Concert to Wrap Up Teen Reading Program

To mark the end of the summer teen reading program and let loose a bit before school starts again, the Chatsworth library plans a free rock concert Monday night.

Fuzzbyte, a band on the Los Angeles club circuit, will play for the Totally Teen Reading Club, Unplugged, beginning at 7 p.m. at the library, 21052 Devonshire Ave.

The Young Adults summer reading program, which debuted in the Los Angeles city library system this year, focused on helping middle-school and high-school students rediscover books.

The Chatsworth library attracted 64 students to the program with incentives like gift certificates, sports bottles and backpacks earned by reading books for credit.

“A lot of these kids have to read over the summer. They have reading lists to prepare for the coming school year, and they might as well get some credit for it, some recognition,” said Leslie J. Chudnoff, young-adult librarian.

The idea for the free acoustic concert, which is open to the public, grew out of the theme for the program--music.

Chudnoff said that, although it was dictated by the library system, the theme turned out to be fortuitous since a young-adult advisory committee had told her at the beginning of the summer that they’d like to find popular CDs in the library’s collection.

That, coupled with the fact that Fuzzbyte’s bassist works at the library, made the concert a fitting end to the summer program, she said.

The librarian said she was surprised to have a large turnout for the program, especially in its first year.

“You don’t have a problem with younger kids; they are willing to read for a rubber eraser or a fun work sheet,” Chudnoff said. “But the older kids, especially in middle school, think they are too mature to be involved with reading clubs.”