Book listing

I'm back from my (extended) hiatus with a ton of new content -- soon. I'm in the midst of an exciting career shift and have a ton of stuff to talk about. Next week, I'll be back to regular postings about programming for kids and teens.

In the mean time, I wanted to share a link to some of the book list/display ideas I've been building up at my book blog. Head over today to check out a book list perfect for this year's "Picture This" Teen Read Week theme, to celebrate birthdays, war, and more. You're welcome to borrow the lists for your own use, though credit is appreciated.

Coming soon: successful story times, preschool art-not-craft programs, teen lock ins, and more!

Listed!

I posted about some of my trifold young adult book lists earlier, but I've added a handful more, and these will probably be the last ones I do for a long time. They're easy to take out of hand. But, feel free to steal and use as you wish. Just credit, please.

Books for Reluctant Readers

Clean Reads

Sports Fiction

Historical Reads

Mysteries

What we did in book club this week

My best book club turn out to date, both numbers-wise and fun-wise.

To discuss this week's pick, A. S. King's Please Ignore Vera Dietz, we decided to choose a character from the book and create a Post Secret style card. Since not all of the kids finished the book, I left it open to say they could do any character in any book. The results were, of course, awesome:


I took a pile of magazines for the teens to destroy, along with card stock. It's been told to me more than once that orange is the color du jour with the teens here, so I gave it to them.

Some of my kids were unfamiliar with the Post Secret blog, but I brought the book along to show them. This was a huge hit -- and in fact, it went home with one of the teens after the program. This thrilled me to think about the opportunities that exist for incorporating more activities like this one to discuss the book at hand and to expose the teens to even more cool stuff.

I hung them up in the teen area in one of our nooks to show them off. I love showing off the teen work in the teen space. It really makes it their own.

Of course, after we did this, there was plenty of free building with Legos. These teens cannot get enough of the Legos, and you know, I'm going to keep giving them to them.

If you're curious, Vera Dietz was the second most popular, well-liked, and lauded book we've read so far, just behind Paranoid Park. The teens loved the multiple voices and time periods, and they loved how strange it was. I asked if they thought it was Printz-worthy and there was a resounding yes. I'd do this book again in a heart beat!

Books Talk: Say Something

If you are a teen librarian, and you aren't book talking, you are missing out on the single most impressionable thing you can do for your patrons: showing them people read.


I've been making the rounds in our local 9th grade classrooms and talking books. The kids have loved these titles, begging to take them from me. Because of tricky card issues, it hasn't happened as much as I'd like yet, but you better believe I'm planning a way for all the kids interested -- even those without cards -- to take what they want to home.


Here's my powerpoint and my titles. Each has had a wide appeal, but top picks have been Love Drugged, Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters, and Half Brother. We start each presentation talking covers, too, so I can guide the kids through making selections.

Nov2010 booktalk

View more presentations from aramteens.

Most appealing cover for the teens? Not That Kind of Girl. The girls say audible that it looks like an awesome book.

Don't be afraid to not talk, too. As you'll see, a title here has nothing but the cover. I pull up the best trailer on youtube -- usually the publisher's own -- and play it. I emphasize using this sparingly and only with exceptionally enticing trailers.

I won't talk too much more about my methods of book talking because (drum roll) you can read it in the December 2010 issue of VOYA.