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Growing research shows a crisis in our youth’s confidence and a marked increase in stress and anxiety.1 Summer at the library is vital for addressing opportunity gaps in learning and fostering interest-driven reading and learning, but what about the critical role library programs play in helping youth become confident learners? As youth services library staff build, deliver, evaluate, and advocate for summer programs, an essential aspect of summer programming should be the deliberate focus on building confidence in young people. In a time that has exploded as that of the “anxious generation,2” building confidence can help children flourish.
Growing research shows a crisis in our youth’s confidence and a marked increase in stress and anxiety.1 Summer at the library is vital for addressing opportunity gaps in learning and fostering interest-driven reading and learning, but what about the critical role library programs play in helping youth become confident learners? As youth services library staff build, deliver, evaluate, and advocate for summer programs, an essential aspect of summer programming should be the deliberate focus on building confidence in young people. In a time that has exploded as that of the “anxious generation,2 ” building confidence can help children flourish. In this interview with author Joshua Faden, president/founder of Community of Teachers and author of The Confidence Project: A Journey Through the Confidence Constellation, we explore the importance of nurturing elements of confidence in youth and the crucial role that public libraries play in supporting and cultivating confident learners, specifically through summer programs.
Liz: Let’s start with your background and how you define confidence as critical for learning success.
Joshua: Thank you, Liz! As a former third-grade teacher in the Washington, D.C. public schools and founder of my own company, I have dedicated my life to understanding the foundational aspect of confidence in the overall success of children’s lives.
While in the classroom, I worked with students who came in completely resistant to learning and unable to view themselves as capable. Without even knowing the “how” or “why” behind what I was doing at the time, I helped students to change their mindset and find a sense of belonging and possibility in their personal and academic lives. Once I left the classroom, I began working one-on-one or in small groups with learners of all ages, helping them to believe in themselves and their abilities.
Having had the incredible honor of working with so many students over the years, many for multiple years, I was able to reflect on my practices and examine the elements that were universal to the work I was doing with individuals. The culmination was my first book, The Confidence Project, which articulates my findings and distills my work down into my model for confidence building, as well as my toolkit for helping students to more efficiently and effectively manage their confidence. What I have found is that when students are able to learn how to overcome the myriad daily challenges they face, and they have the language and tools to name their challenges and the strategies they use, they become more confident, excited, lifelong learners.
The framework for this is called The Challenge Cycle—a series of five phases that all people, regardless of age or experience, go through whenever they face a challenge. And, my toolkit for helping individuals manage their Challenge Cycle is called The Confidence Constellation—a series of twelve elements that, when working in conjunction, help individuals to keep their confidence burning brightly.
Libraries are amazing spaces for implementing the toolkit and helping students learn to maneuver their Challenge Cycle. For instance, the first phase is called Increasing Receptivity. This phase is about helping children become open to a challenge they may be facing. Furthermore, the first element in my toolkit is called curiosity, and it is about helping to pique the interest of the individual as to how the challenge may be of interest to them and could be something they want to learn more about. Enter the library space! With books, magazines, movies, or other materials at their fingertips, children can explore any number of aspects of curiosity around a particular challenge that could light a spark.
Now curious and receptive, children can move on to phase two in their Challenge Cycle, Increasing Awareness. This phase helps children to expand their horizons and discover what they do and don’t know about their particular challenge that they’re trying to overcome, to increase their confidence. Again, just having a librarian explore the resources available to them on their particular topic or challenge could open up new worlds to them.
Of course, knowledge alone does not overcome a challenge, and often when we are asked to put our knowledge to the test or to “show what we know,” we can become overwhelmed. Sometimes, students feel like even though they became curious and receptive and increased their awareness, that perhaps they didn’t learn as much as they thought, or they aren’t as smart or capable as they had believed. So, an individual may fear at this point that they actually aren’t on track to overcome their challenge, and they begin to feel a new kind of frustration. That is why I call my third phase Managing Frustrations. It is not that someone wasn’t frustrated to begin with; naturally, they were! But now we need to be reminded of all we have done to pique our interests and to increase our awareness so that we can actually see that we are not in fact the same person we were even an hour, day, or week prior, and that we actually have come a long way toward overcoming our challenge. Librarians can help students feel comfortable naming their progress and continue with their plans toward phase four, Valuing the Effort.
If a child can understand that they are actually well on their way to overcoming a challenge, but that it might just take more work and more time, then we can help them to name the steps and define the processes necessary now to overcome their challenge. Opening up the world of possibilities to children and explaining what needs to happen and what they can do to make it happen is empowering. This is where librarians might see students showing up early or staying late because they are now excited about having a clear plan and wanting to implement it. The more children see the payoff from their effort, the more eager they are to put in the effort the next time a challenge arises. This builds resilience and intrinsic motivation and makes the library a special place where challenges can be overcome and where our efforts lead to the final phase of Valuing the Challenge.
I always say that my goal is to help individuals go from “Ugh, another challenge,” to “Ooh! Another challenge!” I want children to experience the excitement that comes with overcoming challenges, and for that success to be the part that propels them to want to begin another Challenge Cycle. Imagine children who overcome one challenge and immediately look to become receptive to another. This is the world I want to live in, and this is a world where libraries instill that sense of wonder and joy that learning and overcoming challenges can bring!
Liz: I love moving from viewing challenges as something to overcome to something to appreciate. I wonder what you see has happened to confidence in our kids these last few years? Why is it critical for out-of-school providers like youth librarians to intentionally build confidence in programs like summer reading and learning?
Joshua: I have seen several challenges coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Students have struggled not only academically, but with their social and emotional regulations, as well. Interactions among peers became a challenge, and being able to express and process the many deep emotions they experienced throughout the pandemic were put on the back burner in the name of getting caught up academically. The amount of work seemed to increase across the board in many of the schools my students were attending. Yet, executive function skills were not explicitly taught or reinforced, and so students had more work to make up from what they were perceived to have missed without having the social, emotional, or fundamental skills required to meet this demand. As a result, I have seen students really struggle with their confidence. Often, students that I work with one-on-one express a sense of being overwhelmed and a lack of belief in their ability to keep up with the pace or expectations of their schooling.
I frequently find myself simply acting as a sounding board or a safe space to just listen to their challenges. Being seen and heard—acknowledging their difficulties and providing collaborative solutions—goes a long way toward helping children find ways to regulate their stressors and keep their confidence high. Libraries can be a place that provides that sense of belonging and safety for children to learn to try again without the fear of failing and to rekindle their creativity and joy. I firmly believe that if children can come to libraries throughout the summer and do nothing else other than that—belong, feel safe, feel creative, and find joy—they will return to school more empowered and more willing and able to learn and participate in their upcoming school year. By being even more intentional with adding the confidence-building framework, language, and toolkit, children can return to being inspired and ready to inspire!
Liz: Belong-feel safe-feel creative-find joy. What a beautiful way of framing what libraries are for kids, especially in the summertime. With the explosion of mental health issues facing youth today, how do you see confidence, or the lack of confidence, play a role with kids?
Joshua: Public library summer programs provide an underappreciated yet real solution to helping children build their confidence. Through interest-driven learning in your robust programming, summer learners in public libraries take what they learn in school and apply it to the real world. This application of knowledge helps consolidate learning and create a feeling of satisfaction and certainty, both of which are key elements of confidence.
Additionally, summer at the library allows children to use their voice and choice in what they read and learn. This gives a child autonomy they may not otherwise have during the school year. This ability to choose what to read, which programs to participate in, and how to engage with the library’s summer learning tools all help kids build their awareness as learners and readers and give them tools to reflect on how they learn and overcome challenges. These are critical elements in building confidence in young learners.
Libraries in Summer: Unstructured Yet Powerful Programming
Public library summer programs offer a strong and efficacious way for youth to participate in learning activities during the critical summer months. Best practices in youth development include giving children choice and voice in their learning. Drop-in programming is a hallmark of library summer programs, and through program participation, youth can deepen their knowledge of a myriad of topics. Art programs, STEM challenges, and other ways public libraries programmatically engage youth in the summer can provide meaningful opportunities for youth to practice confidence in a safe and welcoming setting.
Summer library programs provide a powerful platform for social-emotional learning (SEL) and interest-driven learning. In our welcoming, low-pressure environments, children build the characteristics that lead to confidence, starting with curiosity and a sense of belonging by participating in group activities, interacting with diverse peers, and exploring topics they love. Library summer programs support SEL by helping kids practice emotional regulation, empathy, cooperation, and self-regulation through shared reading experiences, creative expression, and free-choice engagement. Children can learn emotional intelligence and control alongside peers, making them more successful at learning.
A librarian from Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) said, “When I started three plus years ago with the Pulaski County Youth Services groups, some of the children struggled with attention, not speaking over everyone, and staying on task. I started a regular yoga and meditation program two years ago with all my groups.
“Seeing the difference in behavior took almost a year, but it’s now so obvious that I’m mad that I didn’t think of this approach straight away. Meditation, which was treated as a joke to many of these kids, is now beloved. They know being in their heads while still being with their peers creates a safe and welcome place. Yoga is an even larger hit. The kids love it! These children are now outstanding students during our time together. They listen and listen well, share resources better, there’s much less grabbing, they are enthusiastic, and they love the library. It’s a joy. This kind of emotional learning fills my cup and theirs.”
Hidden in these descriptions of CALS’ mindfulness and yoga programs, yet apparent in the outcomes, are how youth build skills that lead children to deeper emotional regulation and, thus, focus and success. This helps each child become more confident, which, in turn, helps them deepen their learning during their library visits.
Because summer library programs are free, community-based, and open to all, they remove barriers to participation and ensure every child feels welcome. Through all the activities a child takes part in during summer—from setting reading goals, and participating in STEM or creative programs, reporting on books to meeting reading goals—library professionals empower kids to engage with books, ideas, and peers in ways that feel meaningful and enjoyable without the pressure of grades or scrutiny that may come with formal education. This freedom fosters a sense of autonomy and encourages children to take ownership of their learning.
Another core element of confidence is competence: feeling capable and successful in one’s efforts. Library programs help cultivate this by offering scaffolded experiences that allow children to build skills incrementally. No matter what part of summer in the library a child is taking part in, success reinforces a child’s belief in their abilities. Librarians play a key role as supportive adults who encourage effort, celebrate progress, and validate kids’ interests, all of which contribute to a growing internal sense of “I can do this.”
Faden also discusses just how important a sense of belonging is to building confidence. Public library professionals and libraries are uniquely positioned to nurture belonging through our summer programs. Summer learning brings together all children in welcoming and safe spaces where social connection, teamwork, and collaboration are valued. The art and creations your youth make on display, portraits of “me as a reader,” storytimes, maker events, and book clubs create opportunities for peer interaction and shared learning, helping youth feel seen and part of a larger community. When children see they belong, they feel they belong, and then they are more likely to try new things, speak up, and take pride in their contributions—hallmarks of developing confidence that can last a lifetime.
Liz: Joshua, do you have tips on how public library professionals can talk about the importance of summer for building confidence in youth with stakeholders and parents?
Joshua: This is what I love talking about! If I could talk about confidence-building all day, every day, I would feel very fulfilled. However, I also love my training sessions because we don’t just talk about confidence-building; we also get to do hands-on activities and art projects that help make meaning of the confidence-building process. To me, that is the best way library professionals could support confidence-building in their summer programs.
For instance, I do an activity called Creating Your Confidence Crests, where individuals get to depict moments from their lives that have positively impacted their confidence. Not only do we learn about overcoming challenges through this activity, but it also provides beautiful artifacts that could adorn a space somewhere in a library as a fun reminder throughout the summer. A great culminating activity I do after going over the twelve elements is to have individuals create their own Confidence Constellations. When we use actual glow-in-the-dark stickers and write out the twelve elements, it again serves as an amazing visual to inspire children to use their elements to keep their confidence “burning brightly,” but it can also become another amazing display in libraries. Imagine children (and parents or caregivers) creating daily rituals of turning off the lights at the end of the day to watch their Confidence Constellations light up the library!
Finally, another fun activity I have taught individuals in my training sessions is to create what I call Confidence Creatures. These fun creatures are another interactive art session that also doubles as a literacy tool because students can then write stories, plays, scripts, or other creative outlets for sharing about how their creatures used the confidence-building model to overcome challenges.
Of course, if librarians wanted to do the full toolkit for their community, they could use my handbook (The Confidence Constellation Activities Handbook), which provides hands-on, interactive lessons for helping individuals to acquire all twelve elements of their Confidence Constellation. The handbooks have guiding questions for each element, as well as abilities children (or adults!) would gain by learning about each element. And, I have just recently finished an educator’s guide that has fifty-five-minute lesson plans for each element, as well as bonus activities, so library staff could plug and play and have easy and exciting ways to talk about confidence building! All of these tools would help not only to encourage STEAM in the summer but also support literacy goals throughout each activity in the handbook and help students to learn how to overcome their challenges and increase their confidence as learners. If implemented, the children and their families would be better equipped to manage their challenges upon returning to school, and the library would be even more vibrant with all the art and activities proudly displayed!
Confidence in Action: Case Studies or Stories
Once we understand Faden’s elements, it’s easy to see examples of various sparkling stars in the Confidence Constellation in practice each summer in library summer programs. The shy child who becomes more assured in their reading, the middle schooler who creates their own reader identity, the teen volunteers who discover their love of working with younger children, summer is the perfect time to intentionally help learners build confidence through the elements of the Confidence Constellation.
Amanda Orgel, head of youth services for the Central Arkansas Library System, says, “We visit a local shelter weekly for STEM activities with their middle school-age children. For most of the summer, two girls sat quietly in the back and didn’t participate. They were too shy to ask questions or work with us. We took in our 3D printing pens during the last week of summer. I could see the girls’ curiosity had been piqued, and I urged them to try the pens out. I have never seen such a change in kids as I did in these two girls. They were timid and afraid to try, but with encouragement, we noticed they were so curious, and that curiosity turned into a connection with our staff. Their faces lit up, and they jumped into making jewelry items with the pens. By the end of that week, the girls were fully participatory and even asked questions about some of the activities they had skipped.
“Finding what works to motivate kids and then building on it to give them skills to feel confident is amazing,” said Orgel. “Seeing their faces light up like that as they jumped in, after trying to reach them all summer, was incredible.”
Kevin Delecki and Amber McNamara of the Cedar Rapids Public Library added, “Participating in the summer reading program at the library is about more than just fun and games—it nurtures a child’s confidence by reinforcing literacy skills, encouraging goal setting, helping a child challenge themself in reading and learning, and fostering a sense of accomplishment. By reading regularly, children return to school feeling more prepared, empowered, and enthusiastic about learning, and we see this confidence boost persists during the school year.” Indeed, we know the benefits of summer last all school year long and persist over the years.
The Confidence-Ready Library: Summer Program Design Principles
The moments during summer in which we boost youth confidence or family engagement can feel like magic, but we know it’s science. Confidence in learners has been studied in developmental science and educational psychology. In Albert Bandura’s Theory of Self-Efficacy,3 we see that children are more likely to engage and persist through tasks when they believe they can achieve. Summer is an especially critical moment for public library services as we can build trust, connection, and learning habits that naturally feed a child’s sense of belonging and confidence.
We might call this approach the Confidence-Ready Library—one that intentionally designs summer experiences to build self-belief alongside reading habits. Libraries already excel at creating warm, judgment-free spaces where children feel known and valued. Summer programs, in particular, are uniquely positioned to amplify confidence-building because they operate outside the constraints of formal schooling. The flexibility of summer allows libraries to test new things, such as applying the confidence framework. During the summer, invite children to explore reading and learning in personally meaningful ways, creating the psychological conditions where confidence can take root: autonomy, competence, and connection.
Liz: Joshua, do you have any ideas on how public libraries might introduce the elements of the confidence constellation to be talked about in summer programs?
Joshua: To foster confidence-building more intentionally, summer programs can also adopt specific design principles aligned with confidence-building. Choice-based reading activities are not just about reading; they empower children to select books that reflect their interests and identities, reinforcing that their voices matter. Creating a reader recommendation display or shelf talkers with summer reader recommendations are ways to boost a child’s confidence in their reading choices and establish the recommender as a literary expert.
Storytelling programs—whether through read-aloud, writing prompts, or digital media—can help children explore and express who they are, building narrative identity and agency while also affirming their story choices. When framed inclusively, gamified or goal-based reading challenges offer structure and rewards that affirm individual effort and growth rather than competition. Integrating hands-on STEM learning provides opportunities to explore curiosity and mastery in a supportive, inquiry-based setting.
Call to Action
Library staff already use confidence-building-aligned practices, often intuitively. Based on what can be called a confidence crisis in our youth, what is needed now is an intentional framing of these efforts as part of a broader strategy to nurture confidence in children, especially those who may not see themselves as readers or learners yet. Consider adding professional development that focuses on the emotional side of literacy and/or learning, including training on positive psychology and reinforcement, as well as the elements of the confidence constellation, relationship-building, and identity-affirming materials, which are crucial. This development deepens the impact of the staff’s work and makes them feel valued and integral to the process.
“Public libraries are powerful partners in summer learning,” said Aaron Philip Dworkin, CEO of the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA). “Librarians not only encourage reading, but they are helping children develop the inner resources to persist, explore, and believe in themselves. Public libraries create welcoming spaces where youth can explore new ideas, build confidence, and stay connected; key elements that make summer programs successful.”4
Looking forward, the NSLA Professional Learning Community for Libraries and Literacy will further align with the framework of The Confidence Projectto elevate the role of public libraries in youth development. NSLA already recognizes the importance of social-emotional learning in summer enrichment and calls it out in their new guide, Destination Summer, which is meant to give program providers a series of research-based best practices. By incorporating confidence-building principles into official summer learning goals, public libraries can better measure and support the personal growth that library programs foster in our youth. Library summer programs help youth discover who they are and believe in what they can become.
Please consider intentional talk with parents, funders, and municipal leaders about how summer at your library builds confidence in your readers and learners and their families. Share the Confidence Constellation with the children and youth you serve so they can map their star chart of confidence for summer and beyond. Confidence is built one attribute at a time, and it can all start in the library’s summer program.
For more information, visit www.communityofteachers.com.
American Psychological Association. Stress in America: Stress and Current Events. American Psychological Association, 2019. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2019/stress-america-2019.pdf.
Jonathan Haidt. The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. (Penguin, 2024).
Albert Bandura, “Self-Efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change,” Psychological Review 84, no. 2 (1977): 191–215.
Aaron P. Dworkin, email message to author, May 5, 2025.
Copyright American Library Association 2025