Sometimes together; sometimes separate

I was talking with a children's librarian the other day and mentioned a great idea I had seen on the YALSA blog. Her immediate response was "Oh, I'm an ALSC person, not a YALSA" That remark has bothered me for days now. Maybe as librarians we do too much to categorize ourselves into little groups with different characteristics and interests. Of course we want to exchange ideas with people who have the same kind of job and the same problems we have, but there are times when it's important to look beyond the narrow precincts of the children's room. After all, our patrons don't stick closely to what we define as "children's materials" or "children's services". They go through a stage of trying to be a teenager, slipping back into childhood, and then trying again. There is no hard and fast line between a tween and a teen and we ought to think about both groups. Some of the most exciting advances in library services these days are coming from the teen department. If you haven't talked to a "YALSA person" lately, you ought to think about signing onto the YALSA blog and checking out what they have been saying. Many of the ideas there are just as applicable to younger children as they are to teens--and you'll get to hear ideas from some pretty nice people. It makes you proud to be a librarian.

Revisiting Cinderella

Looking for new books is a natural this time of year as we search for holiday gifts for friends and family.For librarians it's also a time to catch up on the year's books that we've missed during the busy summer and fall. It's been a good year for YA novels in which new young authors experiment with old stories and formats. One of the most unusual approaches to the Cinderella story is Malinda Lo's Ash,which combines a classic Cinderella story with some elements of Irish folklore. The combination works and Publisher's Weekly includes Lo as one of the rising new stars of the YA publishing world. There is something very encouraging to see that as books stream out of publishing houses year after year, some of them repetitive and clearly designed to capture a media sensation of the day, there is still room for a fresh new approach that succeeds. Teens are lucky because so much of the writing talent today is focusing on the YA market where there is still room for innovation and imagination.

Fast selling YA series

As a follow-up to the NY Times story of last week, the paper wrote today that James Frey and a co-writer have had their YA series picked up by Harper Collins. The movie rights have already been sold, and this sale within a week of its first offer, is an indication of how much faith publishers are putting in name brand authors. Mr Frey, it appears, had the idea of the books, but much of the text will be written by his young associate, Jobie Hughes. It's a great opportunity for a recent graduate from Columbia University's creative writing program. It will be interesting to see how well the collaboration works.