Guest Post: Sarah Bean Thompson, Candidate for Printz 2013

Note from Melissa:  I met Sarah at ALA Midwinter this year, after hearing her name in librarian circles for quite a while.  I've become a big fan of her blog, so I'm happy to present this guest post from Sarah, who is running for the 2013 Printz Committee.

Hello to all you librarian by day readers! Thanks to Melissa for hosting me! My name is Sarah and I blog over at GreenBeanTeenQueen. I’m also on the ballot for the 2013 Printz Committee (yep, the same committee that Melissa just served on and awarded some very deserving books! I’m still jumping for joy over the honor for Please Ignore Vera Dietz-loved that book!) I asked Melissa to help get my name out so hopefully I can get some votes and serve on the Printz Committee. It would be a librarian dream come true.

I’ve always loved reading and books (in fact my first word was ‘book’) so it’s no surprise to anyone who knows me that I’m a librarian. When I first started thinking about working in libraries, I kept thinking about how awesome it would be to work with teens. Little did I know just how fantastic a job being a teen librarian was! I get to plan and run programs for teens, read and suggest books, make displays, booklists, talk to teens, help with homework, order new books-pretty much it’s the most awesome job ever!

Of course the best part of my job is that I get to read and suggest young adult books. I love YA! When I was in high school, I sort of snubbed YA. One because I could and because I was told I had a higher reading level and I thought I should be reading adult books, and also because YA when I was a teen wasn’t all that great. There were some YA books, but not many. So when I rediscovered YA, I fell in love. I think part of it is because I missed out on YA when I was a teen. But also because YA today is fantastic and some of the best books being written are YA titles.

Being on the Printz committee would be a dream come true for me. The Printz award goes to the best young adult book for that year as determined by the committee. To be part of that group and decide what book we feel represents young adult at its best would be amazing. I really believe in the power of books and I feel that the Printz award should go to a book that teens as well as adults will be talking about. I want to choose a book that young adult librarians can pick up and say “this is why I read YA and this is why I do what I do!”

So hopefully you stop by my blog, take a look around and if you do vote in the election, remember me!