Where the Tweens Are: Financial Literacy and a Summer Morning at a Rural Library

Hannah Arata, ALA Public Programs Office

The Junction City Branch of the Perry County District Library is a small red building on the main street of an Ohio town with about 400 residents. On the same block is the post office, bank and a community bulletin board advertising local events.

When my colleague and I arrived, having driven down winding country roads shared with horse-drawn buggies, the library was just about to open for the day. It was a quiet Monday morning early in summer break, and I wasn’t expecting much of a crowd, especially not for a program geared toward tweens. But to my surprise, a young patron was already waiting on the front step, eager to use a computer.

We had come to observe a Thinking Money for Kids program, an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation that strives to teach children and their parents, caregivers and educators about financial topics (e.g., saving, spending, sharing and budgeting) in a way that’s meaningful and fun.

What quickly became clear is that Perry County’s success with tweens goes far beyond any single program. It’s rooted in deep relationships, consistency and care. That morning in Junction City reminded me: tweens love their library—sometimes more than we realize.

“My mom doesn’t make me do it, I just love doing stuff at the library. I try to do everything I can.” – 11-year-old Pet Cents attendee

How do you keep tweens engaged in your community?

The financial literacy game Pet Cents was the tween program at the Junction City Branch that day. As one of the recipients of ALA’s Thinking Money for Kids Program Kit, the Perry County District Library has hosted 27 programs using the five games from the kit and has reached 461 people, including many tweens (the library classifies tweens as ages 9 – 12). They are now using the games as part of their summer reading program lineup.

(Download free materials to play Pet Cents and other Thinking Money for Kids games, Penny Pinchers' Party and Currency Conga.)

Right away, it was evident that the librarians, Cass Argo, youth services assistant (with a focus on tweens and homeschooling families), and Melissa Marolt, director, are on a first-name basis with most of the tweens and their parents. Of the 28 staff in the library district, six are full-time employees, and everyone wears many hats, which helps to foster relationships with patrons.

“We’ve seen them grow up,” Marolt told me. “We go out to all of our local school districts to do programming with students, and we are primary community partners with three school districts’ after-school programs. During those visits, we really get to know the students, and this builds interest in library programming. They engage in fun, interactive programming at their school, then they will often seek out additional library programming by visiting our buildings or bookmobile stops." 

Many patrons of the Perry County District Library start bringing their children to programs as babies. The culture of growing up within the library and entering new program age groups is celebrated and seen as a major milestone. “They get excited about ‘graduating’ into the next step,” Marolt says. “If they had an older sibling age into the tween group, they can’t wait to do the same.” "Many of these younger siblings have started a 'countdown to 9' — the day they can first join our tween programs,” Argo adds.

When the tweens arrived at the Pet Cents game, there were many hugs and greetings. “It’s like a family reunion in here,” remarked a parent of an 11-year-old. “We drive from library branch to library branch to attend these programs. We try not to miss any.”

Another parent of a tween at the program told us about her child, “She has done every summer reading program since she was 3 years old. We try to go to all the library activities, and if she’s busy, she does things virtually through Beanstack.”

Cass Argo chats with tweens before the program begins.

Tweens visit the "veterinarian station" manned by Melissa Marolt.

The Pet Cents game box.

Reading with Rudy the therapy dog.

Players count "money" to make purchases for their pet.

Players calculate how much they've spent on their pet.

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Pet Cents in action

Pet Cents is an interactive game that allows kids to adopt a “pet” and budget for its care and happiness by visiting multiple stations (e.g., the vet or the pet store) without overspending. At each station, players engage with a cashier or assistant (often a parent or teen volunteer) to spend and receive money until the timer runs out.

To add a unique variation to the gameplay, the library had little stuffed animals for the kids to take home, along with pet-themed gifts. Rudy, the local therapy dog, was also there to add to the fun and excitement of the morning. Rudy and his owner, Ellen, volunteer with the library district and bookmobile programs throughout the year for Reading with Rudy, a program where kids choose a book to read aloud to Rudy in a calm, no-judgment environment. Once kids finish their book, they receive “Rudy Bucks” to keep as a souvenir.

One parent of a homeschooled tween attendee told us her child was very shy before he started coming to library programs and reading to Rudy. “He’s a completely different person now,” she says. “He’s more confident in his reading and more outgoing. He loves coming here and he’s made many friends.”

During the Pet Cents game, we watched as the tweens were all engaged and excited to use math and creativity skills. The game even requires penmanship and spelling skills (I witnessed a few learn how to spell "chiropractor" for the first time). Argo and Marolt said they try not to use screens in many of their tween programs, which makes games like this so compelling.

“Pet Cents is our favorite game to play,” the parent of the homeschooled tween says. “This will be our second time playing it all the way through. We talk about budgeting and finances at home, but this makes it fun. I see him recognizing some money concepts in the real world now.”

The importance of programs for homeschooled tweens

The Perry County District Library works with many homeschool families, offering homeschool programs once a month throughout the school year at their main branch. For the upcoming school year, the homeschool program will expand to include an additional monthly program at the Corning Branch.

“We had one homeschool family design their curriculum around the Thinking Money for Kids program schedule to coincide with what the kids were learning,” Argo says. The homeschool programs are so popular that they are often full with waitlists.

A 17-year-old attendee who accompanied his younger tween brother to the program is homeschooled and volunteers often at the main library branch. Their mother told us the brothers come to the library at least once a week. “The concepts in Pet Cents helped me think about how my parents have to budget to own their house and maintain their household,” the 17-year-old said. The family attends nearly every program the library offers, for kids and adults.

Argo told us that a reason for the success of tween programs was the homeschooling community, with many participants coming to other tween programs from her popular homeschool program.

The key to tween engagement: consistency

If your library struggles with tween engagement, you’re not alone. But if there’s anything I learned from the Perry County District Library’s Pet Cents program, it’s that tween engagement is possible and totally enriching. Tweens want to be there, and the key is to start young. Library-loving babies grow into library-loving tweens and so forth.

“Tween engagement is cyclical,” Marolt says. “The kids here grow up within the library system, and sometimes they don’t come in during certain points because of other extracurriculars, but maybe their younger sibling then starts to come in.”

The library also has programs that blend younger groups with tweens, which have helped show younger kids what the tween programs are like, so they can get excited about the transition. “Our T&T (tween & teen) series of programs encourages tweens to stay involved in library programming as they age into our teen programs,” says Argo.

The librarians also say it’s important to hear from parents about what works and what doesn’t. They advise other libraries to listen to what families say, especially those in smaller communities. Maybe Saturdays don’t work for the tweens and parents in your community, but a Wednesday afternoon or even a Monday morning works better.

As the program wrapped up and folks started to leave, the most common phrase heard between librarians and kids was “see you tomorrow” or “see you next week.” 

“We are so grateful to have the library and these librarians here for us,” a parent of an 11-year-old said. “It’s like her second home, and she wants to be here all the time, and I’ll happily take her all the time."

 

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Jun 24, 2025
Children (9 and under)+ |

Pet Cents