Create art based on literature: It Came from a Book!, a Teen Read Week art contest, is being launched by The Library as Incubator Project in partnership with Teen Librarian’s Toolbox, The Real Fauxtographer, and EgmontUSA. Teens are encouraged to read any book and create an original piece of art in any medium—painting, drawing, photo, sculpture, manga, etc.—inspired by the story. Then, they must take a digital photo of the artwork and submit the photo (or file if it is digital) to trwartcontest2012@gmail.com by September 30. Make sure to read the instructions carefully. Librarians are urged to encourage their teen patrons to enter the contest and can download a poster that contains all the relevant information. Teens can submit their own artwork or librarians can do it for them.

During Teen Read Week—October 14-20, 2012—The Library as Incubator Project will host a digital art gallery of all the entries. Online voting at The Library as Incubator Project is open to the public and will determine the winner. One grand prize winner, to be announced on October 20th, will receive a $50 Amazon gift card, The Library as Incubator Project t-shirt, photograph prints from The Real Fauxtographer, signed copies of books (Crewel by Gennifer Albin, Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin, Across the Universe by Beth Revis, and Divergent by Veronica Roth), and a package from EgmontUSA, including their Teens Top 10 nominated titles.

Teen Read Week is a literacy initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association. The annual event is intended to encourage teens to read books just for fun on a regular basis so that reading becomes a habit.

Reading Club

Harry Potter: Scholastic has announced the launch of the Harry Potter Reading Club for educators, librarians, and after-school program coordinators “who want to organize a book club with access to all the tools they need to host a Harry Potter Reading Club and celebrate the joy of reading.” A welcome kit that includes bookmarks, stickers, and nametags will be given to the first 10,000 registrants for the online club. The site will include a discussion guide for each of the seven Harry Potter novels. Scholastic plans to add new content on the site every month. To celebrate the club’s launch, educators can register their classes for a live virtual webchat with J. K. Rowling, author of the series, on October 11th at 12 pm (ET) where she will answer questions from children.

Industry News

New imprints: Soho Press is launching a new imprint for young adults called Soho Teen. What We Saw at Night by Jacquelyn Mitchard is the debut title scheduled for publication in January 2013. Mitchard has previously written four books for children and six young adult novels, including The Midnight Twins (Razorbill, 2008) and All We Know of Heaven (HarperTeen, 2008). Soho Teen’s first list will also include five other titles. “Every story must have a mystery at its heart,” according to Daniel Ehrenhaft, Soho Press’s editorial director.

Triangle Square Editions is a new children’s book imprint that will be launched by Seven Stories Press this fall. The first list, for middle school and young adult readers, will include both fiction and nonfiction titles. Among the first releases are A Different Mirror for Young People by Ronald Takaki, Do You Dream in Color? Insights from a Girl without Sight by Laurie Rubin, James Lecesne’s Trevor, and The Story of the Blue Planet by Andri Snaer Magnason.

Granted

Achieve, a nonprofit education reform organization, has been awarded a three-year, $7 million grant from the GE Foundation. The grant will assist Achieve in giving states support needed to implement the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS). “We look forward to working with Achieve’s leaders as they further engage governors and the business community in getting ready for the changes required by the Common core,” noted Robert Corcoran, Vice President, Corporate Citizenship and President and Chairman of the GE Foundation.

The Lending Library, offered only in the U.S. and for free to Amazon Prime members, lets readers download one title each month—with no due date. While public and school library patrons must sometimes wait for popular titles to become available, Amazon pointed out in a statement that under the deal “there are no limits on how many people can simultaneously borrow the same title—so readers never have to wait in line for the book they want.”

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