GPLS Teen Conference December 7th, 2007 Presentation: The Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers
Presenters: The 2007-2008 Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers’ Committee Julie Hatcher (Co-Chair) holds an MLS from the University of South Florida, a BS in Elementary Education from Western Michigan University, and is currently pursuing her EdS in Information Technology from Valdosta State University. She is a Media Specialist at Mill Creek High School in Gwinnett County. Amy Golemme (Co-Chair) holds a BS in Marketing from the Univ. of Miami; and a MEd from UGA. She is a Media Specialist at Collins Hill High School in Gwinnett County. Verley Sue Dotson is the Media Specialist at Greene County High School. She holds a M.A. in English and an EdS in Curriculum & Instruction from Virginia Tech. She also was named the building level Virginia’s Library Media Specialist of the Year. Sarah McGhee is the Youth Services Program Coordinator with the Chestatee Public Library. She graduated with her MLIS from the University of Alabama. Kathy Pillatzki is the Assistant Director, Henry Co. Lib. System, in charge of collection Development. She served on GA Children's Services Quadrant Council 2003-2005. She holds her MLIS from Clark Atlanta University. Heather Newman holds a MLS from Indiana University and a BS in Elementary Education from Fort Hays State University. She is currently the Librarian at Decatur High School. Connie Hanes is a Media Specialist at Gordon Central High School. She holds a Master's in Library Media Technology from Georgia State University, and is currently pursuing a Specialist's degree in Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina. Marlan Brinkley is a Librarian at the Gwinnett County Public Library. He earned his Masters in Library Science at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Susan Hawk is a Library Media Specialist at Dunwoody High School in DeKalb County School System. She received her MSLS from Florida State University and her BSEd. from the University of Georgia. She currently serves on the AASL/ALSC/YALSA Joint Committee on School/Public Library Partnerships. Jessica De Maria is a Youth Services Librarian and Assistant Branch Manager with DeKalb County Public Libraries. She received her Masters in Library Sciences from the University of South Florida in 2002.
The Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers was established four years ago to help promote reading and literacy skills in teens. The Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers is supported by GLMA, GLA, GAE, the Georgia Department of Education, and Georgia Public Library Service. Each year titles are researched and selected by a committee of five high school media specialists and five Young Adult public librarians. School media specialists, teachers, librarians and students are encouraged to submit titles for consideration. In early winter, the committee meets to narrow the list to 20 titles. The purpose of this project is to highlight and promote the best of young adult literature for Georgia high school age students. Books are chosen by: 1. Only titles published in the past five years are eligible. 2. The focus of the list will be young adult fiction, but up to five books may be nonfiction and up to five books may be adult books that are appropriate for young adults. 3. Titles must be in print. 4. Books nominated should have literary and artistic merit and be free of negative stereotyping and be of interest to high school age readers. 5. Consideration will be given to genre diversity, gender representation, racial/ethnic diversity, and diversity of cultural, social, political, economic and religious viewpoints 6. Recommended titles are to be submitted no later than December 1st of each year. 7. To make the list, titles must receive 6 out of 10 committee votes. If more than 20 titles receive 6 or more votes, the final list is left to the discretion of the committee. The voting will be done through high schools and public libraries. For each book read, students will give the book a rating from 0(low) – 4 (high). Each school and public library participating will tally the votes and submit the scores for all books using the forms provided by the first week of March each year. The committee will tally the votes and announce the Peach and two Honor books. The winning author from the 2006-2007 nominees for the Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers is Graham McNamee for Acceleration, an action-packed suspense novel of seventeen-year-old Duncan who finds the diary of a serial killer and sets out to stop him. The honor books this year are Jude by Kate Morgenroth tells the story of fifteen-year-old Jude who is tricked into pleading guilty to a crime he did not commit, and Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin. This original story tells how Liz, a dead fifteen-year old, finds herself in a place that is both like and unlike Earth, where she must adjust to her new status and figure out how to "live." The new list of nominated books for 2007-2008 is available at the Georgia Peach Book Award web site, http://www.glma-inc.org/peachaward.htm, which is part of the GLMA web site, the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl web site, and the Georgia Public Library Service site. From this website, a PowerPoint presentation of each of the nominated titles may be downloaded, as well as forms, sample booktalks, discussion questions, spreadsheets, voting forms, and book posters.