Virtual Book Club for Middle School
Join us for our Virtual Book Club! We’re reading “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeline L’Engle.
We’ll discuss th
e book with Ali Murray on a Zoom call on Friday, June 26, at 3 p.m.
Please contact Cricket for the invitation by emailing cpylman@vailgov.com.
Teen Summer Video Challenge 
Do you have a passion for reading or libraries? Do you want to share your video or performative skills with teens across the country? The Teen Video Challenge is for you!
Five winners will be chosen and will receive: a $200 cash prize, and $50 worth of summer reading materials for their library!
The Teen Video Challenge is an annual video contest and is open to all teens (librarian and teacher support is encouraged). The challenge is for teens to create a public services announcement-type video that shows their unique interpretation of the 2020 CSLP slogan “Imagine Your Story”. Videos are to be no longer than 60 seconds and should promote libraries and reading.
Videos will be accepted June 1 through Aug. 7, 2020
For more information and to submit videos, follow this link.
Please contact Cricket for help by emailing cpylman@vailgov.com.
Tips to Help Teens Cope During COVID 19
This website will ask you to sign up – you don’t need to do that. Just X out of the box in the top corner.
Looking for an opportunity for leadership? Join Mountain Youth! Right here in Eagle County!
Our mission is to continuously and collaboratively improve the lives of youth in the most powerful ways possible. Our vision is that “All youth in our community thrive.” Click here for more information.
This youth-led, adult-supported program encompasses CTC youth advisors and other young people in our community. The focus is on education and community service projects — giving young people a voice in programs that impact them. Youth can be on the board, pitch a project, work with local businesses to provide insight and feedback. The program includes youth ages 10 and older.
YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten
YALSA has launched the Teen Book Finder Database, which is a one-stop shop for finding selected lists and award winners. Users can search this free resource by award, list name, year, author, genre and more, as well as print customizable lists. This new resource will replace the individual award and list web pages currently on YALSA’s site that are not searchable and that are organized only by year. Check out the top ten for 2020 here.
Hour of Code!
Try a one-hour tutorial designed for all ages in over 45 languages.
Colorado Blue Spruce Book Award
The Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award (Blue Spruce Award) has been recognizing the most popular books among middle and high school students in the State of Colorado since 1985.
Voting opens on July 1st and closes on December 31st at 11:59 PM.
This will be the last year for the award, so please participate while you can.
The award is unique in being entirely nominated and voted for by teens. Inclusion on the nominations list does not imply endorsement by any adult as this is a program of entirely student-selected titles. Each year teens in grades 6-12 are free to nominate their favorite titles; a list of 12-15 titles is then compiled by the Blue Spruce Award committee based on number of nominations received.
Students must have read at least three of the titles to vote for a winner. Adults do not nominate or vote for books, and publishers are not allowed to submit their books for consideration.
2020 Nominees
THE 2019
WINNER IS…
by Neal Shusterman
“Hello, Colorado! I’m thrilled and honored that Scythe has won the Colorado Blue Spruce Award. I wish I could have been there to accept it when the award was announced, but I look forward to spending some time visiting schools, libraries, and bookstores in Colorado on my next book tour! Thank you again for this honor! Warmest regards, Neal Shusterman”
Online Resources for Young Adults
The award-winning Teen Health & Wellness provides middle and high school students with up-to-date, nonjudgmental, straightforward curricular, and self-help support. Topics covered include diseases, drugs, alcohol, nutrition, mental health, suicide, bullying, LGBTQ+ issues and more.
Little Free Library Project
Over the summer, our Teen Reading Group built five little free libraries! Have a book? Leave a book! Want a book? Take a book! Always free, the little free libraries are the “town square” of a community and thanks to our amazing teens, Vail has five.