Sarah Dessen
Official site for this author of YA novels like Dreamland and This Lullaby.

Dream/Girl Magazine: The Arts Magazine for Girls offers a great site filled with all sorts of art and writing information for girls, including interviews with authors, writing contests, and artists of the month.

Chris Crutcher’s Authorized Web Site has contact information, reviews, awards, FAQs, events, links, and sections for teachers and librarians.

TOKYOPOP is a good site for information on graphic novels, manga, and other Japanese imports. Click on the title you are interested in and you will find information on the creator, characters, a preview and reviews.

Laurie’s Bookshelf
The site hasn’t been updated for awhile, since it doesn’t even have her latest book listed. But it does say that it is in the process of being updated, so there is still hope. I adore her books, especially Speak and Fever 1793. Her novels are those special ones that give a glimpse inside of someone else’s life, allowing readers to understand others better.

Joan Bauer
A classy homepage for this wonderful author of books for teens and older children. I think my favorite of hers is still Squashed. I remember being caught up by the humor of the story and the unique situation of trying to grow the largest pumpkin.

I just attended a workshop on teen programming and services. Almost a decade ago, I was a children’s and YA librarian rather than a library director. From this blog, you can see that I still have a lot of interest in that field, and continue to consider it my area of specialty.
I had one problem with today’s workshop. When they spoke about booktalking, they said that there was no need to actually read the book that you were booktalking. They considered that an outdated idea!
Well, I must be outdated, because I feel it is entirely necessary to read any book that you booktalk. You have to know if the book you are booktalking is one that you would actually recommend to teens. Without knowing the book yourself, how would you know if it is worth recommending. We have all read books that have received great reviews or even awards that we personally did not like. I wouldn’t booktalk any of those even if they did win awards.
I also see booktalking is a very intimate program. You are exposing your own personal reactions to books, endorsing them, and you are responsible for those endorsements. I wouldn’t let that hinder what type of book I booktalked, and often raised teachers eyebrows with my choices, but I would limit it to books that I was passionate about. Often kids would come back to me wanting to talk about this great book that I had led them to through a booktalk. How do you talk in detail about that book, strengthening the tie between the library and that particular kid, without knowing the ending?
Now once I did break this rule myself. I was in the middle of this incredible book and had to do a booktalk that week, so I booktalked it even though I didn’t know the ending. But I was honest with the kids, telling them that I was so excited about this book that I couldn’t even wait until I finished it to tell them about it!
If you are passionate and honest about the books you are recommending, then booktalks are golden. If you can’t find a handful of YA books that you love and you can booktalk, then you need to ask for suggestions! You are reading the wrong books!

Toys”R”Us Reading Ready is an early education program that helps children, birth to age 5, with pre-literacy skills. Libraries that serve at risk children certainly qualify.

Charlotte Observer — Start the reading habit early
A short but sweet article not on teaching kids to read but on getting kids to WANT to read. I like that one of the tips is to go to the library often!