By Suzannah Peckham

This Saturday, Barnes & Noble will host a second Teen Book Fest they call “B-Fest” at select locations across the country. Last year was the first year for the event, and following its success, the company has decided to host another. There is no need to register for the event, and attendance to any included activity is optional. Festivities begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday with a “B in the know” session. During the session, trivia from Penguin Random House will quiz attendees on their love of Young Adult novels. Each store will have location-specific activities. More activities will begin at 2 p.m., including DC Comics trivia. The free event is open to kids of all ages with activities that will interest a wide range of readers. It is scheduled to finish up by 6 p.m., after the writing session. During the writing session teens can learn strategies to improve their own stories; it will start at 5 p.m.

According to an article posted on the Barnes & Noble website: “[It will be] a nationwide event devoted to celebrating all the best young adult literature has to offer.” The YA book industry sells millions of books per year, across all types of platforms. Events like these are a fantastic way to connect readers to one another on a more personal level, not just through posts and messages on social media. They give faces to fandoms for numerous books and characters that have inspired these young readers.

This year’s activities will be a bit more in-depth compared to last year, where there was just a short seminar to give young novelists a few book-writing tips. Like last year, there will be a lot of giveaways with different merchandise for comic books, and a variety of YA novels. Several Barnes & Noble locations in CNY will be participating in the festival: locations in DeWitt, Clay, New Hartford and Ithaca. At the Barnes & Noble in New Hartford, author Carrie Firestone will be making an appearance the morning of the festival. She will be there to discuss her “homegrown heroes” and #UnlikelyRevolution, two big concepts from her book, “The Unlikelies”. Firestone will also answer questions about “The Unlikelies” and her other YA novel “The Loose Ends List”. She will sign books at 11 a.m., after the discussion. The experience is sure to be riveting and well worth a stop by!