tbd10If you’re a young adult writer, reader, librarian, or merely a fan of books, you should be paying attention to the folks at Readergirlz, Guys Lit Wire, and YALSA. For Operation Teen Book Drop, these three great organizations are working to get 10,000 new books for teens into the hands of kids who may not otherwise have a chance to read them. In previous years they’ve donated to books to hospitalized teens; this year, the 10,000 books will going straight to Native American teens living in tribal lands.

We sometimes focus on the negatives of publishing, either by predicting the fall of books or bemoaning the electronic gadgets that distract our nation’s children. It’s important to remember that there are still needy children within our own country who don’t have the opportunity to read the types of books they want.

To help in a small way, some of my clients and I will be leaving books out in public places for teens to pick up and enjoy. I’ll be headed into Manhattan later to make my own drop.

UPDATE: Here’s a picture of my drop spot in Union Square:

A much better picture for #operationtbd, plus the correct has... on Twitpic

If you’re interested in helping, please head to http://yalsa.ala.org/blog/2010/04/07/support-teen-literature-with-operation-tbd/ for details on how to get involved. I’ll be posting my own book drop later today.