Alternative Teen Services

Blog has moved.

2009-09-20T11:18:00.000-07:00

I moved yalibrarian.com back to blogger, because the hosting is free and it's user-friendly as well.
I am no longer interested in maintaining this project, but if others would be interested they are welcome to get involved and take it over. I think you'd have to work with Rachel on it because she's interested as well.

hope everyone is doing well.

-Stephanie Iser,
previous project leader for alternative teen services

"The Host": a Stephenie Meyer Skeptic Converted

2009-02-23T09:37:00.002-08:00

I think I may be the last young adult librarian who has not read the Twilight saga. I keep putting it off simply because all the books in that series are constantly checked-out and I'm too cheap to buy them.

So, when The Host came across the circulation desk and didn't automatically go on hold for another patron, I snatched it up. I must say that I'm a pretty hard-core sci-fi fan and I was very skeptical about a sci-fi novel by the same woman who wrote about angsty teen vampires in love. This couldn't possibly work.

Well, Ms. Meyer proved me wrong. I've been converted. The Host is one of the best books I've read all year. While this is not a textbook "hard" sci-fi story full of black holes, laser battles and star-ships, it is a great introduction to some of the "big themes" in science fiction: What does it mean to be human? And: Can we extend the status of "human" to other entities like sentient machines or aliens?

In the near future, Earth has been colonized by the alien "souls", small silver centipede-like parasitic organisms that require a host body to live. Only a few humans remain "wild" or free of the parasitic souls. The souls have eliminated disease, war, and poverty, but at the price of robbing the human host bodies of their original personalities.

The pacing is a bit slow at first, but by the middle of the book I came to deeply identify with Wanderer, an alien soul parasitizing the body of Melanie Stryder. Normally, the personality of the host body is totally suppressed by the alien soul. However, in this case Wanderer finds that Melanie will not go away, and Melanie's memories of her brother and the man she loves leak over into Wanderer's consciousness. This leads Wanderer to go in search of Melanie's lover Jared and brother Jamie. Wanderer finds them in a refuge of "wild" human rebels who view Wanderer/Melanie as an "it": non-human and a threat.

The relationships between Wanderer and Melanie, and between Wanderer and the "wild" human rebels is really the heart of the story. We see these relationships evolve from hatred and suspicion to grudging acceptance and trust and finally to true love.

Yes, it's a love story, and a complicated one at that. In fact, it's probably the only inter-species love "quadrangle" involving 4 people in 3 bodies you'll ever encounter. Sharon Shinn's "Samaria" novels convinced me that romance and sci-fi could co-exist in a very satisfying way and The Host definitely reinforces that.

The potential is there for a series, and Stephenie Meyer has hinted that there may be more books to come. She's even proposed titles: "The Soul" and "The Seeker".

So, if you know a teen who says they hate sci-fi, they'll probably read this book just because of the association with Twilight. In fact, I'd even recommend it to male sci-fi "romancephobes" just to prove that romance doesn't automatically turn a story into worthless fluff.

I would highly recommend The Host for teens moving on to adult fiction. Sexuality and the physical feelings of love and attraction are addressed, but in a tasteful and non-explicit manner. Ultimately the story is that of accepting, valuing, and even loving others as equals, even if they are someone as profoundly different as an alien worm that parasites brains. There is no swearing/foul language either, so this may be a good book for Christian home-schooled teens.

Required Reading Redone

2009-01-11T13:06:00.001-08:00

Post Contributed by Maggie Barbour

Many teens do not appreciate, and may automatically reject, William Shakespeare's plays as "boring" because of one or more of the following reasons:

1. they are being forced to read them by their teachers,

2. they have difficulty in understanding the language, and

3. they struggle with visualizing the stories in their minds.

So what do you do with teen patrons who are less than enthused about being assigned to read (and understand!) a Shakespearian play for school? You present them with a colorful, exciting, and modern twist on the original: the graphic novel version! No Fear Shakespeare Graphic Novels, Picture This! Shakespeare and Manga Shakespeare are three examples of series to which you can turn:

No Fear Shakespeare Graphic Novels are just what the name implies: graphic versions of the original No Fear Shakespeare play adaptations. The cover art alone is cool and edgy enough to interest any reluctant teen reader. Each title is illustrated by a different artist in his/her own thoughtful and distinct fashion, and includes an illustrated cast of characters. The drama of the scenes and emotions of the characters are clearly illustrated on each and every page. Reluctant readers who are introduced to these titles really will feel "no fear" when it comes to Shakespeare. In fact, they won't want to put them down!

Manga fans will love the new Manga Shakespeare play adaptations. Here, Shakespeare's plays are told in abridged original text, and the illustraters have updated the stories with their own fresh twists. Romeo and Juliet (2007), illustrated by Sonia Leong, is set in modern day Tokyo and features a moped-riding Romeo. Hamlet (2007), illustrated by Emma Vieceli, takes place in a futuristic "cyberworld" in which global climate change has nearly destroyed the earth. Shakespeare just got a whole lot more relevant!

Despite the fact that they are not nearly as well illustrated as No Fear Shakespeare Novels or Manga Shakespeare titles, Barron's Picture This! Shakespeare play adaptations can serve as great transitions between the actual unabridged plays and other graphic novel versions. These play adaptations are told in the graphic novel style, but include extensive excerpts from the plays' original dialogues. Each scene starts with a quick summery, concludes with study questions, and includes side notes that explain confusing literary terms.

Although I by no means recommend encouraging teen patrons to completely ditch the original, unabridged editions of Shakespeare's plays for the graphic novel versions, these adaptations cans serve as a way to spark their interest and actually get them excited about Shakespeare!

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Post Contributed by Maggie Barbour

Maggie works with teens at a public library in Ohio.

She thinks that the best part of working with teens is the challenge of staying current in an ever changing environment.

Reader’s Advisory for Avid Readers: Short Story Collections

2008-11-26T00:20:00.000-08:00

What do you do when a teen comes into the library and they've read all their favorite author’s books and they're still hungry for more? Of course there’s book-lists, read-alike lists, as well as staff and teen recommendations, but how about offering up a short story collection that includes a story by a teen’s favorite author?

Short story collections often slip under the radar, but they’re a great way to engage teen readers by providing the hook of a story by a well-loved author, paired with work by other writers they may not have been exposed to.

For the rabid Stephenie Meyer fans, I’ve been sharing Prom Nights From Hell (2007) hoping that that if they haven’t already discovered the other authors in this collection that they’ll return looking for books by Meg Cabot and Lauren Myracle.

Plus, what’s especially fun about short story collections is the element of theme that many collections use to draw the stories together, like the way holidays can alter romantic relationships in Let it Snow: three Holiday Romances (2008) or how just one night can change things in Up All Night (2008).

And short story collections are perfect for teens easily daunted by thick books (Imagine, a whole story in just twenty pages!) as well as busy teens trying to squeeze leisure reading into the time between sports, work, homework, school, and everything else.

Books Mentioned

Let it Snow (2006)
John Green

Maureen Johnson

Lauren Myracle

Up all Night (2008)

Peter Abrahams
Libba Bray
David Levithan
Patricia McCormick
Sarah Weeks
Gene Luen Yang

Prom Nights From Hell (2007)

Meg Cabot
Kim Harrison
Michele Jaffe
Stephenie Meyer
Lauren Myracle

Alt Teen Update #5 - We are going collective!

2008-11-12T02:25:00.000-08:00

We are going collective!

In December, there will be a virtual meeting for those that want to get involved with shaping the Alternative Teen Services project. We are looking for people that want to be involved with shaping the blog, or want to support it so that this project does not die. All that is needed is some ideas and a desire to keep the blog going, and a willingness to help out in some capacity, whether it be with feedback at a virtual meeting or taking over an aspect of the blog project. If you want to be a part of the project, then please respond to this blog post with your e-mail or contact teenservices@yalibrarian.com. Details about the meeting time/date will be arranged after we know who we are working with and can arrange a convenient time for all involved.

Some technical changes

WordPress, 2.6.3 is now installed on the blog. As a reader, you will not see much of a difference, but the bloggers will notice the improved functionality when they create new posts.

intense debate is our new comment system on the Alternative Teen Services blog. Readers are able to use an avatar with comments, rate user comments, and respond directly to other comments.
Intense Debate also supports Open ID, which means you do not need to create a brand new account if you already have an account with blogger, livejournal, flickr, or yahoo. Go ahead, try out the new features by commenting on this post!

Halloween in your libraries!

Below are some photos of Halloween-esque fun for teens in libraries.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Nightfall Dinner Party @ Alice Baker Library"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Gock Puppets @ La Mesa Public Library"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Halloween Cosplay Winners @ Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library"][/caption]

Dealing with loss as a library community

2008-10-27T02:37:00.000-07:00

Post by Sarah Granville

Two weeks ago, one of the teens that uses my library committed suicide. It wasn't one of the kids who came to programs regularly; he was one the the teens who would just come to hang out. And while I knew he had some troubles with school, such as showing up, he isn't the type one would typically connect with suicide. He was outgoing, always talking to people, making jokes, and laughing. I found out before school let out through a co-worker who is a close family friend. For two and a half hours, I wondered "What can we do?" I knew we needed to do something for our library kids, but what? What are we, as librarians, qualified to do at a time like this? As I told a large group of high school students, they taught me about books in graduate school, not what to do if I ever lost one of my kids. No matter how hard we try not to get attached, it is difficult when working with youth, especially when working in a smaller community. Here are some things you can do in the wake of tragedy.

Make a memorial in your teen area. One of my girls began to write song lyrics on a paper pumpkin I had out for kids to decorate for Halloween, but it wasn't quite big enough. I photocopied hearts on brightly colored paper, picking colors that reminded me of our friend. People wrote memories and messages on the hearts and they are taped up in our teen area. When we eventually take them down, we are going to put them in a scrapbook for the young man's parents.

Communicate with the schools and be visible. I know that we have so much work to do, but I think it is important to take time to acknowledge our kids and what they are going through so they don't feel alone in their pain. The kids that see you experiencing sadness over such a loss will realize that you care about them the same way adults in other areas of their lives such as school, church, and other community organizations, care. Call the effected schools to find out what is being done so that your library can pick up slack when needed, whether it is after school or weeks later. A colleague and I were fortunate that one of the high school guidance counselors called us to come and sit in the auditorium with the kids the day after the young man's death. Teens and parents also responded to seeing us at calling hours and the funeral.

Open up your library. The first time the library meeting room was available, I had the kids come down so we could share more stories. A lot of them shared different memories than they had at school. A smaller audience helped ease them. This could also be good if you have home schooled students who might not have had an opportunity to grieve with others. I also called Victim's Assistance, a local group with staff trained in dealing with these types of situations. The week after the tragedy I had them in the library twice. One afternoon, one counselor came and spent time in the teen area just talking to the kids, getting a feel for how they were dealing with things and what they needed. The next day, two counselors came for a guided crisis intervention.

We are still coping as a library family. Things are getting better and there is definitely more laughter in the teen area than there was two weeks ago. While no child should have to lose a friend at a young age, hopefully we can support them through their difficult time and all come out stronger in the end.

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Post contributed by Sarah Granville

Sarah is the Teen Services Librarian at the Barberton Public Library in Barberton, Ohio. Sarah loves the new perspectives her teen customers bring her. Their enthusiasm helps keep her enthusiastic on rough days!

Alt Teen Dispatch # 4

2008-10-20T01:48:00.000-07:00

Call for teen program idea submissions

Have a great teen programming idea that’s inexpensive? (Like, less than $100.) You could have it published in Cool Teen Programs on a Shoestring, edited by Jenine Lillian and to be published next year by Neal-Schuman. You can find the questionnaire for the form online at www.tinyurl.com/yalsashoestring and send it to coolteenprograms@gmail.com by Nov. 20. Those whose programs are chosen for publication will be notified by Jan. 16.

Link Bytes

You probably knew that games help steer interest in reading, right?

Jami shares free anime viewing resources on the YALSA Blog. Free anime on Hulu - TELL YOUR TEENS!

Are you familar with animoto? It's a free online video creation tool! see this animoto presentation regarding teen library spaces.

Mark teen spaces with teen scents.

Video
Read Flip Win Contest Wrap-up from Orland Park Library

Book Trailer for Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie

In Photos

Gossip Girls Book Display from Lincolnwood Public Library

Play Animanga Musical Chairs at the next get together
@ Dayton Metro Public Library

Japanese Fashion talk at anime club
@ Abilene Public Library

Teen Yoga @ yer library
-- SDCL teens

Don't be shy - Get out there!

2008-10-05T14:55:00.000-07:00

Blog posted by Kathy

It’s that time of year again. Your summer programs have passed and your kids are back in school. Are you worried about losing most of your teen audience during the school year? You don’t have to if you offer outreach programs at your area middle and high schools.

There are two main reasons for offering these programs: education and marketing. Information literacy skills often get short shrift in schools, both for the teachers and the students. Many of them simply don’t know what a modern library offers, how to access what it has, and what you can and cannot find on the internet. You can advertise your library’s traditional services as well as your fun teen programs during sessions for students.
Programs which have been particularly popular for me are information literacy instruction and help with standardized tests. I give the information literacy instruction programs in context of Google searching to show when you would and would not want to use Google. I also show how to judge a website. Programs like this are really better suited to a school setting. You don’t reach as many people when you demonstrate at the reference desk, and it’s difficult to get kids who spend all day in school to come out for an instructional program at the library during the school year.
Showing what the library has to offer to help with standardized tests is very popular with teachers. If your library subscribes to Learning Express, you have courses and practice tests for many of the different No Child Left Behind tests for several states, as well as AP exams, SATs and ACTs. If you don’t have this database, you can still talk about what your library does have to offer to help with these tests – books, tutoring, etc. There are many possible library programs that a school may want; be creative and listen to your audience. Whatever you do, try to keep it short and simple.
Also remind them that the public library is there for fun! Mention your fun teen programs when you present and ask the school if they will mention your programs during morning announcements. If there is time left over from an educational presentation, bring Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero or a tie-in with whatever program is your library’s strength with you as a reward for students. September is Library Card Sign-Up Month. Ask if you can have a library card sign up drive at the school. I had a very successful drive at one high school where I set up Dance Dance Revolution during the lunch period on the same day I brought the library cards back to the school. Many students who had never considered that there might be programs to interest them at the library started coming to my programs during the school year and the summer. In the previous year, my library saw maybe a maximum of ten attendees for teen programs during the school year. After steady effort with outreach, my teen attendance varied from 20 to 40 attendees per program during the school year. Large events such as poetry slams, tournaments or other special presentations averaged 80 people per program.
Don’t be shy! Go out to those schools and let all those teachers and teens know about all your wonderful services. Please feel free to ask me questions in the comments section.

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Kathy is currently the Electronic Information Services Librarian at Durham County Library in North Carolina. Previously, she was the Young Adult Librarian at the North Regional Library in Broward County, FL where she presented many outreach and gaming programs for teens.

Gossip Girls and Ghetto Girls: Why all the fuss about street lit?

2008-09-22T01:18:00.000-07:00

Kati Nofli discusses the fear of streetlit and how absurd it is for classy white people to judge this genre:

Why are so many librarians—advocates of the uncensored right to read anything on all points of view—panic-stricken over teens reading street lit? ... As librarians we are never endorsing anything that is on our shelves. We are providing free access to myriad ideas through information. Why would street lit be any different?

Read the entire article at Foreward Magazine.

Amnesia: A Few Teen Books That Aren’t Easily Forgotten

2008-08-26T23:15:00.000-07:00

Contributed By Ellen Anne

Personal identity and developing a sense of self are quintessential aspects of being a teenager. But how do you navigate the complex experiences of adolescence if you can’t even remember the names of the people you love? And is it even possible to cultivate a sense of self and plan for the future with no past? Does memory and experience ultimately shape identity or is it something deeper?
A few recent books have questioned the importance of memory in relation to coming-of-age and identity, exploring the dilemma of figuring out who you are when you don’t know—or remember—who you were.

Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson (2008)

Jenna Fox knows that she was once someone. She watches that someone as a little girl dancing in home movies, scrutinizing her movements on the television screen. But Jenna Fox has just woken up from a coma and she’s not sure she knows anything about herself anymore.

As she recuperates Jenna becomes aware that her body seems different and that there are abnormal gaps in her memory. She can’t remember simple words. She doesn’t recognize her family. Stranger still are the things she does without thinking, like recalling detailed historical facts and the urge to obey her mother, even when she doesn’t want to. Is Jenna really the person her parents tell her she is?

To unravel the truth about her own identity, Jenna has to push herself to the edge, to try and remember things she has forgotten, to uncover the secrets that seems to surround her—the strange isolated house her family moved to after the accident, the odd liquid she that is her only food, her parents’ unnatural fear of her doing anything normal like returning to school. But as Jenna pieces together the fragments of her past, she begins to realize it’s not what happened before the accident that changed Jenna Fox, it’s what happen after.

Kat Got Your Tongue by Lee Weatherly (2007)

All Kat remembers is a massive bang then she’s on her way to the hospital. After being examined by the doctor a confused Kat is told her name is Kathy and that she’s been in a terrible car accident. But Kat has no memory of the accident—or anything before it. In fact, she has no idea who she even is—she doesn’t recognize her mother, and when she sees herself in the mirror she’s certain it’s a stranger staring back.
As if adjusting to life after an accident with no memory weren’t hard enough, Kat’s return to school is mixed with the realization that the girls she’s told are her friends want nothing to do with her. Worse, they seem to be angry, fixated on something that Kat did before the accident, something Kat can’t remember.

Kat’s struggle to untangle the secrets of her former life unfold in alternating chapters, between entries in her journal from before the accident and her efforts after the accident to traverse the tricky world of someone who has no memory of who she can trust and what she can believe.
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin (2008)
Naomi’s life is changed forever with a simple coin toss. When she wakes up in a hospital, four years of her life suddenly erased from her memory, she’s shocked to discover that she can’t remember her parents are divorced, she doesn’t recall her best friend’s name or why he calls her “Chief,” and she has no idea what happened on the night of the accident.

How can Naomi possibly recover and get her life back on track if she’s forgotten the simplest things about herself? Can she trust other people telling her what she was really like? It’s as if Naomi is living someone else’s life, someone she doesn’t quite understand, someone who kept a diary of all the food she ate, was incredibly organized, and would pick annoying, preppy Ace as a boyfriend.

As Naomi uncovers clues about the person she was, she’s surprised to discover that she might not be the old Naomi anymore, that perhaps her amnesia has a silver lining. Could she be a new, different person, a person trying to figure out what she wants—a person with one lucky chance to start over?

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About Ellen Anne

Ellen Anne is a teen librarian in Ohio who has also worked in childrens/YA book publishing. Here's what Ellen has to say about being a librarian:

"I think one of the best parts of being a librarian is the moment when a patron asks for help finding a book and all they remember is that the cover is black and each chapter is written by a different author and you actually know what book it is! I also have a weakness for D.I.Y. craft books, graphic novels, book characters with mettle, and providing reader's advisory to teens, especially the ornery one."

My So-Called Picture Book

2008-08-06T03:48:00.000-07:00

A middle school teacher wants Leo Lionni books to teach her students how to make inferences. A historical preservationist is reinvigorated by Virginia Lee Burton’s The Little House. Two teenagers flirt and read Wee Little Chick to one another. Picture books are not just for children anymore.

The graphic novel naissance—comics renaissance—has provided entry for a new way of seeing and engaging with picture books. The marriage of picture with text or picture with wordless narrative is no longer just the first step of the serious American reader. Illustrated books with and without words are accepted for all ages, thanks to the successes of the graphic novel. This brings us to the humble picture book and the ways in which graphic novels and picture books have been colliding and expanding and exploding conventions. When American Born Chinese, The Red Book, Zen Shorts, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and The Wall are award winners, we know there must be a sea-change.

I rediscovered picture books as a children’s librarian—no better way, perhaps. While I loved them as a child, I never thought of them as I traveled the typical reader’s trajectory: reading books for children, books for young adults and books for adults. I love children’s and young adult books because of my work. Most likely I would not have discovered their joys elsewhere. When people think of books—if they think of them at all—they adhere to a linear path linking human development and reading. Surely, reading picture books is regressing! Onward and upward, today Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, tomorrow Moby-Dick.

Like any range of literature, picture books can be gentle or challenging, in the terms of their language, themes, design, and images. Picture books can approach a difficult and complicated subject in a comforting and low-pressure way and they can provoke teen and adult readers to look deeply, intentionally, and closely at content that children might miss.

So what can result from interactions between teens and picture books? Teens can learn about book design in Black and White, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, and The Three Pigs; spirituality in Samsara Dog and The Three Questions; “wolves” in Wolves and The Woolves in the Sitee; animal biology (in rhyme!) in Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones; art elements in Hello, Fruit Face! The Paintings of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Nina’s Book of Little Things, and Voices in the Park; war and violence in Patrol:An American Soldier in Vietnam, The Letter Home, The Butter Battle Book, and Rose Blanche; and death in Michael Rosen’s Sad Book and To Hell With Dying.

Librarians must educate patrons that the picture book is a format not always prescribed for very young children. This is a challenge when we are constantly asked for the 4-year old, 6-year old, and 12-year old sections and we dutifully point to picture books, easy readers, and chapter books. But we can inform parents and teachers of the myriad ways picture books can be used with teens. Picture books can be microcosmic in the multitudes contained in their brevity. Jon Muth’s books sometimes seem to teach us all we need to know about Buddhism.

Picture books can be used with reluctant readers and visual learners, they can be paired with novels or nonfiction works in history lessons, they can initiate art and design projects, draw on art historical connections and critical thinking strategies, and rekindle the personal experience with literature. As students begin deciphering textual meaning, they can use picture book connections to learn about character development, language, and theme. While we think of storytime as an essentially preschool activity, collaborative out loud engagement with text and image can be pursued with teens.

For the picture book to fulfill its programming potential, it would be ideal to cultivate a young adult collection of picture books. This may be a cataloging or administrative challenge, but as we see graphic novels collected in up to three locations in a building, a home for young adult picture books seems possible. While many children’s picture books can be used successfully with teens, avoiding redundancy is probably desired. There are many picture books that work more deeply and better with teens than with children and would probably get more love in a YA division. Some resources to check out include: http://readwritethink.org, http://vue.org, http://www.picturebookart.org, and http://www.wiredforyouth.com/books/index.cfm?booklist=picture

Titles mentioned

Brannen, Sarah. Uncle Bobby’s Wedding

Browne, Anthony. Voices From the Park

Burton, Virginia Lee. The Little House

Decker, Tim. The Letter Home

Gravett, Emily. Wolves

Haring, Keith. Nina’s Book of Little Things

Heller, Ruth. Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones

Innocenti, Roberto. Rose Blanche

Lionni, Leo.

Lehman, Barbara. The Red Book

Macaulay, David. Black and White

Manos, Helen and Julie Vivas. Samsara Dog

Muth, Jon. The Three Questions

Myers, Walter Dean. Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam

Richardson, Justin. And Tango Makes Three

Rosen, Michael. Michael Rosen’s Sad Book

Scieska, Jon and Lane Smith. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales.

Selznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Seuss, Dr. The Butter Battle Book

Sís, Peter. The Wall

Strand, Claudia. Hello, Fruit Face! The Paintings of Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Thompson, Lauren. Wee Little Chick

Walker, Alice. To Hell With Dying

Wiesner, David. Three Little Pigs

Wild, Margaret and Anne Spudvilas. Woolves in the Sitee

Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese

If you were president for a day...

2008-07-10T02:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a contest that you might want to pitch to your 18 and over TAG/teens in your community as a way to encourage discussion about current communication technology issues and their effect on...well..the world and everything therein. Heck, actually it's a perfect contest for teen librarians to participate in. How does high speed broadband effect our ability to do our jobs, to help teens in our community?

"Entries for the new contest, “President for a Day - How I'd Change the World With Broadband!” will be accepted until the September 30, 2008 deadline. Contestants are invited to share their best ideas for using high speed communications technology to address a wide range of issues and problems. For example, do you want everyone to have access to health care specialists, even if they are located hundreds of miles away? How about telemedicine? Do you want to help solve global warming? How about a virtual conference to connect people and ideas? Do you want all citizens to be able to participate in the political process? Do you want all students to have the educational tools necessary to compete in a global economy? How would you use high-speed communications technology to make the world a better place?"

Public libraries, especially, are a way for a community to utilize high-speed communications technology for free. With it, teens can do research for school, they can participate in the political process (even if they're not old enough to vote that can still participate in online discussion and express their opinions), they can become involved in volunteer/advocacy opportunities, they can connect with people from all over the world no matter how rural the area they live in, the list goes on...

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You

2008-06-18T08:11:00.000-07:00

We read to see ourselves reflected. Cameron’s new book has a great title and two lovely and perfect epigrams that I must quote. The first is Ovid: “Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.”

And Denton Welch (journal, 8 May 1944, 11:15 pm): “When you long with all your heart for someone to love you, a madness grows there that shakes all sense from the trees and the water and the earth. And nothing lives for you, except the long deep bitter want. And this is what everyone feels from birth to death.”

And I’d like to brand those on my teenage self. Teens and those who never got over being teens need oils, talismans, quotations—above all, these fragments of literature that tell us “you’re not alone, you’re not crazy, it’s not your fault.” Reading books for or about young people as an adult is a displacing experience. We may wish certain books and characters had been available to us as teens or we may find a heady succor today in being transported to the adolescent past.

Our protagonist, eighteen-year old James Sveck, is infinitely quotatable and somewhat misanthropic, lonely, and sad. Not to mention nostalgic for another time— for Manhattan’s old Penn Station, for Trollope, Eric Rohmer, and Denton Welch. This is a potent nostalgia, a backward ache for a time that is not his own. The book’s references to the present—the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, 9/11—are jarring because James doesn’t comfortably live in the present. He doesn’t belong to his own time or the romanticized past.

Cameron has masterfully created a character who should be unsympathetic—a poor little rich white boy. But James is a supersensitive weirdo, oddball, iconoclast, combination of old man and child who has learned as a teenager, “You cannot always do and go what and where you please.” He is dealing with discoveries of his sexuality and his trauma. He is happily reminiscent though not derivative of Heide and Gorey’s alienated and unloved Treetorn and Melinda from Speak and the book evokes From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and The Squid and the Whale.

James’ experience at the American Classroom was so terrible and specific. I was reminded of my high school marching band horrors— feeling both superior and inferior to people your own age in a group who are having fun in literal lockstep. Dinners and dances are intended as gifts but are unbearable and solitary. Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You will be loved intensely—most likely by adults who remember. The book is also significant for the subtle non-didactic depiction of a gay teenager.

“I think that's what scares me: the randomness of everything. That the people who could be important to you might just pass you by. Or you pass them by. How do you know...I felt that by walking away I was abandoning [them], that I spent my entire life, day after day, abandoning people."

Big Fat Book Talks

2008-06-08T05:29:00.000-07:00

Now that your summer reading programs are in full swing, we've written a few booktalks to assist you in pushing young adult titles during your busy programs.

Big Fat Manifesto by Susan Vaught
book talk written by bloodymandy

"A study found that people would rather give up a year of life than be fat. Half of thousands of people asked in a survey agreed they would rather live a shorter amount of time thin than be fat. In fact, 15 percent said they'd give up ten years or more of life to avoid obesity." Are you a part of this 15 percent? Well, neither is Jamie Carcaterra. Jamie Carcaterra already knows what it's like to be fat and she's about to let the world know. From investigating bariatric surgery to infiltrating designer clothing stores, Jamie exposes thin thinking in her newspaper column FAT GIRL. As her column begins to receive national notoriety, Jamie realizes she'll have to decide which battles are worth the fight. Big Fat Manifesto will have you questioning whether or not size really matters.

You might consider promoting Big Fat Manifesto alongside other teen activist characters. See a review of Big Fat Maniefsto at teensreadtoo. Susan Vaught is also the author of Trigger which received starred reviews and is included on the ALA BBYA 2007 list.

The Joys of Love by Madeline L'Engle
book talk written by Denise Ryan, niseryan(at)hotmail(dot)com

Madeleine L’Engle’s posthumously published novel, The Joys of Love, about a small seasonal theatre in Maine, is the perfect summer book for teenage girls who like to read. And I mean perfect. L’Engle wrote the book in the early 1940’s, but its themes remain relevant today: friendship, first love, war, family expectations, artistic dreams, bohemian lifestyles, and the importance of character. I actually listened to book on CD last weekend and was in heaven. Here is a quick booktalk for the novel. Give it to thoughtful, slightly old-fashioned girls who like wistful romances and melodrama. This includes many Stephanie Meyer groupies!

* * *

Elizabeth Jerrold is a 20-year old college graduate trying to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming an actress. Both her parents are dead, and her guardian — the stern, Southern Aunt Harriet — “doesn’t approve of the theatre.” However, because Elizabeth has completed her Bachelor’s degree at Smith College, as promised, Aunt Harriet agrees to fund her niece’s apprenticeship with a professional company on the New England coast. There, Elizabeth works at the box office, ushers evening performances, takes acting classes, rehearses Chekhov monologues, and feels happier than she ever has in her whole life.

Even though I’m not an actress, I would love to have a summer like Elizabeth’s – living in a cottage with a bunch of zany apprentices, staying out all night on the beach, meeting famous performers, and making lifelong friends. Oh yeah, and there’s a page-turning romantic element to the plot that makes you want to shout at Elizabeth – “What are you doing with this guy, when this one is so much nicer and is clearly head-over-heels in love with you?”

Madeleine L’Engle wrote this novel when she was a young woman in the 1940’s. She died last year before the book was published. I’m so happy her granddaughters decided to bring this novel forward, finally. It’s a terrific treat. If you haven’t yet experienced the dreamy atmosphere and meandering pace of a Madeleine L’Engle romance, what are you waiting for? You have so much to look forward to!

YA Free-Verse Novels

2008-06-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

Contributed by Eva the Librarian
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The verse-novel is a modern phenomenon—very modern. Although there are a few earlier examples, this type of literature first reared its genre-blending head in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The vast majority were published after the year 2000, and most are marketed to teenage audiences.

Verse-novels are characterized by the combining of narrative and poetry, but other than that it is a very diverse genre. They are historical (Out of the Dust) and contemporary (Make Lemonade). They can have one narrator (What My Mother Doesn’t Know) or several (Keesha’s House). They are about sports (Jump Ball: A Basketball Season in Poems), drug addiction (Crank), family tragedy (Walking on Glass), mental illness (Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy), racial conflict (Witness), and a variety of other themes.

Verse novels are a source of debate in many areas of library science. First of all, how to catalog them? Should they be classified as poetry, as fiction, or in a completely new genre altogether? Don’t look to the Library of Congress for help; even they are a little baffled as to what to do with these new-fangled hybrids.

There is also some discussion in the literary community about whether or not verse-novels are any good (the critics’ arguments sound suspiciously similar to those of the anti-graphic novel brigade). Personally, I am not a fan, but that is hardly the point. The point is that teens really go for them!

The short, free-verse passages resemble song lyrics, which strikes a chord with the iPod generation.

Interesting titles and bold, attractive cover art appeal to young audiences.

Verse-novels focus more intently on raw emotion than do other novels, which appeals to emotion-exploring young adults.

Verse-novels often deal with tough issues that teens themselves may be facing.

Verse-novels are also a less intimidating option for reluctant readers, because they typically have fewer pages and more white space than the average novel. These books can also serve to introduce the verse-adverse to the wonderful world of poetry. What better way to transition from A Separate Peace to The Raven than with something in between?

So, all personal feelings on the subject aside, verse-novels are an invaluable asset to libraries. The unique blend of poetry and fiction appeals to and young adults on many levels and simultaneously helps to develop their reading skills. Who can argue with that?

Booklists:

http://www.stdl.org/extlink/ysread/novels.htm

http://www.dover.lib.nh.us/teenpage/novelsverse.htm

http://www.haworth.org/yaversenovels.html

http://www.wiredforyouth.com/books/index.cfm?booklist=verse

http://www.epl.ca/EPLMaster.cfm?id=VERSENOVELSF0001

http://www.teenspoint.org/reading_matters/book_list.asp?sort=101&list=1468

http://www.adlit.org/books/c812/

http://www.carnegielibrary.org/teens/read/booklists/novelsinverse.html

Wiki:

Add Novels In Verse to the TeenLibWiki:
http://yalibrarian.com/yalib_wiki/index.php?title=Read_a_Novel...in_Verse

Websites:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PBX/is_5_36/ai_107202412

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verse_novel

http://www.lis.uzulu.ac.za/arts/addison.doc

http://wwwfp.education.tas.gov.au/English/verse.htm

Articles:

Alexander, Joy (2005). The verse-novel: a new genre. Children's Literature in Education. 36(3), 269-283.

O’Neal, Amy (2004). Calling it verse doesn’t make it poetry. Young Adult Library Services, 2(2), 39-40.

Sullivan, Ed (2003). Fiction or poetry? School Library Journal, 49(8), 44-45.

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Post contributed by Eva the Librarian

Eva is a Youth Services Librarian (among other things) at a small public library in Pennsylvania. Eva says, "Times are hard for Teen Services, but I work harder!" Hobbies other than reading and writing include classic movies, knitting, house renovating, and collecting vintage children's books.

Alt. Teen Dispatch # 3

2008-05-28T01:20:00.000-07:00

Some quick news regarding the Alternative Teen Services Blog and web site:
YA Lit Content Moving to Main Blog
We are in the process of phasing out the Brave & Brass Book Blog, which was a separate blog with content about teen literature. Those of you that read the Brave & Brass Book Blog are familiar with the subject matter that covers book reviews, book talks, literature perspectives, and collection development.
We found that most of the readers of our Main Blog wanted lit-themed topics, and therefore, we decided to move content from the Brave & Brass Blog to our main blog. So please note that the blog is still going to be around, but in a different format. Lit-themed content will come through our main blog instead of being separated.

Readers subscribed to the Brave & Brass Book Blog feed will continue to get content from us when it is book-related. It is hoped that the phase-out process will be finished by June 2nd. For the few of you that didn't want to see this change, so sorry! I hope that the scroll function works well for you, so that you can get directly to the content you want to read.

Personalize your Comments with Avatars
Would you like a customized avatar to appear next to the lovely comments that you create on our blog? We recently installed a plug-in in cooperation with Gravatar that does just that! By signing-up at the gravatar web site, you can upload an avatar that will be used whenever you make comments on our Blog. The avatar is associated with the e-mail address used when leaving comments. To sign up for your avatar, go to http://www.gravatar.com. Then be sure to come back to our blog and leave a test comment so you can check out the new flair!

Teen Crafts on Flickr

Click to enlarge!

Happy Summer everyone, and congrats on getting through all those book talks and school visits.

Is copy-cat book cover art becoming an unwanted trend?

2008-04-22T07:48:00.000-07:00

As a reader and frequent book store browser, I devote a degree of judgment towards book covers while downing an uppity-caffeinated beverage. When picking up an unfamiliar title, the presentation of a book is as important as appearing professional for a job interview. The book's cover art introduces the reader to the story. Elements infused within the design, illustration, or photography heavily contribute towards the overall presentation and appeal. In fact, there are many times when a reader cannot recall the title or author, but is able to conjure a description of its cover. Once in a while, roles reverse and the consumer influences the cover. These titles become branded by the cover art due to momentous success i.e. Eragon, Twilight, Harry Potter. However, most titles receive a new makeover as the book transforms from hardcover to paperback to reprints, thereby creating a high expectation towards packaging.

Book cover art is a fine art as it attempts to attract its targeted audience. Those of us connected to the bookworld have a high regard for the efforts invested in printing high quality book covers, especially when we are booktalking titles to teens. Attractive and varied covers help us entice readers to expand their reading preferences. For publishers to package two different products with the same illustrations gives the impression of an impetuous company undermining current ethical standards. Whether copyright has been breached is not the immediate issue, rather consumers expect that their personal dollars are purchasing a unique product. To hinder the dystopian possibility that one day there may be several different titles displayed next to each other featuring the same cover art, please voice your opinions in the comments.

Perfection Is a Size 4

2008-04-21T01:59:00.000-07:00

The Internet exists to teach us that we are never as obsessed as we think we are. There is always a more fanatical collector or expert on obscure 16mm film reels or paperback young adult novels, to show us we are but mere enthusiasts. On a recommendation from the YALSA listserv, I visited The Dairi Burger to read about the reissue of the execrable teen series Sweet Valley High. Witty and smart readers visit the site and demonstrate a remarkable memory of plots and characters that overwhelms my own. But we all have similar stories. Most of us read compulsively, sometimes under bedsheets with flashlights, and devoured books like cakes then and now. Some of those books were destructive to our impressionable psyches, but when we’re all grown up we hope they form a generational bond, a laugh, a deep roll of the eye or maybe even some critical analysis.
While the SV canon—and it is canonical, though sometimes flexible with fact and reality, with hundreds of titles and series within series—may seem benign and forgettable to most, Francine Pascal’s covert mission of normalizing repulsive, greedy, shallow, and extraordinarily sexist behavior has helped to socially condition most of her vulnerable young readers. At the outset of each book, Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, our heroic twins are always described in their perfect size six, tanned, sun-streaked blond glory, with eyes the color of the Pacific Ocean, even! What is intended to read variously as virtue, vivaciousness, ambition, magnanimity in the twins is really callowness, condescension, ruthlessness, self-righteousness. And what of the fat or single, LGBT folks, people of color, the poor? If they even exist in this world, they are tragically doomed or soon forgotten and they function as catalysts for the primary characters, eliciting pity and contempt.

This reissue is completely irresponsible and unnecessary. And the only reported edit is that Jessica and Elizabeth are now a perfect size four. I know that none of this is new, that we are all familiar with the evils of media for young people. Most likely children and teens today will not be interested in hoary Sweet Valley when they have young adult books like Gossip Girl, The A List, The Clique. The new offerings are mordantly self aware and cheeky and seem sometimes to have a hint of parody, even while they exist primarily to prop up the most garish and exclusive brands. In the SV books, characters are often kidnapped, raped, beaten, and tragically killed, but maintain a glazed innocence and mostly abstain from drinking, drugs, and sex, except for when it kills them to prevent others from indulging. At least the new naughty YA books aren't pretenders.

And for illustrative purposes here are some choice quotations:

“There are a dozen fairy-tale princesses, Rose thought, and they’re going to make me a fairy-tale princess too.”

“He responded by turning his face to hers and kissing her hard, his arms crushing her against him, his mouth demanding what his body wanted to take.”

Lila, upon seeing Manuel: “I don’t know how she can date him. He’s so ethnic and working class.”

Vampire Parties

2008-04-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

Contributed by Sarah Granville
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How does one celebrate the life, or rather death, of the undead? With the popularity of series such as Twilight, Vampire Kisses and Blue Bloods, throwing a vampire party is a great way to get teens excited about reading. But where to begin? In my mind, every successful party includes cake. And what better variety of cake to serve at a party devoted to blood suckers than red velvet? Even if you don’t have the budget to purchase a bakery cake, you can find red velvet cake mixes and mix it up yourself. If you are ambitious, there is a recipe in the February 2008 issue of Shojo Beat for a Vampire Knight Valentine’s cake that looks like it would be yummy anytime of year. Another option would be making cupcakes and then allowing each teen to decorate as they see fit with darkly colored sprinkles or icing. If you have access to Halloween cookie cutters, you could also decorate cookies in the shapes of coffins, tombstones, bats, or spider webs.

Music can also contribute to the success of a party. Stephenie Meyer has already done a lot of the work for us when it comes to selecting music for a vampire themed party. Begin with the playlists that can be found on her site and expand from there with additional music from those bands. The website allmusic.com can help you find other artists. Simply search for an artist and it will give you their influences, followers, and similar acts. Songs such as “Vampires Will Never Hurt You” and “Early Sunsets Over Monroeville” by My Chemical Romance and “Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)” by Concrete Blonde add an appropriately ghoulish atmosphere. Try having teens come up with their own vampy mix to share.

A few simple activities can tie the whole thing together. You could either make a quiz on general vampire lore or create separate quizzes for individual books, using each book as a prize. The most fun thing for the teens who are into vampires, is to make them a vampire for a day. Your local community theatre might have a volunteer who would be willing to come in and transform them into vampires. We had a staff member give people vampire bites on the neck using eye shadow and liner in shades of red, brown, blue and purple for appropriate bruising around the wound.

In my community, the majority of teens who love vampire stories tend to feel like they are alone in their interests. They are teens on the fringe, sometimes into the Goth and Emo scenes. Celebrating one of their passions can show them that they are not as alone as they think, and give them the chance to be outsiders together.

Opening Photo: be careful / Originally uploaded by girl interrupted. jess

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Post contributed by Sarah Granville

Sarah is the Teen Services Librarian at the Barberton Public Library in Barberton, Ohio. Sarah loves the new perspectives her teen customers bring her. Their enthusiasm helps keep her enthusiastic on rough days!

Displays: Oldies but Goodies

2008-03-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

Contributed by Denise Ryan
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Right now I’m pairing new fiction with older books. Yup, right out there in valuable display space I’m putting elderly books with dated covers and silly titles like Fat, a Love Story (Barbara Wersba, 1987) and Secrets of the Shopping Mall (Richard Peck, 1979). But here’s the trick: Right next to these books I’m displaying hot new titles with similar themes. So, that’s the gimmick – old book, new book. How similar, yet how different! Why not read them both and compare?

For instance, with Fat, a Love Story, I’ve paired last year’s Huge by Sasha Paley. Both books are about weight, dieting, and love. I can’t keep Huge on the shelf, but Fat is really good too and it never moves. Never. The cover is just too…yesterday. (A girl with a bad haircut is eating a piece of cheesecake while a thinner couple drives by in a convertible. Back in the day, it was probably the coolest thing ever. Now? It looks like something your mother probably read.)

For a while now, I’ve been trying to get young patrons to read worthwhile older books, urging them to ignore the dreary decades-old covers in favor of plot, characters etc. But that’s been a doomed effort for the most part, and I’ve seen lots of patrons reject one edition of a book one minute, only to seize the exact same book – with a newer cover – the next.

So, I’m really excited that this “pairing” approach seems to be working. The kids still make fun of the unfashionable covers (that’s half the fun), but they’re taking the old books along with their newer counterparts. Somehow, the association between the two gives the older books credibility and they’re getting some attention again – just in time to avoid the “weed pile.”

Here is a short list of books I’ve paired, but possibilities are endless!

Theme: Social misfits
Freak (2007) by Marcella Pixley
The Seventh Grade Weirdo (1992) by Lee Wardlaw

Theme: Body image
Huge (2007) by Sasha Paley
Fat, A Love Story (1987) by Barbara Wersba

Theme: The mall
It’s a Mall World After All (2006) by Janette Rallison
Secrets of the Shopping Mall (1979) by Richard Peck

Theme: Sexual assault
Safe (2007) by Susan Shaw
Are You in the House Alone? (1976) by Richard Peck

Theme: Boarding school
A Great and Terrible Beauty (2003) by Libby Bray
And Both Were Young (1983) by Madeleine L’Engle

Theme: Future societies
The Declaration (2007) by Gemma Malley
The Vandal (1979) by Ann Schlee

Theme: Survival in the Alaskan wilderness
The Trap (2006) by John Smelcer
Death Walk (1991) by Walt Morey

Theme: Summer camp
Camp Rules (2007) by Jordan Roter
The Goats (1987) by Brock Cole

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Post contributed by Denise Ryan

Denise Ryan is a writer, a book reviewer, a YA librarian. She lives in Stamford, Connecticut where she’s currently reading One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke.

What are you doing for Poetry Month?

2008-03-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

Yup. Just two more weeks before April, which means Poetry Month is once again upon us. Although I can't write poetry to save my life I do love to read it. It was this fact that was foremost on my mind last year when I planned my first Teen Poetry Program. I wanted something low-key, educational but fun and settled on a kind of coffee house type program where teens could sip on coffee/tea and listen while others read their poetry outloud, slammed if they knew how, read someone elses poetry, then participated in a series of activities that would teach them some poetry skills.

You can read all the details about the program on an old blog post. We're planning a similar event this year, however, we've invited a local published poet to come in and "open" the event. If there was one thing I learned during my experience last year it was that poetry programs are a perfect opportunity to collaborate and network with your local high schools. It was because of the poetry program that I managed to meet one of the school librarians and also an English teacher who offered her class extra credit for attending the event and extra points if they recited a poem. If it wasn't for her class I probably wouldn't have had so many attend the program. For some reason I always felt kind of down about that fact, that the only way we managed to get teens to come to our program was to essentially bribe them. But looking back I realize that it's all about perspective. Despite how we got them through the door, they did come, they did have fun and I do believe that they brought something back from the experience. For me that is the very definition of a successful program. Many of them were very shy in the beginning or acted too cool to read poetry in front of an audience but it only took a few brave souls and one amazing young lady who really knew how to slam to encourage the rest to step up. Of course, the flavored coffee and chocolates probably helped too. :-)

Below is the slide presentation I used during the program. Please feel free to use it, change it, as you like. I found most of my activities from the IPL Teenspace poetry wiki but unfortuntately it doesn't seem to be working right now so I can only provide the cached link. I would love to hear some ideas from our readers on various poetry programs, there are so many different ways to share and encourage a love of words and writing with teens.

| View | Upload your own

The Forbidden Fruit

2008-03-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

Post Contributed by Denise Ryan
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Every day, kids crowd around my desk to talk about Twilight, the novel by Stephanie Meyer about Bella, a teenage girl who moves to Forks, Washington and falls in love with Edward, a vampire who has been seventeen years old for more than a century now.

My screensaver, courtesy of my YA patrons, is a photo of a silver Volvo S60 R, the same kind that Edward drives. I receive emails from teenagers with addresses like "vampiregirl16" and "edward4ever." (Immediately, I know which "Edward" they're talking about and it's not a kid from town.)

Generally, these are girls around the age of 14, but not always. The kid who printed all the cast photos from the upcoming movie Twilight, based on the book, is a boy. He's already planning a party at his house on opening night.

What is it about these books? How have they conquered popular culture? (Vampires were cool when I was a teenager too, although we were reading the Anne Rice series about Lestat and Louis.) Personally, I think it’s all about physicality and desire – desire for flesh – desire that is dangerous and must be quelled – desire that can kill.

Here, I'm talking of course of Edward's desire for blood, but also of Bella's desire for more ordinary human contact with the gorgeous guy she loves. In Twilight, both are potentially fatal; every time Bella and Edward get a bit too "hot n' heavy," they must break apart before Edward becomes too overcome with bloodlust and (literally) devours his girlfriend. The characters both crave and fear intimacy. In short, the book is full of sex without anyone ever actually having any – very much like the imaginations of many young teenagers!

If your patrons haven't read the Twilight saga yet (there are three titles in the series: Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse), offer it to them. It will keep them busy for a while. Here's a short list of other "Forbidden Fruit" fiction for readers who can't get enough of vampires:

De La Cruz, Melissa: Blue Bloods

Hautman, Pete: Sweetblood

Klause, Annette Curtis: The Silver Kiss

Mead, Richelle: Vampire Academy

Moore, Christopher: You Suck: A love story

Rice, Anne: Interview with a Vampire

Sedgwick, Marcus: My Swordhand is Singing

Schreiber, Ellen: Vampire Kisses (with four sequels)

Vande Velde, Vivian: Companions of the Night

Westerfeld, Scott: Peeps

For more Vampire Fiction recommendations, visit the Teen Lib Wiki page about Vampire Romance Fiction!

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Post Contributed by Denise Ryan

Introducing one of our new bloggers for the Brave & Brass Blog! Denise Ryan is a writer, a book reviewer, a YA librarian. She lives in Stamford, Connecticut where she's currently reading One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke. Denise can be contacted at niseryan @ hotmail.com.

Teen Library Websites: Love them or Hate Them?

2008-03-10T12:25:00.000-07:00

Post contributed by Jennifer
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Teen Library Websites: Love them or Hate Them?
I’ve recently spent a lot of time researching library websites in anticipation for our new website for Otis Library in Connecticut. Our site, in trying to be uniform as a whole site, quickly made our teen page less about graphics and more about the information.However, when I first looked around, there were pages that I wanted to emulate (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery). My favorite site was the teen site at the Public library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County of North Carolina. Their Library Loft page is bold, interesting, and chock full of information. The Louisville Free Public Library has a wonderful teen page including, along with many other libraries, booklists. I freely admit to including 2 booklist pages after looking at this page. Teens at the Johnson Country Library’s teen page can change the background theme of their page with several choices including Goth or monkeys. Each library strives to make their page unique and attention grabbing, but according to teens that I’ve spoken with, it may be a lost cause.

1) Do teens really look at library websites?

2) Are they drawn to images/graphics or more information?

3) What do they envision for the library website?

The biggest question of all:

4) Do they even care?

With all the social networking sites (yes, I’m on myspace, facebook, and Shelfari – all under the title YABOOKNERD to make it easy) does it really matter to have a wicked cool teen website? From the teens I talked to, most didn’t really know that we had a website catering to them. Once they did know, they didn’t seem impressed and when asked would be unlikely to use the site, unless they were bored. So in this case – how do we reach out to teens? Does anyone else find the library website a tool of the past?

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Post contributed by Jennifer

Introducing Jennifer.... Jennifer is a Young Adult Librarian for the Otis Library at Norwich, CT. Getting a new shipment of books is the best part; it always feels like Christmas morning and she has the hardest time deciding which book to take home first. Thus her bookshelf is filled with books and she has a mile long list of books-in-waiting. She's also addicted to the internet.

Intellectual Property Rights, Creative Commons and…Nine Inch Nails?

2008-03-05T11:38:00.001-08:00

Contributed by Jeff 2.0
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Intellectual Property Rights, Creative Commons and…Nine Inch Nails?

Teaching information literacy skills is an important role for YA librarians. Educating teens about such issues as intellectual property rights, digital rights management (DRM) and the law can often come across as preachy. Fortunately, an unlikely partner can help break the ice with teens on this subject: Nine Inch Nails.

Ask a teen where they got the music on their MP3 player and they’ll likely reply “the internet.” Of course, the real question is: was it obtained legally? While authorized downloads of artists’ music are available through online retailers such as Apple’s iTunes Store or Rhapsody, many people still use file-sharing protocols such as Limewire, KaZaa and BitTorrents for unauthorized downloading (aka theft) of copyrighted materials.

The world seems divided into two camps: those who view all intellectual property as essentially being public domain (as long as they don’t get caught), and those who view all intellectual property as private property posted “no trespassing, authorized persons only”. The former camp says that copyright stifles creative uses of intellectual property such as sampling in music; the latter camp says that owners of intellectual property should have the right to control all its uses.

As in most ideological battles, there is a middle ground. Enter Creative Commons, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable corporationthat defines the spectrum of possibilities between full copyright — all rights reserved — and the public domain — no rights reserved. Our licenses help you keep your copyright while inviting certain uses of your work — a “some rights reserved” copyright [http://creativecommons.org/about/]

Many teens may be familiar with Creative Commons from its use on Flickr. Flickr allows you to apply Creative Commons licensing to grant other users the right to use your work under certain circumstances.

Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails have given us the opportunity to use their music to educate teens on intellectual property issues. NIN has released their latest album, Ghosts I-IV under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. This means that you can share it, or remix it and share it under the same license for noncommercial (i.e. free) uses as long as you attribute it to Nine Inch Nails. Nine Inch Nails offers the album for download for only $5, or you can download a partial album for free from the website or via BitTorrent.

The album consists of instrumental tracks which are perfect for remixing and/or adding vocals. One of the programs suggested for Teen Tech Week 2008 (or any other time) involves teens using Splice Music, JamGlue, or Audacity to create their own music. Why not include downloading the free Nine Inch Nails tracks and have the teens make their own remix? How about adding vocals? What about a music video posted to YouTube? The finished product could be uploaded and shared following the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. The teens will have fun exercising their creativity, and we will get the opportunity to talk with teens about intellectual property rights and Creative Commons licensing.

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Post contributed by Jeff 2.0

Jeff took a 15 year detour through chemistry and engineering before becoming a librarian. He wonders why he didn't start there in the first place. In addition to being a YA specialist, Jeff is also a Boy Scout leader.

Start a Dungeons and Dragons campaign @ your library. It's easy!

2008-02-26T00:47:00.000-08:00

Contributed by Sarah Granville
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I began thinking of a Dungeons and Dragons (D & D) group at the library in 2005. I had been interested in D & D since high school, but hadn't ever played. The idea of knowing nothing about this game and running a program terrified me. The thought of learning enough to feel comfortable suggesting it overwhelmed me. I received a D & D starter kit from YALSA and stared at it proudly as it sat on my desk. And gathered dust. My quest was not starting out well.

One evening I entered our meeting room to set up for anime club and there was a group of boys sitting at a table with D & D books. My teen programming senses tingled and I asked them about what they were doing. They were beginning a new campaign so I asked them if they would mind having their campaign be a once a month library program open to any teenager who wanted to come. They agreed! I was getting my D & D group without having to be proficient at it myself! And you can too.
The basic things that any librarian needs to start a D & D group are the core rule books (the Players Handbook, the Dungeon Masters Guide, and the Monster Manual), dice, and one or more teens to be Dungeon Master, or DM. My DM and I have an understanding. If he feels that a player is acting unfairly he will let me know so I can handle it. If he notices that I am continually correcting someone's behavior, he will punish them by taking away hit points, which is like a player’s life span.

It is so rewarding to see my teens having fun gaming in a social way. During a campaign they will fight for and with each other instead of against each other. D & D is not about who wins. The group of characters is working toward a common goal. They learn each others' strengths and weaknesses.

Since we are talking about libraries, I will mention books. If your kids are really into the sword and sorcery content of D & D, they will definitely want to read the Dragon Lance and Forgotten Realms series. You can also incorporate aspects of other books into the campaign setting. Right now, the world our D & D group is playing in is based on the Wizard of Oz series. Our DM found out more about the series of books so he had more settings and ideas to draw from. My favorite book is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, so I've already requested a Wonderland campaign setting. If your teens are not interested in fantasy but you still think a role playing game might appeal to them, there are a wealth of role playing games that offer different settings. The great thing is that you can make this work for any group of kids.

Here's a list of resources on D & D and why role playing is a good thing:

Packer, Alex J., Ph.D. Wise Highs: How to Thrill, Chill, & Get Away From It All Without Alcohol or Other Drugs.

Slavicsek, Bill and Richard Baker. Dungeon Master for Dummies.

Slavicsek, Bill and Richard Baker. Dungeons and Dragons for Dummies.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/ (search "role-playing")

http://www.theescapist.com/index.htm

http://www.wizards.com/

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Post contributed by Sarah Granville

This post is brought to you by one of our new contributors, Sarah Granville! Sarah is the Teen Services Librarian at the Barberton Public Library in Barberton, Ohio. Sarah loves the new perspectives her teen customers bring her. Their enthusiasm helps keep her enthusiastic on rough days!

The Effectiveness of Social Networking Sites

2008-01-10T06:58:00.000-08:00

The word has been out for awhile now that social neworking sites provide a creative and easy way to connect with people. Libraries, businesses, publishers, musicians, politicians, radio stations, you name it, the question is not so much "do you have a MySpace?" but "who does not have a MySpace?".

One of the first things librarians often do when they create their MySpace (or Facebook) profile is search out well known YA authors and add them as friends. The purpose is mainly to help introduce book titles to visiting teens and to promote books and the joy of reading in general. Besides, who wouldn't want Meg Cabot on their friend list. How cool is that?

Publishers have caught on and many have started automatically creating MySpace and Facebook profiles for their authors as soon as their books come out. However, after reading an article in the October issue of Publishers Weekly, it would appear that some publishers are becoming weary of this practice for two reasons. First of all, maintaining author profiles can be time consuming. Second, a publishers ultimate goal is to sell books and it's difficult to find verifiable statistics proving that social networking sites actually do increase book sells. "We have tangible results that blog postings and website features sell books. The jury is still out on the effectiveness of social networks" says Fauzia Burke, President of FSB Associates. Granted, the people interviewed for this particular article mainly publish for an adult audience, so it would be interesting to see what HarperCollins would say about the effectiveness of author profiles when it comes to selling their books.

Nevertheless, this article intrigued me since a librarys' motivation for creating social networking profiles are in a sense similar to that of a publisher. We're trying to connect, to direct viewers to our physical and virtual locations. So if publishers are having a hard time getting tangible results from them then how are librarians doing? Is it possible to be able to prove that a MySpace is getting viewed and more importantly, directing viewers to our resources? I believe it is, at least with MySpace. (Keep in mind that I am only 75% techie so if someone out there knows a better way please share). I noticed recently that the "new skin" on MySpace has a new site tracker so you can see how often your profile is being viewed. If you want to know whether your profile is leading viewers to your website or blog then you can use free applications like Blog Tracker and Google Analytics which show you how viewers interact with your site and how they got there in the first place (keywords, referring sites, etc.).

There does, however, seem to be an interesting movement away from traditional social networking sites. Anna Zelenka of Wordpress wrote a post mentioning how some well known bloggers have always seen the whole MySpace/Facebook thing to be pretty much a waste of time and found blogging to be much more effective in reaching readers (the focus of the discussion on these posts has more to do with the OpenID movement, a concept I'm still trying to wrap my pretty blond head around). She also points to a fascinating post by Dana Boyd who uses the term ephemeral profile to describe a particular behavior that I've also witnessed with the teens at my library. They have this tricky habit of loosing or forgeting their passwords. However, rather than hunt down the password or having it emailed to them (which is what I and probably most adults do), teens are more apt to just start over again, beginning with an entirely new email address, creating an entirely new profile and possibly even moving to a completely different social networking site (since they do seem to be in abundance lately).

Boyd notes that this behavior is indicative of teens who are all about creating and recreating their identity. What better way to do this than with social networking sites. Create a new profile, a new you and meet completely new friends. She has an interesting quote, "I should note that I don't think that the answer is "help teens remember passwords." I actually think that this tendency to shed is advantageous in the way that we shed clothes every year because the "old me" is no longer relevant. Technology is a bit too obsessed with remembering; there's a lot of value in forgetting."

So, where does this leave teen librarians? It's a hazard of the occupation I guess and all the more reason why we need to remain on our toes. :-)

Discover Musicovery

2007-12-11T09:15:00.000-08:00

Usually it's the teens in our library who help me keep up with all the new or "it" websites but this time, it was actually my husband who found this little gem.

Musicovery is an interactive radio website that allows you to choose music according to your mood. You can then narrow your search by music decade or music type. Your search results show up as a kind of funky selection web, then you can choose what song you want to listen to from there. It doesn't stop there. Like LastFM, it also provides additional suggestions according to the artist being played. Phew. It's almost exhausting trying to make you're way through all the choices but really great for those days when you just don't know what to listen to, not to mention a wonderful snazzy website to show teens as a way to introduce them to new music.

Behind the Scenes of the Alternative Teen Services Blog: A Podcast

2007-12-09T11:46:00.000-08:00

Crystal Niedzwiadek interviewed me about the Alternative Teen Services Blog for a YALSA Podcast. We talked about the technical process of running a blog, spam, censorship, and connecting with the community of teen librarians. You can listen to the podcast here:

[audio:http://pod-serve.com/audiofile/filename/7611/ttw_bloggers.mp3]

Or download it here: http://pod-serve.com/audiofile/filename/7611/ttw_bloggers.mp3

The second half of the podcast is with Eli Neiburger and focuses on the AADL Gaming Blog, which is used to establish an online community between the teens and kids that attend gaming tournaments at Ann Arbor District Library. There is some pretty fascinating discussion going on about gaming in libraries. For more information on Gaming, teens, and libraries, I recommend listening to a gaming presentation Eli did at the 2007 gaming in libraries symposium.
http://gaming.techsource.ala.org/index.php/...

Amnesty International for Teens

2007-12-05T09:04:00.000-08:00

While librarianship is an apolitical profession for many, I endeavor to practice advocacy and activism in the library and dispense with the fallacy of neutrality. In my first year as a librarian, I have not been successful in implementing the tenets of what may be called radical librarianship and I am still trying to figure out what it means to cultivate social justice in and through the library. The best way for me to do this may be to incorporate activism into youth programming. My first project is an Amnesty International chapter at the library.

My friends and I belonged to our high school AI chapter and Wednesdays after school consisted of a clutch of punks eating pizza and writing a letter or two but spending most of our time messing around. It was a good time and I talked to people I wouldn't have talked to otherwise. I do not know yet how successful AI will be at the library. Young people are particularly interested in their freedoms and rights, which may easily extend to a concern for the freedoms and rights denied to political prisoners from China, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Burma, and throughout the world. Perhaps AI will provide a context for understanding about the Other, for fostering compassion, for fighting injustice. Maybe it will just be a fun gathering of letterwriting and pizza. That would be enough.

In a great interview in the November 2004 issue of Arthur Magazine musician and activist Kathleen Hanna said, "I think it's completely political for people to feel joy in a joyless culture. That in itself really is doing a great service to the planet."

This is a guiding principle for me. I think in our programing and outreach efforts, joy is a most worthy aim.

If anyone else wants to start an AI chapter at their library or school, there is some information here.

Thoughts about Building an Urban Teen Collection on a Modest Budget

2007-12-04T23:52:00.000-08:00

In my place of work, there is a centralized fund used to purchase teen materials for the branch libraries and those purchases are usually based on starred reviews in journals. Unfortunately, these starred books tend to be the types of materials that teens in my community are not interested in. Instead, they hunger for urban books, high-interest non-fiction, and manga. There are also requests for the best sellers that don’t necessarily get starred book reviews, such as James Patterson’s Maximum Ride series. And I also have some classic readers that are gearing up for college.

Thankfully, I have an infill budget that can be used to build the collection beyond starred booklists. Herein lies the challenge. With a modest amount of infill money, where should you start? Should the money go towards building a core collection? This can be especially pertinent if the collection is lacking core materials and balanced genres. Should it be spent on high-interest materials that will fly of the shelves? The missing college-bound classics that a handful of teens are requesting? Best sellers that aren’t stocked by the publication date because they weren’t starred in a review journal? Selection lists from the Young Adult Library Services Association? As a children’s/teen librarian with a modest budget, I must make the best of the allocated funds to provide teens with a balanced collection.

Here’s what I did to meet this challenge:

The first year I worked here, I purchased core materials for the collection. Authors such as Sharon Flake, Sharon Draper, Walter Dean Myers, and Jaqueline Woodson were missing, possibly because they were initially available but never returned. To get ideas for what makes a core collection in an urban library,I browsed book blogs on the internet, recommended reading lists on Amazon.com, and articles published by YALS and VOYA. I spent the remaining money on high-interest materials and manga. Teens in the library eagerly provided me with a list of manga series to order. And YALSA’s Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers is an excellent resource when buying high-interest materials for teens.

During year two, I have focused on acquiring urban books, which includes the Bluford High Series and the Kimani Tru Series. I’ve also run into a dilemma with the manga collection, in which most of the material acquired from year one is permanently missing. In other words, about 40% of the manga has been stolen. At this point I had to decide between purchasing new manga series that our animanga club has suggested, and reordering missing titles. I chose to acquire the new series and year three collection money may focus on missing titles.

At the end of the budget year, I plan to use YALSA’s Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults and Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers to get up to date with new high-interest materials. I usually poke around in the other YALSA selection lists too, including Great Graphic Novels for teens.

I think the key to building any collection is to have a game plan and teens should be involved in the process of developing the plan. I based the way I built the collection on the interests of teens in the community. I did surveys that asked about their favorites subjects and I also take notes from reader’s advisory interactions. That’s how I found out that urban books, high interest fic and non-fic, and manga are the materials most likely to be checked out.

With a modest budget, you can’t have the perfect teen collection. You can only build towards it. So you have to make decisions about what aspect must be focused on. I chose high-interest materials because I want the books to be read. But I balanced out that focus by purchasing core authors that teens from the inner-city would be required to read for book reports or just because their friends told them about it!

Resources

Core Collection
YALSA’s Outstanding Books for the College Bound

Urban books for Teens
Crazy Quilts Blog - 2007 list for teens of color
Crazy Quilts Blog - 2006 lists

Selection Lists
YALSA Selection List

Manga
TokyoPop
DelRay

Addendum: Readers, if you have any good resources you use for collection development, please share!

Best 'Bored' Outtakes ep.1

2007-11-16T07:30:00.000-08:00

During our peak business hours on any day of the week, it's common for a teen to meander up to the circ desk every 5 min to inform me of the boredom or new drama in their lives. What begins as a game can quickly become distracting for the patron I'm currently assisting. I'm sure that you too are familiar with the various ways harmless teen behavior becomes disruptive or escalates to more serious issues. In an attempt to create a positive environment for teens to interact outside of programs, I struggle to find the right type of activity to sustain their interest as well as occupy a good amount of their spare time. Because it's hard to break into conversation with some teens, I'd like to share a few practices I've tried which have shown to influence constructive relationships between teens and books as well as teens and myself.

When displaying "Pep Rally" found in Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems by John Grandits, I'm greeted with gaffaws as teens gaze upon the wry stick figured cheerleader illustration. The word 'air' fits within a large O for a head, 'ridiculously thin waist' bends to form the torso, 'bOObs' cross the mid-section, and 'stupid little skirt' collapses upon itself as it swishes side-to-side. In this collection of 30+ poems, language acrobats across pages, zig-zaging, and curling as hair might on a "Bad Hair Day." These clever word pictures accompany the opinions of a mistrusting high school teen who eventually learns to confide in someone like "Andrea, a cheerleader who turned out to be a regular person- annoyingly pretty, but a regular person." It doesn't matter if teens read all of the poems, for they just might open up towards you.

You can use prompts found in the Write Brain Workbook: 366 Exercises to Liberate Your Writing by Bonnie Neubauer to get teens thinking outside of typical first person stories. On a strip of paper type "Without looking down, describe what, if your feet had eyes, they'd see right now" or other various excerpts to litter your teen area, create a bulletin board display, or slip them inside books during checkout.

Hopefully you've picked up a few good hints to assist you in your interactions with teens. As I discover other helpful practices, I'll give ya a holla and share. For more inspiration, follow these links: Immersed in Verse: An Informative, Slightly Irreverant & Totally Tremendous Guide to Living the Poet's Life by Alan Wolf OR Poetry is Contagious: How I Teach My Students to Write Award-Winning Poetry by Betsey Coleman.

Veterans Day= Random Rantings

2007-11-13T06:28:00.000-08:00

My Alt. Teen Services post is a day late. I guess that's an improvement on last month when it was a week late. I’m going to blame it on indecisiveness this time. I spent most of yesterday trying to come up with a good topic. There's so much to think about and talk about these days when it comes to teen services, so much in the world impacting a teenagers life and so many librarians trying to figure out the best way to help them. I was pretty much set on writing about how neat it would be to have a Teen Yoga program at a library, however, while crunching on my Grape Nuts early yesterday morning my husband thoughtfully reminded me that November 11th was Veterans Day, something which had completely passed me by. My husband has good reason to be paying close attention to this particular holiday. His nineteen year old cousin was killed a mere three days into the invasion of Baghdad in April of 2003. We were newly weds at the time, young adults ourselves and it was the first time I'd ever seen him cry. Suddenly a yoga program seemed like a very trivial topic.

It makes me twitch to think about all the issues teens have to deal with these days but the one that leaves me most anxious, the one that makes me gnaw on my hang nails and yank at my tangled hair in the morning, is the depressing situation in the Middle East. The past few years has revealed a lot of dishonesty in our government. I'm not here to argue over those issues. I'm here to try and put myself in the shoes of a sixteen year old and imagine what it must feel like to be at the edge of my childhood in a world where you seemingly can't trust anyone, or look to anyone for honest leadership. All the facts and the falseness, all the broken promises, I wonder, how do they make sense of it all? How does it effect them? Do they even care?

Of course they do. They may not keep up with the news in the traditional way but they do keep up and they do care.
I'm currently reading The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot by Naomi Wolf. Now before you say "Whoa, maybe not such an objective middle-way read", know that I'm only on page twenty and don't have much of an opinion on the book other than that it's helping me learn a lot of WWII history that I didn't know. There is, however, a quote I read which has been stubbornly sitting at the tip of my brain all weekend. In an attempt to express how fragile our civil liberties are Wolf uses an interesting pendulum analogy:

"Up until now, the basic checks and balances established by the Founders have functioned so well that the pendulum has always managed to swing back. It's very success has made us lazy. We trust it too much, without looking at what a pendulum requires in order to function; the stable framework that allows movement; space in which to move; that is liberty."

I read the part about being "lazy" and was reminded of another quote that I read recently in Julian Aiken's article from American Libraries, Outdated and Irrelevent? Rethinking the Library Bill of Rights. The results of the survey he reviewed indicated that "more than half of our public libraries are not conforming to Article V of the Library Bill of Rights". Apparently this particular part of our job has simply turned into a cumbersome battle that most librarians are "no longer interested in fighting." I find something downright scary about "rethinking" the Library Bill of Rights and remolding it to better fit the needs of busy librarians who are unwilling to spend the time explaining Article V to busy working parents.

So, where am I going with this? I’m not entirely sure, this is definitely a very randomly thought out post. Am I saying that we've become lazy? I don't know. I'm not sure you can quantify laziness so lets not even use that word. Maybe we've become too cautious. Tensions are high in this country, people are on fire with opinion, who can blame anyone for choosing to remain reticent in the wake of controversy or for choosing precaution over advocacy if it means keeping relations in a community peaceful, not to mention helping to avoid heated disagreements with friends and peers. That route is easier, less stress on everyone, that’s for sure. But I have to admit, the repercussions of that kind of cautious action scares the bejezus out of me. Is it enough that we keep gay/lesbian fiction on our library shelves, yet overlook doing programs or displays to promote those books because we’re afraid of upsetting people? How many of us shy away from doing teen programs that may involve political or religious topics because we worry it might lead to inflammatory discussion or upset parents? I think Teen Librarians need to be careful about choosing the quiet stay out of trouble lets lay low and walk the path of least resistance so we can appeal to everyone route. You may think your appealing to everyone that way but instead you end up isolating your services to a quiet reading room and I say quiet because, well, eventually no one will be there. They’ll be here instead.

I think Younker had it right when he described teen services as “the illegitimate child of public libraries”. It's unfortunate but true and because of it teen librarians have to expect controversy while on job. They have to anticipate these moments be willing to face them and engaged in them productively. Most importantly, we shouldn't be afraid to let teens engage in disagreement. When holding a book discussion, don't gloss over hot topics because you're worried it may pinch a nerve and start an argument. If you do, you may be missing out on a perfect opportunity for teens to express themselves. Teens love to express their opinion. Let them. While you’re at it let them know what it means to be able to live somewhere where they are able to express their opinion without persecution. Then let them know how fragile those rights are and how easily they can be stripped away from them. Using library services to empower our youth is one way we can help maintain the checks and balances in our society.

Getting Graphic #2

2007-10-19T00:35:00.001-07:00

A while ago I shared with you a review of It’s a Bird, from a graphic novel review newsletter I write for my library system called Getting Graphic. It has been a little longer between reviews than I had planned, but today I am back with two more reviews for you. The first review is a newer title that you should definitely be aware of and the second is an older title, and is perhaps my favorite graphic novel of all time. I will continue to post more titles here each month or so, but if you want a little more please check out the newsletter itself and feel free to subscribe if you so desire.

The Plain Janes
By: Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg

When Jane was knocked off her feet by a nearby terrorist attack in Metro City her parents decide it is time to leave. The family moves a long way from the city to a suburban town called Kent Waters. Jane hates it there, until she forms a secret club called People Loving Art In Neighborhoods, or simply P.L.A.I.N. The group, which is made up of four less than popular girls, all named Jane, attempts to create meaning both for themselves and for their town by creating renegade art projects throughout the community. While some folks seem to love the art provided by P.L.A.I.N. the community as a whole begins to fear it and starts to investigate these “crimes” very seriously. The Plain Janes is the first of a variety of graphic novels put out by MINX, an imprint of D.C. comics that is aimed at teenage girls. It is fun and quirky, and will certainly appeal to its intended audience, as well any adult, female or male, who can remember what it is like to be a teenager trying to find his or her way through life.

Blankets
By: Craig Thompson

At a very expansive 592 pages, Blankets has the space to cover a lot of material. In this novel, the author relates his childhood, telling readers about his family, which consists of two very religious and strict parents as well as a younger brother who is at times the companion in his adventures but can also double as his mortal enemy. His bizarre family life and childhood are the reasons that he often feels ostracized from his peers until he meets Raina, who soon becomes his first love. This is a coming of age tale, much akin in style to J.D. Salinger’s classic The Catcher in the Rye. Often, Heralded as one of the best ever graphic novels and as one of the first great examples of the genre, Blankets has a lot to live up to. Readers will not, however, be disappointed in this choice, even if they go in with the highest of expectations. This is one title that any graphic novel fan should be aware of, and is a great title for a first exposure to the genre.

The Missing Ending Book Club

2007-10-17T04:52:00.000-07:00

We've never had a great deal of success with teen book clubs at our library. Nowadays we usually just try to incorporate books into whatever program we're doing at the time. So I was paying very close attention to the YALSA BOOK listserve last week which was practically on fire with all sorts of creative ideas for book clubs. One in particular caught my eye, the Missing Ending Book Club.

The Missing Ending Book Club idea originated with the Weld County Library in Greely, Colorado. After viewing their presentation at a conference, Janet Good of North Branch Summit County Library was insipired enough to start her own. Janet explained the concept of the book club in a recent write-up in her local newspaper:

"Each reader gets a book with a twist: the final pages stapled off! At club meetings, readers tell how they would end the story, and then find out the author's take. Besides the joy of exercising his or her creativity, the reader with the best guess gets a prize."

Janet also includes related snacks and crafts during the program, depending on what book is being read. When their club read The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp by Rick Yancey, the groups craft was to make a sort of self-made coat of arms shield. The snack was mini corn dogs and Coke because that was the first meal the main character Alfred introduced the knight to in the book. She also hands out candy to anyone who guesses the ending of the book correctly. "I used gold-wrapped chocolate coins that meeting. The prize for the best guess as to the ending of the story was a DVD of Camelot."

The model of the Missing Ending Book Club can be adapted using a variety of different books. Mysterious would obviously be the easiest genre but any book with a twist at the end will do. If you want to make the program more for older teens then maybe something like What happened to Cass McBride by Gail Giles or Tyrell by Coe Booth would work. At any rate, it's a fantastic way to jazz up a book club and help teens get a little more excited about reading.

For more information about creating successful teen book clubs, try The Teen Centered Book Club: Readers into Leaders by Bonnie Kunzel and Constance Hardesty.

*The information/quotes about the Missing Ending Book Club at the North Branch Summit Library was taken from Janet Good's email to the YALSA listserve, with her permission. Thank you Janet. :-)

This Product is Harmful To Your Health

2007-10-15T03:11:00.000-07:00

This Product Is Harmful To Your Health

Most of us are familiar with the mandate of women’s magazines to build us up on one page and tear us down on the next through the cult of the body, the aspirational advertorializing of products and celebrity, and the usage of stereotyped gender roles. While men’s magazines may be culpable of these offenses to some degree, they are fundamentally different. They are based on interest and experience and doing rather than shopping and adorning and being and are defined less by guilt, caution, and anxiety than by an enthusiasm for subjects like music, biking, design, naked women, business, or literature.

Of course, it is not accurate to say magazines like Rolling Stone, Wallpaper, Bicycling, Juxtapoz, Foreign Affairs, Discover, or Business Week are for men. Women read them too. But most media is intended for a white male audience unless it pronounces otherwise. Why do women need a such large airless body of literature devoted to consuming femininity? Why aren’t parallel glossies for men successful (Men's Vogue, anyone?)

Unfortunately, this is duplicated for children’s and teen magazines and the makeup and dieting frenzy has been filtered down to children and teens, changing bodies and minds that need play and flexibility more than they need withholding and narrowness. In a public library, the available magazines for young people include CosmoGIRL, Teen Vogue, Lucky, Girls’ Life, Cheerleader, Boys’ Life, Spin, Hype Hair, and various gaming mags. This reading material is a small part of the heterosexist, classist, gendered climate in which kids are reared. Early on, children learn that the life of boys is devoted to fun while girls require regimens and advice, paeans to perfection. Aside from New Moon, I see no alternatives to the monoculture that prescribes The Way to Be for Girls and Boys.

Where are the alternatives? Where is the young adult Bitch, Believer, Adbusters, Arthur, Maximum Rock'n'Roll, Venus Zine, Utne Reader? Why aren’t these magazines in YA rooms? Sure, they have their faults, but they attempt to be sources of knowledge and criticism and enlightenment, whereas more mainstream magazines are devoted to checklists and manuals and rules. Media consolidation is locking us out of alternative choices. There is no more Punk Planet or Stay Free or Sassy or Black Girl. We are depending on conglomerates to teach us about ourselves and our culture.

If we decide to buy these titles for children and teens, we should at least provide them with alternatives. If we can’t buy indie magazines, we should encourage kids to make their own zines in the absence of counterculture print material and check out others on the Web

P.S. What do you think about Adbusters’ proposed CosmoGIRL ads?

Alt. Teen Fashion Show Inspired by YALIBRARIAN.COM - Or Amanda Rodriguez

2007-10-04T01:41:00.000-07:00

Alt. Teen Services received a mention in the latest issue of VOYA! Do you remember the Alternative Teen Fashion show we blogged about in the past? Well it just so happens that the Alt. Teen Fashion show, facilitated by Jenine Lillian, received VOYA's Most Valuable Program award for Young Adults 2006! And she kindly gave credit to yalibrarian for promoting the books that jumpstarted the entire fashion ordeal.

"After Stephanie Iser, a teen librarian in Kansas City, Missouri, posted an entry on her nationally recognized blog, Alternative Teen Services (http://www.yalibrarian.com), about cool, new fashion books for teens, Lillian ordered the books for her library’s young adult collection.While visiting schools in Fayetteville, she booktalked several titles including Generation T: 101 Ways to Transform a TShirt by Megan Nicolay. When she introduced this book, sparks flew among the teens. By August, a Teen Alternative Fashion Show Planning Team of twenty teens began meeting with Lillian to brainstorm about creating an event unlike anything they had ever experienced. They set their sights on Teen Read Week in October for their performance date."

Wow! Thanks for the mention Jenine, and it's good to know our blog is being so inspirational to yalibrarians. But let me give credit where credit is due! Amanda Rodriguez is the brilliant mind behind the collection development posts, including the blog regarding cool new fashion books for teens.

So I have a few points to make, in no particular order:

A) Congratulations to Jenine and all the hard working teens at Fayetteville Public Library for getting Most Valuable Program of the year! That's amazing, and we here at Alternative Teen Services think your program hands-down deserves the award.

B) The write-up in VOYA provides a lot of background information about the planning that went into the event, and tips for hosting a similar program at your own library. So read the article in full to get some tips!
http://pdfs.voya.com/VO/YA2/VOYA200710fashion_show.pdf

C) Amanda, thanks for being an awesome contributor to YALIBRARIAN.COM. Your posts have been very cutting edge, always providing interesting insight and a fresh look into teen library services. Thanks for being such a voracious reader and letting us know your opinion on new books, notifying us of the new stuff that's worth ordering, and finally, for being such a big teen advocate as I personally know you are from working with you at the Kansas City Public Library. And thanks for inspiring the Alt. Teen Fashion Show!

TRW Update

2007-10-02T05:20:00.001-07:00

Previously I posted about what I have planned for Teen Read Week at my library and I asked what you have planned. Today I am back with the first few responses.

Kimberly, a Teen Services Librarian from the Kingston Frontenac Public Library writes:

We usually put up dispays and have our municipalities declare Teen Read Week. This year, we are also holding a teen membership drive throughout the week. We will be holding a drawing at the end of the week, and the winner will get an iPod Nano Video. Teens will get a ballot if they:

bring a friend who registers for a library card

use their library card to borrow materials or a book an internet station

visit the library's teen website

There is no limit to the number of ballots they can recieve (other than, of course, they may only register for one card themselves!).

Molly, Associate Director of the Guthrie Memorial Library wrote:

In conjunction with Teen Read Week, a nationwide initiative by libraries to encourage teens to read for fun and discover their local libraries, the Guthrie Memorial Library - Hanovers Public Library and the York County Library System will welcome Robin Brande, author of Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature (Knopy Books for Young Readers, September 2007) for events in York County October 12-13, 2007.

York County's Teen Read Week celebration is now in its fourth year. Controversy surrounding the teaching of evolution in schools in Dover, Pennsylvania (kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District) in 2005 makes Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature an especially timely and important choice for York County.

Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature tells the story of a ninth grade girl who has been ostracized by her friends and her church for doing the right thing. She faces many tough decision during her freshman year: social pressure, parental relationships, faith, romantic relationshiops, and sense of self. When her science teacher begins a unit on evolution, things get out of hand as Mena struggles to find a way to reconcile her faith and religion with science.

The book has already been selected as one of the Young Adult Library Services Association's Best Books for Young Adults for 2007. Additionally, Borders has chosen Brande as an Original Voice for September.

Brande will be part of a local initiative called One Book, Every Freshman, where she will speak to ninth grade students at area high schools who have read her book. Nearly 500 copies of the book will be given away in conjunction with participating schools in preparation for Brande's visits on Friday, October 12 to Hanover High School and Delone Catholic High School. This program, based on the One Book, One Community model, will bring reading as a collaborative activity to high school students, as well as introduce them to a fresh voice in young adult literature.

Also on Friday, October 12, Brande will visit Dover Area High School for programming with drama and language arts students.

On Saturday, October 13, Brande will do a talk and signing at the Borders store on Whiteford Road in York, Pa at nooon, and then will be headlining at the York County Library System Teen Read Week Kickoff event at 5:00 pm at the Guthrie Memorial Library - Hanovers Public Library in Hanover, PA.

So what are you planning?

If you would like to share what your library has planned please send an email to jberns89@gmail.com with TRW in the subject line. Include in the email a short description of your events, and make sure to let me know if you do not want me to mention your name or what library you work for. As always, feel free to post information about your events in the comments as well.

Teen Read Week - LOL @ your library

2007-10-02T05:18:00.001-07:00

Last year we posted a series about Teen Read Week. The point of the series was for you, the readers, to share both with us and with each other what your plans were for TRW. This was a good opportunity for all of us to share our excitement with each other, all while creating a resource for librarians who might be having trouble coming up with plans of their own. Seeing as how everyone enjoyed sharing last year, I thought we could do it again this year for the TRW theme of LOL @ your library, which takes place October 14-20.

So, I will get us started by sharing what my library will be doing for TRW. After that I am relying on you guys to tell me what you’re doing. Email me at jberns89@gmail.com with a paragraph or two about what you are doing (programs, school visits, contests, etc…) and include TRW in the subject line. I will try and post a few ideas every couple of days as I get them. If you want me to post your email or other info about you so people can contact you with questions about the programs let me know. I will try to post a first name and library for each person if it is given to me, unless you ask me not to.

We have a few things planed for TRW this year at my library, the first being a school visit. I will be going into our local high school with one other staff member to book talk a bunch of books and plug a few of our programs. Last year we talked to most of the freshman class as they cycled through the English classroom and while I am not exactly sure what the school has planned for us this year I suspect it will be something similar.

While we are book talking in the schools we will be handing out a coupon, which students can bring in to our library in order to receive a free book, while supplies last. This treat is provided for us thanks to our friends of the library group who are going to buy us 50 or 60 paperback books. I have picked out 6 or 7 titles and these will be both the books we book talk and the books we give away.

Finally we will be hosting a comedy program called Laugh Out Loud. We have a professional comedian, Dwayne L. Gill, who will be coming in to give a stand up comedy workshop to our teens. I will, of course, be trying to drum up as large of an audience for this event as I can while I am at the school.

So, that is what my library has planned, what about yours? Email me at jberns89@gmail.com with a short description of your plans and don’t forget to include TRW in the subject line. Feel free to mention your plans in the comments as well, or better yet, once your event has happened use the comments to tell us about how it went.

I have a job. Now what?

2007-09-10T04:50:00.000-07:00

I finally finished my masters last December. Although my husband and I aren't entirely ready to uproot our family, I have tentatively been looking for jobs and my mind has been very focused on what my future in the LIS profession will hold. Generally speaking, I only have a little bit of experience with teen services, mainly just the odd program here and there. I do blog about teen services on occasion but most of that is gleaned from things I read. I often wonder, even if I do know how to talk the talk, can I really walk the walk? When actually faced with my first day as a teen librarian, will I even know where to begin? I have a pretty good feeling that I'm not alone in this, that there are plenty of other new librarians coming into the profession wanting to be the best teen librarians they can but feeling a little overwhelmed and bewildered by the continuous flow of ideas being presented to them. So, here's the scenario. You've just landed your first job as a teen librarian. Where do you start?   What's the first step?

The following is a draft of some of my own ideas. I have yet to cross this threshold so it will obviously be a rather incomplete list. What I'm really hoping for is that this post will help generate a dialogue with readers and other fellow teen librarians who have already been through this. Together, hopefully we can help ease some of those first week jitters for us newbies out there.

1) Evaluate the services already in place

I figure the most logical first step would be to get to know your new library. What services/programs are already in place? Are there outreach services, school visits throughout the year? Study the collection. Note any gaps that may need to be filled. Is there a collection development policy or statement for your area? Ask for the past years monthly reports, circulation stats, attendance stats for past programs. What about regular library goers? Do a lot of teens come into the library after school? Have there ever been any behavior issues in the past, if so, how were they dealt with? What about organizations in your community, are there any that your library has collaborated with before? If so, collect and store their contact information in case an opportunity arises for collaboration in the future.

2) Make yourself known to your demographic

In addition to introducing yourself to teens who come into the library, make your presence known to teens who aren't regular library goers. Begin with an online presence. If your library doesn't have one already, start a teen blog (see Josh's post on Creating a YA blog for some guidance). Make sure all your contact information is available on the blog, including a picture of yourself so teens know who to look for when they do come into the library.   I would also sign-up for Meebo and imbed a widget on the blog. I wouldn't worry about starting a MySpace or other social network profile right away. A blog and Meebo are a good start to connecting with teens online. Find out how they respond to that first. Then create some snazzy brochures for your teen department that include the blog address and perhaps pictures of your teen area in the library. Take the brochures with you when you go for school visits or just drop them off at various locations in the community frequented by teens.

3) Start slow when it comes to programs

I've always had a hard time slowing down my brain when it comes to programming. I hear about so many great ideas nowadays, it's really hard not to just want to try them all. But you'll likely overwhelm not just your staff but also your teens if you try to plan for too much in the beginning. Stick to the tried and true stuff.   Obviously, budget is going to be an issue here so check into that, maybe start with something cheap and easy first so you can reserve your money for bigger events once you've been on the job for awhile. I think an online gaming event would be a safe bet to start with. It doesn't require much more than space and internet accessible computers, perhaps some pizza and pop for refreshment.  Runescape has always been a popular online game with teens but there are plenty of others out there for them to try (Gaia and Naruto Arena have become really popular with the teens at our library). Then try a second event that's completely different, like a Fashion show or Pizza tasting contest. This way you'll get a diverse sample of teens that you can size up and get to know. Provide suggestion boxes at each event and maybe a sign-up sheet to see if anyone is interested in starting a TAB.

4) Organize your professional tools

I know they're expensive but I do think it's important to have subscriptions to some of the essential publications like YALS and VOYA (in many cases employers will pay for them). If you can't afford the subscriptions then remember to bookmark their websites and check them often for new links, resources and articles of note. Keeping up with blogs is also important but...yikes...that deserves a whole post of its own. There are a lot of good ones out there and it's hard to keep up with them all. I try to keep my list pretty condensed. In addition to the Alt Teen Services blog, I also read Ypulse, Pop Goes the Library, the YALSA blog (they even have a catagory especially for new librarians).

5) Contribute to the profession

I think anyone would agree that it's important to wait until you've found some sort of sense of balance between work and home before piling on any additional responsibilities beyond your initial job requirements. But after things have slowed down a bit and you begin feeling a little more comfortable in your position, it may be a good idea to look into contributing to your profession in some way. There are a number of different ways to do this. First, figure out how much time you are willing to commit. ALA and YALSA have all sorts of committees and task forces you can join. However, if that seems a little daunting then you may want to start with something a little smaller, perhaps on the state level (check your state library website for opportunities). Or even something more local like a seat on the literacy council in your community. If you like to write and do research about librarianship then start a blog of your own. Don't have time for your own blog? Then join a collaborative blog or do something that requires even more of an irregular committment like contributing to the TeenLib wiki. Despite how small scale they are, these experiences have the potential of helping you on and off the job.

6) Advocating for teens

One of the most important aspects of being teen librarian is advocating for teens and their right to access information. This is also probably one of the most difficult aspects about being a teen librarian. Stay on top of intellectual freedom issues by being proactive. Know your library's policies and the steps taken when a request for reconsideration occurs. Most important, know your support base (who to call if you need help) before an issue comes up in your library or community, as opposed to just reacting to it when it does. Look beyond your own institution. How can you as a teen librarian help fight censorship in your community? Anticipating these situations before they happen will help you deal with them better when they occur.  In addition, make sure your teens are aware of their rights. Post links to the blog or print out information for them to look at while they're hanging around in the library. Build a display around the theme of censorship.  One of the best times to do this would be during Banned Books Week but you can also do it during the month of a Banned authors birthday.

7) It's not always golden

Working with teens is a tremendous challenge but that is also what makes it so rewarding. I hate to say it but there will likely be a number of disheartening experiences that you will go through...a program will completely flop, teens will look at you like your from Mars, a parent may get angry at you for suggesting that their child read a Gossip Girls novel...in the midst of all this you will likely make all kinds of mistakes and blunders, all of which you will learn from if you allow yourself to. The important thing is to never loose your enthusiasm for what you do and never ever stop trying

Books for the Beast

2007-09-10T00:40:00.000-07:00

Books for the Beast

Books for the Beast is a conference at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore on Saturday, October 27. While I look forward to attending, I am disappointed by the required reading. The literature is intended to be the best that YA can offer, but most of the books are terrible or mediocre. I know there are lots of great new young adult books (Twisted, Un Lun Dun, Alabama Moon, Strays, Beige, and An Abundance of Catherines are just a few that I’ve recently read and can remember.) Why haven’t these been chosen? Why are we saddled with garbage like Say it Ain’t So, What Happened to Cass McBride, Jason and Kyra, and Sleeping Freshmen Don’t Lie? Does anyone know how the literature is selected? I suspect it is related to the holdings at the hosting library. It is sad that as young adult literature is receiving positive attention for its relevance and literary merit—comix in particular— a significant conference seems to select such insignificant and poorly constructed novels.

Each participant reads from two of the genres (ten books). The genres include Science Fiction/Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Multicultural, Non-Fiction, Real Life, and Suspense/Horror. My chosen genres are Multicultural and Real Life and I have read a few other choices as well. I have read fourteen of the thirty books and found only a few worthy of positive notice. Cecil Castellucci’s Boy Proof, Sharon Flake’s Who Am I Without Him: Short Stories about Girls and the Boys in Their Lives, Siena Cherson Siegel’s graphic memoir To Dance, and of course Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese are complex, eclectic, and arresting works that transcend demographic marketing.

One of the interesting aspects of the conference is that teens are invited to attend for free and share their perspectives and perceptions on this body of literature written for them. Although YA novels have a clear intended audience, the opinions of young readers tend to be overlooked and discounted in favor of expert judgment. I am looking forward to a small shake-up in the hierarchy.

The conference runs from 9:00-4:00 at the Roland Park Country School, 5204 Roland Avenue, Baltimore, 21210. Speakers include author Gail Giles and Mark Siegel, graphic novel artist and editor. For more information, email beast@prattlibrary.org, call 410-396-5356, or visit the Enoch Pratt Free Library's webpage

Alt. Teen Dispatch #2

2007-09-09T13:31:00.000-07:00

The Card Catalog of Creativity Blog has a nice overview of a Teen Advisory Group Meeting in which teens painted book ends for the library. The activity allowed teens to personalize the teen collection.

Thinking about a renovation? The Indie librarian shares research on the types of furniture teens do and don’t like in their libraries. While some furniture may be cute in the children’s area if placed in the teen area the furniture would be out-of-place.

If you need to attract teens to the library, then why not build a state-of-the-arch gaming facility equipped with xbox 360s and gaming PCs? Carver’s Bay branch library in South Carolina did just that and gained more than 60 members for the teen gaming club within the first week of opening.

Tech Related

If you have logged onto Facebook recently, chances are you read the news about profiles appearing in Google search results. This may be a good time to remind teens about controlling privacy settings on public profiles.

Lit Related

The latest episode of JetSet highlights diy 'zines. I thank twitter for the introduction to Jetset, which is a quick mashup of the weekly news in a digestible video format. The last episode included more than one story related directly to teens and the pop culture that influences them so much.

A new blog featuring urban lit reviews is looking for – reviews! For more information, visit streetfiction.org.

Teen Read Week is just about four weeks away! There is still time to register on the YALSA web site. Visit ala.org/teenread before September 17th to register.

Un Lun Dun

2007-08-29T03:38:00.000-07:00

In and Out of the Rabbit Hole

China Miéville’s Un Lun Dun is a singular phantasmagoria that nonetheless tempts comparisons to Alice in Wonderland, Narnia, and His Dark Materials. In his acknowledgments Miéville thanks Lewis Carroll, Tanith Lee, and Neil Gaiman, among other writers, clearly signifying what is to come for the reader. By not shrugging off his influences, Miéville can integrate them unselfconsciously with his own ideas and language. Miéville is a master of the switcheroo and the sneak. He thumbs his nose at conventions of the fantasy genre like councils and prophesies. And happily, he values libraries and librarians. The extreme librarian and bookaneer Margarita Staples says,

“I used to really look forward to requests for books way down in the abyss. There are risks: hunters, animals, and accidents. Twenty years ago, I was in a group looking for a book someone had requested. We were led by Ptolemy Yes…after weeks of searching we ran out of food and had to turn back…he’s out there still in the Wordhoard Abyss living off shelf-monkeys, looking and he’ll be back one day, book in his hand.”

Un Lun Dun is shelved in my library’s YA division and I think a lot of geekier older teens would love it. However, the book would be just as appropriate in any adult collection. It is irritating that a book is considered YA if it is fantasy and features teenage protagonists. Un Lun Dun’s heroines are the tall blonde Zanna and the awkward round Deeba, who both find themselves in Un London, one of many abcities including Lost Angeles, Baghdidn’t, Parisn’t. The story of the abcities is a critique of disposable culture and environmental collapse. Broken things find their way to abcities where they are repurposed as tools and weapons.

While Miéville packs his story with too many characters to remember, Un Lun Dun delights with its many inventions: Brokkenbroll, smombies, Smog, Klinneract, Wraithtown, Webminster Alley, Storyladders, the Black Windows, and MOIL (Mildly Obsolete in London.) Miéville enlivens his inventions with great illustrations that give a sense of how cinematic this novel could be.

One of Un Lun Dun’s most subversive moments occurs when Deeba is accused of terrorism by Inspector Churl. “Were you terrified, Murgatroyd? There you go girl: you’re a terrorist. You make me twitchy, and under Article Forty-one of the 2000 Terrorism Bill, that’s all I need. Time for some reasonable force, I think.” It is exciting to see a fantasy novel marketed to a teenage audience exposing corruption and the erosion of civil liberties. I only hope that readers can draw the obvious parallels to our present-day situation.

Un Lun Dun was exciting to me in a way a book hasn’t been since I was nine, reading by flashlight under the covers. It is a smashing combination of dystopian anarchism and realist hope.

Nintendo Wii at your library, revisited

2007-08-23T04:44:00.001-07:00

About 1 year ago I wrote a post about the then soon to be released Nintendo Wii and what benefits it would have over other systems for library gaming. Having now owned a Wii for about 6 months and having used it at my library a time or two, I thought it would be fun to revisit the post to point out a few reasons that this system is a great choice for library programming.

Before the release of the Wii I speculated that it would be a great system for libraries because it would appeal to many ages and I stand by that thought now that it is out. One of the things that Nintendo has done with the Wii is create a system that is accessible to every one, from a young child, to the elderly, because it relies heavily on natural physical movements and less on the mashing of buttons, which can be unnatural to someone who does not have much gaming experience. In addition to creating a system that could be fun for everyone, Nintendo also seems to be doing a good job putting out games for it that appeal to anyone. From simple games like Wii Sports, to more complicated games like Trauma Center: Second Opinion, there are games for both the casual and hard core gamers alike, and gamers of any age. So, in addition to being a great draw to get teens into your library, this system can also be used for events with a younger crowd. Better yet, it might be a perfect system to use if the teens in your library would like to help introduce their parents, or even grandparents, to video gaming.

Another great thing about the Wii is that there seem to be two reasons that make it a great choice for social gaming. First is the fact that it is a physical experience. Games like Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero have become very popular with libraries because it is fun to have a game that gets you moving, and it is also very fun to watch someone play a game that gets them moving. Nintendo has capitalized on that by making movement a central part of almost every game for the Wii. You can have 4 people lined up next to each other, each swinging the remotes like a tennis racket, while the characters on the screen engage in a heated doubles match. Afterwards everyone could take a turn using the controller like a fishing rod and hopefully real in a large catch. Not only is this a ton of fun to do, but it is also very fun, or better yet funny, to watch. The second reason is that many of the games that Nintendo makes are often meant to be played with numerous people. This has been a big draw for earlier Nintendo systems and it continues to be the same for the Wii as well. There are games like Mario Stikers Charged or WarioWare Smooth Moves, which are already out, as well as the soon to be released Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which is sure to be a huge multiplayer hit. Either way, because of both the style of play, and the type of games, Nintendo has hit the nail on the head when it comes to social gaming, a fact that their advertising is often quick to point out.

There is also a temporary reason that makes the Wii a great choice for library gaming. This is the simple fact that is still very hard to get your hands on one. When stores do actually get this system in stock they still sell out very quickly. This means that if the library can somehow get its hands on one, there will be plenty of people who want to come experience it because they can not get their own. This is a lot easier said than done, but if you happen to find one somewhere, or if you have a staff member who owns one and is willing to bring it in I would highly recommend doing so. At our last videogame night I brought mine in and every one, teens and parents alike, was very interested in trying it out.

One last reason that the Wii is such a good choice for the library is its price point. The Wii retails at $250 dollars, which includes a game called Wii Sports, as opposed to the Sony Playstation 3 which retails at $499 and up. The Microsoft Xbox 360 has recently come down in price, but it still generally costs $299 for the core system. All three systems have similar prices for games and controllers depending on which ones you choose to buy. So, when considering the ever tightening budgets that libraries have, the savings of anywhere from $50 to $250 can be a big deal.

So, all in all, if your library is looking to purchase a video game system to use for programming, I highly recommend the Nintendo Wii. It is a very fun system, which is sure to draw a big crowd at your next gaming night. For more info on the system or the games check out the Nintendo website, IGN, or an Avatars Reflection, which is where Jami Schwarzwalder, an active library blogger and video game enthusiast reviews games for the Wii.

Social networks for the back-to-school crowd

2007-08-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

Originally I was going to write about literature based social networks available on the web, those being Anobii*, Library Thing*, Shelfari*, and Revish*. However, with the branch library full of teens discussing final parties to attend, amusement parks to visit, and the number of days left to stay up really really late before school starts, my original topic diverged to meet their impending school situation. In this post we discuss social network resources that can academically or entertainingly engage the online teen who face a new school year. The starred links will direct you to my personal accounts so that you may gain a better understanding of the limitations of each social network.

Research Tools
Clipmarks and Fleck
Older teens facing an unfamiliar year of writing research papers may find appeal in the web annotation services of Clipmarks and Fleck. While browsing the web for information, Clipmarks will allow the user to highlight text portions of a page store them on an account to tag, comment, or read later. There are times when researching requires annotations directly onto the web page rather than highlighting its text and Fleck can immensely help this type of researcher. Fleck also has functions to email and save the annotated pages. Both applications are free, ~~but users can only access their accounts from the original computer containing the downloaded application~~.

Literature Themed Social Networks
A book report alternative
Teen readers may find perks in either of these programs aimed at gathering teen opinions on young adult books. First Look offers ARCs to registered teens in exchange for opinionated reviews. Creating an account with First Look will enable the user to participate on the message boards as well as grant them permission to receive arcs. If you have a library MySpace page, HarperTeen has a presence worth checking out. Just grab some code to continue promoting literature. More involved but equally rewarding, the Pulse It program created by Simon and Schuster, Inc is aimed at reading enthusiasts. Teens print a parental consent form, mail it to S&S, then create a member profile. They will be sent young adult titles to review including ARCs on a regular basis.

Shelfari* and Revish*
For teens who have book collections at home, Shelfari is the coolest place on the web to create an online bookshelf, join book discussion groups, make friends with similar genre interests, and gleefully grab some code to show off their bookshelf on MySpace or other blogs. Shelfari recently held a best review contest for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in which the winner received a signed copy. I'm not aware of Shelfari holding many contests, but Revish is hoping to have more user-driven review of the month competitions. If they follow through this idea, Revish would be the place to suggest for the teen looking to branch out of book reports.

Extracurricular Activities
Of the social networks listed below, I've only tried StyleMob. The others look like they carry heavy appeal towards the right audience:

StyleMob* Fashionistas can find inspiration and feedback for their daily outfits. Members can add friends to their personal StyleCouncil for clothing advice, ask 'The Mob' such questions as "Are leggings good or evil?", have their looks rated, and participate in style forums and contests. Check out StyleMob for ideas on how to mix-n-match your wardrobe.

FanNation - Sports fans might be interested in checking out FanNation for the latest news in sports or sports fantasy.

introPlay - Teens interested in fitness can keep track of workouts and goals and compete against other members.

GuildCafe - This social site promotes interaction between gamers. With GuildCafe, members can keep a profile of their gaming history as well as create a hub for their guild and/or clan.

Kongregate - A social site full of user-submitted Flash games.

It's a Bird

2007-08-11T06:24:00.001-07:00

Recently I stared writing a graphic novel reader’s newsletter for my library system called Getting Graphic. In it I usually mention about 5 or 6 titles, some of which are newer titles while others are past favorites that I feel everyone should be aware of. I will be posting one or two of these reviews here every month, but feel free to check out the newsletter, or subscribe to it, if you would like to read about the rest of the titles. For now I will leave you with today’s review, which falls under the category of older favorite everyone should be aware of.

It’s a Bird…
Writer: Steven T. Seagle
Artist: Teddy Kristiansen

This fascinating story about Superman depicts the Man of Steel in a whole new light. Seagle’s partially autobiographical story follows the life of a comic writer named Steve as he wrestles with the decision to start writing for Superman. This decision should not be hard as Superman is the Mecca of any comic writer’s world, however for Steve this is not the case. Steve is dealing with a dark family secret, which relates to his own mortality. His secret causes him to think Superman, with his infinite powers and near invincibility, is a ridiculous character that he can not relate to. This turmoil provides the basis for a very touching and real Superman story. Steve’s thoughts and actions throughout provide a wonderful insight into the world of comics and writing in general. Teddy Kristiansen’s understated art style also lends a wonderful touch to this must read story. This novel would be recommended for anyone who enjoys Superman stories, as well as those who simply enjoy a penetrating and personal graphic novel.

Alt. Teen Dispatch #1

2007-08-07T13:32:00.000-07:00

There is a lot going on in both the library world and blogosphere and sometimes it can be too much to keep up! I'll be doing a monthly update of news, and I hope this update will help you breathe a little by giving you just enough news to get caught-up.

Teen Read Week is less that two months away, meaning that all us TeenLIBS should have a game plan in mind for supporting this national literacy initiative. There are tons of program ideas on the YALSA wiki, and many can be used for last-minute program planning.

Although the ALA Annual 2007 conference is old news, it's worth mentioning some of the librarians that have provided blog coverage from a teen librarian perspective. Lindsey and Trisha provide an excellent overview of the conference on their blogs about special events, programs, adventures in the stacks, and personal experiences. There is also some good mentions on the YALSA blog regarding the conference, including the Zine-A-Palooza program, the Music and Media Interest Group Meeting, and the to I-Pods and Beyond Presentation.

The Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium was held July 22-24 in Chicago. Beth Gallaway has provided coverage for the symposiom on the Game ON: Gaming in Libraries blog. Included in the coverage is Eli Neiburger's guide to choosing videogames for tournament play and information about sharing your library's videogame scores by joining a national library videogame ledger (to begin in January 2008).

Liz and Sophie over at Pop Goes the Library Blog need your help! They are writing a book and need input about using pop culture to connect with the community. If interested in helping, you can take the survey here. The book will be called Pop Goes the Library: Using Pop Culture to Connect with your Whole Community.

Lindsey Dunn recently hosted a teen Mystery theater program that received a positive response from the participating teens. The mystery kit used to conduct the program can be purchased online for around $30.00. Read more about the program and see photos on her blog, Zee Says=Film Addict + Teen Librarian.

Worthington Public Library hosted a fashion program for teens called Project Goodwill. Teens were instructed to put together a last-minute runway outfit using donated clothing from library staff. They were allowed to bring one accessory from home to complete the outfit. Visit the Worthing Public Library teen blog for more information.

Joyce Valenza shares a list of photo and image web tools on the SLJ Blog. Of special note is the graffiti text generator and the powerful online graphics editing program, Picnik. Share these web tools with your teens or use them to updgrade your Teen Library Myspace.

And now onto news from the local front, regarding our AWESOME web site! Carleen from Library Shrine will be coming back on board as an active blogger. You can look forward to her well-thought out posts in the immediate future.

The TeenLibWiki underwent a makeover so that it can operate more as an organic encyclopedia rather than a list of links to web sites. Extensive documentation has been included on how to participate, so please read up and help us build a totally awesome and free online resource for teen librarians.

And finally, I have recently received several e-mails from people wanting to contribute to the Alt. Teen Services blog. We definitely want the help, so thanks for offering it. I plan to catch-up on these e-mails sometime in mid-August, and I thank you for being so patient!

Creating a YA blog.

2007-07-19T05:40:00.001-07:00

Recently my library system decided to start a YA blog. Previously we did not have much of an online presence for our teens and this will hopefully mark a change in the right direction. We have it ready, but we will not be officially launching it until the end of the summer. I wanted to share some of our goals and thoughts behind the blog so they might aide other librarians, but also so those of you who already have one can advise us on what will and won’t work. So let the comments fly.

In regards to content, we decided we wanted to model it after a blog called The Atrium. The Atrium is the blog for the Grand Rapids Public Library system and it is one of my favorite library blogs. The thing we liked about The Atrium was that the bloggers discuss more than just books and events. They talk about anything on their minds, from the weather, to knitting, and everything in between. Then they find a way to tie it to the library. I have seen a lot of teen blogs that talk about programs and or books, but not too many that go beyond those topics. We wanted something a little more versatile so we could talk about the things that really interest our teens. We plan to write about anything and everything, from sports, to music, movies, or books. Basically anything that interests us and would interest our teens.

This then presented a small problem. How do we make this blog applicable to the library if we are not necessarily talking about library events or items? Well we have two answers to that. The first is that almost every topic we could write about can be tied to the library. If we write about the latest movie in the theatres, we can link to our catalog showing some movies we carry with those actors. We could write about playing fantasy baseball and give a plug for a new sports book, or mention an upcoming program with a local athlete. Secondly we decided that every other blog entry should directly tie to a library item or event. This should not be hard, because, as mentioned above, almost anything can be tied to our collection or programs. It does, however, provide a reason for us to stay on task and it also helps us defend the blog if our board or administration is skeptical about its purpose.

So, we have our content ideas ready, what about commenting? We were unsure what, if any, rules we wanted to have for commenting. After consulting the 12 laws every blogger should know found on the Aviva Directory and reading the comment guidelines on a variety of other blogs, we came up with the following guidelines, which will appear on the comment form.

Please use appropriate language.

For your safety, comments containing or requesting personal information, including phone numbers, will be deleted.

Feel free to speak your mind, but please be respectful to others; offensive and inappropriate comments will be deleted.

Comments are moderated; CADL is not responsible for the content of posted comments.

CADL reserves the right to delete comments at any time for any reason; comments not directly related to the discussion will be deleted.

Most of these guidelines are probably not necessary but we wanted to make sure that we had the right to moderate the comments if a need were to arise. They basically just give us the right to not post a comment, or to delete a comment, and they explain why we might do that.

That is where we are right now. The blog is ready to launch and we are simply waiting on a name. We have decided that a fun way to launch the blog would be to have a contest, in conjunction with our summer reading program, to name it. For the next month or so our teens will hopefully be emailing us possible names. The winner will receive a gift card for a book store, in addition to having the name selected for the blog.

Hopefully these ideas help any other folks out there starting a blog. I would love to hear from those of you who have been running a teen blog for a while now. What has worked for you and what hasn’t? What do you write about? Do you moderate comments at all? And of course how have you attracted your teens to it?

Teens and Information Literacy: Is gaming the answer?

2007-07-17T04:03:00.000-07:00

Gaming and libraries seems to be a topic on the tip of everyone's tongue here lately. Shifted Librarian, Jenny Levine has been blogging notes about the Gaming, Learning and Society conference which took place in Madison, Wisconsin last week and I imagine the biblioblogshere will soon be buzzing about the much anticipated ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning and Libraries symposium taking place later this month on July 22-24. All this recent attention on gaming and libraries has brought a shift in focus from viewing gaming simply as a recreational activity to acknowledging its potential as a literacy/educational tool.

At ALA this past June, OCLC Vice President George Needham conducted a presentation called Gaming, Information Literacy and the College Student, which ultimately attracted a lot of stimulating discussion and criticism. Although the focus of this presentation was directed more towards academic libraries, I think there is a lot here that would make for some interesting discussion amongst teen librarians also. Relying on recent research (2003 Environmental Scan: Pattern Recognition, Pew Internet and American Life Project, Marc Prensky) Needham’s presentation attempted to encourage librarians to think ahead a few years and consider the information literacy needs of the graduating class of 2010. Pegged with a multiple of descriptive, if not stereotypical names (net gens, millennials, gen y, gen me), this generation is especially known for its video gaming enthusiasm.

According to Needham's presentation, gamers believe:

there are multiple paths to victory

failure along the way is to be expected

leaders can't be trusted

life should be fun

Taking these traits into consideration, Needham suggests that we design library tools with gaming technology in mind so users can essentially learn on their own (remember: multiple paths to victory, failure to be expected, life should be fun) without having to turn to the "information priest" (leaders can't be trusted) for assistance. He does not necessarily advocate that we completely forfeit our role of helping students find information, only that we allow them the opportunity to "play" first and ask when they feel they need the help.

Needham said that in this environment, librarians should focus on “in demand training,” helping students when they hit an obstacle, not before they start. Even then, he said, librarians shouldn’t say that they are providing formal training, but should say things like “let me show you a short cut,” the kind of language students use with one another all the time.

Many critics have since taken issue with Needham's use of metaphor (digital native vs. digital immigrant, librarian as information priest), while others have take issue with his attempt to make gaming behavior synonymous with information seeking behavior. There is a lot of concern that allowing for "failure" is the same things as lower expectations and as such would be detrimental to the learning process. There also seems to be a lot of concern about taking the "librarian" out of the process and diminishing their role to mere "shortcut pointer-outer". Would designing library technology tools so they are more game-like, more intuitive and trial-by-error be better for teens? Would this be considered the same as speaking to them on their own terms or is it simply "lowering the bar"?

When mulling over this myself, I can't help but think about a presentation I saw at PLA last year called Making Traditional Library Services Teen Friendly. Mary K. Chelton was among those presenting that day. Well known for her research on teens and information seeking behavior, one of the things she kept repeating was how librarians tend to suffer from an "ideal user" syndrome. Attitudes need to change, she said, we need to start treating teens according to who they are, not how we wish them to be. I have since come to believe that this philosophy is key to providing successful services to teens; however, critics may still view it as another example of lowering standards. Reference-anxiety is another thing that needs to be taken into consideration here. Can we really expect teens to admit that they can't do something and to come for help?

Current research on teens and information seeking indicates that whatever information literacy we are teaching them isn't working very well. They make errors when they search and have difficulty combining word variations. But research in this area is incomplete and I have yet to see anything that really substantiates whether other tools such as podcasting or vodcasting might actually help in this area. So what do ya'll think? Is it time to push for more alternative, non-traditional methods when it comes to teaching teens how to find information? Does the answer rest with gaming technology? Or do we need to take this thing back to the drawing board?

Transparent

2007-07-13T12:37:00.000-07:00

Transparent: Love, Family, and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers
By Cris Beam

Here is a nonfiction story that pops like a novel. This book is amazing and everyone—not just teachers, librarians, and parents—should read it. Beam writes nonfiction like a dream. She renders real people in a raw and realistic, yet literary way, with a flair for dialogue and descriptive details. Her characters are as big as life.

Beam taught briefly at Eagles Academy, a GLBT school where she met the transgender teenagers whose lives she documents. Her main subjects are Foxxjazell, Domineque, Ariel, and Christina, my favorite. Christina is destructive, smart, intense, and heartbreaking; she made me laugh and cry (no, really.) When she cries she hiccups and “sounds like a fish tank” and when she’s scared she curls up in the kitchen sink and eats Doritos. Christina burns brightly and will stick in your mind long after you’ve finished the book.

Navigating through our rigid world is fraught for transgender people. Obtaining employment, education, medical care, a driver’s license, a passport, using public bathrooms, and finding a safe romantic partner are all daily struggles. Because Transparent’s teenagers have been locked out of our limited story of gender, they can astutely critique its absurdities and constrictions. They’re pretty clear that they know what’s up with their bodies and their identities. It’s the rest of us who are confused and fighting so hard to keep everything “normal.” This book shows that transgender people aren’t reinscribing stereotypical gender roles. Being transgender is much more complicated than playing dress-up.

Beam has created a seamless narrative of transgender history, the personal lives of modern transgender teenagers, and the medical and legal travails of most transgender people. I hope this book changes minds and burrows into hearts. That’s why I’m writing this review. At my big city library transgender teenagers are treated with hostility and contempt. We need to work to protect all teenagers, especially the most vulnerable, from harassment and abuse. This book will arm its readers with more information and compassion to fight the good fight. We must keep in mind that “the pervasive self-doubt or self-hate born of a dismissive larger culture will squeeze itself out from the soul’s crack’s somewhere.”

R.A. practices for captivating the romance and non-romance teen reader

2007-07-13T11:14:00.000-07:00

With the start of June, our clientle increased to include the summer teens. As I'm sure you've experienced these pent-up Energizer rabbits who gather and demonstrate their restless spirits, let me share a few RA practices. Aha! I've discovered that their boredom and too much free time make them sitting ducks for listening to book topics. Of course literature is broached after a couple of weeks spent chatting on summer plans, new schools, friendships, relationships, the skatepark, and parents, but eventually I'll introduce a few literature characters into the foray. For instance, I'll dramatize a particular character say Lauren from Bloom.

When Lauren plays her flute she loses herself in the music. Reading the flight of notes dancing across the pages allows her momentary bliss as she temporarily forgets that her best friend Katie wouldn't understand this passion for music nor why she's unhappy in her relationship with Dave. Then again, Lauren doesn't share her feelings with anyone, so it's understandable the world considers Dave + Lauren the perfect couple. Dave treats her with respect and love but Lauren feels no passion in return. To Lauren, their relationship has become too routine.

Except that's how it feels. Like I'm watching a movie. Looking at his hand holding mine, I don't feel much of anything except worry that I don't feel more of anything...Now I know exactly what he's going to say, and "6:30" is out before he's finished saying, "What time should I pick you up tonight?"

Tension develops in Lauren's life when she begins to fall for the new transfer student Ethan. From the beginning it is clear how this young love story will play out. Regardless of this forseen fraction, Bloom conjures character emotions that are on par to the swooning romances found in The Truth About Forever and What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know. Teens with weakspots for tender romances can sympathize with Lauren's indecision and may also enjoy a similar situation found in If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince: Lucy feels shafted by a father who has remarried, relocated, and left her alone and out of favor with a stepmother and two evil stepsisters all of whom seem to delight in spending her father's money, not to mention her bedroom has only a blowup mattress for furniture. *inhales deep recuperating breath*

If teens feel indifferent towards Lauren and Lucy. Perhaps quoting Seuss and holding races on Fox in Socks readings will open a window for a favorite childhood book discussion. And for fanactics, vehemently discuss Harry Potter predictions (using the voice of Jim Dale's Trelawney, of course) or propose the question found on the MySpace Twilight group "You know you're obsessing over Twilight when..." We've still another month to attempt to reach reluctant and gung-ho readers before the start of school, so good luck, I hope these ideas may assist you in your endeavors.

Activism or "get active @ your library"

2007-07-04T02:35:00.000-07:00

This past week, I joined the ranks of teen librarians attending the American Library Association annual conference in Washington, DC. The majority of the conference was spent networking, participating in meetings, and attending programs such as the To I-Pods and Beyond Presentation and Video Games as a Service: Hosting Tournaments @ Your Library.

One of the empowering aspects of the Washington DC trip was the tour of Capitol Hill that I worked into my schedule before the flight home. There I began reflecting on freedom and democracy while absorbing the sight of the Lincoln and World War II memorial. My thoughts drifted to all the soldiers that have died to secure the safety, culture, and democracy of the United States. You could say these people died for our freedom and I think the best way to repay them is to get involved with making the world a better place. I like to imagine that the soldiers would be proud to know that some of us are not taking our freedom for granted and are instead actively contributing to the progress of society.

By working with teens, I think this activism translates into several things. It's about empowering teens and providing them with programs that support their developmental needs. It’s about being a friend when a teen needs someone to talk to. And sometimes this means being the only person in your library that is a teen advocate.

Activism is also about contributing ideas to national organizations like YALSA, so that it is relevant to all types of teen librarians. One of my colleagues complained to me that YALSA isn’t relevant to them and lacks the types of resource they want. So I encouraged this friend to take action by joining YALSA and attempting to start something new or at least get involved on some level to make a difference.

But even so, we still need outlets that aren't tied to national organizations, where we can discuss teen library services without fear of a public relations stigma or having to express our ideas within Robert's Rule of orders. Online communities such as the listservs and blogs can in many ways provide this type of grassroots forum. I hope that in some ways Alt. Teen Services can also be that type of resource.

Rebuilding the Machine: A review of Being

2007-06-20T23:44:00.000-07:00

“Her face was streaked with blood and rain. Her hair was soaking wet. She was angry. Afraid. Confused. She was inappropriately beautiful”(168).

Ah, doomed young love.

Kevin Brooks’ Being is a dismal UK dystopian science fiction novel that for some readers probably suffers from redundancy, a bad ending, and an abundance of cool. Unfortunately, the questions that develop in the course of the novel are not adequately resolved by the book’s end, which is troubling but works as a strong nod to the novel’s thematic existentialism. Regardless, I loved it and had a difficult time recovering from it. A little medical, a little conspiracist, and a little technological, Being has shades of “Alias,” Trainspotting, Morvern Callar, Chuck Palahniuk, Run Lola Run, and Poppy Z. Brite. As apparent from the name-dropping, this novel has a specific audience although not the conventional science fiction readership. While Being is unsettling with its grime, depravation, and loneliness, it is not an alienating read. Unlike most dystopias, it comforts and confirms our feelings of being unsafe and disconnected in the postmodern world.

While the characterization is sparse, Brooks adeptly cultivates concern for his heroes, Robert and Eddi. Their relationship is atypical for teen literature yet normal for Brooks’ reality. It is loving, but not sentimental. Robert and Eddi are just two unusually messed-up young people in a world of trouble involving circuit boards, fake identities, and a man (or is he a machine?) named Ryan.

Brooks’ evocative sensory language describes old feelings in new ways and creates panic, pain, and fear. “The slice of the scalpel is quick and tight. At first I feel nothing, just the silent peeling of skin and fat, opening up like a blood red smile…then suddenly the pain cuts in. It hurts”(19).

And later:

“It had some kind of miniature connection sockets all around the edge, little gold things…filaments, dulled silver-white shining dark in the light of the eye. Intricate patterns of dots and lines, circles, and waves. Fine hairs, like slender worms, moving to the flow of something invisible”(180).

And the cover is pretty rad, too.

Assorted discoveries

2007-06-19T01:30:00.001-07:00

It’s been a while since I have had the time to post, but there have been a number of things that I have discovered about recently, which I would like to share just in case some of you don’t know about them.

The first of these is the Summer Blog Blast Tour, which was organized by Colleen Mondor, the brainchild of Chasing Ray. This tour consists of a number of interviews with assorted children’s and YA authors, which will take place all week on a variety of lit blogs. It kicked off on Sunday with an interview of Gene Yang, the author of American Born Chinese, on Finding Wonderland: The Writing YA Weblog. It will go throughout this whole week and will feature many authors including a few of my favorites like Chris Crutcher, Kazu Kibuishi, and Brent Hartinger. I would highly recommend going over to Chasing Ray for a peek at the schedule to see what authors you like and where you can find their interviews. Also, thanks to Colleen for putting all this together.

Next I need to mention a phenomenon that I am sure most of you are already aware of, but I just discovered it a few weeks ago so I feel the need to mention it. The phenomenon that I speak of is called Brotherhood 2.0. This is a video blog run by John Green, author of Looking for Alaska, and his brother Hank Green who is the creator of a great environmental technology blog called Ecogeek. The purpose of this vlog is for the brothers Green to avoid textual communication for the entire year and to therefore communicate largely by use of these videos. Every week day there is a new entry and they are all quite hilarious. They also give an interesting view into the lives of these two brothers. This is especially interesting for YA librarians since John is an award winning YA author. You actually get to see some intimate moments detailing his experiences in the world of YA lit. The site has developed an extremely large audience, so I am assuming that many of you are already regular viewers, but if you aren’t you should give it a look. You won’t be disappointed. I would however suggest starting with the early archives from the first week or two just so you have an idea of what the site is about.

The C-U-T-E Program

2007-06-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

"The Cute Book" by Aranzi Aronzo
Hardcover = $12.95 ISBN=9781932234688

Supplies Needed: Photo-copied patterns from "The Cute Book", various colors of felt, embroidery thread, needles, Tacky glue, a couple of spools of thread, scissors, cotton stuffing

The steps in this craft program may appear easy, but I'll caution that you'll need a group of teens who are determined and patient to see this project through to its completion. The animal forms are very small (approx 3") and those who aren't easily discouraged will find this activity rewarding. I would suggest making an animal before your program, so that you'll have an idea of the areas in which teens may need help. In many cases, teens will find their own solutions to sewing situations and will not require assistance. However, there are teens who have never touched a needle in their life and may need guidance. For beginners, I suggest using the simpler patterns of the panda, bear, rabbit, and kitty. The teens who came to this program were very crafty and ranged between ages 12-18. They also enjoyed the idea that during their next creations they might alter their patterns to resemble anime characters, such as Kuro Neko from the series Trigun or Yuki and Kyo from the series Fruits Basket. Don't worry; if you get a couple of teens who aren't down with cute, there are patterns to construct a bad guy, kidnapper, and liar.

Simple Steps
One: Make supplies available and briefly explain the construction process. Two: Teens cut out patterns and animal pieces. Three: Teens sew on faces and other body parts and stuff bodies. TADA! All Done.

Other titles to consider having available for checkout:

Speaking of things cute and cats, here's a random idea for leaving 'MySpace Comments':
A couple of weeks ago, a friend sent me these links in an email: ICanHasCheezburger and Cute Overload!;) Since then, I've been randomly inserting cat pics onto my teen patron's MySpace comments. This way of communicating usually goes well with teens who already have animal pictures on their MySpace page. Not only do they find the pics funny but many will find humor in the slang accompanying the pics (ex. bird flavr watr hitz da spot).

Thoughts on Everyone Serves Youth Training

2007-04-10T22:29:00.000-07:00

Urban Libraries Council recently provided an audio conference about effective youth services in our branch libraries. The featured libraries were able to spearhead an Everyone Serves Youth philosophy that shaped their environment, allowing them to provide quality services to teens. I would like to discuss a few strategies that were highlighted in the conference, and comment on the situation of librarians that lack resources for serving teens.

A best practice mentioned repeatedly in the presentation, was an Everyone Serves Youth Training. Key speakers argued that youth service is dependent on staff involvement from all levels. This process includes our library administrators, who essentially define our level of commitment to youth. If serving teens is not an integral part of library service, then we lack the work culture necessary to make it happen.

The conference presenters challenged us to examine our work culture in regards to youth services. Are teens a high priority in the library? Is youth development written into the strategic plan? Does all staff serve youth, or is the youth librarian held responsible for all teen issues (*sigh*, as if one person can make all the difference…)

For some of us, these questions reveal a need for organizational change that turns youth development into a top priority. If teen services is not valued, then what can we do about it? How much difference can an entry level librarian or paraprofessional staff make in this regard?

When this question was brought up during the Q & A of the audio conference, it was suggested that well prepared arguments and presentations would make any reasonable manager stop and listen. Merely vocalizing dissatisfaction is not enough, and instead our efforts should be concentrated on building a case. One presenter went as far to suggest teen involvement in this case-building process, by asking teens to stand-up and speak out to the board and administrators.

I wish all managers were reasonable enough to listen and take action when the above strategies were used. But this would not happen in at least a handful of libraries (maybe more than we’d like to admit…)! I have met librarians that received disciplinary action at some point in their career, specifically for addressing the systemic problems that dumb down teen services. What can be done as a staff person in an environment that frowns upon organizational change? Is there any hope?

I want to say YES! I want to say – one person can make a difference. And honestly, any librarian that cares and puts forth effort will positively impact teens. But as stressed in today’s ULC conference, it takes more than one person to serve youth. If you are the only person that is making an effort, then teen services in general will fail…

Maybe our question will lead to this: is it better to work in a functional, progressive work place where one can be effective, or to stay in a disconnected environment, knowing that by doing so at least ONE advocate will be able to help teens.

Making an Impact

2007-03-21T23:01:00.001-07:00

Although it has already been mentioned over on the Yalsa Blog I felt it was time to throw in my support for the new Myspace Channel called Impact. This is a very interesting new channel, which provides myspacers with links to the myspace pages of presidential candidates as well as a link to a page that will help someone register to vote online. There are other things the page offers, such news, videos, and more, which relates to making an impact in the world.

Channels like this could have a big impact on our youth. It gives politicians a means to try and reach an age group they hadn’t previously been able to communicate with very well. Now a teenager can simply get on myspace to read about candidate’s issues, and even comment on the page or send a message with a question to them. Even better, this has the potential of spreading quickly because every teen that is interested in a candidate or issue, can add links to their profile, include that candidate as a friend, or mention it in their blog. For more info about the channel and the impact it could have check out this recent NY Times article.

So what does this mean for us as librarians? Well, as librarians obviously we should be excited about anything that helps provide information to the people who need it. So something that connects youth and political information should be worth a look. There are a lot of ways we can try to get the word out about this source. Link to it on your websites, mention it in your blog, have a program centered on politics for youth, or even create a bookmark or pathfinder with political info for your teens. If you have a myspace, mention it there and add a banner for the register to vote page. Also, when you are talking with your teens simply mention that you saw this cool new site. This is a great new site which goes along with other resources such as Rock the Vote, which we need to be encouraging our youth to check out. Don’t forget many of our 16 year olds right now will be eligible to vote in the next election.

Teen knitters ante up for a cause

2007-02-25T06:58:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago I mentioned the group Knitta in the post "Knitta pleasa for a causa" as a resource for inspiring teens. When I presented Knitta and other established Outreach groups to my teen knitters, I had not anticipated the ambition and readiness that would ignite them towards starting their own awareness-raising effort.

Perk up an ear
and listen here!
For this is our story,
in all it's radiant glory!

THE BIRTH OF CREATIVE ACTIVISTS: Our teen library knitting group, the Purlers, began about 2 years ago amidst the craze of associating knitting with cool. Purlers attracted dedicated teens whom are now 16-18 yrs old and have been party to:

throwing their knits down in frustrated torment

jubilant outbursts upon the discovery that they've been purling without realizing

twisting an item on a circular needle and despairingly surrendering to the act of frogging (frogging = to completely unravel your knitting)

knitting a strip that stretched the length of the meeting room, approx. 50 ft.

meeting Debbie Stoller during her 2005 Stitch 'n Bitch tour

During our first years, Purlers meetings were delightful and energetic. But as teens became more expierenced in the craft, they comparatively became more restless. If Purlers were to survive, it was understood that the hobby alone wouldn't continue as the group's sole muse. Trails Teen knitters needed agendas, goals to cross off, and a purpose to knit other than pleasure; they craved empowerment. Twas the fall of '06 when I shared Knitta to the Purlers. Knitta's theme of warming the city with knitted art appealed to Trails Teens and pumped their enthusiasm to "vandalize" our KC community using a similar idea. During this new venture, I realized Trails Teens would no longer be grouped with humble beginning knitters; I was now mentoring creative activists.

DANIELLE'S POLYCHROMATIC PURLERS: One teen in particular, a senior who started as a teen volunteer and became a library aide, took the leadership role in organizing and directing the actions of our Purlers knitting group. Danielle combined outreach knitting with tagging to create the Polychromatic Purlers. To garner support and spread the word to the knitting community, Danielle made flyers and arranged with local knit shops to distribute advertisements to their customers. She also created and currently maintains (with the help of other PolyPur members) online accounts on Blogger PolyPur and MySpace PolyPur.

To participate in planning for PolyPur's annual event, members meet monthly to knit items that may benefit a child (ages birth thru 17). On Jan 2, knitters throughout the KC metro area will take their items and hang them throughout the city. Attached to every knitted garment is a tag listing information on statistics and websites pertaining to child abuse. For more information please visit the Blogger and MySpace accounts or contact us directly at polychromatic_purlers@yahoo.com (underscore between polychromatic and purlers).

JANUARY 2, 2007 and BEYOND: Teens from the Polychromatic Purlers met early afternoon 1-2-07 to "vandalize" the Plaza area with their knitted garments and informative tags. Two and a half months of planning yeilded approx. 14 knits from various knitters. Items were placed upon the city's abundant statues, elegantly showcasing their hard work. Later that afternoon, teens observed a homeless man benefit from their giving spirit. A slideshow of the teen's 01-02-07 event is available to view on the MySpace account.

There are still kinks to work out, nation-wide knitting groups to enlist, and other projects to develop. The group is currently scheduling knitting classes with local libraries and charging a small fee. Monies will purchase supplies for the PolyPur knitting group. A summer Knitting Olympics idea for the KC-Metro area is also in the works. I don't think it necessary to delve into the postive characteristics resulting from this experience, frankly I think it's all too apparent. But for the longevity of the PolyPur program, I'm reduntantly expressing a request for support. Please add the teens as a MySpace Friend to your library accounts, share this idea with your teens, and email us if you or your teens are interested in participating. Finally, any feedback and support is greatly appreciated.

A fellow kickbutt Teen Associate,
bloodymandy

Web 2.0 video essay

2007-02-16T10:16:00.000-08:00

I just thought I'd share this although it's not directly related to YA services. Michael Wesch, a Kansas State anthropology student did a video essay on digital text and Web 2.0. I thought it was a good visual intro to Web 2.0 and could be used a neat staff development tool to help further introduce and encourage Web 2.0 philosophy.

MySpace, YourSpace: Are Libraries infringing on teen privacy?

2007-02-02T02:05:00.000-08:00

Recently, we received this comment on the Alt. Teen Services Blog:

MySpace - Libraries on MySpace appeal to teens!"

Is this true, or just an aphorism? I've heard from teens that MySpace is a good source of library information, but I've also heard from the same teens that they want MySpace for themselves. They're not pleased with organizations, especially ones they consider to be "authority" (read: school or library) being on their turf.

Here is my response, which hopefully propels us into a nice discussion:

With the large number of libraries creating MySpace profiles, I find myself wondering if teens want a public authority such as a library on their friends list. Does a teen feel pressured into adding the library on their contact list? The teen that just “added you” may have done so to be polite, but is actually annoyed that the library will be able to view their personal profile.

I have met young adults that refuse to add the library onto their friends list. “Um, I don’t think you want to KNOW what is on MY PROFILE”. And that’s okay if a teen doesn’t want to add the library. In fact, I have both a private and professional MySpace, and encourage teens to do the same if they feel splintered between the Library MySpace and their personal MySpace.
But I’ve also run into teens who LOVE having the Library on their friends list. The library is in their top 10, and we banter back and forth with quirky library comments. One teen commented, “OMG...books can be dangerous when thrown at high speeds?! Why didn't anyone warn me…”. When we encourage these library-related comments, we are accepting teens for their quirkiness and strengthening our library relationship with them.

Still, there are the teens that feel befriending the library would limit their ability to “be themselves” on MySpace. They may dread the thought of the librarian reading profile comments and seeing private photos.

I’m curious as to what other librarians think about this question. Are we invading a teen’s private space when we add them as a friend?

Graffiti Makeover for TeenSpace

2007-01-28T01:31:00.000-08:00

The teen space at London Public Library received a makeover! Grafitti artist Bryan Jesney painted the neighboring stairs, making the space more colorful and inviting. Wouldn't you love a bit of paint and creativity to spice up the space for teens?

View the entire photoset here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/londonpubliclibrary/sets/72157594415192325/

AND the teen space has MONTHLY performances by INDY bands. What a way to create a teen movement and identity.

Teen Fashion Video

2007-01-24T13:16:00.000-08:00

I had to post this video of the Fayetteville Public Library Teen Fashion Show. The nationally recognized blog that Jenine mentions is us! This fashion show is so amazing, and the ultimate display of teen empowerment and involvement. Way to go Jenine and the Fayettville Teens. And it ALL STARTED WITH A BOOK!

Altered art programs and teens

2007-01-08T02:57:00.000-08:00

The Terrazas Branch Austin Public Library recently had a two month long program on altering books. The teen librarian, Joanna Nigrelli sent out their flickr album link http://www.flickr.com/photos/aplteens/sets/72157594326521707/ to the YALSA listserve today and I just love seeing all the different pieces. It just seems like such a fun program to do. She remarked that it was a very successful event. They held a total of twenty workshops between October and November.

I think collage art in general would be a wonderful activity for a teen program. It's so intuitive, theraputic and it gives teens a chance to be creative and artsy without actually having to possess what is thought of as traditional artistic skill. Teens spend so much time in a school environment where final grades and test scores are ultimately what matters most. Not only that but many public schools are often faced with budget issues and art/music programs are typically the first to feel the effects. Libraries can help fill in the gaps by offering creative art/music programs and encourage an environment where teens don't have to feel pressured. Art and music can teach teens how the process of creating or learning something is just as important as the outcome.

I think this kind of thing would work well as an ongoing everyday after school program. However, rather than focusing soley on altered books, you could just do a general altered art program. You can pretty much alter anything, from books , journals , postcards , playing cards , cd's , boxes ...then provide them with the general supplies: paint, markers, pastels, assortmant of paper/collage paper, yarn/ribbon, found objects. You can, of course, get real fancy with stamps and such but I think it would be best to start with the basics and see if it takes off before investing in the expensive stuff.

There's also a lot of potential for this to go beyond just a basic craft program. Take the Found Art project for example. Post/playcards can be altered to include quotes from a favorite book and then placed in another book for a reader to be pleasently suprised with. If you include the author and the title of the book on the card then it could potentially function as a niffty little readers advisory tool, something which teens may find a little more intriguing as opposed to a traditional book talk. Perhaps this could be a TAG project of some sort. Teens providing readers advisory to other teens.

Maplewood Library locks doors because of teen behavior

2007-01-02T02:25:00.000-08:00

I'm finding the Maplewood "Lock the Library" situation to be very distressing (see library's announcement here). I know teen behavior has often been a topic for discussion on this blog, but I would be interested in hearing some thoughts on this specific situation. The behavior problems exhibited by the teens in the Maplewood community are extreme and would certainly necessitate an extreme response. I feel for the librarians who have to endure this and realize that this action was pretty much a "last straw" response, but locking the library during the prime hours of the day defies reason and could only end badly for the Maplewood library. I personally feel it shows the community/library board's inability, perhaps even incompetency, to deal with a major problem. If the library itself is unable to handle the over abundance of teenagers with disciplinary problems then shouldn't the community (including the library) pull together and find an alternative that doesn't include such a drastic and unfair step as closing the library entirely? This is one of those situations where having a teen librarian would be very advantageous to a public library. We should be here to advocate for these teenagers and promote more constructive solutions for situations like this.

Linda Braun also blogged about this situation on the YALSA blog last week.

Fantasy Sports Programming

2006-12-28T03:47:00.001-08:00

This past year I have been taking part in a variety of fantasy sports leagues for the first time. I started with a fantasy baseball league last spring and now I am hooked. I learned that in addition to being very fun fantasy leagues are often free. So why not create some sort of library program around a fantasy league for the teens in the library.

This would be a very easy thing to do. You can find these leagues through a variety of sources such as Yahoo, ESPN, CBS, as well as a host of other places, and as I mentioned above, many of them are free. The librarian would have to establish the league and act as commissioner, which means they control the league settings and rules. Then it is simply a matter of getting an email address for any teen that wants to play and inviting them to join the league. This is all that is necessary to have a fun ongoing program throughout the season of whatever sport you are using.

There is however a lot more that could be added to make this even more fun. The commissioner can choose any type of draft they want for the league. This could simply be an automated random draft. However it can also be a live draft. Live drafts can take two forms. One has nothing to do with computers, the players would all simply meet together and choose their fantasy players and then the commissioner can send in the information. Perhaps the best way, however, is an online draft. All the players simply need to log on to the fantasy league at the same time and they can participate in the draft. The computer will automatically pick the best available players for anyone who can’t find the time to get to a computer during the draft. So why not host a live draft using the computers at your library. Invite everybody in the league to come in and draft their players live. You could offer food, and even have sports magazines and books available for people to use for research.

One other thought would be to have a local professional athlete come in for the event. I live in Michigan, so I think it would be great to have one of the younger players on the Tigers come in to talk about what it is like to become a major league baseball player, or their experience playing in the World Series. This athlete visit could be great before or after the draft. It would be even more fun if you could somehow convince the athlete to take part in the fantasy league, although I would admit this idea might be a little far fetched.

These are just a few of many great ideas that could surround a fun fantasy sports league for your library. It could be a great opportunity to draw in some high school athletes who, do to time constraints, are often hard to get into the library. If anybody out there has used a fantasy league for programming please leave me a comment as I would love to hear about it. I hope to try this in the spring for the next baseball season and more ideas would be very helpful.

Teen Alternative Fashion Show

2006-12-04T13:56:00.000-08:00

Contributed by Jenine Lillian and the Alternative Teen Fashion show Planning team

Here is a long overdue post about the Fayetteville Public Library's Alternative Teen Fashion show, put on for teen read week 2006. This post is also titled, "possibly the coolest teen read week program we've mentioned so far on the Alt. Teen Services Blog". And yes the program involved reading! the teens read books to make their outfits!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Teen Alternative Fashion Show:
the ultimate fashion event for teens by teens

By Jenine Lillian and the Teen Alternative Fashion Show Planning Team

For Teen Read Week 2006
Fayetteville Public Library, Fayetteville, Arkansas

It all started with a book…

In April of this year, a Young Adult Librarian (um, that’d be AMANDA! of YaLibrarian.com) posted an entry on her nationally recognized blog about some cool, new fashion books for teens. I ordered the books for our YA Collection and while visiting schools in Fayetteville, featured the book Generation T and a spark flew among the teens. This book proved to be inspiring to young artists in Fayetteville and in August, we formed a Teen Alternative Fashion Show Planning Team, setting our sights on National Teen Read Week in October. After many months of hard work, generous donations of time and supplies, and unfettered creativity and dedication of the Planning Team, we created an artistic experience.

I had about 200 attend this once-in-a-lifetime performance art event. Members of my Teen Anime Club dressed in Cosplay and teens from a 30 mile radius planned and implemented this event—we met every two weeks since August, with weekly meetings the last two weeks before the show and a dress rehearsal two nights before the main event. The teens designed and created their own outfits using altered tee shirts, vintage clothing, knitting, plastics, costuming, packing materials, marking tape, office supplies, duct tape, paint, ties, bubble wrap, and fabrics. [I MC’d the event and wore an alt. fashion piece that I’d made (a “skirt”) out of slides and paper clips. It was a cool day to be a librarian.]

I worked with the University of Arkansas’ Apparel Studies Program/Fashion Merchandising Club to stage the show and tutor us on how to walk on the catwalk. And, the UofA’s radio station DJ (whom I work with a lot with my Teen Anime Club) to have specific outfit element-themed tunes for the event. I arranged for the local beauty college to send students to do hair for models, booked three teen photographers, and paid a friend to record the show. I also partnered with a popular local resale shop to raffle gift certificates and library volunteers served food and drinks at the short break. All told, the event took about 70 people to pull off. It was an incredibly powerful event for the teens of this community—we made something unique and beautiful and teen-powered, unlike anything that has ever been done before.

Below is a list of the books we used to get ideas and patterns. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to create your own alternative fashion…

Alternative Fashion Book List

Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt by Megan Nicolay. YA 646.404 Nic

The Hip Handbag Book: 25 Easy-to-make Totes, Purses, and Bags by Sherri Haab. YA 646.48 Haa

Rip It! How to Deconstruct and Reconstruct the Clothes of Your Dreams by Elissa Meyrich. YA 646.404 Mey

Second-Time Cool: The Art of Chopping Up a Sweater by Linden, Brieditis, and Evans. YA 6465.408 Lin

Sew Subversive: Down and Dirty DIY for the Fabulous Fashionista by Melissa Alvorado. 646.404 Alv

Tease: 50 Inspired T-Shirt Transformations by Superstars of Art, Craft, & Design by Sarah Sockit. YA 746 Tea

Additional Information

Read the Press Release for the program

View a slideshow from Arkansas Online

LAST FM - Social Music Networks

2006-12-04T13:29:00.000-08:00

I received e-mail from Andrew about using the LAST FM social networking tool. He was unable to comment in a previous blog, so I've posted his thoughts as a blog entry. By the way, our word verification comment tool is case sensitive. We've had occasional problems, but I prefer to use word verification rather than having to approve every comment before it goes live. If for some odd reason you are unable to leave a comment, just e-mail me and I'll make sure your thoughts are shared on the blog in some capacity (either comment or new blog entry).

-Stephanie ( contact alt.teen.services at yalibrarian.com )
- - -
Hello I tried to leave a comment on the post but it kept saying that i
entered the wrong security code. I dont know what I was doing wrong
so i figured i'd email it to you.

I have recently found a networking site which I think is really
interesting and I saw that it wasn't mentioned in the YALSA pdf. It
is www.Last.fm and it takes all of your recently listened mp3s(from
either your mp3 player or from the player on your computer and tracks
how many times you have played them. It then will give you potential
"friends" who share similar musical interests.

I have been playing with this site for about a week and I am working
on a program with my teen patrons with this website as a warm up
program to a teen podcast. I was thinking I could use this to see
what the kids are listening too and see if there is an interest in
making our own podcast.

I would be interested if anyone else has played with this site and/or
done it with teen patrons.

Andrew

p.s. heres the link to my personal last.fm profile to get an idea of
the tracking and what not... http://www.last.fm/user/scumkatt/

Thanks

Social Networking Sites

2006-11-17T08:14:00.001-08:00

During the month of October a group of YALSA Bloggers spent time looking at social networking sites. Everyday they added a new post talking about a new site or group of sites and how libraries or schools can positively use them. If you missed these posts I suggest you check out the recently released pdf, which includes all of them.

Anyway, I wanted to take a second to mention a few other sites that I think are a lot of fun and have some good potential for libraries. The first site I want to mention is www.bookcrossing.com . According to the site, and also now the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, a bookcrossing is “n. the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise.” If you’re still confused as to what Bookcrossing is then the “3 Rs” of Bookcrossing should help.

Read a good book (you already know how to do that)

Register it here (along with your journal comments), get a unique BCID (BookCrossing ID number), and label the book

Release it for someone else to read (give it to a friend, leave it on a park bench, donate it to charity, "forget" it in a coffee shop, etc.), and get notified by email each time someone comes here and records a journal entry for that book. And if you make Release Notes on the book, others can Go Hunting for it and try to find it!

Basically the idea is to create a worldwide library and to share books. This has potential for some real fun programming that could promote reading. You could host a program, or maybe try combining it with a Teen Advisory Board meeting, that involves teens bringing in a book to label and write a journal entry for. Then you send them all out into the community to release the books. From there you simply keep track of the books online and see what happens to them. Or better yet, the librarian can release a bunch of books into various places in the community and record where they are on the site. Then your teens can use the hunting feature to go find them and read them. If you can think of a more fun way to get teens excited about reading a good book than a community wide scavenger hunt I would like to hear it.

The next site I want to mention is a little more obscure and does not apply to libraries quite as directly but it is my personal favorite social networking site so indulge me. It is called Frolf Caddy. According to the creator “Frolf Caddy is a user driven disc golf community, which aims to bring frolf players together.” For those unfamiliar with it disc golf is a sport very similar to regular golf except you throw discs or Frisbees toward a basket rather than hit golf balls toward a hole. Basically Frolf Caddy is a website where disc golf players meet online to share scores, courses, stories, and anything else disc golf related. The site will keep track of all your scores every time you play and give you all sorts of stats so you can analyze your game as well as compare it to your friends. So how does this apply to your library? Well that depends on your community, if you don’t live near any disc golf courses then it doesn’t, but chances are there are at least a few courses near your area and you can use the sites course locator to find out. If that’s the case why not have a program based around Frisbee golf for your teens. You can have a local player come in to talk about the game, the equipment and of course the site. Or if you know some of your teens are frolfers then simply tell them about the site, they are bound to love it. Be creative, there are many ways you could use this site if you think your teens would find it interesting. If you are still unsure trust me, it is huge across the country, especially among high school and college students so use the site to find a player in your community and see if they have any ideas.

The main thing that you should learn, both from the Yalsa pdf, and from my rantings on social networking sites is that they come in many different varieties and they have many possible applications for your library. They don’t need to be a scary or foreign thing; they are simply online communities for people who share interests such as books, disc golf, or anything else. So, find a site that would be interesting to your teens, explore it, and find a way to use it at your library.

Teens & Music

2006-10-29T11:49:00.000-08:00

Our community (Prospect to Clever) needs music. And we need somewhere to express ourselves among other teens and staff.-- local library teen

During Teen Read Week, I administered a survey to find out the interests and needs of library youth. I was not surprised by the large request for programming and materials based on film, music, and creative expression. Teens not only want the latest music releases, but they want to make music themselves and to attend teen programs where they can share their talent with one another. One teen wrote, "I need a music studio," when asked what the library should offer. Another teen wrote, "Youth Talent Shows", as a possible library event.

Next week, I meet with many of these teens to share the survey results, and discuss the types of programs we can offer them. This conversation will take place in our first Teen Advisory Board meeting, in which I hope to recruit some core teens to help me prepare for my children’s programs, and to work on teen projects.

Next week, KCPL associates are meeting with Jeremy of the local Hip Hop Academy, and I think we'll put some plans into place that will give the teens from clever to prospect, a forum of music expression. Here’s to hoping this all works out! (raises her Apple cider mug). I’ll send little updates of teen librarian madness, every now and then.

Nite Biters by Adrian Harper

2006-10-22T01:01:00.000-07:00

As a children's librarian working in an inner-city library, it is always a pleasure to come across new urban titles, especially when a unique approach is provided for our teen readers. Adrian Harper's Night Biters is an action-packed horror novel in which urban teens, whose days are spent participating in graffiti, skateboarding, and hip-hop fashion, come face-to-face with vampiric forces in the city of Oakland. Harper uses street culture as a setting, rather than a centralized plot or motif, which further validates the positive aspects of hip-hop culture as something common and unproblematic. Still issues of violence are present between various gang groups of Hispanics, African Americans, and white power bikers, but the realistic violence is intermingled with supernatural phenomena.

The novel is self-published through what is known as the "vanity press," and the book does suffer from misspellings, unfocused writing, and several cut-off sentences. Teens might be interested in purchasing the novel at their own leisure, but the likelihood of a vanity novel being approved for aquisitions is quite low. However, Harper has embarked on something we need more of in teen fiction - novels about African Americans and hip-hop culture where ethnicity is not the central plight. We hope to see more of Adrian’s future work as his writing matures and he continues to fill the holes in teen fiction. Perhaps the sequal, The Rave of Werewolves, will be suitable for a small press publisher?

Harper has a blog, where he writes about reaching urban male readers. We (librarians) are fighting for the same cause as you, Mr. Harper! Please drop a comment or two on Adrian Harper's blog and let him know what you think about his approach.

Extras, Extras, Read all about it:

Adrian Harper's MySpace

Adrian Harper's Blog

Night Biters Web site

Teen Read Week Update #6

2006-10-20T03:40:00.001-07:00

The end of Teen Read Week is approaching quick, and I hope that it has been a successful week for all of the libraries out there that have been participating. For the last two weeks or so we have been posting a series of ideas for TRW. Librarians from across the country have emailed in the plans for their libraries and they have been posted here. Following is the last of those emails.

Michelle, a Librarian at a Junior High School in IL writes:

“This is what I am putting on the website for my students:
All Week
-Try the daily trivia question (posted at 6:00 a.m.) on Mrs. Glatt's blog, Mission:READ @ http://cjhsimc.edublogs.org. Write a comment with your answer. All comments will be held until 6:00 p.m. and everyone with correct answer gets in a drawing to win Freshen's smoothies, shakes, etc.
-Pick up a Halloween coloring sheet in the IMC and enter our "coloring contest." All entries are due by 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. Two "most creative" artists in each grade will win Ben and Jerry's ice cream pints, to be distributed at lunch on Friday.
-Melancholy Monday
Help us celebrate THE END of the Series of Unfortunate Events. Check out at least one book and get an eyeball tattoo, just like Count Olaf. Enter a drawing to win a copy of THE END, book 13 (and the last?) in the series; winner announced Tuesday Morning.
-Timer to Read Tuesday
If you are checking out a book in the IMC when our timer rings, you win a free Monical's personal pizza.
-Weird Wednesday
Come to the IMC at 8:00 a.m. and listen to some strange stories read aloud by Mrs. Glatt.
-Thank Goodness it's Thursday
Have an overdue book? Turn it in today and the fines will magically disappear.
-Fine Arts Friday
"Coloring" contest winners will be displayed and announced, and winners will get their Ben and Jerry's."

Thanks again to everyone who wrote in over the last few weeks with their plans. I want to encourage you to use the comment feature on the posts to let us all know how your programs, events, and promotions went. Good luck to everyone who still has something going on for the last two days of TRW. If you missed out on some of the earlier posts feel free to check out the original post and updates #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5.

Teen Read Week Update #5

2006-10-17T09:35:00.001-07:00

For the last week or so I have been posting the TRW plans of various libraries across the country as they have been sent in to me. We are now three days into TRW and I hope that things are progressing smoothly for all of you out there in library land. If we posted something about your library please feel free to let us all know how everything that was posted about went via the post comments. The following are TRW plans for two more libraries.

Sally, a Youth Services Librarian in KY wrote in saying:

“Here is what we're doing for Teen Read Week:
*Movie Marathon (we're showing Batman Begins, The Chronicles of Narnia and Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Event...the kids in this area are all off school the day of the marathon)
*Survivor : Dragon Island (based on TV's "Survivor")
*Whose Line Is It? (based on TV's comedy improv show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?")
*Dance Dance Revolution party
Also, throughout the first part of October teens can submit a form, which includes their information and their favorite book. The form will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win two prizes. We are giving away 4 $25 gift certificates to the local mall (one for each of our system's branches) as well as 1 $100 gift certificate to Best Buy. The most popular books will then be put on a bookmark. This is our variation of YALSA's Teens Top Ten.
For promotion we asked a local middle school's STLP (Student Technology Leadership Program) to help us put together a DVD to show to local schools. My co-worker and I put together a bare bones script then the group did all the directing, filming and editing and it turned out fantastic! It is definitely something we'll be doing again.
We're all really looking forward to the events; it's going to be a fun week!”

Laura, a librarian at the Camden Library in MI writes:

“Camden Twp. Library is hosting a Teen Game Night on Oct. 14th to kick-off Teen Read Week. (We can't do activities during the week with teens due to school sports conflicts.) Our TGNs have become very popular. They are held after regular library hours. We have board games and card games, music to listen to, and snacks to share. Most of the kids just enjoy time to get together and chat. It’s a time of no TV, video games or computers - just teens getting together to hang out.
We began a Teen Advisory Council last spring and they are the ones who suggested TGNs. We have held 3 so far - each one brings more teens in and lasts longer. In fact, at summer reading close, we did a TGN Lock-In - it was great!!”

Thanks again to everyone who has sent in there plan for TRW. There are still one or two more emails that I will post this week. If anyone else out there still wants to get their libraries plans shared they can email me at jberns89@gmail.com and I will try to get it up before the end of the week. Otherwise good luck to you all as the week continues and make sure you also check out the original post and updates #1, #2, #3, and #4.

Teen Read Week Update #4 - It has begun!

2006-10-14T22:56:00.001-07:00

Teen Read Week is officially upon us. Today many of you will be hosting programs or beginning weeklong promotions. While you’re doing that you can check here to continue reading about what other libraries will be doing. Here are a few more TRW plans I have received over the last few days.

Margaret, a Youth Services Librarian in Algonquin, IL writes:

I just started my professional career when I started at the Eastgate Branch of the Algonquin Area Public Library District about six weeks ago! I did not have a lot of lead time to put together a program, and am just beginning to develop contacts in the community. Fortunately the YA librarian at the main library is very helpful, and has many wonderful programs that can be promoted during TRW. So I got creative. I am making several displays, one of them a magnetic poetry display for teens to play with, which will tie in to promoting Eclectic Café, our monthly poetry group. In addition, a handful of books used in the TRW display will be secretly marked (in the item record) so that when they are checked out, the circ staff is notified to give the patron a prize: Gift certificates to Best Buy! In addition, the Teen Advisory Board is running a contest for teen programming ideas, with prizes (Barnes and Noble Gift certificates) for suggestions that get selected. I am putting out a ton of literature directed at getting teens active at the library—promoting the TAB, poetry night, etc. And my book display will feature books that promote other activities, like volunteering, yoga, crafts, study skills, activism, cooking for teens, etc. The graphic artist at the library made up special posters and flyers as well. It’s not much, but maybe next year when I get to know the kids better, or with the help of the TAB, I will do some programming.

Karen, a librarian from St. Louis Co Library, MO wrote in saying:

At the Jamestown Bluffs branch of the St. Louis Co Library we are having Dragon Fever! All week the teens have a Drawing Contest. The teens pick up an application and design a dragon. It can be funny, serious, or unusual. Use imagination and have fun! They can win a dragon prize.

Mon Oct 16, at 7pm
The teens will come and paint and design a pewter dragon to take home. Registration is required with a limit of 20. Age 12-18
Sat Oct 21, 2pm
Teen Week presents "Dragonheart". This movie will make you believe! The last dragon and a disillusioned dragon slaying knight must cooperate to stop an evil king. (103 min) Starring Dennis Quaid and Sean Connery. Refreshments and door prizes. Ages 12-18. Sign up at the desk.

It sounds like we have a whole lot of very different and creative ideas out there that will be employed this week. I am very impressed by the variety programs, promotions, and ideas I have received over the last week or two and I have more yet to post. Good luck to everybody with the beginning of the weeks events. If you haven’t already read them feel free to go back and look at the ideas in the original post and updates #1, #2, and #3, and stay tuned for more ideas.

Teen Read Week Update #3

2006-10-14T00:40:00.001-07:00

Here are a few more of the wonderful TRW ideas, which some of you have sent in to me. If you haven’t read the original post that started this off check it out here.

Phyllis, a High School Media Specialist writes:

“I will be giving one point credit slips for each time a student accomplishes one of the five tasks. The student needs to sign his/her name to the slip and turn it in to me.

1. Every time a book is checked out he/she will receive 1 point.

2. All the adults in school will be on the lookout for anyone reading anything that is not a class assignment. When a student is found, the adult will give a one point credit slip.

3. When a student recommends a book and fills out the form to tell me why he/she wants a friend to read this book, a credit slip will be given.

4. There will be a "Who Am I" Contest. I will put up the poster of Q'orianka Kilcher. Every entry will receive a credit slip.

5. I have started two new sections in the library, a new books display and a book’s of interest to teen’s area. Any student that can discover the two new things will get 1 credit slip.

The following Monday I will have the slips tallied and will be handing out prizes. The more entries one makes the bigger the prize.

Last year the students enjoyed when I did "Find the Book". I gave clues each day in the daily announcements and I had the clues printed in the library. I gave five clues for each book. Each day was a different book. When the student found the book I gave a bookmark.”

Judy Nelson, a librarian at the Pierce County Library in WA and current president of YALSA sent us a press clipping for her library that says:

“Suburban Times

Oct. 5, 2006

Teenagers get active @ PC Libraries

Teenagers Get Active @ Your Pierce County Library, is the theme for this year’s national teen read week at all Pierce County Libraries, Friday, Oct. 13-Saturday, Oct. 21.

“Reading can be active, and with many teens the more they are active, the better readers they are or can become,” said Judy Nelson, coordinator of youth services for Pierce County Library System. “We want to get teens in the libraries and reading. With fun, interactive activities we hope to bring them in.”

This year’s teen read week is all about getting active—a combination to get kids reading and healthy. Pierce County Library plans to get teens musical, literary, drawing and physical. All libraries will highlight teen reading throughout the week and eight libraries will offer free programs.

Get musical —Lakewood Pierce County Library, 6300 Wildaire Rd. S.W., Friday, Oct. 13, 7 p.m.—Bloodhag in concert. This regionally acclaimed heavy metal band’s music encourages reading.

Get literary — University Place Pierce County Library, 7315 27th St. W., Suite D, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 7 p.m.—Panel discussion with teen book club. Local author Randall Platt will meet with University Place teens to read and discuss their favorite poems. Participants are encouraged to bring their favorite poems, songs, jokes and other writings to read and discuss.

Refreshments will be offered at all programs. Registration may be required for some programs; teens should contact library branches for details.”

Thanks again to all who have contributed to this series by sending in their TRW plans. There are more posts yet to come so stay tuned, and if you have an idea you want to share send a short blurb to me at jberns89@gmail.com. If you haven’t already read them check out the ideas in the original post and updates #1 and #2

Teen Read Week Update #2

2006-10-13T04:00:00.001-07:00

A few days ago I posted about what my library is doing for TRW and I asked all of you to email me at jberns89@gmail.com with a short paragraph or two about what your libraries are doing for it. As of yesterday morning I only had one response to post but all of the sudden I got five or six more so I will post a few today, a few tomorrow, and I will keep going as long as people keep sending them in or until TRW is done. Here we go.

Randa, a Media Specialist from Sumter, SC wrote in saying:

“I am trying a new experiment for Teen Read Week. Are you familiar with Bookcrossing? It is an "open" world-wide library. Book lovers register books on bookcrossing.com and receive a unique bookcrossing number akin to an ISBN for that book. They then mention where the book is "released" and the person who finds the book is to do the same. This way the book's travels can be traced throughout the world! The books can be tracked by title, city, or bookcrosser.

We will adopt the strategy to limit the "travels" to our school campus. It will be fun to track the travels from room to room, grade to grade, and the related Arts areas. If the books travel outside our school, who cares as long as they are read! This promises to be a fun way to promote and encourage teens to explore books.”

John, a Teen Librarian at the Franklin Township Public Library in NJ, writes:

“I have Libba Bray coming in for a reading/discussion about her series of books that currently includes A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY and REBEL ANGELS (she just turned the third book into her publisher) on Tuesday October 17.

Then on Thursday, October 19, we are going to make an 8-page zine out of one sheet of paper. I publish a sci fi zine called Electric Velocipede, and I saw a cool Flickr photo set showing how to take one sheet of paper and make an 8-page zine out of it. Since I have a background in zine-making (and there's the cool book: Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine? : The Art of Making Zines and Mini Comics) I thought this was a good match. I was going to spend the week making a zine, but this will be better since we can get it done in one evening. Here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elizabethgenco/sets/72157594276405114/. She also gives a link to the PDF of the files used in the examples. I've made some blank templates in Publisher (and printed them out) so the teens can use the blanks and make one unique zine with cut-outs from magazines and catalogs, or we can make one electronically and make multiple copies of the same thing.

This last one is actually found in a zine published by Megan Johnson, a Teen Services Librarian at the Rochester Hills Public Library in MI. I received a copy of the Zine at The Michigan Library Association Conference yesterday during a wonderful seminar she gave on getting teens into the library, which I hope to mention more at a later date. Any way, here is what her zine says about TRW:

“This year’s theme for Teen Read Week is Get Active @ Your Library. We have several events planned for this year’s events, including DDR night and Capture the Flag on Saturday, September 21, from 5:30-7pm. You will need to register for capture the flag if you want to play. If you have not already registered, ask at the reference desk to find out how. We are also having a martial arts demonstration on Wednesday, October 18 from 7-8:30 pm. There are lots of things you can do to celebrate Teen Read Week. You can join a club, or volunteer. You can play a game of kickball, or race your friends to the manga section in the library. Whatever you do, get active!”

As I said, I will post a few more tomorrow, the next day, and so on, as long as people continue to send me their plans and TRW hasn’t ended. If you haven’t already read them check out the ideas in the original post and update #1. Thanks to all who have written in so far. Stay tuned for more.

Stuff + Pets = Awesome

2006-10-11T10:21:00.000-07:00

A Stuff on My Pet Program Idea is Born

While closing at bn, I came across this book on display titled "Stuff on My Cat: The Book". As a cat adorer/adorner myself, I put work on pause and flipped through the 160 paged paperback photo collection. These poor and hapless sleeping cats with their devious cat owners have created a fun and friendly E (everyone) rated activity. Whereupon "stuff" is placed upon the cat unawares and "stuff" includes: food, toys, gadgets, clothing, creatures, water, and other misc. items. A photo is taken of the debacle and then submitted. As an instant fan seeking more "Stuff on My Cat" photos to feed my fix, I went home to find web goodies. Horray! There is a Stuff on My Cat website that let's everyone in on the fun. That is, any schmoe who owns a cat, a digital camera, internet access, and a shred of imagination.

So now I'm thinking "I HAVE to do this with the library teens!" I could get all of my adult friends to help out by taking pics before the contest to use for promoting the program. Only we'll open the contest to include all pets. And we'll do it in the winter, perhaps during its tail end, when teens are experiencing the peaks of boredom. And if they don't have a camera, we will purchase a disposable and allow two pics per teen. And for that month we could frame the pics with some colored paper and print off pet names in wonderful and crazy fonts. Then we could pin them up in the hallway for ALL TO SEE! Hurrah! It will be a wonderful program. Marvelous! Yessa! Now I just need to find out if the teens are interested. I've been high-fiving myself over this fun program idea and thought I'd share this for others to steal.

Teen Read Week Update #1

2006-10-06T07:43:00.001-07:00

Amanda from the Trails West public library in Independence, MO writes:

“Get Active Teen Reed Week 2006 Teens within the community are invited to rsvp in order to attend this event. To celebrate TRW alternative band Destination Go will knock teens senseless with their powerpop melodies. Band members have also agreed to promote their favorite book in between songs. Special guest Derrick Barnes author of "The Making of Dr. Truelove" will mingle with teens during the event. While DGO is setting up, Derrick will be interviewed by a teen who has already read his book. The interview will also be recorded for a future podcast to be added to our myspace account. We would like to have Dr. Truelove and DGO demo giveaways but have not yet finalized the details.”

If you have any questions about this program feel free to email Amanda at bloodymandy@yahoo.com.

There is also another entry listed as a response to the original post, click here to read it. If your library is hosting any kind of TRW program, event, contest, school visit, or anything else email a paragraph or two about it to me at jberns89@gmail.com and I will post it on this blog to help give other librarians a few good ideas. Remember to let me know if you want me to include your email or contact info when I post your entry.

What a great job!

2006-10-05T08:47:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to take a few minutes to mention that I absolutely love being a young adult librarian. Today I spent much of my day helping demonstrate how to play videogames to many of the library heads, and upper level administration in my library system.

As I mentioned the other day we are hosting a Dance Dance Revolution tournament for Teen Read Week. Part of convincing the system to host the tournaments involved convincing them to buy the Nintendo’s, games, and some other equipment. Now, mind you, thanks to our very awesome youth services coordinator and also great IT director this convincing did not take too much, but still, there were some issues to work through. One such issue involved both my coworker and I agreeing to write up directions for the equipment and games as well as offering to train everyone on them.

That brings me to today. I spent the better half of my day at our main branch talking about video games and teaching people how to use them. I have now been referred to as a “specialist” because of my knowledge of Nintendo. This is why I currently feel like shouting out to the rooftops that I love being a young adult librarian. I am now being singled out and respected because I know about and am somewhat good at video games. How great is that?

This is not to say that there isn’t a whole lot more that goes into being a young adult librarian, or even into planning and hosting gaming events, but it is a part of it. Other great parts involve keeping up with pop culture by listening to music, watching popular shows and movies, and reading YA books and comic books. Not to mention talking to and getting to know young adults. These are all things I would and do, do for free in my spare time but I get paid to do it for work. Anyway, I have no real knowledge or ideas to impart at the moment, but I just wanted to remind you all how much fun our job can be.

Empowering teens

2006-10-05T04:19:00.000-07:00

I've found myself thinking a lot about the state of our world lately. I don't have cable, yet I still find it difficult to go through an entire day without being ambushed by some horrible image or headline telling yet another dark story. The past weeks bizarre trend of school shootings has especially hit close to home, since I just gave birth to a little boy not six weeks ago. I can't help but wonder what kind of world he will be living in when he becomes a teenager and whether there is something I can do now to try and combat the many dangers he will have to face.

I think the answer lies in youth activism. I have been inspired many times over with stories of how teens have banded together to fight for a common cause and I believe libraries are a perfect resource to help foster such enthusiasm for activism in their teen communities. It is, after all, during our adolescents that we begin to form our own opinions and if there is one thing libraries do best, it's provide resources to help people think for themselves.

Activism also happens to be part of the message of this years Teen Read Week. Get Active@ your library is by far one of the best messages ever chosen by YALSA, since it encompasses such a broad range of topics. There is definitely no excuse this year for a library not to be promoting something during Teen Read Week.

YALSA has a great list of ideas for helping teens get active politically and philanthropically on their website. However, I think it's also important to ask teens what it is they want to become active about, rather than just create a program around a chosen issue. This way they will actually feel as though they are involved in the process as opposed to just being guided by an adult. Ideally, it would be great to invite teens to a general meeting where ideas can be hashed out and a cause chosen. Lisa Cole, Youth Services Librarian at Koelbel Library in Colorado did this with a group of teens this past summer. After raising a chunk of money with a Read-a-thon the teens decided they wanted to donate books and supplies to children in Iraq, which they initially did through an agency known as Operation Iraqi Children.

If teens are looking to become active on a more global scale, then there is a really neat social networking website called Taking It Global, an "online community that connects youth to find inspiration, access information, get involved, and take action in their local and global communities". Here, teens can participate on forums, express their thoughts on global activism and become involved with various projects. They have also recently launched a Virtual Classroom for teachers which librarians may also find useful.

Below are a few other websites for promoting during Teen Read Week:

What Kids Can Do

Youth Activism Project

BAMboozled

Action without Borders Kids&Teens

Teen Read Week

2006-10-03T14:44:00.001-07:00

Teen Read Week (TRW) is bearing down upon us, Oct 15-21, and I thought it might be a good time to start talking about it. This year’s theme is “Get Active @ Your Library.” This week is a great time to let the young adults in your community know that the library can be a fun place and better yet, that reading can be fun. It is also a time for the young adult services to step to the forefront of your library and show the rest of the community what you do.

So, what do I do for TRW? This is the question that many librarians ask themselves when they first start thinking about TRW. What I am proposing is that we use this blog as a place to share our ideas for TRW this year. I will explain what I plan on doing for TRW but it would be nice to hear what everyone else is doing as well. So, if you email me (jberns89@gmail.com) with a short description of what you are doing for TRW, programs, school visits, contests, etc… I will post them on the blog. For those of you out there having librarians block you can simply look to this blog over the next week or two for some good ideas.

I guess I will get us started. This year another librarian and I are making a school visit and hosting a fun program. We will be visiting the local high school and talking to the all of the freshman classes about the library. We plan to encourage them to get library cards and to tell them about all our library has to offer, from databases to video games, or books to movies. Of course, because this week is about teen reading we will be doing some booktalks. We plan on booktalking a few books from Yalsa’s 2006 Top 10 Best Books list including Brian K. Vaughan’s Runaways Vol. 1: Pride and Joy and John Green’s Looking for Alaska. Finally we will give them all a coupon they can bring to the library to receive a free book. Free books will most likely include the above mentioned books as well as some other well known titles like Uglies, Airborn, and a few others.

In addition to the school visit we will be hosting an event at the library to tie in with the theme, “Get Active @ Your Library”. We will be hosting a video game night with the game Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix. Dance Dance Revolution games are very physical experiences and the thought is that this would be a very fun and attractive way to “get active”. Not to mention, showing some adults that gaming can be a social and active experience is always a good thing.

So there are two ideas for all of you, now its your turn to let me know what you are doing. Email me at jberns89@gmail.com with a paragraph or two about what you are doing and I will try and post a few ideas every couple of days as I get them. If you want me to post your email or other info about you so people can contact you with questions about the programs let me know. I will try to post a first name and library for each person if it is given to me.

Knitta Pleasa for a causa

2006-10-03T04:06:00.000-07:00

The Knitting Frenzy
The past couple of years have seen a steady rise in the number of knitting enthusiasts. Libraries and librarians have responded to this trend by increasing their supply of knitting books and other DIY titles. Some creative teen librarians have even started teen knitting programs that include equipment usage, hands-on instructions, pattern tips, and oh yes, snacks. But relatively few have convinced their teen groups to participate in Warm Up America or other charity projects. For some communities, it's difficult to participate when hard work, a lot of money, and much love is required to knit a hat or scarf for someone you don't know.

But what if you could inspire teens to knit for awareness?

Knittin' Graffiti
From the fingerboard on a Hendrix statue in Seattle, WA. to a stone on the Great Wall of China, Knitta has been tagging the world with their creations since August 2005. Knitters can now participate in the graffiti art form. Pretty cool idea, don'cha think? That's just what my teen knitting group thought. Now they'd like to duplicate the idea while incorporating a purpose. So far, we're in the planning stages. And though it may be too late to knit graffiti for Banned Books Week 2006, there are plenty of GLBT issues they'd like to tackle. So I'll keep ya posted as to the particulars once we've decided upon them.

Till then dear readers,

Knit, Read, and Inspire

We originally found Knitta, who have been mentioned in glam mags Nylon and Bust, through myspace. Add them as a friend to your library's myspace account.

"Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush..."

2006-09-20T01:47:00.000-07:00

I'd Tell You I Love You,
But Then I'd Have To Kill You
Ally Carter
Format: Hardcover
Price: $15.99
ISBN: 1423100034

Enter the hush-hush lives of Cammie Morgan and her brilliant yet deadly comrades, otherwise known as the Gallagher Girls. These schoolgals attend The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, an undercover program posing as a posh boarding school. The curriculum's ultimate goal: to produce the creme-de-la-creme among young spies for the CIA, FBI, NSA, ect. Sure, breaking and entering and hacking secruity systems may come easily to this crew, but when it comes to deciphering the language of lurve they're clueless. Although the humor will keep readers pinned to the pages, teens won't miss the moral struggles for respect and honesty. Yessirree, Ally Carter's sassy romp is a sure thing for readers desiring light romance with spunk.

(I recommend taking a peek at the inside jacket summary. It would make an excellent booktalk itself. Kudos Hyperion.)

Genre: Fluffy_Romance/Spunky_Wacky_Humor(Think Evanovich)/Covert_Opts
Read-alikes: Meg Cabot; E. Lockhart; Jaclyn Moriarty; Louise Rennison
Web Goodies: LOL while reading Ally's blog on her website found here. And beef up your library's Myspace friends by including Ally's Myspace account here.

Commentary:

"Get good, ladies. Or get dead." - Joe Solomon, CoveOpts instructor at
The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women

Sound familiar? How about "You're never too young to die."? These cocky and in-your-face taglines certainly perk the ears of our techy-seeking adventure readers. With the upcoming October release of the motion picture Stormbreaker, it's appropriate to disclose this Anthony Horowitz read-alikes booklist complied a year ago by Valerie Ott and the YALSA-BK list serve:

Get Frazy for your library's myspace account.

Butcher, A.J. - Spy High Series
Clancy, Tom - Net Force Series
Cooney, Caroline B. - Emergency Room/Flight 116 Is Down/The Terrorist
Stephen Cole - Theives Like Us (newly added 09/26)
Higson, Charlie - The Young James Bond Series
Howe, Norma - The Adventures of the Blue Avenger Series
McNamee, Graham - Acceleration
Mikaelson, Ben - Sparrow Hawk Red
Mowll, Joshua - Red Jericho
Muchamore - Cherub Series
Zindel, Paul - The Gadget

From Nancy Drew to Gossip Girl

2006-09-16T02:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a new post from guest writer Kati about the shift of the "teen trash novel." We hope Kati continues to write such insightful pieces! - Stephanie

As I’ve been picking up lots of inexpensive teen paperbacks in outdoor book sales this summer, ranging from the Beverly Gray mysteries of the 1930s-1950s to the Sweet Dreams romances of the 1980s, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about young adult novels for girls and how (and if) they’ve really changed that much over the years. There has definitely been a shift from the idealization of the wholesome Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames types who, while insufferable at times, were mostly identified by their intelligence, competence and dedication to their chosen lines of work, love for families and friends and, ok, glowing cheeks, trim figures, and titian hair. The YA novels today that are enjoying the most attention belong to the Sweet Valley High school of teen trash but there are some important differences. While the Sweet Valley series was far from socially conscious, realistic, or progressive, it was really just a throwaway trifle, and at the end of the day, the cruel and materialistic characters were ridiculed and the good, caring, and self-sacrificing characters prevailed.

There have been many essays and articles about the controversial so-called problem novels for girls, featuring sex, drugs, self-destruction, and suburban anomie. It seems, however, that there are really at least two types of novels that are really being discussed here. There is the escape novel (The Gossip Girls; Rainbow Party) and the refuge novel (Cut; Luna). The refuge novels provide mirrors for those teens who are usually marginalized in mass culture. There is huge variety in such novels and much to be said about them, but that’s for another day. As far as the trashy escape novels go, anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that girls (and women?) read The Gossip Girls and other books of its ilk because they want to exit their own dull lives absent of excitement, whippet-thin beauty, scandal, glamour, and of course, scads of money. They want to become the white, heterosexual, rich, conventionally beautiful, sophisticated characters therein. The “characters” however, are mostly just collections of physical descriptions (“Cammie had bee-stung lips and deep-set honey colored eyes. Naturally slender, her legs went on forever. True, she’d purchased the 34C breasts and had her ordinary brown hair chemically transformed into that riot of fiery curls, but so what? The total package screamed goddess”The A-List, 69) addictions/bad habits (bulimia, alcohol, smoking, drugs, cosmetic surgery) and brand names (Starbucks, Chanel, Eres, Gucci, Lexus, Jimmy Choo, Cristal, Barney’s). The take-away here is that a certain prescribed beauty and the purchase of many choice items determine the high value of these girls, yet they necessitate and thereby validate falsity, cruelty, and self-destruction.

One of the real problems I see here and in most mainstream media content and resources for young people, is the intersection between hyper-sexualization and corporate colonization of the teen’s unique and different bodies and desires. I wish there existed mainstream teen literature that could both allow girls and women to be sexual without punishing them and also provide a space that wasn’t so slavish to the joys of capitalism. Librarians and libraries are in a bind. The librarian who doesn’t want to push literature that celebrates socioeconomic ills may turn off a reluctant reader. I do not agree with people who say, “As long as they’re reading...” I think message matters more than the medium and that only reading trash is not any better than watching trash. It is important to make less harmful literature appealing to teens without denigrating their choices. Librarians and teachers must present alternative choices to teens (and children and adults) who are awash in media that provides the pleasure of oppression.

Wizard Rock!

2006-09-07T23:36:00.001-07:00

I recently received a Myspace friend request from a band that I had formerly never heard of called The Remus Lupins. I of course gave them a listen and discovered that I really like their music. This was the second Harry Potter related band I had heard of, the first being Harry and the Potters and I decided it was time to investigate this coincidence. Here is a little about what I found.

Both of these bands and many others are bands that fall under the fairly new genre of Wizard Rock. According to Wikipedia “Wizard Rock is a musical movement dating from 2002 that consists of a number of bands formed by young musicians playing songs about J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter literary phenomenon. The lyrics are usually humorous and simple, and many bands write songs from the point of view of a particular character in the books, usually the character who features in the band's name.” To my surprise this is becoming a very popular genre. A quick Myspace search turns up dozens of Wizard Rock bands and you can even find the Wizard Rock groups page, which is a discussion board and forum for fans of the genre. This page includes links to many Wizard Rock band pages with streaming music. Many of these bands tend to go for a rock or indie sound but I have found some that lean toward electronica, folk, or just the simple sound of a singer-songwriter.

One of the aspects of Wizard Rock that I find most fascinating is how interested most of these bands are in promoting literacy. Almost every one of these bands on their Myspace or website mention that one of their goals is to promote literacy. Some even have links to sites or pdfs you can download explaining how to help promote literacy in your own area.

Also of note is the Wizard Rockumentary, a group who is filming a documentary about Wizard Rock. According to the website “ The Wizard Rockumentary is a feature length documentary exploring Harry Potter fandom, the Wizard Rock community, and the goals of these musicians to promote literacy. “ Production is currently underway for this documentary but there is already a fair amount of interesting material to view on both their website and their Myspace page.

These bands have some great possibilities for young adult librarians. Many of them will play in a library making for a great program. Given the proclivity of most of these bands to promote literacy why not find one nearby and work with them on some sort of literacy program or project. A viewing of the Wizard Rockumentary, once it is released, would also make for a fun program for the teens in your library. There are countless ways to tap into this as a young adult librarian, but simply as fans of young adult literature and in the case of most of us, fans of Harry Potter it seems important just to be aware that these bands are out there and some are becoming quite popular. Below is a list of a few of these bands with links to either their Websites and/or their Myspace pages.

Harry and the Potters – Website / Myspace

The Remus Lupins – Website / Myspace

Draco and the Malfoys – Website / Myspace

The Whomping Willows – Myspace

Dobby and the house Elves – Myspace

The Hermione Crookshanks Experience – Myspace

Like Pacman and the Energizer bunny, we wonder how much further they will go.

2006-09-05T03:28:00.000-07:00

What's Next In the Life of Teen Series Books?
We've witnessed the controversy, the movies, or just plain word of mouth, which have fueled the popularity of the contemporary teen series. The Reader speaks: They want more. Shortly thereafter, this cycle hits full swing with multiple "knock-offs" published, before slowly petering out of existence. Yesterday, the droves adored Sweet Valley High, Buffy, and Fear Street. And every once in awhile there's still a whisper requesting one of these, confessing the cycle has not yet ended.

Today authors like Shan and Von Ziegesar have created their own homogenous similes of their previous works, namely Demonata and The It Girl, to fire demand. There's no question that teen patrons are eagerly seeking these bestselling titles. And the approaching fall season promises big payoffs for dedicated readers who are anticipating the release of several new series titles, particularly, Snicket's final installment to his Baudelaire tall-tale.

At approximately $10 a pop, it's encouraging that these titles continue to sell strong, indicating that teen readers are serious consumers of literature, willing to eschew easier, similarly priced entertainment alternatives. Another impressive attribute of current teen series, is the duration and length to which they have survived. As it stands, Gossip Girl boasts its #9 serial and Cirque du Freak is selling its #12 installment, an impressive feat for series fiction given that CduF is first released in hardcover. With each new installment that continues to be a sucess, we wonder how much longer the series can survive.

Snicket has mentioned from the beginning that #13 is THE END to his long-winded Unfortunate Events. Besides wondering whether the answers to the Baudelaire riddles will be satisfactorily supplied this fall, we question what's next for Snicket, and more importantly for the teen series formula in general. Though I belly-lauged my way through Artemis #5, I believe/hope this fall will be the last push before these series become overshadowed by newer titles and ideas.

Add Frazy to your myspace
New fall releases pictured above are listed from left to right: Artemis Fowl #5: The Lost Colony; The Clique #6: L Is for Loser; Princess Diaries #7: Party Princess; Gossip Girl #9: Only In Your Dreams; Cirque du Freak #12: Sons of Destiny; Unfortunate Events #13: The End.

Teen book discussion blogs

2006-08-13T01:17:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading The Book Club Exploded from LJ's July issue, and I must say, I'm becoming more and more enamored with the idea of doing a book discussion blog for teens. The article mentions that book discussion blogs have had "mixed results" in general but seem to be more successful with teens. I did a search for for teen book blogs on google just to see if I could find some examples. I managed to locate three so far, but if anyone knows of more, please leave a link in the comments and once I have a good list I can add them to the teenlibwiki.

Seward Memorial Library
Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library
Prairie du Sac Public Library

One of the biggest obstacles in discussion groups with teenagers is trying to get them to feel comfortable enough to speak up and express their thoughts. The anonymity of blogging, forums and chats could help with this type of anxiety. I imagine both methods have their pros and cons and I think most librarians would a agree that offering both a standard book discussion group and a book discussion blog would be of great value to any teen department. I just know that many librarians have voiced frustration with the traditional discussion group and in those cases, opting for a book blog might be a good way to gain more interest and reach their teen population. The examples above reflect a variety of formats and uses for a book discussion blog. The posts on the Seward Memorial Library blog seem to focus more on book summaries, whereas Prairie du Sac Public Library is much more interactive. I think I would prefer Prairie du Sac's method myself, which seems to resemble more of a discussion by using questions to entice readers to respond.

The Rebirth of an Older Generation

2006-08-09T14:03:00.000-07:00

Journey Between Worlds
Sylvia Louise Engdahl
Format: Hardcover
Price: $17.99
ISBN: 0399245324

Journey Between Worlds soulfully explores cultural prejudices against the backdroup of a futuristic colonization of Mars and through the empathic turmoil of a recent HS graduate. Mirand forgos her earthbound relations in exchange for a temporary Mars life. She exhibits a stubborn dissidence towards Mars that fuels her misconceived views. However, new relationships influence her to reevaluate and understand herself, as well as, Mars from the natives' perspective. Reflective and thought-provoking, this valiant character finds solace in self discovery. Other Sylvia titles have been recently reprinted.

Genre: Philosophy/Human_Relations/Gut_Love
Read-alikes: For serious content, suggest other Engdahl titles. Due to deep character development recommend this to older teens and young college students who have read and loved authors like Gail Carson Levine and Tamora Pierce.
Web Goodies: HEY, Sylvia has a MYSPACE ACCOUNT! Her website can be found here. Also check out her SpaceSubsite to further enhance your space age mythological experience.

Commentary: JBW was my introduction to Engdahl's writing, which means I haven't read the more popular title Enchantress from the Stars (Newberry Honor book). From the getgo it's immediately apparent that this Journey will indeed be otherworldly. I'm thinking, that because JBW was written in the 70's, the dominating writing style of the time, for the YA field, was more intense and philosophical than my modern palate has been accoustomed to. I mean to say that the previous generations had another method of portraying their missions. For example, Melinda is highly mature and intuitive:

Nobody knows this better than parents, and parents don't want to think of their kids as adults. This is less because they distrust you than because they distrust themselves; its a matter not of your age, but of theirs. They hate to believe that they are old enough to have grown children. So if you love your folks, why make it tough for them? - pg 3

I don't read this as being stated in the vernacular, but as being directed towards an older teen or adult audience. The story, throughout, contains other loaded ideas and is dense in character development. At times, these power ideas reduce the backdrop of Mars to slightly significant, causing the novel to lose most of its science fiction cred. Which is only a problem if you have a reader wanting a strong science fiction read. But Melinda's insightfulness will certainly win the hearts of those wanting a coming-of-age story with substance.

Participating: Got any ideas for read-alikes that contain valiant characters or other similar reads? Please leave a comment.