Photo credit: Camdiluv <3

Dream Factory by Brad Barkley

When the character actors at Disney World go on strike, the teens hired as replacements learn that it isn’t exactly the Happiest Place on Earth. Ella gets to be Cinderella, simply because the shoe fits. It should be a dream come true, but Ella no longer believes in dreams. Luke is a fur character, Dale the chipmunk. Chip is played by his girlfriend, Cassie, who is perfect in every way. Why, then, does Luke find himself more drawn to imperfect things like the theme park’s Phantom? A team-building scavenger hunt brings Luke and Ella together. As they uncover the Magic Kingdom’s treasures, they discover an undeniable magic between them.

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway

While trying to score a date with her cute co-worker at the Scooper Dooper, sixteen-year-old Audrey gains unwanted fame and celebrity status when her ex-boyfriend, a rock musician, records a breakup song about her that soars to the top of the Billboard charts.

The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd

It’s Dade’s last summer at home. He has a crappy job at Food World, a “boyfriend” who won’t publicly acknowledge his existence (maybe because Pablo also has a girlfriend), and parents on the verge of a divorce. College is Dade’s shining beacon of possibility, a horizon to keep him from floating away.  Then he meets the mysterious Alex Kincaid. Falling in real love finally lets Dade come out of the closet and, ironically, ignites a ruthless passion in Pablo. But just when true happiness has set in, tragedy shatters the dreamy curtain of summer, and Dade will use every ounce of strength he’s gained to break from his past and start fresh with the future.

How to be Popular by Meg Cabot

After the Super Big Gulp incident, Steph Landry, now known as the town screw-up, discovers a little book called “How to Be Popular,” which propels her into a world of popularity with hilarious–and romantic–results.

Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

A story told in the alternating voices of Dash and Lily, two sixteen-year-olds carry on a wintry scavenger hunt at Christmastime in New York, neither knowing quite what–or who–they will find.

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

High school student Nick O’Leary, member of a rock band, meets college-bound Norah Silverberg and asks her to be his girlfriend for five minutes in order to avoid his ex-sweetheart.

Love, Inc. by Yvonne Collins

When three fifteen-year-old Austin, Texas, girls who met in group therapy discover that they are all dating the same boy, they first get revenge and then start a wildly successful relationship consulting business.

Sixteenth Summer by Michelle Dalton

Dreading another tourist-laden summer in the Georgia beach town where she lives year round, Anna falls head over heels in love with a visitor from New York and embarks on a near-perfect summer that she fears will end in heartbreak when he returns home at the end of the season.

The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

Fed up with boys and the way they have treated her and her friends, high school junior Penny Lane–named after the Beatles song–forms a club whose members vow to stop dating, but the repercussions are surprising.Fed up with boys and the way they have treated her and her friends, high school junior Penny Lane–named after the Beatles song–forms a club whose members vow to stop dating, but the repercussions are surprising.

The View From The Top by Hillary Frank

Eighteen-year-old Anabelle’s last few months in her coastal hometown are bittersweet. Instead of the quiet precollege summer she expects, Anabelle makes some surprising discoveries about herself as she navigates romantic entanglements and changing friendships. Through shifting points of view in seven interconnected stories, we glimpse the limits of how well her friends really know Anabelle . . . and how little she grasps about the way they see her.

Stray by Stacey Goldblatt

Natalie’s mother, a veterinarian with a dogs-only practice, has the sixteen-year-old on such a short leash that, when the teenaged son of her old school friend comes to stay with them for the summer, Natalie is tempted to break her mother’s rules and follow her own instincts for a change.

Stay With Me by Paul Griffin

Fifteen-year-olds Mack, a high school drop-out but a genius with dogs, and Céce, who hopes to use her intelligence to avoid a life like her mother’s, meet and fall in love at the restaurant where they both work, but when Mack lands in prison he pushes Céce away and only a one-eared pit-bull can keep them together.

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Belly’s never been the kind of girl that things happen to. Year after year, she’s spent her summers at the beach house with Conrad and Jeremiah. The boys never noticed Belly noticing them. And every summer she hoped it would be different. This time, it was. But the summer Belly turned pretty was the summer that changed everything. For better, and for worse.

The Big Crunch by Pete Hautman

June is starting at her sixth school in four years when she meets Wes, who has just broken up with a girlfriend, and although they do not share an instant or intense connection, attraction turns to love and they wonder where it will lead.

Breathing by Cheryl Herbsman

Savannah would be happy to spend the summer in her coastal Carolina town working at the library and lying in a hammock reading her beloved romance novels. But then she meets Jackson. Once they lock eyes, she’s convinced he’s the one her true love, her soul mate, a boy different from all the rest. And at first it looks like Savannah is right. Jackson abides by her mama’s strict rules, and stays by her side during a hospitalization for severe asthma, which Savannah becomes convinced is only improving because Jackson is there. But when he’s called away to help his family and seems uncertain about returning Savannah has to learn to breathe on her own, both literally and figuratively.

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner

As she tries to sort out her feelings of love, seventeen-year-old Cass, a spunky math genius with an introverted streak, finds a way to memorialize her dead best friend.

The Treasure Map of Boys: Noel, Jackson, Finn, Hutch, Gideon, and me, Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart

Ruby is back at Tate Prep, and it’s her thirty-seventh week in the state of Noboyfriend. Her panic attacks are bad, her love life is even worse, and what’s more: Noel is writing her notes, Jackson is giving her frogs, Gideon is helping her cook, and Finn is making her brownies. Rumors are flying, and Ruby’s already-sucky reputation is heading downhill. Not only that, she’s also: running a bake sale, learning the secrets of heavymetal therapy, encountering some seriously smelly feet, defending the rights of pygmy goats, and bodyguarding Noel from unwanted advances.

Seth Baumgartner’s Love Manifesto by Eric Luper

Seth Baumgartner just had the worst day of his life.  His girlfriend dumped him (at Applebee’s), he spied his father on a date with a woman who is not his mother (also at Applebee’s!), and he lost his fourth job of the year. It’s like every relationship he cares about is imploding, and he can’t figure out what’s going on.

To find answers, Seth decides to start an anonymous podcast called The Love Manifesto, exploring “what love is, why love is, and why we’re stupid enough to keep going back for more.” Things start looking up when Seth gets a job at a golf club with his hilarious and smut-minded best friend, Dimitri, and Dimitri’s sister, Audrey. With their help, Seth tracks down his father’s mystery date, hits the most infamous bogey in the history of golf, and discovers that sometimes love means eating the worst chicken-salad sandwich you can ever imagine.

The Smile by Donna Jo Napoli

Believing herself too plain to be loved, Elisabetta’s life is changed when she is noticed by the famous artist Leonardo da Vinci while on a trip to Florence, but after falling in love with a member of the Medici clan, unexpected danger and heartache soon disrupt her young life once again.

True Love, The Sphinx, and Other Unsolvable Riddles: A Comedy in Four Voices by Tyne O’Connell

Told from four different points of view, two American boys go on a field trip to Egypt where they meet two British gals who aren’t easy to please, but through a series of mistakes and miscommunication, new friendship and love finds a way of coming to the surface throughout their travels in a land of ancient culture and modern beauty.

Playing Hurt by Holly Schindler

Chelsea Keyes, a high school basketball star whose promising career has been cut short by a terrible accident on the court, and Clint Morgan, a nineteen-year-old ex-hockey player who gave up his sport following a game-related tragedy, meet at a Minnesota lake resort and find themselves drawn together by the losses they have suffered.

This list was created by Becca Boland, Young Adult Librarian, and Laura Bos from the Hinsdale Public Library.

“We would have got away with it if it wasn’t for that drunken squirrel,” said Luke. “ – from The Project  by Brian Falkner.

“Pop’s leg was across the room when I came downstairs.  I didn’t ask him how it got there.” – from The Girl is Murder  by Kathryn Miller Haines.

“There is nothing more humiliating than being topless in the backseat of your boyfriend’s car when someone decides to throw an egg at the windshield. “ – from Shut Out  by Kody Keplinger

“Ashline Wilde was a human mood ring. “ –  from Wildfire  by Karsten Knight

“Benny Imura was appalled to learn that the apocalypse came with homework.” -from Dust and Decay  by Jonathan Maberry.

“The sun was faithful again that morning, rising above the farm with a shine so fresh it tasted like gazpacho.” – from  Straw House Wood House Brick House Blow  by Daniel Nayeri.

“I have three simple wishes. They’re really not too much to ask.  The first is to attend the winter formal dressed like Marie Antoinette.” – from  Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins.

“It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.” – from  The Scorpio Races  by Maggie Stiefvater.

“We were watching the telly when we decided to rob the dentist.” – from Under Dogs by Markus Zusak

That’s why conferences sing their siren song to us, and we all flock to any of the ones we can get ourselves to (or, preferably, get our libraries to get us to.)  But at conferences it can be hard to just MEET people. I feel like I’m in my own personal bubble (which I like to picture as a very small geodesic dome attached to an imaginary Vespa that I’m riding all throughout the conference.) The exception to this is portable conference bubble generally occurs when I can get myself to an informal gathering of people I already know by their twitter (or tumblr, or your social media of choice) handle. To that end I’d like to direct your attention a few things upcoming informal meetups. One is the Chicagoland KitLit Drinking Night, more information can be found here. The first meeting is on Saturday Sept. 17^th, from 8-11pm. The Beacon Pub, incidentally, is the non-writing workplace of Stephanie Kuehnert Lewis, author of The Ballad of Suburbia and I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone.

And the YASF is hoping that our tweeps and facebookers will meet up with us during lunch at Anderson’s YA Lit conference on Sept. 24^th. Once a table is found I’ll tweet from the account @awkwardlibris where I am sitting and then I’ll just believe (like a kid in a movie about Santa Claus) that YASFers and potential YASFers will flock to that table and awesome conversation is the end result.

*Title is a quote attributed to Yo-Yo Ma from Brainyquote.com Now, I’m not sure I agree with Mr. Ma, but I like his enthusiasm.

**Not the actual name of my outlook folder, the one on my outlook folder took up too much space on this post.

One thing that we didn’t have, however, was a separate non-fiction collection for teens. Books that would be considered teen non-fiction were mixed in with the adult collection (although there were some juvenile non-fiction books that may have worked for teens, as well). It wasn’t until December of 2010 that we decided to create an entirely separate non-fiction collection for teens that would be housed in the teen space. I’m not exactly sure what took us so long, considering we already have graphic novels, manga, Cliffs Notes, and YA audiobooks as part of the teen collection. But I am glad we made the move!

I pulled some books from the library’s other collections & then also ordered a bunch of new items (books on health, relationships, finance, etc) to balance out the collection. I’ve been putting some of the newer, more appealing books on display (Lauren Conrad Style, the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook) to draw attention to this new section of the teen space. And it’s made a big difference. It seems that more teen non-fiction is being checked out, which is awesome. Now I am waiting patiently for one of our teen patrons to check out First Guitar Tutor (by Terry Burrows) & become a world famous rock star. I can’t wait!

It is the last week of the summer reading program here at my library and I find myself reviewing what has taken place over the last eight weeks. Thousands of titles have been read and hundreds of volunteer hours have been recorded. Many families have been delighted by themed programs with special performers. New friendships formed among teens who attended book discussions and field trips to see book-based movies. It has been VERY busy and sometime exhausting, but always worth it. In the midst of all the hustle and bustle, I wonder about those who question the need for public libraries and the services we provide. For parents unable to afford the price of conventional summer activities, we supplied free enriching programs and opportunities for their children to maintain and develop new literacy skills. Middle school students developed useful leadership skills and camaraderie among their peers as Junior Volunteers, while teens spent the summer reading and networking in the library. Yes, it was a hectic summer but every minute was totally worthwhile! How was your summer?

by Jean Patterson and Danae Campbell

College kids living on their own for the first time are startled to realize that now they have to cook for themselves. Included are nutritious, appetizing, more healthful and less expensive recipes to try without relying on the local pizza parlor or the burger joint every time hunger pangs strike.

Cooking Up a Storm: The Teen Survival Cookbook

by Sam Stern and Susan Stern

A kid’s gotta eat! What better way to make sure that the food on your plate hits the spot than to make it yourself? From omelets to mouth-watering desserts and addictive but healthy snacks, try these suggestions to help keep your brain awake during that dreaded exam time.

The Healthy College Cookbook: Quick, Cheap, Easy

by Alexandra  Nimetz

In less time and for less money than it takes to order pizza, you can make it yourself! Three harried but health-conscious college students compiled and tested this collection of more than 200 tasty, hearty, inexpensive recipes anyone can cook — yes, anyone!

Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen Cookbook: 100 + Great Recipes with Foolproof Instructions.

By Nancy Mills

Compiled by a college guy and his Mom, this cookbook grades recipes on a “Very Easy,  Easy, and Not So Easy” scale. Also included are some of  Mom’s tips and warnings. A number of the recipes are vegetarian in honor of his vegetarian girlfriend.

How to Boil Water: Life Beyond Takeout.

By Food Network Kitchens

This book really does tell how to boil water, along with plenty of other tips and recipes just right for the beginning cook.

I Love Trader Joe’s College Cookbook

by Andrea Lynn

Looking for some relief from microwave mash-ups, fast food fiascos, and cardboard crust pizza delivery?  Whip up late-for-class breakfasts, backpack-friendly lunches, and as-hearty-as-mom-made dinners.  All the ingredients come from Trader Joe’s so they are both inexpensive and scrumptious.

Look, Dude, I Can Cook!: Four Years of College Cooking Made Easy

by Amy Madden

These recipes start from the basics, then move on up to more complex recipes. Included are tips, suggestions and techniques that will provide a solid foundation for future cooking skills.

A Man, a Can, a Microwave: 50 Tasty Meals  You Can Nuke in No Time

by David Joachim

Fifty guy-friendly, nuke-able meals using packaged ingredients that are fun to make and great to eat. Check out such tasty dishes as “Italian One-Dish Fish,” “Teriyaki Beef with Broccoli,” and “Painless Paella.”

$5 a Meal College Cookbook: Good Cheap Food for When You Need to Eat

by Rhonda  Lauret Parkinson

Need a break from the monotony of your meal plan? Can’t afford to waste money on lukewarm takeout? Well, now you can ditch the dining hall’s soggy excuse for the Monday-night special thanks to this appetite-saving book packed with cheap, easy, and delicious recipes.

The (Reluctant, Nervous, Lazy, Broke, Busy, Confused) College Student’s  Cookbook

by Joshua N. Lambert

An everything guide to a college students need to know about food, cooking, and taking care of a kitchen. From using an oven to preparing a cream sauce, included are step-by-step instructions for every situation involving food — from the all-night study session to the first date.

Starving  Students’ Cookbook

by Dede Hall

Just learning to cook?  Check out these appealing cooking how-to tips, health, nutrition information, vegetarian recipes and more.

The Teen’s Vegetarian Cookbook

by Judy Krizmanic

Recipes for all types of vegetarian dishes are accompanied by information and advice on vegetarian diet and quotes from teenage vegetarians.

Abundance of Katherines

Having been recently dumped for the nineteenth time by a girl named Katherine, recent high school graduate and former child prodigy Colin sets off on a road trip with his best friend to try to find some new direction in life while also trying to create a mathematical formula to explain his relationships.

The After Life by Daniel Ehrenhaft

When Will Shephard’s estranged millionaire father dies, a bizarre clause in the will sends him on a road trip from Miami to New York with his twin half-siblings.

Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

After the death of her father, Amy, a high school student, and Roger, a college freshman, set out on a carefully planned road trip from California to Connecticut, but wind up taking many detours, forcing Amy to face her worst fears and come to terms with her grief and guilt.

Becoming Chloe by Catherine Ryan Hyde

A gay teenage boy and a fragile teenage girl meet while living on the streets of New York City and eventually decide to take a road trip across America to discover whether or not the world is a beautiful place.

Car Trouble by Jeanne DuPrau

Early one August morning, seventeen-year-old computer “nerd” Duff Pringle leaves Richmond, Virginia, in a newly-acquired used car and begins an unexpectedly convoluted journey to San Jose, California, and the job that awaits him there.

Crash Into Me by Albert Borris

Four suicidal teenagers go on a “celebrity suicide road trip,” visiting the graves of famous people who have killed themselves, with the intention of ending their lives in Death Valley, California.

Drive Me Crazy by Erin Downing

Rising high school senior Kate has dreamed of the road trip with best friends Alexis and Sierra from New Jersey to Love, Wisconsin, that will reunite her with the boy she kissed the previous summer, but Alexis’ irritating cousin Adam tags along, threatening to spoil everything.

Far From You by Lisa Schroeder

A novel-in-verse about sixteen-year-old Ali’s reluctant road trip with her stepmother and new baby sister, and the terror that ensues after they end up lost in the snow-covered woods.

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Cameron Smith, a disaffected sixteen year-old who, after being diagnosed with Creutzfeld Jakob’s (aka mad cow) disease, sets off on a road trip with a death-obsessed video gaming dwarf he meets in the hospital in an attempt to find a cure.

Guyaholic  by Carolyn Mackler

V, the queen of the meaningless hookup, has been with Sam for a pretty long time, but when she panics after graduation and messes everything up, it takes a solo driving trip from New York to visit her irresponsible mother in Texas before she learns enough about herself to know what she really wants.

Hit the Road by Caroline Cooney

Sixteen-year-old Brittany acts as chauffeur for her grandmother and three other eighty-plus-year-old women going to what is supposedly their college reunion, on a long drive that involves lies, theft, and kidnappings.

Homecoming by Cynthia Voight

Abandoned by their mother, four children begin a search for a home and an identity.

How to Be Bad by Lauren Myracle, E. Lockhart & Sarah Mlynowski

Told in alternating voices, Jesse, Vicks, and Mel, hoping to leave all their worries and woes behind, escape their small town by taking a road trip to Miami.

Jerk, California by Jonathan Friesen Plagued by Tourette’s syndrome and a stepfather who despises him, Sam meets an old man in his small Minnesota town who sends him on a road trip designed to help him discover the truth about his life.

The Last Great Getaway of the Water Balloon Boys by Scott William Carter

When sixteen-year-old Charlie, an excellent student, and his former best friend Jake take off on an ill-conceived trip from Oregon to Denver in their principal’s car, the results of the choices they make while on the road have profound effects on both their futures.

Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson learns he is a demigod, the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea. His mother sends him to a summer camp for demigods where he and his new friends set out on a quest to prevent a war between the gods.

Long Gone Daddy by Helen Hemphill

Young Harlan Q. Stank gets a taste of life in the fast lane when he accompanies his preacher father on a road  trip to Las Vegas to bury his grandfather and to fulfill the terms of the old man’s will.

Mare’s War by Tanita S. Davis

Teens Octavia and Tali learn about strength, independence, and courage when they are forced to take a car trip with their grandmother, who tells about growing up Black in 1940s Alabama and serving in Europe during World War II as a member of the Women’s Army Corps.

The Miles Between by Mary Pearson

Seventeen-year-old Destiny keeps a painful childhood secret all to herself until she and three classmates from her exclusive boarding school take off on an unauthorized road trip in search of “one fair day.”

My Road Trip to the Pretty Girl Capital of the World by Brian Yansky

In 1979 when his life in Mansfield, Iowa, seems to fall apart, seventeen-year-old Simon takes his father’s car and sets out for Texas, looking for his birth parents and picking up a man claiming to be Elvis, two bums, and an abused young wife along the way.

Night Road by A.M. Jenkins

Battling his own memories and fears, Cole, an extraordinarily conscientious vampire, and Sandor, a more impulsive acquaintance, spend a few months on the road, trying to train a young man who recently joined their ranks.

Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray

After their best friend Ross dies, English teenagers Blake, Kenny, and Sim plan a proper memorial by taking his ashes to Ross, Scotland, an adventure-filled journey that tests their loyalty to each other and forces them to question what friendship means.

Paper Towns by John Green

One month before graduating from his Central Florida high school, Quentin “Q” Jacobsen basks in the predictable boringness of his life until the beautiful and exciting Margo Roth Spiegelman, Q’s neighbor and classmate, takes him on a midnight adventure and then mysteriously disappears.

Play Me by Laura Ruby

Disappointed when he does not get the MTV production deal he so wants, high school senior Eddy leaves his girlfriend to take a road trip to find the mother who has left him and his younger stepbrother and taken a bit part in a television show.

Red Glass by Laura Resau

Sixteen-year-old Sophie has been frail and delicate since her premature birth, but discovers her true strength during a journey through Mexico, where the six-year-old orphan her family hopes to adopt was born, and to Guatemala, where her would-be boyfriend hopes to find his mother and plans to remain.

Rose by Any Other Name by Maureen McCarthy

During a road trip with her mother from Melbourne to Fairy Point, Australia, to see her dying grandmother, nineteen-year-old Rose gains a new perspective on events of the previous year, when family problems, the end of a long-term friendship, and bad personal choices dramatically transformed her near-perfect life.

Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer

Sixteen-year-old Jenna gets a job driving the elderly owner of a chain of successful shoe stores from Chicago to Texas to confront the son who is trying to force her to retire, and along the way Jenna hones her talents as a saleswoman and finds the strength to face her alcoholic father.

Sister Slam and the Poetic Motormouth Road Trip by Linda Oatman High

In this novel told in slam verse, best friends and aspiring poets Laura and Twig embark on a road trip after graduating from high school, from Pennsylvania to New York City, to compete at slam poetry events.

Stolen Car by Patrick Jones

Fifteen-year-old Danielle desperately wants to escape life with her mother and a series of “Dad-wannabes,” so when best friends Ashley and Evan help her see that bad-boy Reid is lying and using her, Danny steals Reid’s car and takes Ashley on a road trip.

Surf Mules by Greg Neri

When a tragic accident and sudden financial woes cause recent high school graduate Logan to question plans for his future, he agrees to make a road trip with his best friend and surfing buddy, Z-boy, transporting marijuana from southern California to Orlando, Florida.

Tripping by Heather Waldorf

Escaping a dull summer, Rainey Williamson joins a school-sponsored eight-week road trip across Canada. Up for the challenge, Rainey, who has worn an artificial leg since birth, discovers that her long estranged mother is alive and well in British Columbia, directly on the road trip route, and wants to see her.

Two Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt

Courtney must drive across country to attend college orientation with her ex-boyfriend while still fuming that he dumped her for a girl he met online, but the two of them learn valuable lessons about themselves and each other along the way.

You Are Here by Jennifer E. Smith

Sixteen-year-old Emma Healy has never felt that she fit in with the rest of her family, so when she discovers that she had a twin brother who died shortly after they were born, she takes off on an impulsive road trip to try to discover who she really is.

You Don’t Know About Me by Brian Meehl

Billy has spent his almost-sixteen years with four cardinal points–Mother, Christ, Bible, and Home-school–but when he sets off on a wild road trip to find the father he thought was dead, he learns much about himself and life.

Zane’s Trace by Allan Wolf

Believing he has killed his grandfather, Zane Guesswind heads for his mother’s Zanesville, Ohio, grave to kill himself, driving the 1969 Plymouth Barracuda his long-gone father left behind, and meeting along the way assorted characters who help him discover who he really is.

Zigzag by Ellen Wittlinger

A high-school junior makes a trip with her aunt and two cousins, discovering places she did not know existed and strengths she did not know she had.

A school librarian at Madison Junior High in Naperville, Illinois was investigating a forthcoming author visit to compliment a unit on the Holocaust.  During her research, she learned that Fern Schumer Chapman, had written an historical fiction book that chronicled her mother’s childhood experience with the One Thousand Children  program.  This initiative was a “quiet underground movement that facilitated the removal of small groups of children from Germany”, and then place them with families in the United States.  “Ten children at a time were shipped out of Germany on cruise ships.”

When she was 12, Chapman’s mother, Edith, met Gerda, another young girl on one of the ships,   and they became good friends.  After arriving in New York, Edith was sent to Chicago and Gerda was sent to Oregon to be reunited with extended family.  Edith had always carried a deep love for Gerda and always dreamed of reuniting with her friend.  Somehow, life got in the way, and as each grew into adulthood, they never gave up hope that they would eventually met again.

After Chapman’s presentation at the junior high school, the Social Science teacher expressed to her class that “each time that she teaches the Holocaust, she always wished there was something she could do.”  One of the students stood up and boldly stated, “Why can’t we find her?”  The students were deeply touched, so with the assistance of the school librarian and their teachers, they formulated an action plan, and then embarked on a journey of discovery.  They spent days doing research in the school Library, immersing themselves into the digital world of research.

Kudos to our school and public librarians for your tireless resolve to be an advocate for teens and to provide open access to information.  Teaching students how to effectively navigate through library databases may appear to be arduous and draining especially after you have rendered that same presentation to multiple classes in a single day.  Just when you think that no one is listening, remember those eighth students in Naperville, Illinois who embraced a cause, then worked diligently to make a difference.  A mega Shout  Out to all of those students for their resolve and for their “determination and fortitude” to reach out and change the world. These tenacious individuals were instrumental in reuniting two friends after a 73 year hiatus, but more importantly, they stamped their digital footprints on that World History canvass. In the process, they made it all come alive.

References

Kmitch, Justin. (2011 May 13). Naperville students reunite two women after 73 years. Daily Herald. Retrieved from http://dailyherald.com/article/20110513/news/705139918/print/

 
Madison Junior High School Students Use Social Networking To Reunite Holocaust Survivors. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/16/madison-junior-high-holocaust_n_862599.html?view=print
ONE THOUSAND CHILDREN® INC.  (OTC)     http://www.onethousandchildren.org/

Swasko, Mike. (2011 May 15).  Naperville students reconnect women who fled Nazis in 1938  Chicago Tribune. Retrieved from http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-05-13/news/ct-met-naperville-reunion-0514-20110513_1_naperville-students-seattle-paper-nazis

It quickly became clear that teens are indeed coming to the library throughout the summer.  They were not here to participate in the Summer Reading Program, but here to check out the titles on their required High School Summer Reading lists.  The first step was to make it easier for them to find the books from the lists that they were required to read.  A display of all of the books on the list was created so all of the titles were together in one place. Additional copies of the books were purchased along with titles the library did not own and display stickers were placed on the spines so these books would return to the Summer Reading shelf in a timely manner, making them available for the next patron.

This approach to circulating Summer Reading titles was helpful but we felt like we weren’t doing everything that could be done.  There were a lot of students waiting until the 11^th hour to come and get the books.  They didn’t want to wait for a copy to come in from another library; they wanted the book in their hands at that moment.  Question:  How can the library continue to satisfy the needs of these students without breaking our budgets and using all of our shelf space?!?

Answer:  The High School.  All of the extra books that we needed were already in the community.  They were sitting unread in a dark library through the summer.  We needed more copies; they had copies that were not being used . . . perfect!  We worked with the library staff at the high school to hammer out the details of how the exchange would work.  The high school copies were picked up at the end of the school year when the school library was no longer circulating.  Our Tech Services and Circulation departments put temporary barcodes on all of the books and made sure that the circulation period was long enough to enable students ample time to finish the books, but not too much time that books couldn’t be used by several students throughout the summer.  There was a cut-off return date for all of the high school’s titles to ensure that we gave ourselves flexibility to try to track down the books that weren’t returned on time.  Teens being teens, all of the titles didn’t get back by the time they needed to be returned to the high school, so replacement copies were purchased for the high school.

Working with the high school isn’t the solution for every library.  Perhaps your high school library stays open and continues to loan through the summer.   There are other options to help teens in your community obtain the titles they need.  Can you do a book loan between libraries in your area?  Can you ask the community for donations of the titles needed?  (Donations can be either new or copies that their teens have used in summers past.)

Libraries and Young Adult Librarians are always looking for opportunities to work with high school teens without reinventing the wheel.  These are a couple of solutions but YASF and teen librarians are always looking for more.   Watch how your patrons use your library and see what you observe.  Do you have any teen program ideas?  What programs have you tried?  Were they successful?

Here are a few titles to help prepare your eager wage-earners for the world of time clocks and direct deposits.

The Complete Guide to Personal Finance: for teenagers and college students by Tamsen Butler

In this book, teens will learn the ins and outs of finance from credit cards, to purchasing a car, budgeting and steps to avoid financial uh-ohs.

In Pursuit of My Success for Teens by Katherine Berntzen

Author Katherine Berntzen tackling such issues as; funding a college education, resume tips and developing a career path in this second edition of this insightful book.

What Color Is your Parachute? For Teens by Carol Christen

Diving into the real world of employment and careers can be a bit tricky. Thankfully, What Color Is Your Parachute? For Teens provides tools for self-discovery that will help teens navigate a safe landing.

Basic beginnings: a finance management handbook for teens and young adults by Carol Stokes

For teens needing to construct a solid financial foundation this handbook is a must read.

Check-out these super sites for more personal finance info. for teens.

Teen Consumer Scrapbook

Sense & Dollars

Money Talks

Quintessential Careers