teenreadweek.gifMedia Release -- Diamond Book Distributors, the book distributor specializing in graphic novels, science fiction, and pop culture, today announced the release of a list of recommended titles for Teen Read Week, held this year from October 18-24. The list is posted on Diamond's website at http://www.diamondbookdistributors.com/downloads/YALSATeenReadWeek.pdf.

Teen Read Week is an annual event organized by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association. Taking place each year during the third week in October, libraries across the country work together to encourage teen reading "for the fun of it" with programming and books that follow a particular theme. This year's theme is "Read Beyond Reality", a theme well suited to the fantastic worlds and situations found in many graphic novels. For more about Teen Read Week, visit the official website at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/teenreading/trw/trw2009/home.cfm.

"YALSA is such a dynamic, innovative organization," said Janna Morishima, director of Diamond Kids. "We follow their activities closely, and when YALSA announced the 2009 Teens' Top 10 Nominations, we thought it would be helpful to create a supplemental list focusing on graphic novels. We hope teen services librarians and their patrons discover some new favorites on our list."

The books on DBD's list of recommendations includes books from a wide range of genres, including superhero titles like Hulk and Wolverine: First Class from Marvel; manga titles like Code Geass from Bandai and Dorothy of Oz from Udon; popular characters like Emily the Strange and Buffy the Vampire Slayer from Dark Horse; and indie breakouts like I Kill Giants from Image and The War at Ellsmere from Slave Labor Graphics. DBD's books are available from all major wholesalers, including Baker & Taylor, Bookazine, Follett, Ingram, Partners West, and many others.

ABOUT DIAMOND COMIC DISTRIBUTORS—the world's largest distributor of English-language comic books and pop-culture related merchandise—is based in Timonium, MD, and services more than 4,000 specialty retailers worldwide. For more information, visit Diamond on web at www.diamondcomics.com.

ABOUT DIAMOND BOOK DISTRIBUTORS— Diamond Book Distributors is a division of Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc., and is dedicated to making a wide selection of graphic novels and other pop culture collectibles available to the mainstream book market. For more information, visit Diamond Books on web at www.diamondbookdistributors.com.