ALD Teen Corps!

ALD Teen Corps is the new teen service organization starting next month throughout the district. Each month the teens and their staff mentors will be addressing interesting and relevant topics, possibly creating service projects to benefit their communities as a by-product. Below are the monthly themes. I will be posting more information on the topic at the beginning of each month.

September : Welcome to ALD Teen Corps
October : Multiculturalism and Diversity
November : Technology
December : Community Contributions
January : Environmental Issues
February : Literacy and Education
March : Library Programs and Practices
April : Mentoring and Leadership
May : Censorship and Info Exchange
June / July : Summer Reading
August : Recruiting and Revision

The Appeal of Vampires

Article submitted by Elizabeth Perille, Koelbel Library

All of us are aware of the increasing popularity of teen vampire literature, particularly the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer (now hailed as the "next J.K. Rowling"). What makes these stories appealing? Here is one individual's take on this topic.

Author Donna Freitas attributes much of the interest to the romantic tension that exists between Bella and Edward, stating it reflects the experience of those who choose to wait for physical involvement. In her words, the book "has (girls) demanding that young men behave like gentlemen" and "waxing poetic about what sounds a lot like abstinence."

http://wsj.net/public/article_print/SB121815501342422553.html

Your Local School Districts

Public libraries and public schools ideally should be working hand-in-hand to provide the best resources and services to facilitate the education of our local community. A good way to keep informed of the different activities taking place in the local schools is by viewing the local school district websites and/or signing up for school email lists. Below are links to a few of the different school districts we serve :

Aurora Public Schools
http://www.aps.k12.co.us/

Byers School District
http://byers32j.k12.co.us/

Cherry Creek School District
http://www.ccsd.k12.co.us/

Deer Trail School District
http://www.deertrail26j.k12.co.us/

Denver Public Schools
http://www.dpsk12.org/

Littleton Public Schools
http://www.littletonpublicschools.net/

Sheridan School District
http://www.sheridank12.org/

Mindset List from Beloit College

Article submitted by Melissa Depper and Monica Owens, Youth ASTs.

Since 2002, Beloit College has published a list of "cultural touchstones" pertaining to the incoming class of freshman that colleges will be welcoming in this school year. This resource, dubbed the Mindset List, provides insight to the life experience of coming generations that will shape their approaches, viewpoints and interests, ultimately affecting their future contribution to our society.

http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2012.php

Looking over the list, what do you think are the most significantly affecting components of this generations' personal/social circumstance? Do you see details that parallel or differ from your own experience starting college and/or approaching adult life?

Teens Actually DO Read

Article submitted by Kara Rusch, Castlewood Library.

In light of the recent posts concerning teens not reading or accessing reading resources only in digital format, Kara submitted a great article about the amazing increase in teen books being purchased as of late. Some hail this recent teen book publishing period as the "new golden age of young adult literature." This article addresses the statistics that highlight how teens are, in fact, reading and how bookstores are accommodating to this trend.

Goodnow, Cecelia. "Teens buying books at fastest rate in decades." Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 7 March 2007.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/books/306531_teenlit08.html

Video Games are Good for Your Brain

One of our new Teen Program Contacts, Mark Mullis (SG), has been contributing some interesting articles to the ALD Get Your Game On blog. As the topic of gaming is becoming something more common in libraries and we ourselves offer a number of sucessful gaming programs throughout the district, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with new gaming options and ways of advocating for their use. Check out these articles concerning Xbox Live and how gaming can actually help develop cognitive skills for people of all ages.

Braid, or "Why Video Games are Good for Your Brain"

Geometry Wars, or Metro 2 Evolved

Feel free to post your responses on both blogs!

Teen Read Week 2008 : October 12 - 18

Teen Read Week is a national literacy initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association. It's aimed at teens, their parents, librarians, educators, booksellers and other concerned adults.

Teen Read Week 2008 will be celebrated at thousands of public and school libraries, classrooms, and bookstores across the country. Although teens realize the importance of reading, they have a huge menu of activities to choose from when deciding how to spend their free time, and reading gets lost in the shuffle. Reading skills get rusty when they are not used. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reports that over the last 20 years there have been only modest gains in reading achievement. And although there are many active literacy campaigns, very few efforts focus on teenagers.

YALSA is a nonprofit organization that depends on its members for support. By registering, you are letting (them) know that teen literacy is a concern and you are willing to do something about it! By registering, you are telling YALSA that this program is worthwhile, and (they) will continue to sponsor the week. (ALA Teen Read Week Website)

For more information about the literacy campaign and information on how to register your library branch, click on the following link:

http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/teenreading/trw/trw2008/index.cfm