Teens' Top Ten

I like books.  Did you know that about me?  Because I really like them.

If you read this blog, you probably like books too.  Yeah, books!

Starting today, voting for the Teens' Top Ten awards is open.  What is the Teens' Top Ten, you ask?

Basically, sixteen or so different groups are picked from all over the US to read YA (Young Adult aka Teen) books.  Let me tell you, I'm crazy jealous of these teens; book publishers send them what are called galleys, basically books that are coming out but not yet published, and the teens in turn give the publishers feedback.

So these teens read the books, give feedback, pick their favorite 25 books, and then they release the titles for voting to everyone else.

This year's nominees are:

Drought by Pam Bachorz* 

I Am J by Chris Beam*

You Killed Wesley Payne by Sean Beaudoin*

Zombies vs. Unicorns by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier*

The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card*

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare*

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins*

Love, Inc. by Yvonne Collins*

Matched by Ally Condie*

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer*

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

Lies by Michael Grant*

Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins*

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins*

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa*

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore*

Red Moon Rising by Peter Moore*

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson*

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver*

The False Princess by Ellis O'Neal*

Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel by James Patterson*

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce*

Blessed by Cynthia Leitich Smith*

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld*

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White*

*We already have it! We rock so hard!
*We've ordered it, but it isn't here yet.
*We've already placed it on a list and will be ordering it in October.

So, as you can see, most of these books are here and ready for you to read.  I'm embarrassed to say I've only read four books on the list, so I really need to get to it.

If you'd like to vote for the Teens' Top Ten, it is super simple.  Go to http://www.ala.org/teenstopten and vote!  Easy as can be.

Winners will be announced during Teen Read Week, October 16-22.

What are you waiting for, go vote!

Summer Reading Program: The Winners Edition

So, I'm about to give away a lot of stuff.  A lot!

I would like to thank everyone that participated in this year's summer reading program.  When I started, I asked the previous Teen Librarians how many passports that I needed to print up.  They said that, generally, they gave out between 30 and 50, so I printed 50.  Then I had to print 50 more.  And then 25 more after that.  That's right: we gave away 125 passports this year.  AMAZING!  So a great big thanks to all who made this summer such fun for me and Amy.  We love handing out prizes.

For those of you who made it up to levels 4 and 5, the drawings are now complete.  I'll be giving you a call sometime this week, but if you see your name here feel free to pop on over and pick up your goodies.

Level 4 Winners

$15 iTunes gift card: Summer Webers

Lunch for 2 at Dusit Thai Cuisine: Lanie Benefiel

Sauna Session from Beauti Central: Tracy Connelly

$25 gift certificate to Brent's Rib House and Catering: Otto Blum

Medium Pizza from Domino's: (1) Hannah Bristol (2) Morgan Jenkins (3) Tyler Brown and (4) Justice Helton

Congratulations, level 4 winners!

Level 5 Winners

$10 Amazon gift card: Noelle King

Bags from Stage: (1) Carolyn Crane and (2) Darby Sproul

$15 iTunes gift card: Gavyn Pennington

$25 gift certificate to Brent's Rib House and Catering: (1) Bruk Sproul and (2) Hannah Brown

$20 Hasting's gift card: Zoe Bodishaugh

Sauna Session from Beauti Central: Trinity Bristol

Congratulations, level 5 winners!

We also had several people enter their passports for consideration because they read more than me this summer.  Well done, you guys!  I read 25 books this summer for a total of just over 9,000 pages.

The winner of the $20 Hasting's gift card for beating me in page volume is April Daugherty!


Don't forget that I'm accepting Teen Library Council applications (which can be picked up down in the Teen Library) until August 31.  I'm looking to take up to 7 new people this year, so get your application in!