Each book review = 1 hour of volunteer time

In order to successfully earn volunteer hours for your book reviews, all submissions must follow the following guidelines.

Book reviews should be original and thoughtful. Include the following information in your review:

• Title, author, number of pages, and genre (fiction or nonfiction; such as fantasy, science fiction, realistic, graphic novel, etc.)

• Brief summary of the book, about 1-3 sentences. No spoilers!

• Your own thoughts, impressions, opinions of the book should make up the bulk of the review, about 300-500 words. Tell us why you liked or hated a book. Tell us about how it made you feel. Did you identify strongly with any of the characters? How? Did this book change the way you think or feel about something?

• Is there anything else you'd like to say about the book? Did it have an awesome cover? Was there artwork that really added or took away from the overall experience of reading the book? Anything at all!

• Would you recommend this book? Why or why not?

• How would you rate this book?

  • 1 star - Terrible! - one of the worst books I've ever read

  • 2 stars - Meh - it was okay, but could use a lot of improvement

  • 3 stars - Good - it was entertaining, but didn't blow me away

  • 4 stars - Great - better than most books I've read

  • 5 stars - Amazing! - one of the best books I've ever read

Book reviews should be about 300-500 words and should be your own original thoughts. Spelling and grammar count! Please refrain from using inappropriate language. Reviews may be edited for content.

BONUS: Earn an extra 30 minutes of volunteer time if you include a specially curated song playlist inspired by the book you've reviewed. This can be a just a written list at the end of the review, a Spotify playlist, etc. Should include a minimum of 10 songs.

EXTRA BONUS: Earn an additional 30 minutes of volunteer time if you (thoughtfully) tell us WHY you chose each song for this playlist.

Each book list = 1 hour of volunteer time

In order to successfully earn volunteer hours for your book lists, all submissions must follow the following guidelines:

• Curate a themed book list of at least 10 books (creative titles welcome!)

• Give a brief summary for each title and tell us why you are recommending it

• Be creative!

BONUS: Earn an additional 30 minutes of volunteer time by submitting a specially curated song playlist inspired by the list you've just created. This can be a written list at the end of the list or alongside titles, a Spotify playlist, etc. Should include a minimum of 10 songs.

EXTRA BONUS: Earn an additional 30 minutes of volunteer time if you (thoughtfully) tell us WHY you chose each song for this playlist.

Your recommended reading list and all accompanying material will be published to our Glen Rock Library Teens blog. Please refrain from using inappropriate language. All submissions may be reviewed or edited for content.

Each book trailer = 2 hours of volunteer time

Read a book that was particularly awesome and you're just dying to tell everyone you know about it? Create a book trailer! Get creative, show off your audio/video editing skills, and, most importantly, let everyone know about the amazing book you just read. Like movie trailers, book trailers are meant to get people excited about and interested in the highlighted book. Use this opportunity to share your love and enthusiasm for a book by recommending it to others in this unique way.

Book trailers can include images, animation, music, and text of voice-overs. All book trailers should include original content that you've created yourself or materials that are free to use under Creative Commons licensing. Please do not use inappropriate language or images.

Do not plagiarize or use copyrighted materials that you do not have permissions for. You can use https://search.creativecommons.org/ to locate images, audio, and video clips that are okay to use in your book trailer. Be sure to check whether attribution is required. If you need help with navigating all of this, feel free to contact our Teen & Technology Librarian, Kristen, at kristen.rasczyk@glenrock.bccls.org and she will show you how to determine whether the file is okay to use or not.

Book trailers should be approximately 1 - 2 minutes in length.

Each book talk = 2 hours of volunteer time

Video creation/editing not your cup of tea? Submit a book talk instead! Similar to the book trailer, the goal of a book talk is to share your thoughts on a super awesome book that you love and think other people will love, too.

This audio recording should be original and thoughtful, and touch on some or all of the following points:

• Title, author, and genre (fiction or nonfiction; type such as fantasy, science fiction, realistic, graphic novel, etc.)

• Brief summary of the book. No spoilers!

• Share your own thoughts, impressions, opinions of the book. Tell us why you liked or hated it. Tell us about how it made you feel. Did you identify strongly with any of the characters? How? Did this book change the way you think or feel about something?

• Is there anything else you'd like to say about the book? Did it have an awesome cover? Was there artwork that really added or took away from the overall experience of reading the book? Anything at all! Get creative!

• Would you recommend this book? Why or why not?

• How would you rate this book?

  • 1 star - Terrible! - one of the worst books I've ever read

  • 2 stars - Meh - it was okay, but could use a lot of improvement

  • 3 stars - Good - it was entertaining, but didn't blow me away

  • 4 stars - Great - better than most books I've read

  • 5 stars - Amazing! - one of the best books I've ever read

Book talks should be a minimum of 5 minutes. Please refrain from using inappropriate language. Submissions may be reviewed or edited for content.

Don't like the idea of doing a solo book talk? Grab a friend and make it more of a conversation (you'll both get the volunteer hours, of course)!

Each submission =1 hour of volunteer time

Some ideas for blog posts (originality & creativity encouraged!):

• Do you have something other than books that you'd like to review or recommend to other teens? Watched a really awesome movie or TV series? Discovered some great new music? You can share all of that in a blog post that will be published on our Glen Rock Library Teens blog. Each post should be thoughtful and contain original content.

• Know of a great app that aids in reading, tracking books you've read, that supports learning/studying, or anything along those lines? Share your review of the app and why you are recommending it to other teens. How has it helped you? Etc.

• Submit a piece of personal writing. Tell us what your experience has been over the past few months during quarantine. What is a typical day in your life right now? What's the weirdest thing that's happened? What's the most positive thing that's happened? What have you missed the most? What are your predictions for the future? This can be quarantine-related or not. Up to you!

All submissions should be approximately 300 words. Include graphics and links if applicable and cite any outside sources you may have referenced. Limit to 1 blog post submission per day. Please refrain from using inappropriate language. All submissions may be reviewed or edited for content.

We are now offering an exciting, brand new volunteer opportunity for teens, inspired by The Sketchbook Project. The Glen Rock Public Library is starting a Teen Sketchbook Collection that will eventually be available to browse in the Teen Area. This is a great way to earn volunteer hours while contributing something unique and meaningful to not only the Glen Rock Library but the Glen Rock community, as well.

Here's how it works:

• For Glen Rock students in grades 6 - 12

• Visit the Reference Desk to sign up and receive a blank sketchbook.

• Use this as an opportunity to not only make a meaningful contribution to the Glen Rock Library, but, more importantly, to tell your story - to let your voice be heard.

• Share your story, your unique perspective, however you like. Draw, color, doodle, word art, collage, mixed media, stories, poems... it's all good.

  • Anything you add to your book (extended fold-out pages?? pop-ups??) must be able to fold back in to fit neatly within the dimensions of the sketchbook. Please make sure anything you glue or tape in is securely affixed so nothing falls out or gets lost.

  • Your book should still be able to close (relatively) flat

• Feel free to decorate the front & back cover (no markings should be made above the line on the back cover)

• Keep an accurate record of the time you spend working on this project and log those hours on the sheet that comes with your sketchbook. Return that sheet along with your completed sketchbook.

• This volunteer opportunity will be offered on an on-going basis.

Collaborative Sketchbooks

• There are a total of 5 collaborative sketchbooks, each with a different theme. These books are meant to be worked on by multiple students.

• Each sketchbook can be checked out for 7 days at a time, or you can work on them in the library.

• To receive your volunteer hours, log your time in the Volunteer Binder at the Reference Desk