The award was first created two years ago and honors nonfiction titles published for young people ages 12-18.

The 2013 finalists are:

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster (Scholastic) by Deborah Hopkinson, an intricate examination of that fateful night that incorporates stories from Titanic survivors as well as detailed facts.

Bomb: The Race to Build — and Steal — the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon (Roaring Brook) by Steve Sheinkin, an enthralling, suspenseful account of how the work of scientists, spies, and saboteurs resulted in the atomic bomb.

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 (Farrar) by Phillip Hoose, which explores a species of bird that migrates hundreds of thousands of miles over the course of its life.

Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different by Karen Blumenthal (Feiwel & Friends) by Karen Blumenthal, a nuanced portrait of the late entrepreneur and innovator that delves into both his life and his myriad accomplishments.

We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March (Peachtree) by Cynthia Levinson, a meticulously researched photo-essay that chronicles the narratives of four young people involved in the Birmingham Children’s March.

“The committee is very proud of the five finalists,” Angela Frederick, chair of YALSA’s Nonfiction Award committee told SLJ. “I think each author succeeded in telling a true story in a fascinating way, and that is what will attract teen readers. There were many wonderful nonfiction books published for teens this year, and the committee struggled to narrow it down to the five that were ultimately chosen.”

YALSA will host a reception honoring both the finalist authors and the winner, as well as YALSA’s Morris Award winner and finalists, at a reception from 10:30 am to noon on January 28 in room 606 of the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle.

Members of the 2013 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults award committee are: Chair Angela Frederick, Nashville (TN) Public Library; Ruth Allen, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR; Roxy Ekstrom, Schaumburg (IL) Township Library; Angie Manfredi, Los Alamos (NM) County Library System; Judy Nelson, Pierce County Library System, Tacoma, WA; Maren Ostergard, King County Library System, Issaquah, WA; Laura Pearle, VennConsultants, Carmel, NY; Adela Peskorz, Metropolitan State University Library, Saint Paul, MN; Jennifer Rothschild, Arlington (VA) Public Library; Sara Morse, Nashville (TN) Public Library; and Gillian Engberg, Booklist, Chicago.

Sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the award recognizes a book written for young adults by a debut author.

The 2013 finalists are:

Wonder Show (Houghton Harcourt) by Hannah Barnaby, a dark tale of historical fiction about a teenager who joins a traveling sideshow as she searches for her father.

Love and Other Perishable Items (Knopf) by Laura Buzo, an unflinchingly honest story following a fifteen-year-old and her intense, but one-sided, crush on an older co-worker.

After the Snow (Feiwel & Friends) by S.D. Crockett, in which a teen boy searches for his family in a bleak, dystopian world of freezing temperatures, crowded cities, and a fascist government.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post (HarperCollins/Balzer & Bray) by emily m. danforth, a complex and poignant coming-of-age story of an adolescent girl, wrestling with the death of her parents and her own sexuality, who is sent to a conversion camp for gay teenagers.

Seraphina (Random) by Rachel Hartman, a fantasy about a girl who inhabits a world where dragons and humans uneasily coexist—and who is hiding a potentially devastating secret.

The finalists “may be first-time published authors, but they are writing with great polish and sophistication, and their books have themes or topics that are really relevant to teens’ lives,” Joy Kim, chair of YALSA’s Morris Award committee, told SLJ. Representing a wide range of topics and genres, the finalist list “reflects that teens have diverse reading interests,” she said.

The finalists and the winner will be honored at a reception hosted by YALSA, as well as YALSA’s Nonfiction Award finalists and winner, from 10:30 a.m. to noon on January 28 in room 606 of the Washington State Convention center in Seattle.

The award is named for William C. Morris, an influential pioneer in the world of publishing who advocated marketing books for children and young adults.

Members of the 2013 William C. Morris Award Committee are: Chair Joy Kim, Pierce County Library System, Tacoma, WA; Lee Catalano, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR; Diane Colson, Palm Harbor (FLA) Library; Michael Fleming, Pacific Cascade Middle School Library, Issaquah, WA; Sarah Holtkamp, Chicago Public Library; Shelly McNerney, Blue Valley West High School, Overland Park, KAN; Anne Rouyer, New York Public Library; Judy Sasges, Sno-Isle Libraries, Marysville, WA; Vicky Smith, Kirkus Reviews, South Portland, ME; Sandy Sumner, administrative assistant, Morehead (KY) State University Camden–Carroll Library; and Ilene Cooper, Booklist consultant, Chicago.

Here’s what Sarah had to say about page four of my book: “There are two paragraphs here, which begin with the sentence, ‘There are two ways to tell the story of America.’ Again I was pulled to an abrupt halt. Really? (I thought) There are two ways to tell the story of America? Two? Not three or six or twenty.’”

Obviously, I don’t agree, and I look forward to a lively discussion with the Flowers team at some future gathering. But I’m restating my point here not to wrangle over my book’s language, but rather to reflect on the recent presidential election and some of the post-election analysis and complaints.

As the New York Times reported, some Republican voters in, for example, Wyoming are discouraged by the election’s outcome. Those businesspeople see what they term “dependency” on the government as “unsustainable” and directly counter to what they’re certain is our nation’s can-do, self-reliant, and individualist core. Of course, it was precisely this split between the 47 percent of takers and, implicitly, the 53 percent of doers that Governor Romney spoke of in that captured video—a split echoed by Bill O’Reilly and many others after the election.

From the Colonial days, when Pennsylvania’s rich lands were called the “best poor-man’s country,” through Emerson’s canonical essay on self-reliance, through the generations of graduation speakers who have used his words as their guide and inspiration, America has stood as a land where an individual has a chance to make good. Our emphasis on the individual as an individual was in stark contrast to the rest of the world, where a nation or empire generally embraced an established religion. In those societies, one was defined as belonging to the prevailing faith or viewed as an outsider. There was also a set class system in which your expectations were defined by your birth—and a strong sense of national heritage in which to be English, or Chinese, or Zulu was defined by not being something else. Of course, this made it difficult to figure out what rights to grant minorities, such as Jews, Quakers, Uighurs (Muslim Chinese), Koreans in Japan, etc.

No wonder the Wyoming voters are angry and feel as if the America they know, love, and believe in is slipping away and joining the muck of the world that their ancestors left behind. But there’s one key flaw in that narrative of American history. When Congress first set rules for how an immigrant could be become a naturalized citizen, it faced a major dilemma. Should just anyone be allowed to come here and join the American experiment, including Jews who could not vote or hold office in England and Catholics who might be beholden to the Pope? In 1790, Congress decided that religion would not be a barrier. Indeed, any free white person was eligible for citizenship. (The rule was amended to include Africans after the Civil War—and thus specifically excluded Asians and later Hispanics; the law was not fully replaced until 1952.)

For some Americans, being an individual has always been trumped by being part of a group: African Americans, Native Americans, LGBT Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist Americans, and even female Americans have always been aware of their group identity—once considered a demerit, now often a source of pride. Here’s the second narrative of American history: no matter who you were as an individual, the shadow of your group defined how others perceived you, and it greatly influenced your prospects. If you identify with any of these groups, American history has only fractionally been a story of individual effort. Rather, it has always been a matter of collective profile.

In the recent election, members of precisely these same groups tended to side with President Obama, and all of the post-election demographic analysis has been about their rising power. One narrative of America’s history that emphasizes collective experience is edging past another that emphasizes that individuals are free to seek their own destinies. But there are, as I said at the beginning, two narratives of our past. Both are, in their own way, true. Indeed, it’s the weave, the intersection, of belief in the individual and the assumption that that individual is white and male, that’s our national story. Both of these stories, taken together, subvert and enhance one another and make up the real pageant of our past.

What a perfect Common Core topic: present your students with a cluster of resources, some that focus on America as the land of the individual and others that focus on our nation as the land of group prejudice and collective experience. Soon, I hope, your libraries will be alive with sound of the resulting questions, comments, and debates. I can hardly wait.

Scott Westerfeld, Photo by Samantha Jones

What are the next big trends for teenage readers? Fandom, contemporary fiction, Australian lit, and transmedia, according to experts leading panels on these subjects at the third biennial YALSA Young Adult Literature Symposium in St. Louis, MO, held November 2-4.

Fandom

Fandom was the focus of “YA Literature and Fan-Created Work,” a panel organized by Robin Brenner, teen librarian at the Brookline (MA) Public Library, and host of the graphic novel website No Flying, No Tights. Brenner was joined by panelists Aja Romano, fandom journalist at the web newspaper The Daily Dot, and Leslee Friedman of the Organization of Transformative Works, a group devoted to archiving fandom.

What is fandom? The community of fans that grows up around a shared interest such as a book, a TV show or a film, according to the panel. Teens who write fan fiction about a favorite book, create fan art based on a favorite movie, or dress like a favorite TV character are all participating in fandom.

Fandom also figured in “Make it Pop: How to Use Pop Culture in Your Library,” presented by Sarah Wethern, youth librarian at the Douglas County Library in Alexandria, MN, and Scott Rader, assistant youth services librarian at the Hays (KS) Public Library. The duo presented an entertaining survey of current teen pop culture interests, from the phenomenon of Bronies (teenage and adult male fans of the TV show My Little Pony) to Bad Lip Reading videos (spoof video clips of films and TV shows with humorous dubbing).

Scott Westerfeld (author of the “Leviathan” series, Simon Pulse) also celebrated fandom in the context of book illustration during his closing keynote. Reviewing the history of book imagery, Westerfeld honed in on the original Sherlock Holmes illustrations, which forever attached the “deerstalker” hat to the Holmes character, though the hat is never mentioned in the story. Westerfeld supplemented his talk by presenting examples of fan art, created by in response to favorite books.

Contemporary fiction

In their program “Get Real,” public librarians Angie Manfredi, Kelly Jensen, Kathryn Salo, and Andrea Sowers spoke about contemporary fiction, defined as any book set in the present. They discussed books published in the past three years.

In Manfredi’s view, contemporary fiction resonates because “seeing the reality of your life reflected back to you in books is incredibly empowering.” Salo shared the emotional impact that such contemporary titles as Boyfriends with Girlfriends (S&S, 2011) by Alex Sanchez (featuring diverse teens exploring their sexuality) and Tell Us We’re Home (Atheneum, 2011) by Marina Budhos (similar in mood to Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Delacorte, 2001), but featuring the daughters of maids and housekeepers) had on teens in her library.

How new does something have to be to be “contemporary?” Certainly not older than five years, according to Manfredi, who created a stir in the room and on Twitter when she told the audience not to refer to the TV character Veronica Mars while booktalking to teens. Why not? Because the Veronica Mars series (2004-2007) is already outdated.

Australian Literature

“Globalize Me! Young Adult Literature from Outside the U.S.” was presented by nonfiction writer Catherine M. Andronik (Stephen Colbert: A Biography, Greenwood, 2012; Copernicus: Founder of Modern Astronomy, Enslow, 2006) and Adele Walsh, program coordinator for the centre for youth literature at the state library of Victoria, Australia.

Walsh highlighted several Australian authors in her talk, including Leanne Hall (This Is Shyness and Queen Of The Night; both Text Publishing, 2010 & 2012) and Fiona Wood (Six Impossible Things, Pan Macmillan Australia, 2010). Attendees left the panel primed to read books by Australian YA author Vikki Wakefield (All I Ever Wanted, Text Publishing, 2011) as well as Saltwater Vampires (Penguin Australia, 2010) by Aussie Kirsty Eagar. More details on Walsh’s presentation are available online.

Transmedia

Jackie Parker, teen librarian at the Lynnwood Library, WA, and Rachel McDonald, teen librarian at the Washington’s Burien Library, talked about new ways of telling stories in “When a Book is More than Paper: Transmedia Trends in Young Adult Literature.”

“Transmedia” means more than an adaptation or book tie-in, the panelists said. It refers to a single unified story, told on multiple media, that avoids redundancy.

They highlighted an array of examples, from older titles given a modern treatment like iPoe (an interactive and illustrated Edgar Allan Poe Collection app) to original stories written to be a transmedia experience, such as The Survivors (Chafie Creative Group LLC, 2011) by Amanda Havard. While Parker and McDonald were enthusiastic about transmedia titles, they were also pragmatic—pointing out issues of accessibility and discussing how enhanced titles can, or cannot, be lent by libraries.

Presenter Kelly Jensen, associate librarian at Beloit, WI, Public Library, spoke for many attendess when explaining why the YALSA conference appeals. “Big conferences like ALA Annual are great but because they cover so many aspects of librarianship,” she said. The YALSA symposium offers something different–specialized “niche sessions” that one wouldn’t find elsewhere.

Author interviews: “Writers Speak to Kids” is a free series of 17 videos from NBC Learn that features interviews with popular and award-winning children’s books creators. The authors, responding to questions posed by NBC News correspondent Jenna Bush Hager, talk about their writing process and experiences. The series launched on September 17, with interviews of Peter Brown, Doreen Cronin, Jeff Kinney, Daniel Kirk, and Mo Willems. Gordon Korman, Ridley Pearson, Laura Vaccaro Seeger, Philip Stead, Rebecca Stead, Clare Vanderpool, and Jacqueline Woodson are among the other authors that will be interviewed during the fall. The program is intended to inspire students and help them learn about creative writing techniques.

Mora Award Winner

Día celebration: The Lynden Public Library of the Whatcom County Library System in Washington has won the 2012 Estela and Raúl Mora Award for exemplary efforts promoting El día de los niños, El día de los libros (Children’s Day, Book Day). More than 250 people attended the festivities, and each child was given a book. The event featured craft activities led by bilingual teen volunteers, and had several storytimes that ended with a game of lotería (Mexican bingo) with books given as prizes. There was also a disc jockey, a piñata, and other games. The Lynden Public Library will receive $1,000 and a special plaque. “What resonated with the committee was the grassroots involvement of Lynden’s Día,” said Beatriz Pascual Wallace, Mora Award chair. “There was a strong sense of community connection with this event, of everyone coming together to plan, celebrate, and share.”

For the first time, three honor awards were given: the District of Columbia Public Library, King County (WA) Library System, and Sacramento (CA) Public Library each received $300. The award, presented annually in partnership with REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish speaking, was established in 2000 by author/poet Pat Mora and her siblings to honor their parents. The award will be presented during the American Library Association’s (ALA) Midwinter meeting in January 2013 in Seattle.

Common Core

Free writing rubrics: Turnitin, in partnership with the English Professional Learning Council, has made writing rubrics developed to align with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) available free to educators. The rubrics for argumentative, narrative, and informative essay assignments for 9th and 10th graders and 11th and 12th graders help instructors explain to students what is expected of them, assess student work, and track their progress. You can also watch a free video on the Common Core writing rubrics.

Early Learning

Digital content: Capstone’s myOn reader has expanded its collection of early childhood reading content with the inclusion of hundreds of enhanced digital titles from eight additional publishers: Bellwether, August House, Little Folk, August House Story Cove, Orca, Rourke, Speakaboos, and Sylvan Dell.

Launched in 2011, myOn reader is a personalized literacy program that offers access to an integrated library of digital books with reading supports, customized to a student’s interest and reading abilities. Teachers can monitor, track, and measure student reading growth. To date, myOn reader offers more than 2,500 books. These titles include reading supports such as an embedded dictionary, highlighting, and audio. “Reading proficiency is the foundational aspect of learning, so building students’ literacy skills early is critical to putting them on the path to success throughout school and beyond,” said Todd Brekhus, president of Capstone Digital. “The expanded collection of early childhood content available on myON reader combines a student’s love of technology with their innate curiosity and interest in learning.”

A Booklist for Teens

Best books: Sixteen school and public libraries have been selected by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), as official book groups for their Teens’ Top Ten, a booklist created by and for teens. Groups of young adults from these libraries nominate titles published during the 2013-2014 calendar year to create the Teens’ Top Ten nominations. Then, it’s up to teens across the country to vote for their three favorites. When the ballots are tallied, the Top Ten list is created. And that’s not the only job for these teen book groups. They also evaluate books for more than 30 publishers. New groups are chosen every two years.

The libraries that have been selected are: BHS Book Club, Barrington (IL) High School; Book Hook, Cecil County Public Library, Elkton, MD; Bookhype, Perry Branch Library/Perry High School, Gilbert, AZ; Bookmarked, Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy, Jefferson, LA; CCHS YA Galley Group, Concord-Carlisle (MA) Regional High School; Greene Teens Review Board, Springfield-Greene (MO) County Library; HCRHS Bookworms, Hunterdon Central Regional High School, Flemington, NJ; Interesting Reader Society, Poudre River Public Library District, Fort Collins, CO; McReaders, Oakridge Middle School, Clover, SC; Mount Carmel Academy Book Club, Mount Carmel Academy, New Orleans, LA; PPL Teen Book Club, Prescott (AZ) Public Library; Read, Read, and Read Some More, Milton (VT) Middle School and High School; The TABbler, La Vista (NE) Public Library; Teen Book Posse, TAB, and Q Club, Kitsap Regional Library, WA; Teens Know Best, Metropolitan State University and St. Paul (MN) Public Library; Young Adult Advisory Councils, Johnson County Library, Shawnee Mission, KS.

Granted

Literacy skills: Want to help teens in grades 10–12 learn news literacy skills like distinguishing between fact, and opinion and between propaganda and news? Public libraries and library consortia can apply for more than $50,000 in grant money from the News Know-how initiative. Funded by the Open Society Foundations and administered by the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF), students get training and support from librarians, journalists, and news ethicists.

Participating libraries select 12–15 diverse students from the 10–12 grades from their community. The students must attend about 25 hours of training during the summer 2013 and complete a team project that requires about 25 hours of outside work. All students who complete the project receive a stipend. Make sure to apply by December 8.

Book donations: Three Coretta Scott King Book Donation Grants are available for underfunded libraries, schools, and non-traditional organizations that provide educational services to children. Recipients of the grants will receive more than 100 titles submitted for consideration for the 2013 Coretta Scott King Book Awards as well as all the winning books. You have until January 31 to apply for the grant (make sure you click on Book Donation Grant after you log on). Winners will be notified in February.

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are presented each year by the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee of the American Library Association’s Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT) “to encourage the artistic expression of the African-American experience via literature and the graphic arts.”

What did people discuss during all this socializing? One topic: How reading, by nature a solitary occupation, can also be a social one. Educational technology consultant Linda W. Braun’s Saturday morning session, “Social Reading: Inside the Ebook Book Discussions,” examined the ways that talking about books creates connection among readers. And while sharing one’s enthusiasm on social reading site Goodreads is terrific, those exchanges happen outside the book.

Enter social reading within Ereaders. Typically, reading an Ebook allows for highlights, note-taking, and sharing on Twitter and Facebook from within the book. Braun showed her audience iPad apps that take social reading a few steps further. First, she introduced two book apps—Wonders of the Universe by Brian Cox (a 3-D tour of the universe, which Braun sees as the future of nonfiction) and Cupcakes! (an app for creating virtual cupcakes; the future of cookbooks).

Braun then introduced two free reading apps—Inkling (allows for purchasing a chapter of a book at a time, the creation of reading groups, and private or public notes) and Kno (a textbook app that provides detailed sharing options perfect for study groups).

David Levithan speaks at the YALSA Lit Symposium in St. Louis. Photo by Emily Goodknight.

But the bulk of the discussion focused on the Subtext app. Subtext allows for the creation of groups, the easy purchase of one title for a group of readers, the side-loading of EPUB titles onto the app (including original student work, for example) and extensive sharing features. It is not only possible to highlight and add notes to the original text, the reader can also tag those notes, mark notes as spoilers, keep notes private, or turn off the notes feature altogether. Every attendee of the session left with a code granting access to a free copy of Steve Hamilton’s (Alex Award-winning) novel The Lock Artist (Minotaur Books, 2010) and the ability to join a reading group to begin November 10th.

This opens up myriad possibilities for both classroom and literature circles. Using Subtext, teachers and librarians can be right in the story with teen readers. Teachers are able to insert questions within the text and implement a setting that cloaks other student replies until the reader has posted themselves. An in-the-book discussion could level the playing field for students who are slow processors. They could read at their own pace at home, taking their time answering questions within the text, yet still feel part of the discussion.

There’s great potential for book club discussions as well. Book club members unable to attend their meetings could still participate in the discussion within the book. Other uses? Prepping for author visits, sharing creative writing projects, peer editing, sharing alternative endings–the list goes on. In sum, Subtext allows librarians to be part of the reading experience. It’s all about building relationships with teen patrons.

On Saturday afternoon, Rollie Welch, collections manager at the Cleveland Public Library, led the session “Classic Literature vs.21st Century Novels: Survival of the Fittest.” The purpose was to share ideas for persuading adults who work with teens to move beyond assigning or recommending classics that rarely appeal to teen readers.

Earlier this year, at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, Welch led a pre-conference session in which the attendees chose the one book that every teen should be assigned to read in 2057. In other words, what contemporary YA books will survive as a classic? (At that session, it came down to a tie between Laurie Anderson’s Speak (Farrar Straus Giroux, 1999) and Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief (Picador, 2005)).

The YA Lit Symposium session really got rolling when Welch shared 15 theme areas. For each area, he began with a classic novel typically assigned in school, then offered a contemporary novel and a nonfiction title on the same theme. Audience members had a wonderful time recommending alternatives and applauding their favorites. For example, for the theme of “Young Soldiers at War,” rather than assigning The Red Badge of Courage, why not try Craig Crist-Evans’s Amaryllis (Candlewick, 2003) or Evan Wright’s Generation Kill (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2004)? In the Mystery category, rather than The Hound of the Baskervilles, consider Rick Yancey’s The Monstrumologist (S&S, 2010), or Richard Jones’s Jack the Ripper: The Casebook (Andre Deutsch, 2009). Rather than Robert Lipsyte’s The Contender (Harper & Row, 1967), try Paul Volponi’s Black and White (Viking, 2005) or Brian Shields’s The WWE Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to World Wrestling Entertainment (DK, 2009).

Welch believes that at least three on his list of classics will still be read and enjoyed by today’s teens–The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Even so, he offered Printz Award winner, Ship Breaker (Little, Brown 2010) by Paolo Bacigalupi as an alternative to the latter in the category of “Hero’s Journey of Self Discovery.”

The YA Lit Symposium is held every other year. The 2014 conference will be held in Austin, TX, over the Halloween weekend.

Angela Carstensen is Head Librarian and an Upper School Librarian at Convent of the Sacred Heart in New York City. She also blogs at Adult Books 4 Teens. Angela served on the Alex Awards committee for four years, chairing the 2008 committee, and chaired the first YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adult committee in 2009. Recently, she edited Outstanding Books for the College Bound: Titles and Programs for a New Generation (ALA Editions, 2011). Contact her via Twitter @AngeReads.

There was a clear pattern to the week: the crowds increased each day—and by Thursday, there was a waiting list for people who wanted to get into our packed sessions. (We’re scheduling a new event for them.) As the crowds grew larger, the attendees’ backgrounds got more diverse. When Sue and I began offering these workshops in August, almost all of the people who came were school librarians, and that held true earlier in the week. But by Thursday, more than half of the guests were public librarians, teachers, supervisors, and administrators. Geography played some part in this: the more rural the area, the smaller the crowd and the higher percentage of school librarians; as we moved into larger cities, more people attended and they worked in a wider variety of jobs. Yet, even if location was one reason for the change in attendance, there was a clear theme in the questions, discussions, and overall mood that matters to all of us: CC is no longer coming someday, it’s here.

As each day went by, the discussions became ever more practical and pragmatic. People were no longer questioning whether CC was a good idea or what it is or where to find basic information about it. Instead, they were talking about implementation: What can I do to make sure that Common Core is part of my next lesson or unit? It was this real-world practicality that made the event seem worthwhile to teachers and administrators. Perhaps the single most exciting aspect of the week was seeing these school teams arrive together and work together—the idea that Common Core will only succeed when everyone in the building works together (and the local public library is an informed, integrated, resource) was no longer an aspiration, it was an unfolding reality.

Of course, with the practical comes frustration. Here are some of the kinds of questions we heard:

“How can I do all of the wonderful work on evidence, argument, point of view, and juxtaposed sources that CC wants, when my shelves are filled with books that all use the same layout and same huge color images, and say little about their sources?” Our answer is to use multimodal resources—another CC mandate—juxtapose an article from a magazine or database with a book on your shelves. Look carefully with your students, are the books really identical? Do they all have page numbers, tables of contents, and references to experts that were consulted? Do the experts or the institutions they work at have websites where you can get new information? Do their sites recommend a book on the same subject written for older readers to compare and contrast?

Another important question we heard was, “How can I use longer nonfiction books by excellent authors in my class when the books are only in hardcover and cost too much?” One strategy to meet this challenge is to divide up your class into “literature circles” in which students thoughtfully discuss a work. Twenty-five kids can be divided into five groups of five: one might use that costly hardcover, which the library may have or be able to get through interlibrary loan; another group can use a paperback; a third can use an ebook that’s available to multiple users; a fourth can work from a magazine and a related database; and a fifth group might even find a relevant graphic novel. With this approach, the cost problem has been transformed into a differentiated learning opportunity. Of course, this means the teacher has to work closely with her librarian to select resources that fit together.

And then there was this dilemma: “Having a display on ghosts, are they real?, would be great, but I have too many parents in my community who would protest. I pick my battles and that is one I don’t want.” That isn’t a Common Core question—it’s an issue for how you run your library. But it’s true that in opening the door to evidence, argument, and point of view, Common Core will bring more controversial questions out in the open. The issue is no longer about giving one novel to one child, it’s about showing students the many ways in which library resources look at issues, including everything from global warming and fracking to animal testing and using instant replay at Major League Baseball games. Some parents are likely to object when they see a view they dislike on display. Where, I would respond, do you want your children to see these debates, on the Internet or in an environment where adults help them recognize different points of view and evaluate their arguments?

And finally, here’s another question that many in our audience grapple with: “I’m a public librarian and teachers come here, hand me a list of books that they say is Common Core–approved, and are mad when I can’t find them. Indeed, many are out of print.” That list is the infamous Appendix B to the Common Core English language Arts Standards. As the list clearly states, these books are exemplars, not selections (for more on this topic, see “The Problem with Common Core’s ‘Appendix B,’”). Push back by pointing out that nonfiction, in all areas, can’t be frozen in 2009. Instead, check out recent selections by the National Council for Teachers of English’s Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, the National Council for the Social Studies and the Children’s Book Council Carter G. Woodson Book Awards, the National Science Teachers Association and the Children’s Book Council’s Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12, the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal, the Association for Library Service to Children’s Notable Children’s Books, and the Young Adult Library Services Association’s Award for Nonfiction for Young Adults. See if any of their award-winning books can meet the same needs.

Each of the above questions reflects real problems that aren’t easy to solve. But that’s what is so wonderful about them: they arise because Common Core is real, it’s here, it’s happening, and we’re learning, together, how to make it work.

Star Wars: National Star Wars Reads Day is October 6. The event is an initiative of Lucasfilm and its publishing partners, Abrams, Chronicle Books, Dark Horse, Del Rey, DK, Scholastic, Titan Magazines, and Workman. Although the sign-up period to receive a free Star Wars event kit from the sponsors (1000 libraries signed up) has ended, there is another option available for libraries that want to participate in the event. ABDO Publishing is offering a free Star Wars event guide containing teacher’s guides, promotional posters, interviews with celebrities connected to the franchise, a list of nearly 300 Star Wars universe terms, a video of the event that was held in the Hennepin County Library in Minneapolis, and an order form for the 68 ABDO/Spotlight Star Wars library editions. You can also follow Star Wars Reads Day on Facebook.

Game On

Free online game: Electronic Arts’s Star Wars: The Old Republic, previously a subscription only massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), will be available online for free starting this fall. The free version allows players “to play free to Level 50, with game play restrictions that limit game options and access to certain game content,” according to Jeff Hickman, the game’s executive producer. Those who continue to subscribe for $15 per month will have free unlimited access to all game features and game updates. The publisher will rely on players buying premium content and virtual items to make money.

Digitally Yours

Multimedia ebooks: eBoost is ABDO Digital’s new multimedia line of flip book ebooks that are combined with related media links. Among the multimedia features of ABDO’s flip books is the ability for readers to turn pages and make them larger. Each ebook in the new eBoost line also includes Web links; downloadable content; embedded videos; RSS and/or Twitter feeds; notes and custom links fields for teacher comments, posting messages, and student assignments; and more. The eBoost titles, featuring secure Web-based hosting by ABDO, are compatible with Macs, PCs, iPads, and Android-based tablets such as Kindle Fire or the Nook. The new line is being launched with 164 titles for elementary through middle grade students. Titles can be ordered individually or in bundles such as Animal Kingdom, Body Systems, The Civil War, Planet Earth, and more. eBoost is sold as a site license with simultaneous access for multiple users.

Granted

Public awareness campaign: The 2013 Scholastic Library Publishing National Library Week Grant is an annual $3000 award open to all libraries. To apply for the grant, libraries must come up with a public awareness campaign using the National Library Week Theme—“Communities matter @ your library—and involving at least one other community organization. An application form and guidelines are available on the Scholastic Library Publishing National Library Week Grant website. The application deadline is September 30. The winner will be announced after the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle in January 2013. The winner must provide documentation of their activities and submit a report to ALA’s Public Awareness Committee by May 20. The grant is sponsored by Scholastic Library Publishing and is administered by the Public awareness Committee of the American Library Association (ALA).

Read On

Literacy initiative: Author John Green, Michael L. Printz and Edgar Award winner, has been named the spokesperson for the 2012 Teen Read Week, a literacy initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). The theme of this year’s Teen Read Week—celebrated October 14-20—is “It Came from the Library!” “Getting more teens to pick up a book and make it a regular habit” is what Teen Read Week is all about says Jack Martin, YALSA president. Among his duties, Green will host a national event to kick off the celebration and will judge a contest in which teens are charged with creating a video about their favorite book.