I choose Forever Young Adult and Teenreads because, contrary
to the majority of the other blogs, they are not personal blogs written by teen
authors, but blogs about teen books in general.
Forever Young Adult
Right away, I went to check out the Book Club section, and
it was worth it. It is very well made. Easy formula: one book a month. This
September selection is Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer. Precisely, the writer who wrote
one of the two articles I just commented on. Then you just have to find the
closest book club gathering from your home. They are in 43 states, and more
than 11 others countries on 3 others continents. If there is nothing near you,
they encourage you to create your own club and to invite your nearby friends.
The section is just easy to use and explore. It inspires teen participation and
based on the numbers of clubs, it is successful. Another big section of the
blog is Book Reports. Book Report is an analysis of a book, from the characters
to the setting and the writing style. Always written with a sense of humor,
full of fun facts, those reports are written for teens but not necessary by
teens.
There is a lot of others categories, which are mostly used
to inform and share news about YA or teens. Those sections included Cheers! (Just
another excuse for you to get your drink on), Home EC (Get crafty), Hotsy
Totsy! (Breaking news and scandalous gossip), In the girls’ bathroom (Where
shizz gets real), and so on. They have a funny LEXICON section to understand
not only Y.A. books but the teens themselves. I was surprised to see a store
section on the blog. Or maybe I am just naïve, after all they have to make
their money somehow. Finally, Forever Young Adult is also present on a ton of
other medium and apps (like Facebook, twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads,
YouTube, etc.) The teens are everywhere on the web at the same time, I guess to
attract them you also need to be everywhere.
The website is definitely written for Y.A. by Y.A. fans.
However, those Y.A. fans are not that young anymore, and something it does feel
like they are trying a little bit too hard to be young and hip.
Teenreads
Teenreads is a different blog, but as good as Forever Young
Adult. One thing I noticed right away is the design of the blog, it looks more
… mature. What I mean is there are less catchy pictures with young persons on
them, the colors are also less flashy, there is more text and the design as a
whole is just more neutral. Basically, Teenreads does not try to look cool and
hip, they focus on information and easy use, and it works. One other sign of
more neutral territory, Teenreads is only present of three other medium
(Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) compared to dozen others with Forever Young
Adult.
Instead of Book Reports, Teenreads has book reviews (again
that sounds little bit less a high-school term than book report). Not all the
book reviews are of the same quality, but most of them included discussions
questions, reading guide and critical praise. Authors interviews, blogs and
others news features complete the website. I particularly like the Ultimate
Reading List section, which consisted of only one, like the name suggests, ultimate
list of 20 or so pages with all the books a teen should read. Another neat
section is called Coming Soon, where one can know and see the upcoming books
for next month. Finally Teen Board is the great opportunity for teens on the website.
Every year 30 teens become Teen Boards. They write book reviews and blog posts
for the website. In a way, they are the life behind the website, and the
connection between the owner/manager and the Y.A. community. Contrary to
Forever Young Adult, I feel there is a good mix between teens and adult in the
management of the website. In fact, because most of the posts are written by
teens, it feels more authentic.
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