RA Lab- Person 5 (and Conclusion)

Pull up a chair ( for the last time), the owl is in.

Note- This is the last part of my RA Lab.

Person 5

This last person will call H. She lives in Tennessee and loves theater, movies, and Scrabble. Her favorite books are Fault in the Stars by John Green, Atonement by Iain McEwan, Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell and Doubt by John Patrick Shanely.

Her last read was The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman, so I decided to base my search on that book. Some of the results that I got were The Lightkeeper's Wife by Karen Viggers ( which like Oceans, is set in Australia and takes place in a lighthouse), The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin ( which is “Haunting” like Oceans) Alice Springs by Nikki Gemmell ( which is “ Haunting” and “ Character-Driven” and takes place is Australia), The Breaking Wave (which is “Melancholy” and “ Character-Driven”, takes place in Australia and deals with loss like Oceans) and The Fog Garden by Marion Halligan. 
I posted my findings and got a response that she read The Orcharist before and didn't like it but she will try the other recommendations. Interestingly, someone else posted a few realistic YA fiction books like Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford, The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch, and Spanking Shakespeare by Jake Wizner (H did mentioned that the type of books she likes to read are realistic YA books, along with contemporary and classic fiction.) I am wondering if other people will recommend books to those who posted.

I'm debating about calling this interview successful or not. I'm just say I was surprised that someone else chimed with recommendations besides me, and that I'm currently reading The Light Between the Oceans ( which so far is kind of slow but interesting.)

Summary

Overall, this was a really interesting experiment. I especially enjoyed using Shelfari for the other RA interviews because it allowed me to communicate with people from other states (and counties. Besides the United Kingdom, I did get someone from Australia. I haven't had time to get to this person yet but I feel since I promise I would send recommendations for those who volunteered, I will get to this person.) I know it does defeat the purpose of doing a face-to-face RA interview (and it's really hard to tell whether I was going to get a response or not) but Shelfari (along with GoodReads) are a great way to communicate with others who love to read. I also enjoyed interviewing my mom ( and finding out what else to read this summer).

Again, I have learn so much in this class. It has given me a deeper understanding in what I consider my “ comfort zone” and what books are out there to read ( especially out of my “comfort zone”). And I think there are skills that I could put to use in my job and make worth my while.

Again,thank you to all that visited the Owl. I don't know what this blog's future will be. Perhaps this will be the end, perhaps it will go  on. But thanks to all.

THE END

RA Lab- Persons 3 and 4

Pull up a chair, the owl is in.

Note- Here is part 2 of 3 for my RA LAB

 

Person 3

My second person from Shelfari we'll call LL. She lives in a place called Reading, Massachusetts and reads adult, teen and children's books ( including a bunch of Baby-sitters Club. Also saw we had 100 or so books in common on our shelves,such as the Alice McKinley series and the Mother-Daughter Book Club series. ) She also loves cooking and puzzles, her favorite books are Wonder and Fault in the Stars.

She last read Silent to the Bone by E.L. Koingsburg (which is a teen who become mute and turns to a friend for helpafter being accused of injuring his half-sister), so that is where I did one part of my search on Novelist. For Bone, some of the recommendations I got were Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates ( which is another realistic fiction book about a kid being wrongfully accused of a crime, in this case, a bomb threat, and turning to a friend to defend them), When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead ( which is about a girl trying to figure out some mysterious letters about her future), and Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen ( which, like Bone, is “ Character-Driven” and has the subject “ Emotional Problems”. I then did a search on the Alice McKinley prequels and the regular Alice McKinley series. For the prequels, some of the recommendations I got were Judy Moody and Stink series by Megan McDonald ( which I figure LL might like because she has a few of McDonald's other books on her shelf), Years Told Through Stuff series by Jennifer Holm, Jessica Darling's It List series by Megan McCafferty ( which is a prequel series to the Jessica Darling series, and The Penderwicks series by Jeanne Birdsall. ( For the regular Alice McKinley series, the recommendations included the Australian teen series Girl V. the World , the Emma McGraw series by Sally Warner, the Penelope Crumb series by Shawn Stout, and also The Penderwicks series by Jeanne Birdsall ( which, by the way, I have read the first two in the series.) I posted my searches ( I also asked about if the last four Alice McKinley books were any good.) Her reply was I would definitely like how the Alice McKinley series ends, and that she is curious about Big Mouth and Ugly Girl and When You Reach Me and that she might have read Lock and Key because she does read a lot of Dessen.

Because LL and I seem to have similar taste, doing her search was easy (and a joy!) I wasn't sure about recommending kid books, but when I saw her shelf did feature a lot of them, I figured it would not be a problem.

Person 4

This next person I am going to call UK-Pup ( because he is from the United Kingdom and has a dog for this avatar.) His interests are reading, gaming, anime, and writing and likes everything but crime thrillers, chick lit or erotica. His “shelf” features a lot of anime/manga series and literary classics like War and Peace by Leo Tolsoy and 1984 by George Orwell, and lots of Stephen King. His last read was The Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov and he's currently reading The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.

I decided to use The Heart of a Dog in my Novelist search ( also since he is reading another Bulgakov book. ) Besides getting The Master and Margarita and another Bulgakov, Black Snow, some of the other recommendations were Autobiography of a Corpse by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, Glory by Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov(along with another Nabokov book called Mary.) Searching under Bulgakov, the read-alike authors I got were Anthony Burgess, Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, Frank Kafka, Milan Kundera, Tibor Fisher, and Michael Poore. I posted my searches and got a simple reply of “ Thank you for the recommendations, I will give them a try.”

I'm not sure if I was successful with this one or not, even with the small response. This person was a bit of a challenge because half the books on his “shelf” I had never heard of ( and we had very little in common with books on our “shelves”.) But sometimes we are going to deal with people who's taste may be different than ours, and we still help them anyway ( and maybe be a little open to give something different a try.)

Look for Person 5 in part 3 (along with a summary).

RA Lab-Persons 1 and 2

Pull up a chair, the owl is in.


 
(Because this is going to be long, I am posting in two, maybe three parts.)

Before I get into my lab project, let me just that this was a really good class. I wasn't sure what I was getting into when it first started ( especially when it came to reading out of my comfort zone and doing the big project, like the Secret Shopper and the two major papers) but overall it was really good. I felt I have learned a lot of this course, giving me more of an understanding about what I like ( and what I could like in the future, or at least this summer), plus I think it might be a bit of a help in my job.

So for this final project, I wasn't sure how to approach this. I knew my mom would be the easiest because we read a lot, our taste in books are pretty similar ( and we sometimes read the same books) but where to find four other people? I was debating about asking library users at work, but I mainly work with children ( who most of the time know what they want, plus this is an advisory course for adults) and rarely adults ( unless of course it's parents, who are mainly looking for items for their kids, not them because they can ask the reference people.) So I decided to seek out strangers via Shelfari . It's a social cataloging website where users can create virtual “ bookshelves” of books they are reading ( or have read) plus rate and review for others to read ( very similar to GoodReads). I actually have an account after learning about this site at a library meeting ( have about 1,200 books that I have read, plan to read, or own. I think I mentioned in the prompt for the third week of class that this is one of my favorite websites to go when looking for books to read.) Anyway, I went on one of the message boards and posted a request to anyone interested in finding new books to read. I posted a few questions to get a response. The questions I posted were:

• What are your interests?
  
  
• What type of books do you like to read?
  
  
• Favorite books
  
  
• Last book that you read

Surprisingly, I got about eight responses ( and various states and countries.I'm only showing four, but I did do everyone that posted). I also browsed their “bookshelves” to get a better idea of who they were ( and some background information.) For most of my RA searches, I pretty much relied on Novelist( and based my search on a few books ( particularly what they last read). I probably could have probed more, asking about details about why they like the book, but my RA skills that I have gained from this course are still new, so I wanted to this to be simple.

Person 1

The first person was my mom, and I'll be quite honest, there wasn't much of an interview. Her tastes in books are very similar to mine ( romance, easy reads, cookbooks, and cozy mysteries, which I got her hooked on after reading a few of the Coffeehouse Mysteries). We also at times read the same books ( like the Harry Potter series, A Series of Unfortunate Events series, Sookie Stackhouse series, Audora Teagarden series ( which is an early mystery series by Charlene Harris) and the Jaine Austen Mysteries by Laura Levine.) For a while she was doing a bunch of MaryJanice Davidson books ( like the Undead and Unwed series and something with a mermaid named Fred) and the Darynda Jones First Grave on the Right series (all of these she enjoyed and said I would like them. I said I read Undead and Unwed series a long time, and haven't got to the new ones yet.) She's now back into the cozy mysteries, currently reading Haunting Jordan by P.J. Alderman, which is the first book in a mystery series that takes place in the Pacific Northwest.) She prefers humorous books, but does read Mary Higgins Clark and Iris Johansen, and doesn't read want a lot of violence or sex ( although she does read erotica/suspense and bought all three 50 Shades of Grey books because she didn't want to be waiting for the book).

I went on Novelist and used Haunting Jordan (and also some of the MaryJanice Davidson books) for my search. For Haunting Jordan , I got a few of the Aunt Dimity mysteries ( which my mom has read and is waiting for the new one), a few books from Bailey Ruth Raeburn series ( which are similar to Aunt Dimity and another series my mom favors, Victoria Laurie's Ghost Hunter mysteries, and said she'll get int in the summer) and Stephen King's Joyland ( which she said maybe but probably not because she is not a Stephen King fan.) For the MaryJanice Davidson books (and I search by author) and I got Darynda Jones ( who she's read but saw Sixth Grave on the Edge comes out this summer, plus Jones has a new series for teens), Kimberly Raye, Julie Kenner ( both who have similar writing styles to Davidson) and Richelle Mead , author of Vampire Academy and other paranormal/vampire books for teens ( my mom said maybe to Raye and Kenner, was not interested in Mead.) She then saw that there were a few more books in the Undead and Unwed ( including an new one called Undead and Unwary coming out later this summer.)

This one was really easy to do since our tastes are pretty similar ( and I know what she likes and what she doesn't). I figure eventually she'll get around to my recommendations ( or perhaps recommend something for me.) I was considering my dad, but he is not a big reader ( he does read the  Fire and Ice series because he watches Game of Thrones from time to time, also like James Bond and is currently reading a book by Charles Krauthammer).

Person 2

We'll just call my first person from Shelfari J. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts and loves anything really loves science fiction and fanasty. Browsing her shelf I saw she had a lot Margaret Atwood ( she listed Oryx and Crake as one her favorites and a few teen paranormal books. She is interested in travel, mythology, writing, and science. Her last reads were Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi and Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin .

I used her last two reads on Novelist. For Winter's Tale, my recommendations were Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami , Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, Neverwhere by Neil Gailman (and I saw on her stuff a few Gaiman books), and The Passage by Justin Cronin ( which is gritty like Winter's Tale, but a bit more gruesome. Some of the teen paranormal books look a little gruesome, so J might like it. With the Oyeyemi novel, I only got three books, The Facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios by Yann Martel (which is it is a collection of four stories) Troll Garden by Willa Cather( which is another collection of short stories) and The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer ( which sound like Benjamin Button because it is about a man aging in reverse.) I posted what I found on her Shelfari post, and she replied that she's been wanting to try Murakami, plans to read Cloud Altas, and that she'd read Neverwhere (and saw it was on her shelf). She said she also read Passage but did not finish it.

It was great that she replied back. I wasn't sure if one goes get one ( or even right away.) Finding the books were easy ( actually the Oyeyemi was hard to do). I hoping the other people who responded via Shelfari will answer back, too.

Look for part 2 (and maybe part 3 if needed) to come.

Forever Reading!!

 Pull up a chair, the owl is in.

Image provided by meldraws.deviantart.com

Both of our readings this week talk about the culture of reading and the future of the book. So I have two questions for you as readers, pulling on your own experiences and all of the readings we have done over the semester: First, how have reading and books changed since you were a child, for you specifically? Second, talk a little about what you see in the future for reading, books, or publishing - say 20 years from now. Will we read more or less, will our reading become more interactive? What will happen to traditional publishing? This is  a very free-form question, feel free to wildly extrapolate or calmly state facts, as suits your mood! 

 Oh boy, this is perhaps the biggest ( and hardest question) to think on!!

I've always been a reader ( and always will be). I've loved reading since I was a child ( and recall my parents reading to me at bedtime instead of sitting in front of the TV with a video.) And I loved, loved going to the library when I was little and bringing home many many books (and yes, played librarian). And I'm being a night owl, I love staying up during the wee hours reading YA, Children's, Romance, Gentle, whatever. I don't think I've ever stop ( I may have an occasional burn out and may step away for a few days  but I'm never without a book.)

I have notice that since getting a job at a library, I have bought less and less books because I figure " I work at a library, I can get my books for FREE". Sure I might buy something if I really like the book ( or really like the series) but after a while I may still get rid of it ( I've also cut down in buying CDs because again , I can get  them for FREE. I have noticed that I am buying more DVDs. Odd.)

I don't think my taste in books has changed that much. Now maybe because of this class, I will probably be more open  to horror and sci fi ( and maybe street lit and gay fiction, not sure about  Westerns), but I pretty much love reading the stuff that I read as a child, but love whatever there is in Thrillers, YA, Romance, Mystery, Gentle, and NA. I think in the future there will be more genres and ( they may get more complicated to keep track of because more books will be of more than one genre.)

Yeah, I have a feeling we are heading more and more to a technical future. Obviously there will be more ebooks, more audio books ( and they will definitely become more interactive.) However, I really hope it does not mean an end to the physical book. I'm seeing more and more magazines decided to cut back, go ditigal or end altogether, so I wonder what that means for the future of all print. It would be a really really sad day if books vanish. And when I do have kids, I really want to read them Goodnight Moon and Llama Llama Red Pajama than stick in a video of a book.Sure it brings the book to life but it's just not the same. Perhaps we'll have to find ways to make the printed book more interesting to keep it going for years and years to come.

Well, I hope that covers the post. I'm going to try the readings but found them to be a bit on a stuffy side. I'll also be posting more of my RA Lab. Thank you for reading.

Week 15-- How to Market Fiction

Pull up a chair, the owl is in.

So all this semester has been about helping people look for good books to read. This week is looking at the question- HOW to do you get them to READ? ( in other words, how do market or sell the books)

The easiest tool is .... displays. Most people are visual readers ( as am I) so if they see the cover of the book first ( and it's a really good cover with Bright Colors ,  an interesting cover, or a really good title), they might stop and flip through the pages or read the summary and hopefully CHECK OUT THE BOOK!! Of course, displays might also be used to celebrate or recognize a holiday, person, or season. In the children's department where I work, I can always tell what season it is about the colors and pictures on the books( blues, whites, and snowmen for winter or pinks, yellows, and bunnies, flowers, or mothers for spring.) It also gets us librarians in the mood for that season or holiday (plus people depend on seeing these books for that certain holiday or season.)

Another thing that might be useful ( and this might fall back under the display tool) is a Staff-Recommended shelf. Obviously we ask patrons what they like to read and they might be curious about we like to read. So a little blub about what the book is about and why we like it might be a good starting point for someone looking for a good read or marketing a book that someone might have never heard of.  And if they read what to go far, the library might also want to consider creating a webpage or use a book social catalog site ( like Shelfari or GoodReads) to market their Staff Recommended collection

A few other tools that might be useful are (and yes I decided to glop three ideas together):

• Annotated Bookmark Lists- People may favor a certain genre, subject, or author, and having a bookmark featuring topics like " Cozy Mysteries" or " Cool Books for Boys" gives patrons a list that they can use for visits. Because of space, you might want to just list the title of the book, the author, and some key words. If you wanted to expand on it more, you might want to create a webpage or blog.
• Booktalk- Talking about a book ( and saying how much you really enjoy it) is a great tool. We want people to read and encourage them to read is a great way. ( Note- Before I move on, anyone notice Sarick's advice about not limiting ourselves to books we like, but to think about our audience.  Part of me feels this contradicts what Baker said when we were looking at book talks, but part of me agrees with it because I mentioned that when I'm choosing books for school visits, I try to go with books that not only they will find cool but I find cool. )
• Web/Social Media- Obliviously this is where the future of libraries are heading. So, if folks are looking for a good read, they can read a blog review by a librarian or find book ideas by way of Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. ( I know I have found lots of useful crafts via Pinterest.)  

Well I hope that cover the prompt. I'm busy working on my RA Lab (and I might be posting parts of it within the next couple of weeks.) Thanks for your time. 

Work  Cited

Baker, J. (2010). Booktalking for Adult Audiences. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 49(3), 234-8

Saricks, Joyce G. Readers’ Advisory Service in the Public Library. 3rd ed.      Chicago: American Library Association, 2005. Print

Week 14- To Separate or Not Separate?

Pull up a chair, the owl is in.

So last week's prompt was about the question of purchasing genres that, although aimed to a younger audience, are actually read by all. ( And nope, have not gotten to a street lit book yet. Maybe this week, along with an Brandy or Nicki Minaj CD to set the mood). This week, we'll call this prompt Questionable Genre 2,  but it's really dealing with  the issue of separating certain genres from the general fiction collection ( like African American Fiction or Gay Lit)



While I can think of one reason the idea of separating AAF and GBLTQ may sort of send the message of " We feel your race or orientation is special enough to have it's own shelf", there are many reason to say NO to separating these two genres from the general collection ( I cam up with four.)


1. What exactly is this genre? Yes, I know from this course what constitutes a romance, horror, adventure, YA, NA, etc, but what books actually say " I'm African-American fiction" or " I"m gay lit". Are we looking at books that feature lots of African-Americans or books by African-American authors? Adult, Nonfiction, or YA?If there is just one character that is black, or if they are interracial/intercultural, or written by a white author(like James Patterson and his Alex Cross series), do they count? What if the Black author does not write AAF? And why are just looking at books with black Americans, not from other countries ( and do White Africians, like Alexander McCall Smith count? If it's just stories with lots of African-Americans by Africian-American  authors, it's a small collection!! Same with gay lit, what exactly defines the genre? Do all the characters have to be gay ( or lesbian, bisexual, trangender, or question) or just one? Or is it books by gay authors? What if's written by a straight person ( example- found a Danielle Steel book called Coming Out under the subject heading of " Coming out ( sexual orientation)" which is about family drama at a debutante party and one gay character)? Or what if the gay author did not write a gay lit book ( example- gay actor Chris Colfer of Glee writes a children's series about fairy tales and there are no gay characters. Surely, you don't want to place that series with gay lit because it's a children's book!!) If its books with all gay people by gay authors, it's small!!

2. Author Issue, Might be More than one Genre- As I mentioned my first reason, not every black author writes African-American Fiction, and not every gay author writes gay lit. Also, most books might have more than one genre. For example, the late author E. Lynn Harris was a gay, black author who wrote stories featuring African-American men were closeted gay men. One might say to put in the AAF section, but a gay person might say it's gay lit. Do you have to please both by giving Harris his own shelf ( which would be a waste because it would just be 16 books or split the book in two???)

3. Where's my shelf? For some reason, I kind of feel this request being made by someone is very politically correct ( maybe not, but I will assume). So let's say we do this to please this PC person... and then they want a Christian shelf, a Hispanic shelf,  a Women's shelf, etc. By the time you sort out all these gender, culture, religion and whatever in background ( and destroy some books because dang it, there might be a  Blind Lesbian  Hispanic Western-Romance book by a Jewish author), your general collection is ... realistic fiction featuring white men ( who hopefully have no religion and no culture or else your general collection is gone.) Keeping all the books of various cultures,genders, orientations, whatever within the general collection is saying every book is equal, meant to be read by all.

4. Who is the intended audience? As we all talked about last week, pretty much everyone reads YA, street, whatever, not the intended audience. So, figure everyone at some point reads African-American Fiction ( besides the black community) and gay lit ( besides the gay community). I've read a few AAF books ( like Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christoper Paul Curtis and the Sassy series by Sharon Draper.) Placing them on their own shelves is saying " Only black Americans read African-American Fiction" and " Only gay people read David Levithan and other gay lit books). Obviously from this class I have learned to be open into reading beyond what I like, so that is why it makes sense to keep African-American Fiction and gay lit in the general collection, not separate shelves.

Now maybe if the library has a big black population or big GLBTQ population, it might work. But, as everyone has been saying in their prompts, if you want to highlight these genre, things like a display, a bookmark, a webpage, or a book club might be more useful.

Sorry that went a bit long. I'm gonna see about browsing some of the articles this weekend ( amid Easter and planning a program for toddlers). Thank you and Happy Easter!!

Week 13 prompt- Yes, They DO Read that!

Pull up a chair, the owl is in.

This week's prompt is looking at genres libraries question purchasing for their patrons. Not the question of purchasing is not because they might carry controversial topics ( although some do) but rather a question of the audience's age level or background  ( as in " Should adults really  be reading books meant for teens? Answer: Well, if the patrons are asking about Young Adult, graphic novels or street lit, then a big YES!!)
 

One thing I notice right away in reading the literature (and browsing Novelist to get an idea of some these type of books) is that they are.... Fast-paced!!  (same with Christian and juvenile).Some people are reluctant readers, others do not have the time to sit and read a 900 page book. So, if looking for something that is a good, quick thrill, the solution is turn to
a. a sophisticated comic book
b. a teen coming of age story
c. a black urban street story

Now someone might say " Oh but you could suggest adventure, thriller, or a cozy mystery" but adventures and thrillers carry a lot of technical jargon ( and some adventures are big and epic if the book is the size of a dictionary) and mysteries are like a puzzle with characters and words, and some people may not want to sit and figure out who the killer is.

I'm not going to give a short response separately to each genre plus New Adult ( because I wrote my paper on it, ha ha).

Street Lit
I would really like to rename " Black Ghetto Drama Lit" because when I first saw this genre, I was thinking The Outsiders ( because of the gang element), Gossip Girl ( because it's set in a high urban setting and there is drug use, sex, and brand name dropping), and  Weetzie Bat, which is  this weird urban LA novel that deals with AIDS and homosexuality and features characters named Weetzie Bat, and My Secret Agent Lover Man, plus some supernatural creatures ( part of the Dangerous Angels series by Francesca L. Block.It's actually urban fantasy.) But after reading the article ( and Googling it) I saw it's books that are very similar to the black gospel stage plays but with a hip-hop element ( as in well dressed men, scantly clad women, big cars or big cats, the word "thugs" or the B word in the title. They also have something like "King Productions" listed which does not make sense because it's a book. I've never seen " James Patterson Presents" on any of his books.) Reading over the plots, I'm debating about maybe giving the YA street lit a try ( I know kids do ask a lot about the  Bluford High series), but I'm not really into that lifestyle. However, most African American lit is about the struggles of the past or women-focused ( with lots of male-bashing, like Waiting to Exhale) and there might be someone may not identify with those types of books. They may feel that the urban, hip hop lifestyle is more to their liking. So if they ask for street lit, we shouldn't judge, we should help  them out.

Young Adult
I mentioned in my annotation that I read YA when I was a teen, then got into adult because the YA reads were too cheesy. But then the Harry Potter craze started when I was in college, and have since gotten back to YA... and they are so much better. We've have midnight parties for major books when they come out, we've gotten more movies based off of teen books. Thanks to Twilight, we gotten this whole vampire/werewolf/ghost/zombie craze going on ( hoping next for unicorns). We gotten modern updates to familiar tales.  The covers are really, really cool and even authors like James Patterson, Ridley Pearson and Rick Riordan, who write adult books, are writing books for teens (and we even had authors that write for teens writing for adults, like Francine Pascal's Sweet Valley Confidential). You also have to figure if the adults are screening the book before giving it to their teen, they might get hooked and want to read more ( I know my mom got into the Harry Potter after me, plus Lemony Snicket). So again, we shouldn't judge, if the adult reader wants YA, we should help them out. And if we don't order YA, the teens are stuck reading juvenile titles ( which are short but more of simple, cheesy read) or adult ( which they are not going to identify with because they haven't had the job or relationship experience yet.)

Graphic Novels
Not really a graphic novel fan, but again, I understand for folks that love comic books but don't want a long read, they are okay.  I have noticed in children's we do get graphic novels of classic lit and nonfiction ( like a graphic biography of Martin Luther King, Jr.) and there are a few cute ones, like Babymouse. Again,  if that's what the reader wants, we shouldn't judge, we should help them out.

New Adult
If you read my paper, you know that I am for this new genre and hopes it grows. Once teens leave high school (or college), they may not want to read Sweet Valley High or Harry Potter(and still too young for adult fiction), so there has to be something that tells them of the college/post college experience besides With Honors, Felicity or Girls. Some might call it "college porn" or "adult fiction with training wheels" but we shouldn't judge them if that is what they want.

So bottom line is... Don't judge, let the reader be happy with what they want.

Sorry it went on longer than it  should have. Hope that covers the post. Lots to do.