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Teen Read Week is coming up October 12-18, and libraries are encouraged to use the theme “Turn Dreams into Reality” to share our knowledge, resources, services, and collections with teens in an effort to promote reading for fun. As professionals working with teens in the library, each of us curates our own personal collection—in folder and binders, dog-eared books and browser bookmarks, or just in our haphazardly cataloged heads—of resources that guide us in promoting reading. Yet as we inform our patrons about the epic books in our collection, the multiple formats in which they can check out our materials, and the research on the college success of avid readers, let’s not forget that some of our greatest resources are the very subjects of our resource-sharing: the teens themselves.

It’s an easy thing to forget since, as library professionals, we like to think of ourselves as the experts. In many things, we are. And in some, we aren’t. You know that book that won dozens of awards but you just can’t get any teens to pick up? How about the poorly-written piece of fluff that they can’t get enough of? In the end, we can only guess at what will go over well. Each person has his or her own individual taste, but more often than not, teens’ tastes will be more similar to one another’s than adults’ tastes will be to teens’.

Our goal during Teen Read Week is to promote reading for pleasure, and the only way to do that is to help connect teens with books they like. There may be a time and place for encouraging teens to read “healthier” books than the ones they want—that’s up for debate. But this week isn’t that time. If we want teens to learn that reading is fun, we need to think like teens. And while we can’t entirely re-wire our brains (and probably wouldn’t want to, having been through that angsty stage of life once already), many of us are lucky enough to spend enough time around teens that we have easy access to two simple techniques: observe and ask.

Most library staff are good at observing. Circulation stats are great for long-term trends. For the short-term, pay attention to reference questions and keep an eye on the “Just Returned” shelves. Displays and handouts can be useful, too. I once put up a “Take a Book, Leave a Book” display in which teens were encouraged to check out a book off the shelf and replace it with one of their favorite titles from the collection for someone else to discover. Or, leave some genre booklists near your YA stacks, and observe which go out the quickest.

Asking is perhaps a less commonly used tool. Asking a teen what books she likes may seem less efficient than checking stats, but its impact is great in a different way. When we make a habit of asking teens their opinions, we show that their library is their own, and exists to meet their needs. We acknowledge that we, the “book experts,” respect and want to learn from their expertise. We begin a conversation that builds relationships, which lead to trust and a sense of community that allow us to better encourage the teens’ love of reading and the library. With further questioning, we can learn why a teen likes what she likes, and can use that knowledge to gain a deeper knowledge of teens’ reading preferences which will allow us to serve them better in a wider variety of situations. By encouraging them to talk about books, we help the teens learn to summarize and distill the core meaning or experience of a story. They practice explanatory and persuasive skills in telling us why the book was good.

Identify the best opportunities for conversing with teens about books in your job. For me, one opportunity is when walking from the Youth reference desk to the Teen Lounge to help a patron locate a title. Readers’ Advisory interactions are naturally a time to learn about someone’s reading tastes, especially if you ask why the patron enjoyed a certain title rather than coming up with readalikes based on your own criteria. Making a comment like “That’s a great book” or “That’s a very popular book” can sometimes spark a conversation. (Remember, you don’t always have to like the book. Saying something is popular or that you’ve talked to other teens who liked it is a great way to say something positive while getting around expressing your own opinion.)

If you are a collection developer, asking knowledgeable teens for their input on the collection encourages them to feel that they can make a difference in the library. When a teen asks me for manga suggestions, after helping him out I might say, “I am actually the person who decides which manga we buy for the library. Are there any we don’t have that you think we should?” I might ask the same question to someone I see reading manga in the Teen Lounge, if she seems willing and I get a good opening (I wouldn’t want to interrupt someone’s reading, of course). Most libraries have a suggestion process, but patrons might not know about it or might not take the initiative to use it, whereas they’d be happy to take a minute or two to respond to a direct question.

Keep in mind that some teens won’t want to talk, and if they don’t, don’t push it. The goal is to help them interact positively with books and the library, and if talking to library staff is not positive for the patron, then you are subverting your own goal.

We can learn a lot from professional literature, degree programs, conferences, and fellow library staff, but you can only learn about the unique characteristics of your own community by engaging with its members, and you can only learn what it is like to be a teen by talking to teens. Teens are often looking for opportunities to be seen as adults rather than children, and will appreciate your interest in their opinions. Meanwhile, you will be building a program that is truly centered on those you serve.

In our second week of school, we had our first 2013 graduate return from college to visit.

She had popped in on her way from work — she is working a morning shift at fast food and taking 15 semester hours at the community college — and as she looked around our temporary space, she wanted to know when the new school library would become open. “And will it be public?” she said, “I remember they said the library would be public…”

The construction is barely underway, so I told her it would be a while. While the planned space would be available for the community, I wasn’t certain if the library collection would be.

Photo, Tom Saint

The problem with the library at the community college, she asserted, was there wasn’t anything good to read. “It’s all encyclopedias,” she said.

As I looked at this book-loving girl, a girl who dressed as Effie Trinket for costume day during homecoming week, who was thrilled to tell me that she has the sixth Mortal Instruments book preordered, and I realized I didn’t prepare her for the community college library.

We school librarians tend to worry so much about hoping out students can craft (or generate) the perfect citation, and on inculcating skills like database retrieval and website evaluation that they will need for their college coursework, that we sometimes forget that leisure reading will be along a continuum as well. For students thrust from a library supporting adolescent literacy to a college library organized around the curriculum, those distinctions must seem a rude awakening.

Part of this is my own fault. Beginning my second school year here, I’m still new to the school and the community. I knew more about the resources in the local colleges where I was before, but I have yet to forge that relationship at my new school.

I need a better idea of what the community college does hold, and a contact there with whom I can put our graduating students in touch.

I need a way to wean our graduates off our collections and reader’s advisory, moving them to the really top-notch local public library.

And I need to maintain our digital presence for recommendations, recommendations that might be just as applicable for graduates as current students.

And, actually, I don’t think our school is in a bad situation for transitioning students. Our retired school librarian works at the public library, which is geographically close to the school.

I regret that I let our former student get away without something to read, realizing after the fact that I could have made her a community patron record…but I dropped off The Fifth Wave at her  drive-through later, to keep her reading in the meantime.

Photo: Miler Lagos, Book Igloo

Earlier this week the American Library Association announced their 2013 Youth Media awards, sparking immediate discourse on Twitter and listserv about the winners and honorees.  Being Australian leads to some unfamiliarity with these American titles, however I found myself reading the thoughts of many American librarians.  Their arguments were scarily familiar– the notion of literary quality versus teen appeal.

Is the priority in these awards to recognise the best writer?  Awards committees have an established list of guidelines in which to follow – it makes sense that a title’s literary qualities are more easily quantifiable.  A writing award should go to the best writer.  Good writing elevates young adult literature. However, in arguing for the best piece of literature, we sometimes eliminate books that resonate more strongly with teen readers.

Many librarians expressed dismay that some of the awarded titles would gather dust on their bookshelves despite vigorous booktalking and elaborate displays. Which begs the question – is the concept of quality made null and void if there is no hunger for what is being awarded?

Many readers read books that are the equivalent of Fruit Loops while growing up, yet will move onto works of literary genius.  Some readers like to dally in each end of the reading pool, some like the deep end, some do laps churning through everything.  Teens know what quality is.  They just prefer it when quality is also enjoyable to read.

It is nigh on impossible to sell a book to a teen if it doesn’t sell itself.  Quality or not, there needs to be a plot or a concept that ignites a spark.  Quality isn’t a selling point to a teen and this is something we need to remember as adults.  We might be over paranormal or dystopia, they aren’t.  We might choose to reference  Ferris Bueller in order to spark their interest, they probably haven’t heard of it.  At some point, we need to divest ourselves from the equation.

While teens are represented in the title of an award, they should also be a part of the award criteria.  Young adult literature is for teens.  That should count for something.  While we have a vested interest in cultivating taste, and having teens read about social injustice and inclusivity – sometimes teens just want to read what they want to read.

While quality is important, so is the teen reader’s engagement with reading. There are many authors who achieve this, John Green’s Looking for Alaska, Cath Crowley’s Graffiti Moon, or Markus Zusak’s The Messenger.  I am cautious of award winning books that have an “issue” clearly stated in the blurb.  Good writing for teens isn’t about an issue, it’s about living, loving and surviving.  It’s about bravery, and yearning, and sacrifice.  It’s about growing and changing, not learning.  It’s about feelings, emotions and the every day difficulties of ping ponging between who you are and who you want to be.  It’s these books, without social agenda, that connect.  It’s these books that fulfill teenage readers.

Quality in youth literature should represent exceptional writing, emotional awareness and a representation of a young person’s experience through an authentic gaze.  Some people will read this and believe I am a proponent of dumbing down teen’s reading.  This is not true.

Every year the Centre for Youth Literature hosts the Inky Awards, a teen’s choice award.  Teens have a strong voice in the longlist of ten Australian and International titles, and are primarily responsible for the shortlist and the ultimate winner.  The adults who oversee the teen judging panel usually approach the task assuming the teens will choose along popularity, quality-lite books.  They come away knowing they are wrong, and reevaluate their thoughts on teen readers and their perceptiveness.  Previous Inky winners, as decided by teens, have included John Green, James Roy, Simmone Howell, Jenny Downham and Lucy Christopher    Teens have taste, and quality ones at that, so why is teen appeal so often dismissed as popularity?

Why are adults deciding what is quality teen literature?  Where are all the judging panels that have teens sitting alongside librarians or teachers?  Often awards from teens are separated from the big awards.  Where is the teen representation for the Printz, The Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year or Prime Minister’s Literary Awards?  If awards are for teen literature, shouldn’t the audience be represented?

Adele Walsh is the Program Coordinator for the Centre for Youth Literature promoting ways and means to encourage young people to read for pleasure. Adele is an avid YA reader and advocate, and a successful YA blogger (Persnickety Snark). She has previously worked as a teacher in Australia, and Japan.

@CentreYouthLit

One of the reasons I love working with teens and kids is that their books are so awesome. There are so many amazing authors in YA right now, from John Green to Holly Black to Stephanie Perkins. I could spend all day, every day reading amazing YA lit and still not even make a dent in my to-read pile. That’s not even mentioning the great kidslit out there, including Rebecca Stead and Catherynn Valente.  Just thinking about all the books and authors I want to read makes me giddy.

So, in terms of reading, I’m a pretty busy lady. As you all know, librarians don’t really get to sit around reading every day, so I have to squeeze in what I can during lunches, after work, and on my commute (don’t worry, that’s an audiobook happening there). With all of the pressure to keep up with popular authors and series, I sometimes forget about all the books over in ol’ Dewey. I mean, I know they’re cool (probably. maybe? definitely.), but nonfiction just seems less appealing when I’m plucking my next book to read off my stack of library tomes. I know that connecting to all types of books – nonfiction included – is just as important as connecting to readers and community members when serving teens successfully.

Because of my aversion to the facts, I was pretty excited to take advantage of the YALSA Nonfiction Reading Challenge. The idea of gamifying my reading appealed to me, and the Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction committee already did the legwork of picking out some of the best books of the year. Thanks, guys!

I plunged right in and started reading the nonfiction titles, which range from a biography about Steve Jobs to a book about the Birmingham children’s marches. All of the topics wouldn’t have appealed to me without the challenge, but once I started reading each book, I was enthralled. Hearing the full story of Jobs’ rise, and fall, and rise again! at Apple gave me a better understanding of the tech news I like to read. Learning about shorebirds made me realize even more the impact of disappearing environments. The Titanic, which I’ve never really given one whit about, enthralled me as I read about people who spent hours in icy water.

Reading five books for the challenge was pretty much the easiest way I’ve diversified my reading this year. Just having an idea of some of the awesome nonfiction titles out there has made me more eager to go over to that side of the library, and I’ve already been able to recommend several of the titles to patrons!

If you haven’t joined the challenge yet, don’t worry! The Best of the Best Challenge from the Hub will be coming up soon, and it will include the Morris Award, the Nonfiction Award, and more. I would recommend that anyone who is looking to spice up reading their and connect to titles (and teens) they might not otherwise take a chance on – check it out!

 Twelve-year-old Fern feels invisible. It seems as though everyone in her family has better things to do than pay attention to her: Mom (when she’s not meditating) helps Dad run “Harry’s,” the family restaurant; Sarah is taking a gap year after high school; Holden pretends that Mom and Dad and everyone else doesn’t know he’s gay, even as he fends off bullies at school. Then there’s Charlie: three years old, a “surprise” baby, the center of everyone’s world. He’s devoted to Fern, but he’s annoying, too, always getting his way, always dirty, always commanding attention. If it wasn’t for Ran, Fern’s calm and positive best friend, there’d be nowhere to turn. Ran’s mantra, “All will be well,” is soothing in a way that nothing else seems to be. And when Ran says it, Fern can almost believe it’s true. But then tragedy strikes-and Fern feels not only more alone than ever, but also responsible for the accident that has wrenched her family apart. All will not be well. Or at least all will never be the same.

I was beyond excited when I received this book (Adele picked it up in the States for me and it is hand signed by Jo Knowles… the excitement level is too big to be contained within this post), because Jo Knowles is one of my must-read authors. I was blown away by her debut novel Lessons from a Dead Girl, which I reviewed here. For me, she is essential reading.

I cannot tell you how odd I looked reading this book on the train. The cover all happy and light, while I sat in a vat of hot tears. The other commuters gave me a wide berth, to say the least.

A warning that my review will be riddled with spoilers – I’ve tried to write the review without spoilers and it just didn’t come together, or make much sense – so please do not read on if you wish to remain unspoiled. For those of you who will dash away from this review, before you go I’d implore you to put SYaH’s in your reading pile. It is a beautifully written book with a great cast of believable characters.

I did not want the book to end.

I was so engaged and enchanted with SYaH’s that once completed I spent my time imagining possible sequels and adventures for Fern. I want to be a part of Fern’s life. I want to check in with her as she grows up. I want to see her learn from life’s lesson. I want to see her family and friends again. I want to know if she’s passing maths. I want to know it all. I fell so deeply in love with the characters that I cannot ever imagine letting them go. SYaH’s became a friend. Is it weird to have a book as a friend? One who you laugh with; cry with; have in-jokes with.

I was surprised by the direction this book ended up taking. I thought the storyline would be a predictable arc, and that the real meat of the novel would be in the characters and their interactions. I was half right. Jo Knowles knows how to write characters you cannot help but love. It was the story arc that got me. I was completely unprepared for it, and as a consequence was the crazy commuter sobbing in carriage one.

You see, Jo Knowles had an older brother who was gay and sadly died of AIDS, and a classmate who committed suicide during high school. When Fern’s older brother, Holden, is bullied on the school bus I thought I knew where this story was going. I thought it was going to be a terribly sad tale of a boy who was ridiculed and abused for his sexuality, and who found solace in death. It is perhaps why I had such a reaction to this book, I was prepared for one tragedy but not another. You see, Holden doesn’t die. Instead the family wake one morning, just like any other morning, to find their youngest son, Charlie, dead in his bed. Sometime during the night he had suffered a massive brain aneurism. I cannot tell you how destroyed I felt. Knowles had captivated Charlie’s utter joy in life, he’s sweet innocence, the depth of he’s imagination, all by page 1. So I cried and cried and cried on that carriage. It was the shock that a character had given me joy for a 100 plus pages and that I would never read that joy again. I was heartbroken.

The rest of the story revolves around a family and their grieving process. Such a raw and painful process to view, but one that resonates with anyone who has lost a loved one.

Jo Knowles’ strength are her characters. Do you know that feeling you get when you’re just waking up, and your dream hasn’t quite left you yet, so reality is a green monkey’s with three heads (don’t ask, I have some odd dreams). That is a Jo Knowles book; a moment in between dream and reality, where I honestly believe with all my heart that Fern, Ran and Charlie are all alive out there, just waiting to be my friend.

I’m so unbelievably sad that they’re not real. That my reality isn’t Fern and co. But every time I open that book they do become real. I hope one of your teenagers walk away feeling like they made a friend too.

Walker Books

With a tagline like ‘celebrating the freedom to read’ is it no wonder bannedbooksweek.org is a favourite?

For thirty years banned book week been reporting on book censorship in America.

Hundreds of books have been either removed or challenged in schools and libraries in the United States every year. According to the American Library Association (ALA), there were at least 326 in 2011.  ALA estimates that 70 to 80 percent are never reported.

In 2011, the 10 most challenged books were:

ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

ttyl is a constant stream of IM chat, email and texts between three friends ‘SnowAngel’, ‘zoegirl’ and ‘madmaddie’. It’s a little of a shock to read as the language is expressed in a short hand that seems impossible, yet is a reflection of how teens are interacting online, and the topics discussed break the barriers of ‘polite’ conversation.

The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

A graphic novel that explores a daughter’s relationship with her mother, and the social ramifications of being a ‘single’ mother in Korea. The minimal nudity and implied sexual acts pales in comparison to the lyric-like qualities in the writing and the strength of the mother-daughter relationship.

The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence

A very popular series that has encouraged many ‘non-readers’ to open up it’s pages and delve into a world of action, adventure and romance. I find it interesting that in it’s ‘book’ format, The Hunger Games finds itself on the 10 most challenged book lists. In ‘movie’ format, it finds itself the number one box hit of 2012. This implies to me that there are two standards when a story is told. When in a movie format, the level of ‘violence’ is more readily accepted then in a book format.

My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

A children’s picture book that describes the experiences of Elizabeth, a soon to be older sibling as her mother goes through pregnancy. There is language about the human body, reproduction and child development. Some of the language, such as sperm, has caused parents to ask for the book to be banned from their libraries.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

Alexie chose to respond in the Wall Street Journal, in 2011, about the push to ban his book due to it’s content.

“I have yet to receive a letter from a child somehow debilitated by the domestic violence, drug abuse, racism, poverty, sexuality, and murder contained in my book. To the contrary, kids as young as ten have sent me autobiographical letters written in crayon, complete with drawings inspired by my book, that are just as dark, terrifying, and redemptive as anything I’ve ever read.”

With books that deal with such strong issues it can be quite confronting and distressing for some. When that is balanced against the children it has managed to reach because they know the same type of pain or humiliation or depression and find solace in knowing that they are not alone, then you need to make that book accessible to them.

Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Reasons: nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint

A twenty-four strong series that explores the world through the eyes of Alice, who is on the cusp of becoming a teenager. There are cringe worthy moments of embarrassment, new friends, new love interests and a role model or two.

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit

When a book is 81 years old and still in-print, I find it shocking that people would still wish to ban it. It’s not longer just a work or fiction, but part of the history of fiction.

What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
Reasons: nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit

Another of those lighter books that explores being a teenage girl and all that entails. I’m extremely disappointed (although not surprised) that nearly all the books on this list involve women protagonists. It feels like we’re continuing a 1950′s women belong in the kitchen mentality. I have to question why women aren’t allowed to explore their sexuality and men are.

Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
Reasons: drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit

Another book that has made itself onto the (not as) big screen. As a weekly television show for CW it sees millions of viewers. As a book it sees itself in the number 9 position for most banned books in 2011. Too rich teenagers, drugs, drinking and sexual encounters. It looks at it all.

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Reasons: offensive language; racism

New rule; if a book has been in-print for 52 years, it also shouldn’t find itself on the most challenged book list. When complaints are made that To Kill a Mockingbird should be censored because of ‘racism’ I’m unnerved by the lack of comprehension of social commentary and injustice. When a book chooses to hold a mirror up to the law to demonstrate the social inequity that was part of American history… well I’m on board with that book.

1. Coming soon…

Remember when Hardie Grant Egmont caught everyone’s attention earlier this year with the Ampersand Project? Well, they’ve now announced that Melissa Keil is the first author to be published as part of the project - congratulations Melissa!

Melissa’s debut novel is called Life in Outer Space. It won’t be hitting the shelves until March next year, but you can oggle the shiny cover design…

2. John Green continues to be amazing

Just when you thought it wasn’t possible to love the man any more, he goes and does an impromptu I Am A interview on reddit.com. He answers questions about his writing (from ”Why do all of your characters name their cars?” to “Can you tell us a little bit about your early days as a writer?”) and about life (from “What is the biggest regret of your life?” to “I’m a freshman in college. Do you have any advice about how to decide what the hell to do with my life?”).

Adulthood, for better and for worse, is not quite so simple in my experience. You are always figuring out what the hell to do with your life, and then the decisions you’ve made are always be changed by circumstance…

Look, I could copy and paste the whole thing. It’s brilliant. He’s brilliant. Just go read it.

3. The trouble with reading

The latest UK statistics say 17% of children would be embarrased to be seen reading. In America, a teen boy shares his experiences of being teased for reading:

Simply reading a book is considered passive or introverted. Or it’s considered a “white thing”—something black kids, especially black boys, shouldn’t be caught doing if they want to be popular.

What do you think – do these stories and statistics reflect your own experience?

We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again – in Australia, at least (hey, we’d love it if we were international!) we want to help. We’re here to advocate reading for pleasure for all young people! If you’re looking for some support, email us at [email protected] and we’ll see what we can do. (Please note that we can’t do everything, but even in situations where we cannot be of assistance, we will attempt to refer you to someone who can be.)

Side note: We’re not sure that vintage library posters are the answer, but gosh are they fun to look at.

4. Loving the silver screen

Do you like your books adapted? Beautiful Creatures now has it’s very first movie trailer (compelte with stunning musical backing by Florence and the Machine). The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey also has a brand new, highly squee-worthy movie trailer.

5. Wikipedia in the classroom?

Do you use wikipedia in your classroom? ReadWriteWeb has put forward two great cases both against and in favour of the idea. Wikipedia - an unreliable source or a valuable crowd-sourcing tool?

6. Competitions and Awards

The winners of the 2012 WA Premier’s Literary Awards have been announced. Congratulations to Penni Russon, who won the Young Adult prize with Only Ever Always!

Vote! Vote! Vote! There’s just 2.5 weeks remaining for 12-20 year olds to vote for their favourite book in this year’s Inky Awards (and go in the draw to win all 10 shotlisted titles!).

Did you also see our Library Prize competition? Schools and libraries can enter to win all 20 longlisted titles for their collection.

Text Publishing is also running a very cool competition to celebrate Richard Newsome’s latest Billionaire book: 10-13 year olds can win a $100 book voucher + a $1,000 book voucher for their school, by writing a story – details here.

Next up in our Inky Awards series is A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.

The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do. But it isn t the monster Conor’s been expecting. He’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming… The monster in his back garden, though, this monster is something different. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.

It becomes quickly apparent to the reader that Conor is drowning. His mother is on her third round of chemotherapy and she is dying. In fact she has barely days to live. It is also apparent that the monster wants the most dangerous thing of all; Conor’s secret shame.

What is absolutely heartbreaking about this novel is the yearning Conor experiences. He’s whole world is about to open up and disappear before him. His mother will leave him, just as his father left him for a new family. He will be cared for by an emotionally cold grandmother. He has no friends (having found himself alienated from everyone after his mother’s sickness became public knowledge), he is being physically and emotionally bullied by a boy in his class, and he is unraveling in the face of his, and his mother’s, reality.

I’m not ashamed to admit I cried during a majority of A Monster Calls. Around page 100 I gave up the gig and just sobbed (opposed to the don’tlookatme crying I was originally attempting). The strength of the novel is in Ness’ ability to create voice. Conor feels as real as you and I. He is a character that you willingly emotionally tie yourself to. He compels your compassion and sympathy, despite knowing that there is only heart break around the corner.

A Monster Calls is a simple story. There are no surprises of plot or miracle cures, it is just the sad tale of Conor in the last days of his mother’s life. The complexity of Conor’s emotions -anger, shame, abandonment, hate, love, sadness -  all wrapped up in Patrick Ness’ accessible writing style, and it is Ness who is the conduit here, ties us deftly and (so very) easily to Conor.

Complimenting the text is the illustrations by Jim Kay. I cannot imagine one without the other; they are two parts of a whole. It was an extremely interesting partnership as Ness’ writing is often very visual. Accompanied by the illustrations, this novel felt like a silent movie. The impressions of the drawings follow you while you’re reading; the monster fills your conscience, large and imposing.

Another brilliant performance by Patrick Ness, after his success with the Chaos Walking Trilogy.

Walker Books

This week was a bit of a hectic week for the CYL team; there was Inky and his shortlist announcement and there was MWF.

MWF was great fun for us all. We met some really great authors and had a lot of great panel conversations. Below is a recommended reading list from the panel ‘Read Any Good Books Lately’, with Adele Walsh, Lili Wilkinson and Melissa Traverso.

A Straight Line to my Heart by Bill Condon

A warm tale about Tiff and that in-between time of life where you’re no longer and teenager but not yet an adult. A fairly simple plot where the strength lies in it’s feelings and connections of family, friends and life.

Allen and Unwin

Friday Brown by Vikki Wakefield

Vikki Wakefield has such a unique voice and writing style that her stories leave you slightly off kilter. Like you’ve missed a step and had to skip to catch up. Friday Brown finds herself in the seething underground of Australian slums; homeless, afraid and trapped by a curse.

Text Publishing 

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

A very very laugh out loud funny story of Greg, his best friend Earl and Rachel (recently diagnosed with leukaemia). Greg is a jokester; funny, self-deprecating and honest. It would be easy to dismiss this book as just another ‘cancer’ book, but instead it takes on the role of showing the lighter side of a serious subject. There is no miracle save or life lesson. Sometimes death is just death.

Allen and Unwin

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Much like Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is not just a ‘cancer’ book, John Green’s Fault in Our Stars takes a walk on the humorous side of death. There are tears of laughter and despair throughout Hazel and Augustus’ tale. It was a glimpse at the sweetest of every emotion, because there was always the thought that this might be the last.

Penguin

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Another cusp of life story featuring Ed and Lucy. The adventure they take over one night, the hardships and prejudices they must face, and the decisions they must make to keep their lives moving forward and their futures bright with possibility.

Pan Macmillan

Other titles discussed as must reads-

Only Ever Always by Penni Russon

This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

The List by Siobhan Vivian

The Deep: Here be Dragons by Tom Taylor and James Brouwer

It’s time for the Teens Top Ten again!

Teens Top Ten is all about teen choice! Get your teen readers to vote for their favorite books from this year’s list of nominated titles. The resulting Teens Top Ten will be announced during Teen Read Week. The nominated books are posted at ala.org/teenstopten. There is an annotated nominations list as well as tips for promoting the Teens Top Ten to teen readers. Please encourage the use of #TTT12 on Twitter when promoting Teens Top Ten and please help us get the word out!

The Teens Top Ten is part of an ongoing project that connects teen book groups with publishers of young adult books. The publishers provide advance reader copies to selected teen book groups and the teens evaluate the books and provide feedback to the publishers. These same teen book groups create the voting list for Teens Top Ten by nominating their favorite titles published in the previous year.

More information, including a list of the rockstar Teens Top Ten book groups, may be found at ala.org/teenstopten. Voting is open from August 15th through September 15th, so encourage your teens to vote before it’s too late!

Posted on behalf of Kristen Thorp, TTT Committee member 2012-2014

As many of you know, over the last few months, the National Year of Reading has overseen a competition for readers aged 12 – 18 to respond to their favourite book in a creative way that promotes the book as a ‘must read’ for all their friends.

Managed by the Centre for Youth Literature on a website hosted by Good Reading Magazine, the competition received over 320 entries.

The judging panels in each state and territory have come back to us with their recommendations. All the panels pointed out how impressed they were at the high calibre and sheer ingenuity of many of the entries, and choosing eventual winners required considerable consultation.

However, a list was eventually arrived at, and you can see it here:

Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks to everyone who sent in an entry. We hope you continue to read books, love them, and promote them to your friends!

This book list is dedicated to our hard working, adorable and friendly Inky of insideadog.com.au. He’s not just a 9 to 5 dog, he’s on the book hunt all day every day.

So here’s to Inky, the best friend a book lover can have.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.

Possibly the most vocal in our best animal companions, Manchee is ever adventurous and always excitable dog companion to Todd Hewitt (our protagonist). For those of who haven’t yet gotten around to the KoNLG, be warned: Manchee induced tears are probable. He’s such a joyous character you will instantly fall in love with him.

Walker Books

Wood Angel by Erin Bow.

Broken hearted and lonely after her father’s death Plain Kate agrees to give up her shadow to have her deepest wish realised. Her heart’s wish is to make the loneliness go away, so she is gifted with being able to understand her cat, Taggle. Taggle, in his own cat-like way, loves Plain Kate and knows that she’s in deep danger. He is the means by which she navigates as she journeys into the unknown.

Chicken House

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier.

Rather an unusual journey companion is Gogu, a telepathic frog, to our protagonist Jena. Wildwood dancing is the retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses and The Frog Princess (with a little vampirism thrown in for fun!). As with anything Marillier touches it is steeped in history, lore and beautiful writing.

Pan Macmillan

Eragon by Christopher Paolini.

It doesn’t get any better than a pet dragon. There’s the flying and the fire breathing, and the emotional connection between Eragon and Saphira, as you journey in this fantasy world of Dragon Riders.

Random House

Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver.

Is the story of a young boy named Torak who is fo

School has just ended this week, but plans are already afoot for next year – particularly working with my student library assistants on monthly programming ideas. After reading Teen Read Week posts from Courtney and Kate, I thought of ways I could collaborate with staff and students on projects that will have people in our school community saying “It Came from the Library.”

Students are planning a series of DIY projects for Lunchtime Learning Lessons (L3). They found a lot of great ideas on the TRW Pinterest board: personalizing bland book ends, découpaging picture frames, and creating paint chip bookmarks to name a few.

One of the big events we are collaborating with district high school librarians on is the Second Annual All School Read-In that I shared for last year’s TRW celebration. This day-long event combines a cozy spot to read with great books and fun treats. Considering how well zombies lend themselves to this year’s theme, I will make sure to have VooDoo doll doughnuts on hand – perhaps with some extra icing so students can customize these culinary creations.

To promote the Read-In, we are planning a silk screening session that will incorporate student artwork. One of my students, along with teachers from the art department, will be volunteering in the library to help make this program a success. Our main inspiration for this DIY-craft came from an event at the end of this school year. In preparation for a protest march decrying budget cuts, students designed a logo and spent time during lunch and after-school helping the school community print posters and t-shirts with this design. Having a central image helped create a shared message that united all the public schools in our city. We are looking to forward to creating the same buzz for recreational reading.

Our hope for all the L3 projects next year (whether we are sporting our rad silk-screened t-shirts or slipping an awesome bookmark into library books) is that people will stop us and ask “Where did you get that fabulous creation? ” to which we will exclaim “It came from the library!”

Paige Battle, NBCT Librarian, Grant High School, Portland, OR and Teen Read Week Committee Member

As the school year winds down for me, it’s easy to get caught up in the last minute whirlwind of final exams, papers, coercing materials returns, and talking my wonderful faculty off the proverbial ledge.

But when I’m really on my game, I begin thinking about the first couple of months of the next school year and cataloging what, if anything, I need to do to lay a foundation for successful programming. Teen Read Week is always an event that sneaks up on me (and I’m on the committee, for goodness sake!) since it usually happens mid to late October and I’m in full project swing by then.

After over a decade of being a school librarian, I can chalk up my success to that much-overused word, collaboration. For me, collaboration just means using the network of relationships I already have with my teachers and students and searching for any new relationships in my community that will help me do my job which, in the case of Teen Read Week, is promoting recreational reading.

My Library Advisory Board and I have already tackled some preliminary brainstorming. Teachers have already been approached for posing with their favorite horror books and these will advertise our offerings and be showcased on the school website. We are going to have a community poll with various horror movies listed and the top two winners will be a “Creature Double Feature” complete with popcorn and blankets to make our own picnic style movie night.

We are also going to produce a short library video (showcased on the library website and the school website, and shown during an assembly to promote our programming that week) interviewing two of our English teachers who teach related classes, Science and Society and Novel to Film, about the meaning and importance of the horror genre. My LAB came up with the idea of also interviewing dedicated gamers who can speak about what they find so appealing about the recent trends in zombie or other horror games. A few book covers and promotion snippets about programming and we’ll have an interesting vehicle for TRW.

When we had our amazingly successful Hunger Games movie premiere party, the most popular stations were the ones where student volunteers taught flame nail polish effects and did Capitol-style makeup on participants. With that in mind, we will be offering a session prior to our horror movie double feature instructing students in horror movie makeup, complete with faux vampire bites, zombie face makeup and gory wounds. My theater faculty have friends in the local community and university theaters who are proficient in these areas and have expressed an eagerness to come and instruct. I imagine we are going to get some great pictures from this instruction!

If you can, begin talking up possible connections with teachers and students so everyone will be ready to leap into the fray of the school year. Join the Teen Read Week 2012 Ning and peruse the ALA Store items with them to help with brainstorming. You can be sure that in October it will be something great that “Came from Your Library!”

– Courtney Lewis, Director of Libraries, Wyomin

It was spring of 2011. I had only been an intern for a few months at Patchogue-Medford, and I was just a face to many people in the area. Barbara Moon was looking for volunteers for the first Author’s Unlimited, and I showed up decked out for work. Tie and all.  Imagine my surprise when everyone was wearing yellow. It was my job to greet, so I stood outside the doors to St. Joseph’s Danzi Center.  Barbara tells me I did an excellent job greeting, but I’m not sure how I could have screwed that up.  In between bouts of providing directions, I stared at the trees across the athletic field and pondered my new profession.

Barbara Moon, she always smiles. It mystifies me.

In my orientation for Library School, the CUNY Queens Faculty impressed on us the importance of being involved. I thought this was a networking thing. Blah blah, jobs. You know? But Author’s Unlimited was my first exposure to Librarians undertaking a massive amount of work, on their days off and with little expectation of thanks from anyone else. I was stunned.

Librarian Sheila Doherty and her team of teens gave up a Saturday to make the event a success

This year, I was again amazed at the amount of work Barbara, her assistant Tracy and the Suffolk County Young Adult Services Division put into making this event a success.  Because I’m annoyingly curious, I started badgering Barbara about the origin of the event.

Of course it led to another Librarian who does stuff for free, and it led to another central aspect of the profession that I believe is central to our future success. It is the willingness of librarians to share the guts of their personal projects. I am sure when Stephanie Squicciarini first organized the Rochester Teen Book Festival it was a huge amount of labor and time involved.  That in itself is an amazing thing, but she went the extra mile.

At the 2007 Spring conference of the Youth Services Section of NYLA, Stephanie shared her experiences organizing Teen Book Fest. Her hand-outs from the YSS conference got Barbara started in 2009. In 2010, Stephanie shared her model for the Rochester Teen Book Festival at the ALA Annual Conference.  She provided Barbara with templates for programs, schedules, letters and checklists. Continued badgering, I’m an expert pest, led Barbara to say this:

“This program has been a model of professional cooperation.  Stephanie has helped us with a vision of what can be accomplished. Our committee is indebted to her for her willingness to share her experience and expertise with us.”

In short, Stepanie is responsible for the Rochester Teen Book Festival. But she is also responsible for inspiring others to provide oppurtunities for tee

Spring is a great time to highlight the Best of the Best, and ALA Midwinter brought forth the lists of award-winning titles and authors for 2012. If you haven’t already seen the winners for this year, visit the YALSA Booklists or check your copy of Young Adult Library Services for a complete listing. Of course, knowing which titles win doesn’t always mean you know what to do with the information. The following are some ways you can do more with these highlighted titles:

• Watch for yourself! Visit the streaming video feeds for the Youth Media Award Announcements or check out the Best Fiction for Young Adults Feedback Session that was covered live during ALA’s 2012 Midwinter conference. It’s like reliving the YA Oscars for yourself.
• Visit YALSA’s blog The Hub to learn of current YA literature trends and what libraries are doing to highlight authors and titles.
• Make special reusable bookmarks for award winning titles, like the ones I show here on the YALSA blog. It’s a fun and easy way to highlight titles that win various awards throughout the year. The template and instructions can also be easily changed and altered to incorporate other images.
• Consider having a virtual author visit through Skype. Authors love to connect with their readers, and technology has made this even easier.  Sarah Thompson shares her Skype success on the YALSA blog. One useful list of authors is found at this Skype an Author website.

And don’t forget that it’s members like YOU that help determine what is chosen and how people know about it. It’s a great way to get involved, so

• Get your teens involved in choosing the YALSA “Teens’ Choice” award with the Teens’ Top Ten where teens from across the country nominate and then decide which books are tops for young adult readers for the year!
• Apply to be on a YALSA Task Force like the Awards and Booklist Marketing Task Force whose mission is to help YALSA raise awareness of its lists and awards, and to coordinate the implementation of a sustained, year-round effort by proting the lists to the library communtiy, create and disseminate resources for librarians and educators, and encourage teen interes in the lists through contests, promotions and collaborations.  For more information on this and other Task Forces visit http://www.ala.org/yalsa/workingwithyalsa/tf
• Consider joining an Awards Selection Committee! As the YALSA website states, “Selection committee appointments are made in October each year by the YALSA president-elect … Selection committees are the most work-intensive type of committee in YALSA.  Before you agree to volunteer, please be sure you know what will be required of you if you are appointed.  Visit http://tinyurl.com/YALSAgetinvolved for more information.”

For more details on award winners and how to use YALSA resources to support your library’s work with these titles, visit current and past Spring issues of YALS. We love to talk about books in the spring!

There’s a profusion of pollen and awards in the air. It must be springtime. ‘Tis the season that YALSA rolls out the award announcements for the Printz, the Morris, the Edwards, the Odyssey, and more; the Spring issue of YALS is devoted to awards, the winners, and the speeches. But even so, in the flurry of awards that get announced in the late winter and early spring, it can still be easy to overlook a few.  But don’t forget Alex!

The Alex Awards are named in honor of Margaret A. Edwards (who was known as Alex to her friends, hence the name). She’s probably best known for her book The Fair Garden and the Swarm of Beasts: The Library and the Young Adult, a classic in the field of young adult/teen library services. (The chances are good that if you take a YA literature or youth services course while getting your library degree that you will hear mention of it—and rightly so.)

Each year, the Alex Awards committee chooses ten books written for adults that are judged to have particular appeal to young adults between the ages of 12 and 18. These books are fiction and non-fiction, well-known and not. They encompass pretty much every genre and also include literary fiction, and the tone can range from dark to side-clutchingly funny. The non-fiction titles have tended to skew towards adventure, history, and modern society.

Some books may be familiar to you, such as this year’s winner The Night Circus, and some may not be, such as another 2012 winner, Salvage the Bones. Here’s a link to the complete list of this year’s Alex Awards. And while you’re there, take some time to go back through the older Alex lists. You’ll find a mixture of now-classic crossovers such as Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, Dianne Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale, and Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. (A small piece of trivia: Neil Gaiman is the only author—-so far-—to make the list twice: in 2000 for Stardust and in 2006 for Anansi Boys.)

So how can you use the Alex Awards?

1. For some of your more advanced, curious, or sophisticated teen readers, who may be more challenging to do readers’ advisory for, these awards are a boon. The Alex titles are a rich source of interesting and more complex reading material, which is also still emotionally appealing and accessible to teen readers.

2. Don’t forget to add them to your teen booklists (print or digital). I usually include a section of related or crossover adult titles at the end of my teen booklists and the Alex lists are an excellent place to start.

3. Familiarize yourself with them in the name of readers’ advisory and collection development. I always make a point of taking a look at all of the Alex Award winners and also checking to see if my system owns copies (and if so, how many). The winning writers may have other titles that would make good recommendations or read-alikes that would have teen appeal as well. Crossing teen and adult readers over into each other’s sections is always fun regardless of the direction. (And don’t forget that these still make excellent suggestions for adult readers, too.)

4. Add some more books to your own towering stack of books to be read. I try to read several of the Alex winners every year and have been introduced to titles and authors I might not have come across otherwise. And I’ve read many books that I’ve loved and still recommend to friends, family, and patrons whenever the opportunity presents itself. (Soulless, Persepolis, The Eyre Affair, Gil’s All-Fright Diner, The Spellman Files, and The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, to name a just a few.)

Several of this year’s winners are on my personal summer reading list. So if you’re not sure where to begin in adult fiction these days or you’ve simply enjoyed as man

I have to tell you, I’m nervous about the state of YA collection development. Why? Because I worry that teen collections may transition from collections for teens who read YA to collections for adults who love reading YA. Don’t get me wrong, I am a reader of YA and I know that that reading can be just as good, if not better, than adult book reading. But, yet, I don’t think my library’s YA collection should be filled with the YA that I want to read if teens don’t also want to read it. And that’s why I worry. There is so much talk of late about adults reading YA and why that’s OK that I begin to wonder, who are we building YA collections for? The adults who love YA or the teens who are simply looking for a good book to read?

My take is that we always build for the teens. If adults want to read YA titles that aren’t popular with teens in the community, then those titles should go in the adult collection and be a part of the adult collection purchasing budget. Those serving teens often have to struggle with budgets as it is. So, if they are buying books for adults that read teen AND teens that read teen how are they going to have enough money to do both? They won’t. The teen collection is the teen collection. That’s the priority. That’s who teen library staff serve. That’s the bottom line.

Yet, I continue to worry. I think about the books a library buys that circulate and have great statistics and so more of that type of book is purchased and put on the shelves. Yet, if the library really delved into those statistics they may find that it’s not teens checking out the books, it’s adults. But, circulation can drive collection development so the books continue to land on the shelves. That just isn’t right.

I worry that a teen walks into a library filled with titles that are being read and titles that are published for teens, but, yet, the titles aren’t of interest to the teen or his friends. Or, for that matter to a large part of the community’s teen population. So, what does that teen think and do? He doesn’t think of the library as a place that serves his reading needs. And, he doesn’t use the library to find materials for leisure or informational reading.

Or, what about the teens who hang out in the library and notice that the stacks are always inhabited by adults looking for their new favorite teen novel? What message does that send? If you were a teen would you really want to be hanging out in a teen section filled with adults looking at and talking about the books that are supposed to be for you? Come on be honest. Would you?

I have to say, “be careful.” Sure, it’s OK that you and other adults you know read YA but don’t make that the focus of your teen collection. If you know adults in your community are really into a dystopian series but that the teens just don’t show an interest, then don’t buy that series. Inform the adult collection development staff of the adult interest. Save your money, and your shelf space (virtual or physical) for the books teens want and need. That’s really what you are there for. Right?

Are my worries completely unfounded? Let me know what you think in the comments.