Garden State Teen Book Awards

Reader Guidelines

Members of the NJLA Young Adult Section who have elected to read for the ballot will read the titles they have been assigned. Readers who consistently do not meet reader requirements (generally going by a “three strikes” ruling) will not be selected as readers in the future by the committee.

Readers are expected to:

• submit detailed feedback when unable to attend a discussion meeting, using the GSTBA feedback form.

• access assigned titles to the best of their ability, and to communicate with the GSTBA committee and the Section if unable to access the book in reasonable advance of the discussion meeting.

• attempt to read each assigned title in its entirety. Acceptable reasons for not finishing a title include:

• the book clearly does not stand alone outside of a series

• errors in the writing

• is most certainly material intended for children or adults, rather than teens

• you have read enough of the title to support its exclusion from the list due to lack of teen appeal

• inability to obtain the book at local libraries or through ILL services, even when enough time was given for transit, AND inability to give away or trade the assigned title with another GSTBA reader

• focus on what makes the title a good (or poor) fit for the GSTBA, according in part to the criteria for nomination, rather than on a personal reaction to the title/author.

• submit original annotations for titles as assigned following deliberations of each category. (Annotations should be 2-3 sentences, and we cannot include annotations written by and taken from another source. Annotations will be sent to the Members-at-Large according to a due date established and communicated by them.)

Reader Feedback Form (Word doc)

Online Feedback Form for Absentee Readers  

Back to the Garden State Teen Book Awards main page

Back to the Young Adult Services Section Homepage