Fall seems like a great time to tackle a good fantasy, doesn’t it? And since we focus so much on new books, let’s give the backlist on our shelves some love. Your tweens will love these great fantasies, and you’ll want to read them yourself! Christina Diaz Gonzalez’s Moving Target is a thrill ride from start to finish. It tells the story of Cassie, an American student in Rome, who thinks her family is totally normal and that her dad is just a regular old art history professor–until someone tries to kill him. That’s when Cassie finds out she’s from an ancient bloodline that allows her to use an artifact that can alter the future. And now she has to run from a secret society that wants it very badly. And if you loved it? Never fear, the second book just came out last month. …
Author: YALSA Blogger
Back to School
Greetings, librarians! You have finished summer reading! Congratulations! All the students are going back to school, here are a few new books to put on your new displays!
2016 Eisner Winners
The Eisner Awards are one of the biggest comics awards. The winners were announced last week at San Diego Comic-Con and there were several books that will hold special interest to your tween patrons!!
Tween Pride Reads
June is coming to an end, but there’s still enough time to make a Pride display, or get the right book into the right kid’s hand. Representation matters. Take a look at this list of LGBTQIA middle grade and have them at the ready for your kids.
Coming Soon!
Summer Reading is imminent, librarians. We all have a ton on our plates and very little time to think about anything but programming, performers, reading logs, and summer fun. Here are just a few books coming out in the next couple of months. Something to put on your radar when you get a minute, in between programs, when you’re trying to put together book orders. Your kids will like these, and you will, too. Maria lives in the Bronx with her mom, who works two jobs to keep them afloat. Then her mom gets a job on a seaside estate on Martha’s Vineyard, and Maria’s life for the summer is radically different. Maria spends her summer juggling new friends, her Lebanese family, and an old map that she’s sure will lead to pirate treasure. Mafi’s long-awaited first middle grade novel has been called “rich and lush” by Kirkus. Alice lives in a…
Comics Update!
It’s time for our semi-annual comics for tweens roundup. Here’s a few comics that your tweens will adore! A group of teenage girls used to be the Zodiac Starforce: they spent their freshman year fighting monsters. But that’s pretty much over two years later…or so they think it is until their leader, Emma, is attacked by a monster and infect her. Good for tweens and teens, Ganacheau’s bright coloring and magical girl style is fun to real. AT LONG LAST, Amulet #7 has arrived! Your young patrons will be so excited! Emmy, Trellis, and Vigo visit Algos island, where they can enter lost memories, looking for knowledge they can use against the Elf King. This series continues to be great. Use it for displays to get your teens excited about comics! Originally a webcomic, Help Us Great Warrior is a delightful tale of a deceptively tiny Great Warrior protecting her…
On Tween Programming
Programming for tweens can be difficult; we all know this. The kids in this age group are constantly in flux and their needs change a lot. Figuring out what exactly they need and how best to serve them is a challenge that many librarians are familiar with. Today I’m talking to librarian Amy Diegelman, Young Adult Librarian at the Vineyard Haven Public Library in Vineyard Haven, MA, about how she’s meeting the needs of the tweens in her community. ALLY: What were the needs that you were seeing from teens in your library that weren’t being met? AMY: We found ourselves with a group of kids coming into the library to hang out after school (awesome!), instead of going home or to one of the two or three other local after school options. What we ended up with was predictable- hungry, energetic tweens bouncing off the walls. More than anything,…
Amazing February Girls Round-Up
February was a month for middle-grade books about amazing girls that do amazing things! They save their families! They go to bat for their friends! They fight for survival! Let’s take a look at some stories your young patrons will love. A witch has come to Brye and she has kidnapped Hans, Greta’s little brother. Greta has to travel to the perilous city of Belladonna to rescue him. It’s going to be a difficult journey, but she’ll stop at nothing to get her brother back. Mabel’s baby sister is plucked from her crib Mabel must brave the jungles of The Forbidden City to get her back! Real and imaginary worlds are colliding in the world of Story. Tuesday sets off with her friends at the request of the Librarian to find the Gardener: the only person who can stop this catastrophe. BONUS MARCH GIRL: Soledad and her sister Ming moved…