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A Roundup of Our Reader’s Advisory Posts

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We’ve done a number of reader’s advisory related posts at STACKED, and I thought instead of reiterating the value of RA and how much it matters, I’d round some of our older posts up in one place for easy access. I’ll include some of our RA guides, as well as some of the visuals of reader’s advisory projects I’ve done in my libraries, too. I’d like to show the practical, applicable stuff, too. We’ll be back with our Saturday Links of Note post next week.

If you’ve done any reader’s advisory posts or have links to displays, book lists, shelf readers, or any other tools you use as a reader’s advisor, I’d be happy to see them. Leave ’em in the comments — the more that are shared, the bigger a resource this becomes.

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“Why does good readers’ advisory matter? Because getting a list of random books that you might like based on arbitrary qualities like publication date stinks. Because there are millions of books out there, and each one has a reader. Each reader has something they want from a book. Because reading matters, and being able to connecting the reader to his/her book and that book to his/her reader only furthers that. Because there is nothing better than seeing a 14-year-old boy walking out of a library with exactly the kind of book he wants to read because you took the time to listen to what he likes and offer him something that makes him excited about reading.” — from Why Good Reader’s Advisory Matters, September 2012.  

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I’m a big proponent of passive reader’s advisory. One of the projects I finally got to finish recently at my own library are shelf talkers. They began as a collaborative effort with a former coworker, and together, we wrote short “hooky” descriptions of ten books, and it’s my goal to swap the books out every couple of months. I like to think of this as “surprise” and “delight” reader’s advisory; readers discover them when they’re browsing and maybe pick up something they didn’t know they were looking for. You can read more about the project, including what holders I purchased, over here. 
And then you can read some more about passive reader’s advisory and the value of it in the piece I wrote with Jackie Parker about passive programming.  

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Maybe my favorite part of librarianship — or at least one of them — is making displays on whatever topic strikes my fancy. I tend to swap them out about once a month and I try to stick to something thematic to the month, though I don’t make it a requirement. The library I’m at now has space for teen displays. It’s the first library I’ve worked at that has had such dedicated space, and I use it to my advantage. Here’s a look at a handful of displays I’ve done at my current library and at a former one. 

This display was from March this year and one of my favorites: it’s a display of dynamic and interesting girls in YA fiction. In honor of women’s history month, of course.

At the end of summer, I borrowed an idea from a tumblr librarian and made a display of books for fans of Supernatural. You can see the idea and the subsequent booklist over here.

This display was at a library I used to work at, in a space I had to carve out. The theme is simply yellow covers, and I made the signage a smily face to mimic the book beside it.

Before I carved out the space above for displays, this is what I was working with. This display was one I loved because the topic was fun — books featuring bands or music — and because I got a teen volunteer to decorate those old albums for me to jazz up the look of it. She got to have a bit of ownership in the display, too. 
Don’t have a space to do displays in your library? I’ve utilized bulletin boards to make it happen, too. This was my favorite, a bulletin board reader’s advisory tool all about the Cybils:

If you want to see some of the other displays I’ve done — I’m trying to take a photo every month and update it for my own records — you can check them out over here.

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Want reading guides to YA fiction by genre? You probably know about our “Get Genrified” series. Kim’s post this month about dystopia has links to our prior guides and reading lists, which include horror, romance, science fiction, high fantasy, contemporary, novels in verse, mysteries and thrillers, and graphic novels. 
Since passive RA matters to me as much as active RA, I’ve made it a goal to develop reader guides to various topics and genres at the library. You can check out out my most recent ones, as well as ones that are a few years old, over at Scribd. You’re welcome to adapt and modify as you wish. (Yes indeed, I have made lists “for boys” and “for girls” in the past, but note that aren’t labeled as such. I took the idea and spun it a bit. I don’t think I’d do that now — I made those lists over three years ago — but there’s one way to take a twist on the problematic trope.)
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“Sure, know those best sellers. Know the books that your readers are asking for. But it’s as important — if not more important — to know about those other books. The ones that aren’t getting a lot of press for them or that are backlist titles and have sort of fallen out of the sphere of memory in light of those shiny new titles and those easy reaches. It’s important to go beyond the end cap titles and explore the shelves. To browse. To discover.


Readers who become the best reader’s advisors and the strongest advocates for reading and books are those who seek out the books which aren’t the easy reaches. They’re the ones who can see the value in those titles and know that they’re the books which WILL reach many readers because of their strengths or accolades or the endorsement from well-knowns (Oprah, for example, or in the YA field it’s someone like John Green). That’s not to discredit the books or those speaking on their behalf.

It’s just that they are easy reaches.” 

 — From Getting Past the Easy Reach, perhaps my favorite thing I’ve written on the topic of reader’s advisory. Of course, this ties back into about everything said all week long both by myself and those who wrote guest posts about their work and RA philosophies. 

Guest Post: Scott Rader on Fandom, Fanmixes, and Reader’s Advisory

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Scott Rader is the young adult librarian at the Hays Public Library in Hays, Kansas. He loves working with teens, listening to music, and watching TV . . . all of which he uses to improve reader’s advisory. He doesn’t have any pets or kids and he paints in his free time. He says reader’s advisory and policy are his favorite parts of the job. You can find Scott on Twitter @ScottyRader. He’s here to talk about how he uses his passions to fuel his RA skills. 

About a year ago I graduated with my MLIS. School killed me. It put me in a reading rut that I still haven’t recovered from, which sucks. Reading, recommending, and talking about YA books are a favorite part of my job. This slump, however, has led me to connect with books more personally.



So, let’s start with fandom. Fandoms are popping up everywhere in libraryland. Let’s be fair, fandoms have always (yes always) existed. Librarians have noticed and capitalized on them before this year. They just seem like a hot topic. Also, let’s be fair, being a fan of a book or author (or anything) can make your experience with that “thing” so much broader. 

We have a teen at my library who loves The Warriors books. She has a huge 3 ring binder, you know, the big one, filled with Warrior cats she’s drawn. She loves to show them to people and talk about the books. They are an easy introduction for people interested in the books to talk to her about them. They are also just a fun way for her to share her drawings. She’s interacting with the books much more deeply than if she read one and gave it 5 stars on Goodreads.



Now, I have always been mildly geeky. I like superheroes, comic books, science fiction, etc. I never really participated in any fandoms though. If I liked a book, I wrote a nice review and gave it 5 stars on Goodreads. Then, I “discovered” a few things simultaneously: 1. Spotify. 2. Tumblr. 3. Some authors are really awesome on Twitter and interact really well with their fans. 

So, I read a book, Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon, and I loved it. I wanted to show my love for this amazing thing that gave me all sorts of feelings. But I am not someone who can draw or paint “fan art” and anytime I write “fan fiction” I get embarrassed and delete it. However, fan mixes offer an easier way to show love and to geek out over your fandoms. So, I put together a reading mix for Silver Phoenix. And I shared it with the world. And Cindy liked it. And, since I have amazing taste in music, IMO, I felt I must share more. 

Fan mixes are just mixtapes for … anything (it really isn’t that complicated, make a mixtape for something you love). They are a great way to share feelings, through song, with characters, authors, OTPs, worlds, etc. I also think they create an interesting way to present Reader’s Advisory to your readers (any fan art, fiction, etc., really). I haven’t done much with my fan mixes at this point, besides sharing them on my personal tumblr and the library’s tumblr. I am squirreling them away until I have enough to make a display. I am also sharing them to encourage teens make their own for their favorite books. Those can go on display too! Teens can listen to the mixes. Maybe they like it enough to check out the book. Maybe they don’t. Either way, they know I like the book enough to make a fan mix for it. I think it also encourages them to show off their fandoms and to really connect with the media they consume.



It also brings up another important aspect of RA that we can sometimes forget: Connection. Are we listening to the readers coming to us and connecting them with the right book? Are we making sure we understand what they connect with in a book? 

For instance, when I first started my library job, Twilight was huge. Some readers really liked the supernatural element, some wanted sexy vampires, some were Team Jacob, some were invested in the love triangle. It’s important to tease out these connections with readers. I think the best way to do that, especially as a public librarian, is to consume everything and just enjoy the experience. 

I am not saying be a fan of everything, but be willing to be a fan. Listen to the teens around you and try out their suggestions. Maybe you will find a new love (mine are Vampire Diaries and One Direction) and maybe you’ll find a few duds (I just don’t get The Mortal Instruments or Pitch Perfect), but understanding what teens like and why they like it, understanding their connections and their fandoms, can make for more well-rounded reader’s advisory.

Guest Post: Sarah Andersen on Reader’s Advisory in the Classroom

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Sarah Andersen is a high school teacher in Michigan who has done so many great reading-related projects with her students. She blogs at YA Love and stopped by to talk about the different methods she’s tried to grow her own reader’s advisory techniques. Be ready to be inspired.











Recently I was asked, “What’s the
secret to get kids reading?” My first reaction was, well, there is
no secret. It’s all about enthusiasm and engagement. If a teacher
is excited about reading and is actively reading what her students
are reading—and sharing that excitement with her students—then
that passion will be contagious. The students will want to read. At
least that’s been my experience. I’m naturally an energetic and
enthusiastic person and that really shines through when I’m in
front of my students talking about books. However, I take it beyond
just talking about books with my students.
One of my favorite ways to hook
students is by showing them book trailers. I know I’ve shown them a
good book trailer when students ask, “Is this going to be a
movie?!” The book trailers that get that reaction almost always
result in the book being borrowed. I start every school year by
showing a number of book trailers since they’re so quick and
effective. A few book trailers that really hooked my readers this
school year are for I
Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga, Please
Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King, The
5th Wave by Rick Yancey, and The
Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin. I also have a
blog feature called Book Trailer Thursday and I show the selected
book trailer in class each week. It’s become such a habit that if I
forget, my students don’t fail to remind me what day it is.
Another effective way to get kids
reading is by telling them what they’re banned from reading. I wish
there wasn’t a need for Banned Books Week, but it sure does pique
my students’ interest when I start telling them about censorship
and book talking banned books. Every year I put together a Banned
Books Week display in my classroom. Sometimes I’ll put books face
out with a note card explaining why they were banned, but I always
make time to book talk them. Once I tell them about the books and the
reason for censoring them, along with my opinion on the matter, many
of my students are itching to get out of their seats and check the
books out. Once I’m done there is usually a line by the display so
they can sample them, peruse them, and borrow them to read during
SSR. Reading these books and knowing the reasons why they’re
censored promotes rich discussion between me and my students.
This school year I started my seventh
year of teaching in a brand new district, so I really wanted to make
a strong first impression with my students not only as a teacher, but
as a reader as well. Usually on the second day of school I’ll set
up a book pass for my students. This involves me pulling a variety of
books from my shelves for my students to sample during the pass. My
students are usually given three or four minutes with a book and once
time is up they pass it to the right and start all over again. This
is a fast way for my students to sample books they may never usually
pick up on their own. This year I made sure to include student
favorites, “oldies but goodies,” a variety of genres, etc. I
always keep this in mind when preparing a book pass, but this year I
paid extra attention to the books I included. Apparently I did a
really good job picking books this year because almost half of every
class borrowed a book that day! I love book pass day because it gives
me an opportunity to see which books might be popular during the
school year since there are usually a few books wanted by more
students than I have copies available. I’ll hold another book pass
when I get back from NCTE/ALAN this November (to share my book haul)
and probably another in the spring. My students often request a book
pass later in the school year to help them find more books to read.
Whenever my students are reading during
SSR, I’m reading with them. This not only models the behavior I’m
expecting from them, but it also gives them the opportunity to see
what I’m currently reading. I took this one step further when my
friend Jillian pinned a picture of her reading
life display. I jumped on this idea and created my own reading
life display on my classroom door. I made sure to start this school
year with a reading life display on my classroom door. I’ve already
heard students talking to each other about the amount of books I’ve
read. One student is apparently trying to compete with me! Last
school year I took my reading life display one step further and asked
my students if they’d like to create their own, but on their
lockers. More students than I expected were thrilled by this idea,
which I ended up calling “literacy
lockers.” My students gave me a list of books they had read so
I could print out the book covers for them to tape to their lockers.
The English hallway looked really cool with so many decorated
lockers. It also sparked a lot of discussion among the students
because they wanted to know about the different books they were
seeing, especially the ones they saw on multiple lockers. A couple
students, who weren’t in my class, took it upon themselves to
create their own literacy lockers. I’m really hoping my new
principal will allow me to do this since I’m confident my students
will want to create their own literacy lockers.
Here’s a list of a few other ways
I’ve created a reading community in my classroom:
  • Read alouds. I’ve been reading
    aloud to my high school students since my student teaching
    experience. Some of the most positive read aloud experiences have
    come from reading Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Boy21
    by Matthew Quick, Unwind by Neal Shusterman, and Dairy
    Queen     by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. I’m currently reading
    Wonder by R.J. Palacio to my seniors and one class of sophomores.
  • Author visits. This isn’t always
    easy to accomplish, but if you can find a way to connect your
    students with an author you’re sure to have positive results. I’ve
    been really fortunate in this area because of Twitter and my blog.
    I’ve brought Lisa McMann and Ellen Hopkins to my school to speak
    with students. I’ve also Skyped with authors like Laurie Halse
    Anderson, Charles Benoit, Gae Polisner, and Geoff Herbach. After
    each Skype session quite a few students wanted to read books by the
    author. They’ve learned about writing, reading, and what it’s
    like being an author.
  • Seating charts. A while back
    Donalyn Miller tweeted about arranging her seating chart based on
    students’ reading interests. I’ve started doing the same thing
    (without telling them this) and have seen more book exchanges and
    heard more book discussions than before.
  • Class library. I guess I’ve
    assumed that teachers reading this have a classroom library, but I
    know what they say about making assumptions…. A class library is
    so important if you’re trying to create a community of readers.
  
In all honesty, all of these ideas will
help you get books in the hands of readers, but nothing trumps
reading the books your students are reading. Knowing my students and
their interests, plus having read the books in my classroom library,
results in a strong student/teacher rapport. There’s nothing quite
like reading a book and knowing exactly which student(s) I should
recommend it to when I finish. Even though I’m in a new district,
I’m still thinking about my former students while I’m reading.
Thank goodness for Twitter, otherwise it would be much more difficult
to share titles with those students.

Baby Got Backlist and Don’t Ever Forget It

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One of the questions I got earlier this year on my panel at Book Blogger Con at BEA was what I thought one of the trends in blogging was. That’s a tough question, partially because my view of the blogging world is skewed by what blogs I read, and the blogs I read tend to be written by librarians or educators (though not all — I read a number of reader blogs, too). But the answer I had didn’t take a whole lot of thought: I think backlist blogging is one of the trends that continues to pop up in discussion of blogging trends, but also in the actual content I’ve read in the blogs I frequent.

At Kid Lit Con in 2011, one of the panels was all about backlist and defining what made a book backlist. According to the publishing representative, it’s any book older than six months.

You read that right: six months.

Books published prior to April this year are what could be considered “backlist” titles. They’re no longer getting the push from publishers or the sort of marketing and publicity bucks that books out this season or in the coming season will be getting. It’s not that they’re forgotten; it’s that they’re no longer the focus of dollars — there are caveats to that, of course.

I think six months is a pretty short period of time to consider a book backlist. But I say that from the librarian perspective. As much as I may be familiar with a book or series prior to its publication and during the initial six months it’s out for purchase, most general readers are not. Even if they’ve seen a review in The New York Times or they’ve seen advertisements in any magazines, they aren’t necessarily thinking in terms of the book being brand new or the book being old. The general reading population isn’t as caught up in the newest or the latest as many of us who blog or write or work in classrooms and libraries are. For most readers, a book is a book. Even those who want the latest book from a favorite author (think Nora Roberts, James Patterson, and so forth) don’t necessarily know the titles or plot lines of the newest book or even when it came out. They just know there’s a book they haven’t yet read and they want it.

Many readers, in my experience, find an author early on and discover they really enjoy the work. Many times it IS a new book that gets them hooked — in the library setting, this might be because they pick up the book on the new shelves which are way less intimidating to browse than the general fiction area. And once they find those great new books, the next thing those readers want to know is what else that author has written and where to find it.

Books that were published 6 months ago or longer aren’t old to those readers. They’re brand new.

For teens especially, backlist titles aren’t old news. New teen readers discover YA as an entirely new world to them when they’re ready to read them — and because they discover new authors and series and stories they love, they aren’t concerned about those books being the latest and the greatest. In fact, aside from some of the huge titles (think the Divergent or Legend series or anything by Cassie Clare), many brand new books end up on the new books shelf in my library when they come out. They don’t always stick around long, but teens aren’t clamoring to get their hands on those books as soon as they possibly can.

Backlist is crucial for reader’s advisory. It’s not only enough to know what’s come out this week or last. You have to always be aware of the books that came out six months ago and maybe even six years ago. No, you don’t need to know them all, but you should have a solid idea of big name authors and series, as well as keep up with the standalone titles published more than six months or a year ago in order to offer strong next reads to those who want them. For many readers who have been with YA for a while, it’s really not that difficult. In fact, it can be advantageous because the titles you read a few years ago can become handy when faced with the need to offer a read alike to someone. Need to offer ideas for a reader who loves books about teen pregnancy? Though a handful have published this year, you’d have to work through backlist titles in order to give that reader a strong list of ideas. This extends further when your reader wants something very specific in their teen pregnancy fiction. You can’t find many books that explore abortion in the last six months, but broaden your range to the last 8 or 10 years, and you can offer quite a few options.

Books don’t expire. And while there can be challenges to acquiring some backlist titles — books do go out of print — there’s a real value in not just reading, but in also talking about backlist titles. Even publishers are finding some backlist titles strong enough to repackage and republish. Look at what Lizzie Skurnick is doing with her imprint at IG Books.

Finding older titles featured in blog reviews or other blog spotlights excites me not only as a reader (I get to find new-to-me stuff to read) but it excites me because it means I have more titles to think about and make connections to and among when I’m faced with RA opportunities. After I wrote about female sexuality in YA books that featured very new titles, for example, I got a lot of recommendations for backlist titles to look at. My reading interests don’t change because the book is 10 years old. Instead, my reading pile grows.

Who is blogging about backlist? Technically, any blogger who talks about books older than six months is covering backlist, but there are plenty of bloggers who intentionally cover backlist titles. Many book bloggers write about older titles through the “Throwback Thursday” meme, which you can Google blog search and catch up on, since there appear to be a few different takes on it.

Some other excellent sources for backlist reading:

  • Leila at Bookshelves of Doom. I am sure you’re already reading her blog, but she offers such a great mix of newest books and older books you shouldn’t overlook. Aside from when she posts newer reviews of older titles, she’s got years and years worth of archives of older reviews and book lists — earlier this year, she did a bunch of runs of booklists that were entirely backlist titles about a niche topic that are excellent. Not to mention her book list guest posts are also great. I’d go as far to say as her blog is one of the best resources for backlist in YA. 
  • Liz does a good job of reviewing a mix of newer and older titles over at Tea Cozy, but her real gem when it comes to backlist blogging is her “flashback reviews” feature. 
  • Tessa and Rebecca over at Crunchings and Munchings write some of the most creative book lists in the blogosphere, and they do so by including a real mix of new and backlist titles. I love how they pair things up. 
  • The ladies over at The Readventurer blog have done a few “Wall of Books” features that are mega lists of books on a given topic. Of course, those mega lists include both newer books and plenty of backlist titles. Check these out if you haven’t. 
  • YA Reading List is Jennie Rothschild’s project for the year, and it is awesome. If you’re looking for a YA book list, this is a go-to, and it is primarily backlist. 
Whether you’re a blogger or a reader, the backlist shouldn’t feel off-limits to you. Explore. Engage. And then most importantly, talk about what you’re reading — sometimes the perfect book for the next reader isn’t the one that came out last week or the one that’ll be out next month. It’s the one that came out in 2006. There is no timeframe for the act of discovery. List those older books on your book lists. Write a review of a book that came out years ago. 
If you know of other great YA backlist blogs or resources, I’d love to know. I’d also be curious to know your take on the definition of backlist. How long ago does a book need to have been published to be considered backlist?  If you’re a reviewer, do you share your backlist reviews with publishers, if you are one to share your reviews? And if you’re someone who does reader’s advisory, do you share publication date information when you book talk, make displays, or write book lists? 
Let’s make this a huge backlist resource post.

“Beyond the Bestsellers” at Book Riot

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I get annoyed when big sites do posts about YA Lit — particularly as it pertains to getting adults into reading it — and I’ve talked regularly about how often, the suggestions given don’t try too hard. They’re usually titles pulled from the bestsellers list or from any number of “best of” and awards lists.  Good for those who haven’t stepped foot in a bookstore or opened anything that features advertising, but probably less useful for those who actually want to read more widely within YA lit. And, of course, then the question that comes up is “what next?” Often, those sources don’t offer an answer to that, and if they do, it’s not based on what it is a reader really dug in the books they read.

So rather than continue to complain about this, I decided I’m going to try to do something about it. Every month, I’m going to write a piece over at Book Riot called “Beyond the Bestsellers,” and it’ll feature a book, a series, or an author, an explanation for why readers like it, and then offer up three next reads and why those books may appeal to fans of the given work.

You can check out the inaugural piece today, which is about what to read about polishing off Veronica Roth’s Divergent series (or what to read while waiting for Allegiant).