Engaging students and teachers in middle school media center programs is often challenging. By the time students enter middle school, they often feel that they are "too old" for media center activities. The challenge for media specialists is to find meaningful ways to make lifelong readers out of kids who would rather do anything but read. A good first step is for school media specialists to work closely with teachers and their programs--students can be primed by teachers to be receptive to media center programs. The author of this paper, a media specialist at Liberty Middle School in Tampa, Florida, initiates yearly events, such as a "Literacy Cafe" with guest speakers, a "Sit, Sip, and Read" program that moves the media center outdoors for a day, and a "Breakfast with the Bulls" program that allows improved readers to share breakfast and intermingle with local college athletes. These type of events create an environment that engages students in media center programs, and can make enthusiastic readers out of previously reluctant students.