Our library launched the Abraham Lincoln Award books along with the State of Illinois' Read for a Lifetime reading programs two weeks ago. With the help of the high school English teachers (I would have little success without their support), students have been signing up to read books off these two lists. The Abe has 34 students and five teachers signed up and the Read for a Lifetime has 25 students and five teachers. We purchased one set of the Abe books and received the LBSS grant for a complete second set. All but 12 of those books are checked out and at least one of every title is gone. The Read for a Lifetime books are not moving quite as quickly mostly because the titles are not as well known and I haven't been pushing them as much. 
Last year the program lost some steam as time went, so this year I have and will implement some strategies to continue marketing and encouraging students to keep reading. Next week I will book talk and use video book talks to promote the lists, especially the Read for a Lifetime. I have created a book club that will discuss four of the award books, two from Abe and two from Read for a Lifetime. The book club will meet once a month to discuss a different book from the lists. The student library assistants have agreed to help with the book club discussions which will hopefully encourage other students to participate. I have also asked the English teachers to create shelf talkers with their comments on books they like to inspire the kids to read those specific books on the lists. Finally, like last year, I will have a big voting party in February where the students who have met the required number of books read will come to vote for their favorite. The party includes food and punch made by the foods classes and drawings for prizes. We had a great time with the party last year. I am curious to know what other schools are doing to promote the Abe and Read for a Lifetime programs.
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