Houston Celebrates Teen Reading

YA authors and Graphic Novelists at the TeenBookCon

This past weekend, more than 750 people – including authors, teenagers, librarians, and teachers – filled the Alief Taylor High School to attend the 2011 Houston TeenBookCon, an event that celebrates and promotes reading for teens. Cathy Berner, children’s/YA specialist and event coordinator for Blue Willow Bookshop, in Houston, Texas, had a central role in organizing the event. She worked with publishers to handle the logistics of author appearances, in addition to creating panels that would foster lively, interesting discussions. Blue Willow was able to book an impressive list of 17 Young Adult authors and four graphic novelists for the event, which Berner believes was instrumental in its success.

“The publishers have been incredibly supportive,” said Berner. “And Valerie Koehler, Blue Willow’s owner, has been on board since the beginning. She introduced the two librarians who started TeenBookCon.” With the involvement and support of Blue Willow’s entire staff, Berner said, the bookstore is able to be a major sponsor of the event.

Deb Caletti gives keynote speech about the power of books

In addition to the educational panels, TeenBookCon, which is now in its second year, featured a keynote speech by author and National Book Award Finalist Deb Caletti, who talked about the solace that books have given her, throughout every period of her life.

Another popular event was the “Graphic Novel Lunch.” Participating teens shared graphic novel projects that they had in the works and were able to receive feedback and inspiration from the graphic novelists in attendance.

Teens receive feedback at the "Graphic Novel Lunch"

The keynote session was held in the high school’s auditorium and panels were held in larger classrooms, including the band room and choir room. The day concluded with a mass signing by all 21 authors in the cafeteria.

Countless librarians and teachers volunteered their time to organize the TeenBookCon – both in the yearlong planning phase, and on the actual day of the event, said Berner. Blue Willow Bookshop provided content for the panels, as well as book donations for contest participants. The work that the entire store staff put into the event paid off in that day’s sales.

Blue Willow had an off-site bookstore set up at TeenBookCon, with store staff manning the tables. That same day, Blue Willow was scheduled to appear at another off-site conference, and the store was open, too. “So all employees worked on Saturday!” said Berner. “Sales were fantastic – it was very profitable.”

An event like this is important for several reasons, said Berner. “It puts teens in contact with authors, which is always a great thing. Secondly, it allows publishers to debut new authors and spotlight established authors,” she said, adding that it is a great community-building event among adult and teen readers and writers.

The success of TeenBookCon has already spurred interest in creating a similar event for younger readers, to be launched in the fall by several local librarians, said Berner. It would be a Tween Book Festival, geared for students in grades four to eight, “which will be so much fun!”