PPYA: Any Suggestions?

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Have you ever thought “I could really use a list of _____ books”? I know I have:vampire books, street lit for teens, historical fiction for teens who hate historical fiction…

That’s one reason I’m glad to be part of the Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults committee. Our job is to come up with lists of young adult titles that are popular and fit a certain theme of the committee’s choosing. Looking for YA books on sports? crime? magic? religion? with proven teen appeal? Look no further!

At ALA’s Midwinter meeting, the committee will be working busily to select titles for this year’s lists: Death & Dying, Fame & Fortune, Journey > Destination, and Spies & Intrigue. We’ll also pick the themes for next year’s lists.

The committee has been passing theme ideas back and forth on our wiki, but we also want to hear from you. What kind of list could you use at your library?’  Any suggestions?

Posted in: Conferences and Symposia, Lists, Teen Reading ⋅ Tagged:

About Megan Honig

Megan Honig is the Teen Collection Specialist at the New York Public Library. When not blogging for YALSA, Megan can be found writing fiction herself, challenging negative attitudes toward street lit, and shocking teens by beating them at Dance Dance Revolution. Megan is also a member of YALSA's Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults Committee.

9 Thoughts on “PPYA: Any Suggestions?”

  2. Megan Honig on January 22, 2009 at 2:59 pm said:

    Shelli, we’ve got that! You can check out 2007’s What’s So Funny? list at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/popularpaperback/07ppya.cfm#funny

  3. Tiff on January 22, 2009 at 3:12 pm said:

    Maybe you already have this……but a list of books that BOTH male AND female teens would enjoy? Books with wide appeal I guess? I can only really come up with a few on my own! 🙂 Thanks!

  4. Andrew on January 22, 2009 at 5:58 pm said:

    LGBT, For girls (thats not Princess/Gossip Girl type books), Boys (but not sports)

  5. mk Eagle on January 22, 2009 at 6:54 pm said:

    I know you’ve written on this topic plenty, but I would really love a more exhaustive list that would cater to the kids who have already read all the street lit in our library (or are waiting for one of our copies to be on the shelf for two seconds, which is rare). I can rarely pull more out than “I like Triple Crown” or “I like stories where things happen,” which makes recommendation hard.

    A related list might be books with non-white protagonists, particularly black or Latino/a characters. We have quite a few of the award-winning titles, but they don’t seem to go out much.

  6. Anne on January 22, 2009 at 7:34 pm said:

    Books for middle school boys!

  7. Mbrink on January 22, 2009 at 9:12 pm said:

    Thanks for working on these lists for us! They’re a big help!

    What about modernized classics (ex. Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty/Much Ado About Nothing)?

    As a thought…
    Do you have someone assigned to regularly update the lists you’ve got? I noticed that my lists have ‘aged’ a great deal in just a year. And a list that was created three years ago was almost irrelevant with all the new stuff that’s become much more popular.

  8. Debby on January 23, 2009 at 9:03 am said:

    Street/Urban lit is very popular in our school . I’d like an up-to-date list of Street Lit that would appeal to a high school audience.

    We also find our series books to have a huge following. Looking for things beyond Gossip Girl and Cirque du Freak. I’m especially interested in series books that feature minority teens like Drama High, Hotlanta and Honey Blonde Chica. Also looking for series books with boy appeal like Demonata.

  9. sarah on January 23, 2009 at 2:38 pm said:

    romance!! i’d love a list of great teen romance. and list of great sports books too. also, maybe graphic novels for girls – ones that aren’t just from minx? a list about fashion would be nice, too. there seem to be more & more of them coming out, and they aren’t all obvious when i go to make a display.

    thanks!! 🙂

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