i thought that the discussion on programs for urban/multicultural/diverse programs was really interesting and might deserve it's own forum some time in the future where staff could talk about race and class and culture and how they play out in libraries.

I recently put together an article about blogs titled "20 Blogs Youth Advocates Should Be Reading" reading these blogs inspires me in my program planning. I hope it does for you too! ---Andrea Graham

The best and easiest way to keep on top of youth culture, is to read a diverse selection of blogs. If you are a professional who works with teens, you should be reading daily, at least two blogs from the following categories: technology, YA lit, video games, teen media news, manga and graphic novels (that includes comic books too), music, digital content creation, and DIY crafts. I know this may seem like a ton of reading, but you can save a lot of time by setting up a blog reader, such as a Google Reader account, to browse through your favorite blogs. Here is my personal must-read blog list:

Technology:
Wired Blogs: www.wired.com/blogs/
Wired Magazine's blog directory of tech stuff. Games, gadgets, science, media-everything

Mashable: mashable.com/
Social media news, and info on new web apps.

Boing Boing: boingboing.net/
All sorts of techie, nerdy, sci-fi goodness.

Video Games:
IGN: www.ign.com
Video game news and streaming video previews/ reviews

Joystiq: www.joystiq.com
Streamlined game reviews

Game Life: www.wired.com/gamelife
Wired's all-in-one gaming blog

Celebrity/ Media News:
Gossip Teen: http://gossipteen.com/
Teen celebrities, movie news and pop culture

JSYK: www.jsyk.com/
Teen celebrity news, game and film reviews, and fun stuff for tweens

Manga/ Anime/ Graphic Novels:
Anime News Network: www.animenewsnetwork.com/
Anime and Manga news, updated constantly

Wizard's Comics Blog: www.wizarduniverse.com/comics.html
Comic news from the popular magazine. A bit messy to read on their site, better on a blog reader

Digital Content Creation:
Smashing Magazine: www.smashingmagazine.com/
Digital media tutorials and social media news. Great for anyone looking to develop their photoshop/ illustrator skills.

Blog Spoon Graphics: www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/
Great resource for funking up your website/ promotional posters. Free vectors, icons, and easy tutorials.

Crafts/ DIY:
Etsy Storque: www.etsy.com/storque/
The one and only Etsy blog, interviews and highlighted items

Craft Mag Blog: craftzine.com/
Great crafting tutorials and links to great craft project sites

Instructables: www.instructables.com/
All kinds of neat how-to articles submitted by the instructables community

Music:
MTV's Buzzworthy: buzzworthy.mtv.com/
All the new buzz worthy artists and music

Rolling Stone Magazine's Rock Daily: www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/
All the music artists you need to know about, check the names, order the CDs

YA Books:
GreenBeanTeenQueen: www.greenbeanteenqueen.com/
Great book reviews from a teen services librarian. Also check out her YA movie reviews.

Many other fantastic YA lit blogs. I like GreenBeanTeenQueen's YA Lit blog list:
www.blogger.com/profile/08708155058381407531

Youth Culture:
Ypulse: www.ypulse.com
Everything teen from book reviews, social media, youth research and marketing

Thanks, Andrea! These are some great resources :)

For those of you who facilitate teen writing groups at your libraries:

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) happens every November, a novel writing event that takes place over the course of 30 days. They offer a Young Writers Program for teens 17 and younger, in which teens would register on the website and write a novel in the month of November, having the ability set their own word count goal. Included on the site is a helpful Young Novelist Workbook for middle school as well as high school students. Check out the website for details! http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/

I'm so glad you mentioned NaNoWrMo. This is a great project for all aspiring teen authors!