Contact: Nichole Gilbert
YALSA
312-280-4387
For Immediate Release
January 30, 2007
YALSA announces 2007 Sagebrush Grant winner
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Peled, a librarian with Tucson-Pima (
Peled noted in her winning application that, “Teens love movies. They will often watch a movie rather than read a book.” She turned that love of movies into a venue for joining books and teens. The inspiration for the program came from a group of attention seeking teens in the library that needed an outlet for their energy. Rather than ask them to leave the library, Peled approached them and offered the opportunity to work on the “That’s My Take” project. What started as brief written descriptions of their favorite books grew into a project that brought together the library,
The effects of this program are far reaching. Not only have the teens that worked on the project expressed increased confidence, work skills, and patience, many more teens have been reached by televising of the movie trailers created, access to the trailers online, and the fact that libraries around
The YALSA/Sagebrush Award provides $1,000 to support the recipient’s attendance at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference, to be held June 21-27, in
“We had an amazing group of applicants this year. Teens are doing exciting things at libraries across the country!” said Cara Kinsey, chair of the YALSA/Sagebrush Award Jury.
The 2007 YALSA/Sagebrush Award Jury members are: Cara Kinsey, chair, New York Public Library; Nicole Redmond, librarian for Rockwall Independent School District (Rockwall, Texas); Diane Tuccillo, retired YA coordinator of and volunteer at City of Mesa Library (Mesa, Ariz.); Victoria Vogel, Rocky River (Ohio) Public Library; and Lisa Youngblood, library director of the Harker Heights Public Library (Harker Heights, Texas).
For 50 years, YALSA has been the world leader in selecting books, videos, and audiobooks for teens. For more information about these awards or for additional lists of recommended reading, go to www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists. For more information about YALSA, please contact us via e-mail, yalsa@ala.org; or by phone at 1-800-545-2433 ext. 4390.