School Library Journal review

School Library Journal declares itself “the world’s largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teens”. School Library Journal is a companion to Library Journal, and a sibling publication of Publisher’s Weekly, all of which are under the management of Reed Elsevier Inc.

While School Library Journal does review books for teens, much of the material in this publication is focused towards children. Limiting the articles to purely articles about teens does not leave a large amount of materials; SLJ focuses much of its attention on K – 8. However, despite the focus on children, the material that SLJ does publish on teens is particularly interesting, and would be very useful to teen librarians.

One such article was “Do You Speak Digital?: Harvard's John Palfrey Explores What It's Like to Be a Digital Native”. This article provided an interview with John Palfrey, whose new book, Born Digital, suggests a new way of conceiving of today’s youth. One of the strengths of SLJ is in these types of professional development pieces, especially the technology-focused professional development piece.

SLJ is additionally useful for its thorough reviews, which provide extensive description of the titles reviews. Inconveniently these reviews are all located under “Grade 5 and Up”; it may have been useful for them to be collocated under “Teens”, though most of SLJ’s reviews do indicate an age range.
Perhaps the most major problem with School Library Journal, however, is the RSS feeds, or lack thereof. Subscribing to the multiple RSS feeds of SLJ is very inconvenient, and there is often overlap between the different feeds, which leads to duplicate posts in one’s RSS feed reader.

Overall, SLJ has extremely useful content. It is somewhat unfortunate, though, that there are some obstacles to accessing it, such as the lack of collocation of the reviews of teen books, and the inconvenient RSS feed functions.

Teen Genreflecting Review

Diana Tixier-Herald’s Teen Genreflecting is a useful reader’s advisory resource that does not underestimate the intellectual potential of teens. Tixier-Herald provides an overview of all of the genres of literature: Historical Novels; Science Fiction; Fantasy; Mystery, Suspense and Horror; Adventure; Contemporary; and Romance. Each category is broken down much further into its subgenres, and titles are recommended for each subgenre.

An interesting introduction gives an overview of the importance of encouraging teens to read for pleasure, and the benefits of linking teens to materials of their own interest, including comic books and graphic novels. Tixier-Herald also explains her intention behind Teen Genreflecting; which is not to give a comprehensive guide to particular authors, but to facilitate thorough understandings of the genres that do exist, and their appeal to teens.

The scope of Teen Genreflecting is very broad, and encompasses much of the world of publications for teens. It is a useful tool for librarians who may be completely unaware of the variety of materials available for teens, or for adult readers’ advisors who may be looking to teen collections to recommend cross-over titles for their patrons.

Most titles recommended by Tixier-Herald are accompanied by a one or two line plot description; however, this is often not sufficient enough to assess the book’s appeal to teens. The Genreflecting approach may not benefit teen readers’ advisory in the same way that it benefits adults’ readers’ advisory, since many of the most popular teen titles blend genres together. Additionally, Tixier-Herald does not mention publication dates in her annotations. She justifies this in the introduction by suggesting that good genre fiction is timeless; however, some teen readers may disagree and want to read more recent titles.

In my own research during this course, I have found Teen Genreflecting to be a relatively useful resource; however, it is best accompanied by The Teen Reader’s Advisor by RoseMary Honnold. The two books used in conjunction with each other provide a very complete picture of teen materials: where The Teen Reader’s Advisor could use more thorough investigations of the genres, Teen Genreflecting steps in, and where Teen Genreflecting could use more discussion of appeal, The Teen Reader’s Advisor fills the gap.

New Yorker Cartoon

Plus an interesting blog post here.

The Puzzle of Boys

"[Niobe Way has] been interviewing teenage boys about their friendships, and what she's found is remarkable. While it's common wisdom that teenage boys either can't express or don't possess strong feelings about their friends, Way has discovered that boys in their early teens can be downright sentimental when discussing their friendships. When asked what they liked about their best friends, boys frequently said: "They won't laugh at me when I talk about serious things." What has emerged from her research is a portrait of emotionally intelligent boys who care about more than sports and cars. Such an observation might not sound revolutionary, but what boys told her and her fellow researchers during lengthy, probing interviews runs counter to the often one-dimensional portrayal of boys in popular culture. "They were resisting norms of masculinity," she says.

Note the past tense. At some point in high school, that expressiveness vanishes, replaced with a more defensive, closed-off posture, perhaps as boys give in to messages about what it means to be a man. Still, her research undermines the stereotype that boys are somehow incapable of discussing their feelings. "And yet," she says, "this notion of this emotionally illiterate, sex-obsessed, sports-playing boy just keeps getting spit out again and again."

Touchy-feely talk about friendships may seem disconnected from boys' academic woes, but Way insists they're pieces of the same puzzle. "If you don't understand the experience of boyhood," she says, "you'll never understand the achievement gaps.""

"The Puzzle of Boys", a very interesting article in The Chronicle.

Why Breaking Dawn Must Be Made Into a Movie

“I will not rest until I have seen a movie in which a werewolf falls in love with a baby. Hell, once I’ve seen a werewolf fall in love with a baby I may quit movie watching - I will have seen the ultimate culmination of a century of cinema.”

Watch out for the strong language in this blog post - but otherwise totally hilarious.

'Twilight,' the love that dare not speak its shame

"It's embarrassing, to love something you wish you hated." Exactly how I felt Thursday night, at the opening showing of New Moon.

Article in the Washington Post.

YALSA blog review

I have subscribed to the YALSA blog for approximately the last 3 months, and I have found it fairly interesting. “Fairly” is an important qualifier – while I think it is a particularly useful professional resource, I do not read YALSA’s blog when I am doing my own leisure reading. Considering my leisure blog reading involves multiple book and library blogs, that is a bit of a critique. YALSA’s blog posts are often overly informative, or simply too long, and not visually broken up very well.

However, though YALSA’s blog has little appeal to those outside of professionals working with teens, it functions extremely well as a professional blog. It would keep a YA librarian well-informed; for example, I had no idea that WWE had a reading program that my library could participate in. These kind of notices of corporate sponsorships, or grants that libraries can apply for, are the types of things that would be quite easy to miss in one’s everyday work, but when they are amalgamated by the YALSA blog, it is quite easy to stay up-to-date.

Another useful aspect of YALSA is using it to stay on top of teen trends. An October post discussed whether or not teens use Twitter (they don’t), and what that means for the future of social media. There has been significant discussion over what is the appropriate use of social media, and which ones appeal to teens (Facebook), and how to apply this type of advertising / publicity in one’s own library.

Something I do not find useful in the YALSA blogs are the book reviews. These reviews are overly long, tend to be fairly boring, and do not compare with some of the reviews written by popular bloggers. When a YALSA book review appears in my Google Reader, I simply scroll past it – these reviews are not written in an interesting enough voice for me to make it through the lengthy plot summaries.

What I do really enjoy about the YALSA blog is the “personal” posts by certain YA librarians. Recently, there have been a few posts on the Twilight craze, and how individual public or school libraries have dealt with the “Edward and Bella” problem. In October, there was an interesting post about the organization and layout of a particular school library, and potential problems that teens run into in this library in trying to find the books they are looking for. These types of posts promote a professional enthusiasm and camaraderie among YA librarians, which makes the profession more dynamic and appealing.

Dante's Inferno Teen Booktalk

Girls' Life: YA Magazine Review

Girls' Life Magazine, November 2009. $3.99.

I chose this magazine to review since it was the only magazine I could ever remember reading as a (pre)teen - our elementary school library had a subscription to it. So looking at this magazine 10 years later, I expected it to be fairly wholesome, and Girls' Life didn't disappoint.

The target audience for this magazine is very clearly girls in their early teens; the advice column contains answers to questions such as how to know if a boy likes you, how to get better grades in English class, and what to do if you don't have any special talents. However, the advice column also broaches the topic of sexual abuse, gay and lesbian issues, and death in an accessible, but not preachy, manner. There is a secondary column of "Body Q&A" later in the magazine, wherein doctors answer the questions of teens about puberty and sex, as well as any other bodily concerns ("This is weird, but I have a ton of nose hairs!").

There is a several page spread of Girls' Life fashion, featuring girls ages 15 - 17. Several pages of hair and make-up tips, including how to fix your hair like Jessica Alba, follow the fashion spread. The celebrities featured are very teen specific: I didn't recognize many of them, including Kay Panabaker, who graces this month's cover, and is apparently one of the Disney Channel super-celebrities. The content is somewhat American-focused: one feature article interviews the daughter of a soldier deployed to Afghanistan, and is particularly patriotic.

Perhaps where Girls' Life gains its greatest appeal is in its romantic advice (some offered by real boys themselves!) and quizzes. In "Forgive or Forget?", Girls' Life contributors assess boyfriend problems using a "Ditch-o-meter" - for example, if, "he's really hush hush about your relationship", that merits a ditch-o-meter of 4 - "until this boy is ready to go public, keep your distance". Several quizzes are scattered throughout the issue, including friendship quizzes, and relationship quizzes.

Though obviously a commercial venture, Girls' Life has a rather pedagogical feel to it: it mostly consists of advice to girls about how to deal with boys, parents, school, stress, body image and eating habits. However, despite the pedagogy, the format of the magazine is much like any popular glossy women's magazine such as Vogue or Elle, which increases its teen appeal.

It's no surprise I found Girls' Life in my elementary school library. It was a useful part of the collection 10 years ago, and would remain so today: however, I doubt how popular a choice this magazine would be with those who are older than 14 or 15.

Teen Reading Survey

"In an industry without a lot of good news to report, the one consistent bright spot has been publishing for teens. While adult trade sales are expected to fall 4% this year, juvenile and young adult sales are expected to increase 5.1%, according to the PW/IPR Book Sales Index...Teenreads.com, the second site in what is now TheBookReportNetwork.com, provides an opportunity to investigate this teen readership."

- an overview of the Teenreads.com survey, over at Publisher's Weekly

Persepolis - Book Review

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood.  

Pantheon, 2003. 153 p.  $16.06.  978-0375422300.

This beautifully illustrated graphic novel narrates the childhood of the author as she grows up during the Iranian revolution. The story begins in 1980 when Marji, and her schoolmates are required to wear the veil to school. None of the girls understand why this is necessary, but as Marji develops and learns about the revolution and its issues, so too does the reader. Marji is highly literate, reading ideological and philosophical works, as well as works by revolutionaries, and reflects on what is happening around her: disappearances, executions, riots, and bombings. The political content is highly personalized in a way that makes this era understandable and accessible to teens; for example, Marji risks her freedom by publicly wearing makeup, and collecting contraband Michael Jackson cassettes.

Marji’s strong relationships with her family run throughout the book: her mother and grandmother provide positive female role models in a society where women are often marginalized, and her relationship with her beloved uncle provides the emotional climax of the novel. The emotional and political content may not make this title appropriate for all tweens, but mature tweens and teenagers will find it particularly moving and engaging.

Like Maus, Persepolis: Story of a Childhood is a must-have for any core graphic novel collection. Since the publication of Story of a Childhood, Satrapi has now published three subsequent volumes, and The Complete Persepolis is now available in a compendium format. Persepolis has also been made into an animated film (Columbia / Tri-Star), co-directed and written by Satrapi herself.

5Q 4P J S

Seminar 12: Adult Books for Teens

Both required readings are available online via Western Libraries: simply log on to the proxy server via Western Libraries' main page, and then paste the link into the URL bar.

Required Reading:

Carter, Betty. (1997). Adult books for young adults. English Journal, 86(3), pp. 63 – 67. Available via JSTOR. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/i233803

Carter, Betty. (2003). Alex: The Why and the How. Booklist 99.15; pp. 1389. Available via ProQuest. Stable URL:
http://proquest.umi.com.proxy1.lib.uwo.ca:2048/pqdweb?did=337226071& sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=11263&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Suggested Reading:

Abrahamson, Richard F. (1998). Back to the Future with Adult Books for Teen Readers. Journal for Youth Services in Libraries, 11.4, pp. 378 – 387. Available at the GRC: IMS periodical Z 718.1.J68 1998.

Abrahamson surveys the reading habits of teens, with the conclusion that not astonishingly, many teen readers enjoy adult books. He uses insight from his high school English teaching career to discuss the findings in the literature.

Anderson, Sheila B. Adult Fiction. Serving Older Teens. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited; pp. 175 - 177. IMS stack Z718.5.S48 2004.

A very brief overview of which adult fiction may particularly appeal to older teens, accompanied by a list of resources for the teen librarian.

Awards for Adult Books for Teens:

American Library Association. Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA).

The BBYA awards include adult and young adult titles. This website includes lists of past winners, current nominees, and an overview of the awards process.

American Library Association. YALSA’s Alex Awards.

The ALA’s Alex Awards website includes lists of the past winners, current nominees, and an overview of the awards policies and procedures.

Book lists:

Bilz, Rachelle Lasky. (2007) Adult Books for Older Teens: Science Fiction. Teacher-Librarian, 35.2; pp. 49. Available online via Western Libraries.

One example of a monthly (2006 – present) feature in Teacher-Librarian, in which Rachelle Lasky Bilz recommends 4 or 5 adult titles, accompanied by a short description, that may appeal to teens. These lists are arranged thematically (e.g. science fiction, guns, circus), with additional “Must Read Author” lists (e.g. Jodi Picoult, Alice Hoffman) sporadically.

Booklist. (2008). Editor’s Choice: Adult Books for Young Adults.

Following from the year’s reviews, Booklist editor compiles a list of adult books that teens will enjoy.

Keane, N. J. (2006). Adult Fiction Titles for Young Adults; Adult Nonfiction Titles for Young Adults. The big book of teen reading lists: 100 great, ready-to- use book lists for educators, librarians, parents, and teens. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited; pp. 9 – 16. IMS stack Z718.5.S48 2004.

Several pages of adult titles that may be of interest to teens, presented in a “hand-out” format for easy distribution in libraries or schools. Each title is accompanied by a one or two sentence plot summary.

Mackey, Margaret. (2006). Adult Canadian Books for Strong Teenage Readers. School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta. Available online.

A compilation of yearly booklists from Resource Links, divided thematically. Very thorough; 105 pages.

Pearl, N. (2007). Moving Up. Book crush: For kids and teens : Recommended reading for every mood, moment, and interest. Seattle, WA: Sasquatch Books; pp. 229 – 230. IMS stack Z1037.P35 2007.

A short list of suggested adult titles that appeal to teens. This list is a good starting point for a librarian who may be unfamiliar with what types of adult materials teens may favour.

School Library Journal. Adult Books for High School Students

A monthly feature in SLJ, in which several adult titles are recommended for teens, complete with an extensive description of each title.

Classic books, redesigned for teens

Philadelphia design student's Masters thesis: Re-branding classic book covers for greater teen appeal.

[Link.]

Bitch magazine on Teenage Role Models and Sexuality

"Here's the thing: teenagers are sexual. They just are, despite the many powerful cultural messages which tell them not to be. And, for teenage girls, in particular, sexuality is a minefield, given that all the images they see of "sexual women" consist only and entirely of their sexuality, and the fact that the sexuality displayed by those women is generally dude-approved and performative. The role model of a woman who is multi-dimensional, accomplished in many different fields, totally accepting of her body, and fucking hot as hell because she knows she likes sex and is ready and willing and eager to have sex in the ways that are most fulfilling and least compromising for her... well, we don't have that yet."

- Are You There, God? It's Me, Miley: On Privacy, Teen Sexuality, and the Miley Cyrus Twitter, Bitch magazine

SPL Teen Blog

Just discovered that Seattle Public Library has a teen blog, Push to Talk, written by the teens on their Teen Advisory Committees. I've been following Shelf Talk, SPL's main blog, for quite a while and it's pretty awesome. I have high hopes for Push to Talk!

Dystopias in YA

I intended to read The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness for my second YA book review, but it failed Nancy Pearl's Rule of 50 for me. At the same time, it provoked an important personal reflection:

I really cannot stand dystopian YA literature. It's one of the reasons I never read much YA, because what was presented in school was generally about dystopias, and then we would have to have really tedious, contrived discussions about it. I'm thinking of Lois Lowry's The Giver, and John Wyndham's The Chrysalids. It even continued into high school, having to read Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale in grade 10 English. Maybe I could have enjoyed these books if they weren't taught in school, but as it stands, I am still put off by these types of themes. Blinded by my own personal bias, I find it difficult to understand the appeal factors of these books for teens.

Anyway, I returned The Knife of Never Letting Go to the library, in hopes it will find a more appreciative reader. Not surprisingly, Stephenie Meyer's The Host is still sitting unfinished on my bookshelf, waiting for someone to read it. Let me know if you'd like to borrow it.

Hello, Groin - Book Review

Goobie, Beth. Hello, Groin. Orca, 2006. 271p. $14.56. 978-1551434599

When Dylan starts grade 11, she has no idea what the year will hold. She’s been dating Cam, a popular jock, and should be considered one of the “in” crowd. But when Dylan hangs out with the popular girls, she is aware that she is not like them at all. The popular girls soon nickname her “Queen Dylan”, for her hesitance to have sex with Cam. Cam is the ideal boyfriend, but Dylan is not sure she wants to continue the relationship, and surmounting feelings of confusion towards her best friend Jocelyn further complicate the matter. Wise-beyond-her-years little sister Keelie tells Dylan that she doesn’t have enough happiness in her life, and it is soon apparent that Dylan is going to have to be honest with herself about what she wants.

This is easier said than done – the groin, notes Dylan, is a very confusing part of the body. Authoritarian figures like the school principal, who censors the book display that the school librarian commissions from Dylan, further exacerbate the problem. In the controversy that follows the censorship of the display, Dylan has to face the establishment, her parents, her peers, and most importantly, come to terms with herself and her feelings for Jocelyn. Luckily for Dylan, she has the support of rational and kind parents, and the open-minded school librarian.

Overall, Hello, Groin is a well-considered and thoughtful coming of age story, appropriate for teenagers and for mature tweens.

3Q 4P J S

Other works by Beth Goobie: Something Girl, The Dream Where the Losers Go

Teen Annex Adventure

In true teen fashion, I left my visit to the teen section of the library to the last possible minute of the day. At 8:40, which is 20 minutes to close, I entered the teen section of the Jalna Branch Library, which is a branch that I don’t usually go to. When I walked into the library, there were a number of signs directing patrons. One pointed to the children’s section, another to audio and video, and one more to adults. There was no directional sign for the teen annex, but it turned out to be not far ahead of me.

The teen section had a “Teen Annex” sign hanging from the ceiling, and some pretty cool modular furniture; a red and purple table, and some kind of funky shelving units on which were displayed popular and new teen titles. Another display unit showcased interesting graphic novels. The teen collection itself spanned 4 or 5 bookshelves, and seemed to contain a wide array of genres, from “chick lit” to sci fi to a large collection of mangas. A bulletin board next to the collection advertised all sorts of teen programming, from teen book clubs to homework help to LPL’s L.O.U.D. concert series.

The collections on display made me somewhat more aware of how unfamiliar with YA materials I really am: I recognized a few graphic novels, such as Craig Thompson's Blankets, and some of the book titles seemed vaguely familiar from the blogosphere, but there is seemingly a world of publication unto itself that I have never really involved myself in.

What I found particularly notable about my trip to the teen section, since I didn't really have the vocabulary to assess the quality of the collection, was how the space was being used by teens, even when the library was closing in 20 minutes. There were two teens in a study room adjacent to the teen annex, though they didn’t seem to be studying so much as socializing with one of teen pages on staff – who pretended to arrange books while the three had a boisterous conversation. Just in front of the teen annex was a bay of homework computers, where two teens or pre-teens were getting help from a woman who appeared to be a homework tutor.

It was quite interesting to see this much activity at 8:40 pm. I was really pleasantly surprised to see what a vivacious and dynamic space Jalna’s teen section is, and that it is genuinely being used by teens in the ways that they see fit.

Twilight Saga Banned

via LISNews, an article in the Daily Telegraph about some Australian schools banning Twilight.

What YA Lit Is and Isn't

"The bottom line is that YA books are not meant to raise children. They are everything any adult book is. They are entertainment. They are a place to see ourselves. They are a place to get lost for a few hours. They are a place to make us think and wonder and imagine. They are a place to evoke anger, disagreement, discussion, and maybe tears."

- Mary Pearson, "What YA Lit Is and Isn't" over at Tor.com

Comments Enabled

Tech glitch between the free template I am using and Blogger not allowing comments to be posted fixed! A pop-up box should appear when "Comments" is clicked.

YA in real life

Last weekend, I hauled my set of the Twilight saga over to the house of a friend who had claimed a mild interest in the phenomenon.

Yesterday morning, I woke up to my phone vibrating with a text message:
"Annnnne! Bella is making me angry. :@"

Blog beginnings

This is going to be my digital home as I learn about the world of Young Adult Materials in LIS 9364, during my second term of library school at UWO. My previous experience in YA is limited: I read the Twilight series to see what the hype was about, but have not read into the genre any further than that. Exploring YA should be an interesting experience - feel free to follow my (mis?)adventures!