Teen Read Week: Teen '14 Author Celebration

Hello, my name is Natasha and I am the Young Adult Coordinator for RPL. I have been very fortunate to work with many local YA authors for some of our amazing teen services programs. This year I have been working closely with an author by the name of Madelyn Rosenberg. Madelyn took over the coordinating Teen ’14 this year and together we've been planning away for this celebration.

One of the things we often hear is that kids don’t read. We’ve seen the studies. But we have a hard time believing them when we meet teen readers in the flesh. They’re smart, passionate, and engaged, and they’re Reason No. 1 that Virginia librarians and authors thought it was important to put on this event.  Words from Madelyn Rosenberg

A little history:

Teen ’13 started with RVA’s own A.B. Westrick and Meg Medina, who both had brand new books come out last year -- brand new award-winning books – though they didn't know that when they planned the event, which was a chance to get Virginia authors together with Virginia readers. The event was hugely successful. It generated a feeling of community in the very best sense of the word. There were warm fuzzies in abundance.

So we decided to do it all over again, with a fresh crop of authors, showing that Virginia grows readers and writers along with its apples, tobacco and peanuts. Some of the authors will repeat from last year. Most will be new, ready to talk about their latest books and ready to talk to lovers of teen literature at the Richmond Main Library.

Alexis O’Neil, an author and school-visit expert in California, is currently conducting a study on the effect meeting authors can have on school-age kids. Though her study is still in progress, she says it’s clear that a visit with an author can change attitudes and lives. At the least, she says, it encourages kids to revisit their own writing with fresh eyes.

But if  you’re looking for more reasons to come to Teen '14, try these:

- Kids like to see themselves in literature. A number of the authors have stories set in Virginia, so Teen ’14 also gives kids a chance to see different takes on their state.

- It encourages readers to Read Local.

- It brings attention to the programming efforts of local libraries.

- It supports one of Richmond’s local indy bookstores.

- It supports Richmond’s local indy writers.

- There will be door prizes.

- There will be music.

- There will be food.

- It’s free!


The Teen '14 Authors

Author: Kwame Alexander

THE CROSOVER is a coming-of-age verse novel about twin basketball-playing brothers whose devotion to their family and the pursuit of a championship is disrupted when one brother gets a girlfriend. 

Author: Gigi Amateau

Based on true events, COME AUGUST, COME FREEDOM illuminates a little known corner of American history as it honors the extraordinary will of one man.

Author: Vanessa Barger

In A WHISPERED DARKNESS, as the nights grow longer and the shadows take on substance in her new home, Claire Mallory will have to decide if she is strong enough to fight off the evil spirits, or let them claim her as one of their own.

Author: Cece Bell

Sudden hearing loss, an enormous hearing aid, an adorable crush, mysterious bathroom noises, and the quest for a True Friend—EL DEAFO totally needs her superpowers in this debut graphic novel by children's book author and illustrator Cece Bell

Author: Anne Blankman

In PRISONER OF NIGHT AND FOG it is 1931 Munich when the honorary niece of rising politician Adolf Hitler meets a fearless Jewish reporter who believes that her father was murdered by their closest family friends, members of the Nazi elite. 

Author: Martina Boone

Stuck with the ghosts of a generations-old feud and hunted by forces she cannot see, Barrie Watson must find a way to break free of the family legacy in COMPULSION.

Barrie Watson finds a new kind of prison at her aunt's South Carolina plantation instead--a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions.

Author: Mary Crockett

Annabelle Manning is thrilled when her DREAM BOY walks into her chemistry class, until she learns that when dreams come true, so do nightmares.

Author: Jen Swann Downey

Twelve-year-old Dorothea Barnes can hold her own in any fake Renaissance Faire sword-fight, but she despairs of ever finding something more important to do with her sword. Then she stumbles into Petrarch's Library, the sprawling headquarters of a secret society of NINJA LIBRARIANS.

Author: L.M. Elliott

ACROSS A WAR-TOSSED SEA chronicles the challenges facing two London boys who escape Hitler's Blitz bombings, cross a U-boat infested Atlantic Ocean, and find refuge in Tidewater Virginia with the farming family of Patsy Ratcliff, the home-town girlfriend of Henry Forester of Under a War-torn Sky. 

Author: Alison Hart

Dogs plus history equals thrilling adventures in this series, which includes Darling: Mercy Dog of World War 1, and Murphy: Gold Rush Dog.

Author: Meg Medina

When Piddy Sanchez gets to her new high school, she's targeted by the school's most vicious bully, Yaqui Delgado. Whom can Piddy trust, and how can she stand her ground and survive?

Author: Erica Orloff

In Orloff’s IN DREAMS, Iris discovers her father is actually the god of dreams and her nightmares and dreams follow her into reality, with both frightening and romantic results.

Author: Madelyn Rosenberg

NANNY X is the story of a special agent nanny, her three young charges -- four, if you count the dog – a naïve mayor, and a slick mogul who cannot be trusted.

Author: Kat Spears

SWAY is an antihero comedy about what happens when high-school senior, Jesse Alderman, who claims to have no feelings, meets a few people who force him to feel all kinds of things.

Author: Tammar Stein

SPOILS is the story of the Kohn family who won the lottery only to lose what matters most. Their youngest daughter, Leni, must now fight to save her family. Romance, mystery and mysticism are woven in a satisfying tale. 

Author: Tiffany Trent
In THE TINKER KING, the follow-up to the award-winning novel THE UNNATURALISTS, Vespa Nyx and her friends must face the consequences of their actions in freeing New London from the chains of steampunk sorcery, but the price may be greater than any of them are willing to pay.

Our Teen '14 Celebration is October 16 from 6:00 -8:30 pm.
And for those crafty teens out there, join us on October 14 at 3 pm as we re-purpose old library books to make book lanterns. The books that are made will be placed on display for Teen '14.

We hope you’ll come!