Fighting a cold on the first day of school is not fun. But Orisinal is! It has the most wonderful whimsical kid-friendly online games. And best of all, there is no downloading of complete versions or nagware involved.

The English-to-12-Year-Old-AOLer Translator is a lot of fun. It takes normal written English and turns it into the short-cut language of tween AOL chatters. Who knows, it may help some of you discover what those kids are writing in their school papers!

Should ‘raunchy’ be the 4th ‘R’? is another article attacking teen literature for being too graphic sexually. This article focuses on graphic books in school libraries. This writer calls for the school to require parental permission for kids to read contested books where a review panel cannot agree on the appropriateness of the book. Sigh.
I would emphasize that all parents have the right to question books in their childrens’ schools. All parents have the right to decide for THEIR CHILDREN, but they do not have the right to decide for all children in their community.
I would guess that the number of public school libraries with these graphic novels is very small. When I look for Doing It by Burgess in our 30 member PUBLIC library database, I find that only two of the libraries were brave enough to purchase it. If public libraries were shying away from the title, school libraries would be even more skittish.

ALA | YALSA offers teen “books that don’t make you blush”
The Young Adult Library Services Association’s Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults Committee is creating a list of recommended reading for teens and parents looking for popular reading materials free of swearing and sexuality. The booklist is not released yet, but the link above offers connection to previously created booklists.

Writer weaves a Web of young fans for her novel – The Boston Globe is an article about how Libby Koponen used the Internet to get her book, Blow Out the Moon, directly into the hands of children and eventually published.

For libraries in 32 states, the 2006 Summer Reading Program Theme is Paws, Claws, Scales & Tales. The art is done by David Shannon. If you are brave, you can scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the upcoming themes for 2007 and 2008.

Dungeons and Dragons is working to get their game into more public libraries. You can take a look at their campaign at Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Library Web Page. If you get one of their printed flyers, you will see a quote from me advocating D&D in libraries.
I did D&D with a group of teens via the Teen Center we set up at a public library. It is one of the programs I am most proud of, because we turned a very negative situation with teens over-running the library each day into a positive one. Each afternoon, we converted the public meeting room into a teen center using a computer on a cart, lots of bean bags, and carts of very cool books, including D&D books and dice. It was a very popular space and one that resulted in a lot of positive things happening. D&D was at the center of bringing some of those teen boys in. It was a wonderful experience. I still miss some of those kids.

Innovate Live Index offers several articles on using video games in classrooms and as instructional devices. All articles are free to access once you register with the site at no charge.
Via Game On: Games in Libraries.

One of the more controversial stories among teen librarians is New trend in teen fiction: Racy reads – Nightly News with Brian Williams – MSNBC.com. You can either read the article or watch the video. Either way the gist is the same: that teen novels are too provocative and that the books are “gratuitous — even dangerous.” Now, yes there are racy reads for teens out there. There have been for a long time, anyone remember Deenie, Forever, and other Blume novels? Anyone love them as teens?
The only good part of the article is when at the end it encourages parents to read what their kids/teens are reading. Yes! Please parents, do this!
I think it crosses a line and becomes sensationalist journalism when the word “dangerous” is applied to teen novels. I am proud to say that we just purchased a whole set of the dangerous Gossip Girl series as well as some other hot teen paperback series like A-List and The Clique. I don’t see them as any more dangerous than Forever was for me. Good golly, all of these teens could be turned into radical librarians by reading so much! Be afraid, be very afraid!