This question comes up routinely on the ZineLibrarians list, and yet I’ve never seen a nice list.

If others will provide the titles (and annotations would be nice, too!) , I’ll be responsible for posting them here. Suggest something in the comments or email them to me.

I don’t work with pre-college teens and so don’t have a good sense of what is appropriate/will fly, but I’m suggesting a few zines anyway, just to get the list started.

• 12 items or less : a grocery shopping zine edited by A.J. Michel
• Adorn, by Bree Friend. The last issue I’ve seen is from 2006, and Bree is 22 and separated or divorced. Teens like to read about folks slightly older than themselves, right? Bree’s zines are very visual, and I gotta say cute. heartlikefoil@ hotmail
• After School Special by Nia King
• Art Freak by Carol Parks
• Bad Grades by Carla Marie Yacenda
• Beards? Beards!: and other matters pertaining to facial hair by Ingrid
• Best Zine Ever edited by Greg Means. Zine reviews, many written by librarians.
• Call & response by Gianni Simone
• Caboose, #4 Ridiculous Issue by Liz Mason
• Caesar by Jeff Sharp
• Clutch by Clutch McBastard. Daily minicomic by a librarian. I don’t recall the language getting much worse than the author’s nom de plume.
• Controller by Robin Enrico
• Danger! Hole, by high school student Lucy in the Sky. Bravely feminist, riot grrrl oriented zine, with different themes each issue. grrrlriots8me @ hotmail
• Diary of a mosquito abatement man by John Porcellino.
• Do you work here? by Nathalie Wilson.
• Don’t go where I can’t follow by Anders Nilsen with Cheryl Weaver. (Actually a book we have as a zine)
• Doris 15: antidepression guide by Cindy Crabb.
• Dropping out (for students), by Cavegirl is available for download from Crimethinc, and it’s just what it sounds like. It discusses dropping out of high school and how to get by. It’s about one person who couldn’t tolerate school, but it’s not especially disrespectful.
• The Dvorak zine : changing the world one keyboard at a time by Alec Longstreth
• The East Village Inky by Ayun Halliday. Handwritten and illustrated mamazine by a Brooklyn mom with two young kids and a Tony award winning spouse.
• Empower : a young mama’s guide to taking control, by Allison Crews. This is the kind of stuff that is actually useful to a pregnant or parenting teen, because the people that wrote the articles have been there. allison @ girlmom .com (not sure if the link is still good. The copyright statement encourages copying and distribution, so write me if you want a copy.
• Extranjero, # 5 : tales of life and travel by a big, dumb Yank & his Spanish wife by Kris and Lola.
• The Fall by Stephanie Wu
• Figure 8, by Krissy Durden. One of the best zines out there on fat acceptance and debunking bullshit about health risks and other issues. ponyboypress @ yahoo
• First semester : chronicles of the classroom by Jeff Sharp
• Flummery by Jeff Sharp
• The Future Generation by China Martens. Anti-authoritarian parenting zine.
• Girls are not chicks coloring book, and anything else by Jacinta Bunnell. These are great feminist, genderfucking zines and coloring books (that don’t use naughty words like genderfucking).
• Glossolalia, by Sarah Contrary. Sarah is a mad bike enthusiast from PDX who does all these macho solo bike trips around the US and Europe, which is very inspirational. She’s also an excellent writer and artist, in her 20s. She writes about feminism and sex discrimination in a way that I hope teens will take to. enormajean @ hotmail
• Gschwandtner, Design by A. Lucille Shanik
• Guardians of the Kingdom by Tom Gauld
• Hello, my name is : a ‘zine about how people got their names by Cristina Montejo
• Here it is by Erin Tobey
• Hey 4-Eyes edited by Robyn Chapman
• Hunter & painter by Tom Gauld
• In a Lonely place by Jeff Sharp
• In which I think about drowning by Josie Whitmore
• Infandum, #2 by Molly Lawless
• Invincible Summer by Nicole Georges. Minicomics by queer, vegan, zine workshop leader, band member, animal lover, etc.
• King-cat Comics by John Porcellino
• Knit Knit edited by Luren Jenison, Concept by Sabrina
• Kyle Bravo’s punk rock guide to saving money, fighting capitalism, & having fun while you’re at it by Kyle Bravo
• La Primavera by Alexis Frederick-Frost. Actually a graphic novel, rather than a zine?
• Ladyfriend : for ladies and all their friends, by Christa. Each issue has a different theme. Check the website and decide for yourself how teen friendly you think they’ll be.
• A late freeze by Danica Novgorodoff (an awesome comic but has a drawing of a bear giving birth — just FYI in case your community says “NO!” to bear genitalia)
• Laundry basket, April 2002 : tales of washday woe : come clean with us and let us dye for you.
• Long tail kitty : outer space by Lark Pien.
• Lower East Side librarian winter solstice shout out by Jenna Freedman. Personal zine by NYC librarian. Book and zine reviews, journal entries essays about jobs, activism, and in recent issues, married life.
• Leeking Ink by Davida Gypsy Breier. Personal zine by now 30something zine mainstay.
• List, by Ramsey Beyer. Her zines are comprised of her own lists, as well as those contributed by others or that she just finds in the street. Ramsey is a straightedge vegan punk art student, who doesn’t have a potty mouth. The illustrations are great and the list style makes it super accessible. ramseybeyer @ gmail
• Make something an anthology of Portland zinesters edited by Greig Means.
• Maria of Montmartre by Alexis Frederick-Frost.
• The monkey & the crab by Sara Edward-Corbett and Shawn Cheng
• The most romantic wedding in human history by Christoph Meyer
• My brain hurts by Liz Baillie
• On being jealous of invertabrates, volumes 1 and 3 by Jess S. One cel minicomics. Adorable.
• On subbing : the first four years by Dave. About being a substitute teacher’s assistant working with special needs kids. PDX punk rock vegan straightedge.
• Ouija interviews by Sarah Becan (very dark but not worse than a lot of YA fiction)
• Out of water / by Matthew Bernier
• Peko peko, #1, winter 2001 : a zine about food
• Personal charm : a collection of comics by zine queen Missy Kulik ; edited by Jordan Weeks
• Phase 7 by Alec Longstreth
• Platform : notes from the underground by Elizabeth Genco
• Potluck, April 2004 : a cooking compilation A.J. Michel
• Positive consumption Jenny Ferretti
• Regina Rich middle school detective, issue #1 : the missing money!
• Scars Alex Longstreth
• Scout, #6 : food and cooking issue
• Scratch, queer youth peer education. Issues 4 and 5 available for download via QZAP
• Scrappy, #1 : a crafty zine for scrappy people / Niku
• Secret mystery love shoes, #3 Androo Robinson and Maria Goodman
• Shut eye by Sarah Becan, based on a story by David Becan
• Sidewalk bump 1 and 2 ed by Dan Moynihan
• Simple Routines by JP Coovert
• Skate tough you little girls by Celia C. Perez is a fanzine about women’s skateboarding. Should be accessible to all teen readers. perezeeb @ yahoo
• Slave to the needles
• Squarecat comics, vol. 1 / by Jennifer Omand.
• Stolen sharpie revolution : a diy zine resource ed Alex Wrekk. Pretty much the go to guide for zine making and zine community and resources info.
• A strange day Damon Hurd & Tatiana Gill.
• Sugar Needle by Corina Fastwolf and Icona Phlox. An adorable hand colored in short fanzine about candy. Distro’d by Microcosm.
• Support. “This is a zine about supporting people who have been sexually abused”–Intro. Edited by Cindy of Doris zine fame.
• Sweet treats, #1, September, 2004 : a collection of vegan desserts
  
• Time enough at last : a reading log, by A.J. Michel. Book recommendations from prolific zine publisher and MLS holder.
• The true heart Hilary Florido.
• True swamp : underwoods and overtime [written and drawn by Jon Lewis]
• Turtle, keep it steady by Joseph Lambert
• The waiting sun : a happy town tale words and pictures by Justin Madson
• Walk to work by Jason Turner
• What did you buy today?? : daily drawings of purchases, May 2006 Kate Bingaman
  
• Wive’s Tales, by Britton. Women’s health, reproduction, STDs, all that good stuff (including some things that might get you in trouble but really really should be available to young women). This zine has been widely reproduced, so shouldn’t be too hard to find.
• Xerography Debt ed by Davida Gypsy Breier. Zine review zine.
• Zine World edited by Jerianne. Zine review zine with extra zine scene content.

That’s all I’ve got for now, but will resume going through the Barnard catalog when I can keep my eyes open. posted by Jenna 2/14/2008

Integrated Milo and Miriam’s suggestions 2/15/2008.