Amidst the chaos of glitter, colored pencil shavings, cardstock, ribbon and smelly markers, teens were immersed in the art of making a smash book at Conway, Arkansas’ Faulkner County Library.
Housing over 49,000 adult fiction and 35,000 adult non-fiction books, the FCL is the third largest library in all of Arkansas but has more than just book titles and numbers; it has endless opportunities for all ages.
With a fully booked calendar for all ages, the FCL has monthly events for tweens/teens that cultivate creativity and build off the fundamentals the library has to offer.
On Jan. 22, kids ages 12 to 18 were able to gather and build smash/exploding books with the guidance of Katie Scott, the teen leader at the FCL.
To start off the event Scott ran through the purpose of the afternoon and demonstrated an example of the ideal outcome for the teen’s books.
“We are making an exploding book, they’re kind of tied up and then you untie them and it literally explodes open. You get to create the pages to be whatever you would like. It can be a vision board, reading planner, sketchbook, a graphic novel, truly whatever you want,” Scott said.
As Scott continued explaining each part of the process from folding, gluing and assembling the kids involved asked questions and connected with each other during the action of building.
As more event-goers spilled into the room, grandparents, younger siblings and parents could be seen alongside their teen helping out or creating their own piece of work.
“Mountains of cardstock,” as Scott described it, enveloped across kids’ work stations at the large art table and their smashbooks came to life.
As more and more event-goers finished up their masterpieces Scott explained the final touch of the project, ribbon.
“When you place your book where they are just exploding and kind of doing whatever, put the ribbon on one side to close it up,” Scott said.
From glittery and pink to red-checkered gingham, Halloween pumpkins to Christmas lights there was ribbon for every kind of person.
Scott’s encouragement and the kids’ excitement to get involved highlighted this event as a community-building time and is part of what FCL stands for.
“The Faulkner-Van Buren County Library takes pride in our services. It is our goal to offer our teen and tween patrons opportunities through literacy and education that will encourage the use of imagination, creativity and intellectual freedom,” the online website for FCL said.
Be on the lookout for upcoming events and opportunities by checking out https://www.instagram.com/faulknercountylibrary/ on Instagram as well as their facebook https://www.facebook.com/FCLHQ.
