Blogiversary Giveaway (sadly I must use a form)

So I totally thought that Blogger would just give me a listing of my followers. Apparently that's not possible. So in order to be considered for the blogiversary contest, please fill out this form. Thanks for your support this past year! My official blogiversary isn't until the 31st, so you have plenty of time to enter! I've got more giveaways coming soon, so stay tuned!

Blogiversary Giveaway (sadly I must use a form)

Bringing in the Loot

This is part of the In My Mailbox series hosted by The Story Siren. This meme allows book bloggers around the web to showcase what awesomeness we bought, swapped, borrowed, or got this week. Check out my loot below!

A slower week, thank goodness. Enough time to play catch up! I've read tons and have yet to get the reviews down. Look forward to those coming soon!!

Review:
Manifest by Artist Arthur
Poison by Sarah Poole
Plus by Veronica Chambers (return from Around the World Tours)
The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June by Robin Benway (return from Around the World Tours)
Library:
Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon
This is What I Want to Tell You by Heather Duffy Stone (This is an Inter Library Loan. Woot!)

Bought:
Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs

I scored some pretty incredible loot this week! I'm really excited to dive in to writing my reviews (backlogs are not fun) and then devouring these new tasty morsels. What loot did you score?

FYI: I'll be celebrating my blogiversary next month and I'm only 14 people away form 200 followers. Who says giveaway time? If I make it to 200 before my blogiversary I'll give something juicy away. For every 50 people after that, I'll sweeten the pot. Stay tuned for more info!

Bringing in the Loot

Teen's Top Ten Nominees & Challenge (with prizes)!

I don't know if you all noticed, but the Teen's Top Ten nominees have been announced. Every year, YALSA (the Young Adult Library Services Association) polls 15 book clubs around the country about what books they think should make the list of the best teen books published in the last year. This year there are 26 nominees that teens (12-18) can vote on between August 23rd and September 17th. The Teen's Top Ten choices are announced during Teen Read Week in October. This year's theme for Teen Read Week is "Books with Beat."If you want more information on any of these events, please visit the YALSA website.



The 2010 nominees are:

Abbott, Ellen Jensen. Watersmeet

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Wintergirls

Brown, Jennifer. Hate List

Carter, Ally. Heist Society

Cashore, Kristin. Fire

Clare, Cassandra. City of Glass

Clayton, Emma. The Roar

Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire

Dessen, Sarah. Along for the Ride

Fisher, Catherine. Incarceron

Fitzpatrick, Becca. hush, hush

Forman, Gayle. If I Stay

Garcia, Kami and Margaret Stohl. Beautiful Creatures

Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd. Edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci.

Golding, Julia. Dragonfly

Jinks, Catherine. The Reformed Vampire Support Group

Lieb, Josh. I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President

Ockler, Sarah. Twenty Boy Summer

Patterson, James. Witch and Wizard

Peters, Julie Anne. By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead

Pierce, Tamora. Bloodhound

St. Crow, Lili. Strange Angels

Stiefvater, Maggie. Shiver

Tanigawa, Nagaru. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Westerfeld, Scott. Leviathan

Yep, Laurence. City of Fire

See some familiar names up there? If you've been reading my blog for a while you should, as I have read and reviewed a few of them. Because I like to read as many of them as possible so that I can recommend them to my teens during the summer and fall to gear up for voting, I thought it would be fun to make it into a challenge to see who else would like to join me! Since I'm (sadly) over 18, I can't vote, but I still feel like a part of it all when I read the books. There are 3 different levels to the challenge.

Solo: Duet: Three-Part Harmony:

Reading 1-8 books Reading 9-17 books Reading 18-26 books

The deadline is September 17th as that is the last day of voting. I will be giving away a prize pack of books to one lucky person in each category. Simply sign up using the Mister Linky below. Your post should contain a link back to the challenge, your level choice, and the books that you've read to complete the challenge. Since some of these books came out in 2009, if you have already read the book, you can still consider it in the challenge. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO REVIEW THE BOOKS IN ORDER TO BE CONSIDERED. Many of these books can fit into other challenges that are in the blogosphere like the Debut Authors Challenge hosted by The Story Siren or the 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge hosted by J. Kaye. Please let me know if you have any questions. Good luck!

Example:

Laura (Tattooed Books) Solo

[link to blogpost about challenge choices]

Teen's Top Ten Nominees & Challenge (with prizes)!

Content and Age Appropriateness

It seems that everyone is ranting these days, but really I just want to ask a question. How young is too young to read some books? I know that YA is a very broad genre encompassing books that are appropriate for almost any age and maturity level, but where is the line drawn?

As someone who works mostly in YA in the public libraries, I get asked a lot if something is "appropriate" for their children. If I know the book, I'll ask them what they're concerned about and then tell them how this book reflects their concerns or I'll just give them the basic rundown of any "questionable" content. This can be tricky because I don't want to discourage reading and I don't want to lose the trust of either the child or the parent, but I feel that there are somethings that some readers just aren't prepared for yet. Although, as a teen myself, I always found a way around my parents to read what I wanted and I'm sure these kids are doing the same thing.

I really do hate being put in these positions most of the time because I feel it's awkward for everyone involved. Then again, sometimes I think it is warranted and needed. I mean, I had a woman bring in her 8-year-old daughter to get some books and the child wanted: Twilight, The Clique, and The Last Song. She wasn't really worried about the content of the first two (!!) but when I mentioned that the last one is actually an adult book, she looked surprised and asked, "Well do you think it's inappropriate?" I was shocked for about 2 secs as to why the child even wanted the book and how I should respond, until she reminded me "We're going to see the movie with Miley Cyrus this weekend." I told the mother a basic run down and explained that the book really is intended for older teen and adult audiences. What's happened to kids wanting to read what's made for them? I mean, just because Miley Cyrus stars in the movie version of a book, does NOT mean that your Miley fan should read it!! Give her Hannah Montana books, those are on her level. Luckily this mother at least asked and then took my advice by not getting the book for her daughter; but I'm sure there are so many more parents who don't even ask.

This dilemma also extends to my blog as well. I write this blog for my teens, to give them a resource to look to for book related news, reviews, and information. So what should I include? My theory is, if I wouldn't recommend it at the library, then it probably shouldn't go on my blog. I try to have a decent mixture of books ranging from boy-centered to girl-centered, books to graphic novels, fantasy to realistic fiction. There is something for everyone and I hope I am doing a decent job of representing as many as I can. I don't think that there should be warning labels or a rating system on book content, but I try to be open-minded about what should be included so that I don't just shut something out. I believe in the poster that is at the top of this post very much and I really hope that I am keeping in line with it's message.

Thanks for listening and let me know what you think is "appropriate." I mean, where is the line drawn? Drugs, sex, violence, I don't even know. Some of the best books would be tossed if these were taken out, but I think they can serve a purpose if used correctly.

Content and Age Appropriateness