"Monster Match" Library Display

Teens love 'em some scary movies!! As a tie-in to Halloween and this year's Teen Read Week theme, "It Came From the Library...", I created a "Monster Match" library display featuring some of our students' favorite monsters from the movies. I made sure to get a mix of old school and new school ghouls for students to identify - half the fun was slying getting suggestions from kids who are horror movie fanatics. They tended to steer clear of the more obvious choices (Freddy, Michael, Jason) and suggest the likes of Alex DeLarge from "A Clockwork Orange" and the twins from "The Shining." In fact, Alex seems to be the one stumping students the most, but what a great way to introduce teens to the Anthony Burgess classic!

As I was putting up the display in the hallway outside the library, which also happens to be across from the top of the stairs to our second story, students immediately gravitated towards the display to name off who they knew and ask questions about how the contest works. The students who identify all or the most monsters correctly will get their names put in for a candy prize drawing - thankfully, my students are easy and cheap to please. ;-) The best part of the display by far has been all the discussions it's generated between me and my students. We've spent lots of time Wikipedia-ing summaries and YouTube-ing previews for some of the films they're less familiar with or characters they think I should have included. Based on the success of this year's display, I'm definitely going to make this an annual thing and include some of their suggestions in next year's contest.

Movies I included this year were...
"Scream"
"The Grudge"
"The Orphan"
"It"
"Silence of the Lambs/Hannibal"
"Texas Chainsaw Massacre"
"Hellraiser"
"Drag Me to Hell"
"Friday the 13th"
"Frankenstein"
"The Ring"
"The Shining"
"Jaws"
"The Exorcist"
"A Clockwork Orange"
"Saw"
"Halloween"
"The Omen"
"Misery"
"The Nightmare on Elm Street"
"The Strangers"

It Came From the Library – TRW Young Adult Horror Picks

Who doesn’t love a good scary story? One that makes you get up and double-check the locks on the doors, spooks you when a tree branch scratches against the window, or fools you into seeing shadows of creatures and ghouls on the walls around you. This year’s Teen Read Week theme is “It Came From the Library - Dare to Read…For the Fun of It!” so I decided to run with it and emphasize books that make your spine tingle and your heart race - even made my own Teen Read Week poster for my school (snatch for yourself if you'd like!). Since the release of Twilight and Hunger Games, the Y.A. horror trend has veered more towards the paranormal or dystopian variety of 'boo!', but traditional horror that centers around more realistic killings and murder mysteries is making a comeback (ie. Ten, Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone, I Hunt Killers). For teen fans of horror, what’s out there to recommend beyond long-standing favorite Stephen King and the already popular vampire and werewolf series? Here are a few of the more popular titles amongst the horror fans at my school –  and I would love to hear some suggestions from you!

I Hunt Killers – Barry Lyga
This is Not a Test – Courtney Summers
Dead Time (The Murder Notebooks) – Anne Cassidy
The Body Finder series – Kim Derting
Rotters – Daniel Kraus
The Butterfly Clues – Kate Ellison
The Furnace series  - Alexander Gordon Smith
Demonata series – Darren Shan
Anna Dressed in Blood series – Kendare Blake
Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone – Kat Rosenfeld
World War Z: an Oral History of the Zombie War – Max Brooks
Something Strange and Deadly – Susan Dennard
The Hunt – Andrew Fukuda
Rot & Ruin series – Jonathan Mayberry
Living Dead Girl – Elizabeth Scott
Blood Wounds – Susan Pfeiffer
Ashes – Ilsa Bick
The Loners – Lex Thomas
The Angel of Death – Alane Ferguson
The Body of Christopher Creed – Carol Plum-Ucci
The Truth Seeker – Dee Henderson
The Name of the Star – Maureen Johnson
Ripper – Stefan Petrucha
Ripper – Amy Carol Reeves
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Death Cloud – Andrew Lane
Miss Perengrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs


 

I Know What You Read Last Summer... (Book Poster)

Had to happen...I'm in back-to-school mode. Though I don't offically start back until August 14, I've been busy preparing some back-to-school and library orientation activities for students, some project collabs with teachers, and a few literacy/Web 2.0 tool in-services for teachers. I'm a truly sick puppy, because this is actually FUN for me.

I've designed several book posters/flyers - a few intended for some teacher in-services, which I'll share soon - but this one is specifically for my students. I know them and their interests well, and these should be the books they'll be buzzing about upon their return - can't wait to fangirl with them over these newer releases!

Please feel free to use.

Btw, the "I Know What You Read Last Summer" theme arose from the realization that, as I was saving book cover pictures, there sure were a lot of really dark books released this summer. Serial killers, plagues, flesh-eating creatues, back-stabbing girls...if this keeps up, this year's Teen Read Week horror-themed "It Came From the Library..." will promote itself! 

And, yes, that background is a skeleton mermaid. How awesome is she?