Support Teen Literature Day April 12, 2012!

While the celebration of National Library Week is a delightful time to reminisce about all the neat things your library does for you, the best part of the week is this year’s Support Teen Literature Day. Now, it’s true that there’s nothing librarians love more than days dedicated to celebrating READING (except for, maybe, our genuine love of bad puns and cats) so my advocacy for this day might seem cliché…but, really, Support Teen Literature Day 2012 is super awesome. Here’s why:

Last year, you might have heard about Meghan Cox Gurdon’s June article in the Wall Street Journal decrying Teen Literature for being too dark. Ms. Gurdon flipped through a history of teen literature pointing out books with “no happy ending”. As a parent, Ms. Gurdon felt that such books were too mature for a teen audience and encouraged parents to take note of what young adults are reading.

Ms. Gurdon’s article was, naturally, NOT well-received by the young adult literature world. Wall Street Journal was barraged by YA authors and fans. A twitter campaign with the tag #YAsaves was quickly one of the nation-wide trending topics.

There’s a whole host of authors who have written response pieces to Ms. Gurdon’s article:

• Sherman Alexie author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian wrote Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood for Wall Street Journal.
• Laurie Halse Anderson author of Speak wrote a blog article called Stuck between rage and compassion
• Cheryl Rainfield author of Scars wrote a response on her blog

And before you, too, get all hot and bothered about whether Teen Literature is #toodark or #saves, I want to assure you that it doesn’t matter. (No, no. Your opinion is important but…) What’s been wonderful this past year is how MUCH people have been talking about what they read and why they read. Ultimately, what you read and why you read is a choice that only you can make. At your local public library, freedom to read whatever is one of the many freedoms that is afforded to you regardless of your age. (Check out Section V of the American Library Association’s Bill of Rights).

So, whether you find that you love your Teen Literature with a side of gritty realism or sparkling vampires or those illusive happy endings, at Haverhill Public Library, we really do have it all – and we’re delighted to help you find the books that fit your reading needs. Support Teen Literature Day is for all of us. The yet-to-be-teens who will grow up surrounded by all these wonderful stories, the teens and tweens that so many exceptional authors write for, and those adults that are still young-at-heart and like to grab a book or two from the Teen Zone shelves.

Support Teen Literature Day is Thursday, April 12. We’re hosting a Peep Diorama Build so you can celebrate a scene from your favorite YA book with SUGAR in the Teen Zone. And while you’re here, come talk to us about your favorite books. Need a few ideas for your next read? What do you like?

Zombies? Cyborg Cinderella? Hysterically Funny? Dragons? Evil Unicorns? Princesses? Happy Endings? Realistic Fiction? Ninjas? Digital Dinosaurs? Dark Realism? Fairy Tale Retelling? Cults? Laugh-So-Hard-You-Cry? Magicians? Family Togetherness? Inspirational Sports Stories? Time Travel?

…you name it and, yeah, we got that too.