Isinglass Book List Information

2009-2010 Nominees for the Isinglass Awards

Isinglass Teen Read Award
For 7th & 8th Grade
Criteria and Committee

The Isinglass Teen Read Award has been ongoing since 2001 with winners such as
Rodman Philbrick, Walter Dean Myers, Patricia McCormick, and Christopher Paolini.
We have gone from one community voting to 14 voting as of the 2004-5 voting cycle.
We have opened up voting to all NH towns that wish to participate. The committee currently meets monthly from September-April to determine the list from student-generated recommendations. We have 6 librarians who make up the selection committee, half of which are school librarians. The web site for Isinglass titles is hosted on the Barrington Public Library web site, as the chairperson of our committee is the Director, Amy Inglis.

Mission Statement: To encourage middle school level students to read for enjoyment
and promote a life-long love of reading and books.

Our criteria:
• Recommended by a teen directly, or, a book that YA librarians can’t keep on the
shelf due to high interest among students.
• High interest and appropriate reading level for 7-8th graders.
• Readily available in print in the US; author does NOT have to be from this
country.
• A title in a series must stand alone
• Non-fiction and previous award winners may be nominated
• We prefer titles published in the last 3 years, and choose the majority of the list
from these titles, but we WILL consider older titles that may deserve a “new life”
among our youth.
• Titles must be submitted to the committee chair June-January and include title,
author, publication year, and genre.
• Books will not be disqualified for tough topics or language that is appropriate to
the story. We strive to provide a well-rounded list that may also include some
books that are not appropriate for all readers. Parents make the final decision as
to what their children read.
• All books are read by the committee, reviews are sought, and selections chosen by
a panel of school and public librarians with expertise in working with teens.

Selection Criteria:
• Teen appeal, i.e. will teens be interested in the book topic, characters, and setting
and find the book a satisfying and enjoyable read.
• Quality of writing, i.e. has the author written a story with well-developed plot,
characters, and setting. The book must be a model for that genre and have an
interesting theme.
• Originality of the text
• Subject matter of current interest to teens
• Suitability of vocabulary and content for the age range
• Relevance to today’s societal issues
• Reflects a teen experience or concern
• Language style and usage
• Books that provide a balance selection of genres so the list reflects a wide variety
of reading tastes

The Isinglass Final List:
The committee meets Sept.-April to talk about books recommended for the list. The
committee will finalize the list in early April in order to make the choices available for
the May NHLA Conference. The final list will be comprised of 20 titles and will be
announced at NHLA. The Barrington Public Library will host the Isinglass page and add
any criteria, forms, etc. as needed until such time as the chairmanship moves on to
another library. PR about the book list will be sent via the state e-mail list and school
librarians will be informed.
• Student recommendations for the next years list may be sent via e-mail to
blibrary@metrocast.net Please include full title, author, and year published.
Recommendations will be taken from June-January in order to give the committee
time to review titles for a May final list.

For More Information Please Visit:
http://home.metrocast.net/~blibrary/teenindex.htm