SLJ Blog Network +

by

Self Directed Programming: Book Fight!

March 5, 2014 by Karen Jensen, MLS   5 comments

Self Directed (or Passive) programming can be anything you want it to be. They can be as intimate as filling up a jar full of Legos or Skittles and having patrons guess the number in the jar, or printing out a variety of cubee creatures and setting out tape and kid scissors for an hour, then counting how many are left at the end.

Or, you could create your first ever Book Fight/Battle/Challenge/Madness…..


Plenty of people have done this, but I’ve never attempted this at any of my libraries before. Part of it is due to the intimidation factor- you think, OMG, this is a HUGE undertaking, what if the books I pair are ridiculous, what if no one gets it, what if it fails??!?!?!?!?!?!?!

BREATHE. 
I have to remember that I actually have logic behind this.
First, I figure, worst comes to worse, I have a very interesting display for a month.  And these are all popular titles that have circulated well, and I paired them with similar interests in mind (at least in the first round, The Hunger Games is not going up against The Selection). I have prizes for the preliminary rounds (donated YA books that I’ve saved), and a planned grand prize (winner gets the winning book) so there’s stated rules for the contest.

And, my staff and I can sell it to the teens.

So here’s my pairings for the first round:
  • Vampire Academy Series vs House of Night series
  • Boy Nobody vs I Am Number 4
  • Matched Series vs The Selection Series
  • Iron Fey Series vs Wicked Lovely Series
  • Chronicles of Nick series vs Mortal Instruments series
  • Throne of Glass series vs Prophecy series
  • Hunger Games series vs Divergent series
  • Legend series vs Testing series
My teen wall display:
My brackets so teens can keep track:
And my flyer that is going everywhere around the library and the center:
Fingers crossed and we’ll see how it goes!


Filed under: Book Challenge, Self Directed Programming, TPIB

Read or Leave Comments

About Karen Jensen, MLS

Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

Your Fall Newbery/Caldecott 2025 ‘Hey, Keep an Eye Out’ Lists

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Early Sleepy Lines: A Cover Reveal(ish) and Q&A About Wheetle by Cindy Derby

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

DC Announces Fall 2025 Graphic Novels | News

by Johanna

Heavy Medal

A Mock List Comparison: Newbery Contenders from Other Mock Newbery Sites

by Steven Engelfried

Politics in Practice

Talking with the Class of ’99 about Censorship at their School

by John Chrastka

The Yarn

Ruth Chan: The Making of the Graphic Novel Memoir UPROOTED

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. I'm trying this out at our library as well. I like the idea of pairing off similar books. I let the teen vote and select our final 32 and then paired them off by number of votes. We haven't had a huge response yet but we'll see how it goes.

  4. I actually just set up my bulletin board for YA March Madness today, and we have a shared pairing – The Hunger Games vs. Divergent!

  5. UPDATE: We are now on to week three, and have gotten to the FINAL FOUR-
    Boy Nobody vs Divergent, and Prophecy vs The Testing….

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.