Teen Read Week, a national literacy program, is taking place this week from Monday, Oct. 12, through Saturday, Oct. 18, at Paly and across the nation.

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association, created Teen Read Week in 1998 to promote reading among young adults. The Paly Library is one of thousands of school libraries, public libraries, classrooms, and bookstores nationwide that signed up to participate this year.

Teen Read Week’s overall theme is “Read For The Fun Of It” and this year’s subtheme is “Books with Bite @ Your Library.” According to the Teen Read Week Web site, the subtheme was chosen to promote “a variety of books – from vampire stories to cooking to technology (byte) – as a tool for getting young adults to read.”

Paly librarian Rachel Kellerman has been working to promote reading among Paly teens and organized Teen Read Week at Paly.

As part of Teen Read Week, representatives from the Palo Alto public libraries will be at Paly during lunch on Friday to sign kids up for city library cards. If a student already has a library card, he or she is encouraged to drop by the library any time this week and show it to one of the Paly librarians in return for a piece of candy.

“We want to promote public library cards and get as many kids signed up for them as possible,” Kellerman said.

According to The Complex World of Adolescent Literacy: Myths, Motivations, and Mysteries from the Harvard Educational Review, frequent novel reading has been shown to have a direct correlation with higher academic achievement, measured by school grades.

Kellerman wants to increase novel reading among students at Paly, and has raised over $6,000 from parent donations this year for the Paly library.

“I am trying to get students to read for pleasure, but I know that people don’t have a lot of time, so I am trying to buy lots of great, thin books,” Kellerman said. “I especially want to use the money raised to buy books that kids are interested in, and if any Paly student would like me to order a book, I am happy to do it.”

Kellerman has also created a book club called Palo Alto Reads (PAR) to encourage teens to read. PAR currently has 30 members, from both Paly and Gunn, but all students are allowed to join throughout the year. Because the students’ busy schedules make it difficult for everyone to attend the book club meetings, participants are encouraged to visit http://booksprouts.com and discuss books with people around the world.

To learn more about Teen Read Week, visit http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/teenreading/trw/trw2008/index.cfm.