuss segregation, privilege, and how to tackle injustice. With the help of a local teacher, they designed and used clay to create models of the two different areas described in the book and participated in empathy-building exercises that also challenged their writing skills.
Learn more about Teen Reading Lounge and participating program sites across the state.
