Tuesday, March 24, 2009

BER Workshop: What's New in Young Adult Literature

This was an amazing workshop presented by Patti Tjomsland. She does it every year, so if you have an opportunity to go see her, definitely do so! She reads over 400 YA novels a year, and then writes plot summaries, separates them into categories, and gives her top picks for the year. Here is her website that has some additional online resources that everyone could use:
It also talks about how you could get her book if you are interested in obtaining a copy for yourself. Here is a preview of the what the sections are in the book in case you are interested in getting a copy or are planning on looking at a copy that is circulating:
Section I: Bibliographies-this section is comprised of lists of book summaries separated out by book categories such as: Death and Dying, Historical Fiction, and Series and Sequels, and includes reading level ranking, award nominations and winners, and publishing info.

Section II: What the Award Books were for the Year and Activities in Using Them

Section III: Great information on how to promote books, reading, and discussions inclusive of information on using audiobooks

Section IV: Activities for Any Novel-This section is jam-packed full of activities to use when discussing/teaching a novel to/with a group.

Section V: Activities and lesson plan links for specific titles

Section VI:Interent Resources such as reviews, blogs, and author myspace pages

Her Top 14 Picks of 2009 were:
1. Airman by Eoin Colfer
2. Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
3. Nation by Terry Prachett
4. Impossible by Nancy Werlin
5. The Compound by S.A. Bodeen
6. The Trouble Begins at 8 by Sid Fleischman
7. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
8. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
9. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
10. The London Eye Mysteries by Siobhan Dowd
11. How Not to Be Popular by Jennifer Ziegler
12. Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
13. Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor
14. My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger

Definitely take a moment to check out the book. There is so much useful information in it!

1 comment:

naomi said...

The BER workshops are some of the best offered in the area. Do attend when you can. Naomi