Teens can enjoy many shared moments in book club

With the creation of a new Talks and Treats teen book club there is once again a reading program for every age at the Sidney Public Library, said Eileen Nightingale, the children’s youth service librarian at the library.

For four months now library staff has held the new teen reading program on the third Tuesday of every month.

Teens in grades seven through 12 are encouraged to attend, Nightingale said.

According to Nightingale how the reading club works is a different book is passed out to the teen group each month. Then during the Thursday meeting there are different questions and discussions over the material and subjects range from their likes and dislikes about the text, as well as characters in the book and the book’s primary plot and theme.

The librarian said that the point of the reading group is to make sure teens understand that reading can be fun.

“I think it is important for teens to read outside of school. We want them to come in to read and have fun and enjoy reading for pleasure,” she said.

Library staff already had reading programs specific to other ages, and wanted to include teen readership again. Teens are the one reading group to go misrepresented for the past couple years.

“We had a teen that worked for us in the library that had started a teen book club, but she left a couple years ago. I knew I had to start that up again,” Nightingale said. “I had some teens ask about it and said they would really enjoy doing it.”

Nightingale also said that she feels there is a need for the club in the community.

“We have an adult book club so I thought teens needed one,” she said.

Along with the adult book club, the library also offers reading programs for younger kids. Already in place at the library is the Toddler Tales program offered twice every Wednesday for children ages 2 to 3, the Storytime program offered twice every Thursday for children 4 to 5 years of age, the Book Bunch which meets every second Tuesday for Kindergarten through second graders and the Middle Pages program which meets every fourth Tuesday of every month for third through sixth graders. Registration is required for all programs.

Most of these reading programs will end in the middle of May before the June summer reading program will start up at the library, Nightingale said. The programs will resume in September after school starts back up.

Though the teen group is small so far, with only a handful of teens in attendance, Nightingale said she hopes to see more new faces in the program during the months to come. All reading programs are free and to sign up a teen, parent or adult would need to call or come into the library and ask for Eileen.

The reading material for the program is loaned to the library by the Nebraska Library Commission and sent to the building in pre-packaged kits for the purpose of programs such as Talks and Treats. Nightingale requests a certain book and if the commission has it in stock they will send it to Sidney.

Nightingale said although she has picked all the books so far for the group to read, soon she hopes that the teens will bring their own book ideas and pick out the material they are most interested in reading.

No matter the age of an individual, Nightingale said, everyone can learn to love reading and the life skills that come along with it.

“For the younger kids I think it’s important that they are familiar with the library, that they understand the library is a friendly place and that it is a place to come and feel safe,” Nightingale said.“I want them to know that books are wonderful and that you can find whatever you want inside a book.”

When a child uses their imagination it helps them grow, she said. As a child gets older such as the age of the Middle Pages program she hopes that the club will reinforce the written word and that the crafts the kids complete along with the books will help with not only their enjoyment of the text but also in remembering the books.

“It’s very important that you learn how to read and enjoy books,” Nightingale said.

Reading skills are needed for everyday tasks such as reading instruction manuals or using the Internet, she explained.

“When you learn to read nobody can take that away from you, you always have that inside of you,” the librarian said. “Once it becomes something special inside you, you are forever hooked on reading and it will always be with you.”