YALSA Throws Down the Gauntlet with the 2013 Reading Challenge

It always happens when the book awards are announced at ALA at the end of January, a mixed reaction of shock and gratification at the announcements depending on my opinion of the books of read, followed by an overwhelming sense of "Oh, no! I need to get on the stick and read lots more books. NOW."

But it's often not that easy to get started. Leave it to YALSA to offer just the incentive I needed with their 2013 Reading Challenge. They even have put together a fantastic pdf of all the books who have won all those YMA awards, organized by author and indicating which awards the book has won. I love the range of books represented - not just your typical fiction books, but the Stonewall Book Award winners to beef up my GLBTQ list, nonfiction, audiobooks and the best graphic novels.

So I need to read these books by June 22nd (should not be a problem considering how great they look) and I love that the contest is open to ANYONE, so teens and teachers will be hearing about this from me! Participants write a comment on the blog post with all the rules and indicate their blog, Goodreads, LibraryThing, YouTube or some other link to the tracking device the person will be using. It looks like you can keep a list some other way but you might want to email them how best to do it. Every Saturday they'll publish a check in post and you leave a comment with the books you've read that week and include links to your reviews or give your opinion about them in the comment. Once you finish the challenge you get a special "Conqueror's Badge"!

So join me in tackling the best of YA literature from this past year. You'll be glad you did!!!