The Alan Conference November 19-20, 2007

The ALAN Conference (Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English) is a two-day workshop devoted to literature and young adults. This year's theme was "Helping Teens Discover a Sense of "Place" and "Self" Through Young Adult Literature."

Susan Levine, Diane Monnier, Kathie Weinberg and I attended the conference where we enjoyed listening to authors talk about where they get their ideas and inspiration in writing. The keynote speaker, Sherman Alexie, the author of "The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," spoke of his family and his experiences growing up on an Indian reservation. We also heard Chris Crutcher speak on censorship and teens.

The young adult book writers we heard included Jacqueline Woodson, Christopher Myers, Brian Selznick, Peter Sis, Rich Wallace, Ben Mikaelsen, Gloria Whelan, Holly Black, Lauren Myracle, Helen Frost, T.A. Barron, David Lubar, Pete Hautman, Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Sarah Zarr, Christopher Paul Curtis and many others. The authors spoke on various topics including teens and censorship, teens and poetry, teens and humor, and teens from other cultures living under oppressive governments.

I attended the "Don't Wanna: Books to Let Reluctant Readers Discover Who They Can Be." We were introduced to books on different genres to attract reluctant readers. The other session I attended was called "The Novel Challenge" about banned materials. One of the speakers (a middle school librarian) told about how a grandparent in her school complained about a book and contacted the press to increase the exposure of her complaint.

I came away from this conference learning a lot about what teen want and why these writers enjoyed writing for teens.

ALAN Conference--NYC

A thoroughly enjoyable and energizing conference! The ALAN Conference (Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English), held November 19-20, 2007, featured about four dozen authors of teen literature talking about their writing, teens’ reactions to their books, and the needs they see among teens. There were special sessions concerning censorship and developing plays and poetry slams, with all sessions of the conference dealing with the topic of “helping teens discover a sense of ‘place’ and ‘self’ through Young Adult literature.” Particularly moving talks were given by Sherman Alexie, winner of the 2007 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, Chris Crutcher, and Peter Sis. The two breakout sessions I attended focused on Young Adult literature about mental illness (good discussion of books and a helpful resulting bibliography) and a censorship case against Marilyn Reynolds’ book Detour for Emmy (a grandmother objected to the book’s sexual content and language). The librarian, also a grandmother, felt strongly about protecting the freedom to read and ultimately succeeded in keeping the book in the library.

ALAN Conference - Helping Teens Discover a Sense of Place and Self Through Young Adult Literature

This 2 day conference provided a wonderful opportunity for me to expand my knowledge of young adult literature. Attendees were treated to presentations by many of the more popular and acknowledged authors who write for teens. These authors took to time to explain their passion for teen literature, and how there were attempting to create a venue for teens to explore their emotions and reactions to the world around them.

The keynote speaker, Sherman Alexie, author of The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, was truely inspiring. Health and appearance issues, along with the burden of being a Native American in our society were things that he overcame - with humor. His speech, along with his book, was the best.

The authors that followed included Chris Crutcher, discussing censorship, Gloria Whelan, on teens from other cultures, Cecil Castellucci and Holly Black on mean girls and life in the fast teen track, and many more. Hearing authors talk about their books, is truely inspirational. I only wish that they had not priced them out of the library market for presentations.

Spending two days totally surrounded by young adult authors and their books was a wonderful experience. I will use the enthusiasm gained through this conference to booktalk these books at our Bethesda branch, and in local middle schools. I cannot wait for the opportunity.