Teen Read Week

Annapolis Valley Regional Library (AVRL) branches will celebrate Teen Read Week October 28-November 2, 2013 with special events and programs aimed at encouraging teens around the area to read for the fun of it. Teen Read Week is a time to celebrate reading for fun while encouraging teens to take advantage of reading in all its forms —books, magazines, e-books, audiobooks and more! It is also a great opportunity to encourage teens to become regular library users.

The libraries at AVRL  have some great events planned, including a Carnival just for teens at our Annapolis Royal, Berwick, Middleton, and Port Williams libraries. Games, photo booth, prizes, and snacks await! GirlPower, a program for girls ages 10-15, will be held at four of our library branches. Our Bridgetown branch is throwing a Harry Potter Party, and in Kentville teens are invited to A Night in Paris. There’s also a contest planned for the week—check out a Teen Read Week display book and be entered to win a “Big Bag o’ YA” books and treats.  And starting November 1, we will offer LIVE online Homework Help from Tutor.com. Teens can get help with Math, English, Science and more from expert tutors online. 

Stop by your local library this week to see what's going on! You can print out the week's activities here.

It's OK to Read YA

More and more, adults are reading novels written and published for the YA (Young Adult) market. This blog post is a companion piece to a presentation that I am giving at the NSLA conference this weekend—lots of links and titles and authors and articles for you to explore. 

YA is not ALL Ghosts & Vampires, (but there are some good ones.) A boy whose father is a grave robber, two young cancer-stricken lovers, a prisoner of the Nazis in France, the best love story ever (with 80’s music), a very creepy ghost meets some flappers, a real-live Cinderella, growing up in a whore-house in New Orleans, a sexy and sensitive vampire, and a Voynich manuscript mystery: do these sound like YA to you? Meet the new YA!  Do those sound good? Try them:

Rotters by Daniel Kraus, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, The Diviners by Libba Bray, Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick, Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys, Blood by K.J. Wignall, and The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman.

Yes, the themes are mature. But so are teenagers. Some of these books may not be suitable for a 13 year-old, but then another 13-year old may have already lived through worse. We have to give teens credit for being able to handle mature themes in books. There’s plenty of controversy surround YA books: they get banned all the time.  Some adults think teens shouldn’t read these books,  but “challenging the books doesn’t change the teen years".

Why are adults reading these books (and loving them?) Have you ever snuck into the teen area of the library or book store and pretended to be picking out a book for your son or daughter? It is OK to read YA!  Here are some authors to check out (in no particular order):  Maggie Stiefvater, Paul Rudnick, Robin Wasserman, Elizabeth Wein , Malinda Lo, Philip Reeve, Carrie Mac, A.S. King, John Green, Daniel Kraus, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Rainbow Rowell, Andrew Smith, Sarah Dessen, Lurlene McDaniel, Ruta Sepetys .  All of these authors already have a pretty big fan base with teens, and adults are starting to figure out why. These books are savvy, exciting, terrifying, funny, witty, creepy, real, and grab you from the first page. There’s often very little time in a YA book for too much navel-gazing. It is all about the character and the story and often, some really good writing. 

If you want more, here are some booklists. And don’t forget about audiobooks, because many of these books have been produced as high-quality audios that will make you stand up and pay attention. Have fun on your YA journey. Share a book you loved with a teen, and find out what they are reading—you might just like it. 

Booklists on the AVRL website:  Dystopia For Beginners, Ghosts & Vampires, Got Wolves?, Faerie Realms, FantasticFantasies, Realistic Fiction, Teen Romance. There are even more on our website, so go explore!  Still skeptical that YA is not for you, the discerning adult reader? Try some read-alikes suggested in this article.

Celebrate YA books with us next week, when Teen Read Week gets into gear! Lots of programs and a contest, so stay tuned!  

--Angela J. Reynolds, Head of Youth Services

What is YA? Ghosts

In celebration of Teen Read Week, and to get you in the mood for Halloween, I have some good ghosties to share with you. I've been reading ghost books since I was in High School. Some of the creepiest ghost books I've ever read have to be Anne Rice's "Mayfair Witches" books – featuring vampires, witches, ghosts, and all sorts of bad things that go bump in the night.  There's been a resurgence in supernatural YA books, partly attributed to the sensation that Twilight caused, but also, I believe, because a good scare is always in fashion.  If you are a casual scary-book reader, these are NOT for you. However, if you like your books to stay with you in your nightmares, dare to read these creepy books! 

Dreams of the Dead by Thomas Randall – After her mother dies, Kara and her father move to Japan, where he is teaching at a private school. Kara is befriended by Sakura, an outsider whose sister was brutally murdered. Other students begin to disappear, and Kara is having terrible nightmares… or are they real? The setting in Japan helps create the scary atmosphere in this book, which reminded me a little bit of the movie, The Grudge. That scary woman's face kept popping into my head as I read this one! There's a sequel out, too - Spirits of the Noh. 

Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children by Ransom Riggs – When his grandfather dies and leaves him a strange message, Jacob is compelled to discover the meaning. He ends up in a strange house on the coast of Wales, where he meets some peculiar children.  The book is haunted by old black and white photographs that were the inspiration for the story.  Creepy both in story and visually, this one would make a good read aloud by candle-light. 

The Diviners by Libba Bray- If you are a regular reader of this column, you might have noticed that I am a bit of a Libba Bray fan. There's a reason for that –she is an awesome writer who seems to have an unlimited imagination. This book has one of the scariest ghosts I've encountered in some time.  Meet Evie—a brash girl living in NYC in the roaring 20's. She happens to have a particular talent of being able to read objects – including the buckle from a murdered girl's shoe, which helps lead her to Naughty John—a ghost who has become corporeal and is murdering people. There's a whole cast of characters to love , plenty of humor, a great setting, and a nasty, nasty ghost. This is the first in a series, so stay tuned for further adventures with Evie.  Check out Libba Bray's website for book trailers and other great info on this book.  

There are lots more creepy books out there, and you can find a few more on this booklist.  Some of our branches are hosting Dare to Read book displays for teens this week, click here to see where you can check out a creepy book and enter to win a gift card!

What is YA? - Tear Jerkers

Some readers just love a good sob. You know who you are. You pine for a book that makes you cry. A tissue box at hand, you settle into the comfy chair, and dig in. This summer I read two new YA books that fit the bill for you tissue-box readers. And both are amazing audiobooks, too, though I do caution against driving while crying. Tears get in the way. 

First off is John Green's new book, The Fault in our Stars.  Hazel meets Augustus at a Youth Cancer group, so you know the outcome of their relationship is going to be tearful. Hazel is a survivor, though; she has been living with cancer for years. Augustus has had a leg amputated and appears to be doing ok, too.  I don’t think I'm giving too much away when I say that they fall in love, albeit slowly, and this is the beauty of the book. Their relationship is filled with smart and savvy perspectives on life that most YA books just don't provide. The reader falls in love with Hazel, who calls it like it is. Behind the cancer story is Hazel's obsession with a book, and Augustus' desire to make her happy.  Be ready to cry for the last 50- 100 pages of the book, non-stop. 

In a completely different setting and time, there's Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. Two girls in World War 2, Britain. One is a pilot; the other is a wireless operator. The British Army is so desperate for help that they allow girls to fly planes and learn code!  The two meet and become BFFs, which wouldn’t have happened if there wasn't a war on. You see, one girl is Scottish aristocracy, the other a girl from Manchester. But they do become friends, and again, it is this relationship that makes the reader reach for the tissues. This book is not for the faint of heart; there are awful truisms of war that demand a mature reading level. In fact, while reading, I wondered why this was a YA book, not adult. I decided that because the two main characters are still young (under 21), and the real gist of the novel is their friendship, it is more YA than adult. It moves, too, in a way that adult novels do not—the inner thoughts of the narrators are still young.  The proof of their friendship is one of the saddest and bravest scenes I've read in a long time. 

What are your favourite tear-jerkers? Let us know in the comments! 

WHAT IS YA? Will be a monthly feature, published on the 15^th of each month, written by Angle Reynolds, our Head of Youth Services.  We are giving away YA books to go along with it! Make a comment below about one of the books we talked about, and you’ll be entered into a monthly draw for a YA review copy. Must be able to pick the book up at one of our branch libraries; no books will be shipped or mailed.