AUBURN — Donna Wallace is at the whim of teenagers, and she has taken up the challenge, dispensing good reads and Pop-Tarts from the second floor at the Auburn Public Library.

“I have one boy who will say, ‘I don’t read,’ and I’m like, ‘You just haven’t found the right book yet,'” Wallace said.

It’ll happen.

“It can be hard to hook them,” she said. “It’s a work in progress all the time, whether it’s putting together the programs or putting the books in their hands, it keeps you on your toes.”

Wallace became the teen librarian five years ago. Her first job in libraries was at St. Andrew’s School in Middletown, Delaware. Its beautiful campus was the setting for Robin Williams’ “Dead Poets Society.” Her husband taught there and the library needed part-time help in 2001.

“The job morphed into a full-time job, and I just loved it,” said Wallace, who grew up in Turner. “I liked working in the school setting, loved working with books. I’ve always been a reader anyway, that was my favorite thing to do on the bus rides when I was in high school.”

When work brought the couple back to this area in 2012, Wallace was hired to help develop Auburn library’s then-new media lab. After her current position opened up, she applied.

Wallace oversees the Teen Space, a windowed room with bean bags, computers, tables and free Wi-Fi, where teens can hang out. Some days there might be five, others 25.

“Usually, at least once a day I’ll be asked, ‘Got any food?’ so I keep snacks on hand, but I ration them very carefully because they would eat me out of house and home in a day,” she said.

Each year, Wallace pulls together the six-week teen summer reading program using the national Collaborative Summer Library Program as a guide. Last year’s theme was Build a better world.

“Some people took it in the direction of architecture and Legos, and I went in the direction of environmentalism and sustainability,” she said.

This year’s theme is Libraries Rock! Some went for geology.

“I thought my teens would be more interested in music,” Wallace said.

She’s arranged for a tour of Maine’s Big Z radio station, set up a do-it-yourself music workshop with musician Aaron Wardwell and kicked the summer reading program off last month with a performance by steel drum band Chicks with Sticks. 

Last year, 35 teens participated and read a total of 220 books. One go-getter read 50.

“The biggest challenge working with teens is just they’re so changeable,” Wallace said. “This week they may tell me that they like anime club and next week they may have moved on to something else. The programming is the biggest challenge, even more so than working with the different personalities.”

The rewards are in the relationships she’s built.

“Some of our teens have had more challenges in their lives than I have in mine,” she said. “If they stop at the desk and say hello instead of walking right in with their headphones and head down” that feels like a win.

Several years ago, after a tense fight with his mother and stepfather, Wallace had a teen run away to the library. His parents followed, police were called and interviews were held at the library.

“Letting them know that I’m here, that I can be a mentor or an ally, that’s really important to me because being a teen isn’t easy,” Wallace said. “It was a good feeling to know that he felt like this was a safe place for that to happen.”

kskelton@sunjournal.com

Donna Wallace is the teen librarian at the Auburn Public Library. Behind her, teens play video games during the weekly Gaming Hour. She’ll pick up a controller occasionally. “I’m there more to make sure they all get along, take turns, that everything works, they have snacks and as a cheerleader when appropriate!” Wallace joked. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)

AUBURN — Three years ago, Auburn Public Library teen librarian Donna Wallace started Pizza & Pages, a six-week summer reading book club. She and the teens get together every two weeks to talk characters and their favorite parts of the book. Maple Way Dental Care supplies the books, Domino’s the pizza. 

It’s set up for ages 12 to 18. You don’t have to be a resident or have a library card to participate.

Looking for recommended reads for your teen this summer?

Wallace’s picks for this year’s Pizza & Pages and what she likes about each: 

• “Solo” by Kwame Alexander: “Our (summer reading) theme is music. This guy is a rocker and his father is a rock star, but he finds out during the course of the book that he’s adopted. His father is a little bit on the edge, a stereotypical rocker that has done drugs, been in rehab, so he’s sort of a little bit estranged from his father. It’s a great story about forgiveness.”

• “Eleanor & Park” by Rainbow Rowell: “It’s quirky. Two different individuals discover that they like music riding the bus to and from school. He’s Asian and she’s a little overweight, redhead, been picked on and bullied, and they form this friendship and eventually this romance. It’s just a sweet, sweet story about friendship and love, and nothing lasts forever.”

• “Beautiful Music for Ugly Children” by Kirstin Cronn-Mills: “I think it’s one of the first books that fell under the LGBT genre. It’s about this boy who is transitioning and he wants to be a DJ. (A neighbor) sort of takes Gabe under his wing. It’s a multi-generational friendship. I really liked it a lot and I thought the kids would really like it. A lot of music, a lot of songs quoted in the book, it’s just a really good story.”