Teen Web
Los Angeles Public Library
2007
http://www.lapl.org/ya/index.html
Age Range: 12+
Format: Website
Rating: 5/5

A FABULOUS website, Teen Web is interactive, pretty, user-friendly, cool and informative. This is everything that teen library sites should be! The main page has a great design; users can move elements of the page, choose from teen-friendly categories and view photos from teen events. The main theme of the site is centered around a teen school binder, complete with doodles and tabs for different "subjects." The subjects are all relevant, and include links to general stuff (like comic books and sports), teen library resources, homework help links, information for life (health, family, etc.), events at the library, the teen reading club, a library game (that I coulnd't seem to make work), and the opportunity to give opinions and feedback! The sections are all different than the ones offered through the main Los Angeles Public Libray website, and are all directly appropriate for young adults. The links are all stable, and take the user to reputable, enjoyable and interactive sites with good information. There is no "kiddish" feel to the site; it's cool and playful and pretty hip (although, it's debatable whether a non-teen can make this statement).

If I was to create a teen library website, I think that I would use Teen Web as a template! It's THAT good!

The Zone: Teens @ Burlington Public Library
Burlington Public Library
2007
http://www.bpl.on.ca/bplteens/thezone.htm
Age Range: 12+
Format: Website
Rating: 4/5

The Zone, from the Burlington Public Library in Ontario is a very informative, clean, and semi-cool teen library site. Great links to relevant and reputable sites, The Zone offers teens an opportunity to see what's new, to get homework help, check out teen reads, get information on writing contests, links for general subjects and to ask a librarian. The graphics are simple, yet eye-catching, and the page gives information separate from the library's main site. Teens can also provide content for the site: specifically book reviews and submissions for the writing contest.

Although perhaps not the prettiest teen library site, The Zone definitely does the job, and offers appropriate information for users. Especially impressive are the extensive links provided, and the emphasis on the activities of the library's Teen Advisory Board.

Shojo Beat
November 2006
Viz Media
Age Range: 12+
Format: Magazine
Genre: Manga
Rating: 4/5


A great magazine for the manga lover in all of us (well, us girls anyway). Shojo Beat is concerned with manga dealing with themes of emotions, relationships, love, identity and the like. It has vastly different content than Shonen Jump (the action-packed boy's manga magazine), but very similar format. The bulk of the magazine is monthly installments of various manga titles, along with a preview of a new manga soon to hit stores. This month's issue previewed Punch, a story about Elle, the daughter of a wrestling champion and a boxer and granddaugther of a Muay Thai champion, who can't seem to hold a boyfriend because her fighter friends keep such good tabs on her. She's bound by a promise her grandfather made eons ago, and is therefore engaged to a guy she considers a brother. Wild circumstance ensues.

Aside from the actual manga supplements, this issue of Shojo Beat also includes suggestions on how to dress like your favourite manga character, includes new manga titles, gives the history of Japanese school uniforms, shows you how to draw manga, showcases reader artwork and offers tips on "how to get a guy the Shojo Beat way." These tips are actually dreadfully funny, and include dating a robot to make other guys jealous, pretending you're a male samurai, getting transported to a mystical world, and transferring to an upscale private school even though you're poor in order for guys to fall for your "goofy-yet-honest common ways." Brilliant!

Although a little on the girly side, Shojo Beat is a delightfully positive way for girls to engage in their reading, be creative and keep on top of the latest manga. If you have little to no money for comics/manga in your library, subscribing to Shojo Beat (and Shonen Jump for the boys) will at least keep the wolves at bay until you can scrape up enough cash to buy the popular paperbacks.

Konvicted
Akon
2006
Umvd Labels
Age Range:
Format: Audio Recording, Music
Genre: Hip Hop, R&B
Rating: 3.5/5



So... I'm gonna admit it right now:

I.
Actually.
Like.
This.

And now that that's out of the way...

Akon is well-timed, not a bad singer, has a cool tone to his voice, knows who to make friends with, and is strangely witty. Believe me, I'm as surprised as you are, but it's true. I've got a bop to the head, I wanna dance (and maybe even stop frontin'), and I actually want to hear this CD again.

Oh, and I'm a sucker for Snoop, so it's always a plus if you've got the D-O-Double G on your album!

Akon's got a pretty solid career for himself, I'm willing to bet, and deservedly so. He's good at what he does, and I can understand the huge wave of popularity. It's catchy, it's fun, it's not too-too in your face with the womanizing/misogynistic/glam stuff.

Well.. maybe it is pretty in your face with it. Snoop and Akon sing about "winding and grinding" and have a delightful video of beautiful women stradling chairs in pantyhose. At least they're curvy, though!

And.. what does "you know my pedigree" mean? Good God, do girls think like dog breeders? D-O-Double G breeders? Please someone let me know!

Hole in My Life
Gantos, J.
2004
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Age Range: 14+
Genre: Biography, Printz Honor Book, Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
Rating: 4.5/5



A really poor choice in late adolescence ripples through the rest of Jack Gantos' life; his decision to transport drugs for $10 000 in 1971 turns into a six year prison sentence that changes, well, everything.

Raw, candid, passionate, direct, funny and true in the way that only certain humans can be, Gantos writes of his past with none of the sickly sweet metaphors or annoying slap-you-in-the-face themes you'd expect from a memoir about drug trafficking and the ramifications of such activities. A book more about the function and beauty of writing, about finding your way in life, about screwing up and living to talk about how much it sucked and about how important the screw ups actually are to the development of your humanity. Gantos is stripped down, and writes beautifully about life, love, and most importantly, about writing. He talks about that feeling of having thoughts too big for your head, how strange it is to write in the same places his favourite writers once wrote, the importance of feeling your life, and how the path that leads you is sometimes misguided.

Make no mistake, this is a really good book. And has so much potential - not only for emphasizing multicultural materials, but also for encouraging teens to read biographies of people who aren't basketball stars, but who had to go through a whole lot of crap to get to where they are. And for a real-life, no-shit account of how the stuff that seems OK can really, really go bad. A lot of kids need to see this side of the story; not the glamorized drug lifestyle, and not the hard-hitting family living class textbook. But the stories of folks like Jack Gantos, who made wrong choices, paid for their mistakes, actually did come out learning a lesson, and have talent enough to write about it. No apologies, no crap, just you and Jack. It seriously feels like sitting down and talking to this guy. This guy who knows more than you, and who wants you to take whatever you will from his experiences. This guy who I would love to meet and talk with about Kerouac and Hemingway's house and, well, everything!