ALA2010: YALSA Sessions

Opportunity to attend YALSA sponsored sessions is one of the highlights of any ALA annual, or midwinter for that matter, conference. I don't know if I was in meetings or just conference program challenged, but I managed to miss my favorite sessions, Best Fiction for Young Adults Teen Feedback. Luckily, the YALSA Blog has a nifty Cover It Live widget embedded and it's possible to review all of the titles discussed. When asked for their top two favorites, these six titles were among those highlighted. We have five of the six and I'll be sending the list to one of the children's literature professors tomorrow.

• Will Grayson, Will Grayson
  by John Green & David Levithan
• Once
  by, Morris Gleitzman
• Woods Runner
  by, Gary Paulsen
• Last Night I Sang to the Monster
  by, Benjamin Alire Saenz
• By the Time You Read This I'll Be Dead
  by, Julie Anne Peters
• Split
  by, Swati Avasthi

I attended another YALSA sponsored session Sunday afternoon; this one geared toward best practices in programming and instruction, on Sunday afternoon and was impressed by the Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival. Committee Chair, Stephanie Squicciarini, Teen Services Librarian, Fairport Public Library, is nothing short of amazing. Seeing is believing, watch the video:

YALSA: Teens' Top Ten

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) blog has information regarding the 2007 Teens' Top Ten. This list, "the only book award list that is recommended soley by teens," has been posted on the YALSA blog and the Teens' Top Ten web site. Teen groups selected the twenty five books, all published in 2006 and 2007.

About the Teens:"Nominators are members of teen book groupsin five school and public libraries around the country Conneccticutt, Kansas, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Utah selected for their experience in discussing books." - Teen Read Week, YALSA

The 25 Nominated titles are:

• Firegirl - Tony Abbott
• Clay - David Almond
• Road of the Dead - Kevin Brooks
• Secrets of My Hollywood Life: On Location - Jen Calonita
• The Loud Silence of Francine Green - Karen Cushman
• Just Listen - Sarah Dessen
• How to Ruin a Summer Vacation - Simone Elkeles
• In Search of Mockingbird - Loretta Ellsworth
• The Christopher Killer - Alane Ferguson
• What Happened to Cass McBride - Gail Giles
• Hello, Groin - Beth Gobbie
• River Secrets - Shannon Hale
• Shock Point - April Henry
• Bad Kitty - Michele Jaffe
• Born To Rock - Gordon Korman
• New Moon - Stephanie Meyer
• Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City - Kristen Miller
• Prom Anonymous - Blake Nelson
• Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever - James Patterson
• Life As We Knew It - Susan Beth Pfeffer
• Penelope Bailey Takes the Stage - Susanna Reich
• All Hallows Eve (13 Stories) - Vivian Vande Velde
• Skin - Adrienne Maria Vrettos
• The Unresolved - T.K. Walsh
• 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 - Ysabeau S. Wilce

I am always intrigued learning what young adults are reading verses what we think they are reading. Differences between public and academic libraries are often noticeable in this particular area as our patron base differs; public libraries purchasing for the teens and academic libraries supporting the curriculum of teacher education programs teaching the teens. AU library has fourteen of the twenty five titles listed (alas, only 56%) and I have read several of them.

My favorites in this group? I enjoyed both Firegirl and Life as We Knew It. For more on these books, links from this post go to Amazon.com and most have reviews from Booklist, School Library Journal, and Publisher's Weekly.

Voting will take place during Teen Read Week October 14 - 20, 2007.

Tags: YALSA, Young Adult Library Services Association, Teen Read Week, ALA