One of the ways we celebrated Teen Read Week at Piscataway (NJ) Public Library was to createmonster cupcakes with our teens — using plain cupcakes, frosting (and food coloring!), licorice, candy corn, candy eyes, cookies, pretzels, sprinkles, and whatever else we could find that was FUN. Scary, friendly, and creepy creations were in abundance, and the program brought more teens into our two branches than we had previously seen for a food-decorating program. We had some great giveaways of ARCs, super creative monster bookmarks for all to put together, and even some gaming . . . and it all came from the library!

Hopefully many of you were able to make it to the #TRW12 tweet-up to share great ideas and a lot of enthusiasm. Often our teens get excited about what we’re doing because we’re excited ourselves! What are you doing in your schools and libraries to encourage your teens’ enthusiasm and creativity?

– Kate Vasilik, Piscataway (NJ) Public Library, Teen Read Week 2012 Committee