YALSA Election: An Interview with Edwards Award Committee Candidate Jeanette Larson

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Get ready to vote! The YALSA election runs from March 19 through April 25, and to help you be an informed voter, we’re sharing interviews with each of the 2014 candidates for YALSA Award Committees.YALSA_173x79

This week we are focusing on the Margaret A. Edwards Award Committee, which honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.

Candidates, who will be presented in alphabetical order, were asked to craft “Twitter-length” responses (i.e. around 140 characters). Full biographical information on all of the candidates can be found on the sample ballot.

Today we have an interview with Jeanette Larson. Read More →

YALSA Election: An Interview with Edwards Award Committee Candidate Lisa Goldstein

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Get ready to vote! The YALSA election runs from March 19 through April 25, and to help you be an informed voter, we’re sharing interviews with each of the 2014 candidates for YALSA Award Committees.YALSA_173x79

This week we are focusing on the Margaret A. Edwards Award Committee, which honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.

Candidates, who will be presented in alphabetical order, were asked to craft “Twitter-length” responses (i.e. around 140 characters). Full biographical information on all of the candidates can be found on the sample ballot.

Today we have an interview with Lisa Goldstein. Read More →

YALSA Election: An Interview with Edwards Award Committee Candidate Valerie Davis

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Get ready to vote! The YALSA election runs from March 19 through April 25, and to help you be an informed voter, we’re sharing interviews with each of the 2014 candidates for YALSA Award Committees.YALSA_173x79

This week we are focusing on the Margaret A. Edwards Award Committee, which honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.

Candidates, who will be presented in alphabetical order, were asked to craft “Twitter-length” responses (i.e. around 140 characters). Full biographical information on all of the candidates can be found on the sample ballot.

Today we have an interview with Valerie Davis. Read More →

YALSA Election: An Interview with Edwards Award Committee Candidate Jan Chapman

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Get ready to vote! The YALSA election runs from March 19 through April 25, and to help you be an informed voter, we’re sharing interviews with each of the 2014 candidates for YALSA Award Committees.YALSA_173x79

This week we are focusing on Margaret A. Edwards Award Committee, which honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.

Candidates, who will be presented in alphabetical order, were asked to craft “Twitter-length” responses (i.e. around 140 characters). Full biographical information on all of the candidates can be found on the sample ballot.

Today we have an interview with Jan Chapman. Read More →

YALSAblog Tweets of the Week – December 6, 2013

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A weekly short list of tweets that librarians and the teens that they serve may find interesting.

Do you have a favorite Tweet from the past week? If so add it in the comments for this post. Or, if you read a Twitter post between December 6 and December 12 that you think is a must for the next Tweets of the Week send a direct or @ message to lbraun2000 on Twitter.
Read More →

Have You Started Your Own Revolution?

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on behalf of the MAE Award Jury

The MAE Award for Best Literature Program for Teens recognizes an outstanding reading or literature program for young adults. Learn more about the 2013 winner–you could be next!

Kristen Pelfrey, a teacher at Foothill Technology High School, won the 2013 MAE Award for Best Literature Program for Teens with her program “Best Fiction (about) Young Adults Revolution.” She has continued the Revolution this school year, and spoke by email about her experiences with the MAE Award:

How did winning this award affect how you were viewed at your school or community? How did your students react?

My kids were not surprised at all. They were “Well, yeah, that’s cool” and then immediately made requests for books they want to read. I, on the other hand, went shrieking into the main office and danced down the hall with a copy of the notification email. The entire Underground Library is funded by grant money, and we always need more books. I think that winning this award has helped me get other grant monies. I asked for a matching grant from our parent organization, for example. People seem more inclined to award grants if they see how an organization like ALA/YALSA ‘ put the stamp of approval on it. Read More →

YALSA Awards: Recognizing the Best

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Librarians can be modest about their accomplishments, but shining light on your great teen programs can be a great advocacy activity. And don’t you know someone who can use some recognition for their hard work for YALSA? The deadline for many of YALSA’s recognition and awards is fast approaching.

YALSA Volunteer of the Year Awards

This was new last year and acknowledges the contributions of YALSA members who have demonstrated outstanding service to the mission, goals and work of YALSA during a given service year. There are’ three categories:

  • Chair: leadership of an advisory board, jury, committee or task force
  • Appointed Member: contributions within an advisory board, jury, committee or task force
  • Group: work conducted as a whole by an advisory board, jury, committee or task force Read More →

MAE Award Seeks to Recognize Outstanding Reading or Literature Programming for Young Adults

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On behalf of the MAE Award Jury

Do you run a spectacular teen book club that engages underserved audiences? Did your summer reading program or literature festival connect teens with literature in an innovative way? Have you connected teens to literature or helped them gain literacy skills via some other exciting means? If so, you could win $500 for yourself and an additional $500 for your library by applying for award. Individual library branches may apply.

YALSA members who have run an exceptional reading or literature program in the 12 months leading up to Dec. 1, 2013 are eligible to apply for the MAE Award for Best Literature Program for Teens, which recognizes an outstanding reading or literature program for young adults.

The MAE Award is sponsored by the Margaret A. Edwards Trust. Applications and additional information about the award are available online. Applications must be submitted online by Dec. 1, 2013. For questions about the award, please contact the jury chair, Laurie Amster-Burton. The winner will be announced the week of Feb. 9, 2014.

Not a member of YALSA yet? It’s not too late to join so you can be eligible for this award. You can do so by contacting YALSA’s Membership Marketing Specialist, Letitia Smith, at lsmith@ala.org or (800) 545-2433, ext. 4390.

Recognize the great work you are doing to bring teens together with literature and apply today

TRW 2013: Dollar General Literacy Foundation Spotlight on Patricia VanArsdale

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Today we wrap up our Teen Read Week posts with our final Dollar General Literacy Foundation Grant Recipient, Patricia VanArsdale. Patricia is Teen Services Librarian at Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library in Zionsville, Indiana. Isn’t it a beautiful library? Keep reading to see how Patricia involves the teens in her library and what she did for Teen Read Week.

Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library Zionsville, Indiana

1. Describe your TRW YALSA/Dollar General Literacy Foundation Grant.

Our library had one TRW program on the calendar, but the grant allowed us to offer three additional programs to our teens.’  The first is a Hunger Games meal based on passages in the books.’  Over the summer, teen volunteers poured through two cookbooks based on the book series.’  It was a challenge since our library does not have a stove or an oven, but we found some great recipes.’  The second program will bring in Barbara Shoup, a young adult novelist and Executive Director of the Indiana Writer’s Center.’  Teens will learn what it takes to be a writer and how to navigate the realities of a writer’s life.’  The third program is a reading marathon.’  This will take place over fall break and get teens out of the house and into the library.’  Each teen attending will get a free book and a free bookmark.’  While many teens think they cannot read for three hours, they will learn how easy it is to accomplish something like this when you have stretching breaks, snacks and activities to break up a large chunk of time.’  The fourth program gives us an opportunity to reach out to the schools by making “blinkybugs.”’  These spider-like creatures have LED lights, a battery body and guitar string antennae.’  Vibrations and movement cause the antennae to touch the LED lights, which light up the eyes of the bugs.’  It is a great opportunity to do outreach and collaborate with schools and help reinforce the STEM initiative.

2. Tell us a little about your teen patrons. Read More →