Banned Book Week: September 25 – October 2

Read a banned book today!  Come to the library during Banned Book Week and choose a book from our display of banned books.  Banned Book Week is based on the principle of intellectual freedom.

"Intellectual freedom can exist only where two essential conditions are met: first, that all individuals have the right to hold any belief on any subject and to convey their ideas in any form they deem appropriate, and second, that society makes an equal commitment to the right of unrestricted access to information and ideas regardless of the communication medium used, the content of work, and the viewpoints of both the author and the receiver of information."

Intellectual Freedom Manual, 7th edition

To Kill a Mockingbird Turns 50!

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee!

“This heart-wrenching, coming-of-age tale set in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than thirty million copies worldwide, served as the basis of an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country.” –Harper Collins

To find out more about the celebration, check out this Harper Collins website: http://tokillamockingbird50year.com/

Going Green with Geography: Give Kids the Power of Global Knowledge

Check out the April, 2010 newsletter from My Wonderful World.org, a National Geographic Campaign http://newsletters.nationalgeographic.com/PS!HNk2yTS2hMgFBgIAAAAGCgFICgg3MDQ5Mjg2NgoKMjAwNzA3Mjk2NgkAQal/Cgk1MjExODIxNTUF

Here are some of the books chosen as the top 10 best books for young adult by the American Library Association for 2010

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The Demon’s Lexicon by Brennan

The Orange Houses by Griffin

The Great Wide Sea by Herlong

The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Jinks

Alligator Bayou by Napoli

Marcelo in the Real World by Stork

Lips Touch: Three Times by Taylor

Need help finding a good book?

Check out this website that finds read-alike authors for you.  Just type in the name of an author you like, and the literature map brings up a very cool-looking graphic display of similar authors.  You may not agree with every suggestion, but it’s one more way to find out about new authors you might like.  For instance, when I put in Terry Pratchett, the two closest names were Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and Neil Gaiman (Coraline, Interworld). If you want to explore one of the names that are brought up, just click on it, and that author becomes the focus of a new web.

http://www.literature-map.com/

A Curse Dark as Gold wins William C. Morris Award

A Curse Dark as Gold (reviewed here on October 15, 2008) has won the William C. Morris Award, a new award honoring an outstanding first novel written for teens. Also check out these Nominees here in the YA Dept:
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Madapple by Christina Meldrum
Me, the Missing, and the Dead by Jenny Valentine

2009 Book Awards Announced

This year's Newbery Medal went to a children's book (The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman), but 2 Honors books are here in the YA Dept:
The Surrender Tree by Margarita Engle (also the winner of the Pura Belpre Award) and After Tupac & D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson







Also check out the 4 Honors books for the Michael L. Printz Award:
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Volume II by M.T. Anderson
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Nation by Terry Pratchett (recently knighted by the Queen!)
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Terry Pratchett knighted by the Queen!

Author Terry Pratchett has been knighted in the New Year Honours list. Pratchett, 60, who lives near Salisbury in Wiltshire, has sold more than 55 million books worldwide and his works have been translated into 33 languages. He is most known for his series, Discworld.

Letters About Literature: National Reading-Writing Contest

Students in grades 4 through 12 are invited to enter a national reading-writing contest called Letters about Literature. The contest is sponsored by The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, in partnership with Target Stores and in cooperation with affiliate state centers for the book. To enter, readers write a personal letter to an author in any genre --fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic. The author can be living or dead. The letter should explain how that author's work changed the student's way of thinking about the world or themselves. There are three competition levels: Level I for children in grades 4 through 6; Level II for grades 7 and 8, and Level III for grades 9 - 12. The winners will be announced in the spring of next year, and will receive cash awards at the national and state levels. Visit the website: Letters About Literature for official guidelines, rules, and entry coupon. The next contest begins this month. Good luck!