Libraries Gear Up for ‘New Moon’ Release
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By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 11/16/2009 2:00:00 PM
School and public librarians are getting ready for the November 20 release of New Moon (Little, Brown, 2006), the second movie installment based on the popular Stephenie Meyer "Twilight" series about Bella and her vampire boyfriend, Edward.
Lori Franklin, a media specialist at Olathe East High School in Kansas, purchased two full-size cardboard cutouts of Edward and Jacob the werewolf for $33 each from Nordstrom online. The figures have “generated everything from amusement, to anger (from anti-Twilight fans), to photo-posing sessions with them,” says Franklin, who plans to have a drawing later in the year to give them away. “Several boys have offered me $25 to destroy them, and girls have offered even more to have them for decorations in their bedrooms.”
Franklin’s teen patrons have been playing the Twilight trivia game “just to see how much we all remember from the books” and while many of her students plan to attend the midnight premiere of the movie, her library club members will attend a 4 p.m. showing of New Moon at a local movie theater on November 23.
At Carmel High School in Indiana, Bonnie Grimble, the media and communications department chair, held a contest during the month of October in which students were asked to create a 45-second video trailer promoting New Moon. The winning video was broadcast over the high school television station, and the winner received two free tickets to the opening movie, a large New Moon poster, and a bookstore gift certificate.
Carmel High School students also collaborated with three nearby middle schools by renting out a theater for the movie’s opening night. “We will follow up our opening movie viewing with a book/movie discussion between all of our buildings on December 4 via our telecommunications/distance learning systems,” Grimble says.
Media specialist Karen Trukovich of Maplewood High School in Cortland, OH, gained permission from principal Gordon Hitchcock to take a whopping 70 “motivated and enthusiastic” ninth through twelfth graders on a field trip to see the movie.
The question that clinched the deal was “When was the last time that you remember a book having such an impact on this age group of students?,” Trukovich says she asked her principal. “And, how long do you think it will be before this happens again?”
The library is also hosting a New Moon raffle, with the winner getting a Twilight/New Moon basket, comprised of two movie tickets, a New Moon T-shirt, a copy of New Moon and Eclipse, an Edward bookmark, a box of Twilight Sweet Tarts, a 2010 New Moon calendar, and a Twilight tote bag, all donated by Trukovich. Proceeds will go toward the purchase of books and other items to add to the library’s collection, and the creation of two New Moon library bulletin boards. Décor is key too, and the library is filled with hanging bats and strings of blood-red ribbons.
Book club co-president Mary Booth has even designed a New Moon countdown board in the library, so students can keep track of how many days are left until the movie premiers.
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Media specialist Karen Trukovich of Maplewood High School in Cortland, OH, has launched a statewide blog, in which students from other high school book clubs can discuss New Moon and the upcoming movie on the Maplewood High School library Web site. |
Samantha Wikstrom, the supervisor of youth services for the Davenport Public Library in Iowa, expects at least 100 teenagers to attend its New Moon party. Teens can win a cutout of Edward by playing "pin the kiss on Edward," where the person who plants a Post-it note "kiss" closest to the cardboard cutout's mouth will win the pale-faced representation of the character. There’ll be a howling contest, as well as "Twilight"-related trivia and crafts. The library also encourages teens to come in costume as their favorite character from the books.
The nearby Bettendorf and Rock Island public libraries in Iowa are also hosting New Moon parties on November 19. At Bettendorf, teens will make "vampire blood popcorn," which is really caramel corn with a red tint to it. Natalie Struecker, Rock Island’s YA librarian, says teens will watch the movie Blood and Chocolate, based on a book about werewolves, to get them excited about Jacob Black, a werewolf character with a prominent role in New Moon.
At Bloomfield High School in New Jersey, school librarian Debra D'Andrea recently held a Skype session between the district’s high school and middle school to discuss New Moon themes, expectations, and characters. “It was quite exciting, and got a little heated too,” she says. “Skype is a great tool to connect our community.”
Meanwhile, Dani Webb, a librarian at North Oaks Middle School in Haltom City, TX, says she’s keeping it simple with a New Moon quiz contest, which consists of 10 questions that will be entered into a drawing when completed. “I will randomly choose a few, and if all 10 are answered correctly they will win a New Moon prize, i.e., a book bag, posters, etc.,” she says.
