Explore diversity, teens and reading with the Young Adult Library Services Association this November!

YALSA will host the biennial Young Adult Literature Symposium in Albuquerque, New Mexico, November 5-7!

This year’s theme, “Diversity, Literature, and Teens: Beyond Good Intentions,” discusses today’s generation of teens — likely the most diverse generation ever. Does today’s young adult literature reflect the many different faces, beliefs and identities of today’s teens? What impact is this generation having on young adult literature and vice versa? Join YALSA as we explore the depth and breadth of contemporary literature in search of an answer to these questions.
On Friday, attendees can add an optional full-day preconference on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender topics in YA literature to their registration. They can also add optional half-day mini forums on street literature, teen readers’ advisory, or body acceptance in YA literature. On Saturday, registrants can add the optional Bill Morris Memorial Author Luncheon, featuring Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (Coretta Scott King Award winning author of Bad News for Outlaws) or a tour and reception at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.

The symposium registration includes a Friday welcome reception, educational sessions on Saturday and Sunday, and an authors’ happy hour on Saturday afternoon.

All symposium attendees will receive a continuing education certificate showing the number of contact hours each person received. For example, an attendee who attended the preconference and four sessions will earn a certificate showing they received 12 contact hours.

Early bird registration (through September 10) starts at $195 for YALSA members. You can find a preliminary program, program list, registration and more at www.ala.org/yalitsymposium.

Questions? Contact YALSA at yalsa@ala.org or 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4390.

This is from YAttitudes, issue 9, no 4: May 2010. Those libraries with active teen book clubs may be interested in applying for the YA Galley and your teens could participate in selecting YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten and get free books!

Your Teens Could Help Choose YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten

YALSA is accepting applications for the 2010-2012 round of YA Galley! YA Galley is an ongoing project in which publishers of young adult books provide free copies of their recent titles to teen book discussion groups in libraries. In exchange, teen readers evaluate books for the publishers.

Young adult book discussion group leaders who wish to be considered for YALSA’s YA Galley/Teens’ Top Ten project can learn more online at the Teens’ Top Ten website.  Applications are due June 1, 2010. The YA Galley committee will select 15 groups during the ALA’s Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. this June. Each selected group will serve a two-year term beginning in November 2010.

Beginning in August 2011, these select groups will nominate titles for the 2011 Teens’ Top Ten. Teens across the country will choose their favorite books of the year by voting on these nominations. Learn more at www.ala.org/teenstopten.

The Cooperative Children’s Book Center School of Education University of Wisconsin-Madison has a list of 30 multicultural books teens should read and know. Included on the list:

• Sherman Alexie’s Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
• Sharon Flake’s The Skin I’m In
• Angela Johnson’s First Part Last
• Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese

Take a look!

The third and final Hunger Games book, Mockingjay, cover is out! The release date is August 24th. *dance of joy*

Congratulations to Hobart Public Library, Frederick Public Library, Hennessey Public Library and Grandfield Public Library on being January 2010 Libri Foundation Grant receipents!

The Libri Foundation is currently accepting applications for its 2010 BOOKS FOR CHILDREN grants.

The Libri Foundation is a nationwide non-profit organization which donates new, quality, hardcover children’s books to small, rural public libraries throughout the United States.  Since October 1990, the Foundation has donated over $4,000,000 worth of new children’s books to more than 2,500 libraries in 49 states, including Alaska and Hawaii.

In order to encourage and reward local support of libraries, The Libri Foundation will match any amount of money raised by your local sponsors from $50 to $350 on a 2-to-1 ratio.  Thus, a library can receive up to $1,050 worth of new children’s books.  After a library receives a grant, local sponsors (such as formal or informal Friends groups, civic or social organizations, local businesses, etc.) have four months, or longer if necessary, to raise their matching funds.

The librarian of each participating library selects the books her library will receive from a booklist provided by the Foundation.  The 700-plus fiction and nonfiction titles on the booklist reflect the very best of children’s literature published primarily in the last three years. These titles, which are for children ages 12 and under, are award-winners or have received starred reviews in library, literary, or education journals.  The booklist also includes a selection of classic children’s titles.

Libraries are qualified on an individual basis.  In general, county libraries should serve a population under 16,000 and town libraries should serve a population under 10,000 (usually under 5,000).  Libraries should be in a rural area, have a limited operating budget, and an active children’s department.

Please note:  Rural is usually considered to be at least 30 miles from a city with a population over 40,000.  Town libraries with total operating budgets over $150,000 and county libraries with total operating budgets over $350,000 are rarely given grants.

Applications are accepted from independent libraries as well as libraries which are part of a county, regional, or cooperative library system.

A school library may apply only if it also serves as the public library (i.e. it is open to the everyone in the community, has some summer hours, and there is no public library in town).

A branch library may apply if the community it is in meets the definition of rural.  If the branch library receives its funding from its parent institution, then the parent institution’s total operating budget, not just the branch library’s total operating budget, must meet the budget guidelines.

Previous BOOKS FOR CHILDREN grant recipients are eligible to apply for another grant three years after the receipt of their last grant.
Libraries that do not fulfill all grant requirements, including the final report, may not apply for another grant.

Application deadlines for 2010 are:  (postmarked by) January 23rd (extended), April 15th, and August 15th.

Grants are awarded January 31st, April 30th, and August 31st.

Application guidelines and forms may be downloaded from the Foundation’s website at: www.librifoundation.org.

For more information about The Libri Foundation or its Books for Children program, please contact Ms. Barbara J. McKillip, President, The Libri Foundation, PO Box 10246, Eugene, OR  97440.  541-747-9655 (phone); 541-747-4348 (fax); libri AT librifoundation.org (email).  Normal office hours are:  Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Pacific Time.

Texas Library Associaton Maverick

The Texas Library Association has inaugurated their first Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List.

“Together with YALSA’s annual Great Graphic Novels for Teens list, the Maverick list should serve as a valuable resource for all librarians seeking graphic novels that are both age-appropriate and high quality.”

The list is for grades from 6 – 8, 6 – 12,  9 – 12 and adult titles for young adults. Fiction, non-fiction and manga titles are included. Titles on the list must be published within 2 years prior to the list. The Maverick Reading List is meant to explore the variety of books currently available and encourage reading for pleasure. The books on the list can be published outside of the US but must be widely available.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Scholastic has discussion questions for Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games and Catching Fire (PDF).

toy and action figure museum where the wild things are poster

OklaTravelNet broadcast of Toy and Action Figure Museum Where the Wild Things Are Party this Saturday. ODL is partnering by providing books and comic books as prizes. Rumble from the OKC Thunder will be there from 2pm – 3pm to “read” the book.

To watch the broadcast go to: http://www.oklatravelnet.com/, and click on Last Show Archive on top of the video box. See how good Bill is!

Download the poster at the CYA: Wiki.

Take a look at Awful Library Books.

Awful Books

If books in your collection looks like this…

Remember, each year the books in the Oklahoma Department of Libraries Juvenile Review Collection are divided between the regional consultants and given to an Oklahoma library to build their collection. Let your consultant know if you are getting ready to weed your children and teen collections.