I've only heard about the proposed YALSA Reader's Choice list via Liz's posts and it is very much a librarian-centric issue so not something as a blogger/reviewer that is hugely in my radar - except the Reader's Choice list is based on voting for favorite books and I have never been a fan of the popularity-based award choices (Hello People's Choice Awards). If you were to look at the blogs this summer then the most popular book is easily Catching Fire and most folks have not formally reviewed it yet since it hasn't been released. They are all talking about it though - all over the place. I'm sure the book is all that and a bag of chips but I don't think it needs any more help from me whereas very few folks have mentioned Charles R. Smith's Chameleon or Richard Jennings' Ghost Town or Tanita Davis' Mare's War. These are just a few of the books that I think have merit - very strong merit - and especially to libraries. And these aren't even small press books which are way (waaaaay) overlooked by most bloggers. I am reading my second title from Coach House Books right now (which granted is a Canadian press but still) and I love it (more on this later). I'm not convinced and never have been that the books everyone is talking about are necessarily the best or anything more than a flash in the pan. Plus I can't help but think that books that resonate with librarians in Maine might not with those in Arizona or Alaska vs Mississippi. So you might end up with regional popular choices winning - which means some states will dominate while others (poor Alaska and Hawaii) will have their votes all but ignored (yes - I know that everyone's vote counts but the president is always decided before the polls are even closed in AK!)

But again, this is a librarian issue and really, not my worry. I'll keep plugging for smaller books or quirkier books or just flat out overlooked books as much as I can (while still enjoying the occasional big book too, of course) and let the librarians work themselves out. But then, I followed a recent link from Liz's just to see what was being discussed on all this and caught this message from YALSA's "recent past president":

One of the key messages I emphasized to the press during my year as president–something I said over and over again–was that teens and their caregivers should turn to their local school or public librarians for guidance in choosing reading materials. YALSA works hard to show that young adult librarians are the experts in the field–not just a few, but all librarians. It’s an important message and YALSA even has a white paper on the topic.



In stark contrast, respected individuals in the field have been vocal in their opposition to a readers’ choice list, somehow suggesting that the majority of YALSA members are not capable of identifying quality books for teens. This elitist attitude runs contrary to all the messaging from ALA and YALSA that says librarians are professionals with unique expertise in matching the right book with the right patron. It is also an insult to YALSA members, and I am saddened that respected individuals in the field would take this discriminatory stance.

So maybe I'm oversensitive having just seen the elitist bombed dropped over bookshelves but really - is she really saying that anyone who disagrees for any reason with this list decision is not only elitist but further, discriminatory as well? That is how you respond to people who voice an opposition to your proposal? You throw down the Sarah Palin gauntlet and declare they aren't real folks, they don't appreciate the real folks, they don't understand real folks?

Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised to read a line in there about how supporting this list means being good American. It smells the same way and I hate these tactics - always have and always will.

I don't know how anyone can seriously use the word elitism anymore with a straight face.

I probably have access to more information on upcoming books than most people; I get all the catalogs, I get Booklist, I get a thousand ARCs/reading copies a year. And yet every month there is a book I've heard nothing about that I wish I had - a book that was not put in the catalogs or received only a tepid review or I simply missed. And when I read these books I pretty much always like them. You can miss good books so if you build a list purely around popularity then you run the risk of missing the quiet ones. We all went to high school, didn't we? We know how badly this story could end (there's always someone crying in the bathroom during the big dance). I hope that the list ends up being a great grand wonderful thing but when you defend it by attacking others in such a small-minded way, well, that doesn't impress me much.