Vaughan wins YALSA’s 2017 MAE Award for Best Literature Program for Teens

CHICAGO — The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), awarded Lauri Vaughan, upper school campus librarian at The Harker School, Upper School Campus in San Jose, CA, the 2017 Margaret A. Edwards (MAE) Award for Best Literature Program for Teens.

The MAE Award provides $500 to the recipient and $500 to the recipient’s library and is sponsored by the Margaret A. Edwards Trust.

In her application, Vaughan details the development and success of their program, ReCreate Reading. She notes that the program enables the faculty, administration, staff, and coaches at the Harker School’s Upper School Campus to bring the joy and excitement of reading to students who perhaps are not as excited about reading. While not compulsory, almost all the students participate by selecting one of the year’s books through a competitive process to read over the summer. Then, after returning to school, students gather with the school staff during the first week of classes to discuss what they read.

ReCreate Reading is “amplifying a celebration of thrilling narrative, nail-biting adventure and thought-provoking prose that organically infects the large majority of our student body with a genuine interest in reading,” states Vaughan in her winning application. “The success of the program has been evidenced…most convincingly by our English department faculty who decreased and eventually eliminated required summer reading assignments. ReCreate Reading has reliably kept kids’ noses in books.” This program, which began several years ago, continues to inspire school personnel and students to read for pleasure.

Upon hearing she received this award Vaughan said, “A program like ReCreate Reading could not happen without annual full-on participation from our faculty and staff. The commitment by the adults in our community sends a powerful, genuinely enthusiastic message about the infectious thrill of reading. On behalf of Harker’s voracious readers, I am honored to accept this award.”

The 2017 YALSA MAE Award Jury members are Melanie A. Lyttle, chair, Madison (Ohio) Public Library; Rebecca Baldwin, Garfield Heights, OH; Tommy Bui, Pacoima, CA; Nancee J. Dawms-Stinson, Springfield-Greene Co. Library, Springfield (MO); and Katrina Yvonne Ortega, New York Public Library.

The mission of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) is to support library staff in alleviating the challenges teens face, and in putting all teens ‒ especially those with the greatest needs ‒ on the path to successful and fulfilling lives. For more information about YALSA or to access national guidelines and other resources go to www.ala.org/yalsa, or contact the YALSA office by phone, 800-545-2433, ext. 4390; or e-mail: yalsa@ala.org.