Today Is Operation Teen Book Drop

Today is Support Teen Literature Day and Operation Teen Book Drop.

Are you dropping a book?

I've got Lois Lowry's tear-jerker, A Summer to Die (*man*, what a great book!) all bookplated up and ready to go.

Now I just have to decide if I'm going to drop it on a table at our local movie theater/cafe, ice cream shop, library, skate park, or the DVD rental store. Hmmm, what do you think?

(I'm leaning toward the ice cream shop because, hey, as long as I'm there...)

National Library Week & Maine Student Book Awards

Did you know that it's National Library Week? Yup, April 13-19 has been set aside as a time to appreciate all that your local library has to offer. And that's a wonderful thing.

How to celebrate Library Week? Here are some ideas:

• Look for special events at your library (ours is having *cake* on Friday!)
• Thank your librarians for all that they do...bring cookies, flowers, send a note, or just walk in with a smile
• Donate books, music, or movies to your library (cash works, too!)
• Flop down in the Children's Corner and read a book you haven't read in years
• Check out a dizzying array of mystery novels
  
• Pick one thing you've always wanted to know (Are blue butterflies really going extinct? How do I get a coffee stain out of a teacup? Where exactly is Kazakhstan on a map?) and go find out...Guess what? Your reference librarian can help!
  
• Participate in Operation Teen Book Drop on the 17th

AND...one very exciting library-related announcement. Each year, the 4th-8th graders of Maine vote for their favorite book and this year's winner is our very own Cynthia Lord for her Newbery Honor Book, Rules! This is the first time that a Maine author has won the Maine Student Book Award! How should you celebrate this one? By reading the book of course! Here's my review of Rules. And here's the full Maine Student Book Awards list.

Here's a sweet message from Julie Andrews, the honorary chair of National Library Week:

Readergirlz: Operation TBD

April 17th is Support Teen Literature Day, and the folks over at readergirlz have found a pretty spectacular way to celebrate. Together with the Young Adult Library Services Association, readergirlz has organized a massive book drop to hospitals all over the country, and there's something simple you can do to help.

Justina Chen Headly, author and co-founder of readergirlz, explains the idea like this:

“While touring my local children’s hospital to research my novel, Girl Overboard, I couldn’t help noticing that teen patients didn’t seem to have the comfort objects that the little ones did. As an author, I knew that YA books—books with exceptional characters and fabulous stories—could provide teen patients with some of the escape and inspiration they needed.”

So this April 17th, as part of readergirlz' Operation Teen Book Drop, 20 publishers will donate over 10,000 Young Adult books to pediatric hospitals.

Get Involved!
readergirlz is inviting everyone to participate in the book drop! Here's what you can do:

1. Pick a Young Adult book you'd like to donate.
2. Download the Operation TBD bookplate and paste it inside the book, telling the recipient to read and enjoy.
3. On April 17th, drop the book in any public place (coffee shop, school, park...)
4. Join the after-party! Here's the official invite:

We invite all readergirlz and authors to join our online two-hour book party hosted at the readergirlz MySpace group forum, on April 17th (Support Teen Literature Day), from 6-8pm Pacific/9-11pm Eastern. The chat will be in a thread titled "TBD Post Op Party." The readergirlz divas will be giving away books and prizes, and chatting with teens and authors from around the world. We've invited so many authors and girlz you just never know who you might end up chatting with!

For more information about readergirlz, check out their manifesta.