Heather Murtagh/Daily Journal Raven Rodrate, 14, takes a look at a book in Burlingame’s Books Inc.

Some are calling it the “golden age” of reading, others are just happy that books haven’t been replaced with video games, iPods and the Internet. In fact, book pushers are using all the technology that defines the Millennium Generation to market to teens who may not always be willing to leave cyberspace to curl up with a good book.

“The technology is giving us an opportunity to reach kids more and more,” said Judy Nelson, president of the Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association.

Libraries are showing up as “friends” on teenage MySpace accounts. Bookshops have blogs targeted at teen readers. The information about new books is traveling so fast that some have a hard time keeping up with the news.

“I  can’t keep up with their reading,” said Redwood City/Woodside librarian Charlotte Bradshaw. “I am asked for the newest book in a series two months before it comes out because they are plugged in.”

It’s been called the “Harry Potter effect” because so many teens were hungry for the next big book after having years of quality reading from the series. But it is also appears to be a push from markets to cater the nation’s largest pool of disposable income. Not only was Harry Potter a top book seller, it was a blockbuster movie. It’s spurring a market of books that are good enough to be tomorrow’s movies. And some of them are juicy enough to be the tales of today’s movie stars.

The attention to the teens has big name adult authors are taking aim at young adult literature. Joyce Carol Oates and James Patterson are some of the national best sellers turning their attention to young readers. And in a time when teens have an attention span barely long enough for a commercial, there’s a literary answer for that too.

Graphic novels and Manga — a genre that literally translates to comic in Japanese — are growing in popularity.  The books are more than superheroes and simple dialogue. Today’s graphic novels have story lines like one that involves Nazi Germany conspiracies. The books are usually a quick read that keep teenagers engaged.

“They’re not books. You don’t really have to read,” said 19-year-old Leila Azzaria, an employee at Burlingame’s Books Inc. and avid Manga fan.

The proliferation of well-written graphic novels and young adult books is coinciding with the introduction of major national book awards in the genre, Nelson said.

There is also a new proliferation of chick lit, a genre that gives this generation their own version of Nancy Drew, Baby Sitters Club and Sweet Valley High. The new generation of teen chick lit has the same salacious plot lines with a definite older vibe, which caters to today’s fast growing teens. It’s Judy Blume to a higher level. The stories are compared to a toned down Sex and the City or Paris Hilton escapades.

Jennifer Laughran, buyer for Burlingame Books Inc., stops short of calling them trashy when she realizes she read the same kind of books when she was young.

“I wouldn’t be as big a reader today if it weren’t for those books. There’s nothing wrong with them. It teachers them that reading doesn’t have to be hard. It can be fun,” Laughran said.

Last year Books Inc. launched a blog and events program called Not Your Mother’s Book Club for kids in grades seven to 12. Laughran runs the blog and associated MySpace page, which boasts more than 600 “friends.” She also runs a regular author series at Capuchino High School in San Bruno. The school recently hosted Rachel Cohn, author of Cupcake, by having an extravagant cupcake party, said Jennifer Laughran, the store’s book buyer.

The young adult section at the Burlingame store has “more than doubled” in size since Laughran started at the Burlingame store about a year ago. The store moved the section away from the children’s section and closer to adult science fiction and graphic novel sections.

Despite the drastic changes in the market, Laughran can’t say she’s seen a big change in the teens.

“I never really noticed them not reading,” she said.

Heather Murtagh contributed to this story.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.