It's April 17. How are you supporting teen lit?

Support Teen Lit Day is a relatively new project of YALSA's, meant to increase visibility and positive press for teen literature. This year, the fabulous Readergirlz are hosting Operation Teen Book Drop, in which they donate young adult books to hospitals.

What did I do to support teen literature? I talked to a library board and foundation.

One of our libraries in BCCLS is undergoing a renovation and plan to expand their teen section and offer more teen programming. The director asked me to speak today as the BCCLS consultant on YA services, and I had a great time. I got to talk to a room full of people who don't read YA lit, and I told them about the amazing array of YA lit available these days, from the literary to the fluff, and how to reflect the lives of teens in a library's collection. Because here's the thing: We can talk all we want about how important it is to communicate with teens, to get teen input on books, all that good stuff, but if we can't make those who fund us (taxpayers, library boards, Friends of the Library groups, etc.) see how important teen literature is, and how it's more than just Eragon and Gossip Girl, all our good intentions and readers' advisory means nothing.

Visit the YALSA Wiki's Support Teen Literature Day page to find out what you can do to support teen literature on April 17th...and 18th, and 19th, and 20th, and 21st...