Teen Read Week

Area teens will be reading for the fun of it as Harris County Public Library celebrates the ninth annual Teen Read Week, October 15 – 21, 2006. We join thousands of other libraries, schools and bookstores across the country who are encouraging teens to celebrate this year’s theme, "Get Active @ your library." Teen Read Week is the national adolescent literacy initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the fastest growing division of the American Library Association. This year’s theme encourages teens to use the resources in their library to lead active lives.

Many of our branch libraries are presenting Teen Read Week programs.  

The Get Active @ Your Library booklist includes fiction and nonfiction books about getting active in your community, using your body and using your imagination.

Now you and your friends can help create an exciting nationwide list of books chosen for teens by teens as the best reads of the year - Teens' Top Ten Books!

Vote for your favorites during Teen Read Week, October 15-21, 2006.

Meet the HCPL Young Adult Staff

Harris County Public Library has 26 branch libraries across the county.  Many of these libraries have staff dedicated to working with the young adults in the community.  Let's meet one of them!

David McCorkell

Young Adult Librarian

David McCorkell

David McCorkell is the Young Adult Librarian for the High Meadows Branch Library.

What do you like to read?

I like ideas.  Things that make you think.  What if there was a 25th hour as in Midnighters?  What if there was a society of cats as in Warriors?  Funny is also good.  After all--it's all about taking our assumptions and making us think about them.

What was your favorite book when you were a teen?

William Sleator--Interstellar Pig; etc.

Douglas Adams--Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Joel Rosenberg--Guardians of the Flame series

What do you like best about your job?

Programs for teens.  I can set up movie nights, run Dungeons & Dragons games, arrange Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments, even just host a teen-time where young adults can just hang out and be themselves.  And it's my job.  How cool is that?

What was the most unique experience you had as a teen?

I got to attend a two-week intensive theatre training seminar in Ashland, Oregon.  We played theatre games and practiced theatre techniques.  We got to see about a dozen plays.  It was exhausting--I actually fell asleep watching A Winter's Tale.  A Night in the Ukraine made me laugh so hard that I was chosen "Most likely to see A Night in the Ukraine again."  I haven't.

If you could relive your teen years what would you do differently?

Spanish class instead of French.

If you could give advice or a message to your "teen self" what would it be?

A message.  I'd send myself an almanac.  Kids--never gamble unless someone from the future has given you an almanac.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

I want to share a peaceful world with you.  Would that be okay?

New Young Adult Books

New Young Adult Fiction

Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple.  Troll Bridge:  A Rock 'n' Roll

Fairy Tale  Sixteen-year-old harpist prodigy Moira is transported to a strange and mystical wilderness, where she finds herself in the middle of a deadly struggle between a magical fox and a monstrous troll.

Lauren Meehling and Laura Moser.  The Rise and Fall of a 10th

Grade Social Climber   When her best friend dares her to become part of the popular crowd and record her experiences in a diary, fifteen-year-old Mimi's world turns upside down when the diary gets into the wrong hands.

Anthony Horowitz.  Evil Star

Having locked the Raven's gate, fourteen-year-old Matt travels to Peru where he meets the second of the five gatekeepers and works with him to try to stop the opening of a second gate somehow related to the Nazca Lines.

Michael Simmons.  The Rise of Lubchenko

Suspecting that his father's business partner is selling smallpox virus to terrorists and murdering anyone who gets in his way, sixteen-year-old Evan Macalister once again travels to France with his friends, Ruben and Erika, to search for the mysterious Lubchenko, the elusive spymaster whose help they need to avert a major disaster.

Melissa de la Cruz.  Fresh Off the Boat

When her family emigrates from the Philippines to San Francisco, California, fourteen-year-old Vicenza Arambullo struggles to fit in at her exclusive, all-girl private school.

P. B. Kerr.  The Blue Djinn of Babylon

Twelve-year-old twins Philippa and John become involved in an international adventure involving the Blue Djinn, the supreme arbiter of all Djinn.

Charlie Price.  Dead Connection

A loner who communes with the dead in the town cemetery hears the voice of a murdered cheerleader and tries to convince the adults that he knows what happened to her.

Eleanor Updale.  Montmorency and the Assassins:  Master,

Criminal, Spy?  After twenty years as a gentleman, Montmorency is glad to be free of Scarper, his wretched alter-ego, but when a young friend is caught in the middle of a murderous political plot, Montmorency may have no choice but to call upon Scarper for help.

Lucy Frank.  Lucky Stars

Music entwines Kira, a thirteen-year-old singer who hates that her father makes her perform for money on New York City subway platforms; Eugene, the class clown; and Jake, who longs to sing and to approach Kira, but feels held back by his stuttering.

David Lubar.   Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie

While navigating his first year of high school and awaiting the birth of his new baby brother, Scott loses old friends and gains some unlikely new ones as he hones his skills as a writer.

New Young Adult Nonfiction

Dan Kimpel.  How They Made It:  True Stories of How Music's

Biggest Stars Went from Start to Stardom!   "How They Made It" is a savvy insider's tale that traces the careers of a cross-section of top-selling recording artists and punctures the mythologies of the music business. Among the stars profiled are Green Day, John Mayer, Norah Jones, and Jim Brickman.

Vicki Courtney.  Teen Virtue:  Real Issues, Real Life--a Teen

Girl's Survival Guide   Vicki Courtney knows teen girls. Her message is exactly what they need to hear to counter the culture's lies and distortions about who they are and what they should become. TeenVirtue is in a fun and hip format that will entice teen girls to pick it up, read it, and share.

Christopher Hart.  Drawing Cutting Edge Fusion

Drawing Cutting Edge Fusion is the first-ever tutorial that shows how to draw American-style comics with a manga influence.

Richard Platt.  Pirates of the Caribbean:  the Visual Guide

This insider's guide takes readers on an unforgettable tour of the swashbuckling world of Captain Jack Sparrow.

Chris Palmer.  Streetball

A celebration of the history and lore of streetball, this illustrated guide also includes an inside look at the players and moves, as well as tips to help readers improve their game.

Ricky Gervais.  Flanimals

A field guide to a bizarre group of creatures called Flanimals showcases their many colorful varieties and their odd behavior, disgusting diet, and strange way of interacting.

Shari Graydon.  In Your Face:  The Culture of Beauty and You

From Bedtime Fairy Tales and blockbuster movies to magazine advertisements and reality TV, we absorb the lesson early and often: beauty rules. What's more, the publicity machine of modern business has never before delivered so many messages glorifying the benefits of being beautiful. For teens that can mean fitting in and measuring up becomes an overpowering force. But, as Shari Graydon points out, every day, in dozens of small ways, you can choose what messages seem right to you. By putting images of beauty into perspective, In Your Face encourages readers to stop feeling so controlled by it. Engrossing, enlightening, fun, and provocative, this is a no-nonsense guide to thinking critically about beauty culture.

Venus and Serena Williams with Hilary Beard.  Venus and

Serena:  Serving from the Hip:  10 Rules for Living, Loving, and Winning  These superstars and super sisters share their secrets in this straight-talking smart guide. Speaking candidly about their personal experiences, the sisters give you the inside scoop on: what it takes to rise - and stay - on top, who watches their backs when the pressure is on, how they spend - and save - their money, dating - their real deal on romance, book smarts - keeping grades up and study stress down, loving the skin you're in.