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The Writers' Advice Centre for children's books have launched their 2009 writing competition but this year they are not looking for a short story but a first chapter. Louise Jordan explains: "What we are looking for is a first chapter that really grabs the attention and makes us want to read the rest of the book. It's that 'I can't put it down' factor that we're after. " Your book can be for any age group and the maximum word count is 1000 words - for younger children aim for a much shorter word count. Louise added: "There are no rules on presentation except to say that your competition entry must reach us in exactly the same state as it would if you, yourself, were sending it out to a real publisher." You can include a cover letter and you should also explain where you see your book fitting in the current market, however do not submit illustrations or descriptions of illustrations. Entry is open to all ages with a ??5 fee with a deadline of August 31 2009. The winner will receive ??100, a signed copy of Louise's excellent book 'How to Write for Children & Get Published' and a free editorial and marketing assessment of your book with the chance to have your work submitted to a mainstream publisher (if the author agrees.) One runner-up will receive a signed copy of How to Write for Children & Get Published plus a free professional editorial & marketing assessment of their entry. All entrants will be offered the chance to have their work critiqued at a reduced rate. As I've mentioned before I won the centre's 2007 short story competition and Louise has been really encouraging about my writing. She interviewed me for Writers' Forum and submitted my Dr Midas book to Puffin. The manuscript assessment was also really helpful and I always keep the tips in mind when writing short stories. I would really recommend having a go at this competition. For full details visit www.writersadvice.co.uk/

Award–winning publisher, Frances Lincoln Limited, and Seven Stories, the Centre for Children’s Books, have launched 'Diverse Voices' an award in memory of Frances Lincoln (1945–2001). The search is on for a children's book manuscript that "celebrates cultural diversity in the widest possible sense, either in terms of its story or in terms of the ethnic and cultural origins of its author." The winner will receive £1,500, plus the option for Frances Lincoln Children’s Books to publish their novel. FLCB founded in 1977 publish well over 100 new books a year, and have nearly 1000 in print. The competition is for an unpublished book (fiction) for eight to 12-year-olds by a writer aged 16 or over. The book must be between 10,000 and 30,000 words in English. The writer must not have previously published a novel for children but may have contributed to an anthology of prose or poetry. The closing date for all entries is 30 January 2009. The winner will be announced at an award ceremony at Seven Stories, the Centre for Children’s Books, next April. The award has been set up to : "Take positive steps to increase the representation of people writing from or about different cultural perspectives, whose work is published in Britain today. Promote new writing for children, especially by or about people whose culture and voice are currently underrepresented. Recognise that as children’s books shape our earliest perceptions of the world and its cultures, promoting writing that represents diversity will contribute to social and cultural tolerance. Support the process of writing rather than, as with the majority of prizes, promoting the publication." The judges will be Trevor Phillips – Chair of The Equality and Human Rights Commission, Jake Hope – Children’s Librarian for Lancashire Libraries, and a freelance consultant, Geraldine Brennan – Journalist and former Books Editor at the Times Educational Supplement, Janetta Otter-Barry – Editorial Director, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books and Mary Briggs – Co-Founder of Seven Stories, the Centre for Children’s Books For entry forms email [email protected] You can check out the great titles published by FLCB at their website www.franceslincoln.com/Home

Always fancied writing abook but struggle to find the time - well here's a chance to write just one chapter. The Green Story is creative writing competition where you can submit your idea for what should happen next. There are three versions, adult, teen and childre's and each has a green theme. The competition is run by greenmetropolis.com an online book seller that recycles used books and supports Woodland Trust in helping to conserve, restore and re-establish our country's native woodlands. The Green Story "Encourages all readers, young and old, to think about how we can best look after the environment." It will run for 10 months, creating a book with 10 chapters which will be published as 'The Green Story' book at the end of the year with all proceeds going to The Woodland Trust. Each chapter must be written in the third person, rather than 'first person' viewpoint and should follow on from the previous winning chapter. Readers can vote on the story too. Children's story The competition is looking for a 'green' story which helps everyone think about how we can save trees and keep our environment cleaner by re-using and recycling all sorts of things, like paper and bottles, cans, books, clothes and all sorts of stuff that people sometimes just throw away. Each entry must be no more than 1000 words, and the ending must be left open, so that the story may be continued. This is how the story begins: Not too far away from where you live is a wonderful herb garden. It is a tidy and colourful place to visit, with row on row of sweet-smelling herbs and in the centre of the garden is a tall green tree. This tree is a very special place because a Tree Sprite lives there, called Willow. Teenagers story The competition is for a 'green' themed story which will encourage readers to think about how they can look after the environment and prevent further damage to the planet. The site says: "Although the green story has to be about 'green' issues, you can decide your own content - it can be as dark or as inspirational as you like. Sci-fi or romance, gothic horror or murder mystery, it's up to you. Your entry must not exceed 1500 words, and must be left open, so that the story may continue through to the next chapter." This is how the story begins: Alice in Ecoland “Alice” her mother called from the kitchen. Alice and her friend Bryony were watching a fashion show on the television. “Those coats are fantastic” Bryony swooned. “I NEED one” Alice emphasised the word ‘need’. Ms Mayfair walked in and frowned at the television. “Alice” she repeated. “Yes?” Alice grunted, her eyes remaining on the screen. On the television there were skinny women wearing chinchilla fur coats and suede boots under big flashing lights. “Alice, look at me when I’m talking to you” her mother sounded disgruntled. Alice snapped her head around so she could look at her mother, although she still had one eye on the television. “Yes?” Alice sighed. “It’s a glorious day outside” Ms Mayfair whipped the curtains open to prove it. The sun was so bright, they couldn’t see the television. “Mum” Alice groaned. “It’s too bright” “You’re no vampire, Alice” Adult story the site says: "We're looking for a 'green' themed story which inspires and challenges readers to think again about how they can look after the environment and prevent further damage to the planet. Although the green story has to be about 'green' issues, you can decide your own content - it can be as dark or as inspirational as you like! Sci-fi or romance, gothic horror or murder mystery, it's up to you." Entry must not exceed 2000 words, and must be left open, so that the story may continue through to the next chapter. This is how the story begins: Chapter One. The bunker. Her eyes already adjusted to the darkness, she squinted into the sickly flickering light, scanning the faces crowding past her for anyone familiar. No-one. She let herself be carried along with the tide of people, bustling through the narrow concrete corridor with no end in sight. Airlock doors occasionally passed on their left and right, sunk into the dank walls. She strained her neck to look above the stream of people to what was ahead. Nothing. To read the previous chapters and to submit your entry visit http://www.thegreenstory.co.uk

Always fancied writing abook but struggle to find the time - well here's a chance to write just one chapter. The Green Story is creative writing competition where you can submit your idea for what should happen next. There are three versions, adult, teen and childre's and each has a green theme. The competition is run by greenmetropolis.com an online book seller that recycles used books and supports Woodland Trust in helping to conserve, restore and re-establish our country's native woodlands. The Green Story "Encourages all readers, young and old, to think about how we can best look after the environment." It will run for 10 months, creating a book with 10 chapters which will be published as 'The Green Story' book at the end of the year with all proceeds going to The Woodland Trust. Each chapter must be written in the third person, rather than 'first person' viewpoint and should follow on from the previous winning chapter. Readers can vote on the story too. Children's story The competition is looking for a 'green' story which helps everyone think about how we can save trees and keep our environment cleaner by re-using and recycling all sorts of things, like paper and bottles, cans, books, clothes and all sorts of stuff that people sometimes just throw away. Each entry must be no more than 1000 words, and the ending must be left open, so that the story may be continued. This is how the story begins: Not too far away from where you live is a wonderful herb garden. It is a tidy and colourful place to visit, with row on row of sweet-smelling herbs and in the centre of the garden is a tall green tree. This tree is a very special place because a Tree Sprite lives there, called Willow. Teenagers story The competition is for a 'green' themed story which will encourage readers to think about how they can look after the environment and prevent further damage to the planet. The site says: "Although the green story has to be about 'green' issues, you can decide your own content - it can be as dark or as inspirational as you like. Sci-fi or romance, gothic horror or murder mystery, it's up to you. Your entry must not exceed 1500 words, and must be left open, so that the story may continue through to the next chapter." This is how the story begins: Alice in Ecoland “Alice” her mother called from the kitchen. Alice and her friend Bryony were watching a fashion show on the television. “Those coats are fantastic” Bryony swooned. “I NEED one” Alice emphasised the word ‘need’. Ms Mayfair walked in and frowned at the television. “Alice” she repeated. “Yes?” Alice grunted, her eyes remaining on the screen. On the television there were skinny women wearing chinchilla fur coats and suede boots under big flashing lights. “Alice, look at me when I’m talking to you” her mother sounded disgruntled. Alice snapped her head around so she could look at her mother, although she still had one eye on the television. “Yes?” Alice sighed. “It’s a glorious day outside” Ms Mayfair whipped the curtains open to prove it. The sun was so bright, they couldn’t see the television. “Mum” Alice groaned. “It’s too bright” “You’re no vampire, Alice” Adult story the site says: "We're looking for a 'green' themed story which inspires and challenges readers to think again about how they can look after the environment and prevent further damage to the planet. Although the green story has to be about 'green' issues, you can decide your own content - it can be as dark or as inspirational as you like! Sci-fi or romance, gothic horror or murder mystery, it's up to you." Entry must not exceed 2000 words, and must be left open, so that the story may continue through to the next chapter. This is how the story begins: Chapter One. The bunker. Her eyes already adjusted to the darkness, she squinted into the sickly flickering light, scanning the faces crowding past her for anyone familiar. No-one. She let herself be carried along with the tide of people, bustling through the narrow concrete corridor with no end in sight. Airlock doors occasionally passed on their left and right, sunk into the dank walls. She strained her neck to look above the stream of people to what was ahead. Nothing. To read the previous chapters and to submit your entry visit http://www.thegreenstory.co.uk

Today I had the first meeting of the Spring Session of Teen Team – a volunteer program for middle and high school students.  Much to my great joy, I had a lot of tweeners this time – usually Teen Team has more than its share of Juniors & Seniors due to the really stringent volunteering requirements that the local high schools implement in their accelerated program.  With older teens I’ve noticed that they get interested in the volunteering program when they see the advertisement – we try to put them in a variety of places, in their schools, here in our Teen Center, and also in our library newsletter.  The older teens fill out the forms themselves, call me with questions, and take on the responsibility of participating in the program.  However, this time we did a lot of press leading up to the start of the program in local newspapers and on the radio.  So, the majority of people calling up with questions and asking for more information were the interested parents of tweeners!  The parents saw the advertisements or heard them on the radio and relayed their excitement to their tween sons & daughters.  Thus, this session has a ton of 11- and 12-year old participants who are relatively new to middle school and new to the Teen section of the library!  Our volunteering program has been a great success – I’ve gotten to know a lot of teens in our area, but for the most part, they’ve been quick to move on since they have usually been 16- or 17-years old.  Getting to know tweeners that are civically minded is exciting because hopefully through this experience and getting to know library staff personally they will feel more comfortable not only in the teen room, but in the library as a whole!

Here is some information that will hopefully help you start up your own volunteering program for middle and high school students!

We run 3 eight-week sessions per year, based on the school year calendar. Each session consists of up to 15 teens or tweens all meeting for an hour each week.  The first session is an orientation where my assistant and I introduce ourselves and give them a tour of the library with a special emphasis on the Children’s Room and the Teen Center – the two areas they will be spending most of their time doing special projects for us.  We also go over the agreement that contains information on how they are expected to behave, dress, and our attendance policy. Many of our teens and tweens get community credit for volunteering so there is a sense of mutual benefit and job-training going on. The final session is a pizza party with games like charades etc, book and goodie giveaways!  That gives everyone something to look forward to!   

We work with the folks in our Processing department to allow up to five teens and tweens each week on a rotating basis to go to Processing to help with getting CDs, DVDs and books ready for Circulation!  That’s what all the teens and tweens have told me they look forward to the most!  We also assign them to do pick-up and shelf straightening as well as book cleaning, Storytime toy cleaning and special projects from co-workers from all departments of the Library. 

We keep a Teen Team binder, where each teen or tween signs in and out; we also keep a book cleaning log and a task sheet that shows a list of jobs that they’ve done in weeks past so we don’t keep assigning the same task to the same kid. 

Another thing to take into consideration is timing.  Here’s how we do it - we start the Fall session in late September and end a week or so before Thanksgiving. That way, kids can get settled into school and the program ends before the holidays start getting underway.  Spring session begins in mid-January and ends right before Spring Break. Kids get so busy after Spring Break that participation really drops off so we don’t do any special Teen/Tween programming between then and our Summer Reading Program. In addition to Spring and Fall, we also do a mini five-week program in the Summer. We mainly advertise in the local middle and high schools, our Teen Center and in our Library’s bi-monthly publication.  However, this time we did some extensive marketing through local newspapers and radio, which, as I mentioned, really brought out the tweens due to their parents seeing our information and passing it along.  We have a basic application process which the teen or tween must fill out – not their parents!  We really want them to want to be a part of our volunteering program; if their parents fill it out for them, we think that encourages the thought that the parents are also making them participate.  The only thing we need from parents or guardians is their signature if the participant is under 18.

All in all, Teen Team has been a great experience!  Just another great way of bring Tweens and Teens together @ your library!

I just discovered a great new way to bring more tweens into my library – gaming!  I know, I know, video gaming in libraries has been around for awhile now, but last Thursday was my library’s first foray into the venture, even though I’ve been gaming at home for years!  Future Guitar Gods (most of them tweens) were born as I sat back and enjoyed the sounds of Nirvana, Heart, and Sonic Youth on a workday, no less!  Not only did they play video games, but they were amazed to see the library’s great collection of gaming magazines and books, including Electronic Gaming Monthly and GamePro.  They were also super excited to meet new gamers (which included me!)!  Guitar Hero II and Guitar Hero III were definitely the star games, and my mind was filled for the rest of the day with the guitar solos from Mississippi Queen and Bulls on Parade, the most popular songs to play by far.  Instead of tournament style, we played freestyle; not once did I have to chide anyone for hogging the games, and I only had to sit through Freebird, the longest song on the game, twice!  All the tweens and teens graciously gave up the guitars to those waiting when their song was over.  I was lucky to not have to rent or buy a lot of equipment for our first foray into the gaming world, and that made it easier to convince my library to sponsor this event.  I brought my Playstation 2, Guitar Hero II and my 2 personal guitars.  My very helpful volunteer, Billy, brought his Playstation 2 and his Nintendo Gamecube for those gamers not interested in Guitar Hero.  The Library graciously paid for Guitar Hero III, an extra guitar controller so that all four Guitar Hero players could have a guitar to play, and a few Gamecube games from Blockbuster.  For those of you looking to do a Guitar Hero gaming day – 1 word of advice:  make sure that you unlock all the songs and save your game to a memory card before the gaming day.  Lucky for my tweens and teens, my husband and I love playing Guitar Hero, so we “worked” really hard on our off time to make sure all the songs were unlocked and saved.  That way your tweens and teens can have access to all 30 or so songs, instead of the requisite 10 or so the game gives you if you don’t unlock any beforehand.  I was excited to meet new tweens and introduce them to their wonderful library; I’m hoping they will remember how much fun they had at this activity when they see advertisements for other tween/teen library programs or when I visit them at their school.  All in all, this was a fun and easy first attempt into the library gaming world that definitely brought the tweens and teens together…for next time I’m wishing for a Wii!

About a year ago, I was hired into my very first Teen Librarian position. Technically, I was hired to serve tweens and teens. Unfortunately, tweens haven’t been frequenting my teen room or the programs I’ve offered. However, I had a breakthrough that I’d really been hoping for…I had two tweens make the big step from our 4^th through 6^th grade book club into my teen book club! I was so excited to have new members that I didn’t realize that I might have some new challenges in regards to discussion topics, books chosen, and the acceptance of younger members by the older book clubbers.

When I started my new job this past January, my book club was well established by my predecessor; it had a core group of teens who attended every month. They knew what they wanted to eat (natural snacks) and what kind of books they wanted to read every month if I’d let them (fantasy). The teens in my book club were and are pretty advanced in their reading; they had read a good mix of adult and young adult fiction. They are a great group of kids; they welcomed me with open arms when I took over even though I knew they had really loved the woman I replaced. So, when a few new kids signed up, I hoped that my clubbers would welcome them with open arms, as well – and they definitely did. I was so proud of them because I know cliques and friendships can be quite overwhelming during the teen years, but there wasn’t one second when they made the new members feel ostracized.

However, I realized that in order to fully incorporate tweens into the book club, certain things that “had always been” would need to change. First, I realized that what is considered “appropriate” reading for a 16- or 17-year-old isn’t necessarily considered “appropriate” for 12-year-olds, which was the age of my two newest members. In my book club, the members and I vote on what we’d like to read in the months to come. Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club and Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner were two of the books on our potential voting list. I felt I had to step in because there was a good chance that Fight Club was going to be our February selection based on discussion I heard from the group. I love the book Fight Club; I think I read it when it first came out when I was about 18 or so. I know the older book clubbers could handle it – I know we would’ve had a great discussion about it. Yet, looking at those two 12-year-old faces, I knew I had to get some kind of guidelines in place in order to ensure that the book club was offering reading material that was appropriate for all the ages in my group. I empathized with them, told them I knew the book was good, but since it wasn’t housed in the Teen Fiction area, we would have to pass. Same went for The Kite Runner. They complained – said they wanted to start reading books with more substance, books that would encourage big discussions. I suggested that we read the graphic novel Persepolis to show what it was like to live in a different country with different religious values and opinions. They couldn’t believe that a graphic novel would show that as succinctly as other, more “adult” books, but they were wrong – and happily admitted it at last month’s book club. And, I felt good knowing that all the members of my group could take our selection home and show it to their parents or guardians freely.

So far, book club has been going great with the teens and tweens. One of the 12-year-olds hasn’t been back lately; even with the most simple of books we get into really long winded, philosophical discussions that he didn’t seem to enjoy. But, the other 12-year-old comes almost every month. We had a great discussion about The Golden Compass that he was highly interested in. The discussion about Twilight was less interesting for him. But, I guess that’s how it would be for any member – some books you really want to discuss and others you don’t. No one is ever disrespectful about book choices of others and everyone has to read at least 40 pages to even participate in the discussion.

I’ve learned that reigning in isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and I’ve learned to incorporate new mediums to keep everyone interested. This month we’re doing a special book & movie discussion on Watership Down. Due to my love of graphic novels, we’ve also started incorporating those into our book selections, which was met with weirdness at first, but now members are recommending graphic novels left and right. Tweens have been a welcome addition to my “Teen” book club and I hope that more continue the journey from Children’s Book Club to Teen Book Club.