2008 Teen's Top Ten Winners Announced!

The 2008 Teens' Top Ten
The vote is in! More than 8,000 teens voted on this year's winners.

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
Extras by Scott Westerfeld
Before I Die by Jenny Downham
Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

Video Game Surprise!

Can playing "Madden" or "World of Warcraft" encourage you to be more engaged in public life? Believe it or not, yes.

If you play video games, you might want your parents to read the report from PEW Research Center. Gaming may not be responsible for kids growing up to become anti-social hermits. In fact, this study shows that all that game time could actually make you a better citizen. More and more studies are showing that gaming is actually quite social. Attitudes towards games and gamers is often based on assumptions and emotions. People either project their own failings or profess views that seem correct, but are in fact not supported in the research.

What are your thoughts?

Want to Access a Library Source Without Leaving Home?

InfoAnytime is a real-time, web-based reference service that features live librarians who can help you find the information you need... any time.

How does it work? Click on the InfoAnytime link on the Essex Library's web site, enter your name and your question and wait a few moments for a librarian to come online.

Professional, highly-trained librarians conduct reference interviews via online chat, and provide answers and further resources in the form of web sites and online database citations. These online resources appear directly on your screen, next to the chat session window. You may interact both with the web sites provided and with the librarian until your question has been answered satisfactorily.

At the end of each session, both the participant and the reference librarians at the college receive transcripts of the session via email.

Looking For A Good Book Recommendation?

Teenreads.com bring teens info and features about their favorite authors, books, series and characters. They are a part of The Book Report Network, a group of websites founded in 1996 that share thoughtful book reviews, compelling features, in-depth author profiles and interviews, excerpts of the hottest new releases, literary games and contests, and more with readers every week. Teenreads.com is THE place online for teens to talk about their fave books --- and find the hippest new titles!

It's Teen Read Week! October 12-18

It's Teen Read Week! Vote now for the 2008 Teen's Top Ten! Voting takes place through midnight on Saturday.

Teens' Top Ten is a "teen choice" list, where teens nominate and choose their favorite books of the previous year! Nominators are members of teen book groups in fifteen school and public libraries around the country.

If you read nominated books throughout the year, you’ll be ready to vote for your favorites during Teen Read Week, October 12 - 18, 2008. Readers aged twelve to eighteen can vote right here, online, anytime that week.

See the 2008 Teens' Top Ten Nominations...

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom To Read

Banned Books Week is September 27 - October 4, 2008!

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, the annual event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted.

1. “And Tango Makes Three,” by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
Reasons: Anti-Ethnic, Sexism, Homosexuality, Anti-Family, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

2. “The Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Violence

3. “Olive’s Ocean,” by Kevin Henkes
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language

4. “The Golden Compass,” by Philip Pullman
Reasons: Religious Viewpoint

5. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain
Reasons: Racism

6. “The Color Purple,” by Alice Walker
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language,

7. “TTYL,” by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

8. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” by Maya Angelou
Reasons: Sexually Explicit

9. “It’s Perfectly Normal,” by Robie Harris
Reasons: Sex Education, Sexually Explicit

10. “The Perks of Being A Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.


Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, American Library Association, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Association of American Publishers, National Association of College Stores, and is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

Banned Books Week is now on Myspace and Facebook. Check it out!