Presentation created by Becky O'Neil, Teen Librarian, for a class at Otterbein University taught by Dr. Erica Womack, October 22, 2014

1. Trends in Teen Literature
Becky O’Neil
Teen Librarian
Westerville Public Library
boneil@westervillelibrary.org
Oct. 22, 2014

2. image source: Publishers’ Weekly
The John Green Effect

3. Remixed Classics
image sources: YALSA’s The Hub

4. image source: Publishers’ Weekly
Standalones (Trilogy fatigue)

5. From bestseller to box-office
image source: CNN.com

6. Transmedia
Examples:
★ Chopsticks, by
Jessica Anthony
(app)
★ We Were Liars,
by E. Lockhart
(pre-pub tumblr)
★ Skeleton Creek,
by Patrick
Carman (online
videos)
★ 39 Clues series
from Scholastic
(online game &
trading cards)
★ The Fantastic
Flying Books of
Morris Lessmore
(app)
Thoughts:
★ The digital
divide: does the
book function
without the
digital pieces?
(can kids without
the tech access
enjoy it?)
★ Do the multiple
platforms
enhance or
interrupt the
story?
★ Would a pure
ebook or app be
better?

7. Teens’ Top Ten

8. Adults ❤ YA...but teens ❤ “New Adult”
★ Forever Young Adult
(site for adult fans of YA
books & pop culture)
★ What’s New About New
Adult? (Horn Book -
includes some New Adult
titles)
★ Against YA (Slate -
arguing that adults should
be embarrassed to read YA
- lots of good responses to
this)
★ Lizzie Skurnick Books
(bringing out-of-print YA
fiction back to bookshelves)
image source: Forever Young Adult

9. Diversity’s new movement
image source: http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/

10. A few diverse / multicultural titles:
We are a rainbow, by Nancy Maria Grande Tabor (picture book - moving to the U.S.)
Who put the cookies in the cookie jar?, by George Shannon (picture book - globalization, cooperation)
The color of home, by Mary Hoffman (picture book - moving to the U.S. after war in Somalia)
The arrival, by Shaun Tan (graphic novel - mostly wordless story of an immigrant’s experience)
In our mothers’ house, by Patricia Polacco (picture book - LGBTQI, adoptive interracial family)
Mrs. Katz and Tush, by Patricia Polacco (picture book - friendship between old Jewish widow and young black boy)
God’s dream, by Desmond Tutu (picture book - peace, empathy. I love this illustrator, LeUyen Pham, because she always includes children of
different races, even if it’s not a “multicultural” book via the text)
The breadwinner trilogy, by Deborah Ellis (juvenile fiction - under the Taliban, Parvana works as a boy)
When I was the greatest, by Jason Reynolds (teen fiction - urban NY, brother with Tourettes, knitting (!). Check out this cover + Reynolds’
author photo if you think teen fiction is all big fancy dresses à la The Selection series.
Yaqui Delgado wants to kick your ass, by Meg Medina (teen fiction - bullying, class conflict, ethnic identity)
The crossover, by Kwame Alexander (teen fiction - verse novel, basketball, rap, twins, fathers and sons)
If you could be mine, by Sara Farizan (teen fiction - Iran, LGBTQI, best friends)
Ten things I hate about me, by Randa Abdel-Fattah (teen fiction - self-acceptance, cultural identity)
Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi (graphic novel - growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution)
Bridges to understanding: Envisioning the world through children’s books, ed. by Linda M. Pavonetti (2011 nonfiction resource -
annotated bibliography, w/ descriptions of nearly 700 books representing more than 70 countries)
Hearing all the voices: Multicultural books for adolescents, by Mary Ann Darby & Miki Pryne (2002 nonfiction resource - annotated
bibliography of more than 500 books. See Culture Index on p. 239)

11. ★ It’s not just print books!
○ Books on CD
○ Playaway (audiobooks on mp3 player)
○ Playaway View (mini video player)
○ Playaway Bookpacks (Playaway + Print Book)
○ DVD movies, BluRay, music CDs
○ Magazines for kids & teens (Otaku USA, MAD)
○ Magazines for Parents & Teachers (School Library
Journal, VOYA - reviews popularity vs. quality)

12. Helpful Resources
★ WPL’s Educator page
★ Try our mobile app (or mobile web page - but the app
lets you check books out!)
★ Reviews. Find them in Novelist, print magazines such
as School Library Journal & VOYA, Amazon, blogs
★ Shelves. New & advanced books at the library,
bookstore
★ The Hub teen lit blog from the Young Adult Library
Services Association
★ Books about books (0.11-0.28 at the library)