Teen read week

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 12:19 PM

Posted by Ryan Sands, Book Search Support Team

This week is Teen Read Week, promoted by the American Library Association, and the theme for 2006 is "Get Active @ Your Library." We're excited by anything that gets more people reading, and Young Adult fiction is often where the freshest books are being released -- the kinds of unhinged stories that turn teen readers into lifetime book lovers. During this week, we hope that Google Book Search and the Teen Read Week website help teens and adults find books that spark their interest.

On the Teen Read Week site, you can weigh in on your favorite Young Adult books of 2006 by taking a survey (I'm voting for Peeps, Skybreaker, and A Certain Slant of Light). The site also includes radio spots by The Princess Diaries author Meg Cabot, many of whose books are discoverable in Google Book Search.

It's a wonderful time for Young Adult fiction, with exciting titles in all genres coming out each month. For those of you looking for a place to start, check out some of the books honored with the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. They represent a really cool swatch of contemporary YA fiction, and a number of the winners and nominees can be found on Google Book Search, including:

• 2006 Nominee Black Juice by Margo Lanagan, a great collection of unique, dark fantasy short stories about families, elephants, and (what else but) clown assassins.
  
  
• 2005 Nominee Airborn by Kenneth Oppel, an alternate universe adventure story about a teenage boy, airships, and exploration, set against a fantastical Victorian backdrop.
  
  
• 2003 Winner Postcards From No Man's Land by Aidan Chambers, which follows two intricate narratives (one in the past, one in the present), depicting adolescence in times of war.
  
  
• 2000 Winner Monster by Walter Dean Myers, an unconventional novel as written by a 16-year-old accused felon, told as a makeshift screenplay/journal.

That's only a taste. You can check out the complete list of winners and nominees on the Teen Read Week site.