What Do You Think of "Best" Lists?

July 16, 2009
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I just got back from the American Library Association's annual conference.  This year it was held in Chicago.  Many of the YA (young adult or teen services) librarians there were in an uproar because the leaders were talking about doing away with the annual Best Books for Young Adults list, also known as "BBYA."

BBYA is a list of 80-100 recently published books selected by a committee of fifteen YA librarians from around the country, with input from the teens at their libraries.  The books are "the best" of that year based on both literary quality and teen appeal.

You can see the 2009 list here:  http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/09bbya.cfm (You might have to scroll down a little.)

I and other YA lbrarians use the BBYA list and other lists of recommended books to help us learn about what's being published for teens.  I do not automatically buy every book on the BBYA list for our library, but I look at the list to get ideas of books to think about buying.

What about you?  Do you ever use lists of recommended books to choose what you will read next?  What do you think of the books on the 2009 BBYA list?  Have you read any of them?  Do any of them sound good to you?

Hope

(Photo above by Gemma Longman.)



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