TEEN READ WEEK & BEYOND: Teen Reading Programming Throughout the Year

January: Teen Book & Media Awards Every January YALSA announces the winners of its book and media awards Alex, Edwards, Morris, Nonfiction, Odyssey, & Printz Prepare for the awards announcement Hold a mock Printz or Nonfiction Award election Display previous or potential winners Create an awards announcement countdown on the library web site Explain how the awards are announced at the ALA Midwinter Meeting and that people can watch a live webcast of the announcement on the ALA web site or sign up to receive the winners as a text message to your phone State what each award is for: Alex is for the 10 best adult books with teen appeal; Edwards is for significant & lasting contribution to YA lit & goes to one author & a specific body of his/her work; Morris is a debut award for YA lit; Nonfiction will be for the best nonfiction book published for YAs; Odyssey is for best audiobook production for youth; Printz is for the best YA book of the year

February & March: Celebrate! Celebrate the award winners Displays Book clubs Contests Author events Update your collection and services Purchase the winners & titles on the selected lists Incorporate the titles into readers’ advisory Spread the word Download & reproduce bookmark templates Letter to the editor Links on your web site Booktalks The Official YALSA Awards Guidebook published by Neal Schuman has resources to help you plan events and programs Visit YALSA’s web site to download the free bookmarks and for other resources to help you celebrate the winners Right after the awards are announced Follett Library Resources creates a page featuring the winners to make ordering easy

April: National Library Week Teen Read Week registration opens at www.ala.org/teenread Promote YA literature in your community Author events Read-a-thons Letters to the editor Online book reviews Participate in Operation Teen Book Drop It is not at all like it was when today’s parents were teens Librarians need to inform parents and educators that most of YA Lit is not the Baby Sitters Club or Gossip Girl. Nearly 3,000 books are published for young adults each year Young adult literature is the fastest growing segment of publishing

May thru September: Teens’ Top Ten It’s a teens’ choice award for the best YA books Nominations are posted online in April Encourage your teens to read the TTT nominations so they can vote for their favorites in Aug. The winners are announced during Teen Read Week Use the list for collection development Brainstorm ways to tie the TTT into summer reading Share the list with school librarians and teachers Use in booktalks, book clubs and displays Feature the titles on the library web site www.ala.org/teenstopten The list of nominations, which is usually between 20 and 30 titles, is posted on the YALSA web site during National Library Week in April.

October: Teen Read Week Encourages all teens to tell their own stories All schools, libraries & bookstores can participate Celebrated annually the same week as Columbus Day in Oct. Registration is free & registrants receive special promotions Celebrate in a way that works best for you www.ala.org/teenread The 2017 Teen Read Week is Oct. 8-14 and will be celebrated with the theme “Unleash Your Story” Registration opens and the web site featuring free resources both launch in April during National Library Week. ALA Graphic sells posters, bookmarks and other items to help you promote the event. https://www.alastore.ala.org/ While Teen Read Week is celebrated in October, the same week as Columbus Day, YALSA recognizes that this may not be the best time for everyone. If that week doesn’t work for your community, choose another one. Many libraries also choose to extend the celebration and make October “Teen Read Month”.

Unleash Your Story! Create displays that feature the storytelling theme Host a books-to-film, film festival featuring books that feature teens telling and changing their stories Have your teens vote on their favorite folktale, biography or autobiography. Ask your Teen Advisory Group to help you create events where they and their peers are encouraged to tell and share their own stories. Visit YALSA’s wiki to find out more ideas and/or to share your own. Check out a free Teen Read Week Programming webinar at http://www.ala.org/yalsa/webinars Ask the audience what other ideas for celebrating the theme come to their mind.

Websites for More Information www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists (awards & lists) www.ala.org/teenstopten (Teens’ Top Ten) www.ala.org/teenread (Teen Read Week) Each of these web pages will give you detailed information about the programs that were mentioned earlier.

Programming Resources from YALSA Cool Teen Programs Under $100 (July 09) Excellence in Library Services to Young Adults, 5th ed. (2008) M.A.E. Award for Best Lit Program for Teens, http://tinyurl.com/MAEaward Program Idea Wiki at http://tinyurl.com/YAprograms YALSA’s new Teen Programming HQ database, http://hq.yalsa.net/index YA-YAAC, a listserv for library workers to share programming ideas, http://tinyurl.com/YAYAAC Young Adult Library Services (quarterly) The first two items are books that can be purchased via the ALA online store. The deadline to apply for the MAE award is December 1st of each year. The winning librarian gets $500 for him or herself and $500 for their library. YA-YAAC is an email listserv that is open to anyone who wants to subscribe. Young Adult Library Services is YALSA’s quarterly journal which regularly features best practices in serving teens, including programming ideas and resources. It’s $50 to subscribe, or free with YALSA membership.

Continuing Education Resources Stay current with the latest in teen reading through YALSA’s webinars! YALSA offers monthly webinars on the third Thursday at 2pm EST Learn about our upcoming webinars here: http://www.ala.org/yalsa/webinars Can’t attend the live session? Check out our webinars on demand! www.ala.org/yalsa/webinarsondemand

Please contact YALSA if we can be of help 50 E. Huron St. Chicago, IL 60611 1.800.545.2433 x4390 yalsa@ala.org www.ala.org/yalsa (web site) http://yalsa.ala.org/blog/ (blog) http://wikis.ala.org/yalsa/index.php (wiki) YALSA has four full time staff. They are happy to answer any questions you may have, so please don’t hesitate to call or email them. They’ll do their best to return your call or email within 24 hours.

Who is YALSA? YALSA stands for the Young Adult Library Services Association Parent organization is the American Library Association (ALA) Has over 5,200 members who are school librarians, public librarians, educators, grad students and library supporters Mission: to support library staff in alleviating the challenges teens face, and in putting all teens ‒ especially those with the greatest needs ‒ on the path to successful and fulfilling lives.

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