YA Diversity Book Club 2017

My vision for this book club is to provide a space for all teens who enjoy reading and talking about what they've read. I put the word "diversity" in the title because we focus on books in which the characters belong to marginalized communities: racial, ethnic, disabled, LGBTQ+, homeless, mental illness, abuse, etc. I have found that reading books that explore marginalization is a great way to open up the conversation in a non-threatening way. After reading these books, kids will open up about similar experiences they have been through or witnessed their friends going through. It's part book club, part safe space, and part social; I want my teens to leave this club knowing that I am here for them, as are their new friends, if they are having a hard time for any reason.

Since I have not been keeping up with entries about my teen book club since I started it in the summer, I figured I would do a 2017 wrap up and then start monthly entries about it in 2018 as meetings happen.

Reception about this program has been varied, because the type of highly-motivated teens that a book club tends to attract are also super busy with other extracurricular activities. During the summer, a lot of our teen volunteers were very involved, but that dropped off in September when everyone went back to school. I still have exactly one very involved member, who has been doing their best to talk it up at school and their other activities. For the moment, however, I am just working on getting the word out and recruiting more teen readers.

January will be a planning meeting where I'm asking the kids what they would like to read. I am trying to lure them with pizza, so we'll see if I get any new members.......

In the meantime, here are the books we read in 2017 along with Goodreads links, why they fall into the category of diverse books, and a short review.

September: If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

I fell in complete love with this book. Farizan does an amazing job of explaining the difference between being gay and being trans to readers that might not understand it, without breaking out of the character's voice. The ending was heartbreaking, but also exactly what I hoped would happen.

It's diverse because: Iranian culture, LGBTQ+ themes (lesbian and trans)

October: All-American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brandon Kiely

I actually originally read this book for a class in grad school about YA literature. It's very timely because it talks a lot about a Black Lives Matter-esque movement without actually using the name of the real-life movement. Alternating between the POVs of two teen boys, one white and one black, we get to see all sides of a story dealing with police brutality.

It's diverse because: Racial issues and teaching tolerance

November: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

I have to say, I am not usually a fan of fantasy, but I loved this book! It's like the Harry Potter universe, except the kids sometimes drink, curse, and have sex. The spells are also much more modern, and it explores the idea of magic being a concrete substance that you can own, spend, and run out of. Also, Rowell does an amazing job of writing in British voices across all six or seven narrators, even though she herself is American. Halfway through reading I found out that it is actually the book from Rowell's other novel, Fangirl, and was written after Fangirl was published and popular. Now I have to read that one as well!

It's diverse because: British culture, LGBTQ+ themes (gay)

December: None of the Above by I. W. Gregorio

I read this book last year and did not have a chance to re-read it before our December meeting, but I still remembered it well enough to have a conversation about it with the one member who showed up. I like it because it is written by a doctor who specializes in Intersex patients, so all the medical facts are correct. Gregorio also does a great job of capturing all the characters' emotions, especially the main character's. What I dislike about this book is the utter cliche that is Kristin's high school life. She's a pretty, popular athlete who desperately wants to win Homecoming Queen and have sex with her boyfriend, and then it all comes crashing down when she finds out that what has been masquerading inside her as ovaries are actually testicles. The only downside to the diagnosis as far as I can tell is not being able to have biological children, if you wanted them. Otherwise, the devastation Kristin experiences and the merciless bullying her schoolmates subject her to when they find out seems incredibly dramatic and over the top. The best character is the mentor she finds through an Intersex support group, a self-assured lesbian who helps her understand her condition and develop a new outlook on life. But, it's a worthwhile read and a great example for teens of how to accept yourself no matter what curve balls life throws at you.

It's diverse because: LGBTQ+ themes (intersex)

Write Your Own Picture or Comic Book - Week Four

Today was the final session of our four-week writing program for tweens age 8-12.
Week One
Week Two
Week Three

Much like our first session, today was very free form. Some of the kids who were absent last time came back (we took a week off since last Thursday was Thanksgiving Day and the library was closed) so we rounded out the class with a solid ten tweens.

As I promised last time, this week they got to physically make their own books! I was aware of these blank books at Michaels, and bought a bunch of them ahead of time. They were very reasonably pried, $2.99 plus tax for a pack of three books. (Warning, sarcasm ahead) And I definitely didn't spend my own money on them, because that would be crazy and is something no educator does ever, because they are always provided with an adequate budget (end sarcasm).

We did not do a warm up activity today, because after four sessions all the kids know each other and I have learned almost all their names. I wanted to give them as much time as possible to work on their final products, so I set out art supplies, passed out blank books, and made myself available for help!

Some of them brought the story ideas they started last time, and others made up a brand new story. I noticed that I got a lot of "Can I do this?" questions. I did my best not to say yes or no; instead my answer was, "You can do anything you want, it's your story!" After the seventh or eighth "Can I..." question, I realized that many of these kids had never sat down and tried to compose their own 100% original story before. Whether they had never thought of it, or there isn't enough time with school work, or no one in their life had ever suggested they try it, this was the first time they had ever had zero guidelines before! In the last session of this workshop, it hit me how important it was for the kids who came. Best of all, everyone left today having created something gorgeous and original. Here are some pictures of their books:

Most didn't finish their books completely, but I encouraged them to finish at home or come back to the library and use our supplies to finish them here. I had so much fun with this workshop. I will be running monthly drop-in Tween Writing Time programs in 2018, which I am excited to report on, and my partner Youth Services librarian and I might even be starting a tween book club for ages 8-12. It's such a fun age group to work with because of their creativity and willingness to try anything. That's why being a children's librarian is so much fun; you can have fun at storytime with the babies and preschoolers, then turn around and put on your classroom teacher hat for a tween educational workshop. When the paperwork and meetings get overwhelming, I remember that I also get to do amazing things like this. Programming for these kids makes the rest of the hard work completely worth it!

Write Your Own Picture or Comic Book - Week One

This is week one of a four-week writing program for tweens age 8-12.
Week Two
Week Three
Week Four

I required registration for this program, because there is a limited amount of space where we held it. Also, I decided partway through the planning that we would be using laptops, and my library only owns twelve laptops.

As of yesterday, the registration was full at twelve participants plus two on the waiting list. Ten of the registered kids showed up, plus four that I was not expecting. Even though two were without laptops, there were chairs for everyone so I invited them all inside.

Our first activity was on Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's website Eduplace, and was basically an online version of MadLibs called Wacky Web Tales. With two sets of siblings sharing a laptop, I challenged the kids to find the website and then fill out the tale entitled "The Box." Since we used this as an ice breaker activity, I told them that their own name had to appear somewhere in their tale. They had 15 minutes to fill it out, then we went around and shared.

For the rest of the session, I let them work on their choice of two websites: Story Jumper or Storyboard That. Story Jumper presented the unexpected complication of needing users under 12 to go through a long and involved process to get parent permission to use the website, so most of the kids ended up on Storyboard That for today. They had a great time making their own comic strips, and exploring the website. Here is my example strip that I created on Storyboard That:

I feel that it's important to let tweens and even older elementary schoolers explore the internet in an only somewhat structured environment. This way their activity can still be monitored, but they figure out how to browse and make things happen on their own. I originally had a more regimented lesson plan for today, but because it was the first session, I thought it would be fun for them to look at character and setting options without putting too much pressure on the session.

Book Notes

This is a program I put together as a drop-in for teens and tweens, but it would have been applicable for readers of any age. The goal was to write inspirational notes that we will leave in books in the Young Adult section, especially books with difficult themes such as suicide, drugs, abuse, rape, and difficult LGBTQ+ issues. It was a really easy one to put together, and well-received by out summer visitors, especially a group of teen volunteers.

Here are some of the many amazing messages the teens wrote, on the template I made so they can be recognized by our staff as a piece of a library-sanctioned program:

They had a good time coming up with encouraging, funny, and uplifting messages to add to our circulating library books.

I will be making color photocopies of the originals and replenishing the supply in our YA section every few months. I kept the originals so that they will not get damaged in circulation, and I always have them to refer back to.