Photo Courtesy of Jenny Adams Perinovic.

Jenny Adams Perinovic is taking public library outreach services to another level at the Free Library of Philadelphia. As the outreach coordinator for The Field Family Teen Author Series[1], she has the enviable job of working closely with trending authors and students of Pennsylvania’s school system. The program works by bringing authors into a school for a face-to-face discussion with students. Participants are given free copies of the author’s book, and get to ask the author questions. After attending a Teen Author Series session, many students discover a love for reading. The inspiring Teen Author Series is a rarity in the public library world. Outreach programs are fossilizing and bookmobiles are rusting. Perinovic’s work helps to reach kids who may have never had the opportunity to visit a library, let alone a chance to speak with an author about his or her book.

Perinovic is a recent graduate of Drexel University’s Master of Library & Information Science degree program. In addition to her role as an outreach coordinator since September 2015, she is an accomplished YA author. She published her debut novel A Magic Dark and Bright in 2015. Recently, it was an Amazon #1 bestseller for Teen Sci-Fi & Fantasy/Horror. Below is an interview Andrew Hart did for Public Libraries Online via email with Perinovic on April 8^th, 2017.

PL: What is The Field Family Teen Author Series, and how long has it been in operation?

JP: The Field Family Teen Author Series is an invite-only program at the Free Library of Philadelphia intended to connect 7^th-12^th grade students in Philadelphia public, magnet, private, and charter schools with authors of books for young adults. We’ve existed system-wide since 2002, and we’ve been funded by Joseph and Marie Field the entire time. In addition to having the opportunity to meet an author, every single student who attends one of our programs receives a copy of the author’s book, which is theirs to keep. Our events are generally an hour and a half long (including an author talk, a Q&A, and a book signing!), and take place during the school day. There is no cost to participating classes besides their transportation to and from the library.

This is my second year as outreach coordinator, and in that time, we’ve hosted over 4,000 students and an amazing and diverse array of authors, including Becky Albertalli, Angie Thomas, John Lewis, Ta’Nehisi Coats, Matthew Quick, Colum McCann, Andrea Davis Pinkney, and Daniel Jose Older.

PL: What are the goals of the program?

JP: Our goal is to promote a lifelong love of reading by enabling a connection between students and authors. We also want the students who participate to become familiar with the Free Library of Philadelphia as a system, and we try to spread our events out across our 53 neighborhood libraries.

Another unique aspect of the Teen Author Series is our school outreach. A few weeks before every event, I visit each of our participating classrooms. During my visit, I introduce the book with a short booktalk, start a discussion about the book’s topic, and answer any preliminary questions they might have about the author or the event. These visits are probably my favorite part of my job – I get to know the students and build a relationship with them.

PL: What sorts of challenges do you face as the program’s coordinator, and how do you overcome them?

JP: In the beginning, the biggest challenge was trying to figure out how to schedule all of my events, classroom visits, and deliveries without driving myself crazy. Our events generally include between 100-400 students, which can be anywhere from three to twenty classes. I visit every single one of them, and depending on the discussion we have, they can take anywhere from twenty minutes to the entire class period!

The other challenging aspect is also related to my classroom visits. We don’t shy away from tough subjects in the Teen Author Series—one of my goals, as coordinator, is to provide our teens access to books that both accurately reflect the world we live in and make them think. This means that sometimes, during my classroom visits, we have to talk about these difficult subjects, and it’s my job to provide these students with an open, safe, and non-judgmental space to have these conversations. In the 2016-17 school year alone, I’ve held classroom discussions on topics including human trafficking and teenage prostitution (for E.R. Frank’s DIME), gentrification (Renee Watson’s THIS SIDE OF HOME), sexual assault (E.K. Johnston’s EXIT PURSUED BY A BEAR), anxiety and depression (Claire Legrand’s SOME KIND OF HAPPINESS), gender identity (Alex Gino’s GEORGE), and racism (Angie Thomas’ THE HATE U GIVE and John Lewis’ MARCH).

As uncomfortable as it can be for me to stand in front of a room of 15-year-olds and rattle off statistics about human trafficking, I’ve witnessed some incredible and thought-provoking conversations.

PL: How are authors chosen to participate in the Teen Author Series?

JP: Our team—which includes myself, two amazing teen librarians from the Youth Services and Programs department, our teen materials selector, and our Author Events staff—have two meetings a year where we sit down and talk about books we’ve loved that we think will resonate with our students. We then compile list of authors we’d love to host, and see who says yes to us!

PL: Are authors familiar with the program when they are contacted? (if that is how the process works). If not, what is their reaction when they discover the program’s mission? Is finding willing authors difficult?

JP: Our Author Events office handles booking our authors and arranging their travel. I’m not sure how it was in the beginning, but we haven’t had trouble finding willing authors since I’ve been here. The authors we’ve hosted over the last 15 years are incredible: John Lewis (twice!), Laurie Halse Anderson, Jerry Spinelli, Lois Lowry, Matthew Quick, Sharon Flake, Linda Sue Park, Kwame Alexander, the late Walter Dean Meyers, and many, many others.

PL: Are all schools in Philadelphia eligible to participate? How are schools chosen?

JP: Teachers and administrators who work with 7^th-12^th graders in public, private, charter, diocesan, and magnet schools located within the city limits of Philadelphia can join our mailing list by emailing me at teenauthors@freelibrary.org. Once they’re on my mailing list, they’re automatically invited to our upcoming season. We generally send out two registration emails per year – once in the fall, and once in the spring, as soon as our lineups are finalized. Registration is first-come, first-serve, and our events fill up quickly. Our event with Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, for their book Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin, filled up within 18 hours!

PL: What kind of responses do you get from students and teachers?

JP: It’s been overwhelmingly positive. Of course, I think it’s best to hear from the students and teachers themselves. Here are some responses collected from our surveys:

• Teacher, on the event with Angie Thomas for The Hate U Give – “It brought to light aspects of our society that are hushed and finally gave my students a character they can relate to. Angie was REAL. She spoke to my students as humans and was personable. I would love to be friends with her! I thought it was great all around. I hope to teach this book!”
• “I now know that it is okay to stand up for what is right-peacefully. And I will continue to do so for the rest of my life.” -12th grade student, after meeting John Lewis at the event for March, Book 1
• “This book portrayed the saying ‘there’s beauty in the struggle’ very well.”  -10th grade student, on Dimeby E.R. Frank.
• “Thank you for having us. I love to go get books signed and talk to the author, and I hope we come here again for another event.” -10th grade student, after the event for Becky Albertalli’s Simon Vs. The Homo Sapien’s Agenda
• “It was amazing to hear about the book and meet an author who is a grown-up LGBT person. I’m in seventh grade and LGBT, too.” – 7^th grade student, on meeting Alex Gino at the event for George

PL: What do you consider the most beneficial product of the Teen Author Series?

JP: Oh, I have a few. It’s so hard to pick just one thing!

First and foremost, I think the kids really benefit from the books themselves. There’s a lot of economic inequality in Philadelphia, and so many kids don’t come from homes that can afford things like books. So it’s really special to be able to give every single participant a book, regardless of what neighborhood they live in or what school they go to or what they can afford.

It’s really incredible to be able to enable this connection between author and reader. Hopefully, this will inspire some of our students to go on a write themselves—a lot of them already do, and I think it’s important for them to meet someone who can provide an example of how to build a creative life.

It’s also special to be able to geek out with the kids over the books, and build a relationship with some of them. It’s gotten to the point where I’ll walk into a school and I’ll hear, “Hey, do we get new books today?” or I can’t leave the classroom without being asked about other books they might like. But I think the best moment so far happened a few months ago: After a visit, a senior boy was helping me find my way back to the office. He said, “I’m going to be real with you miss, I don’t really like to read, but that book sounds pretty good.” He promised to give it a chance, and when I saw him at the actual event (for Randy Ribay’s An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes), he came up to me and said, “Miss, you were right. That book was dope.” We high-fived and I gave him a list of a few more books he might like. And when I saw him the time after that, he’d read them all and asked for more suggestions, and just like that, he was a reader.

PL: What advice would you give to libraries interested in implementing a similar program?

JP: I realize that our endowment makes us a pretty unique program, and we’re so fortunate to have the support from the Field Family that enables us to host this incredible program and provide every one of our students with free books. But I think the heart of the Teen Author Series comes from the connections it enables—both the connection between students and authors and the connection between the public library and local schools.

Start small. Talk to the teens, teachers, and booksellers in your community and see what they’re reading and who they’d like to meet. Sometimes schools host authors on their own – see if there’s an opportunity for your library to get involved.  Approach a local bookstore that hosts authors and see if there’s a way to collaborate. Reach out to local authors, or see if you can host a virtual visit via Skype, and see if your school contacts would be interested bringing a classroom of students to participate.

Jenny can be reached at jennyperinovic@gmail.com.

Reference

[1] https://libwww.freelibrary.org/programs/teen-author/

The post Promoting a Lifelong Love of Reading: PL Talks With Jenny Adams Perinovic first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Columbus, Ohio, middle school librarian Karen Yingling encouraged her own children to think, act, and read outside gender norms: Her daughters mowed the lawn and played with dirt, and her son even had a doll named Bob. She found it more difficult, however, to gain the reading attentions of her male students with suggestions like Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls when asked for spy books.^[2] One brilliant idea turned the tide.

Faced with a rejection of “girly” books by the boys, Yingling gathered the popular eighth grade football players and filled them in on her secret plan. The boys agreed but could not resist some snickering at the idea of reading girls’ books. Once the football players were seen reading those materials, Boys Read Pink was born. Yingling notes that while some boys took to it with “gusto,” others were a bit shy and asked for the books to be covered.^[3]

In sparking this movement, Yingling is subverting decades of cultural norms. Journalist Adrienne LaFrance discusses this turn toward going outside gender boundaries. She speaks with a number of parents who found themselves wanting broader boundaries of expression for their children, feeling uncomfortable denying their sons the right to wear pink and sparkles or their daughters to have “Darth Vader Vs. Elsa” parties. Boys, however, face those same constraints but “tend to get less attention,” she writes.^[4]

Scottish book blogger Lindsay Quayle also discussed the trending changes in gender norms, particular in reading materials and habits. She, too, sees the turning tide, addressing a reader’s concern for her son’s current “girly” tastes. She ultimately believes it is not a matter of books suitable for separate genders, but a matter of whether individual books are suited for individual children. Allowing children to read whatever they want fosters a love of reading. With parental guidance, children should have that element of choice. “No,” she asserts, “there shouldn’t be such a thing as a girl’s book or a boy’s book. And yes, absolutely, your child should read what he likes best, however pink it is.”^[5] She ends the post by highlighting the work of Marjorie Blackman and other British authors who are taking a stand against the gendering of books.

In the end, Yingling’s Boys Read Pink movement is not about making waves, but about giving youth the freedom to read as they choose. For boys, in particular, this means taking away the shame of being seen reading a “girl” book. “It’s one thing to claim that there is no difference in what middle school boys and girls should read, but that doesn’t get readers to change their habits or challenge their preconceived notions about gender,” she stresses.^[6] Yingling hopes people can learn to extend this idea beyond books and learn to see people the same way.

Further Reading

• Allison Flood, “Campaign to end gender-specific children’s books gathers support.”

References

[1] Adrienne LaFrance, “The Princess Revolution,” Atlantic, May 11, 2016.

[2] Karen Yingling, “Challenging Gender Norms with “Boys Read Pink” Celebration,” School Library Journal, May 18, 2016.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Adrienne LaFrance, “The Princess Revolution.”

[5] Lindsay Quayle, “Bookbug Detective: Should Boys Read Pink Books?,” Scottish Book Trust [blog], September 3, 2015.

[6] Karen Yingling, “Challenging Gender Norms with “Boys Read Pink” Celebration.”

The post Boys Read Pink: Challenging Gender Norms first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

At Pikes Peak Library District in Colorado Springs, Colo., we started using a Tough Topics for Teens bookmark to get the word out about the resources that we have to help teens on a variety of issues, including abusive relationships, acne, LGBT, and sex. We were inspired by a post on the ALA Think Tank Facebook page of a bookmark with a list of hotlines, and my colleagues and I were excited to make something similar!

We decided to have the bookmark be double-sided. One side has call numbers for difficult teen issues. The other side has local and national phone numbers for teens to use in a crisis. We include numbers for AA-teen, child abuse prevention, Colorado Crisis Service, eating disorders, El Paso County Department of Health, Inside Out Youth Services, Mental Health Crisis Hotline, National Runaway Switchboard, Suicide Prevention Hotline, and more.

At first, the teens did not take the bookmarks too rapidly. The bookmarks were mostly used by staff when helping a teen with a sensitive issue. Many of our teens are comfortable in our space and with our staff, so they open up to us. Our staff cares a lot and wants to help, but we are not trained counselors or medical professionals. This bookmark provides excellent resources to both staff and teens.

We’ve done a few different things to market this great resource to teens: adding bookmarks to book displays, placing them under glass table tops, and sharing them with volunteers during training.

• In the East Library teen center, we have café tables with glass tops. We decided to place these bookmarks under the glass. This is a great way to provide information without them having to approach the desk.
• We started adding the bookmarks to our book displays at our downtown location, and the books and bookmarks started flying off the shelves. The teens at our downtown library are socioeconomically diverse, and quite a few of them are dealing with difficult issues. The display put the bookmarks in front of our teen patrons and made the books even more discoverable! One of the unexpected outcomes of starting a Tough Topics display is that we were able to find gaps in our collection. Our collection development team purchased new books that deal with these issues.
• Last year, one of our staff noticed that a couple of teen volunteers had marks that appeared to be from self-harm. This broke her heart and propelled her to find out what action we could take to support the teens and prevent it from continuing. Legally, we cannot do very much, but we can tell volunteers that we are available to help them find resources and show them our bookmark. There are so many cases of invisible pain; we decided to provide the Tough Topics bookmark to all of our volunteers during training. We mention the resource but do not linger on it.

If you are interested in using our bookmark as a template, please contact me, and I’ll send it your way!

The post Tough Topics for Teens first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

El Deafo Book Cover

Public Libraries: You’ve written and illustrated a number of picture books. But what made you want to write for older kids with your Newberry Honor book El Deafo?

Cece Bell: I really felt like a graphic novel was the perfect format for this particular story—a picture book would not have been able to show all I needed to tell. And the story I wanted to tell involved a lot of the same issues that middle grade kids are experiencing now, so it just made more sense to write this book with middle grade readers in mind.

PL: What was the best and hardest part of writing/illustrating this book?

CB: In general, the hardest part was just the sheer amount of work involved in making the book. So much drawing! So much figuring out! More specifically, the chapter about sign language was extremely difficult to write. I am not proud of the attitude I had about sign language when I was a kid, but I wanted to be honest about it in the book. I worked very hard in this chapter to balance my own negative feelings with the more positive facts about sign language that the sign language teacher shares with me during this chapter.

PL: Were you a library user when you were young? Do you use the library now?

CB: I definitely used the library when I was young. I was lucky because I could walk to our local library—it was just four blocks from home. I confess that I did a lot more looking at pictures than I did actual reading. I soaked up the picture books and disappeared into the enormous collection of Winsor McCay’s Sunday comic strip, Little Nemo in Wonderland, which was so big you weren’t allowed to check it out.

I use the library today as a quiet place to get some writing and illustrating done. I still love to soak up the pictures in the picture book section, too.

PL: What do you enjoy most about library and school visits?

CB: I really enjoy answering the kids’ questions, and then getting to spend a little bit of one-on-one time with them.

PL: If you weren’t a children’s book writer and illustrator, what would you like to be?

CB: There’s nothing else I’d rather be! But I occasionally wish that I was a jazz pianist. How cool would that be?

The post I Was Lucky Because I Could Walk to Our Local Library: A Conversation with Cece Bell first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

1. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. Perkins has written a trilogy of related romantic tales, and it all kicked off with Anna’s story. Anna’s family decides she should spend her senior year attending school in Paris, and she is less than thrilled until she meets St. Clair. Unfortunately, St. Claire already has a girlfriend. This is a sweet and funny story with great characters.
2. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. This romance about two misfits is a 2014 Printz honor book. It tells the story of first love between Eleanor and Park through one school year.
3. Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford. This is American Pie for teens. Carter is a boy just entering high school and this book is all about his hilarious (and often disastrous) adventures in the search for love and sex.
4. Playing with Matches by Brian Katcher. This is the story of how Leon found his dream girl, except she wasn’t exactly how he pictured her. Melody Hennon was horribly burned as a child, but she fulfills everything Leon wants in a girlfriend. This book focuses on Leon dealing with his emotional connection to Melody, and his purely physical attraction to the gorgeous Amy Green. It’s a great book with realistic romance and humor.
5. These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman. This Sci-Fi Romance is about two literal star-crossed lovers. Stuck alone with each other on an abandoned planet, Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Marsden must work together to survive and to find out the secret behind the whispers they hear when no one else is there.

Cover Photo Credit: fly (CC BY 2.0)

The post Get Ready for Valentine’s Day: Romance for Teens first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Teamwork
This author event was achieved with the help of a large number of people. Ally Condie’s visit was the first author event that I have planned. As the Teen Services Coordinator, I was in charge of the event, but I didn’t do it alone. Thirty-two staff members from the Teen Services Team, Community Engagement and Outreach Office (public relations), Facilities, and Security made this day go smoothly. We also had 20 teen volunteers.

Funding
The Kirkpatrick Family Fund sponsored Condie’s fee for the day with a very generous grant, which we applied for with the help of the PPLD Foundation. Once we received the grant we had one year to find an author and plan the event. Additional funding was donated by the PPLD Foundation to, in part, pay for buses so students from area schools could join us. One teacher commented in a survey, “Thanks so much for providing the transportation. Without that, my students could not have attended.”

Schedule and Statistics:
9 am student presentation: 281 students and adults

11 am student presentation: 311 students and adults

6 pm reception: 24 winners and guests

7 pm public presentation: 417 patrons

8 pm book signing only (just waited in line; didn’t see the presentation): 75 (many more people had their books signed!  Condie signed books for 2.5 hours!)

We had 1,108 people attend the five programs associated with the event!

Promotion:
School visits for booktalks and resource classes provided us with a captive audience to promote the author event.

Partnership with Barnes & Noble: They sold books at the event, so they were willing to put bookmarks and posters up. Independent book stores also helped us promote by putting up posters, but selling books at the event wasn’t something they could do.

One of the local newspapers (The Colorado Springs Independent) had an article about the event.

PPLD’s one book, one community program is called All Pikes Peak Reads. Matched was the teen selection. This synchronicity provided another way for the event to be promoted.

Word of mouth was very important. Staff members were excited, so it was easy for everyone to talk about it. We also used social media to get the word out on Facebook and twitter.

Feedback
I put together a survey for the teachers. The comments were wonderful! Here are a few:

“Great presentation, and very motivational and engaging.”

“The day went exceedingly well. Our students enjoyed the presentation very much. Condie was well prepared for all of the questions and gave many helpful tips to aspiring writers.”

“My students liked the personal nature of her remarks. Several of them talked about wanting to write books. I think hearing her, they realized that they could write too.”

When I started planning this author visit, I was quite intimidated. To prevent myself from having a nervous breakdown, I took a lot of deep breaths, created checklists for every aspect of the day, and got help from a lot of people. Amazing things are possible and, as Condie’s characters frequently remind each other in Matched, “Do not go gentle”[1].

The line at the Ally Condie book signing (Click to expand):

Photo by Tori Sparrow

Works Cited

[1] Thomas, Dylan, “Do not go gentle into that good night,” Poets.org, Nov. 29, 2014, http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night.

Cover Photo Credit: Jeffrey Beall CC BY 3.0

The post Ally Condie Visits Pikes Peak Library District first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

What is fan fiction? Originally a niche hobby shared through zines and in-person conventions, it is the act of creating a story based on already-established characters and worlds portrayed in literature and film. Some “fan fics” even focus on fictionalized narratives about real-life celebrities. Now, there are seemingly endless resources online where writers can share their work. These range from communities on more general blogging sites like LiveJournal and Tumblr to dedicated sites about specific fandoms such as Fiction Alley (Harry Potter). Some authors are even profiting off their work through Amazon’s new Kindle Worlds service, dedicated exclusively to the self-publishing of fan fiction.

According to a recent School Library Journal article, many teens use fan fiction as a creative outlet to improve their writing skills, make friends, and explore new emotions and experiences. One of the advantages to new sharing platforms such as Figment and Wattpad is that they integrate a social experience of providing feedback for others’ work, similar to traditional social networks like Facebook. Creating new stories about characters they already love can give teens an added incentive to keep writing and honing their crafts, in addition to providing what can sometimes be a much-needed escape from real life. Developing this skill and finding acceptance in the online world can boost a teen’s self-esteem as well. The hobby is not without controversy, though.

Some experts, including famous authors like George R.R. Martin, have voiced concerns that young writers should be using their creativity to concoct stories from scratch, as opposed to letting others create their worlds for them. There is also the issue of copyright and just how much of these already-published characters and plot lines can be manipulated under fair use. Finally, despite the fact that most fan fiction sites allow users as young as thirteen to post their work, not all fan fiction is appropriate for teens thanks to explicit sexual content, language, and even violence.

Many public librarians feel the pros of fan fiction outweigh the cons and have capitalized on this trend by creating fan fiction programs or clubs in their libraries. Still, others are wary. Should fan fiction be welcome in general writers’ groups? Should it be promoted through specific events that specially cater to that type of writing? The questions are endless.

Have you done anything to address this growing phenomenon in your library?

The post Fan Fiction: No Longer Underground first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Let’s get started with the Schneider Family Book Award.  This award has been administered by ALA since 2004.  It recognizes a book that encompasses “an artistic expression of the disability experience” for teens and children (Stonewall, 2013). The Schneider Family Book Award was initiated by Katherine Schneider, who is blind, and her parents, who both worked with people with disabilities.  This award honors their dedication to serving those with disabilities. It also recognizes how people with disabilities are thriving in society.

The Stonewall Book Award was the first award issued to books written for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) teens.  The inaugural award was presented in 1971 and currently has three distinct categories issued to books that acknowledge the GLBT experience.  The awards are: the Barbara Gittings Literature Award (for fiction), the Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award, Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award.

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has many committees that recognize great teen books.  The committees are named for the award they issue and have quite an interesting past.  YALSA’s Amazing Audiobooks committee is charged with presenting a list of 25-30 audiobooks that have a range of appeal for teens 12 to 18.  This year there are 28 fiction titles and two non-fiction titles.  The Best Fiction list comes from the Best Fiction for Young Adults Committee, which started in the 1930s as the “Best Books for Young People” (Best Fiction, 2013).  They are charged with select the best books for teens and create a list for teachers and librarians to use when selecting books for a collection.

The Great Graphic Novels for Teens Committee reviews graphic novels for teens. In 2013 there were 93 titles submitted for review. Of those, 55 titles are on the honor list with the Top Ten listed here.  The Popular Paperbacks Committee has a slightly more difficult charge; they create lists to encourage teens to read for fun (Popular Paperbacks, 2013)!  Every year, Top Ten and theme based lists are created; this year’s lists are: Boarding Schools to Summer Camps: Leaving home to find; Gowns, Greasepaint and Guitars: Not the same old song and dance; I’m New Here Myself: A generation, caught between nations; and, More Books that Won’t Make You Blush: All of the excitement, none of the naughty.  The Quick Pick books are for any teen who “dislike[s] to read for whatever reason” (Quick Picks, 2013)

In my next post, I will discuss what my opinions about some of the books I have read for this challenge.  Stay tuned to find out more!

References

Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults 2013. American Library Association.  Accessed March 5, 2013. http://www.ala.org/yalsa/amazing-audiobooks/2013.

Amazing Audiobooks Policies and Procedures. American Library Association.  Accessed March 5, 2013.  http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/booklists/amazingaudiobooks/policies.

Best Fiction for Young Adults Committee Policies and Procedures. American Library Association.  Accessed March 5, 2013.  http://www.ala.org/yalsa/bfya/policies.

Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults. American Library Association.  Accessed March 5, 2013.  http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/booklists/popularpaperback/popularpaperbacksyoung.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. American Library Association.  Accessed March 5, 2013.  http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/quickpicks.

Stonewall Book Awards List. American Library Association.  Accessed March 5, 2013. http://www.ala.org/glbtrt/award/honored.

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