Jamie Watson

Baltimore County Public Library

Jamie is currently the Manager of Collection Development at the Baltimore County Public Library based in Towson, Maryland. She is a reviewer for School Library Journal and she is active in the Young Adult Library Services Association, serving on several of its committees, including Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers and Selected Audiobooks for Young Adults. Jamie was named a “2008 Mover and Shaker” by Library Journal magazine. Jamie Watson is one of AdLit’s consultants for young adult literature and author of “The MashUp”, AdLit’s blog about books for teens.

Expert Q&A Questions

Motivating Pre-Teen Girls to Read

Can you suggest some books for a pre-teen girl who hates to read? She doesn’t read as fast as her classmates, so she prefers not to read at all.

Latest Blog Posts

Good News/Bad News

The good news is I’ve been selected to serve on the 2010 Printz Award committee.

Tomfoolery

“What is a good book for a middle school boy?”

What does it mean?

‘ve enjoyed getting to know our new Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor.

Jacqueline Woodson

This week I was fortunate enough to hear YA author Jacqueline Woodson speak.

ACTION!

Popular wisdom decrees summer to be the time

Missed classics

Recently, for another work related task, I needed to re-read some classic works of literature

Audio Holiday

With the holidays around the corner, there may be a long car ride in your family’s future…

Vote!

As I sit here watching the vice-presidential debate, I know that it will culminate in my voting on election day in November.

Summer Reading is Due!

This week, bookstores and libraries are full of kids rushing to finish summer reading assignments.

MySpace pages and Facebooks

In the last few weeks, I feel like I’ve been bombarded with a new fear — that teens are using MySpace and other online social media rather than reading.

Listen Up!

June is designated Audiobook month by the Audio Publishers Association.

Teens’ Top Ten

Lists are fun to make. Librarians, teachers, publishers, we all like to make lists.

Jezebel’s Fine Lines

One of the most enjoyable and unexpected places to find critique of classic young adult books is Jezebel ‘s Fine Lines feature.

Happy Children’s Book Week

Nearly 90 years ago, a group of people with a vested interest in children’s books came together to create the first “Children’s Book Week”,

Good Sports

This is an exciting times for sports fans—the NBA and NHL playoffs. MLS soccer, Major League Baseball, golf, tennis, and NASCAR. Here are some books to engage teens who love sports.

Poetry Friday

National Poetry Month is drawing to a close, but our love of poetry—and sharing it with tweens and teens—should go on all year round.

A Winner for All?

This year’s Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult literature went to The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean.

Technology Rocks!

As teachers explore ways to add technology to their lessons, and librarians struggle with new technologies from MySpace to music downloading, there’s another area where technology can enhance the reading experience.

The Newbery Winner

The book actually succeeds on three fronts - it brings the time alive for the reader, it has literary merit, and it actually has a child friendly focus that will make it a Newbery book that a wide variety of children can read (or listen to) and enjoy

Books for Budding Artists

For budding artists, a series of books by cartoonist/designer Mark Gonyea does a great job of explaining complex design principles.