How can we get teenagers to read

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How can we get teenagers to read?
Presented by June Keuhn jhkeuhn_at_yahoo.com
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• This session will provide ideas on how to attract
  teen readers.
• Online Teen Book Club
• Library book blogs
• Book talks/Book lists
• Teacher book clubs
• Social Networking for Professionals

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Circulation statistics

• 9/1/2005-8/31/2006
• Loans 695
• Renewals 120
• 9/1/2006-5/2/2007
• Loans 873
• Renewals 118

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Usage

• 1309 students per week (about 200 students a day)
• 20 classes in per week

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Trends in the Headlines

• Teens buying books at fastest rate in decades New
  'golden age of young adult literature' declared
  By CECELIA GOODNOWFantasy and
  graphic novels are especially hot, and adventure,
  romance, humor and gritty coming-of-age tales
  remain perennial favorites. In addition, racy
  series such as "The Gossip Girls" -- often
  likened to a teen "Sex and the City" -- have
  created a buzz.

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Trends in the Headlines (cont.)

• More notably, though, there's a new strain of
  sophistication and literary heft as publishers
  cater to the older end of the spectrum with books
  that straddle teen and adult markets.
• teen fiction now circulates at a higher rate
  than adult fiction.

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Trends in Teen Fiction

• More options, from racy chick lit to serious
  fiction
• Thanks in part to new teen imprints such as
  Scholastic's PUSH, Simon Schuster's Simon
  Pulse, Penguin's Razorbill Books and
  HarperCollins' HarperTEEN.

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Trends

• More teen-adult crossover titles
• "Octavian Nothing Traitor to the Nation," by
  M.T. Anderson "The Book Thief," by Aussie author
  Markus Zusak and "Tamar," by Mal Peet.

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Trends

• A global scope
• U.S. publishers are scooping up books from
  Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Sweden, France
  and elsewhere, such as "Wildwood Dancing," by
  Australian fantasy writer Juliet Marilliet, and
  "The Killer's Tears," by Anne-Laure Bondoux,
  winner of the French Prix Sorcieres.

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Trends

• Established adult authors writing for teens
• Among them are Joyce Carol Oates ("Big Mouth
  Ugly Girl"), Catherine Ryan Hyde ("Becoming
  Chloe") and Isabel Allende ("City of the Beasts)

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Trends

• Innovative formats
• One example is "Crank," by Ellen Hopkins, a
  free-verse narrative about a teen's addiction to
  crystal meth.

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Trends

• A lingering fascination with fantasy
• Examples "Eldest," by Christopher Paolini "New
  Moon," by Stephanie Meyer "Wintersmith," by
  Terry Pratchett and "The Uglies Trilogy," by
  Scott Westerfield.

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Trends

• The rise of graphic novels
• With a huge teen fan base and newfound literary
  respect, readers are snapping up such books as
  "American Born Chinese," by Gene Luan Yung, a
  National Book Award finalist and winner of the
  2007 Michael L. Printz Award It's the first
  graphic novel to win this ALA honor.

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Trends

• Longer books
• Once held to 200 pages, young-adult novels grow
  hefty, as "Harry Potter" proves a good book can
  never be too long ("Harry Potter and the Order of
  the Phoenix" runs 896 pages).

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Online Teen Book Club
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Online Teen Book Club

• The club sends the first chapter or two of that
  weeks book to the students email account.
• Easy to unsubscribe. No spam is sent.
• Cost 200.00 per year

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Online Teen Book Club
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• This week's book OPHELIA by Lisa Klein
• FROM THE BOOK JACKET He is Hamlet, Prince of
  Denmark she is simply Ophelia. If you think you
  know their story, think again. In this
  reimagining of Shakespeare's famous tragedy, it
  is Ophelia who takes center stage. A rowdy,
  motherless girl, she grows up at Elsinore Castle
  to become the queen's most trusted
  lady-in-waiting. Ambitious for knowledge and
  witty as well as beautiful, Ophelia learns the
  ways of power in a court where nothing is as it
  seems. When she catches the attention of the
  captivating, dark-haired Prince Hamlet, their
  love blossoms in secret. But bloody deeds soon
  turn Denmark into a place of madness, and
  Ophelia's happiness is shattered. Ultimately she
  must choose between her love for Hamlet and her
  own life. In desperation, Ophelia devises a
  treacherous plan to escape from Elsinore
  forever...with one very dangerous secret. Lisa
  Klein's "Ophelia" tells the story of a young
  woman falling in love, searching for her place in
  the world, and finding the strength to survive.
  Sharp and literary, dark and romantic, this
  dramatic story holds readers in its grip until
  the final, heartrending scene. (Today's book
  starts after the "Dear Reader" column.)

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• Dear Reader,
• Hello. I'm Julia, and I will be your Dear Reader
  writer for the week. I'm 15 and I live in western
  New York. I love to read, of course, play the
  piano and guitar, listen to music, surf the
  Internet, watch movies, and hang out with my
  friends. Reading the summary of this book
  immediately got me intrigued. It sounds really
  good so far. I like the whole Medieval,
  Renaissance setting too. But, I'm not really into
  Shakespeare yet, but I do like to read poetry. My
  favorite poet, by far, is Sylvia Plath. I love
  all of her work. So do any of you guys like to
  read poetry? What other kinds of literature do
  you like to read? Email me with your answer.
  Julia
• Email me at Teen_at_emailbookclub.com

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• PROLOGUE St. Emilion, France November 1601 "My
  lady "I pray this letter finds you in a place of
  safety. I write in brief, for few words are best
  when they can bring only pain. "The royal court
  of Denmark is in ruins. The final fruits of evil
  have spilled their deadly seeds. At last, King
  Claudius is dead, justly served his own poison.
  Hamlet slew him with a sword envenomed by the
  king himself. Queen Gertrude lies cold, poisoned
  by a cup the king intended for Hamlet. It was the
  sight of his dying mother that spurred Hamlet's
  revenge at last. "But the greatest grief is this
  Your brother, Laertes, and Prince Hamlet have
  slain each other with poisoned swords. I have
  failed in the task you set me. Now Fortinbras of
  Norway rules in our conquered land. "Forgive
  Hamlet, I beg you. With his dying words he
  charged me to clear his wounded name. Believe me,
  before the lust for revenge seized his mind, he
  loved you deeply. "Also forgive, but do not
  forget, Your faithful friend and seeker, Horatio"
  The letter leaves me stunned, dazed with fresh
  pain so that I cannot even rise from my bed. I
  dream of Elsinore Castle, a vast stone labyrinth.
  At its center, the great banquet hall, warmed by
  leaping fires, where courtiers passed like
  lifeblood through a heart, where King Hamlet and
  Queen Gertrude reigned, the mind and soul that
  held the whole body together. Now all fire and
  all flesh are but cold ashes. I dream of my
  beloved, the witty, dark-haired Prince Hamlet,
  before he was taken from me by madness and death.
  In my mind's eye the green orchards of Elsinore
  appear, ripe with sweet pears and apples that
  bent the branches and offered themselves to our
  hands. The garden where we first kissed, fragrant
  then with sharp rosemary and soothing lavender,
  now lies blasted and all withered. Through my
  dream gurgles the fateful brook where I swam as a
  child and where the willow boughs skimmed the
  water's surface. There I met my watery end and
  began life anew. I see myself and Hamlet on the
  mist-shrouded battlements, where an unseen ghost
  witnessed our embracing, then turned Hamlet's
  mind from love to vengeance. I see the fearsome
  face of Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, who murdered
  his father and married his mother, my dear queen
  Gertrude, whom he poisoned. Alas, my Hamlet is
  dead! And with him all of Elsinore ruined, like
  Eden after man's fall. I, Ophelia, played a part
  in this tragedy. I served the queen. I sought to
  steer the prince's course. I discovered dangerous
  secrets and fell afoul of the tyrant Claudius.
  But how did it come to this end, the death of all
  my world? Guilt consumes me, that I should live
  while all are lost. That I could not divert the
  fated course. I cannot rest while this history
  remains untold. There is no peace for me while
  this pain presses upon my soul. Though I have
  lived only sixteen years, I have known a lifetime
  of sorrow. Like the pale moon, I wane, weary of
  seeing the world's grief, and I wax again,
  burdened with life. But like the sun, I will
  dispel the darkness about me and cast a light
  upon the truth. So I take up my pen and write.
  Here is my story. PART ONE Elsinore, Denmark
  1585-1601 CHAPTER ONE I have always been a
  motherless girl. The lady Frowendel died giving
  birth to me, depriving also my brother, Laertes,
  and my father, Polonius, of her care. I had not
  so much as a scrap of lace or a remembered scent
  of her. Nothing. Yet by the miniature framed
  portrait my father carried, I saw that I was the
  living image of my mother. I was often sad,
  thinking I had caused her to die and therefore my
  father could not love me. I tried not to vex or
  trouble him further, but he never gave me the
  attention I desired. Nor did he dote on Laertes,
  his only son. He cast his gaze everywhere but on
  our faces, for he was ambitious to be the king's
  most valued and secret informant. We lived in the
  village of Elsinore in a fine house,
  timber-framed with mullioned windows. Laertes and
  I played in the garden my mother had kept, the
  beds growing wild after her death. I often hid
  among tall rosemary bushes, and all day I would
  carry the pungent scent about me. On hot days we
  swam in Elsinore's river where it meandered
  through a nearby wood, and we captured frogs and
  salamanders on its grassy banks. When we were
  hungry we stole apples and plums from the
  marketplace and darted away like rabbits when the
  vendors shouted after us. At night we slept in a
  loft beneath the eaves, where on cold nights the
  smoke from the kitchen fires rose and hovered
  beneath the rafters, warming us. On the first
  floor of our house was a shop where ladies and
  gentlemen of the court sent their servants to buy
  feathers, ribbons, and lace. My father disdained
  shopkeepers as unworthy and low, but he consorted
  with them and curried favor with the customers,
  hoping to overhear court gossip. Then, wearing a
  doublet and hose in high fashion, he would hasten
  down the broad way to join the throng of men
  seeking positions in King Hamlet's court.
  Sometimes we would not see him for days and we
  worried that he had abandoned us, but he always
  returned. Then he would carry on excitedly about
  some opportunity certain to befall him, or he
  would be silent and moody. Laertes and I would
  peek through the broken panel of his chamber door
  and see him bent over a small pile of money and
  papers, shaking his head. We were certain that we
  would be ruined, and we wondered, lying awake in
  our loft, what would happen to us. Would we
  become like the orphan child we often saw in the
  village streets, begging for bread and eating
  scraps of meat like a wild animal? (continued on
  Tuesday)

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• Share your thoughts and comments about this
  week's book with other readers at Book Club
  Forum. Go to http//www.emailbookclub.com/talk.ht
  ml
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• PURCHASE THIS BOOK http//www.dearreader.com/book
  store/bookstore.html
• CONTACT US jkeuhn_at_cppmail.com ---You are
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  jhkeuhn_at_yahoo.com To unsubscribe send a blank
  email to leave-corningteen-837344Y_at_book.dearreader
  .com

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Blogs
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Library Book Blogs

• Check your district policy
• Talk to your principal director of technology
• Choose a site that allows you to edit or delete
  the comments
• Cost Free (or there are ones you can subscribe
  to)

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Blogging sites

• Blogger http//www.blogger.com
• Bloglines http//www.bloglines.com/
• Class Blogmeister http//classblogmeister.com/
• Legal issues
• http//www.eff.org/bloggers/lg/faq-students.php

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Cornings Book blog

• http//cppreads.blogspot.com/

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Blogs for Librarians to Read

• The blogs on this list are by/for librarians, not
  the teen readers themselves.
• http//aliceyucht.pbwiki.com/YouthServicesBlogList
  

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Book talks/Book lists
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Teen issues

• Books about other teens with similar problems
• Book reviews by teens/for teens
• Independent reading projects

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Books

• Friesen, Gayle. The Isabel Factor. Toronto
  Tonowanda, NY Kids Can Press, 2005.
• When her best friend Zoe breaks her arm during a
  dare, Anna finds herself braving summer camp, and
  being a counselor-in-training on her own. Being
  in Zoe's shadow had been comfortable, but now
  Anna's out in the open, and facing some harsh
  truths.

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Na, An. Joyce. Wait for Me. NY Putnam, 2006.
    As her senior year in high school
approaches, Mina yearns to find her own path in
life but working at the family business, taking
care of her little sister, and dealing with her
mother's impossible expectations are as stifling
as the southern California heat, until she falls
in love with a man who offers a way out.
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• Goobie, Beth. The Lottery.NY Orca Book
  Publishers, 2002.
• Saskatoon Collegiate is secretly controlled by
  the Shadow Council, a group of perverse students
  who annually conduct a lottery to find a victim
  on whom to carry out their cruel pranks.
  15-year-old Sally Hanson is this years lottery
  winner, but she is also struggling with her own
  personal and family problems. A dark and powerful
  psychological thriller.

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Book Views

• I am interested in hearing your opinions on the
  books you have read. When you finish a book you
  have read if you would like to recommend it to a
  friend or warn someone to stay clear of it,
  please take a form and fill it out for the
  bulletin board. You dont need to put your name
  on it, only the title, author, how many stars you
  would give it, and the best part of the book
  (please dont give away the ending though..)

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Book Views Form

• Book Views
  Title__________________
• Author________________
• Stars
• Favorite Part

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Teacher Book Clubs
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Wiki

• http//ehsbookclub.pbwiki.com/
• Password east

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EHS Bookclub
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Social Networking Sites

• http//teacherlibrarian.ning.com/
• For those of us who connect, teach, share, and
  lead in new information landscapes. Come play in
  this exciting learning sandbox! Pose questions in
  the forum. Add your images!