Young Adult Page
Summer Happenings: Teen Program Teen Calendar
My first summer here at the Brookings Public Library is shaping up to be a busy one full of (what I hope will be) fun programs for teens. Helping me provide exciting programs this summer will be the library’s new Nintendo Wii.
For those of you who don’t know, a Wii is a gaming system intended to revolutionize the way people game. Interactive play, as well as moderate physical activity compared to other sedentary games, are the Wii’s biggest advantages. Nursing homes and assisted living centers are also taking advantage of the active gaming a Wii provides. This is not just a gaming system for kids, it’s for everybody!
Gaming at the library is a relatively new initiative. The Ann Arbor District Library in Michigan has been providing gaming programs for teens since 2005. Not once has a parent complained about these events. In fact, the library often receives comments like this: “Did you know this is the first time all summer he has been out of bed before 11?” commented a parent during last summer’s DDR (that’s Dance Dance Revolution in layman’s terms) program. Imagine it. Teens coming to the library just to hang out and have fun.
And don’t think gaming has no connection to literature. Books about gamers and gaming scenarios are available right here at the library.
¨ Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game features a boy who is chosen to attend the Battle School where military training is simulated in war games.
¨ Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde is about teen Giannine who plays a total immersion virtual reality game where dying is easy, but winning may really kill her.
¨ Electronic Gaming Monthly and GamePro are two gaming magazines with information about gaming equipment, new games, and old favorites.
Video games as enticement to come to the library makes sense—a poll conducted by Jupiter Research found 95 percent of teenage boys play video games—and it works. Many libraries and librarians rave about their growth in teen library users since the introduction of their gaming programs. Marianne Kruppa, a librarian at St. Joseph County Public Library in Indiana has seen numbers grow firsthand. “When one kid has a great time, she brings one or two friends to the next event. Then those kids bring their friends!”
If getting teens in the building is half the battle, then we might just win this one.
Each year the Young Adult Reading Program (YARP)
Committee of the
South
Dakota Library Association publishes a list to promote quality literature
and to help South Dakota teachers and librarians in selecting and promoting
books for adolescents. The books are selected from among the many young adult
and adult books that have received positive reviews by national reviewing
periodicals.
For the first time since 1989, teens voted on the titles from the current
2007 list and awarded their favorite book for the SD Teen Choice Award. SD YARP
Teen Reads Committee is proud to announce for the Middle School category,
Copper Sun by
Sharon Draper and Fake ID by Walter
Sorrells for the High School category as the winners of the 2008 SD Teen Choice
Awards.
The SD YARP Teen Reads Committee will announce the winners of the SD Teen Choice
Awards each year during National Library Week. There will be a winner for Middle
and High School levels. The 2008 list will be released in September and voting
will take place until March 31, 2009.
2007 YARP Reading List