YALSA Blog

Professional Blog.  The official blog of the Young Adult Library Services Association, YALSA provides quick tips and up-to-date news on techniques for reaching out and connecting with teen patrons.  The site lists over fifty authors from libraries all over the country, many of whom provide examples of what they are doing in their own libraries.  Authors clearly see new media as a way to reach out to adolescent users; to YALSA, it is not enough to build a teen room in your library and leave them to their own devices; young patrons need programs that will engage and stimulate them, and YALSA will connect librarians to many new ideas.  Navigation of the blog is simple, with tags to direct readers to specific topics like podcasts or social media.  Longer entries can be expanded to a full page, but readers have to navigate away from the main blog to do so.  YALSA is a great place to get new ideas, whether you are comfortable with new technologies or not, there is something to be learned from these passionate youth librarians.  Recommended, ****

Adventures in Cartooning

Recommended grades 3-5.  Comic artists James Sturm, Andrew Arnold, and Alexis Frederick-Frost break down the art of comic-making in Adventures in Cartooning (First Second, 2009).  Sturm and company instruct on the form through the Magic Cartooning Elf, who accompanies a knight on a comic adventure to defeat a dragon.  Throughout, the Elf plays with aspects of comics, including panels, speech bubbles, and ways to express emotion through drawings.  The illustrations are simple enough for children to imitate (there are even step-by-step directions at the end), though the coloring adds shade and depth.  The artists behind the book clearly care a lot about demystifying comics and encourage readers to use the lessons learned to create their own stories.  Excellent for students who are interested in art and comic books, and even those who aren't will enjoy the fun characters and creative story-telling.  Highly recommended, *****.