Non-Fiction and Fiction Pairings

I presented a webinar for the American Library Association (YALSA) yesterday for librarians around the country. The topic was near and dear to my heart: the best non-fiction for teens (published recently) and perfect fiction titles to pair with each one. 

SO MANY GOOD TITLES, not nearly enough time to present them all. I had a 60 minute maximum and started with 68 non-fiction titles that I "had" to discuss. Add in the matching fiction title and that is entirely too many books to cover in an hour. But cutting titles from the list reminded me of the Neil Gaiman quote about how picking favorite books equals picking body parts that I could live without. Nearly impossible, but I managed to do it.

Final presentation ended up having 49 slides...whew! It was a fast-moving presentation. For those of you that weren't able to attend the presentation, you can find out more about it here and there are options to purchase access to the webinar. If you are a YALSA member, you should have free access to it in two months.

I will take some time over the next few weeks to share some of my favorite selections/pairing. There are so many good non-fiction titles published for teens (and tweens) in the last year or so...it's my favorite genre and I love talking about them! Stay tuned!

Trailer Tuesday

Another Trailer Tuesday/Book a Day combo for you today. This one I read to prepare for a national webinar that I presented this spring for YALSA/ALA (American Library Association).

In January, Crusher, by Niall Leonard, was voted one of the Top 10 Audiobooks for teens of the year previous year. I agree. The audio is terrific, but this is also an excellent mystery for high school students, especially boys. The fast pace, and twist and turns, will keep you turning pages (or wishing your drive wasn't so short so you could keep listening). I was glad to discover this title, and definitely put it on my Summer Reading list!

From the publisher:
The day Finn Maguire discovers his dad bludgeoned to death in a pool of blood, his dreary life is turned upside down. Prime suspect in his father’s murder, Finn must race against time to clear his name and find out who hated his dad enough to kill him.

Scouring the sordid, brutal London underworld for answers, exposing dark family secrets, and facing danger at every turn, Finn is about to learn that it’s the people you trust who can hit you the hardest. . .