The official journal of the Young Adult Library Services Association young adult library services

volume 5 | number 1 fALL 2006 Issn 1541-4302 $12.50

IN THIS ISSUE:

qAN INTERVIEW WITH MEG CABOT qSTREET LIT qA CLOSER LOOK AT BIBLIOTHERAPY qBOOKS THAT HELP, BOOKS THAT HEAL qAND MORE ★“Thrilling and memorable.”* FIRESTORM The Caretaker Trilogy: Book 1 DAVID KLASS

★“Klass enters exciting and provocative new “The book is packed with high-intensity thrills ... territory with this sci-fi thriller. Seventeen-year-old Klass’ protagonist comes off as a regular guy . . . and Jack Danielson’s life has always been normal—except [his] surprising fate will leave readers waiting eagerly that his [adoptive] parents have encouraged him to for the second installment in the Caretaker Trilogy.” blend in and not try too hard. But then he learns that —Booklist he is different, that he has special powers and abilities, “A gripping tale of the relentless and unnecessary and that he is from the future and has been sent back harm we humans have done to our earth ... This is to save the planet ... The cliff-hanger ending will a book every environmentally conscious school make readers hope that Klass’s work on book two of science program should make required reading.” the trilogy is well under way.” —Gerd Leipold, Executive Director, —*Starred, School Library Journal Greenpeace International

Frances Foster Books / $17.00 / 0-374-32307-0 / Young adult F ARRAR•STRAUS•GIROUX www.fsgkidsbooks.com The official journal of the Young Adult Library Services Association young adult library services

vol ume 5 | num ber 1 fall 2006 Issn 1541-4302

Professional Perspectives 38 What I’ve Learned from Teens 4 YALSA’s Advocacy Task Force on Teenreads.com Rollie Welch Carol Fitzgerald 7 Defending Intellectual Freedom 41 FAQs Answered by the YA Galley Committee Barb Conkin Edith Cummings, Tracey Firestone, and Diane Monnier Teen Perspectives Literature Surveys and Research 9 Teens’ Recommendations 44 The Borderland Age and Borderline Books The Early Practice of Reader’s Advisory for Youth for Reluctant Readers Jennifer Burek Pierce Jessica Mize Author Perspectives 10 A Real Princess An Interview with Meg Cabot Paula Brehm-Heeger Best Practices Plus . . . 15 Reader’s Advisory by Proxy 2 From the Editor Connecting Teens and Books through Positive Back to Basics Interactions with Parents and Caregivers Valerie A. Ott Heather Booth 3 From the President Judy Nelson Hot Spot: Reader’s Advisory 43 Guidelines for Authors 17 Street Lit Flying Off Teen Fiction Bookshelves 43 Index to Advertisers in Philadelphia Public Libraries 50 Professional Resources Vanessa J. Morris, Sandra Hughes-Hassell, Denise E. Agosto, and Darren T. Cottman 52 The YALSA Update 25 A Closer Look at Bibliotherapy Jami L. Jones 29 The Power of Information Creating a YA Nonfiction Collection About This Cover Karen M. Smith 32 Books that Help, Books that Heal Dealing with Controversy in YA Literature Joni Richards Bodart 36 Teen Book Discussions Go Online Cathy Rettberg YALSA Publications Committee (performing referee duties and providing advisory input for the journal) Julie Bartel, Chair, Salt Lake City, Utah from the Sophie Brookover, Voorhees, New Jersey Erminia Mina Gallo, Seven Hills, Ohio Cheryl D. McLean, Tampa, Florida Julie Marie Scordato, Reynoldsburg, Ohio Editor Laura Leonard Stiles, Austin, Texas Amy Alessio, Schaumburg, Illinois Executive Director Beth Yoke Valerie A. Ott Editor Valerie A. Ott Circulation Young Adult Library Services (ISSN 1541-4302) is published four times a Back to Basics year by the American Library Association (ALA), 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. It is the official publication of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of ALA. Subscription price: members of When the average person thinks of a library, the image of books is YALSA, $25 per year, included in membership dues; nonmembers, $50 per sure to come to mind. For centuries, books have been the center- year in the U.S.; $60 in Canada, Mexico, and other countries. Back issues within one year of current issue, $15 each. Periodicals postage is pend- pieces—the gems, if you will—of libraries the world over. In more ing at Chicago, Illinois and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: recent years, the technology we acquire and make use of in libraries Send address changes to Young Adult Library Services, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. Members: Address changes and inquiries should be sent has become a source of pride for our communities, and sometimes to Membership Department, Changes to Young Adult Library Services, 50 gets more “play” than the print resources we so painstakingly E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. Nonmember subscribers: Subscriptions, orders, changes of address, and inquiries should be sent to Changes to Young collect and maintain. Teens, especially, make use of technology Adult Library Services, Subscriptions, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; such as downloadable books, blogs, and live chat reference, 1-800-545-2433, press 5; fax: (312) 944-2641; [email protected]. making it imperative that libraries stay current on this front. Statement of Purpose YALSA believes in the importance of embracing technology in Young Adult Library Services is the official journal of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library order to stay viable for our teen patrons. In fact, the next issue Association. YALS primarily serves as a vehicle for continuing education for of YALS will focus on teens and technology in recognition of librarians serving young adults, ages twelve through eighteen. It will include articles of current interest to the profession, act as a showcase for best prac- YALSA’s first Teen Tech Week, to be held annually during the tices, provide news from related fields, and will spotlight significant events of second week of March beginning in 2007. the organization and offer in-depth reviews of professional literature. YALS will also serve as the official record of the organization. For now, however, we’re getting back to basics. This issue focuses on the timeless, and I would contend necessary, service of Production ALA Production Services—Troy D. Linker, Angela Hanshaw; Angela providing reading material to teens. Most librarians will still tell Gwizdala, Christopher Keech, Stephanie Kuenn, and Christine Velez, you that a great sense of job satisfaction comes when, for instance, Production Editors. a teen gives positive feedback about a book that was recommended. Advertising I distinctly recall watching one of my former teen advisory board The Goldman Group, 14497 N. Dale Mabry Hwy., #205N, Tampa, FL member’s confidence grow over time after I introduced him to 33618. (813) 264-2772; [email protected]. YALS accepts advertising for goods or services of interest to the library profession and librarians in service Alex Sanchez’s Rainbow Boys. I knew he was struggling with his to youth in particular. It encourages advertising that informs readers and sexual identity and, as a result, he was unsure of himself, often provides clear communication between vendor and buyer. YALS adheres to ethical and commonly accepted advertising practices and reserves the right to acted out, and had trouble with depression. I don’t pretend to reject any advertisement not suited to the above purposes or not consistent believe that one book changed his life, but I do think it helped him with the aims and policies of ALA. Acceptance of advertising in YALS does not imply official endorsement by ALA of the products or services advertised. a little. Jami Jones covers the basic tenets of bibliotherapy in her article in this issue, and Jennifer Burek Pierce traces the practice of Manuscripts Manuscripts and letters pertaining to editorial content should be sent reader’s advisory back to its early days in her historical overview. to YALSA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; e-mail: [email protected]. You’ll be brought back to the present with an interesting look at Manuscripts will be sent out for review according to YALS’s established ref- eree procedures. Visit www.ala.org/yalsa for further information. street lit, a genre that’s finding a huge audience with urban youth, and a variety of articles dealing with reader’s advisory and collec- Indexing, Abstracting, and Microfilm Young Adult Library Services is indexed in Library Literature, Library & tion development issues, including how best to build a nonfiction Information Science Abstracts, and Current Index to Journals in Education. collection for teens and how to conduct a reader’s advisory inter- Microfilm copies of Journal of Youth Services in Libraries and its predecessor, Top of the News, are available from ProQuest/Bell & Howell, 300 N. Zeeb view by proxy. Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Technology is important, no doubt. But it seems that despite The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of numerous predictions that print will soon be superseded by digital American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper formats, books are here to stay. And I, for one, am glad. As always, for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. ∞ © 2006 American Library Association I hope you find the information in this issue useful, and that you’ll All materials in this journal subject to copyright by the American Library use it to get “back to basics.” Happy reading! YALS Association may be photocopied for the noncommercial purpose of scien- tific or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. For other photocopying, reprinting, or trans- lating, address requests to the ALA Office of Rights and Permissions.

 YALS | Young Adult Library Services | Fall 2006 from the President Judy Nelson

i, I’m Judy Nelson, your new and YALSA members’ work. By the sec- to help teens YALSA president. Thank you ond week of my tenure, I was dealing with make appropri- H for allowing me to serve you; I two very different issues that went right ate or accept- am honored. I’m also excited to be serving to the heart of who we are and what we able choices. this year because the Midwinter Meeting do, namely reader’s advisory. Both issues Reader’s advi- is coming to Seattle for the first time, and dealt with the fact that we promote and sory is an indefinable concept that encom- YALSA is turning fifty in 2007 and we advocate reading in all its forms and for- passes the librarian-customer interaction intend to celebrate! mats. Fifty years of experience and growth in which we determine what the reader When the division was formed in haven’t changed our basic message; teens wants and try to provide it. We create lists June 1957, the organization was small in should read for fun and we are the experts to help those who want to find things on number and basic in services. The Young in evaluating, selecting, and recommending their own. We train other staff and teens Adult Services Division, as it was then materials for those teens. on how to ask the “right” questions, and known, created booklists, offered program So, what were the two issues? The we read, listen, and view widely in order to ideas and services, and shared knowledge first was providing a quote for the press know what’s available. The Odyssey Award and concerns among its members. If you release announcing the new Odyssey joins our three awards and seven selection received this issue of YALS, you’re one of Award, the joint ALSC/YALSA award for lists and will enable us to share the best of more than 5,100 members of the fastest- the best audiobook for children and teens. the amazing array of audiobooks out there. growing and fifth-largest division in ALA! The second issue involved responding to And the response to the newspaper essay We’ve changed a lot, but we are also much an essay published in a national newspaper will remind parents, caregivers, educators, like we were fifty years ago. We’re no lon- about “inappropriate” books in the teen and teens that we can always be counted ger small and the volume of activities has section of a chain bookstore. The essay on to help find what they want without increased. Now we create virtual booklists, was generated by a parent who was horri- relying on for-profit entities for sugges- communicate through blogs, take online fied when, after leafing through one of the tions. We are available in person, online, courses, and will be selecting the best books in the Gossip Girls series—a series and through many venues including local audiobook annually. However, we’re still a she had been encouraging her twelve-year- library Web sites, through YALSA’s Web division that focuses on librarians working old to read—she discovered that the series site, in booklists we create, and awards we with and for teens and literacy. We’re “still didn’t reflect her family’s values. give out. reading after all these years,” which hap- What do these two issues have to As you read this issue of YALS, think pens to be the theme for my presidential do with each other and my presidential about how you conduct reader’s advisory, year and of this issue of YALS. theme? Both lead back to some of the most then head to the computer and share your YALSA presidents are each asked important things we do as youth librarians. thoughts on one of YALSA’s discussion to come up with a theme—how they will We evaluate, select, and recommend books, lists or the blog. We may be coming up on focus their presidential efforts and work audiobooks, and DVDs for teens, and our fiftieth anniversary, but we’re “still read- on immediate issues that affect the division then encourage everyone to use our work ing after all these years.” YALS

Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS  feature professional perspectives

l A survey will be formed to solicit ideas and suggestions from librarians to YALSA’s Advocacy see what spaces, staffing, and budget they currently have for teens in their libraries. Task Force l The task force formed the goals of creating talking points, a logo or banner, and a toolkit for use by By Rollie Welch librarians. l To incorporate teen participation, the task force wishes to acquire teen input for a logo or banner design, which could possibly be promoted through a contest. A suggestion arose of having ervice to young adults has always which almost all advocacy for young adult teens offer their own ideas on how to run a full spectrum from library to service hinges. Simply stated, what groups get in touch with their peers—they’re S library, and from region to region should be targeted as potential advocates the ones who know. across the country. On the positive side, for teen services? Young adult librarians? l The task force would like to promote some libraries have their entire staff on Parents? Teens themselves? Perhaps the the advocacy message by providing board and committed to providing quality task force should target library adminis- electronic banners to Hot Topic and service to teens throughout the building or trators who may not have a knowledge of record label sites that are magnets for system. On the other hand, some libraries the importance or intricate problems of teen online browsing. The banners and provide the bare minimum of service. Most serving teens. Another option would be to links could also be used on libraries’ libraries fall somewhere in the middle. make a broad blanket statement that may Web pages for teens and on teens’ Areas of service to teens can include a sepa- be directed to all of these groups. personal Web pages, teen magazines, rate young adult collection, a separate area authors’ Web sites, publishers’ Web dedicated to teens, or a budget that allows sites, and the Teen Read Week unique and creative programming designed Committee’s teen page. to attract teens to the library. Working Points of In the interest of leveling the playing the Task Force field (while also raising the bar) of services Realizing the charge is one that is simul- Gathering Testimonies to young adults, YALSA has stepped taneously important and very involved, forward to provide a national leadership from Professionals in the task force met for the first time at the the Field role. In fall 2005, YALSA created the 2006 Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio, YA Advocacy Task Force to advocate for and began hashing out ideas. Members of The task force realized the impractical- library services to teens. The task force’s the task force worked on setting goals and ity of having only a handful of people function statement is as follows: “To help priorities, assigning jobs to individual task deciding the direction of its work. Thus, plan and carry out YALSA’s upcoming force members or teams of members, and to generate talking points, a request for @ your library® campaign, which will be visualizing a timeline: anecdotal information about the value launched in 2007, and in conjunction with of teen service in libraries was broadcast the national campaign to educate and l The targeted audiences will include to several library-related discussion lists, inform the general public about the vital teens, educators, parents, publishers, including YALSA-BK, YA-YAAC, PUB- role libraries and librarians play in youth politicians, librarians (generalists), and YAC, and PUBLIB. What follows are development and teen literacy, and to pro- the general public. several excerpts of the responses related to vide YALSA members and library staff with tools and resources to do the same in their communities.” ROLLIE WELCH is a Young Adult Librarian with Cleveland Public Library The unique nature of serving teens and a member of YALSA’s Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers immediately created a key problem upon Committee.

 YALS | Young Adult Library Services | Fall 2006

Welch

the necessity and importance of different turned into the fine young man he necessarily have to be for pure entertain- aspects of teen services. became in an otherwise dysfunctional ment; the library’s collection and services environment because he had a place can be showcased through a teen program. Talking Point 1: to belong. Drawing on my own experience YA/Teen Librarians A young man came to the library as and hours and hours of research, I Teens need trained professionals to assist a middle-school student. Bigger than developed “Show Me the Money,” a them in finding materials for school proj- many kids, he was a bully type at program on how to search and apply ects and personal needs, and to suggest some of our programs and sometimes for scholarships, bursaries, and loans reading material appropriate to age and hard to handle. He also navigated to fund post-secondary education. reading level. Children, adults, and even to Web sites that were inappropriate When I first offered this program, seniors have specialists. Why shouldn’t and we had to keep an eye on him. our registration list filled up within a teens? But the staff stuck by him and treated day and I ended up offering multiple him with respect despite how he acted sessions of the program in order to I used to booktalk constantly; about at times. By high school he was hired twenty-five times per year at high to work as a page and recently, as a school and middle schools. About five college student, he has been hired part- What Can I Do years ago, I got a nice letter from a time to work on the computers with Right Now? former student in one of those classes. our tech guy. I feel that his success is She enjoyed my booktalking so much in part due to the intervention and that she had become a YA librarian! caring of our youth services staff. l Be an advocate for teens in What a huge compliment! I kept that your library. No action is too letter and treasure it beyond belief. Talking Point 3: Effects of insignificant when dealing with teen patrons. Booktalking is so much work that it’s Nontraditional Programming hard to justify to administration, but l Ask teens what programming it pays off in unbelievable ways. Now Teens see the library as a community- and materials they’d like to see I’m a library director, but I think one centered place to serve all ages. Are there in the library. of the most valuable things I do is to any nontraditional programs that have l Set up a teen advisory board or continue to strongly support youth been successful? council. services by hiring talented librarians l Encourage teens to participate and letting them do their thing! We had a Skateboard Expo at our in planning, promoting, and Booktalking is a top priority on my library twice because the first time hosting programs. list because it works. it was such a big hit. We blocked off l Educate staff about teens. the street for the kids that day so they l Celebrate Teen Read Week to involve your library in a Talking Point 2: Acceptance could skateboard and do their jumps. It was on the front page of our local national movement to recognize and Understanding newspaper with a great picture of a teen patrons. The theme for this year’s Teen Read Week, Many teens find acceptance and under- kid jumping high into the air on his October 15–21, 2006, is Get standing with teen librarians that they find skateboard. They don’t have a place to Active @ your library.® Drawing nowhere else. How is this important when skate so we hosted one! teens into reading and the dealing with teen patrons? library with nontraditional Talking Point 4: Traditional programs that include sports A boy in my first group of Dungeons Teen Programming Still Has and volunteer activities for and Dragons players (back in the a Place causes that they care about will ’80s, when it was hot and I averaged yield rewards not only now, but fifty kids per meeting) was the first kid Teens are still interested in traditional for the rest of their lives. in his family to graduate from high library programming, especially if the school, ever. I know he graduated and prizes are nontraditional. Programs don’t

Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS 

YALSA’s Advocacy Task Force

accommodate the interest. When I to the Internet. Many libraries have feel alienated by that atmosphere. An offered the program again, the same run successful programs for teens that important thought to consider is that teens thing happened, and multiple sessions focus on building Web pages, online are our future patrons. When the seniors were required. Every time I offer this gaming, Internet safety, and a host of and adults are gone, who will patronize seminar, I provide attendees (parents other Web-related topics. our libraries? In fact, one out of every four and students) with feedback forms, patrons who walks through library doors and the comments received have I think video games should be in is a teen. According to Patrick Jones’s been overwhelmingly positive. For every library. I am twenty-eight Connecting Young Adults and Libraries, example, “A wonderful orientation years old and have grown up with teenagers make up 23 percent of the to the process of searching out post- a game controller implanted in my total public library patronage in a typi- secondary funding” and “An extremely hand. I consider playing video games cal week.1 Therefore, alienating teenagers useful presentation that addressed my the “read your own adventure” of would result in a loss of one-fourth of the questions and made the process seem my generation and those that follow. library’s customers. The old chestnut is less daunting. It is so great that the They are exciting, scary, romantic, often verbalized: teens are future voters library is offering this!” mysterious, and sometimes very and deciders of library funding. A more thought provoking. Just like books, proactive way to approach this situation, This past summer my library featured only I control the main character, and however, is to recognize that teens have an iPod Mini as the grand prize for my feet are in their shoes. I pushed worth and importance during their teen the teen summer reading program. really hard for this at my library, and years and are just as important now as The number of books read was 150 the circulation is fantastic. I can’t even when they reach voting age. YALS percent higher than the previous begin to describe the delight on the year. The raffle winner hadn’t been a faces of the teens when they discover Members of the Young Adult Advocacy Task library user since his early elementary the collection, which is sandwiched Force are Chair Ma’lis Wendt, Barbara school days, but he was determined to nicely between graphic novels and Blosveren, Jennifer Dewsnap, Debbie S. win the iPod and read 115 books over fiction. The teens now associate the Fisher, Ryan Gessner, Rollie Welch, and seven weeks. library with a cool place. Kelley Worman. Charli Osborne is the for- mer chair and collected the testimonies used Talking Point 5: Teens in this article. Connect with Technology Conclusion Teens make up the patron group that Simply stated, libraries need teens. The Reference is most comfortable with the explosion concept of building lifelong learners, read- of technology in our world. Should the ers, and library patrons will not be accom- 1. Patrick Jones, Connecting Young library embrace this teen “expertise?” plished if there is a break in the bridge Adults and Libraries: A How-To-Do-It from one age group to the next. If a Manual, second edition (New York: The library is often a place where library stubbornly sticks to the inflexible Neal-Schuman, 1998). teens who do not have computers in model of the traditional library of their homes are able to gain access seventy-five years ago, teens may very well

 YALS | Young Adult Library Services | Fall 2006 feature professional perspectives

he American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual T Freedom defines intellectual free- Defending dom as “the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction.”1 As Intellectual attempts are made to block this freedom, most recently in the interest of security, understanding the fundamentals of intel- Freedom lectual freedom becomes increasingly important. As teen advocates, we battle for our own rights while protecting the By Barb Conkin rights of young adults. YALSA’s Intellectual Freedom (IF) committee exists to support and maintain the First Amendment rights of our teens. It fulfills this goal through four main functions. The first two provide assistance to YALSA in their efforts to groups within ALA makes each of them freedom.”5 This ties into the updated com- improve YA librarianship, while the other stronger. petencies for young adult librarians passed two directly benefit young adult librarians. The next two functions of the com- by the New Directions Task Force, which The first function of YALSA’s IF mittee are intended to directly help young address intellectual freedom in Areas V committee is “to serve as a liaison between adult librarians with intellectual freedom and VI. Programs at ALA conferences are YALSA and the ALA Intellectual issues. The third function is “to prepare one of the ways the committee achieves Freedom Committee and all other groups and gather materials which will advise the this educational goal. For instance, the within the Association concerned with young adult librarian of available services committee hosted a program at the 2006 intellectual freedom.”2 The chair of and support for resisting local pressure ALA Annual Conference called “Out of YALSA’s IF committee sits on ALA’s and community action designed to impair the Closet and Into the Library: Access Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) the rights of young adult users.”4 To this to GLBTQ Materials for Teens,” and is and subscribes to its discussion list to stay end, the committee maintains a page in the cosponsoring a program about teens and aware of and provide support during cur- professional development section of the the First Amendment hosted by ALA’s rent censorship battles. FTRF provides YALSA Web site that contains an abun- Intellectual Freedom committee at Annual financial and informational help with dance of resources to help young adult Conference in 2007. The Web page main- litigation. The second function of the com- librarians deal with challenges, as well as tained by YALSA’s IF committee also mittee is “to advise YALSA on matters primary sources to build strength for their contains vast amounts of educational pertaining to the First Amendment of the cases. In honor of YALSA’s fiftieth anni- resources. YALS U.S. Constitution and the ALA Library versary, this Web site will be updated as Bill of Rights and their implications to part of a special effort to make it more user library service to young adults and to make friendly. recommendations to the ALA Intellectual The fourth and final function of the References Freedom Committee for changes in policy IF committee is “to assume responsibil- 1. American Library Association Office for on issues involving library service to young ity for the continuing education of young Intellectual Freedom, “Basics,” 2006, www adults.”3 The cooperation of all of these adult librarians regarding intellectual .ala.org/oif/basics (accessed July 12, 2006). 2. American Library Association, Young BARB CONKIN is Assistant Community Library Manager and Adult Library Services Association, “Intel- Children’s Librarian for the Briarwood Community Library of lectual Freedom Committee Description,” Queens Library in New York. She is the former chair of the YALSA 2006, www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/aboutyalsab/ Intellectual Freedom Committee. intellectual.htm (accessed July 12, 2006).

Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS 

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3. Ibid. 4. Ibid. 5. Ibid.

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 YALS | Young Adult Library Services | Fall 2006 feature teen perspectives

ibrarian: “What are some books you liked reading?” L Teen: “I don’t like to read.” Teens’ How many librarians for teens have been confronted with that exchange? In my six years as a librarian for teens, I have Recommendations pulled out my hair and racked my brain searching for just the right book for an apathetic or unaware reader whose parent for Reluctant is standing by, threatening their teen, “You will choose something!” Librarians have many handy tools to Readers entice reluctant readers. YALSA’s own list, Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, provides myriad titles and top- By Jessica Mize ics to hook even the most doubtful teen reader. The recent release Connecting with Reluctant Teen Readers by Patrick Jones, Maureen L. Hartman, and Patricia Taylor (Neal-Schuman, 2006) shows librarians romance, and serious issues that girls Pelzer, David. A Child Called It. Health and teachers how to entice reluctant read- actually face! Communications, Inc., 1995; ISBN ers by including lists for specific readers Fish, Pauline. The Red Judge. Bloomsbury, 1558743669; $11.95. The fact that with specific interests. YALSA’s other 2005; ISBN 1582349428; $16.95. this book is based on a true story lists—such as Best Books for Young Mythology worked into an intense makes it even more horrific. Adults, Popular Paperbacks, and Great read. Sachar, Louis. Holes. Farrar, Straus and Graphic Novels for Teens—can assist a Giles, Gail. Shattering Glass. Roaring Book Giroux, 1998; ISBN 0374332657; reader’s advisor in throwing out titles to a Press, 2002; ISBN 0761315810; $17.00. We are all cursed in some way. not-so-anxious reader, but what better tool $17.95. This book feels like a It’s what we choose to do about it that to use than other teens’ recommendations? suspenseful movie. matters! We all have our favorite “you will love this Horowitz, Anthony. Alex Rider series. Shan, Darren. Cirque du Freak series. book,” suggestions, but what would teens Philomel Books. Teenage boy turns Little, Brown and Company. The recommend to each other? spy and saves the world! Can’t wait to biggest series to hit Newark. We love During the Get Wild @ your library® see this one on film. it so much we made a board game. summer reading program at the Newark Hunter, Erin. Warrior series. Sleator, William. The Duplicate. Penguin (Ohio) Public Library, the teen services HarperCollins. A kitten named Group, 1999; ISBN 0141304316; staff informally asked teen readers, “ What Rusty travels into the forest for the $5.99. Who wouldn’t duplicate books are on your must-read list?” Here adventure of his life! themselves if given the chance? YALS are ten of the teens’ responses and Myers, Stephanie. Little, Brown comments: Twilight. Children’s Books, 2005; ISBN Dessen, Sarah. Just Listen. Viking 0316160172; $17.99. Long but oh so Children’s Books, 2006; ISBN good! Vampires and true love—who 0670061050; $17.99. It has humor, wouldn’t love that?

JESSICA MIZE is Head of Teen Services at the Newark (Ohio) Public Library. She currently serves on the 2007 Printz Award Committee and the Teen Buckeye Book Award Committee. She previously served on YALSA’s Board of Directors.

Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS  feature author perspectives

Cabot: Oh yes. Every single day. I got A Real Princess that job thinking I would go back to col- lege to study art therapy, but I kept putting it off. Then my dad died. When that hap- pened my husband said, “Look, you write An Interview all these books. Why don’t you try to get them published?” I thought if I got rejected I would be so depressed that I wouldn’t with Meg Cabot want to write anymore. But my husband pointed out that my dad had just died and that’s about the worst thing that could By Paula Brehm-Heeger happen. Getting rejected maybe isn’t that big a deal. Turns out he was right. I started sending out letters trying to get an agent. Every day for two years I got a rejection letter. There is a point where you think, am I wasting my time? But you have to ask uthor Meg Cabot is known for they were upset about something. That yourself, what am I hurting? It’s not hurt- her funny, spunky, and genuinely was the only time you ever saw them, ing anything to be trying to do this. I love likeable characters. She has an when they needed to complain. The pri- A to write. My husband was really supportive amazing ability to create stories, relation- mary thing office staff did was counsel and he always asked, “Are you going to quit ships, and dialogue that capture what it is people with eating disorders, but we han- just because you don’t get published?” He like to be a teen. Mia Thermopolis, dled a lot of roommate conflicts, too. I was really would say, “I love to play golf. I’m not going narrator of , may be the administrative assistant so I worked The Princess Diaries to quit just because I’m not Tiger Woods.” her most famous heroine, but there is no on setting up the meetings. I supervised That really meant a lot to me. shortage of strong and independent young the student workers and was in charge of Some of the rejection letters I got women in Cabot’s many books. From hiring them and making them go to work. were kind of nice. Most were just “no,” but Samantha Madison in It was a great job because it’s so much fun All-American Girl, a few would say they thought I had talent, who stands up for what she believes in even to work with students. There was a lot of my stuff just wasn’t right for them. That when it puts her at odds with the president time when nothing was going on, and I kept me going, too. I have a gigantic U.S. of the United States, to Steph Landry in would use that time to write. My bosses mailbag filled with rejection letters. I used who makes a difficult were fine with that. My book How To Be Popular, Size 12 Is to take it around to schools and say, “Look choice between disappointing her grandfa- is based on my experience at that Not Fat at this if you want to be a writer.” Then I ther or committing social suicide, Cabot’s job. It’s about a girl who is an assistant would very dramatically dump out the bag characters face their many challenges with manager of a dorm but she solves crimes. so kids could read all the letters. courage and a definite sense of humor. The I never actually solved a crime, though. I Princess Diaries may feature a bright pink used to fantasize there would be a murder cover, but don’t be fooled. As the author and I could solve it. BREHM-HEEGER: You cite George herself says, “look past the tiara” and dis- Lucas as your greatest influence in becom- cover the many sides of Meg Cabot. BREHM-HEEGER: During that time, ing a writer because after seeing Star Wars did you ever think you might not make it as an eleven-year-old, you realized you BREHM-HEEGER: You once worked as a writer? If so, what kept you going? could actually make money by making as an assistant manager at a New York University dorm. What was that job like PAULA BREHM-HEEGER is current Vice President/President-Elect and how did it affect your writing career? of YALSA. News of her meeting and interviewing the Meg Cabot caused several members of her teen advisory board at the Public Cabot: Basically I sat in an office and Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (Ohio) to jump up and the kids would come downstairs when down with excitement, commenting “nu-uh” and “that is so cool.”

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stuff up. Many of your female characters If so, what became of are big sci-fi fans, too. Are you still a sci- the situation? fi fan? If so, what is your favorite sci-fi movie? Book? Cabot: I had guy friends and they all Cabot: I was a sci-fi fan when I was the turned out to be gay. age of my characters. I had a real problem It was the painful, finding books when I was growing up “Yes, I love you, I’m that had feisty, funny, female heroines. sorry, but I’m gay” A lot of the books for teens at that time conversation, at least tended to be message books about “don’t with one or two of have sex before you get married” or “don’t them. The only one get anorexia.” I wanted my reading to be that I really hung onto for a long time about being entertained, not preached to, and did not realize that I was in love with so I turned to sci-fi and fantasy. That’s was my husband. I met him when I was where I found heroines that I could relate sixteen. We were friends for years and it to and liked. I turned to romance when I wasn’t until I was about twenty-four that saw Romancing the Stone. That was a huge one day I looked at him and was like, “Oh Photo by Ali Smith. influence. Star Wars was my first influence my God, I’m in love with this guy!” At the and then came Romancing the Stone. I was time, I thought it was so terrible because Princess Diaries. I think some of them are like, “You can write books and get paid for he was my friend and I didn’t want to reading it to find out about girls. That’s it and the books can be about crazy pirates screw up the friendship. It was the whole pretty clever. and stuff?” You know that scene where When Harry Met Sally thing. But it ended Kathleen Turner’s character finishes her up okay. We’re still married. BREHM-HEEGER: You grew up in book and she has a little bottle of liquor, Bloomington, Indiana, a Midwestern like from an airplane? For some reason BREHM-HEEGER: You have a real college town. What were some of your that was my dream. Also, at the end when celebrity status with teen girls. Do you ever favorite things to do or places to hang out her editor’s reading the book and cry- hear from teen guys? as a teen? ing—which so never happens in the world of publishing. You are never sitting in the Cabot: I hear from a lot of teen guys. Cabot: Obviously, the library. It was office while the editor is reading. But I They are all kind of sheepish when they air-conditioned and there was stuff to do. thought that would be awesome. I used to write. They say things like, “You don’t They had a huge collection of sci-fi, and write reams of fan fiction. I was super into know this, but I am a boy and I love your I read everything they had. They weren’t Star Wars fan fiction and wrote huge books. I have to take the cover off because snobby about letting kids come up to the volumes of Jedi Knight Academy School. it’s pink and I don’t want my friends to adult section, either. You could go wher- I still have it and actually thought about see that.” When Avalon High came out, ever you wanted and check out as many getting it typed up, but then George Lucas originally the cover was pink. That was books as you wanted. All my friends were came out with the prequels and I was okay for the Princess books but, you know, academic kids and our parents taught at very disappointed. I thought mine were there are guy readers out there, and this is the university so reading was something much better. I was a huge, huge fan of the kind of book I can see a guy liking. So we all did. When we weren’t reading we John Christopher, too. I was very into The they changed the cover to purple with just were making up stories. The public pool Prince in Waiting. the crown on the cover, which was better. was the other place we’d go. You had to Some of the guys I hear from have come work on your tan. BREHM-HEEGER: In your latest book, out and said they are gay. I have one very How To Be Popular, the narrator is in love loyal transgender fan who writes to me, BREHM-HEEGER: Is there any library with a guy with whom she doesn’t realize thanking me for “showing me how to experience that stands out in your memory? she is actually in love. This is a common be a girl.” I’m honored because that situation in many of your books. As a teen- is very sweet. The thing I get the most Cabot: I remember one time being at ager, did you have a guy “friend” like that? mail about from boys, seriously, is The the library as a teen, researching a book I

Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS 11

A Real Princess

was writing. It was a very Indiana Jones- Cabot: In my house if you weren’t important thing in creating something— type book about World War II, with Nazis funny, no one paid attention to you. We that is that it comes from you, from your and stuff, and I was determined to get it were a house of little stand-up comedians heart. If you’re just parroting something finished. But I had bronchitis and was in training. It’s weird because I have an that someone else did, that totally defeats coughing really hard and crying—I was adopted brother who was not funny. I the purpose. Maybe you’ll get money for it, such a geek. The librarian was like, “You mean, he was funny, but not in the same but you’re not getting the most important need to go home. Really, it’s time.” way we were funny. I think your sense of thing. It goes back to what my husband humor is a genetic trait you inherit. At asked me, “Would you keep writing even it BREHM-HEEGER: Your father was a the dinner table, we would do a little riff you weren’t getting paid?” Yeah, of course, professor. What was he a professor of? on what we had done during the day and because I love the feeling of finishing a you had to make people laugh. It was good project and knowing I did it. Cabot: Quantitative business analysis, training for my books. which is basically computers before com- BREHM-HEEGER: In How To Be puters got to be like they are now. You BREHM-HEEGER: You recently Popular, the narrator finds a book giv- know WOPR from War Games? That’s announced that you will be working ing very specific steps to take in order kind of what he had in his office. We with HarperCollins to produce a new to become popular. How did you come would go there as kids and get those little line of manga. What sort of titles will be up with the advice the book offers about computer cards and computer paper to included? popularity? draw on. The primary source of paper in our home was the WOPR. Cabot: I’m doing six books. The first Cabot: I combed the Internet and read three are going to be sequels to Avalon many books. Not just for popularity at BREHM-HEEGER: Did you like grow- High. It’s going to be continuing and you school, but also in the corporate workplace. ing up on a university campus? have to read all three to get the whole It was surprising to me how similar it all story. It’s a lot of going back and forth was. The Art of War has some great tips, Cabot: The university was the best because it’s kind of new and I’m working too. Some of it I made up. It was not easy. thing about Bloomington because it was with manga people who have their whole And, of course, I had to reword it so that I liberal and there was always something agenda. I don’t really understand it and wasn’t plagiarizing. freaky going on. The students were great. they don’t really understand authors. It’s They were always having protests so you a learning experience. It’s fun, though. BREHM-HEEGER: Many of your char- were really conscious of stuff that, in a The books are going to be available next acters are faced with a choice: they can town without a university, you maybe summer. I’ve read some manga but I don’t either do the thing that may make them wouldn’t know about. But because we were consider myself an expert by any means. “cool” with their popular peers or they all professors’ kids, when we would go to I have an online message board book club can do the right thing. What do you hope school, we would be with the kids whose and I’ve been looking to see what the kids readers will take away from your charac- parents were not involved in the university. have been talking about. They know all of ters’ struggles in these situations? They didn’t see the stuff that was going the artists and the different terms, so I’m on around campus, so we would get into getting an education through the teens. Cabot: I found that in high school fights. It was kind of random, but kind of people were afraid to be different or to good because it prepared us for life. BREHM-HEEGER: You wrote on your stand out in any way and I really want my blog about an experience you had as a characters to show that it’s okay to be dif- BREHM-HEEGER: On your Web site teenager where a friend claimed one of ferent. Yeah, maybe at that time in your [www.MegCabot.com], you mention Sarah your drawings as her own. What advice life you’re going to get made fun of or you Vowell as one of your favorite authors, would you give to a young person who is won’t be popular. But down the line you’re along with David Sedaris and Dave Barry. tempted to claim someone else’s words or going to be happier because you did what Clearly you’re a fan of humorous books, art as his or her own? you wanted to do. In my experience doing and humor plays a big role in many of your something that’s a little bit off the beaten books. Do you consider yourself a natu- Cabot: You’re just basically cheating path has always paid off. Now I’m profiting rally humorous person? yourself. You’re missing out on the most from my crappy teenage years. You never

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Brehm-Heeger

know what can happen. You can make her, “Are you a feminist?” and she said no. But one of the ways you get popular is by money being weird. What? Hello! You’re the head of this mas- being yourself, embracing the things that sive corporation, how can you say that? Is you love, and making other people enthusi- BREHM-HEEGER: How To Be Popular it because of this perception that if you’re astic about those things, too. YALS features a side story about a romance a feminist, you don’t wear makeup and between grandparents. How do you make you’re not feminine? Feminism is about a romance between characters’ grandpar- equality and making the same money as Meg Cabot: A Selected ents relatable and accessible to teens? the guys who are also putting out albums. Bibliography It really kind of made me mad. That gives Cabot: The grandfather in the book All-American Girl. HarperCollins, 2002; girls this stupid stereotype that being a ISBN 0060294698; $15.99. is based on my own grandfather, who feminist means you burn your bra and that “Kate the Great.” In Thirteen: Thirteen recently passed away. He and I had a very people have to perceive you as ugly. But I’ll Stories That Capture the Agony and strange relationship because the only thing still listen to her. that we had in common was that we talked Ecstasy of Being Thirteen. Edited by about business and money. That was a James Howe. Atheneum, 2003; ISBN BREHM-HEEGER: What’s the most 0689828632; $16.95. relationship I had with him that nobody Mia-like thing you’ve ever done? else had. I also wanted to do the romance 1-800-Where-R-You: Sanctuary. Simon & because of my mom. She’s a grandmother Schuster, 2004; ISBN 0689868472; Cabot: Oh my gosh. Well, the embar- $5.99. (Originally written as Jenny now and she’s having this hot and heavy rassing things, don’t you instantly try romance with one of my former teachers. Carroll) to, like, forget them? Mia is so autobio- The Mediator 6: Twilight. HarperCollins, I used that relationship in The Princess graphical. Everything that happened to her, Diaries. That was why I started writing the 2004; ISBN 0060724676; $15.99. except the princess stuff, really did happen Teen Idol. HarperCollins, 2004; ISBN original book, because I was upset about to me. Seeing my teacher in his underwear my mom and my teacher. Now I thought 0060096160; $15.99. the first time certainly stands out as one of Avalon High. HarperCollins, 2005; ISBN I should say, “You know what? It’s actually the most embarrassing moments. I am also very cute. You guys are adorable.” 0060755865; $16.99. a baby like her. She has the problem where “Connie Hunter Williams, Psychic she can’t let her brother alone; she’s con- BREHM-HEEGER: Do you have a Teacher.” In Friends: Stories About stantly worrying about him. I’m that way favorite band or singer at the moment? New Friends, Old Friends, and about my cat. You know, Mia wrote this Unexpectedly True Friends. Edited by three-page, single-spaced “how to take care Cabot: I change constantly and, sadly, Ann M. Martin and David Levithan. I’m really, really into pop. Whatever is of my cat” letter and it’s completely taken Scholastic Press, 2005; ISBN popular, I like. It’s good music to write from me. My cat sitter read the book and 0439729912; $16.95. to because it’s loud and you don’t need to was like, “Do you realize that is the exact Nicola and the Viscount Avon Books, listen to it too hard. I was just listening letter you left for me?” It’s a good thing I 2005; ISBN 006075320x; $5.99. to Shakira back in my room while doing don’t have children. They would never be Ready or Not: An All-American Girl my manga. Also a little Pink, Fall Out allowed to go out or do anything. Novel. HarperCollins, 2005; ISBN Boy, and KT Tunstall. I’m sure whoever is 0060724501; $15.99. popular when this article comes out, I’ll be BREHM-HEEGER: How would you sell Victoria and the Rogue. Avon Books, 2005; listening to that person, too, because that’s your latest book, How To Be Popular, to ISBN 0060753218: $5.99. what I do. Oh, and Kelly Clarkson. It’s all a teen? How To Be Popular. HarperCollins, 2006; about Kelly. She’s awesome. ISBN 0060880120; $16.99. Cabot: The thing I keep saying is there The Princess Diaries, Volume VII: Party BREHM-HEEGER: Gwen Stefani is is so much peer pressure to be popular. So Princess. HarperCollins, 2006; ISBN a big favorite of Sam Madison in All- many girls think that it’s the most impor- 0060724536; $16.99. American Girl. Are you a fan of Gwen, too? tant thing. What my character discovers Sweet Sixteen Princess: A Princess Diaries is that the most important thing is having Book. HarperCollins, 2006; ISBN Cabot: I used to be. But then her new good friends. Not that she doesn’t get pop- 0060847166; $8.99. album came out and people were asking ular—[I] don’t want to give anything away.

Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS 13 feature best practices

already read, and—more importantly— enjoyed? Are you expected to find books Reader’s Advisory that primarily meet the parent’s approval or the teen’s interest? Will the parent be willing to take a selection of books back by Proxy to the teen, or is the one book you select going to be the teen’s only reading choice? When helping parents find books for their teens, librarians’ standard operating Connecting Teens and procedures for reader’s advisory go awry because it is often unclear who the patron really is. Is it the parent who is looking for Books through Positive the material, or is it a teen whose reading interests are unfamiliar to you? When parents come to the library Interactions with seeking books for their teens, even if they have very little information on which to base a recommendation, and even if they Parents and Caregivers have a very firm idea of what their teen should read, we need to remember that it is a good thing that the parent is actively By Heather Booth attempting to seek out reading material for their child. Parents are allies in connecting teens with books, and reader’s advisory by proxy should be approached as a bridge- building activity, not a chore. Many teenag- ers are astoundingly busy, and sometimes ome reader’s advisory requests for my son. Where are your books for high the only way for a young person to have strike fear in the heart of even the school freshmen?” Or, “My daughter doesn’t a connection to books is for parents to S most stalwart young adult librar- read, but I want a book that will get her to bring them into the house. When parents ian: “Holes is the only book I’ve ever read like reading.” Or, “He only reads junk. Can insist on a specific type of book—a classic, and I want something exactly like it.” Or, you recommend some quality literature?” or something with which they are famil- “I need a book for a report that deals with On the surface, these requests seem simple iar—they are not necessarily trying to cen- a historical event between 1890 and 1912, enough. Plenty of books are interesting and sor or control their child’s reading material. and it needs to have pictures, but it has to readable for fourteen-year-old boys, are It is quite possible that what they seek is be short because the report is due tomor- excellent for reluctant readers, or are liter- a shared reading experience. A book that row.” Or, “I want to read a book like Speak, ary greats. So what’s the problem? both parent and child have read can be a but funny.” As long as the request is coming Helping parents select books for their way for parents to connect to their quickly from the young patron who hopes to read teens, or reader’s advisory by proxy, is an and drastically changing adolescent. It is the book, you can usually find something endeavor fraught with unique issues. Does equally possible that some parents aren’t that will match the patron’s needs by care- the parent know what books the teen has even aware that librarians can and do fully conducting a reader’s advisory inter- view and by using all of the resources for matching teens and books that you have at HEATHER BOOTH is a Reader’s Advisory and Audio Librarian at your disposal. For many librarians though, the Downers Grove (Ill.) Public Library and a member of YALSA. the most difficult book requests come not from teen readers, but from their parents, Her forthcoming book on serving teens through reader’s advisory teachers, or adult friends: “I need a book is being published by ALA Editions.

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Booth

provide reading suggestions, and simply tions, you rarely get a second round during in. But even if an overbooked schedule ask for titles familiar to them because they a single visit from a parent selecting books. isn’t the primary reason why parents are don’t know where to find suggestions. So what is the remedy for these at the library instead of teens, extending Assure these parents that you are glad to issues? Begin by getting to the root of the some of these services will help to convey help get some great books into the hands request through solid reference interview to teens that the library is a place that is of their teens, that you are glad they are techniques. Determine if the request is welcoming and interested in serving them. involved in making books readily available intended to fill an assignment, is a teen’s Sending prepared booklists to go along to their children, and that you are happy request, or stems from the parent’s inter- with the books, offering a departmental to provide suggestions for whatever type of est in finding a book for the teen. This e-mail address for follow-up and further reading their teens would like. should help to direct the focus of the suggestions, or even providing information This is not to say that the interaction suggestions. To receive an indication of about your library’s Web site, online cata- will always be an easy one. Parents aren’t what type of material may work best, try log, or virtual reference services are ways always aware of their teens’ reading inter- asking if the parent recalls the last book to make the library accessible to teens. If ests. For example, a parent may know that the teen read and whether or not the teen it is clear that the parent is really the one his teen used to like reading high fantasy, commented on the book. Inquiring about seeking the information, assure him or her but may be unaware that she has been on the types of movies or television shows that you truly do want to know how the a manga kick for the past three months. the teen enjoys could also indicate which teen likes the books you have suggested, Additionally, even if the parent is up on his genres may be more appealing. If the par- and that during the next visit to the library, child’s reading interests, it is a rare parent ent doesn’t remember or doesn’t know, ask you would like the chance to suggest a who can remember which books that teen if the teen is accessible by phone. If the few more titles, whether the teen liked the has read or which he didn’t care for. Even if teen is at home or available to take a call books or not. Feedback on recommenda- the teen has relayed information about the on a cell phone, a few quick questions may tions by proxy can help you hone your type of books to bring home, librarians still help to ensure that the teen will be open skills at finding books appropriate for the must play a delicate game of telephone. to reading the books you send home. You intended reader. Maybe the teen read Jurassic Park and need not operate in an isolated bubble The reality of modern teen life means told his mom he didn’t like the dinosaur if the information you need to provide that many of our reader’s advisory inter- aspect, but since the teen is not around, excellent service, instead of adequate actions for teens will actually take place you don’t know if books with dragons or service, is readily available. Additionally, through their parents. If we are prepared man-eating alligators would be suitable. this demonstrates to the teen that you for the slightly different mechanisms by After you determine as best you can what are sincerely interested in selecting books which we must conduct the reader’s advi- the teen would like to read based on the that he or she wants to read, and that the sory interview in these circumstances, parent’s comments, you are still challenged selection of books that winds up at home and strive to extend our services beyond by not knowing the teen’s reaction to the isn’t the result of a great librarian-parent the face-to-face interactions we ultimately books. Unlike working directly with a teen conspiracy! desire, the teens in our communities will at the library, who can page through the Consider devising more creative know that the library is their library, books you select, choose or reject titles, methods of conveying information to your too. YALS and allow you to make a few more sugges- teen patrons who are just too busy to come

Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS 15 feature Hot Spot: Reader’s Advisory

The Culture of Street Lit Hip-Hop and the Origins of Street Lit Hip-hop, the cultural progenitor of street lit, is “a youth subculture, originating Flying Off Teen amongst the Black and Hispanic popula- tions of New York City, which comprises elements such as rap music, graffiti art, and Fiction Bookshelves breakdancing, as well as distinctive codes of dress.”1 From fashion brand names like Roca Wear and Sean John, to airbrush in Philadelphia art on clothing, nails, and skin, hip-hop has influenced many aspects of modern American culture. Adults and young adults Public Libraries alike are emulating hip-hop celebrities with tattoos and piercings, and speaking the language of street slang and Spanglish. By Vanessa J. Morris, Hip-hop has emerged as a viable influence in many areas of popular culture, not just Sandra Hughes-Hassell, in the United States, but across the globe. According to Eric Hellweg, hip-hop “is to Denise E. Agosto, and America’s global cultural heritage what jazz was eighty years ago.”2 Darren T. Cottman Hip-hop’s contribution to literature is extensive. The beatnik café houses of the 1960s have seen a revival in the spoken- word poetry movement that has merged into the mainstream with such poet- treet lit” novels (also called “urban genre, defines it in detail, and explores why musicians as Jill Scott and Jewel. A fiction,” “hip novels,” “black pulp inner-city teenagers at one branch of the number of popular magazines focus on S fiction,” “ghetto lit,” and “gangsta Free Library of Philadelphia are passionate hip-hop culture, such as Vibe and XXL, lit”) have captured the interest of a size- about reading it. and their readerships grow each year. able portion of an underserved young adult population: the urban African American teenager. Traditionally considered reluctant VANESSA J. MORRIS, M.S.L.S., was the Adult/Teen Librarian at readers, many inner-city teens are now the Widener Branch Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia reading because of street lit. These novels for five years, during which time she formed and facilitated the tell stories that reflect many of the harsh Widener Teen Street Lit Book Club. She is currently a full-time realities of inner-city life, such as sex, drugs, instructor in the Department of Library Science at Clarion (Pa.) violence, and fear for one’s physical safety. University. SANDRA HUGHES HASSELL, Ph.D., is an Associate The target audience for street lit is typi- Professor in the School of Information and Library Science at the cally African Americans within the twenty University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. DENISE E. AGOSTO, to forty-four age range, although teens Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the College of Information and preteens are avid readers as well. For the most part, the readership is working Science and Technology at Drexel University. DARREN T. class and lives in urban settings similar to COTTMAN, M.S., is the acting Branch Manager, acting Children’s those depicted in the books. This article Librarian, and Co-adult/Teen Librarian at the Widener Branch of traces the cultural origins of this emerging the Free Library of Philadelphia.

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Morris, Hughes-Hassell, Agosto, and Cottman

During the past few years, hip-hop els, various aspects of hip-hop culture are grew up in a stable home in Detroit, has also gained academic attention. Many presented and explored by characters living when he returned to the United States universities have offered courses on hip- in “da ’hood” (inner-city settings) who are after serving in Vietnam, he came home a hop, and a number of noted academics “keepin’ it real” (asserting the reality of the heroin addict. He then committed a flurry have focused their attention on studying challenges of living in the inner city). of crimes and was in and out of jail for this American subculture. For example, more than six years, during which time he Temple University has offered a special launched his literary career, focusing on topic course in its African American Defining Street Lit the theme of ghetto violence. In 1974, Studies department called, “Hip Hop he and his wife were gunned down at and Black Culture.” Harvard University A Brief History home (with their children locked in the offered the course “Hip Hop America: To reach back to the source of street lit, basement), the possible result of a botched 9 Power, Politics and the Word” within we have to look to personal narratives drug deal. Goines remains popular today; its Afro-American Studies department. such as The Autobiography of Malcolm X his titles have never gone out of print Many other higher education institutions, (1966) and Claude Brown’s Manchild in in thirty-five years, have sold more than including Fordham University, Kent State the Promised Land (1965), classic titles five million copies, and are frequently University, and the University of Kansas, in African American literature about the requested in urban libraries across 10 consistently offer classes studying hip-hop harsh urban lifestyles of African American the nation. music, dance, and culture. men growing up in the ghettos of Detroit The University of Pennsylvania’s and Harlem, respectively. Such titles began The Reemergence cultural critic Michael Eric Dyson has the street lit movement by describing raw, of Street Lit published a canon of works on hip-hop gritty realities on big city streets. culture. Informative and provocative, In the 1970s, Iceberg Slim and Street lit reemerged with the publica- Dyson’s works have been instrumental in Donald Goines set the tone for urban tion of Omar Tyree’s Flyy Girl (1996). bringing hip-hop culture into mainstream fiction by publishing novels prolifically, Originally published by a small press consciousness. In his 2002 work Holler If and gaining large followings. These two in 1993, it was picked up by Simon & You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur, authors gave definition to urban fiction as Schuster and reissued with relative sales Dyson explores the slain rap/hip-hop a subgenre of African American literature success three years later. However, not icon’s life and career within the context of with their realistic depictions of ghetto until the publication of hip-hop artist hip-hop and African American culture.3 life in Detroit and Chicago.6 Both men turned author Sister Souljah’s The Coldest Dyson also has published other titles dis- also brought credibility to their writing Winter Ever (1999) did a street lit title cussing hip-hop, including Between God because, like many of their successors in see blockbuster success. Often referred to and Gangsta Rap: Bearing Witness to Black the genre, they themselves were involved as the “godmother” of street lit, Souljah’s Culture and Open Mike: Reflections on with drugs and served jail time for various bestseller led to a marked increased in the Philosophy, Race, Sex, Culture and Religion.4 crimes.7 popularity of the genre.11 During fall semester 2005, Dyson taught Slim appeared on the scene first with Since the late 1990s, more than one two courses on hip-hop at the University his personal narrative, Pimp: The Story of hundred street lit titles have been pub- of Pennsylvania: “Hip Hop Culture” in My Life (1967). Many of his titles—which lished, and at least three publishing com- the African American Studies and Urban include Mama Black Widow (1969), Long panies have been formed for this genre: Studies departments, and “Religion and White Con (1971), and Airtight Willie and Urban Books, Strebor Books International, Secular Values: Hip Hop Culture” in the Me (1979)—are still in print and circulat- and Triple Crown Productions. Souljah Religious Studies department. Other hip- ing in urban libraries today. His books have has been joined by a host of other African hop cultural critics include Kevin Powell sold more than six million copies to date.8 American writers, including Teri Woods, (Keepin’ It Real), Bakari Kitwana (The Hip While Slim is considered the first of Zane, Solomon Jones, Shannon Holmes, Hop Generation), George Nelson (Hip Hop the early street lit authors, Goines became Carl Weber, and Vicki Stringer. America) and Yvonne Bynoe (Stand and the most prolific, publishing sixteen titles Most of today’s street lit authors Deliver).5 within his five-year writing career. Inspired are in their twenties and thirties. Many Perhaps nowhere is the influence of by Slim’s Pimp, Goines wrote Dopefiend: come from the cities and neighborhoods hip-hop more apparent than in the literary The Story of a Black Junkie (1971) while featured in their books and employ real genre referred to as street lit. In these nov- serving time in prison. Although Goines neighborhoods and actual street names in

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their writing. For example, Woods, Tyree, Jones, and Daaimah S. Poole (Yo Yo Love, 2003) set their tales in their native North Philadelphia. Richmond, Virginia, native Nikki Turner placed her novel, A Hustler’s Wife (2003), in her hometown; Baltimore native Holmes did the same for her popu- lar title, B-More Careful (2001). As was the case with Slim and Goines, some modern street lit authors are ex-convicts and recovering drug addicts who began writing while in prison and rehab centers. This personal experience with the life and culture they describe adds realism to their gritty, raw stories. One noted exception to this pattern is black erotica author Zane, who is perhaps the most popular, provocative, and prolific fiction writer in the genre, whose novels have taken urban readers by storm. A mother of three from Baltimore, with nei- ther a known criminal record nor history of drug use, Zane writes raw, gutsy, sexu- ally graphic urbanized black fiction that appears again and again on the African American bestseller lists. As CEO of the urban fiction publishing house Strebor Books International, Zane is a higher qual- ity writer than many of the other urban fiction authors, with better developed characters, writing, and editing.12

Common Characteristics of Street Lit Settings Content (2004)—include scenes in the protagonists that are between the ages of hip-hop music industry or on college sixteen and twenty-three. The characters Street lit stories are usually set in the campuses. Brand names, song titles, and usually age from young adulthood to ghettos of major U.S. cities such as New neighborhoods are painstakingly detailed adulthood as the stories progress, or the York (Harlem and Brooklyn, specifically), to bring a sense of realism to the books, authors use flashbacks to reveal significant Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. as authors attempt to recreate the real-life moments in the protagonists’ childhoods. All of the action typically occurs in one environments shared by their readers. Major characters tend to occur in city or in one neighborhood. As in real life threes: three women, as in Holmes’s Bad in the ghetto, street lit characters rarely Characters Girlz (2003) and T. N. Baker’s Sheisty leave the ’hood. However, occasionally (2004); three men, as in K’wan’s Road street lit novels—like The Coldest Winter Although written by adults for adults, Dawgz (2003); or a mixture of men and Ever, Flyy Girl, and Black Artemis’s Explicit these stories typically have young adult women, as in La Jill Hunt’s Drama Queen

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(2003). The undying love of a “thug” (a urban tale. Everything is resolved by the frequently use their sexuality to attract the male drug dealer) taking care of his “ghetto end of the novel, which is also the end of a attention of young drug lords in order to fabulous queen” (the female consort of a very long, action-packed day. gain the prestige that comes by association. male drug dealer) is also a popular theme, A hook to the plot usually occurs Many street lit novels can be classified as in Woods’s True to the Game (1994), within the first chapter of the book—usu- as modern cautionary tales, the distant A Hustler’s Wife, and Jones’s Ride or Die ally something shockingly violent such as a ancestors of didactic folk tales. By the (2004). brutal murder or extreme physical violence end of the novel, the protagonist realizes Female characters are typically young toward a female. For example, within the the error of her ways and decides to go adult African American or Latino women first ten pages of Holmes’s Bad Girlz, teen- from self-centered hedonist to respon- in some type of turmoil, usually because age protagonist Tonya gets high on angel sible citizen. For example, Tracy in Flyy they are in love with the wrong kind of dust, is raped by her stepfather, is severely Girl decides to attend college to become man. Although most come from very beaten by her mother, gets thrown out of a teacher, and Tender in Bad Girlz leaves harsh childhoods and want to get out of her mother’s house, and is forced to live on the stripping business to become a hair- the ’hood, like Epiphany in Sheisty, a few the street. By the end of the first chapter dresser. The authors of many of the novels grow up very privileged and want to get in KaShamba Williams’s Driven (2005), either include introductions or epilogues into the ’hood, like Ceazia in Chunichi’s A readers witness the graphic birth of the in which they explain that the intent of Gangster’s Girl (2004) and Keisha in Ride protagonist to his seventeen-year-old their writing is to show young readers the or Die. The male characters generally are mother, Loretta, as she is verbally abused dangers of life on the street. For example, African American young adults who are by the baby’s father. Holmes writes a five-page prologue in drug dealers or physically abusive woman- At first glance, the conflict in most Never Go Home Again (2004) relating his izers; often they are in jail or just getting street lit appears to be person-against- life to events in the novel. In the paperback out of jail. Many engage in criminal behav- person or person-against-society. However, edition of Jones’s Pipe Dream (2001), an ior during the course of the novels. in many of the novels, the internal con- interview with the author is provided as an flict of the characters compels the reader afterword. In this interview, Jones shares the most. For example, in Baker’s Sheisty, the harsh reality of his experience with Plot Characteristics Epiphany’s desire is to get out of “da crack addiction and drug recovery. In the Hip-hop fiction typically deals with daily ’hood.” Epiphany tries to create that reality epilogue for Williams’s Blinded (2003), the life in the ghetto, featuring young female for herself, only to be pulled by the lure of author offers reader’s advisory about the protagonists coming of age with dramatic the streets and her libido. morality of the tale. complications to consider, such as drug This moralistic undertone, however, is not found in all hip-hop literature. There dealing, drug trafficking, graphic domestic Themes violence, and sexual encounters. The male are novels in which the main protago- protagonists usually stand at some kind The authors of hip-hop literature confront nist continues to live “the life” or plans to of turning point in their lives, often strug- subjects such as violence (particularly return to it after completing a jail term. In gling to become successful drug dealers or against women), death, premarital sex, Sheisty, K. C. comes out of jail, returns to to leave the world of drugs behind. pregnancy, teen parenthood, abortion, a life of crime, and is physically and ver- The action is always fast-paced and crime, drugs, and incarceration. These bally abusive to his “wifey,” Shana. In True the final resolution comes quickly. For subjects attract teen readers partly because to the Game, the reader is left wondering example, in Jones’s Ride or Die, the entire of their taboo status, but also because they what Gena will do with the drug money novel covers the events of one day. We are topics faced by many teenagers grow- she has—return to “the game” or become a see the protagonists, Keisha and Jamal, ing up in inner cities. productive citizen. involved in a murder mystery on the lam Drug culture is often glamorized in from the Philadelphia police. In and out these novels, with characters achieving Writing Styles of disguise, the couple races through vari- prestige in the neighborhood, as well as ous sections of the city, seeking refuge and financial reward, from their drug activi- Street lit is usually written in the first an opportunity to consummate their love. ties. Men often use money and status to person, with the protagonist telling the Supporting characterizations are explored manipulate women into participating in story. When there is more than one to add a whodunit tone to this fast-paced the drug trade. Women, on the other hand, protagonist, alternating voices often nar-

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rate the story. For example, in Roy Glenn’s lit] is also read by an even more elusive and ing served as the kickoff for the Widener M.O.B. (2004), we meet Travis, Jackie, and desirable demographic group: young black urban fiction collection, as well as the Ronnie, three college-educated childhood men.”13 Street lit has become so popular beginning of the Widener Teen Street Lit friends who lose their jobs and turn to the that libraries in many neighborhoods in Book Club. Twenty-five teens attended the streets to maintain their expensive lifestyles. Philadelphia are having difficulty provid- kickoff event. Street slang and hip-hop verbiage is ing enough books to satisfy the demand. Originally scheduled to run for four used consistently throughout the genre, To understand why teens are reading this weeks, book club members enjoyed the making it seem like a foreign language if genre, a street lit book club was formed at program so much that they kept coming the reader is not familiar with the terms. the Widener Branch Library of the Free back for a total of sixteen weeks. When Although profanity is prevalent, hip-hop Library of Philadelphia. asked, “Why do you still want to have lingo is a language all its own, full of words Widener is located in the heart of the book club?” fourteen-year-old Dashae with unique meanings. For example, the the Strawberry Mansion section of North explained that the book club was fun and titles Wifebeater, Blinded, Grimey, and Philadelphia, an inner-city neighborhood “kept them off the streets with something Sheisty are code words in hip-hop language of predominately African American low- positive to do.” that stand for something entirely different to lower-middle-income residents. The An average of fifteen females and than their English meanings. While the neighborhood fell victim to the drug wars two males between the ages of twelve and term “wifebeater” may denote domestic of the 1980s and is still in recovery. Drugs seventeen took part each week. Many of violence, in hip-hop lingo it is merely the continue to be sold on street corners, amid the book club members had read virtually description of a popular sleeveless under- piles of garbage and unemployed recover- every title in the street lit genre prior to shirt worn by men in the ghetto. On the ing drug addicts. In the past few years, a joining the club, and they already knew of streets, “blinded” means to be deceived or rise of violence has taken hold in North forthcoming titles. They were also capable betrayed. “Grimey” and “sheisty” mean to Philadelphia, with children sometimes of booktalking the books, often giving sug- be dishonest and two-faced, to mislead caught in the crossfire of drug disputes. gestions to the teen librarian for collection someone. The tales told in novels like True to the development. Many of the teens purchased By and large, the books tend to be Game, Antoine “Inch” Thomas’s Flower’s the books, passing them around among poorly edited, with conventional misspell- Bed (2003), and Thomas Long’s A Thug’s their friends. The teens indicated that their ings and grammatical errors. Many of the Life (2004) are testimonies to this popula- parents read the books as well. titles started as vanity press publications tion’s reality of life. Weekly discussions were held on and were later picked up by small presses, topics that the club members selected or, in a few cases, large publishing houses. The Book Club themselves. Members wanted to talk about various themes commonly addressed At the Widener Branch, a teen street lit within the genre, such as violence, hustling, book club was formed in March 2005 rape, negative images of women, and nega- to address the need for teens to gain the tive images of the community. Exploring the Appeal skill of critical analysis so they could self- Because of the popularity of this of Street Lit: The navigate through this genre with more genre and the high nonreturn rate of the Widener Teen wisdom and understanding. Outreach books, checkout standards for this new Street Lit Book Club to area middle schools was performed to collection were based on a seven-day loan inform students of the book club, and to period and no more than three books at a Inner-city African American teenagers, ask them for suggestions of which titles to time per patron. This arrangement allowed particularly females, are devouring this order for the new urban fiction collection. the collection to last for six to eight genre as if it were the newest installment Flyers were passed out among students months with rotating titles available for in the Harry Potter series. Although the and posted throughout the library. Teens checkout. As recently as September 2005, bulk of the reading audience is female, were informed when the new collection of circulation statistics had risen sharply some young males do read street lit: urban fiction was going to be unveiled, and at Widener Branch Library. The branch “While trade paperback street lit edi- were personally invited to this event. The manager attributes the increase in adult tions sell most to Black women and girls event included pizza, soda, a booktalking circulation statistics to the urban fiction between the ages of 13 and 30, it [street program, and free discussion. This unveil- collection.

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The Results images of the ’hood. There were many behaviors became apparent. During the discussions about the need to establish early weeks of the club, the librarian who Widener teens recognized three favorite criteria or standards for friendships and facilitated the meetings had to stand out- street lit titles: Flyy Girl, Coldest Winter other personal relationships. There was side the library to encourage the girls to Ever, and True to the Game. They liked also discussion about how the books show attend the meetings instead of remaining these titles because they could relate to the African American community “in a bad outside to flirt with young men. By the the teen female protagonists. The group light” (said Jasmine, thirteen). By talking third week, members were coming in early, especially liked Flyy Girl protagonist about the various details in the genre, such bringing their friends, and offering to go Tracy Ellison because she is a teenage as characters who lust for name-brand to the store to purchase snacks. More girl from the Germantown section of items yet still live in poor neighborhoods importantly, the teens began to request Philadelphia—an area of the city with and men who make a lot of money, yet sell alternatives to street lit fiction—books which the teens can closely identify. drugs and commit murder, club members that still accurately reflected their lives but The protagonist in , True to the Game began to question their previous accep- lacked the hard, gritty details apparent Gena, is a teen girl from the same area tance of these negative behaviors. in most street literature. They began to as Widener Branch Library, inner-city The relationships between the male read and discuss more mainstream young North Philadelphia. The group revered and female characters in the books also adult urban titles such as Elizabeth Griffin The Coldest Winter Ever because of the spurred much discussion. The girls, for the Gore’s Niara (2000), Daaimah S. Poole’s completeness of the story. They especially most part, originally thought that the male (2003), and Stephanie Perry appreciated that the protagonist, Winter, Got a Man characters “were good to their women” Moore’s (2000), an entry in a does not win in the end. Staying Pure because “they bought them name brand teen Christian fiction series. The major appeal of street lit novels stuff.” As they began to analyze the books, Additionally, they became familiar seemed to be in their representation of street culture. According to book club par- however, they began to understand that with authors who are responding to the ticipants, street lit novels accurately reflect most of the relationships were dominated need for less sexually graphic, violent, the violence, fear, and desperation preva- by verbal and domestic violence. Rape and and morally derisive novels for the urban lent in their inner-city neighborhoods. For physical abuse were common. For example, African American teen. Jackie Hardrick example, roughly 80 percent of the book rape was a theme in ten of the fifteen has begun an urban teen fiction series with club members admitted seeing someone books that the club discussed. two installments thus far: Imani in Young shot during their lifetimes. One-hundred The two boys who participated in Love and Deception (2002) and Imani in percent had witnessed a drug interaction the club objected to the way the female Never Say Goodbye (2004). Popular urban of some kind. As LaShanna, fifteen, com- characters are represented. For example, fiction author KaShamba Williams has mented, these books are “about real life.” fifteen-year-old Robert talked about how initiated a teen-friendly urban fiction series Most book club members also a friend of his read him a couple of pages called the Platinum Teen Series. During a acknowledged that they know people who from Zane’s erotic bestseller, Addicted library program at the Overbrook Branch live the lifestyles depicted in these books. (1998). He said,“I don’t like girls like that, Park Library in Philadelphia in June 2005, During a book club session with the so I don’t want to read about girls doing Williams stated that the intention of adult/teen librarian at Widener Branch that kind of stuff.” the Platinum Teen Series is to appeal to Library, seventeen-year-old Janeen was The teens also confirmed that reading urban youth between the ages of eleven very clear about the fact that some people street lit “shows you what to be careful of,” and fifteen. Williams’s publication com- in her family are like the characters in the according to Jasmine. While reading the pany, Precioustymes Entertainment, has books. She especially identified with the books validates these teens’ reality, it also published two titles thus far, Dymond in female characters who were in love with teaches them life lessons in a fast-paced, the Rough (2005) and The Ab-solute Truth drug lords and who spent a lot of money action-filled fashion. Sixteen-year-old (2005). Williams plans to publish twelve on expensive items, but still lived in a low- Briana said the books “teach us to [not] volumes in the series. income neighborhood. Many book club do it.” Fourteen-year-old Lynne explained, Sharon Flake is another popular members said that the characters in the “they shine light on the things that [can] African American young adult author books reminded them of the popular girls happen,” validating the idea that street lit is whose books The Skin I’m In (1998), in their high schools. a form of a cautionary tale. Money Hungry (2001), Begging for Change Some of the most lively book discus- By the conclusion of the book club, (2003), Who Am I without Him? (2004), sions focused on self esteem, values, and several modifications in the members’ and her latest, Bang (2005), have been

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recognized by YALSA. Her books have patrons to check out books, and it has led Brown, Claude. Manchild In The Promised realistic, urban settings, with urban teen to an increase in patrons’ requesting mate- Land. Macmillan, 1965; ISBN protagonists going through challenges rials by author and title. Through urban 0684864185; $14.00. growing up in an inner-city environ- fiction, many local teens have become Chunichi. A Gangster’s Girl. Urban ment. Flake hails from the Strawberry empowered to use the library because they Books, 2004; ISBN 0974363650; Mansion/Allegheny West section of have found a genre that includes characters $14.95. North Philadelphia and currently resides who look like them, talk like them, and Flake, Sharon. Bang! Jump at the Sun/ in Pittsburgh. live in neighborhoods similar to their own. Hyperion Books, 2005; ISBN Scholastic Books publishes Jeanne Street lit has thus reignited the vitality of 0786818441; $16.99. Betancourt’s Three Girls in the City series, the urban neighborhood library. ———. Begging for Change. Jump at the which provides a multicultural slant on the By reading street lit fiction, African Sun/Hyperion Books, 2003; ISBN urban teen fiction genre. Featuring three American teens are coming together in the 0786814055; $5.99. teen girls from different backgrounds who name of hip-hop—literarily. We must be ———. Money Hungry. Jump at the are best friends growing up in New York ready to answer their call by reading this Sun/Hyperion Books, 2001; ISBN City, this four-volume series is not as gritty genre ourselves, by understanding the cul- 0786515035; $5.99. as other urban teen fiction titles, but is ture it represents, and by discussing it in ———. The Skin I’m In. Hyperion suitable for younger preteens. For a more YA literature courses, as it is only through Books for Children, 1998; ISBN extensive list of recommended young adult thoughtful exploration that librarians can 0786804440; $14.95. novels featuring urban settings, see The be empowered to make the best reader’s ———. Who Am I Without Him? Jump ALAN Review’s “The Urban Experience in advisory and collection decisions for their at the Sun/Hyperion Books, 2004; 14 Recent Young Adult Novels.” communities. YALS ISBN 0786806931; $15.99. Frisby, Mister Mann. Wifebeater. Penguin, Editor’s note: All names of Widener Teen 2005; ISBN 1594480729; $14.00. Street Lit Book Club members were changed Glenn, Roy. M.O.B. Kensington Conclusion: Street Lit for this article. and the Urban Public Publishing Corporation, 2004; ISBN 09747202514; $14.95. Library Goines, Donald. Dopefiend: The Story Of The success of the Widener Teen Street Acknowledgements A Black Junkie. Holloway House, 1971; ISBN 0870679953; $6.99. Lit Book Club indicates that street lit The authors wish to thank Bruce Siebers, Gore, Elizabeth Griffin. deserves thoughtful consideration by adult/teen librarian and branch manager Niara. Gore Publications, 2000; ISBN librarians who serve African American of the Overbrook Branch Park Library, for 0970144709; $14.95. young adults in urban areas. Although for his assistance in identifying many of the Hardrick, Jackie. the most part street lit is a body of fiction street lit titles discussed in this article. His Imani In Young Love And Enlighten Publications, that needs some editorial cleanup, this passion for working with urban teenagers Deception. 2002; ISBN 0970622600; $15.00. genre does include some quality titles that is inspirational. have stood the test of time, such as Coldest ———. Imani In Never Say Goodbye. Winter Ever, Flyy Girl, and Yo Yo Love. Enlighten Publications, 2004; ISBN Even though the stories offer little hope Works Cited 0970622627; $15.00. for a better life, they soothe the frightened Holmes, Shannon. B-More Careful. Meow and confused souls of anxious African Artemis, Black. Explicit Content. New Meow Productions, 2001; ISBN American teens seeking confirmation and American Library, 2004; ISBN 0967224918; $14.95. validation of their lives, as well as legitimi- 045121754; $12.95. ———. Bad Girlz: A Novel. Atria Books, zation of inner-city culture. Baker, T. N. Sheisty. Triple Crown 2003; ISBN 074348620X; $15.00. From a librarian’s point of view, the Productions, 2004; ISBN ———. Never Go Home Again. Simon & value of this genre is that it motivates 0974789593; $15.00 Schuster, 2005; ISBN 0743496167; urban teens to read and to discuss books Betancourt, Jeanne. Three Girls In $15.00. with their peers. The new Widener Branch The City series. Scholastic Books, Hunt, La Jill. Drama Queen. Urban Books, urban fiction collection has led more 2002–04. 2003; ISBN 09743630X; $14.95.

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Jones, Solomon. Pipe Dream. Villard Turner, Nikki. A Hustler’s Wife. Triple Reflections on Philosophy, Race, Sex, Culture Books, 2001; ISBN 0375756604; Crown Productions, 2003; ISBN and Religion (New York: Basic Civitas $13.95. 0970247257; $15.00. Books, 2002). ———. Ride Or Die. St. Martin’s Press, Tyree, Omar. Flyy Girl. Simon & Schuster, 5. Kevin Powell, Keepin’ It Real: Post-MTV 2004; ISBN 0312339895; $13.95. 1993; ISBN 0684835665; $14.00. Reflections on Race, Sex and Politics(New Juwell & Precious. The Ab-solute Truth: Williams, KaShamba. Blinded: An Urban York: Ballantine, 1998); George Nelson, Platinum Teen Series, Volume 2. Tale. Triple Crown Productions, Hip Hop America (New York: Penguin, Precioustymes Entertainment, 2005; 2003; ISBN 1893196216; $14.95. 2005); Bakari Kitwana, The Hip Hop Gen- ISBN 0972932542; $15.00. ———. Driven. Urban Books, 2005; eration: Young Blacks, and the Crisis in Afri- K’wan. Road Dawgz. Triple Crown ISBN 1893196216; $14.95. can American Culture (New York: Basic Productions, 2003; ISBN ———. Grimey: The Sequel to Blinded. Civitas Bks., 2003); Yvonne Bynoe, Stand 09707247249; $15.00. Triple Crown Productions, 2004; and Deliver: Political Activism, Leadership, Long, Thomas.A Thug’s Life. Kensington ISBN 0974789518; $15.00. and Hip Hop Culture (Berkeley, Calif.: Soft Publishing Corporation, 2005; ISBN Williams, Precious KaShamba. Dymond Skull Pr., 2004). 0971237077; $14.95. In The Rough: Platinum Teen 6. Judith Rosen, “Street Lit: Readers Gotta Moore, Stephanie Perry. Staying Pure: Series, Volume 1. Precioustymes Have It,” Publishers Weekly 251, no. 50 Payton Sky Series, Volume 1. Moody Entertainment, 2005; ISBN (Dec. 13, 2004): 31–35; L. Weeks, “New Press, 2000; ISBN 0613908783; 0972932526; $15.00. Books in the Hood: Street Lit Makes $15.30. Woods, Teri. True To The Game. Meow Inroads with Readers and Publishers,” Poole, Daaimah S. Got A Man. Dafina Meow Productions, 1994; ISBN Washington Post (July 31, 2004): C1. Books, 2003; ISBN 0758202423; 096722490X; $14.95. 7. Weeks, “New Books in the Hood.” $6.99. X, Malcolm. The Autobiography of 8. Gwendolyn Osbourne. “The Legacy of ———. Yo Yo Love. Dafina Books, 2002; Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Ghetto Pulp Fiction–Critical Essay,” Black ISBN 0758202393; $6.99. Haley. Hutchinson, 1996; ISBN Issues Book Review 3, no. 5 (Sept. 2001): Slim, Iceberg. Airtight Willie and Me. 0345915038; $12.00. 50–53. Holloway House, 1996; ISBN Zane. Addicted. Atria Books, 1998; ISBN 9. Eddie B. Allen Jr., Low Road: The Life and 0870679767; $6.99. 0743269284; $19.95. Legacy of Donald Goines (New York: St. ———. Pimp: The Story Of My Life. Martin’s Pr., 2004); Eddie Stone, Donald Holloway House, 1969; ISBN References Writes No More: A Biography of Donald 087067935X; $7.95. Goines (Los Angeles: Holloway House, ———. Long White Con. Holloway 1. “Hip-hop,” Oxford English Dictionary, 2001). House, 1988; ISBN 0870679740; 2005, www.oed.com (accessed Nov. 3, 10. Allen, Low Road. $6.99. 2005). 11. Weeks, “New Books in the Hood.” ———. Mama Black Widow. Holloway 2. Eric Hellweg, “Hip Hop High,” Edutopia 12. Yvonne J. Medley, “Zane, An Intensely House, 1996; ISBN 039331765X; (Sept. 2005): 40. Private Writer of Erotica, Sees Her Profile $13.95. 3. Michael Eric Dyson, Holler If You Can Grow,” Washington Post (October 9, 2005): Souljah, Sister. The Coldest Winter Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur SM03. Ever. Pocket Books, 1999; ISBN (New York: Basic Civitas Bks., 2002). 13. Rosen, “Street Lit”: 32. 0743426819; $13.95. 4. Michael Eric Dyson, Between God and 14. Sandra Hughes-Hassell and Sandy Guild, Thomas, Antoine “Inch.”Flower’s Bed. Gangsta Rap: Bearing Witness to Black Cul- “The Urban Experience in Recent Young Amiaya Entertainment, 2004; ISBN ture (Reprint. New York: Oxford Univ. Pr., Adult Novels,” The ALAN Review29, no. 0974507504; $14.95. 1997); Michael Eric Dyson, Open Mike: 3 (2002): 35–39.

Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS 23 feature Hot Spot: Reader’s Advisory

first step in bibliotherapy, which Delaney defined as “the treatment of a patient A Closer Look at through selected reading” was to know the patient through case histories as well as books.4 Bibliotherapy Working as a team of social workers and psychiatrists, their purpose was to “enable patients to connect—or recon- By Jami L. Jones nect—themselves with a broad community of ideas.”5 Delaney’s holistic practice of bibliotherapy transcended typical liter- ary events such as book groups and story hours to include hobby clubs and activi- ties such as stamp and coin collecting and hat is bibliotherapy? Is it giv- periphery of their professions. While many debating to awaken a patient’s mind. ing a person struggling with mental health professionals consider bib- Delaney’s techniques created such a buzz W depression a self-help book? liotherapy lacking compared to other more that she received worldwide recognition. Is it teaching problem-solving skills to a tried-and-true treatments, librarians shy Between 1924 and 1958, Delaney spoke third-grader by working through a book away from anything that suggests therapy. at major conferences and held lectures in together? Is it when a nurse uses a book to Even though most librarians wholeheart- conjunction with psychology courses, and help a diabetic child come to terms with edly believe that books can heal, there is actively trained other librarians in the prac- the disease? In each case the answer is a confusion about their role in this process. tice of bibliotherapy.6 resounding “yes.” Literature on the topic Principally, librarians worry about over- In 1937, Dr. William C. Menninger, of bibliotherapy—whether quantitative stepping their bounds. They worry that a a founder of the Menninger Clinic, a pres- research studies using control groups, book suggested by them could heap addi- tigious group psychiatry practice, edited anecdotal accounts, or statements about tional distress on a patron who is already a book about psychiatry that included the efficacy and power of books—points to suffering. several of his papers. In one of these papers one conclusion: books can and do make a he described the purposes of bibliotherapy, difference. how it fit into a patient’s treatment plan, The definitions of bibliotherapy Bibliotherapy and how it was to be prescribed. At the range from the simplest—“helping with Menninger Clinic, bibliotherapy was used books”—to a more complex one described Has a History to treat mental illness but only after the by Katz and Watt as “the guided use of The term bibliotherapy was first coined patient’s background, symptoms, and ther- reading, always with a therapeutic outcome in 1916 by Unitarian minister Samuel apeutic needs had been evaluated. Because 1 in mind.” The ancient Greeks recognized Crothers, who wrote in The Atlantic bibliotherapy was considered a treatment, the power of books as therapeutic tools by Monthly about a technique of bringing the physician was responsible for the “con- inscribing these words above the door at troubled persons together with books.3 By tents of the library and must approve the the library of Thebes: “The medicine chest the early 1920s, Sadie Peterson Delaney, books before they [were] purchased,” and of the soul.” It is not the definition of bib- chief librarian of the United States for prescribing reading assignments.7 The liotherapy that is perplexing, but rather the Veterans Administration Hospital in librarian’s responsibilities included “the worry that the principle of “giving the right Tuskegee, Alabama, was using books to mechanics of purchasing and maintain- patron the right book at the right time” treat the psychological and physical needs ing and distributing the books,” as well as could turn into a troika of wrongs—the of African American war veterans. The having personal knowledge of the book wrong patron, the wrong book, and the wrong time.2 Over time, mental health specialists JAMI L. JONES, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Department and librarians—and to a smaller degree, of Library Science and Instructional Technology at East Carolina nurses and educators—have kept the University in Greenville, North Carolina. Her professional interests practice of bibliotherapy alive albeit on the include helping teens become more resilient.

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and interviewing patients about their needs a body of experimental data that reading.8 Wolpow and Askov believe that proves its effectiveness. Rubin’s intent was Other Bibliotherapy- Menninger’s writings brought about the to present this scientific evidence to librar- Related Terms “polemic confusion as to what constituted ians and others. therapy in bibliotherapy. Was it the inter- Literatherapy: Refers to the direct action between the book and the reader? and intentional use of literary text in Was it the interaction among the book, Mental Health conjunction with psychotherapy. the reader, and the person directing the Specialists and Bibliodiagnostics: When biblio- reader? Or was it the interaction between therapy’s techniques are used for 9 Bibliotherapy bibliotherapy supervisor and the reader?” assessment. Caroline Shrodes furthered the study While librarians know that books in her 1950 dissertation, when she postu- are powerful, mental health specialists Iblioprophylaxis: When bibliother- lated that there is a psychological basis to have conducted rigorous studies to prove apy is used for prevention. bibliotherapy. According to Shrodes, the bibliotherapy works. By using meta- Videotherapy: The use of film or reader “under the impact of imaginative analysis, a technique of synthesizing video for therapeutic purposes. literature, is subject to certain processes of research results using various statistical adaptation or growth,” which correspond methods, mental health specialists have to the major phases of psychotherapy: determined that bibliotherapy is effective client feels that the therapist is minimizing identification, projection, abreaction and in certain circumstances. Pieter Cuijpers their problems by giving them a book.17 catharsis, and insight.10 First, identifica- and Robert J. Gregory et al. performed Dr. Cindy Crosscope Scott, a licensed tion and projection occur when the reader meta-analysis to isolate the effectiveness counselor in North Carolina, utilizes fic- shares a problem, circumstance, or issue of bibliotherapy in treating depression.13 tion, fables, fairy tales, song lyrics, and with the book’s character. Second, abreac- Mark Floyd used meta-analysis to gage self-help books in her practice. She often tion and catharsis occur for the reader the effectiveness of bibliotherapy to uses these materials with patients “out when the character resolves a problem, cir- assuage geriatric depression.14 Timothy R. of session,” as homework, to mull over cumstance, or issue. Third, insight occurs Apodaca and William R. Miller conducted and discuss at the next meeting because when the reader reflects on his or her a meta-analysis to determine the effective- “sometimes books get through when noth- situation and internalizes the character’s ness of bibliotherapy in treating alcohol ing else does.”18 She cautions that because solution. problems.15 In each of these meta-analyses, “we are a nation that wants to be fixed,” In the 1970s, Rhea Joyce Rubin added bibliotherapy was found to be an effective some self-help books with a simplistic to the librarian’s understanding of biblio- treatment in certain instances. First, it was “follow these steps and you will be healed” therapy by editing the classics Bibliotherapy found to be most effective with individuals approach can cause anxious patients to feel Sourcebook and Using Bibliotherapy: A whose mental health issues are minimal to even more so.19 Dr. Scott asks two ques- Guide to Theory and Practice. By this time, moderate in severity. Second, bibliotherapy tions when selecting self-help books: Is bibliotherapy had been categorized into is most effective in combination with the author respected in the field? Does the several types. One type, the art of bib- other treatments. Third, bibliotherapy is a author base self-help recommendations on liotherapy, is similar to reader’s advisory viable option in rural areas where mental empirical research?20 practiced by librarians. Other terms for health treatment is not available or when this include implicit, developmental, and therapy time is limited. For instance, in nonmedical bibliotherapy.11 A second type, one study comparing treatments for panic Librarians and the science of bibliotherapy, is practiced by attacks, bibliotherapy was more beneficial Bibliotherapy trained mental health professionals. Other than minimal interventions such as phone terms for this type include explicit, clinical, contact with a therapist.16 Fourth, bib- Librarians and other professionals, such as diagnostic, or institutional.12 In her books, liotherapy increases the patient’s sense of nurses and educators, have written many Rubin answered the question first posed responsibility. It works best with motivated anecdotal articles describing how books by Alice Bryan in 1939: “Can there be a individuals who are functioning at a higher can, and do, make a difference. Shirfra science of bibliotherapy?” To be considered cognitive level. However, Floyd cautions Baruchson-Arbib tells of an experiment in a science rather than an art, bibliotherapy that bibliotherapy may be harmful if the a school library in Israel in which a small

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A Closer Look at Bibliotherapy

literature can be used to educate patients Melody, to arrive. In another scene Melody Some of Dr. Scott’s about illness, surgery, and hospitalization.25 trades in Jeff ’s airplane ticket for a bus Favorite Books for Their concerns about the developmental ticket because “there are better uses for the Bibliotherapy appropriateness and accuracy of literature extra dollars” but neglects to give him any are similar to librarians’ concerns: how to money for food even though the bus ride The Little Prince by Antoine evaluate popular literature for developmen- was sixteen hours long.28 Jeff was able to de Saint-Exupéry tal appropriateness and content accuracy. protect himself by tapping into his inner Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus Amer writes about how nurses used books strengths and welcoming the support of Dr. Seuss books to help children with short stature and dia- others. I would have wanted the same betes discuss their feelings and cope with for Emily. their challenges.26 The Littlest Leaguer by collection of supportive self-help, prose, Syd Hoff (Windmill, 1976) was used with and poetry books were made available short-stature children. Diabetic children to students in grades seven through nine benefited from Sugar Isn’t Everything by Where Do We Go for the purpose of stimulating discussion Willo Davis Roberts (Atheneum, 1987) From Here? about relevant issues and problems facing and Tough Beans by Betty Bates (Holiday the teens.21 Baruchson-Arbib believes that House, 1988). Amer encourages nurses As a population, we are much more aware the function of the school library in con- and parents to use books to help children of mental health challenges and recognize temporary society needs to go beyond its discuss their ailments.27 the value of self-help efforts. Anytime a traditional role to one that helps teens in book is read by someone who needs its three ways: to “absorb cultural values and message to solve a problem or reflect on a challenge, bibliotherapy has occurred. Even knowledge,” to become active members of Individuals and recommending a book as part of reader’s the community, and to understand their Bibliotherapy advisory may touch on bibliotherapy if the problems.22 She suggests that librarians book is used to heal. Therefore, it is clear adopt another name for bibliotherapy, such Whether books are used clinically or developmentally, they are powerful. People that librarians conduct reader’s advisory as “supportive knowledge,” since the con- who value reading usually have a story and developmental bibliotherapy without notation of therapy dominates discussions or two to share about how books helped hesitation. Concern kicks in when giving about the helpfulness of books.23 them deal with a certain situation. After someone a book who has mental health Lenkowsky and Lenkowsky encourage my son’s girlfriend, Emily (her name has issues morphs into therapy. There are roles the use of literature with learning disabled been changed), died suddenly, I thought for librarians in the art of developmental students who bring special problems and long and hard about my responsibilities bibliotherapy, as well as clinical therapy. challenges to the classroom because of past as a librarian working with teens, many of Perhaps one role for librarians in the sci- histories of academic and social failure.24 whom were in pain as a result of myriad ence of bibliotherapy is to partner with One student, Bonnie, a fifteen-year-old family and personal problems not uncom- mental health specialists to provide the reading at a sixth-grade level, had very few mon in today’s society. As part of my names of books as well as specific passages friends and was concerned that she might grieving process, I turned to books that I that could be useful in therapy. In this way, never date. After it was discovered that thought could have helped Emily deal with librarians can be proactive and prove their Bonnie’s reading interest revolved around her challenges if only I had known enough usefulness to mental health specialists. On sports, a high-interest, low-vocabulary to recommend them to her. For example, their own, it is of primary importance that book about a lonely girl who excelled at I was drawn to Solitary Blue by Cynthia librarians select quality books; self-help basketball was recommended to Bonnie. Voigt. I would have wanted Emily to rec- books must be well-written and credible. Her self confidence grew as she read this ognize the similarities between her life and Secondly, perhaps a series of informational book, and then had more difficult ones that of Jeff ’s, the main character. Several programs by mental health professionals read to her, about girls who overcame their incidents from the book mirrored Emily’s with books and films tacked on could be social struggles. life in so many ways. In one scene, Jeff developed. Finally, librarians should always Two nurses, Manworren and is stranded at the Charleston airport be aware of community problems and Woodring, write about the ways children’s waiting for his chronically late mother, issues discussed in the media because it is

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likely patrons will request information on 3. Lauren Myracle, “Molding the Minds of ness of Bibliotherapy for Alcohol Prob- such topics. YALS the Young: The History of Bibliotherapy lems,” Journal of Clinical Psychology 59, as Applied to Children and Adolescents,” no. 3 (2003): 289–304. The ALAN Review 22, no. 2 (1995): 16. G. A. R. Febbraro, “An Investigation into Additional Reading 36–40. the Effectiveness of Bibliotherapy and 4. Betty K. Gubert, “Sadie Peterson Delaney: Minimal Contact Interventions in the Burgin, Robert, ed. Nonfiction Reader’s Pioneer Bibliotherapist,” American Librar- Treatment of Panic Attacks,” Journal of Advisory. Libraries Unlimited, 2004; ies 24, no. 2 (1993): 127. Clinical Psychology 61, no 6 (2005): ISBN 159158115X; $39.95. 5. Ibid., 127. 763–79. Doll, Beth, and Carol Doll. Bibliotherapy 6. Ibid., 125. 17. Floyd, “Bibliotheraphy as an Adjunct to with Young People: Librarians and 7. William. C. Menninger, A Psychiatrist for a Psychotherapy for Depression in Older Mental Health Professionals Working Troubled World: Selected Papers of William Adults.” Together. Libraries Unlimited, 1997; C. Menninger, M.D. (New York: Viking 18. Personal interview with Dr. Cindy Scott, ISBN 1563084074; $25.00. Press, 1967): 316. May 9, 2006. Hesley, John W., and Jan G. Hesley. Rent 8. Ibid, 317. 19. Ibid. Two Films and Let’s Talk in the 9. Ray Wolpow and Eunice N. Askov, “Wid- 20. Ibid. Morning: Using Popular Movies in ened Frameworks and Practice: From 21. Shifra Baruchson-Arbib, “Bibliotherapy Psychotherapy. John Wiley & Sons, Bibliotherapy to the Literacy of Testimony in School Libraries: An Israeli Experi- 2001; ISBN 0471416592; $47.50. and Witness,” Journal of Adolescent & ment,” School Libraries Worldwide 6, no. Joshua, Janice Maidman, and Donna Adult Literacy 44 (7): 606. 2 (2000): 102–10. DiMenna. Read Two Books and Let’s 10. Rhea Joyce Rubin, Using Bibliotherapy: A 22. Ibid., 103. Talk Next Week: Using Bibliotherapy Guide to Theory and Practice (Phoenix: 23. Ibid., 105. in Clinical Practice. John Wiley & Oryx Pr., 1978), 34. 24. Barbara E. Lenkowsky and Ronald S. Len- Sons, 2000; ISBN 0471375659; 11. Ibid. kowsky, “Bibliotherapy for the LD Adoles- $49.95. 12. Ibid. cent,” Academic Therapy 14, no. 2 (1978): Stanley, Linda. Reading to Heal. Element, 13. Pieter Cuijpers, “Bibliotherapy in Unipolar 179–85. 1999; ISBN 1862043906; $21.95. Depression: A Meta-analysis,” Journal of 25. Renee CB Manworren and Barbara Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psy- Woodring, “Evaluating Children’s Litera- chiatry 28 no. 2 (1997): 139–47; Robert J. ture as a Source for Patient Education,” References Gregory et al., “Cognitive Bibliotherapy for Pediatric Nursing 24, no. 6 (1998): Depression: a Meta-analysis,” Professional 548–53. 1. Gilda Katz and John A. Watt, “Biblio- Psychology: Research and Practice 35 no. 3 26. Kim Amer, “Bibliotherapy: Using Fiction therapy: The Use of Books in Psychiatric (2004): 275–80. to Help Children in Two Populations Treatment,” Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 14. Mark Floyd, “Bibliotherapy as an Adjunct Discuss Feelings,” Pediatric Nursing 25, 37, no. 3 (1992): 173. to Psychotherapy for Depression in Older no. 3 (1999): 91–95. 2. Brian W. Sturm, “Reader’s Advisory and Adults,” JCLP/In Session: Psychotherapy in 27. Ibid. Bibliotherapy: Helping or Healing?”, Practice 59, no. 2 (2003): 187–95. 28. Cynthia Voigt, Solitary Blue (New York: Journal of Educational Media and Library 15. Timothy R. Apodaca and William. R. Scholastic, 1983), 44. Sciences 41, no. 2 (2003): 177. Miller, “A Meta-analysis of the Effective-

Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS 27 feature best practices

Benton, Jim. It’s Happy Bunny: Life. Get One. Scholastic, 2005; ISBN The Power of 0439693462; $7.99. Flaherty, Mike. American Chopper: At Full Throttle. Meredith Books, 2004; Information ISBN 0696221659; $21.95. Gottlieb, Andrew. In the Paint: Tattoos of the NBA and the Stories Behind Them. Hyperion, 2003; ISBN Creating a YA 0786888687; $16.95. Guinness World Records 2006. Guinness World Records, Ltd, 2005; ISBN Nonfiction Collection 1904994024; $27.95. Hart, Christopher. Manga Mania: Chibi and Furry Characters: How to Draw By Karen M. Smith the Adorable Mini-Characters and Cool Cat Girls of Japanese Comics. Watson-Guptill, 2006; ISBN 0823029778; $19.95. Packard, Mary. Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Scholastic, 2005; ISBN 0439718309; hrough an informal survey on the music, and survival tales.1 Each of these $14.99. YALSA-BK electronic discussion subjects appeal to teens’ passions, thirst for Perel, David. Bat Boy Lives! The T list, I learned that many YA librar- knowledge, and love of facts. Because what Weekly World News Guide to ians have created nonfiction collections for is popular with teens is ever-changing, it is Politics, Culture, Celebrities, Alien teens. A number of these collections consist important to pay attention to what teens in Abductions, and the Mutant Freaks of popular, recreational titles, while home- your community are reading in the library, that Shape our World. Sterling, 2005; work help is most often filed with adult or checking out, and requesting. For example, ISBN 1402728239; $12.95. juvenile nonfiction, largely due to lack of books about video games, chess, and card Powell, Michael. Superhero Handbook. space. Creating a YA nonfiction collection games are popular in my library, but are Sterling, 2005; ISBN 140272991X; is one of the most important aspects of a not on Jones et al’.s list. $9.95. YA librarian’s job because it helps meet You know that specific titles are popu- Riley, Andy. Return of the Bunny Suicides. teens’ emotional, intellectual, and physical lar because you can’t keep them on the Penguin/Plume, 2005; ISBN needs. Knowing what is popular, what is shelves; the ones that are on the shelves 0452286239; $10.00. needed for school, and what useful refer- look very “loved”; the reserve list is longer Schlosser, Eric, and Charles Wilson. Chew ence materials are available can help you than your weekly grocery list; and a few of On This: Everything You Don’t Want create your own YA nonfiction collection. them are long overdue or missing. To sup- to Know About Fast Food. Houghton plement the perennially popular Chicken Mifflin, 2006; ISBN 0618710310; Soup series and, of course, David Pelzer’s $16.00. What’s Popular? A Child Called It, here are some hot recre- ational nonfiction titles. In Connecting Young Adults and Libraries: A How-To-Do-It Manual by Patrick Jones, Michele Gorman, and Tricia Suellentrop, the authors discuss subjects KAREN SMITH is Young Adult Librarian at the Allen Park Library in that are popular with teens, including Michigan. During her seven years in the library world, she has run urban legends, the unexplained, Web page several successful library programs and helped to create one of building, cars, beauty, strength training, the most extensive YA nonfiction collections in the area. She has drawing, skateboarding, snowboarding, been an ALA member for five years and a YALSA member for one.

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Homework Help to the children’s section. There, he finds books Literary Companion series has books on with big print, colorful pictures, and useful specific literature titles—including Hamlet, Some teens treat the library like their sec- timelines. These books will help him as sup- Beowulf, and Animal Farm—that contain ond home while others only set foot into a plements to what he’s already found because biographical information about the author, library because they need homework help. they have pictures of clothing and houses and literary criticism, further research, and an Consider this scenario: one even contains authentic recipes. He leaves index. These series can help a teen create A male student in the ninth grade the library with four books and photocopies of an intelligent, well-researched paper. comes into the library to find information articles, feeling relieved that he found what he about Colonial America. He needs to write needed in a timely fashion and did not have a report that explains what life was like and to spend all day in the library. He then men- Life Skills the teacher has required at least two print tions to his family, his teacher, and his friends resources. He is reluctant to ask for help that the public library is “pretty cool” and Teens are going through a very emotional because he wants to feel independent. After a that he got what he needed easily. time. They are dealing with parents, search of the catalog he finds a few books in In the second scenario, the patron friends, school, and oftentimes the oppo- the adult section, many in the children’s sec- was able to find useful information in a site sex. Many teen girls want to have tion, and none in the young adult section. He reasonable amount of time without the boyfriends, be popular, look and feel good, goes to the adult section only to find that the help of an adult. He leaves the library perform well in school, and learn about books are old, thick with small print, hard for with a sense of pride and accomplishment sex. Many teen boys want to hang out with him to read and comprehend, or organized and most importantly, the information he their friends, find out how to do the most in a way he does not understand. Next, he needs to complete his assignment. What challenging skateboarding trick or master moves on to the children’s section. There he do you think the chances are that he will the latest video game, understand girls, finds books with large print, colorful pictures, return the next time a paper is assigned? perform well in school, and learn about and useful timelines. These books will help He may even come back for a program. It sex. A complete and current nonfiction him somewhat, but they are not detailed is likely that you have just helped to create section can help them with all of these enough and they look “babyish.” He leaves the a lifelong library user by simply having the things. Excellent nonfiction titles that can library empty-handed. Feeling very discour- materials he needed and making them easy help your teen patrons deal with their aged, he complains to his family, his teacher, to find. problems or concerns include: and his friends about the lack of information For homework help, series nonfiction in the public library. is the best option. All of the books are Cooper, Evan. Um, Like . . . OM: A The previous scenario could be hap- organized in the same manner, they are Girl Goddess’s Guide to Yoga. Little, pening in your library right now. Do you usually less than two hundred pages, and Brown and Company, 2005; ISBN think this patron is likely to come back most are smaller than a regular nonfiction 0316980013; $9.99. voluntarily? Librarians must make nonfic- book, which makes them less intimidat- Kirberger, Kimberly. No Body’s Perfect: tion collection development a top priority ing to teens. Also, once you find the Stories by Teens about Body Image, and arrange it so that it is easy for the ones that are useful for your library, you Self-Acceptance, and the Search for teens to find the information they need. can put them on standing order. Highly Identity. Scholastic, 2003; ISBN Now consider the same scenario going recommended series include Opposing 0439426383; $12.95. something like this: Viewpoints, At Issue, and Literary Rabens, Susan. The Complete Idiot’s Guide After a catalog search on Colonial Companion, all published by Greenhaven to Dating for Teens Macmillian, 2001; America, the ninth-grade boy finds a few Press; Coping With . . . (Hazelden/ ISBN 0028639995; $12.95. books in the adult section, many in the Rosen Coping Skills Library) published Walker, Tim. Sex 180: The Next children’s section, and five in the young adult by Rosen; and Just the Facts published Revolution Baker Books, 2005; ISBN section. He goes to the YA section, finds the by Reed Educational and Professional 0801045290; $12.99. books easily on the shelf, and is pleased to Publishing. Opposing Viewpoints, At Williams, Terri. Stay Strong: Simple Life find that one of them has short, easy chapters Issue, Coping With . . ., and Just the Facts Lessons for Teens Scholastic, 2001; and another book contains primary docu- contain books that deal with specific ISBN 0439129729; $4.99. ments. In the YA reference section he finds social issues, such as tobacco and smok- an entire encyclopedia on Colonial America ing, education, abortion, suicide, drugs It is important to have a fair and with easy-to-copy articles. Next, he moves on and alcohol, and eating disorders. The balanced YA nonfiction collection. For

Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS 29

The Power of Information

example, it is great to have books that How Do I Choose The Importance of a give kids detailed information about sex, Materials for a YA Separate YA Nonfiction but it is also important to have books that explain that abstinence is a perfectly Nonfiction Collection? Collection acceptable option. Choosing nonfiction materials does not Buying some YA nonfiction books and have to be a difficult task. Talk with teach- shelving them with the adult books will ers and students in your community and not be as useful as creating a separate space What Stays find out what topics are popular and what for the collection. While space is at a pre- in the Library will be assigned throughout the year. Also, mium in most libraries, teens need their watch to see which topics circulate best. own space for books and a place to sit and Reference materials are a vital part of any When buying biographies, select ones that read them. It is not very likely that teens YA nonfiction section. Because a library are more than one hundred pages as some who fear they have contracted a sexu- cannot purchase every book on every topic, teachers make that a requirement. ally transmitted disease will pull a book it is important to have reference material Reviews can be very helpful in pur- out of the adult section with a mother or that will be there for students whether chasing nonfiction titles. Booklist and grandmother in the same aisle. Besides, they are the first to begin working on Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) each teens—like children and adults—deserve their project or the last. These materials review nonfiction titles and series nonfic- their own space. should be in the YA section, separate from tion. Since 1996, VOYA has produced Creating a young adult nonfiction col- the other reference sections, and clearly an annual Nonfiction Honor List that lection is one of the most important things marked. Some reference sources that you targets middle school students. Also, many you can do in your library for your teen might consider are Poetry for Students and publishers produce excellent nonfiction patrons. By taking the time to evaluate Novels for Students, both published by Gale specifically for young adults that will be nonfiction books, creating a special space Research Group and perfect for literature a welcome addition to any YA collection. for them and listening to your teens, you papers. New volumes are published twice These publishers include Gale Group, will be helping these patrons to become a year and they give information about Facts On File, Lucent Books, Greenhaven healthy adults, able researchers, and life- hundreds of poems and novels including Press, Enslow, Chelsea House, Lerner long library users. YALS author biographies, interpretations, liter- Publishing, and Dorling Kindersley. ary criticisms, bibliographies and a “What Because it is helpful to take a look at Do I Read Next?” section. Another great a nonfiction book before you purchase it, resource is the Encyclopedia of American take advantage of the opportunity to meet Reference History published by Facts On File. This with book representatives and participate encyclopedia set provides a comprehensive in the previewing of books. Both of these 1. Patrick Jones, Michele Gorman, and Tricia look at American history and is organized options allow you to see how the informa- Suellentrop, Connecting Young Adults and by date and includes documents, a bibliog- tion is organized in a book and if the book Libraries: A How-To-Do-It Manual (New raphy, and an index. will appeal to teens. York: Neal-Schuman, 2004).

30 YALS | Young Adult Library Services | Fall 2006 feature best practices

rom the very beginning, with S. E. Hinton’s 1967 classic The F Outsiders—the book that started Books that Help, the modern era of YA literature—books written for teens have been controversial, just as adolescence itself is controversial. Books that Heal Adolescence is a time of daring, trying, testing, and taking chances, and the tal- ented, dedicated, and courageous authors who write for this age group know that Dealing with their writing must reflect that. Young adult author and high school teacher Melissa Hart notes that teens today have “no toler- Controversy ance for writing that patronizes or preaches. They crave stories with no holds barred and characters who are real, inspiring and in YA Literature flawed.”1 Teens also want stories and char- acters with whom they can identify, writ- ten from the perspective of a teen. Two of By Joni Richards Bodart Hart’s students had this to say about what they want to see in the books they read:

I think a lot of adults forget that, though we are younger, it doesn’t issues that are difficult to read about, or waiting for them and for their friends. mean we aren’t exposed to the same even think about, and doesn’t pull punches. They want a chance to experience reality things an adult is. I know . . . people It speaks to teens in their own language vicariously before meeting it head on, and who have been raped . . . that are and talks about events and situations that they know the safety of having those expe- pregnant now, many on drugs, and are not always positive, comforting, or easy. riences through books. But today’s reality more who are sexually active. Books It elicits an intense emotional response in is far more intense than the reality of pre- for young adults should reflect this . . . readers, as they connect with the charac- vious generations. Teens are connected by I love the more edgy novels because ters and the situations the story presents. cell phones, iPods, instant messaging, Web they aren’t afraid to . . . show you It is literature that frequently makes adults sites, and e-mail. They have access to more what is really going on and aren’t uncomfortable, because so many of them information, more quickly, than any other afraid to say that it is a violent, cruel want to protect teens from the darkest generation before. As Neil Postman first world, no matter how much we try sides of this world, in which we all have to wrote in The Disappearance of Childhood, to make it go away.2 figure out how to live. when children have access to information This brings us to the real reason previously intended only for adults, child- YA literature—the books that are why books for young adults have become hood has disappeared.3 being written today for teens, that are so much more controversial. Teens want Today’s teens know about violence, designed to help them cope with the time books that reflect reality without sugar- drugs, and sex—insidious, predatory forces and culture in which they are approach- coating it—books that can help them find they must be aware of both online and ing adulthood—is frank, dark, presents out what experiences, good and bad, are on the street. They know about death, divorce, conflict, and homelessness. They DR. JONI RICHARDS BODART, internationally known as a leading know about bullies, prejudice, rejection, expert on booktalking, is a faculty member of the School of Library and hatred. They know that survival can and Information Science at San Jose (Calif.) State University. Her most be difficult, and success isn’t guaranteed recent book is Radical Reads: 101 Young Adult Novels on the Edge to anyone, no matter your age or social (Scarecrow, 2002). class. Many of them know firsthand how

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Books that Help, Books that Heal

dark because it mirrors the changes in Checklist for challenged, and keep up with our society and in our world. Since the Handling Challenges challenges going on in other areas best YA authors are using current events, and how they are resolved. beliefs, ideas, and realities as their inspira- l Create a library selection policy. l When confronted with a challenge, tion, their work is as edgy, complex, and l Create a YA Department selection remember to stay calm; listen to the disturbing as the situations we each face policy. complaint carefully; explain policies daily. Once again, we have met the enemy, l Create reconsideration procedures. and procedures; assure the customer and it is us. Our society has begun to In other words, a detailed description that his or her complaint is valid and edge toward the extreme in a variety of of steps to take when challenges will be considered carefully; and be ways, and as a result, so has the literature occur: who deals with the customer careful not to make promises outside for those who are most willing, but least initially; to whom the customer is the written policies and procedures. equipped, to take all kinds of risks. referred; explanation of policies; Adolescence is a time when everything steps customer will need to take, Selected Titles that Could is black and white, and when emotions are starting with filling out the request Be Challenged* intense, whether displayed or hidden away. for reconsideration form; and YA authors know that they must hook the library’s response once the 33 Snowfish, Adam Rapp their readers by inspiring those intense reconsideration form is submitted. America, E. R. Frank emotions through their work. Teens, l Create a reconsideration form Boy Meets Boy, David Levithan unlike the adult readers they may become, that includes questions about how Candy, Kevin Brooks have little patience with unrealistic charac- the customer found out about Claiming Georgia Tate, Gigi Amanteau ters or situations, conversations, or emo- the material; if the customer has Doing It, Melvin Burgess tions. This is the reason why the best of read/viewed/listened to all of Far from Xanadu, Julie Ann Peters YA literature is usually considered to be as it; if the customer is making an Feed, M. T. Anderson well-written as some adult literature, and individual complaint or representing Inexcusable, Chris Lynch better than much of it. Teens are far more an organization; if the customer Looking for Alaska, John Green discriminating than adults, and will not has read articles or reviews of the Nailed, Patrick Jones hesitate to put down a book they label as material; what the customer wants No Laughter Here, Rita Williams-Garcia fake, lame, or yesterday. the library to do about the material; Nothing to Lose, Alex Flinn But here is the paradox: if contro- and if the customer has suggestions Room on Lorelei Street, Mary Pearson versial novels for teens were more poorly about what material could replace the Rules of Survival, Nancy Werlin written, more banal, and didn’t inspire items to which they object. Sandpiper, Ellen Wittlinger such an intense emotional response in the l Train staff at all levels to handle Sledding Hill, Chris Crutcher reader, they would raise far fewer red flags. customers with complaints, whether Target, Kathleen Johnson Skillful, well-crafted, thoughtful writing they are clerks or shelvers who simply Totally Joe, James Howe that respects the reader enough to depict refer the customer to a librarian, the Twilight, Stephanie Meyers reality accurately, including all the dark librarian who actually talks to the corners and subjects that some adults customer, or the administrator who *From the upcoming book Radical Reads would prefer teens remain ignorant of, is forms the reconsideration committee 2: Working with the Newest Edgy Novels much more likely to draw the censors’ fire and has the responsibility for the for Teens (working title) by Joni Richards than platitudes of sweetness and light. But final decision. Bodart, to be published by Scarecrow teens deserve well-written books that make l Gather supporting evidence ahead in 2007. them think, feel, wonder, and hope—that of time for books that could be show them reality, no matter how uncom- fortable it makes well-meaning adults who want to protect them from it. much more controversial our society has literature doesn’t reflect today’s reality Authors for young adults not only become; it is their truth, their life. And and look ahead to tomorrow, it will fall know how to engage their readers, they they demand that this truth, this life, be by the wayside. Quite simply, YA litera- also respect them, recognizing in them a reflected in the books they read. If YA ture has become controversial, bleak, and strength that other adults might not see.

32 YALS | Young Adult Library Services | Fall 2006

Bodart

They are parents, therapists, teachers, and into a movie, the ending was changed to a story. Characters and plot can be complex, librarians who understand and identify more positive one, making a mockery of all but emotions must be clear. And not all with teens, and their books speak in the that had preceded that new ending. Life is of their stories end with a neatly tied bow, authentic voices of teens. They know what tragic sometimes, and horrible, unthink- but instead end with dangling strings, so it was like to be a teen “back then” when able things can happen to good people. the reader can continue the story in his or they were young, but they also know what Teens know it, and trying to tell them her head. Besides, life itself doesn’t always it’s like to be a teen today, including which differently means that they will reject the have pat or neatly tied endings—why things are different and which are not. information and its source. should books? They like teenagers, and they also respect Authors also show respect for their So where do we go from here, as them by not dumbing down their books readers by writing dialogue that reflects teachers and librarians who want to edu- or presenting pat answers to complicated the way teens speak, including slang and cate and inform teens rather than indoc- questions and difficult situations. obscenities. Teen soldiers, whether in trinating them? How do we persuade and Robert Cormier wrote a YA book Vietnam or Iraq, wouldn’t say “shucks” or inspire authors to keep producing difficult without knowing it, by asking “What if “dang,” and any book that doesn’t include books, and how do we make sure they get . . . ?” about his son’s high school chocolate what they really say will be rejected by its into the hands of the teens who so desper- sale in The Chocolate War. He knows the readers. Readers of Walter Dean Myers’s ately need them? First, we need to passion- value of being truthful and real with his Fallen Angels hear authenticity in the ately fight the challenges these titles create, audience, of giving them the respect they voices of its characters. Then, recognizing sharing our belief in their value and worth. deserve. When writing I Am the Cheese, he an author who dares to tell the truth, they We also need to make sure that teens decided not to make Amy’s phone number go on to pick up his other books, among know about the books, their controversies, a 555 number, which kids would know them, Monster, Shooter, and Autobiography and their insights. We need to educate was fake. He couldn’t just make up a num- of My Dead Brother. Myers is far from our communities and our educators about ber, because he knew his readers would the only author who carefully considers the bibliotherapeutic possibilities of these try calling it, so he decided to use his own which words to include or omit. David books, whether read alone, in a classroom, number. For years, when the Cormier’s Lubar, author of Dunk, Hidden Talents, or in a library book discussion group. phone rang and a teen asked for Amy, and Sleeping Freshman Never Lie, recently We need to purchase these books for our whoever had answered the phone would received an e-mail criticizing him for collections, replace them when they are say, “She’s not here right now. Would you including the words “pissing him off . . . stolen, and promote them in displays, in like to talk to her father?” and the teen hell, damn, and bastard” in his books.4 In booktalking presentations, and when doing on the phone would be turned over to response to one of the many supportive reader’s advisory work with teens. We need Cormier himself. He spent countless hours e-mails he received after reporting the to point out to their detractors that these talking to his readers, giving them the incident to a discussion list, Lubar said, “I controversial titles teach lessons without attention and respect they deserved. can’t speak for other writers, but I know being obvious or didactic, and sometimes Cormier respected them in other that I weigh the use of every single word in even use humor or fantasy to get their ways, too, by not making his stories any my books. (Not just the profane, but also messages across. Teens put themselves less difficult or painful, whether he was the pronoun.) I gave a lot of thought to into these books, gain insight and under- writing about teen vandals and revenge in Martin’s use of ‘bastard’ in Hidden Talents. standing, reach out for help, and begin to We All Fall Down; historical fiction about It had to be a word with sufficient force for recover. It is important to point teens who prejudice, honor, and heroism in Heroes; the situation.”5 Authors know that teens are ignored, marginalized, and neglected to or looking at what the truth really means hear and use a wide variety of slang and books that can help them understand that and how adults sometimes try to manipu- vulgarities in their everyday lives. Omitting they are not alone—that others have to late the truth and the teens who tell it in them would make their writing less believ- deal with the kinds of difficult and horrific his final work, The Rag and Bone Shop. able, and less likely to be taken seriously. situations that they themselves are facing. The Chocolate War, one of the very first YA authors know they have a great Young adult advocates everywhere need to YA novels to exhibit the gritty realism so responsibility because teens read their be doing all of this all of the time. important to teens today, ends with dark- stories and respond to them. They have to The first step in understanding and ness and despair, as Jerry realizes he has tell the truth; if they didn’t, teens would defending a controversial title is to read to pay an enormous price for disturbing know and refuse to read them. They know it, discover what emotions it elicits, and his universe. But when the book was made they must cut straight to the heart of the examine the power of its message. Look

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Books that Help, Books that Heal

at the lessons it teaches, the problems or which they grew up, today’s controversial parents; and other interested adults. They situations it reveals, and the information titles reflect the often dark and difficult will be able to speak up for you when a it contains about how to resolve them. time of today’s teens. challenge occurs, providing a perspective Next, it is necessary to recognize the emo- The next step in defending con- from outside of the library. tional reaction both teen and adult readers troversial literature is to recognize that When a challenge occurs, follow would have to the book. If the reaction is challenges will happen, and to prepare procedure, trying to resolve it at the low- negative, why is reading it an uncomfort- for them. Collect reviews, articles about est possible level; when this is not pos- able experience? What is unfamiliar is the books or their authors, lists of awards sible, contact supporters and consult the frequently uncomfortable, until one under- they have won (and many of them do win American Library Association and others stands the purpose behind it. Therefore, awards), discussion guides written about who have been challenged on the same rejecting something because it is unusual, them, and rationale for how and why they title(s). While some challenges do go to unfamiliar, uncomfortable, or difficult to can be used in the classroom. Make sure court, recognize that most are resolved at understand before investigating it further you have a selection policy and a recon- a far lower level and that doing homework is like throwing the baby out with the bath sideration procedure and involve teens in ahead of time increases your chances of water. the latter if at all possible. While a general being able to retain the title(s) in question. Some students come into my YA selection policy for the library is useful, Promoting controversial materials for literature classes protesting passionately a separate policy for the YA department teens may not be easy, but if even one teen about being required to read these five may also be necessary. This policy should is able to change her life by finding solu- titles: The Outsiders, The Chocolate War, I explain in some detail why material in tions to her problems, it is worth it. When Am the Cheese, Weetzie Bat, and Chinese this collection is purchased, including that Chris Crutcher tells the story of a girl who Handcuffs. (They have to read a total of which is controversial. Having procedures told him, “When I read Chinese Handcuffs, fifty, but these five are required.) These in place to handle complaints and chal- I thought you knew me,” he says it was books are at times unpleasant, uncomfort- lenges will mean that they are handled worth all the flak he’d received about the able, unfamiliar, and decidedly not easy to more smoothly and consistently. Staff who book.6 Books—hard, dark, difficult books, read. They contain ideas and concepts that have been trained to deal with challenges can help. Books can heal. But only if teens students often don’t like and are quick to will feel less stress when confronted, and know about them and know where to find reject. But after talking about them, com- will be able to deal more easily with a them on library shelves. YALS paring opinions with their classmates, and customer and a situation that can quickly reading what the authors have to say about become difficult. When a reconsideration why they wrote them, their views begin to committee needs to be formed, consider change. Understanding the value of books having one or two teens as members, along References like these leads students, librarians, and with library staff, community members, 1. Melissa Hart, “Attract Teen Readers with teachers who once claimed to dislike YA teachers (for a school setting), and local an Edgy Plot,” The Writer 117, no. 10 literature to understand that it is not just experts on YA literature. Teens can bring (2004): 39. dark and depressing. Therefore, encourage an important perspective to the commit- 2. Ibid. your colleagues and parents of teens to tee’s discussion and decision. If you do 3. Neil Postman, The Disappearance of Child- become familiar with some of the best of not currently have a selection policy and hood (New York:Vintage, 1994). the YA canon. Be willing to talk about the reconsideration procedure, many are avail- 4. David Lubar, personal correspondence titles they read, and explain why they are able online. with the author, May 22 and June 3, 2006. valuable. Talk to teens who read them, and It is also imperative to know who your 5. Ibid. collect their comments and opinions to supporters are and to make sure you forge 6. Heather Vogel Frederick, “What’s Known share with adults. Urge adults to remem- strong connections with them. Possible Can’t Be Unknown: An Interview with ber their own adolescence and also to sources of support are others who work Chris Crutcher,” Publishers Weekly 242, no. recognize that today’s teens live in a world with youth in the community; bookstore 8 (1995): 183. that is much different. Just as the books owners; political and religious leaders; adults read as teens reflected the time in newspaper, radio, and television contacts;

34 YALS | Young Adult Library Services | Fall 2006 feature Hot Spot: Reader’s Advisory

ocial networking is the latest Teen Book trend for teens. Some libraries S are turning to this new means of communication in order to promote library Discussions services and to reach out to their young adult patrons with online book discussions. Dialogue can take place in several formats. Blogs and message boards allow readers to Go Online see each other’s comments and to carry on an online conversation, while e-mail groups allow for interactions to take place between By Cathy Rettberg individual members or among the entire group. Both methods can accommodate teens’ busy schedules, allowing convenient participation as little or as often as desired. Schools are getting in on the action as well, book discussion sites are profiled below. as school librarians encourage recreational Grouchy Café: Favorite Check these out if you have teens who reading by offering book discussion blogs. Teenage Angst Books are looking for a new opportunity to talk These tend to have more activity during the about books, or if you are thinking about school year, and usually are limited to the www.grouchy.com/angst/ designing a site for your library. school community. favorites.html With just a bit of planning, teen This is one of the older teen reading mes- librarians can create easy-to-use online sage boards available, with postings going book groups while protecting the safety of Book Divas back to 2002. Participation seems to wax their patrons. Most sites require free reg- and wane but the discussions can be lively. istration and include clear guidelines, with www.bookdivas.com Free registration is required in order to postings monitored for appropriate con- post; no guidelines are posted. The mes- tent. Discussion questions can make good Young adult and college-age readers can sage board is intended for use by teens and conversation starters, steering the dialogue discuss books, read chapter excerpts, and anyone interested in YA literature. One away from a simple “Did you like this interact with favorite authors at Book caution: the site has a substantial amount book?” and on to more in-depth exchanges. Divas. This busy message board offers of advertising, which can be distracting. Some message boards and blogs allow the discussions of some of the latest YA titles, added fun of avatars—custom images that bios of featured authors, and occasional allow users to project a personality. Links live chat. Readers may participate in a spe- Hamilton Public Library to book reviews or a local library’s catalog cialty forum and discuss a particular book, Teen Online Book Club can also add interest to a discussion site. or contribute to a book review message Networking sites such as MySpace board. Users can upload avatars and create www.myhamilton.ca/ (www.myspace.com) and Yahoo! customized profiles. In order to protect myhamilton/LibraryServices/ Groups (http://groups.yahoo.com) user information, the Book Divas’ privacy Teens/TeenSpaceTeen offer opportunities for teens to join guidelines encourage parental guidance OnlineBookClub.htm book clubs. By searching either of these when young adults create a profile. With sites, teens can locate clubs for particu- more than one thousand registered mem- The teen page of the Hamilton Public lar books or authors, or general discus- bers and forty or more postings each day, Library (Ontario, Canada) offers a book sions of YA literature. Several online the site has discussions to suit all interests. discussion intended for readers age eigh- teen and younger. Discussion starters are posted on occasion; users may post Cathy Rettberg is Head Librarian at Menlo School in Atherton, a response after registering. Thorough California. She plans to start her own book discussion blog in fall use guidelines can be found under the 2006 to promote recreational reading at her school. “Get some help . . . ” link. The summer

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Teen Book Discussions Go Online!

discussion activity used a Survivor theme: sage board that includes discussion of erator before posting. Free registration is twelve books were selected, with one book many topics of interest to teens, including required in order to post to the blog. removed from the list each week. Check books. The well-organized site has head- the Web site to see which one survived! ings for topics including music, movies, Washington Summer books and “everything else.” Graphic novels, manga, and anime are popular enough to Reading Blog have a separate section. The site enjoys a Not Your Mother’s www.washingtonreads.org/ large readership (posts about Christopher blog Book Club Paolini’s Eldest have been viewed nearly The Washington State Library began this http://community.livejournal one thousand times, for example) and there are ongoing discussions of Harry discussion blog for middle-school-aged .com/notyourmothers Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Eldest, and youth in April 2006. Users can browse the This blog was developed to support a Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith. genre links or use the search box to find book club that meets at a San Francisco Users must complete a free registration in specific titles. The site presents clear guide- bookstore. The online community is order to post or to send e-mail to other lines for youth patrons and parents, and intended for use by youth in grades seven participants; features include avatars, cus- also features a “Parents’ Guide to Internet through twelve, although librarians, teach- tomization of viewing options, and e-mail Safety.” Free registration is required, user ers, and young adult authors are also wel- access to other registered users. General identity is protected, and all comments are come. A disclaimer notes that comments library guidelines are posted. reviewed before being posted. A separate may not be appropriate for children under area of the blog is directed at librarians, outlining ways that teen librarians can pro- thirteen. Free registration with LiveJournal Teen Read ’06 (www.livejournal.com) is required in order mote the blog. The librarian area includes to participate. The blog allows use of ava- http://teenread06.scls.info promotional bookmarks, flyers, and sug- tars, “current mood” icons, and hypertext. gestions for attracting teen interest. YALS While the conversation topics vary widely, This teen reading blog, started on June 1, there are frequent discussions of YA titles, 2006, is a project of the South Central descriptions of author events, and Q&A Library System in Madison, Wisconsin. sessions with YA authors. The blog is moderated by youth services librarians, who have posted descriptions and conversation starters for twelve recent YA titles. The initial postings also include Pike’s Peak Library links to find a copy of the book at one of District Teen Zone the member libraries, read a review of the Message Board book, visit an author Web site, or view Web sites specific to topics presented in www.websitetoolbox.com/ the book. The chosen titles reflect a variety tool/mb/teenzone of reading levels and interests and are tar- geted for readers from young teens to col- The Pike’s Peak Library District of lege students. Blog rules are clearly posted, Colorado Springs maintains a busy mes- and all comments are reviewed by a mod-

36 YALS | Young Adult Library Services | Fall 2006 feature Hot Spot: Reader’s Advisory

t’s hard to believe that it’s been more than nine years since we launched I Teenreads.com. I remember the day What I’ve Learned we decided we needed this Web site like it was yesterday. In spring 1997, teens were showing up in the chat room and posting from Teens on on the message boards for our adult readers at “The Book Report” on America Online (AOL), and their chatter about their favor- Teenreads.com ite books was tiresome to the “grownups.” Lest we alienate either group, we started our site for teens, geared toward readers By Carol Fitzgerald ages twelve to seventeen. It was first called “The Book Bag” and was only available on AOL. Later we renamed the site Teenreads .com and moved all the content to the Web. Today we have more than 250,000 to stop trying so hard and instead 5. Many of our teen readers scorn “fluff ” unique visitors each month. We are just talk to teens as we would other reading such as celebrity-driven the only Web site that speaks to teens readers—with passion and excitement. titles or those about fad topics. They exclusively about books; in turn, we have 3. While adult readers still read print are looking for books with plot, learned a lot from our teen readers. Here depth, and strong writing. While are fifteen things that they’ve taught us. and other traditional resources for book and author information, teens we know our teen readers are not all 1. When we first launched, our editorial gravitate toward the Web for news teen readers, we recognize that they mix was a combination of new fiction about new books and authors just represent what we call “über” readers, titles, books that teens “should” read, as they do about every other subject. and that they often are the reading and books they should “steal from Thus, it is important to have solid trendsetters among their peers. their parents’ shelves.” About six information available for them. This is 6. In a recent reader survey to which months later, we realized that teens the first completely digital generation, almost two thousand teens responded, did not want to be told that they and the way we relate to them through 12.6 percent told us that the flap copy should read anything. We learned that the Internet is crucial. We keep this in drove them to purchase a book more they wanted to discover books on the mind with each monthly update. than any other influence. Motivating site, not have an agenda given to them 4. Contrary to popular belief, not flap copy, an interesting title, a like they were in school. The “should everything needs to jump, make noise, friend’s recommendation, and author read” titles were gone within a year. or do cartwheels to amuse teens. recognition all scored higher than Instead we presented choices in much Many notes that we get from our “a great looking cover.” Since teens the same manner as we do for our readers tell us that they are looking do not judge a book by its cover, it’s older readers. for choices and ideas on what to read, important to think about how you 2. We tried different voices on the site: not tricks to entice them to pick up a describe a book when talking to teens. straight, cool, and hip. We learned book. 7. Our monthly polls give us a snapshot into some current marketing trends on Carol Fitzgerald is Cofounder of Teenreads.com and Cofounder teen readers. During a recent monthly and President of the Book Report Network (TBRN), a group of survey, we asked teens if they’d read 36.6 percent seven Internet sites about books and authors that have become The Da Vinci Code; had already read it and another 34.1 the gathering places for a large and devoted community of book percent answered that they’d like lovers since 1996. Prior to founding TBRN, Fitzgerald spent to now that the book was out in seventeen years at Condé Nast Publications, where she developed paperback. What prompted us to ask broad-based marketing, promotion, and publicity programs. them about this title? We realized that

Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS 37

What I’ve Learned from Teens on Teenreads.com

many of the teens were just ten years guide questions. (For the record, I writing. They also get very defensive old when this book was first published pass on this opportunity and instead and protective about the books they in 2003, and in the last three years encourage students to read the book enjoy—we’ve received numerous angry they actually had “grown into it.” To and think for themselves.) e-mails regarding the few negative them, the paperback version was both 11. We recently added “Coming Soon” comments that we’ve made in reviews affordable and a “new” read. How and “New in Paperback” areas to the we’ve posted. many other books can this be said site, as well as features on both manga 14. Many teens write in looking for advice about? and Christian titles. Our goal is to on how to start a reading group— 8. The young adult market has become give teens a place where they can find from choosing or finding members very “edgy” in the past seven years. everything they want on the books and reading selections, to what to talk I remember giving a speech to and authors they love—and help them about and how to keep the groups teen publishers the day after the discover new titles as well. going. Last year’s survey showed that Columbine shootings. At the time, 12. We get reader mail. Lots of it. Here 84.3 percent of the teen respondents I felt the writing in this market did are the top five things teens write us are not in book clubs; while 54 percent not reflect the world in which teens about (in order): of them are interested, they just don’t lived. The writing was still centered have the time or don’t know where to l Thank-you notes for reading on “happily ever after,” while life start. suggestions/advice and author was not reflecting this. I remember 15. So what else matters to them? The bio information admonishing publishers to publish authors or series features that typically l Requests for upcoming books, more realistic writing. Looking at receive the most page views each release dates, and so forth. today’s titles, we see the envelope month are: l Requests for author bios and being pushed pretty far. In fact, there contact information l Laurie Halse Anderson are now moments when I long for l l Thoughts on favorite books, Ann Brashares fewer issue-oriented titles. There are books they’ve just read, and l Meg Cabot so many titles featuring coming out, inquiries about what other people l Caroline B. Cooney cutting, depression, and fractured their age thought about those l Lois Lowry families as themes that there are times same books l Joan Lowery Nixon I do crave a book in which the writing l l Recommendations for new books Christopher Paolini is upbeat, but still realistic. Is there similar to what they usually enjoy l Clique series such a balance? reading 9. Some things do not change. In the Our YALSA feature also generates aforementioned teen survey, 12.9 Often, the teens writing to us are high numbers, in addition to contests percent of teen readers told us that eager to share and are just looking for like the one we recently posted for they like books about love and love a place to express their thoughts on Rebecca Wells and Ya-Yas in Bloom. interests. The top three categories what they’ve read. According to last year’s teen survey, were rounded out with 12.6 percent 13. Teens really connect with books these young adult authors are teen indicating coming-of-age tales, and and authors on a very personal level. favorites (the top five male and female 10.9 percent choosing true-life stories. Often, the biographical information writers from the survey list): 10. I would love to see book discussion they ask for exceeds what you’d find in l Jerry Spinelli guides made available for teens that a typical bio. Just last week, someone l Gary Paulsen sound less like study guides and more wrote in asking what Ann Brashares l Eoin Colfer like the kinds of questions teens might was like—specifically, if she was “nice, l Philip Pullman be able to chat about without feeling cool, and smart.” A small percentage l Walter Dean Myers like they were in school. But basically, of the time teens ask for authors’ l Meg Cabot I’d just like to see more discussion contact information for homework l Lois Lowry guides available. On this same note, help. The rest of the time, they want l Ann Brashares I would love teens to stop asking to tell the authors how they relate to for the answers to the discussion their characters and to thank them for WHAT I’VE LEARNED continued on page 41

38 YALS | Young Adult Library Services | Fall 2006 feature Hot Spot: Reader’s Advisory

Why Teen Reviews? Let’s face it. We may love teens; we may FAQs Answered love YA literature; we may love our jobs as librarians; but, that doesn’t mean teens love us back. Teens don’t necessarily trust our by the YA Galley opinions just because we’re older. Unlike younger children, teens like to stretch their boundaries, question authority, and mis- Committee trust adults—even librarians. In the words of Jenny Knatz, seventeen-year-old coeditor of Open Shelf: By Edith Cummings, City of Mesa Library Young Adult Advisory Council Book Review Newsletter: Tracey Firestone, I hate to say it, but sometimes it’s and Diane Monnier hard to trust a book that an adult recommends to me. Our tastes often differ to the extreme—what an adult thinks is fantastic can be something that I find terrible. That’s why teen reviewing is so important. wouldn’t be such a fun, vibrant, growing, books on the list have widespread popular- I trust that, for the most part, organization!), then how can we connect ity and the nominating groups are geo- people my age see things the same them to teen reviews and teen recommen- graphically and demographically diverse. way. If they say something is a must- dations? One way is to pay attention to The list of nominations is a great starting read, I’ll be more inclined to read it the Teens’ Top Ten (TTT) nominations point for teens to find new books recom- over an adult recommendation.1 and lists. mended by other teens. While the mem- bers of YALSA’s YA Galley Committee do (Ouch.) the legwork (checking eligibility, posting If teens can’t trust adults (and let’s What’s Teens’ Top Ten? the nominations, and counting the votes), face it, would we really want them to? If the nominations are given by teens, and they believed in us, we might start tak- Teens’ Top Ten is the only YALSA list cre- teens vote for their favorite titles. TTT is a ing ourselves seriously, and then YALSA ated by teen readers for teen readers. The teen-driven endeavor. The YA Galley Project began in the late 1990s as a pilot project. The plan was EDITH CUMMINGS is Manager of the Hessen Cassel Branch of to find a way to connect publishers directly the Allen County (Ind.) Public Library and is the current chair of with their teen readers, allowing teens to YALSA’s YA Galley Committee. TRACEY FIRESTONE is Manager preview new releases and provide feedback of Young Adult Services for the Oakland (Calif.) Public Library on everything from cover art to whether and the past chair of the YA Galley Committee. As one of YALSA’s they’d recommend a book to friends. After Serving the Underserved Trainers, Tracey enjoys any opportunity several years of testing the idea, YALSA to speak with groups about all aspects of public library services appointed a task force and in 2003 an official committee was born. The official for teens. DIANE MONNIER is Senior Librarian for Children’s charge of the committee reads as follows: and Adult Services at Rockville Library in Montgomery County, “To facilitate the exchange of information Maryland, and was the first chair of the YA Galley Committee. As and galleys of books published within two YALSA’s Chairperson for Local Arrangements, Diane is looking years among the voting teen group mem- forward to 2007 and YALSA’s fiftieth anniversary celebration in bers as well as the nonvoting members; Washington, D.C. to annually prepare the Teens’ Top Ten

Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS 39

FAQs Answered by the YA Galley Committee

list for Teen Read Week (TRW) That is what makes their reviews YA Galley titles and publishers; these and to coordinate the public electronic so pertinent, not only to their groups are on the lookout for outstanding vote.”2 friends but to those in the field who books from all corners of the publishing The charge doesn’t specifically men- are concerned with young adult world. Titles require three nominations tion the relationship between YALSA and literature. All of us who work with representing at least two different nomi- the publishers who have agreed to take teens want a reliable review source nating groups to become an official TTT part in this project, but without their sup- to quote when we introduce a title nomination. port it would be much more difficult to to other teen readers. YALSA’s Nominations close each year on find teen groups with the resources to read Teens’ Top Ten allows teens to March 15, giving interested libraries widely and to nominate new and forth- make their recommendations enough time to purchase the books and coming books. Without publisher partici- known in a public venue, open and make them available for teens to partici- pation, this would not be a viable project. accessible to all. Once titles have pate in the online vote. During TRW each been nominated by a core group, October, teens from across the country are other teens can participate and encouraged to vote for their favorite books “voice” their opinions by casting from the nomination list. The results of Why Are Publisher their votes. the public online vote are combined with Members Interested in a paper ballot from all fifteen YA Galley Participating? groups to create the annual TTT list. At the 2006 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans, a panel of publishers spoke How Is the Teens’ Top as part of the program entitled, “I Can Get Ten List Created? How Can We Be a YA My Teens to Review Anything . . . And Galley Group? You Can Review Things, Too!” The panel Every two years, YALSA’s YA Galley was asked how publishers use teen reviews. Committee seeks applications for new First, visit the TTT Web site (www.ala Victoria Stapleton of Little, Brown and review groups and selects fifteen groups .org/teenstopten) and from the “Tips Company Books for Young Readers said: for two-year terms. The fifteen groups of for Librarians” page, download a copy of teens receive galleys of upcoming titles the official YA Galley review form. Next, While we value the reviews and from more than thirty publisher members, introduce that form (or at least the same feedback we get from librarians and they are expected to write reviews for elements) to your book review group. and educators about our books, the publishers, which are also sent to the Take the time to work with your review- we always keep in mind that our YA Galley Committee. During the course ers and help them to develop as reviewers. primary audience is the young of their two-year term, the committee sees Encourage them to add details to their reader. We could not do what we do marked improvement in the quality of reviews that could help a publisher know as well as we do without input from reviews coming from the teens as they read exactly what works (or doesn’t) in a par- them. This is particularly important a wide variety of YA literature and learn to ticular book. in the case of teen readers who are review more effectively. When reviewing the applications, the making independent choices about Each cycle, five of the fifteen YA YA Galley Committee is primarily look- what to do with their time and Galley groups are specially designated as ing for excellence in the sample reviews attention. So we actively encourage TTT nominating groups. Ideally, those submitted. After that, the committee and solicit feedback from them. groups have already been involved as seeks groups that represent geographically non-nominating groups for two years diverse communities and tries to create a Jeanne McDermott, director of mar- before taking on the extra duties required mix of school and public libraries, as well keting at Farrar, Straus, and Giroux Books of them as TTT groups. In addition to as a mix of groups with older and younger for Young Readers, commented: their regular reviewing duties, these five teens. The committee wants to encour- groups are empowered to nominate the age group leaders to raise excitement for Teens trust each other’s best books of the year for the annual TTT a program such as this with some level recommendations above all others. list. Nominations are not limited to just of restraint. With room for only fifteen

40 YALS | Young Adult Library Services | Fall 2006

Cummings, Firestone, and Monnier

groups in each cycle, competition is fierce. review newsletter or publish lists of teen 2. Young Adult Library Services Asso- Be aware that your group may not be recommendations. Allow your teen review- ciation, “About YALSA: YA Galley accepted the first (or even second) time ers to help their peers find books that Committee Description,” www.ala you apply. speak to them. Let your teens’ voices be .org/ala/yalsa/aboutyalsab/yagalley While the YA Galley Project is an heard! YALS .htm (accessed Sept. 7, 2006). exciting opportunity for teens to read new books, it should not be the only opportu- References nity for your teens to feel that their voices matter. Use your groups’ review forms to 1. Jenny Knatz, e-mail to the author, July 3, help guide collection development. Start a 2006.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED continued from page 38

l Sarah Dessen l Sophie Kinsella often written about in the e-mails we l Laurie Halse Anderson l Dean Koontz receive: l Alice Sebold These were the teens’ favorite adult l Nicholas Sparks l Michael Crichton authors: l Wally Lamb l Toni Morrison l l Harper Lee Stephen King l Jodi Picoult l l S. E. Hinton YALS Mary Higgins Clark l Yann Martel l John Grisham l Jon Krakauer l Dan Brown l James Patterson Finally, these authors were not l J. D. Salinger mentioned in the teen survey, but are

Guidelines for Authors

Young Adult Library Services is the official publication of the Young relating to teen services and spotlights significant activities and pro- Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American grams of the division. Library Association. Young Adult Library Services is a vehicle for For submission and author guidelines, please visit www.ala continuing education of librarians working with young adults (ages .org/ala/yalsa/yalsapubs/yals/authorguidelines/htm. twelve through eighteen) that showcases current research and practice

Index to Advertisers

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Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS 41 LITERATURE SURVEYS AND RESEARCH

The Borderland Age and Borderline Books The Early Practice of Reader’s Advisory for Youth By Jennifer Burek Pierce

arly reader’s advisory for adoles- concerns for youthful well-being, both in “teen,” “junior high school student,” “inter- cents is less studied than reader’s adolescence and after. Although current mediate,” “youth,” and sometimes simply E advisory for adults, yet librarians professional values are much different from “older boys and girls.” At times, even ref- were deeply concerned with the best ways the ones articulated in librarianship’s early erences to children, in context, describe to interest young people in books during years, it is useful to recognize the origins young adults. The professional literature the first decades of professional librarian- of professional practice and the changes of of the early twentieth century indicated ship. A limited number of articles and principle that have taken place over time. concern with the reading habits of youth monographs describe key events in the his- Dramatic statements about reading as a between the ages of twelve and sixteen, a tory of library services to young adults and potential harm to young people may seem time of life one writer characterized as the others offer biographic accounts of leading foreign now but represent a key legacy of “borderland age.”2 figures in youth services; still, few writers early professional services, as librarians Among the themes of this plentiful account for the ideological origins of librar- sought to use the best scientific and profes- professional literature was an interest in ians’ work with younger readers.1 These sional information available in the service good books. Whereas reader’s advisory origins were broad ones. Because doctors, of young readers. efforts for adults in this era focused on psychologists, and ministers all weighed in self-improvement as prescribed by cul- on the influence of books on teens’ lives, Early Reader’s Advisory tural norms, librarians’ recommendations reader’s advisory once reflected the ideas of for Adolescents to adolescents directed teens’ attention people outside the profession. The values toward wholesome literature that would articulated in these early years of librarian- During the first decades of the twentieth compete with their enjoyment of such ship were radically different from the ones century and before, librarians and other popular and affordable genres as the dime most often expressed today. Looking at the professionals interested in fiction and pub- novel, with its allusions to sex and depic- history of how reader’s advisory for youth lishing gave considerable attention to ado- tions of violence. began offers a thought-provoking perspective lescents’ reading habits. This young reader Librarians recognized the availability on professional aims in reading guidance. was described in many terms, including of cheap but questionable literature as a Much as there is popular concern today about teens’ time with computers, JENNIFER BUREK PIERCE is Assistant Professor in the School of television, and music rather than with Library and Information Science at The University of Iowa, where books, the librarians who shaped reader’s advisory for young people responded to she teaches courses including young adult literature. She is social concerns articulated by forces out- writing her first book,Sex, Brains, and Video Games: A Librarian’s side the profession. Then as now, ideas Guide to Understanding Teens in the Twenty-first Century, about young people and books reflected forthcoming from ALA Editions.

42 YALS | Young Adult Library Services | Fall 2006 Pierce

potential threat. One writer characterized and ideas in the library literature on read- its origins in Sunday school books in the lighter literature for young adults, includ- ing and youth.6 late nineteenth century.8 Tomlinson criti- ing love stories, as ‘‘borderline books” and Early library conference papers and cized both these didactic, moralistic works urged her fellow professionals to use these articles, read in conjunction with other and the later action-oriented tales that books to lead seemingly immature readers contemporary literature offering perspec- succeeded them. He was concerned with to “the constructive use of books of fic- tives on youth reading practices, indicate the ability of writers to “appeal to [young tion.”3 More often, though, librarians and that reader’s advisory for teens developed readers], in a language they well know, to others concerned with reading described concurrently with reader’s advisory for attempt better and greater things.”9 In the these titles as pernicious, immoral, and adults but was informed by different books that young adults ought to read, sensational literature. One early-twentieth- motives and rationales. Much of this pro- truth and instruction were desirable fea- century Library Journal article expressed fessional literature insisted on shaping tures, but teens were unlikely to find them the anticipated connection this way: the reading experience in order to protect without help: “For sometimes the pathways “Books . . . suggest thoughts, thoughts youth and to preserve purity of thought of literature require a guide to point the become motives, motives prompt action.”4 and action. This guidance on reading con- way as much as do the slopes of the moun- This mimetic model of reading attached stitutes the origins of youth reader’s advi- tain we may be ascending.”10 strong significance and lasting conse- sory, grounded in the concerns of Occasionally, early-twentieth-century quences to young readers’ choice of books. the Purity Movement and related social writers expressed faith in the ability of Further, in an era when sexuality was reform efforts. young readers to profit from the stories deeply controversial and the means to treat that most interested them. J. P. True sexually transmitted diseases or to prevent defended popular novels that depicted pregnancy were virtually nonexistent, Progressive Era “rugged bits of the life of rugged boys,” the consequences of youth sexual activ- Cautions Regarding believing that purposeful, moral action ity were lasting. Discouraging interest in Reading and would result; he wrote that he had “yet to sex—a common if understated aim of early Adolescence hear of a boy whom those books failed to reader’s advisory work—reflected not only help upward by their subtle moral force.”11 moral beliefs but a sort of health advice. Statements about the presumed health The redeeming feature of these “cheap” Determining what constituted good impact of reading abounded in the late stories was expressed in terms of their or appropriate books for younger readers Victorian and early Progressive eras. There power to enlighten: “Out of his surround- was in response to the prominent concerns were cautions about reading’s potential ings, however sordid, the boy was lifted.”12 of health professionals and voluntary to encourage inappropriate thoughts and While few professionals argued the merits associations of Progressive Era reform- actions and the belief that reading could of the dime novel, these ideas—that young ers known as the Purity Movement. This produce actual physical harm. Opinions readers should be encouraged to seek out diverse group included preachers and about what constituted appropriate read- good, uplifting stories—would continue to politicians, medical doctors and moth- ing material varied, but belief in the be found in professional writings. ers.5 Their agendas, often centered around need for moral, uplifting literature was G. Stanley Hall, whose Adolescence moralistic judgments about sex, involved a expressed consistently by leading writers helped to establish him as the first modern wide range of goals such as limiting access outside the library profession. psychologist to study the teen years as a to sensational and immoral fiction; pro- In 1899, Walter Taylor Field com- distinctive developmental phase, also scru- moting or suppressing factual information plained to the editor of The Dial about tinized young people’s reading. Because about sex (depending on which faction of “sugarcoated sensationalism,” insisting on of Hall’s influential status as an expert on the movement was consulted); and end- the value of guiding young people’s reading the teen years, the concerns he put forth ing prostitution. Members of the Purity to produce “not only . . . a healthier liter- regarding reading were significant, if pro- Movement drew attention to a presumed ary taste, but . . . a sounder morality in the foundly different from current sensibilities. association between adolescent reading and men and women of the next generation.”7 He insisted that certain content should be sexuality, a particularly sensitive dimension A virtual jeremiad against unwholesome avoided because of potential physical and of the harmful outcomes associated with literature followed. Everett T. Tomlinson’s emotional harm. In 1905, Hall wrote on bad books. The language and values of this article “Reading for Boys and Girls” offered “What Children Do Read and What They reform effort were echoed in the language a history of youth literature, identifying Ought To Read.”13 He argued that the

Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS 43 The Borderland age and borderline books

“modern novel with its highly artificial and the impedimenta of libraries.”21 He had observations extended to recommenda- conventional treatment of anti-nuptial love, further complaints against reading as well. tions about the nature of young people’s often treated in a somewhat risqué man- He connected some percentage of suicides reading habits. His comments ventured ner” was to be avoided as both “mawkish” with the imitation of deaths described in into the activities librarians now recognize and “perverted.”14 There was also a need to periodical literature.22 In his discussion of as reader’s advisory. He stated, “In the increase the number of “healthy girls who youth criminal behavior, Hall cautioned, world’s best literature there is much that . . . read good things.”15 Later, Hall “The reading of romance has great influ- teaches important lessons in the field of returned to these themes, adding that ence on the development of youthful pas- the larger sex education.”28 The literature excessive reading confined “young people . . sion,” which “must not be roused before the “of direct influence in helping young people . in closed spaces in the usual reading pos- powers which control it are developed.”23 solve the problems of sex, we think first of tures” and exercised “only the muscles of It is this attitude, which saw excitement that which holds up high ideals of personal the eye,” the strain of which results in “eye and imaginative power as forces to be con- purity” is important because “interpretation defects” to be regarded as “a serious prob- tained, that contemporary experts voiced of life either real or in great literature may lem in racial hygiene.”16 In these addresses, most strongly when describing the need to have profound influence on the develop- Hall argued that unguided reading could curtail young readers. ment of one’s philosophy of life.”29 Reading cause both intellectual and physical harm. Dr. Mary Wood-Allen was another offered the adolescent “no more natural Hall also reported research findings author who discussed reading for the and unobtrusive way of approach” to form- indicating “a rapid rise in the amount of purpose of suggesting its potential harm ing appropriate judgments about life and reading chosen by . . . children them- to developing minds and bodies. The sexuality in particular.30 Thus, he indi- selves.”17 Hall encouraged professional author of best-selling and recommended cated that carefully chosen books played and parental attention to young people’s manuals on youth conduct, Wood-Allen a role in forming attitudes and served as reading. The phrases he employed—such was regarded as authoritative because of an information base regarding sexual and as when he connected reading to “the life her medical degree. She instructed young reproductive health. In finding a pedagogi- of the race”—used the Purity Movement’s female readers, in a chapter titled “Painful cal purpose for reading about romance vocabulary for concerns about reproductive Menstruation,” to avoid excessive novel and sex, his views represented a shift from health and sexually transmitted diseases.18 reading, citing it as a cause of both “pre- those articulated by Hall and Wood-Allen. Librarians recognized Hall as an author- mature development” and “the creation of Nonetheless, Bigelow raised concerns ity, and the library literature of this era morbid mental states which tend to the about immoral literature. “Against that encouraged practitioners to familiarize production of physical evils.”24 She assured type of fiction which presents sex prob- themselves with his shorter works, if they them that their mothers did not prohibit lems that do not clearly ‘point a moral,’ the could not manage to read his two-volume frivolous reading simply because they had average so-called ‘problem novel’ of recent treatise, a marathon read of more than “outlived their days of romance.”25 Instead, time, there should be general opposition fourteen hundred pages in its entirety. it was the girls themselves who were igno- by workers for the larger sex-education,” Yet it is in these longer volumes that rant of the effects of reading “thrilling, he stated.31 His argument both decried Hall put forth incisive views on young romantic episodes” that would “find an amoral literature and insisted on the need adults and their reading habits. He admit- echo in the girl’s physical system and tend to guide young people’s reading: ted the limited potential of reading as a to create an abnormal excitement of her force for good, writing, “I incline to think organs of sex, which she recognizes only Unlike the commendable novels, that many children would be better and as a pleasurable mental emotion, with no it is characteristic of the equivocal not worse for reading . . . on the principle comprehension of the physical origin or ones that no penalty is demanded of the Aristotelian catharsis to arouse the evil effects.”26 Wood-Allen advised that or paid and no moral conclusion betimes the higher faculties which develop young women “keep out of the realm of the is suggested. In fact, the way is later.”19 Yet his broader purpose was “to artificial, the sentimental, the emotional” to very much left open to an immoral sound a cry of warning in terms plain avoid temptation, seeking instead “stronger, interpretation. All such literature enough if possible to shock both quacks more beautiful self-control.”27 certainly tends to work against and prudes.”20 Hall was particularly con- Maurice Bigelow, a Columbia the aims of sex-education. Perhaps cerned about adolescent girls, for whom University professor of biology, was a well- parents and teachers may cooperate books would “overburden the soul with regarded speaker on sexual health whose to keep much of this kind of

44 YALS | Young Adult Library Services | Fall 2006 Pierce

literature out of the hands of young between decisions to guide young people’s their reading.37 Although indirect in her people, but the safest procedure is in reading and contemporary social move- statements about the nature of harm that cultivating a taste for literature that ment concerns about sexual health and might be caused by reading, Bean articu- does teach helpful lessons of life.32 morality form a compelling basis for librar- lated a theme that would be developed with ians’ insistence on moral literary works. increasing specificity: books were not nec- The then-popular play Damaged Samuel Swett Green’s “Personal essarily a benign force in children’s devel- Goods represented the kind of literature Relations between Librarian and Readers” opment, and guidance was necessary to Bigelow denounced. While accepting the is often cited today as an early discussion protect young readers from potential harm. need to provide young readers with health of reference interviewing skills.33 To his The 1891 issue of Library information, Bigelow did not sanction contemporaries, however, Green’s com- Journal reported on a talk given at the allowing them to form their own opinions ments pertained equally to what young Massachusetts Library Club, “How Can or encounter views of uncertain morality. patrons read. Green observed that “The the Character of Reading Be Improved?”; These ideas about the need to limit librarian is often consulted about courses E. P. Thurston noted that occasional read- access to material that presented top- of reading” that drew upon his or her ing of light fiction may be warranted “to ics once regarded as entirely taboo are “judgment,” before concluding that “there rest the proverbially overtaxed American echoed in the professional library literature are few pleasures comparable to that of brain.”38 This librarian advised a range of through the first decades of the twentieth associating continually with curious and strategies for engaging youth in the activity century. Where these scientists reported vigorous young minds, and of aiding them of reading, many of which, such as displays their concerns directly, naming the prob- in realizing their ideals.”34 Green also com- and reading lists, remain familiar. lems to be confronted with contemporary mented, albeit briefly and indirectly, on the Elsewhere, cautions against terminology, library literature relied on quality of reading materials, cautioning unadvised reading took a more ominous phrasing that rendered these concerns librarians that “The collections of books tone. In 1895, librarians were warned somewhat more indirectly. Nonetheless, which make up the contents of the circu- against allowing children to pursue reading the literature on identifying appropriate lating departments of our libraries have independently, thereby risking “contami- reading materials for adolescent readers been provided for the use of persons of nation” because young readers were “in and encouraging their reading of works of differing degrees of refinement and moral the possession of a power that is equally 39 sound moral and literary quality was con- susceptibility, and for those who occupy potent for evil as it is for good.” The gruent with the statements and suggestions mental planes of various altitudes.”35 This problem was explained to members of those involved in social reform of sexual early article established the issues regard- of the profession: behavior and attitudes. ing young readers that were to concern For nowadays a child who can read librarians in the decades to come: that will read; and if we do not lead offering what has since become known as and direct his taste, the enemy, Progressive Era reader’s advisory was an important compo- who is ever lying in wait for poor, Library Literature nent of service to youth and also that there faltering humanity, will give the on Youth Reading was a relationship between moral behavior child abundant opportunity of the and reading. knowledge of evil; and this evil, From the first years of the professional- In the years that followed, others whose knowledge is death to the ization of the field, librarians engaged in in the field would take up Green’s state- soul of every pure boy or girl, is dialogue regarding younger patrons’ read- ments. Mary A. Bean was among the first crowding us at every corner of life.40 ing, with articles and reprints of conference to protest strongly that reading could presentations on this topic appearing in constitute harm to youth, decrying a “craze These concerns, accompanied by sug- the earliest issues of Library Journal and for books” and “indiscriminate reading” gestions to prevent young readers from ALA Bulletin, as well as in other profes- that concerned parents and educators accepting “phrases as principles, turgid sional periodicals. That these publications alike.36 Reading light stories in rapid suc- sentiment as virtue, and jingling words reveal concerted efforts to meet the reading cession—a veritable “Charybdis”—was to as the measures of right living,” hoped interests of young people by connecting be prevented; instead, parents and librar- instead to see youth “upward in the path of them with good literature is not inher- ians should strive to see children “lessen virtue.”41 Another librarian and educator ently surprising; the apparent connection the quantity and improve the quality” of acknowledged that the reading program

Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS 45 The Borderland age and borderline books

he described intended to draw “the atten- Whitbeck was not the lone librarian ing aspects of sexual experimentation. tion of the pupils from a pernicious class boldly making mention of issues of sexual Efforts to keep books that might of reading.”42 These articles present strong, and reproductive health in the pages of inspire curiosity about sex or true crime even hyperbolic statements, which echo leading library publications. Effie Power, now seem old-fashioned and out of touch the concerns of reformers and experts who author of the early textbook Library Service with statements promoting freedom of provided advice on how to ensure that for Children, warned her peers to: inquiry and access to information. Yet, in reading would not lead young adults to their day, these overly cautious views repre- jeopardize their souls or their bodies. Let the grown person brood sented the leading perspectives of medical References to purity as a reading out- over the stern realism of sordid science and social reform. That the profes- come endured. In 1915, one article argued surroundings, abnormal sex sional past can appear so different from that less wholesome literature threatened problems, hopeless effects of contemporary ideals of service suggests the children’s morality.43 Articles also com- heredity and environment on need for continuing critical assessment pared library work with young readers to character and what not, the healthy of the aims of library service to young the activities of reform work. “Today when boy and girl instinctively rejects people. YALS we are busy making and enforcing pure all this in favor of the story where food laws for the protection of our bodies, industry is rewarded and love comes there is even greater need for the framing into its own.46 References and enshrining in the hearts of all our peo- 1. Patricia J. Campbell, Two Pioneers of Young ple, of pure book laws for the protection In statements like these, librarians Adult Library Services (Lanham, Md.: of our souls,” opined one librarian.44 The showed awareness of the prominent reform Scarecrow Pr., 1998); Mary K. Chelton, writer’s concern and frame of reference movements shaping the society in which “Educational and Recreational Services would be repeated by other librarians, as they and their patrons lived. By connecting of the Public Library for Young Adults,” when Whitbeck argued, their professional practice with the aims of reform workers who sought to improve Library Quarterly 48, no. 4 (1978): 488– Miss Hunt once in a paper referred society, librarians demonstrated the value 98; Sara Ellis Fenwick, “Library Service to the sanitary precautions that of their own work. to Children and Young People,” Library parents took to protect their Trends 25, no. 1 (1976): 329–60; Anthony children from the “deadly house fly, Bernier et al., “Two Hundred Years of the mosquito, the common drinking Young Adult Library Services History: cup and towel.” We feel this keenly Reader’s Advisory: A Chronology,” Voice of Youth Advocates, when we look at these thousands Then and Now www.voya.com/whatsinvoya/web_only_ of books cast in the same mold and articles/Chronology_200506.shtml realize some parents are unwittingly The early professional literature on reader’s (accessed Aug. 10, 2006); Esther Jane Car- allowing their children’s moral advisory to youth indicates that concerns rier, “Fiction for Young People,” in Fiction estimates to be lowered.45 about the nature of reading did not sim- in Public Libraries, 1900–1950 (Littleton, ply express what might be regarded as Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1985): 219– The concerns Whitbeck identified Victorian prudery or conservative moral- 94; Kay E. Vandegraft, “Female Advocacy are no longer so prominent in the twenty- ism. Instead, these cautions reflected the and Harmonious Voices,” Library Trends first century. In fact, some elements of her scientific thinking of that era as popu- 44, no. 4 (Spring 1996): 683–718; Jane list, namely the references to the common larized by reformers. While seeking to Anne Hannigan, “A Feminist Analysis of cup and towel, are no longer meaningful protect youth from adverse social and the Voices for Advocacy in Young Adult items to most who would read her words; health outcomes from which there was Services,” Library Trends 44, no. 4 (Spring in enumerating these concerns, however, no recovery, librarians still wanted their 1996): 851–74; Christine A. Jenkins, Whitbeck ventured into the controversial young patrons to enjoy reading and to take “Women of ALA Youth Services and Pro- territory of sexuality. The common cup, pleasure in literature. Thus, the reading of fessional Jurisdiction,” Library Trends 44, used by travelers to drink at public rest good books had a significance altered by no. 4 (Spring 1996): 813–39; Marilyn L. areas, had been blamed as a source of such time and the development of medical treat- Miller, ed. Pioneers and Leaders in Library communicable diseases as syphilis. ments that mitigate some of the threaten- Service to Youth: A Biographical Dictionary

46 YALS | Young Adult Library Services | Fall 2006 Pierce

(Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 14. Ibid., 391. 35. Ibid., 79. 2003); Louise S. Robbins, The Dismissal of 15. Ibid., 391. 36. Mary A. Bean, “Evil of Unlimited Freedom Miss Ruth Brown: Civil Rights, Censorship, 16. G. Stanley Hall, “Children’s Reading: A in the Use of Juvenile Fiction,” Library and the American Library (Norman: Univ. Factor in their Education,” Library Journal Journal 4 (1879): 343, www.readseries of Oklahoma Pr., 2000). 33, no. 4 (1908): 123. .com/bean.html (accessed Sept. 20, 2006). 2. Effie Louise Power, “Books of Fiction for 17. Ibid., 125. 37. Ibid., 343. the Borderland Age,” Publishers Weekly 104 18. Ibid., 128. 38. E. P. Thurston, “How Can the Character (Oct. 1923): 1,367. 19. G. Stanley Hall, Adolescence: Its Psychology of the Reading Be Improved?” Library 3. Annie I. M. Jackson, “The Older Girl and and Its Relations to Physiology, Anthropol- Journal 16, no. 2 (1891): 48. Her Reading,” Ontario Library Review 10, ogy, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion, and 39. George Watson Cole, “How Teachers no. 3 (1925): 54. Education, 2 vols. (New York: D. Appleton Should Cooperate with Libraries,” Library 4. Charles Welch, “Children’s Reading at and Co., 1904), 1:408. Journal 20 (Apr. 1895): 115. Home,” Library Journal 27, no. 4 (1902): 20. Ibid., 1:413. 40. Ibid., 115. 196. 21. Ibid., 2:640. 41. Ibid., 118. 5. Ruth Clifford Engs,The Progressive Era’s 22. Ibid., 1:381. 42. J. M. Sawin, “Some Successful Methods Health Reform Movement: A Historical Dic- 23. Ibid., 1:384–87. of Developing Children’s Interest in Good tionary (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2003). 24. Mary Wood-Allen, What a Young Woman Literature,” Library Journal 20 (Nov. 6. Alison Parker, Purifying America: Women, Ought to Know (Philadelphia: Vir Publish- 1895): 377. Cultural Reform, and Pro-censorship Activ- ing Co., 1898), 122. 43. A. G. Whitbeck, “Reading of Older Boys ism, 1873–1933 (Urbana: Univ. of Illinois 25. Ibid., 122. and Girls,” Bulletin of the American Library Pr., 1997). 26. Ibid., 122. Association 9, no. 2 (1915): 185–89. 7. W. T. Field, “The Problem of Children’s 27. Ibid., 154. 44. Mary Ely, “Our Present Problem,” Bulletin Books,” Dial 27 (Aug. 1899): 69. 28. Maurice Bigelow, Sex Education: A Series of of the American Library Association 8, no. 3 8. Everett T. Tomlinson, “Reading for Boys Lectures Concerning Knowledge of Sex in Its (1914): 323. and Girls,” Atlantic 86, no. 513 (1900). Relation to Human Life (New York: Mac- 45. Whitbeck, “Reading of Older Boys and 9. Ibid., 696. millan, 1929): 124. Girls,” 189. 10. Ibid., 699. 29. Ibid., 126. 46. Effie L. Power,Library Service for Children 11. J. P. True, “Juvenile Literature: So-called,” 30. Ibid., 126. (Chicago: ALA, 1930); Effie L. Power, Atlantic 92, no. 553 (1903): 691. 31. Ibid., 128. “Books of Fiction for the Borderland 12. Charles Harvey, “The Dime Novel in Amer- 32. Ibid. Age,” 83. ican Life,” Atlantic 100, no. 1 (1907): 44. 33. Samuel Swett Green, “Personal Relations 13. G. Stanley Hall, “What Children Do Read Between Librarian and Readers,” Library and What They Ought To Read,”Public Journal 1, no. 1 (1876). Libraries 10, no. 8 (1905). 34. Ibid., 74–81.

Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS 47 YALS Professional Resources

library and need specific data about young adult behaviors. The Reynolds, Tom K. Teen Reading Connections. New York: Neal-Schuman, 2005; ISBN 1555705065; book is organized into three parts, taking the reader from estab- 149p. $49.95. lished and new technology to tough issues like morality and ethical behavior on the Web. This is a worthy addition to Neal-Schuman’s Teens @ the Library Librarians will appreciate the well-detailed index, as well as series, “designed to ensure that public and school librarians have the author’s no-nonsense explanation of technologies, user behav- the tools they need to develop and adapt their collections, services, ior, and the unique needs of young adults. This well-researched, and programs to meet the diverse—and ever-changing—needs of authoritative guide is packed with good information and sugges- young adults.” As a librarian that serves both adults and teens in tions for those working with and advocating for young adults in the Sno-Isle (Wash.) Libraries, Reynolds has lived up to the series’ the library.—Reviewed by Rochelle Carr, Fresno County (Calif.) goals with this compact, easy-to-read guide to playing matchmaker Public Library between teens and reading at school and public libraries. Each chapter begins by highlighting selections from YALSA’s “Young Adults Deserve the Best: Competencies for Librarians Serving Pfeil, Angela B. Going Places with Youth Outreach: Smart Youth.” Within each chapter are several booktalks, booklists, Marketing Strategies for Your Library. Chicago: ALA, 2005; interviews, and relevant resources, followed by short lists of the ISBN 0838909000; 119p. $32.00. key concepts covered in each chapter as well as references. Topics covered include fiction and nonfiction materials, booktalking, book Pfeil, a virtual reference librarian for Tutor.com’s Librarians by promotions, and teen reader’s advisory. The chapters provide a Request and former youth services and outreach librarian, has useful introduction to those new to serving teens, as well as useful written a helpful guide for librarians looking to become more tips, resources, and new ideas for veterans. involved in youth outreach. She states that marketing and out- If you can only have one reference book on how to excite teens reach should go hand in hand as librarians work to create library about reading, this book covers it all and will be an excellent addi- presentations and programs to serve youth populations. In a clear tion to public and school libraries.—Reviewed by Sarah Nelsen, and concise format, Pfeil outlines the process of creating a mar- School Corps Librarian, Multnomah County (Ore.) Library keting plan and the different ways to reach out to agencies that serve youth populations such as schools, daycares, and community centers. For example, why not create a library newsletter to be Harris, Frances Jacobson. I Found It on the Internet: mailed specifically to your younger patrons? Or why not take your Coming of Age Online. Chicago: ALA, 2005; ISBN storytime program out on the road to doctors’ offices or shopping 0838908985; 161p. $35.00. malls? This book gives youth librarians some great tips on how to incorporate unique marketing ideas into their outreach strategy. Written for the professional librarian, this book takes a look at the Pfeil also gives a step-by-step overview of how to plan, implement, information-seeking behavior of teens. The content is comprehen- and evaluate outreach programs. sive and very informative, with good tips and suggestions for librar- This book is a must-read for librarians in public library sys- ies and librarians on how to take advantage of new technology in tems that may not have an outreach plan, but are looking for ways order to better serve teens. The content is somewhat dense, reading to become more involved in reaching out to youth populations much like a research paper, but the data is very useful, containing in their communities. Librarians—especially those who are just insights into adolescent behavior, socialization, and development. starting to do outreach to help market their libraries—will find This information is practical and very useful for librarians work- the ideas in this book helpful.—Reviewed by Heather Timko, Teen ing with teens, especially for those that advocate for teens in their Librarian, Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Public Library

48 YALS | Young Adult Library Services | Fall 2006 Heide, Ann, and Linda Stilborne. The Teacher’s Internet Campbell, Patty. Robert Cormier: Daring to Disturb the Professional Resources Companion. Toronto: Trifolium Bks., 2004; ISBN Universe. New York: Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 1552440451; 356p. $39.95. 2006; ISBN 0385730462; 304p. $14.95.

This book will help any teacher unfamiliar with the Internet. This book is a delight to read. Campbell, a young adult librarian The arrangement and clear language make this resource easy to and author, gives a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most well- read and navigate for quick, topical reference questions. Each known and gifted writers for young adults, Robert Cormier. The chapter contains a wealth of information with sidebars including author offers his general biographical sketch in the first chapter. quotes, hints, teaching tips, and tech talks. Helpful Web sites pep- From here, Campbell explores each of Cormier’s novels, weaving per the resource, covering a broad spectrum, from e-publishing intimate details of his thoughts and feelings behind each piece for students to educational games to math problems. The book of writing. She includes critical comments from reviewers to com- delves into such topics as HTML, complying with copyright laws, plement her research and, by the end of the book, one is able to online safety rules, responding to inappropriate materials, e-mail, envision Leominster, Massachusetts, with Cormier walking down and evaluating Web sites. The book also contains lesson plans the street. Readers will gain an understanding of the ideas that to help educators incorporate the Internet into classroom stud- went into each book and a deeper appreciation for the man who ies. An accompanying CD-ROM lists Web sites categorized by wrote them. such school subjects as art, English literature, English as a Second Aimed at those who are interested in the history and literary Language (ESL), music, and environmental studies, to name a few. criticism of Cormier, this book is great reading for anyone “daring Web sites for groups of all ages can be found within each category. to disturb the universe.” This is a welcome addition to libraries For instance, the arts category contains links to Michael’s Kids wanting information on Cormier’s life and work.—Reviewed by Club Online, Florence Art Guide, Art Sites for Educators, and the Cara A. Waits, Teen Services Manager, Houston Public Library Andy Warhol Museum. The CD-ROM also contains tutorials for Microsoft, Macromedia Dreamweaver, and Adobe programs. While this book is geared toward teachers, its general content Grimes, Sharon. Reading Is Our Business: How Libraries makes it a great learning tool for anyone looking for a basic under- Can Foster Reading Comprehension. Chicago: ALA, 2006; standing of the Internet. Buy this one for professional use and also ISBN 0838909124; 155p. $35.00. for public libraries.—Reviewed by Jennifer Rummel, YA Librarian, Marion I. Mohr Memorial Library, Johnston, R.I. Grimes, a school library media specialist at Lansdowne Elementary in Baltimore County, Maryland, presents a unique approach to the issue of fostering reading comprehension among today’s York, Sherry, ed. Tips and Other Bright Ideas for Secondary school-aged children. Due to students’ declining comprehension School Libraries, Volume 3. Linworth, 2006; ISBN test scores and adults’ declining free reading, Grimes identifies the 1-58683-210-7; 168p. $36.95. librarian as the “critical partner” in fostering reading comprehen- sion and, as such, provides a seven-step reading strategy for use This book contains a compilation of best practices and helpful by librarians. The steps are: connecting, visualizing, questioning, hints that have been submitted to Library Media Connection maga- finding answers, determining importance, inferring and predicting, zine by secondary school librarians. It is the third such volume that and analyzing and synthesizing. Each chapter is devoted to one has been issued, and is geared toward librarians and technology of the seven strategies, leaving Grimes plenty of room to clearly specialists who work with middle and high school students, teach- define and explain each of them. The chapters also contain current ers, and administrators. The resource is conveniently organized by research, and readers are given an example of how each strategy topic with a number of practical hints and procedures to use under can be used in an actual classroom or library setting. Grimes incor- each heading. Tips for getting teachers to use the media center, porates multiple worksheets throughout, and even includes blank organizing special events, enticing older students to do some lei- copies of the worksheets in the back of the book. Each strategy surely reading, working with volunteers, making the media center comes with a list of what the author identifies as “Great Books” to more accessible, giving booktalks, teaching research skills, and complement the strategy, divided into the categories of dependent, making the most of the library’s Web site are all included within emergent, and independent readers. these pages. While this book is a definite must-have for all school librar- Fans of the first two volumes won’t be disappointed with the ians, public librarians and teachers alike will find these strategies latest installment, and those new to the field will find the sugges- invaluable. Grimes has written a book relevant to any individual tions helpful in managing their media center and making the most interested in fostering reading comprehension.—Reviewed by of their time. What makes this little book so helpful is the fact that Elizabeth Sargent, Collection Management Librarian, Questia Media, all of these practical tips have been tried out and used successfully Houston YALS by others in the field.—Reviewed by Joann Absi, Media Coordinator, Eugene Ashley High School, Wilmington, N.C.

Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS 49 the YALSA update Association news

YALSA and ALSC for excellence in young adult literature on helping libraries, schools, and other Announce Odyssey and to the magazine’s commitment to educational organizations figure out the coverage of the increasingly important best way to integrate technology into their Award for Best audiobook field.” programs and services. Braun frequently Audiobook leads workshops on emerging technolo- YALSA and the Association for Library gies and their impact on teen life. She also Service to Children (ALSC) are pleased spends time working directly with teens Linda Braun Selected As in libraries in order to help create technol- to announce the Odyssey Award, a new YALSA Blog Manager award for the best audiobook produced ogy-based programs that meet teen needs. for children or young adults. The award, Linda Braun, educational technology con- Braun has written seven books on technol- which will debut at ALA’s Midwinter sultant for LEO: Librarians and Educators ogy and libraries, is a columnist for Voice of Meeting in 2008, is sponsored by Booklist Online, has been selected as manager of Youth Advocates, and teaches at Simmons and administered by YALSA and ALSC. the YALSA Blog. College Graduate School of Library and “With teens downloading music, In her new role as blog manager, Information Science. podcasts, and e-books in record numbers, Braun will be responsible for the content “YALSA has always been fortunate this is the perfect time to announce the and look of the blog and will work closely to have many talented members who put Odyssey Award for best annual youth to recruit and oversee designated blog- their expertise to work for the division,” audiobook,” said YALSA President Judy gers. The mission of the YALSA Blog is said past YALSA President Pam Spencer Nelson. “As authorities in selecting young to provide a virtual space for publishing Holley. “Linda’s selection as YALSA Blog adult books, YALSA is excited to be work- information about time-sensitive issues manager is one more example of member ing with such prestigious organizations as and to provide a forum for members and talent being put to good use.” ALSC and Booklist.” the library community to discuss matters “A little over a decade ago, unabridged, relating to the YA field. The YALSA Blog spoken-word versions of children’s books can be found online at http://blogs.ala YALSA Announces were a rarity,” said ALSC President .org/yalsa.php. New Interest Group Kathleen T. Horning. “The Harry Potter “The YALSA Blog allows YALSA to [series] audiobooks really helped to popu- give members the opportunity to write and for Students larize this medium for children and raised respond to important events, news, and At the 2006 Annual Conference, YALSA’s it to an art form. The Odyssey Award will technology related to teens and teen library Board of Directors voted to establish the set the standard for excellence, pointing services,” said Braun. “As blog manager, I’m YALSA Student Interest Group. The co- children and teens toward the very best in looking forward to working with members conveners for the group are Rachel Besara audiobooks.” to discover topics that need to be covered and Jami Schwarzwalder. The purpose of A committee consisting of ALSC and on the blog, and then work with those in the group will be to provide student mem- YALSA members will select the award. the field who can write on those topics.” bers with a forum to exchange information The 2008 award will represent the best Braun has held numerous positions in relevant to their particular needs, a place to audiobook released in 2007. the American Library Association (ALA) network, and a means for becoming active “We’re very excited to be sponsoring and YALSA including chair of YALSA’s in the association. Students of any type— the Odyssey Award,” said Booklist Editor Web Advisory Committee and Teen Tech undergraduate, MLIS candidates, and and Publisher Bill Ott. “It’s the perfect Week Task Force, and member of ALA’s Ph.D. candidates—are welcome to partici- complement both to our ongoing sponsor- Web Site Advisory Committee. In her pate. The group will meet at ALA’s Annual ship of YALSA’s Michael L. Printz Award independent consulting work, she focuses Conference, but attendance at the confer-

50 YALS | Young Adult Library Services | Fall 2006 ence is not required in order for indi- l Accepted the conflict of interest policy YA Lit Day Initiative with the viduals to be active in the group. Unlike (Board Document #4) as amended. YALSA office, beginning immediately, committees, members are not appointed to l Voted that Board Document #5 be with results to be reviewed at Annual interest groups. Any member who would approved. This motion would change 2007. like to participate is welcome and can do the number of votes necessary for l Voted to add an international so by contacting the co-conveners. a title to be included on the official representative to the Virtual Regional As an official interest group, members Quick Picks list from 6 to 7. This Advisory Board. are able to plan and sponsor programs change would be in effect as of l Directed the Web Site Advisory at ALA’s Annual Conference, prepare Midwinter 2007. Committee to establish guidelines for and publish works, provide content for l Charged the Professional creating and maintaining a wiki, and YALSA’s Web site, and conduct other Development Committee with to submit a report to the Executive activities. For more information providing oversight and direction Committee by October 1 that would about interest groups, go to www.ala to YALSA’s e-learning program as include the pros and cons of open vs. .org/yalsa and click on the link on the detailed in Board Document #6. The member-only access and the possible left called “Governance.” To learn more Organization and Bylaws committee need for a content moderator. about the YALSA Student Interest will update this committee’s charge. l Charged the Youth Participation Group, contact Schwarzwalder at l Approved the guidelines for the Committee with developing a survey [email protected]. position of Youth Participation to solicit information from members Coordinator as written in Board and publishers about their (and Document #7 and voted that these their teens’) interest in participating guidelines be reevaluated at Annual in a teen summit, and report to the Major Motions from 2007. YALSA Executive Committee by the YALSA Board of l Changed the Financial Advancement October 1. Directors Task Force to a standing committee of l Voted to create a Student Interest five members, with the Fiscal Officer Group of YALSA, pending The YALSA Board passed the follow- serving as a consultant. A virtual determination that at least fifteen ing items at the 2006 ALA Annual member would be permitted. of the signatories on the presented Conference in New Orleans: l Accepted the proposal from petition are YALSA members. membership to form an Anime l Supported sending up to two Discussion Group starting at the end members to the ALA Emerging of Annual 2006. Leaders initiative, dependent upon Resolutions l Adopted the proposed Business Plan YALSA candidates being accepted with the removal of the reference to Resolution for and funding being available. the Marketing Plan and the addition Francisca Goldsmith l Changed the charges for Division and of the section on the Friends of Membership Promotion, Publishers’ YALSA. Whereas Francisca Goldsmith has served Liaison, Outreach to Young Adults l Adopted the FY07 budget as written for three years as a member of the Board with Special Needs, and Research in Board Document #11. of Directors of YALSA with style, grace, committees to remove the awards l Accepted the current slate of YALSA humor, and incisive wit; and grants responsibilities given programs in concept as presented for Whereas Francisca constantly has to them, and established five juries Annual 2007, including the “Video to explain to people (even fellow Board (including one to choose the Great Games as a Service” proposal. members) that her name is Francisca, not Book Giveaway winner, formerly l Accepted the Communications Francesca, but manages to do so without the responsibility of the Executive Plan in concept and thanked the losing her temper; Committee), with either three or five Communications Task Force for their Whereas Francisca has ably and skill- members each, whose sole purpose is hard work. fully balanced a demanding career at the to select the award winners, one for l Returned the proposed procedures ever-controversial Berkeley Public Library each award/grant. Jury members will concerning the Great Graphic Novel with YALSA activities, serving as an SUS serve a one-year appointment. Committee with the instruction that and InfoPeople trainer, and writing the l Appointed a Board subcommittee to the procedures be reconciled with the book Graphic Novels Now; investigate the pros and cons of (1) approved task force guidelines, and Whereas Francisca can always be adding an intern to the Board; (2) that they work with Pam Spencer relied upon to come to conference with an adding an at-large Board member; and Holley and Nick Buron to return interesting story, such as a cross-country (3) adding a secretary to the Board. amended procedures to the Executive train trip; This subcommittee should report to Committee by September 30. Whereas Francisca has an eye for the the full Board at Midwinter Meeting l Directed the Publishers’ Liaison jewelry potential of the ribbons attached to with their findings. Committee to work on the Support her conference badge;

Fall 2006 | Young Adult Library Services | YALS 51 Whereas Francisca has generously tremendous patience, accompanied by lots friendship from all YALSA members; educated her fellow Board members on of Acid-Ease medications and stiff marti- Therefore be it resolved that the various subjects, including the value of nis; while always dressed in a style worthy YALSA Board of Directors thank him for single-malt Scotch (preferably from Islay, of GQ’s cover, as evidenced by his tasseled the service he gave to the association and medium peat, never on ice); loafers and other noteworthy shoes from wish him well in all future endeavors. Whereas Francisca can be relied upon his extensive collection; and to provide the Board with information on Whereas David ably served YALSA past decisions by pulling out one of the as President-Elect, President, and Past Resolution for Jessica Mize teeny notebooks from the Francisca archive President, in those same tasseled loafers, Whereas Jessica Mize has served for and finding the pertinent quotation; bringing honor to the Brooklyn Public three years as a member of the Board of Whereas Francisca has ably served as Library, bestowing Brooklyn Public Directors of YALSA with humor, enthusi- liaison for various YALSA committees, Library mementoes on all the Board mem- asm, diligence and patience; including Audiobook Selection, Graphic bers and earning the disdain of his cat for Whereas Jessica Mize has served well Novels, YA Galley, Research, Printz, and his continual absences from home; on the Morris, Library School Database, the Morris Task Force; Whereas during his presidential term and other Board subcommittees, including Whereas during her term of office on David not only oversaw the launch of Chairing the Outstanding Achievement the YALSA Board, Francisca was also the the new strategic plan and the increase Award Group with other Mothers of One chair of the 2006 preconference “Reading of YALS from two to four issues, but Son; with Your Ears”; also, and most importantly, helped triple Whereas Jessica Mize has success- Whereas Francisca served with the cash donations for Teen Read Week fully balanced her Board duties, her 2007 two other Mothers of One Son on the (TRW) 2005 thanks to his well-placed, Printz Committee duties, her Serving the Outstanding Achievement Award Board and well-heeled, contacts; Underserved Trainers duties, her state subcommittee; Whereas his presidential term also association duties, and her new job duties; Therefore be it resolved that the saw the fourth Serving the Underserved Whereas Jessica Mize’s young son has YALSA Board of Directors express its (SUS) training with the awarding of three supported her three years of travel for the gratitude and appreciation for her dedica- scholarships from Highsmith; 125 attend- YALSA Board; tion during her term of office, and wish her ees at the Best of the Best preconference, Whereas Jessica Mize has been a sup- well in her future endeavors. with publication of the newest Best of the portive liaison for multiple YALSA com- Best pamphlet; the launching of YALSA’s mittees and even agreeable about adding mentoring program; the establishment Resolution for David Mowery new ones all the time; of the Great Graphic Novels for Teens Whereas Jessica Mize has been a men- Whereas after many years on the Alex Committee and the fifth anniversary of the tor for new YALSA members from her Award Committee, David Mowery was Printz Award; area especially; elected to the Board of Directors, and Whereas David kept the most Whereas Jessica Mize’s attitude knits quickly became President of YALSA coin- meticulous meeting notes of any YALSA together her love of young adults, their lit- cidentally at the same time that YALSA’s President, resulting in no Board member erature, and their librarians; Deputy Director returned to school to ever being able to weasel out of a task; Therefore be it resolved that the work on her doctorate; YALSA’s increased wielded the gavel with the deftness of an YALSA Board of Directors express their membership forced the decision to give executioner; and tried to include all Board gratitude and appreciation for her dedica- up ALA’s small division stipend and earn members in discussions; tion during her term of office, and wish her its own way; and ALA decided that a Whereas David continued to serve well in her future endeavors. full-time Executive Director was needed, YALSA even during his immediate David had to quickly help interview can- past-presidential term when he hosted Editor’s note: From this issue forward, the didates for this new slot and then “break the first National TRW Kickoff event new members announcement that previously in” Beth Yoke to the YALSA way of doing with Q’orianka Kilcher and Jacqueline appeared in the YALSA Update has been things; Woodson at Brooklyn Public Library; moved to YALSA’s Web site at www.ala Whereas David handled all these Whereas David’s sense of humor .org/yalsa. transitional matters with great aplomb and and fair play has earned him respect and

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YA Hello Groin.indd 1 8/29/2006 8:53:11 AM