Recently at the store, insightful and passionate new voices have emerged from a group of local teen bibliophiles who meet here once a month.
Fueled by our Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) of pre-publication titles, our TAB (Teen Advisory Board) members not only talk about their responses to YA books, they also write recommendations like the many you see by our booksellers. We’re proud of this exceptional group! Often the meetings are simply a chance to talk about books they are reading. We sometimes feel like flies on the wall, as they banter back and forth about everything from what kind of book cover art they DON'T like, why they don't want romance all the time, to when a character's voice sounds authentic. There is always a lot of enthusiasm at the end when they get to pick out newly available titles.
Their reviews are well-written and insightful. We share them with authors, and often get wonderful notes back. We put the reviews on the book shelves in the YA section, and will soon be using them in our quarterly print newsletter.
Sometimes visiting authors get together with our TAB! We recently hosted Seattle author Jennifer Longo for the debut of her latest, Up to this Pointe. And, above, our teens got to have an amazing talk with Nashville's Jeff Zentner about his upcoming book The Serpent King.
We learn a lot from our TAB members, and they are shaping the way we buy and market books for our YA readers!
Are you a teen interested in joining? Call us, or drop by the store for an application!
And thanks to TAB member Finn T. for the great pictures!
