Teen Read Week activities had students at Woodstock and River Ridge high schools getting wrapped up last week in a variety of scary projects just in time for Halloween.

The week-long national initiative gives libraries the opportunity to encourage teens to read for the fun of it.

Sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association, libraries around the nation develop activities to create community and to celebrate reading and literacy with teens.

This year’s theme is “It Came From the Library.”

At Woodstock High, interactive reading exhibits included a “Wicked Reads” display in which teens were encouraged to pick up a book they considered scary and post a book topper telling why they selected it.

Student selections included “Scorpio Rising,” “Twilight,” “Unwind,” “Zombies vs. Unicorns” and “Forest of Hands and Teeth.” One student chose the classic “Ethan Frome” because “trying to read it will give you nightmares.”

Woodstock High also held a “Make Your Own Zombie” event where students created fearsome creatures by mashing up images from pop culture magazines.

During the “6-Word Scary Story” event, students were able to tweet live with the hashtag #6scary to compete for the best six-word story. The school retweeted the best stories, which showed up live on its Twitter Feed screen.

River Ridge High librarian Keara Rubin secured horror makeup artist Katie Espada from Netherworld to teach teens simple techniques to create scary makeup effects.

Although students had to leave their frightening looks in the library, photos were taken to preserve the moment and the look.

Both schools held “Minute To Win It” events in which teams of two competed to most completely “mummify” each other using toilet paper.

Students at both schools also participated in BYLD (Bring Your Learning Device) Horror Movie Trivia games: students used their own learning devices to research the answers to questions such as “What is the name of the villain in the miniseries based on a Stephen King novel set in Derry, Maine?” (Answer: Pennywise the Clown).

All participants received snacks tagged with notes about recommended books, and event winners got to select donated books as prizes.