All My Rage is the 2023 Winner for Oregon Mock Printz readers!

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir emerged victorious following an afternoon of intense discussion and voting by 25 Oregon teens and library workers at the annual Mock Printz event, organized by the Oregon Young Adult Network!

The goal was to try to guess what book from 2022 might win the American Library Association’s Michael J. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. The actual award will be announced on Monday, January 30.

Mock Printz is a just-for-fun project in which teens and library workers are asked to read eight books published in the previous year and then spend an afternoon engaged in intensive discussion. The 2023 Mock Printz event was hosted by Salem Public Library.

All My Rage is the interwoven story told by Noor and her estranged best friend Salahudin as their lives unravel during their senior year. Family obligations, family secrets, and searing disappointment force disastrous choices. 

The group also named three honor books that each had extensive reader support:

• I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
• Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds
• The Honeys by Ryan La Sala

Thank you tons to those who participated in Mock Printz this year!

Mock Printz is this weekend!

Mock Printzers – the day is coming! The 2023 OYAN Oregon Mock Printz event is coming up from 12-4:30 p.m. Saturday, January 14 at Salem Public Library (585 Liberty St. SE) and on Zoom. Participants should be preparing by readings the following 8 books from 2022:

• Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin
• I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
• Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality by Eliot Schrefer
• Squire by Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas
• All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
• The Honeys by Ryan La Sala
• High Spirits by Camille Gomera-Tavarez
• A Thousand Steps into Night by Traci Chee

If you plan to come, but haven’t signed up just yet (each library worker and teen should sign up separately) – there is still time: https://bit.ly/OR-MockPrintz2023

Beyond reading, participants should be prepared to:

• Share their thoughts about the books and defend their favorites
• Enjoy an intense, joy-filled afternoon with other readers
• Vote until we find our Oregon Mock Printz winner and honor books!

Snacks are available for everyone; teen participants get to take home ARC copies of books from the last few years!

For those attending in person at Salem Public Library:

• Parking is currently free in the library parkade, which you enter off Liberty Street.
• The Anderson Rooms are on the lower level of the library and can be reached via the elevator or stairs in the middle of the building.

Hope to see you there!

2023 Mock Printz – Full List Announced!

Discuss with us! The Oregon Young Adult Network is inviting teen readers and adults who work with teens in libraries to share a very marvelous experience!

It is called the 2023 Oregon Mock Printz. What do we do? We find and read 8 outstanding books from 2022 and then spend an afternoon in an intensive discussion of those books. Then we vote which is most likely to be a contender for the 2023 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.  

It is free and open any teen or adult who works with teens and it is SO MUCH FUN.

When: 12-4:30 p.m. Saturday, January 14

THIS IS A HYBRID EVENT

In person: Salem Public Library, 585 Liberty St. SE

Virtual: On Zoom 

Here’s how to participate: 

1)      Sign up using our Mock Printz 2023 Registration Form (each teen and adult should sign up individually)

2)      Find and read the the Oregon Mock Printz books: 

• Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffi
• I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
• Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality by Eliot Schrefer
• Squire by Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas
• All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
• The Honeys by Ryan La Sala*
• High Spirits by Camille Gomera-Tavarez*
• A Thousand Steps into Night by Traci Chee*

*Newly added! The list is now complete!

3)      Join us from 12-4:30 p.m. Saturday, January 14, 2023 in Salem or on Zoom.

Questions? Ask Mock Printz coordinator Sonja Somerville – ssomerville@cityofsalem.net 

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A little note about the Teen Readers – I encourage you to ask around! For the right teens, I can tell you from experience that this event is MAGICAL. It takes preparation because of the pre-reading, yet introduces readers to some excellent books and offers them a chance to meet and talk with other extreme book nerds. It is SOOO worth the time and effort to those readers.

I have created a couple of images that might help you promote this with your teen readers!

• PNG image (square)
• Printable/Shareable Flyer (Letter sized, portrait orientation)

Transportation can be a challenge. I will share two thoughts – first, although I’m not allowed to drive teens, Salem has had a parent who was willing to drive and wait for the kids year after year (clearly, he also had fun); second, there is a virtual option and teens can join solo from their homes or as a group from your library if you’re willing to arrange.

If you need help brainstorming solutions, reach out. Teen readers enrich the Mock Printz greatly and they are enriched by it as well!

2022 Mock Printz

Do you like young adult books? Do you like to talk? Want to talk about young adult books? Let’s do it! 

The 2022 Mock Printz, hosted by the Oregon Young Adult Network, is free and open to teens and adults who work with teens.  

1-5 p.m Saturday, January 22 | On Zoom 

What do we do? We find and read 8 outstanding books from 2021 and then spend an afternoon in an intensive discussion of those books. Then we vote which is most likely to be a contender for the 2022 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.  

It’s marvelous. If you like that kind of thing.  

Here is how: 

1)      Sign up at https://bit.ly/OR-MockPrintz2022 

2)      Find and read the 8 Oregon Mock Printz books: 

• The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros  – A haunting, Jewish, queer historical fantasy where dreams meet nightmares in 1893 Chicago 
• All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue – A Irish schoolgirl delving into a talent for tarot reading is pulled through the edges of reality 
• The Burning: Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 adapted by Hilary Beard from the book by Tim Madigan – Absorbs the reader in the moment and impact of one of the worst acts of racial violence in America’s history 
• When We Make It by Elisabet Velasquez – A searing novel in verse lays bare the joys and pain of a first-generation Puerto Rican growing up in Bushwick 
• Incredible Doom by Matthew Bogart and Jesse Holden – Return to the 90s in a graphic novel connecting three teens on the fringe through newfangled Internet technology 
• Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley – Daunis Fontaine goes undercover for the FBI, seeking answers about a murder and her place in her Ojibwe community 
• Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo – A tender, risky first love blooms between Lily and Kath in San Francisco’s 1954 Chinatown 
• In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner – Deep roots in Appalachia pull at Cash even as he escapes to a new prep-school life in Connecticut and comes into his own as a poet 

3)      Join us from 1-5 p.m. Saturday, January 22 on Zoom. Information will be emailed to all registered participants as The Big Day approaches. 

Questions? Ask Mock Printz coordinator Sonja Somerville – ssomerville at cityofsalem.net 

2021 OYAN Review is now available!

The 2021 OYAN Review is now available!Download

What will you find inside?

• Learn from a teen patron how they used Discord to start a multigenerational book club
• Get book recommendations from teen patrons
• Learn pro tips for playing Jackbox Games virtually with your teens
• Get ideas for using YALSA’s Outstanding Books for the College Bound
• Learn how to do a live virtual escape room
• Get ideas for doing teen book boxes
• Learn how one library is gamifying the library experience online
• Learn why more teens than adults participated in the Mock Printz this year

2021 Mock Printz Results

The 2021 Oregon Young Adult Network Mock Printz readers and coordinators are pleased to announce that the winner – after hours of discussion and debate among the 44 participants – is:

We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez

This book follows the lives and journey of three children from Puerto Barrios, Guatamala who are forced to flee their community. They join forces to attempt to travel north and cross into the United States. Poignant and harrowing, Mock Printz readers agreed this is a difficult story to absorb, but many expressed they wish “everyone would read it.”

The Mock Printz group also awarded honor status to:

• Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger – a paranormal, magic-filled murder mystery set in an alternate Texas 
• The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen – a graphic novel exploring identity and family against a backdrop of multicultural fairy tales

The Oregon Mock Printz is an event hosted by the Oregon Young Adult Network in which teen and adult readers linked to libraries across Oregon first read eight possible contenders for the Michael J. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature, then gather for an afternoon of intense discussion and voting in an attempt to guess which book from the previous year will receive the Printz Award later in January. This year’s Printz Award will be announced as part of the American Library Association’s Youth Media Award virtual event at 6 a.m. Pacific Time on Monday, January 25.

Other books considered for the Oregon Mock Printz this year were: Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo; Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles; Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds; The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh by Candace Fleming; and The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta.

-Written by Sonja Somerville, Salem Public Library

2021 Mock Printz

Do you like talking about books? Do you work with teens who like talking about books? We hope VERY MUCH you will join us for the Oregon Young Adult Network’s COMPLETELY VIRTUAL Oregon Mock Printz!  

Using various features of the Zoom platform, we are planning an afternoon that is distant, safe, accessible, and so much fun! 

YOU are invited! And teen readers are invited! 

Mock Printz 2021 

A Wild and Intense Afternoon of Book Discussions Ending with an Attempt to Guess which 2020 Release will Win ALA’s Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature! 

1-5 p.m. Saturday, January 16, 2021 | On Zoom 

What do you have to do to get ready? Well – read. We ask participants to find and read all (or at least most) of the books on our carefully chosen Oregon’s Mock Printz list. Our committee has finalized the list and here it is: 

• We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez #emigration #immigration #violence #survival #danger #hope 
• The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen #graphic novel #Vietnamese #family #LGBTQ #fairytales #beautiful #communication 
• Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles #sexuality #misogyny #malePOV #unrequitedlove #ownvoices #religion #peerpressure #humor 
• Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger #native #Texas #ghosts #vampires #elves #murdermystery #excitement #family #powercorrupts #ancestors #ownvoices 
• Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X Kendi #history #UnitedStates #perspective #freshvoice #engaging #informative 
• Black Flamingo by Dean Atta #poetry #magic #queer #personofcolor #comingofage #originstory #British #gorgeous #insightful 
• The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh by Candace Fleming #superstars #cultofpersonality #influencers #tragedy #flawedhumans #legacy 
• Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo #novelinverse #latinx #Dominican #secrets #tragedy #family #beautiful #resiliency 

Topic: Teen readers. We enthusiastically value the participation of teen readers in the Mock Printz.  Teen participants have to be willing to read the books (or read most of the books) and then spend an afternoon talking intensively with other teens and adults about books. That’s a “not for me” proposition for a lot of teens, but for just the right people, it is MAGICAL. So, ask around. Maybe you’ll find a couple of students who are up for giving it a try!  Ready to sign up? We’re ready for you. Fill in this Google Form to tell us you want to be a part of the 2021 Mock Printz – and ask any teen participants to sign up as well.

We hope to see and hear you on January 16.

-Written by Sonja Somerville, Salem Public Library

Winter 2019 OYAN Review and More SEL!

The Winter 2019 OYAN Review is now available! It includes great program ideas, the 2019 Mock Printz results, professional learning about leadership, behavior management, and more. Two articles offer good examples of social emotional learning (SEL).

SEL includes establishing and maintaining positive relationships, and feeling empathy for others. Putting devices away, looking into the faces of other people, and trying to read their feelings are important for this aspect of social emotional learning. Read “Teen Poker Games” by Marian Rose, Seaside Public Library, to learn about a program that provides teens this SEL opportunity.

SEL also includes understanding and managing one’s own emotions and making responsible decisions. Providing teens and staff a forum to share their feelings about past conflicts, think about the needs of other kinds of patrons, and brainstorm ideas of what behavior looks like in the library if everyone’s needs are met helps teens develop these SEL skills. Read “Restorative Practices at Hillsboro Public Library” by Emily Smith to learn more about how to turn behavior management into an SEL opportunity—that effectively improves behavior too!

2019 Mock Printz Results

Librarians and teens from across the state gathered last Saturday for another fantastic OYAN Mock Printz Workshop. After hours of polite yet passionate discussion, we settled on a winner. A favorite among teens especially, this book blew us away with its frank and relatable discussion of depression, complicated family dynamics, and the magic of tea.

This year’s winner of the Oregon Mock Printz Award is:

Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

We also selected some honors:

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

MunMun by Jesse Andrews

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

-Written by Lisa Elliott, Tigard Public Library

2019 Mock Printz booktalks were created by David Lev, Lake County Library, and bookmarks were created by Lisa Elliott.

2019MockPrintzBooktalkHandout-DavidLev

2019mockprintzbookmarks-lisaelliott

Register for the 2018 OYAN Mock Printz!

The 2018 Mock Printz date, location, and books have been announced! Details from Lisa Elliot:

When: Saturday, January 20 12-4:30 p.m.
Where: Beaverton City Library, 12375 SW 5th Street, Beaverton, OR 97005
What: A free workshop featuring a presentation from author Cat Winters followed by group discussion and voting on the best books of the year.

To register, email lisae@tigard-or.gov with your name, library, and email addresses of all participants. Please specify age and school for teen registrants. Virtual participation will be available via GotoMeeting (details later).

And now, the books! This a selection of just eight of the most praised and beloved books of the year. Please read them before the workshop, and come prepared to defend your favorites. You will probably not love every book on this list, and that’s what makes this discussion fun, because somebody else will and it will be ON!

• American Street by Ibi Zoboi
• Bull by David Elliott
• A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
• History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera
• Library of Fates by Aditi Khorana
• Midnight at the Electric by Jodi Lynn Anderson
• Spinning by Tillie Walden