CYA: Children & Young Adults

The National Endowment for the Arts published a report on teen reading and reading skills. YALSA has written a rebuttal defining what reading is when it comes to teens. And ALA has their official response as well.

Attention all librarians, teachers, bloggers, and teens!

Votin’ is our sacred American duty!

It’s time to encourage your teens to cast their vote for the Teens’ Top 10!
Sponsored by YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) and the YA Galley Committee

The Teens’ Top 10 is the only book award list that is recommended and awarded solely by teens.

***Teens have been reading! 15 teen groups sifted through Advance Reader’s Copies/Galleys to find the best books for teens published in 2006 and 2007.
***This year, 25 titles made it through the laborious process and were nominated for the Teens’ Top 10. In order to be nominated, a book must be selected by 3 different teens from within these 15 groups.
***Now, we need teens from all over the United States to vote on the Top 10!

To do List:
For Librarian — Set up a voting station and inform your teens with the 5 W’s about Teens’ Top 10 voting. For more information about the Teens’ Top 10 (as well as promotion ideas), please visit the website:

http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/teenreading/
teenstopten/teenstopten.htm.

Get the information below into teens’ hands.
For Teens — Voting opens during Teen Read Week, October 14-20, 2007. We want to know which titles you think deserve the title of Teens’ Top 10. Twenty-five titles have been nominated by teens just like you as the best reads of 2006-2007. Read as many of the titles as you can before October 14, 2007. Teens should visit the website

http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/teenreading/
teenstopten/teenstopten.htm

to place their vote anytime during Teen Read Week. We look forward to seeing which books YOU think are the best of the best.

For bloggers — Get the word out about this important initiative

The YA Galley Committee will count all of these votes to come up with the official list of Teens’ Top 10 for 2007.

Without further ado, these are the 25 nominated titles for Teens’ Top 10 2007:

1. Firegirl by Tony Abbott
2. Clay by David Almond
3. Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks
4. Secrets of My Hollywood Life by Jen Calonita
5. The Loud Silence of Francine Green by Karen Cushman
6. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
7. How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles
8. In Search of Mockingbird by Loretta Ellsworth
9. The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson
10. What Happened to Cass McBride by Gail Giles
11. Hello, Groin by Beth Goobie
12. River Secrets by Shannon Hale
13. Shock Point by April Henry
14. Bad Kitty by Michele Jaffe
15. Born to Rock by Gordon Korman
16. New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
17. Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller
18. Prom Anonymous by Blake Nelson
19. Maximum Ride: School’s Out-Forever by James Patterson
20. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
21. Penelope Bailey Takes the Stage by Susanna Reich
22. All Hallows Eve (13 Stories) by Vivian Vande Velde
23. Skin by Adrienne Maria Vrettos
24. The Unresolved by T.K. Welsh
25. Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog by Ysabeau S. Wilce

For more information about the Teens’ Top 10, please visit http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/teenreading/
teenstopten/teenstopten.htm

Lindsey C. Dunn
Young Adult Librarian
Eva Perry Library
http://zeesays.blogspot.com

[posted with permission --adrienne]

YALSA is offering four online courses this fall: “Booktalks Quick and Simple,” “New Technologies and New Literacies for Teens,” “Reaching Teens with Gaming” and “YALSA Competencies Live.”

“Booktalks Quick and Simple” and “Reaching Teens with Gaming” will run October 1 to October 31; “New Technologies and New Literacies for Teens” and “YALSA Competencies Live” will run October 1 to November 9. Registration opened on August 27, 2007.

“Booktalks Quick and Simple” participants will learn what a booktalk is and how to booktalk with teens. Sessions will focus on how to create hooks for books, share the talks with teens and experiment with a variety of booktalking techniques. Nancy Keane will teach this course.

Participants in “New Technologies and New Literacies for Teens” will have the opportunity to talk with others about teen use of technology and how that use improves literacy skills. They will also have the chance to create a framework for a program or service at their library that supports teen technology-based print literacy. Linda Braun will teach this course.

The main focus of “Reaching Teens with Gaming” is to educate non-gamers about what video games are, to eliminate stereotypes and fears about video games and to introduce librarians to a medium that engages the free time of more than 80 percent of their teen clientele. Beth Gallaway will teach this course.

“YALSA Competencies Live,” an introduction to YALSA’s Competencies for Librarians Serving Youth, program will show participants how all of the aspects of good service to young adults work together, as well as how to plan for growing teen services in school or public libraries. Amy Alessio will teach this course.

Course registration is available online until September 17 at www.ala.org/yalsa. The cost for each four-week course, the equivalent of a one-day face-to-face workshop, is $135 for YALSA members, $175 for ALA members and $195 for non-members. The cost for each six-week course, the equivalent of a one-and-one-half-day face-to-face workshop, is $149 for YALSA members, $195 for ALA members and $215 for non-members. More tips on taking online courses can be found on the YALSA Web site at: http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/onlinecourses/info.htm.

For 50 years, YALSA has been the world leader in selecting books, videos, and audiobooks for teens. For more information about these awards or for additional lists of recommended reading, go to www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists.

For more information about YALSA, please contact us via e-mail, yalsa AT ala.org; or by phone at 1-800-545-2433 ext. 4390.

[posted with permission]

From YALSA:

The last day to register for Teen Read Week is Monday, Sept. 17th - in just one week! Don’t wait any longer. Register today. It’s free and easy to do. Simply visit YALSA’s Teen Read Week webpage at www.ala.org/teenread and click on Register Now.

Officially registering helps YALSA in many ways, such as securing funding for important projects like the 2007 World Book - ALA Goal Award. TRW registration figures played an important part in YALSA’s successful application for this $10,000 grant to improve teen library services in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

All YALSA members who register will receive a free paperback book, courtesy of Teen Read Week Promotional Partner Scholastic. More than one person can register per Library system.

Other opportunities you’ll find at the Teen Read Week webpage include:

• Information about how your Library could win a visit with author Tiffany Trent, courtesy of YALSA and Mirrorstone Books, by submitting your Teen Read Week activity as a contender for this year’s best Teen Read Week program.
• Booklists, our Teen Read Week wiki and other resources to help your Library celebrate.
• The first 50 regular members to join YALSA via the TRW page will receive the Chronicles for Young Readers gift set by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman courtesy Mirrorstone Books; they will also receive nine Michael L. Printz Award–winning titles courtesy of Penguin Books for Young Readers.

I know many of you will be actively celebrating Teen Read Week in a variety of creative, dynamic ways, so why wait? Register today!

TRW is October 14 -20, 2007. The theme is LOL @ Your Library (Laugh Out Loud). Need programming ideas? Visit the TRW: Wiki! [inserted by Adrienne]

Paula
–
Are You a Friend of YALSA?
www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/givetoyalsa/give.htm

Paula Brehm-Heeger
YALSA President, 2007-2008
A Division of the American Library Association

posted with permission