Assignment Alert-Sky Vista Middle School

Smoky Hill Library was recently contacted by Annie Olson, Teacher Librarian at Sky Vista Middle School. About 120 students from that school have been assigned to read a Utopia/ Dystopia novel over the next month or so. She sent a suggested reading list that was provided to the students which I have attached under CORE TITLES at our ALD Teen Services wiki in case students come in without their list. This is also a good list for other teen patrons seeking similar titles. Here are a few more that are not on the list that we have @ ALD that would also work:

The destiny of Linus Hoppe / Anne-Laure Bondoux ; translated from the French by Catherine Temerson.
In a utopian world, fourteen-year-old Linus, who is approaching the test that will determine which Realm he will live, rejects the accepted way of life and ventures to change his destiny.

The silenced / James DeVita.
Consigned to a prison-like Youth Training Facility because of her parents' political activities, Marena organizes a resistance movement to combat the restrictive policies of the ruling Zero Tolerance party.

The supernaturalist / Eoin Colfer.
In futuristic Satellite City, fourteen-year-old Cosmo Hill escapes from his abusive orphanage and teams up with three other people who share his unusual ability to see supernatural creatures, and together they determine the nature and purpose of the swarming blue Parasites that are invisible to most humans.

Do you have others you recommend?

~Monica

Learning Styles

Ok, we've all heard about learning styles, but have you ever taken an assessment survey? Take this survey at www.learning-styles-online.com, and glean an understanding about yourself, your own kids, or the teens you work with. One of my daughters is very much like me, and one is not - this helps me remember that she doesn't learn like I do. Will you find out that the survey accurately identifies you, or will you learn something new about yourself?

The Brown Bookshelf & 28 Days Later

There's a cool blog called The Brown Bookshelf, run by 5 African-American authors and illustrators with the goal of showcasing A-A youth literature. They have an initiative this year called 28 Days Later, where for the first 28 days of Black History Month they will profile a different author or illustrator. The showcase authors will be announced January 15. There's going to be a poster to download and print out as well. Looks good!

Sort Books by Middle School/High School???

Denver's teen website lets you sort books by middle school or high school with many books being categorized as both. What does everyone think of that? Our teen focus groups liked the idea - especially the middle schoolers who seemed very conscientious about avoiding inappropriate material. I like the way Denver's works because all items show up, but viewers can choose to sort if they want

If we decide to do it all staff picks, bibs... would have to come tagged as MS or HS or both. What would our criteria be? Will we have to be extra sure that anything tagged middle school is really clean? What would be our source for justification if any are questioned given that the catalog just says 12 and up for all YA?

Please comment on this soon, because that sorting feature will have to be built into the teen site.

Thanks,
Alyson

What to Call “Teen Interests”

One area of the new teen website will feature short to medium length blurbs about a wide variety of things of interest to teens. They will range from frivolous (like Timewasters now) to serious ( Like reminders of finding health and wellness material on Teen Health and Wellness) Basically anything we put up that is not specific to Books and Reading, Movies and Music, or Homework and Research will go here – kinda like the Lifestyle section of the newspaper.

So what to call this area:
Teen Interests - “Teen” is redundant on Teen site?
Random Stuff – too trivial for serious subjects ?
Teen Topics – too serious?
Your Life – too vague?

I am leaning toward Random Stuff because it will really be random. Remember that all the items will go across the home page as well so, people will have the chance to read the item even if they don’t visit the “Teen Interests - Random Stuff –Teen Topics -Your Life” section

Any other ideas, comments please speak up now!

Alyson

Edenville Owls-Book Recommendation

I just finished Robert B. Parker’s Edenville Owls. It’s a really good book, the story is told well, you can picture 14-year-old boys doing exactly what the book characters do, and it’s a fast read. Scholastic’s Reading Counts page lists it at a 4.1 level. Chapters are short and layout is clear – recommend it for guys/reluctant readers; I think they’ll enjoy the story and identify with the character.

Kris

31 Flavorite Authors for Teens

YALSA and Readergirlz are doing a very cool program throughout the month of October. They are hosting online discussions with YA authors every night. I put info up on the website about 31 Flavorites . They are having some big name authors including Ann Brashares, Chris Crutcher, Meg Cabot and Stephanie Meyer on Halloween! Alyson