February 16, 2013

Pew & Berkman Report: Parents, Teens, and Online Privacy

Pew logo

The Pew Internet & American Life Project, in collaboration with the Berkman Center at Harvard University, has recently released “Parents, Teens, and Online Privacy”. The report—the first in a Pew/Berkman Pew logoseries with a focus on youth privacy issues—combines a number of quotes taken from focus group interviews conducted by Berkman’s Youth and Media team with Pew data from a nationally representative phone survey of parents and their teens, with a focus on the use of social networking sites. The report is fully downloadable, and may be searched online as well.

Book Reviews from Young Adults

Nobody But Us

Bookmarked really rallied after the Thanksgiving hiatus! We have a fabulous combination of books reviewed this issue, from mystery to thrillers to fantasy, all with a dash or more of romance. The 2012 titles are ready for reading over the holiday break, so get your holds placed now.

Media Mania: Got Gamers? Books Tie-ins to Teen-Favorite Video Games

121912acag

Tempt teens away from the screen and into the pages of a book with an appetizing array of offerings based on popular video games. You may even get them interested in history—the latest Assassin’s Creed is based on the American Revolution, set in the colonies in the mid-1700s.

2013 National Día Program Registry Now Open

Dia logo

The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) is inviting librarians to register for its 2013 El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day) programs in the 2013 National Día Program Registry. By registering Día programs held throughout the year in the national registry, participating libraries contribute to a national database that showcases all types and sizes of Día programming. This allows other librarians and the public to learn more about Día programs happening around the country. Libraries that register will also receive Día stickers and bookmarks (while supplies last).

Game and Music Reviews from Young Adults

Breaking Dawn Soundtrack 2

Want to save Middle-earth without getting off the couch? The new Lego Lord of the Rings videogame makes that completely possible. For those that never tire of zombie hunting, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will not disappoint. And it’s just possible that the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 Motion Picture Soundtrack could provide appropriate background music for the zombie hunters, with its “soulful sound” and “a bit of wailing.”

Cocoa and Cram

GHS Cocoa and Cram

One surefire way to get students to beat a path to your library is by offering food. And if you also offer hot cocoa and exam study help, you’re going to have a full house! Librarian Christy DeMeyer (front, left) at Golden High School (CO) experimented with this format last year, and found it so successful that she’s running Cocoa and Cram for a second time during this semester’s finals period.

Fresh Paint: Teen Volunteers—Priceless

Gum Spring Library

Volunteers are a critical component of the public library organization. At my branch, nearly 20 percent of the shelving is completed by adult and teen volunteers. Each month teens log an average of 125 volunteer hours, which is comparable to having an additional staff member. We have volunteers at work nearly every open hour during the summer, and on evenings and weekends during the school year. Their dedication is tireless. Their value? Priceless.

From the Trenches: Parallel Universes

Every Day

Wishing for everyday life to disappear and to be magically transported somewhere else does not always deliver on the promise of a happier ending. Parallel universes seem to be a popular trend these days, with quite a few books released in 2011 and 2012. For one, YA thrill-master Christopher Pike is back, veering toward fantasy with his trademark thriller plot thrown in the mix. And, in one of the most highly acclaimed books of the year, Every Day, David Levithan drops the main character into a new body, and therefore a new world, each morning. Some of the titles are serious, offering a look at how one might escape a bad home or school life. Others trend toward humor or fairy tale retellings. In all, the glimpse of “what might have been” provides readers an escape from their daily lives.

A Visit from Sarah Beth Durst

Sarah Best Durst

Donna Rosenblum, librarian, Floral Park (NY) Memorial High School, does everything she can to get her teens engaged in reading and writing, and author visits are always on her mind. Local YA author Sarah Beth Durst was already scheduled for a visit when Superstorm Sandy came whipping in. Undaunted, Rosenblum bumped the date forward to early December. That’s when Durst spoke at the Floral Park Memorial High School (FPM) library. The appearance was the sixth installment of the FPM’s READS program, which Rosenblum initiated to bring students, staff and parents together for author visits.

Listen to a Life Essay Contest Now Open

Listen to a Life Essay Contest

What student isn’t intrigued by time travel? The annual Listen to a Life Essay Contest gives kids a chance to travel through time and learn about the past, while discovering a direction for their own future. The contest also helps build critical 21st-century skills. Now in its 13th year, this is a powerful learning experience that changes lives and communities.

Book Reviews from Young Adults

Colin Fischer

OK, the column title isn’t exactly accurate this time. To pick up the Thanksgiving holiday slack, Elizabeth Kahn, the leader of our fine young adult reviewers at Bookmarked, has also contributed a review. Liz reviewed the debut novel Colin Fischer—and her write-up is a beauty. As is the review of Greg Takoudes’s When We Wuz Famous, due out March 2013. Our final review is a second take on Jessica Brody’s Unremembered, and like the original review, gives the novel a big thumbs up.

NCTE Roundup, Two

Oreo cookie

If your school or public library is looking for some ideas for teen programming, the following sessions from NCTE’s recent annual conference are bound to inspire you. While most of the presenters focused on older teens, their programs can also be adapted for middle schoolers. And there are many more sessions that can be explored on NCTE’s 2012 website, such as But I Hate Poetry, Using Signal Words in Graphic Novels for Sequence and Cause/Effect, or Ah Ha Allusions!—Pop Culture Allusions & Dystopian Literature, to name just a few.

Tech Tidbits from the Guybrarian’s Gal: Make Technology Work for You

TwtPoll

A friend of mine recently forwarded me one of those emails. I’m sure you’re familiar with them: lots of cute photos, and when you scroll to the bottom, you typically see some kind of humorous statement. This particular email had several pictures, all of teenagers—at the park, in a restaurant or car, at a baseball game. And in every image, the teens wereahunched over, totally engrossed in their cell phones. The very last photo is of Albert Einstein, and it’s accompanied by a quote from him: “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.”

Coming Soon: YA Underground

Amy Cheney

Starting on January 16th, Amy Cheney from Alameda County (CA) Library, Juvenile Hall will be contributing a column to SLJTeen titled YA Underground: Teen Books You Might Have Missed. Scheduled to run every other month, Amy will write about books she’s reading and authors that are of interest to teens—particularly those from poverty classes and/or incarcerated youth.

On the Radar: Top Teen Picks from the Editors at Junior Library Guild: Two Parts Make a Whole: Using Graphic Novels in Your Common Core Classroom

Bloody Chester

If you’re looking for official justification for the purchase of graphic novels, look no further than the Common Core State Standards. In grades 6-12, students will be required to apply the Reading standards to a variety of text types, including graphic novels. For mature readers, this fall’s releases offer stories of war, madness, gangs, and failed dreams. Young adult patrons will have much to think and talk about after reading these selections.

Music and Game Reviews from Young Adults

Music from Another Dimension

Our latest music reviews feature the bad old boys (Aerosmith)… and the good new boys (One Direction)—and it sounds like their albums couldn’t be more different from each other. The Avengers finally make it to the gaming table with some superhero moves, and NBA2K13 is bound to please those who are looking for action on the hardwood.

Take Me Home, One Direction (Columbia)

One Direction is certainly a phenomenon in the music world. This Simon Cowell-created boy band is so popular with its [...]

Calling All Teens: Banned Books Video Contest

Youth Free Expression Project

Got a great story to tell about a banned book or another disturbing incident involving censorship? Then encourage your teens to enter the 2012 Youth Free Expression Project’s (YFEP) film contest—and give them a chance to win up to $1,000 and a free trip to the Big Apple.

The annual competition, open to kids 19 and under, hopes to educate youth about their First Amendment rights and the importance of free speech. It’s a perfect way to teach a lesson on [...]

NCTE Round Up, One

NCTE 2012 logo

Over the next few issues of SLJTeen, I’ll be posting brief summaries of many of the sessions I attended at the annual National Council of Teachers of English annual conference, held in Las Vegas, Nov.15-18, 2012. Hand-outs for many of the sessions are available from the NCTE 2012 website. This round up includes sessions on nonfiction resources for English teachers, literacy efforts for incarcerated youth and adults, and faeries in young adult literature.

Collaborative Summer Library Program Launches 2013 Teen Video Challenge

CSLP Beneath the Surface

The Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) has launched the 2013 Teen Video Challenge, a national video competition for young adults to get involved with reading and their CSLP Beneath the Surfacepublic library’s summer reading program. Kids across the country are invited to create a 30- to 90-second video with their unique interpretation of the 2013 teen slogan “Beneath the Surface” in combination with reading and libraries. The idea is to involve teens in summer reading, before and during the summer months, by being part of the process. This is an opportunity for teens to showcase their creativity and have their ideas heard by a national audience.

Book Reviews from Young Adults

Meant to Be

If there was any doubt that 2012 William C. Morris YA Debut Award Finalist Ruta Sepetys could meet readers’ expectations after ​Between Shades of Gray​,​ put those fears aside—her upcoming title, ​Out of The Easy​, confirms that this writer is here to stay. Lost memory remains a popular convention in YA lit, as ​Unremembered ​and ​Being Henry David​ remind us, and for romantics, ​Meant to Be​ offers a fun frolic through the streets of London.