Patrick Jones wins Scholastic Library Publishing Award

Congratulations to Patrick Jones, teen librarian extraordinaire, who just won an award for being "a librarian who has made extraordinary contributions that promote access to books, encourage a love of reading for lifelong learning, and exemplify outstanding achievement in the profession". I just finished reading Patrick's latest young adult novel, "Nailed", and was very impressed. I'll be posting an interview and a review of the book on teenlibrarian.com next month.

New York Times article on "Gossip Girls", "The Clique", etc.

An interesting article in the New York Times book review this week, by Naomi Wolf. She criticizes books like "Gossip Girls" for making wealthy, brand-obsessed "mean girls" into role models for readers. In most teen fiction, the uncool, unpopular character is smarter and more thoughtful than the mean girls, and triumphs in the end. But Wolf says that in these books the uncool characters aspire to be like the rich, conventionally pretty girls, rather than showing them up. The characters are also obsessed with status and brand names, and buy into the adult values rather than challenging them.

I have to admit that I've only read half of the first Gossip Girls novel, before getting bored and putting it down, so I can't say whether I agree with Wolf's critique. If the novels really are as she describes them, she has a good point. My impression was that the novels are pretty escapist and fluffy, a glimpse into a wealthy lifestyle most readers haven't experienced and perhaps don't necessarily aspire to, but find intriguing.

I do like the fact that Wolf is more upset by the materialism than by the sex in the books. That's a first!