2011 – 2012 WrestleMania Reading Challenge Toolkit 50 E. Huron St. Chicago, IL 60611 1.800.545.2433 x4390 [email protected] Overview of YALSA’s WrestleMania Reading Challenge Background: Ever since Teen Read Week (TRW) was inaugurated in 1998, many librarians and educators have wanted to celebrate and encourage teen reading for more than just one week a year. In response to requests from librarians, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), with the support of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), now offers librarians and educators the opportunity to participate in YALSA’s WrestleMania Reading Challenge. Goal: To reach reluctant readers and get more tweens and teens reading by implementing a reading incentive program that provides prizes from WWE as a reward. YALSA’s WrestleMania Reading Challenge is a program designed to encourage tweens and teens to not only continue their reading beyond TRW, but to earn a reward for doing so by offering chances to win prizes donated by WWE. This is a win-win situation for librarians and educators because it provides you with a way to extend TRW, an opportunity to reach out to reluctant readers and the chance to win $2,000 for your library. Table of Contents Program Overview………………………………..….…….……..….3 Promotion Ideas…………………………………….……………...…7 Programming Ideas………………………………………....………10 Recommended Reading……………………………………………..13 Get Publicity……………………………………………..…….……18 Additional Resources……………………………………………..…22 2 Program Overview • The program will be implemented through libraries and schools. For organizations to participate, the librarian or educator must register at www.ala.org/wrestlemania (it’s free) by no later than July 31, 2011. • The program is for tweens and teens in grades 5-12. • Between Saturday, October 16, 2011, and Saturday, October 22, 2011, participating libraries will distribute WrestleMania Reading Challenge Pledge Forms and host events at their libraries to encourage tweens and teens to complete their WrestleMania Reading Challenge projects. o Tweens and teens in grades 5 – 12 will complete their pledge form by writing in the titles of five books or graphic novels that they pledge to read over a five- month period (between Teen Read Week and WrestleMania). They must complete their pledge form to be eligible to complete their competitive project. o Tweens and teens who want to be eligible to win a trip to WrestleMania 28 in Miami, FL, must complete the following project: • Grades 7-8 and Grades 9-12 : Teens will choose a WWE superstar and write a letter that convinces him or her to read the teen’s favorite book. All projects must be the original work of the individual teen. Only one entry per person. • Grades 5-6: Design a bookmark illustrating a slogan created by you that promotes reading. All projects must be the original work of the individual tween. Only one entry per person. • Between Oct. 22 and Nov. 14, each library/school will judge all project entries in three groups: grades 5-6, grades 7-8 and grades 9-12. Project winners at the local library or school level will get a certificate and a prize from the participating librarian or educator’s WrestleMania Reading Challenge Kit (choose the prize from the materials included in the kit). • Each library or school will judge their projects and pick three First Prize Winners, one from each grade group, to advance to the WrestleMania Reading Challenge regional competition. Librarians and educators send their library/school’s winning entries to YALSA no later than November 22, 2011. • On or about Jan. 9, 2012, YALSA will award a Grand Prize to three students from each regional group who prepared the best project from that geographic region for their grade category (one from grades 5-6, one from grades 7-8, and one from grades 9-12). Grand Prize winners will win $2,000 for their library/school, a trip to Miami to see 3 WrestleMania 28 on April 1, 2012 and also get the chance to compete in Miami to be the WrestleMania Reading Challenge World Champion. The sponsoring library/school for the twenty-one finalists will receive a set of books from Penguin, including a new line of titles featuring WWE. • In Miami, the 21 Grand Prize Winners will compete for the title of Tween World Champion (grades 5-6); Junior World Champion (grades 7-8); and Senior World Champion (grades 9-12), and ringside seats at WrestleMania on April 1. The grade 5-6 competition is comprised of questions from Underdogs, by Mike Lupica. The grade 7-8 is comprised of questions from After Tupac and D Foster, by Jacqueline Woodson. The grade 9-12 competition is comprised of questions from Rikers High, by Paul Volponi. Each Grand Prize Winner will be provided with a copy of the appropriate book. • This event is sponsored by the WWE and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). The official contest rules can be found at www.ala.org/wrestlemania . There are changes to this year’s Reading Challenge, so if you participated last year, please be sure to read the new rules carefully. Important Dates: Mid Sept. –Resource packets from WWE mailed to all registrants Oct. 16 -- First day of the WrestleMania Reading Challenge. Oct. 22 – Letter/bookmark designs due to sponsoring librarian/educator. Nov. 14 -- Participating libraries/schools must select their three winners (one for each grade category: 5-6, 7-8, and 9-12). Nov. 22 -- Each library/school must submit its winning bookmarks and letters to YALSA by this date. Jan. 9 -- After a judging period, grand prize winners for each geographic region will be named by YALSA by this date. Check for the announcement at www.ala.org/yalsa March 31 -- Grand prize winners in each category will face off at the WrestleMania Reading Challenge Championships in Miami to see who wins ringside seats. April 1 – National champions attend WrestleMania in Miami, FL Reading Materials: • Teens/tweens are required to pledge to read 5 items (chapter books, magazines, graphic novels, etc.), and keep track of what they pledge to read on a reading log (a sample is provided in the toolkit). Teens/tweens who do not complete their reading pledge are not eligible to enter in the poster/bookmark contest to win the grand prize. 4 • The items teens/tweens read must not be required reading for class and the reading must be done in their free time. • Teens/tweens will complete their pledge of what they plan to read and turn it in to their librarian in order to be eligible for the prizes. In order to be eligible for the grand prize, they must submit a letter (grades 7 – 12) or a bookmark (grades 5-6) for the contest. Please note that reading pledges do NOT need to be submitted to YALSA. Only the winning project entries need to be turned in to YALSA. Teens Read: • Help teens find reading materials that appeal to them by creating displays, providing readers’ advisory and/or conducting book talks. • Consider techniques that help teens to select books without consuming too much of your time. One trick is to put stickers on books. Address labels work fine for this. Type a teaser on the labels and put on appropriate books. Examples: o Someone dies , tear jerker , love story , murder most foul , banned book , lots of pictures , will creep you out , they live happily ever after , guaranteed to make you laugh, etc. Launch Program: • See further in this toolkit for ideas • Check YALSA’s wiki for updates and to share your ideas at http://wikis.ala.org/yalsa Bookmark/Letter Contest: • Teens/tweens in Grades 5 - 6 are asked to design a bookmark, which includes a slogan that promotes reading. The bookmark must be of the teen’s creation. They may not receive substantive assistance, input or direction from parents, caregivers, library staff, peers, etc. The bookmark need not specifically promote professional wrestling; any theme is acceptable. Specific rules are listed on the entry form. • Teens in Grades 7 - 8 and Grades 9 - 12 are asked to choose a wrestler to write a letter to that convinces him/her to read the teen’s favorite book. All projects must be the original work of the individual teen. Only one entry per person. • Librarians and educators should organize a panel of judges at each participating library/school. Why not use the opportunity to include the community in your library? The judging panel can be made up of teachers, PTA/PTO members, parents, local politicians and/or community members to choose the winners at each level. • According to the official WWE contest rules, bookmarks must be judged on: impact of the slogan/strategy; originality of the design; relevance of the graphics/images to the slogan; and overall visual appeal. Letters will be judged on how persuasive an argument the teen made when convincing the wrestler to read the book. 5 Implement Programming throughout the Contest • To keep teens’ interest high, and to ensure that they have access to a wide variety of reading materials, host a program that is related to YALSA’s WrestleMania Reading Challenge. Judge the Contest Entries Bookmarks/letters can be sent to judges ahead of time for scoring with a score sheet that you create. Judges may want to narrow down the entries in advance, and then meet to discuss their choices and select the winners. Choose judges from a wide range of backgrounds (parents, teachers, local politicians, Friends of the Library, etc.), provide them with refreshments and follow up with a thank you note. Host a Culminating Event & Announce the Winners: • See page 10 of this toolkit for ideas. Reward any individual who entered the contest.