Monday, January 26, 2009

The Rules

  1. All books must be published in 2009, CE.
  2. Young people aged 0 to 18 must be the target audience for all 2009x2010 books.
  3. Reader must read the entire book for it to count towards the 2009x2010 goal of 2,009 books.
  4. More than one reader can read and comment on a book, but each title only counts once towards the goal of 2,009 books read by January 2010.

The Setup

One snowy Denver night in late January, a group of childrens', young adult, and school librarians met for after-dinner drinks at the Hotel Monaco bar. Books were discussed. Reading was discussed. Bourbon was sipped. A challenge was issued:
Over 6,000 books for young people are published in the United States every year. It's probably not possible for one person to read all of them, but would it be possible for her to read 2,000?
The Group of Eight decided that, rather than attempt to read 2,000 books as individuals, we'd start with a readily achievable goal: 2,009 by 2010. We'd share our resources and, between the eight of us, would read 2,009 books published in the year 2009 before the announcement of the Youth Media Awards at the 2010 ALA Midwinter meeting.
To keep ourselves honest, we've started this blog, where we'll be listing our thoughts about what we're reading. We're also listing our titles over at Library Thing, so look for us there.