The document discusses tweens, defined as 8-12 year olds. It notes that tweens spend significant time watching TV and online but reading for pleasure is declining. Tweens have split personalities, still seeing parents as friends but showing teenage attitudes. The libraries discussed offer programming for tweens like book clubs, crafts, games, and dedicated tween spaces. Tween interests include parents, music, movies, being smart. Libraries aim to engage tweens through these interests.

1. THE NEW POWER
GENERATION
Tweens in the Spotlight!
Too Young for the Teen Room
Too Old for the Children’s Room

2. It's cooler than ever to be a
tween,
but is childhood lost?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-02-03-tweens-behavior_N.htm
(we watched the clip from the Today Show that is embedded in the article)

3. Definition of a Tween
 8-12 year-olds / 20 million strong
 Time of transition; physical, emotional, &
psychological
 Each week they spend 12 hours watching
TV &
7 hours online
 70% say their parents are their best friends
 63% DO NOT have cell phones
 Reading for pleasure continues to drop
each year

4. Notes on Tweens
 Notes: Tweens is a term that was really coined by the advertising industry to target this age group. As a result, this age
group has enormous power in what we all buy, what we read, what we see at the movies, etc. Like it or not, libraries have
been brought into this tween marketing frenzy and we need to stay in touch.
 Tweens have split personalities – they still say their parents are their best friends, but they can have teenage attitudes.
 Tweens today are much more well-informed through the vast amount of info that is available – parents, media, online,
parents, 24/7 society.
 Greater exposure to topics and issues that would not have been considered appropriate material even 10-15 years ago.
 Everything is available at our fingertips and this age group expects it to be there instantaneously for them – and for the most
part they are given it by their parents. Because they know so much more of what is going on in the world than previous
generations, they are also more aware of right and wrong. Many face an earlier onset of puberty and are starting their
teenage years at a more advanced stage than previous generations.
 This could be a whole workshop on the physiological and pyschological aspects of this age group, but this gives us a small
overview of what we are seeing in our 8-12 year olds that are coming into our libraries.
 Reading for pleasure drops steadily from grades 4 through 8. Tweens are electing not to read more often. The fact exists
and it is a cause for concern for all – parents teachers, and librarians.

5. What Tweens Find Important
 Parents
 Family Game Nights/ Mom& Daughter programs
 Music
 Add music to your website/programs/stream it
 Movies
 Book to Movie tie-ins/ show them/ discuss
 Being Smart
 Trivia, Contests, Tutors

6. Tween Imprints

7. Abrams/Amulet

8. It’s Not a Diary, It’s a
Movie!
Great Book
and Movie
Tie-in
Opportunity!

9. Tween Girl Magazines

10. Tween Boy Magazines

11. Graphic Novels

12. Think outside the box
 Text Messages as an alternative to Book Reports
 Mo B Dik
Call me
-Ishml.
 Hngr Gms
24 compete.
Last 1 alive wins. (fran jackson)
 Diree Wmpee Kd
MS wrst idea evr.
Get me out of here.

13. TWEEN
PROGRAMMING
&
TWEEN AREAS
A Review of our Member Libraries

14. Manhasset Public Library
 Percy Jackson and the Olympians Book Club
8 – 12 year-olds 24 enrolled 18 showed up 10
boys!
 Each week, a book, mythology, demi-god skills,
and a craft based on book.
 Example: Week 2- Sea of Monsters.
 Contact Marie Drucker for more info.

15. Manhasset Tween Girls
 Some of the other tween programs given by
Larry Lederer: Make Your Own Quesadilla,
That’s a Wrap!, Ice Cream Extravaganza,
Iron Chef, Chocolate Making Workshop,
Tween Movie Night, Annual Video Game
Tournament, Pizza Taste Test Challenge,
2nd Annual Taste-off Cookie Challenge, The
Manhasset Sudoku Challenge. Boys’ Bash:
Guitar Hero, Boys’ Bash: NASCAR/ Girl’s
Night Out: DDR & DDR Super Nova & Wii
Sports

16. Merrick Library Tween Area
Contact Sue Goodwin for more info.

17. Meet me at the corner of 5th and 6th

19. Mineola Public Library
 Contact Vivian Yuan for more information.
 Vivian sets up and breaks down the
tween/teen room each afternoon in a portion of
the community room. The Library is next to
the Middle School.

20. Port Washington Tween Area
Contact Rachel Fox for more info
Port has a tween section in their children’s room and has many programs for
them. Below right is a “Walk and then a Talk” where they take a walk and then
discuss either one book or they bring a book that they have read to booktalk.
Craft programs, acting, games, and many more activities have been offered.

21. Rosly
n
Contact Barbara
Homola for more
info

23. In 1905, 11 year-old Frank Epperson of California mixed
some soda powder and water on his back porch. He left
the stirring stick in and the temperature dropped
overnight… the next morning he had a Popsicle!
In 1923, Frank began to sell his creation in seven fruit
flavors. What was the original name for this
summertime treat?
A. Ice-ees C. Epsicles
B. Pop-tastic D. Popsidoodles
Treats
C. Epsicles

24. Valley Stream
 Tweens- Be Confident! Be Motivated! Be You!
 Featuringco-authors of 113 Things to Do By 13
 Contact Faith Kenney for more info

25. Further Reading
 www.delicious.com/nassaulibrary/tweens
 Acuff, D.S. What Kids Buy and Why: The
Psychology of Marketing to Kids. Simon &
Schuster, 1997.
 Elkind, David. All Grown Up and No Place
to Go: Teenagers in Crisis. Perseus Books,
1998.
 Siegel, D.L. The Great Tween Buying
Machine: Marketing to Today’s Tweens.
Paramount Market Publishing, Inc. 2001.