Finding Books for Teen Readers
It can be hard to find the right book for a teen. I know; I have two of them (teens, not books!). There’s so much vying for a teen’s attention: Videos, TV on demand, gaming, social media. Mostly all at once.
The advantage of the right book, though, is that a) it doesn’t need batteries and b) teachers approve. And once you’ve found the right one you’re golden, because a teen will devour it, watch the movie, read the sequel, and wear the clothes. They’ll be quiet for hours, totally immersed in another world. Books may appear solitary, but teens use them to form communities. They’ll discuss their favourite books with on-line or real world friends; they form fandoms.
5 (free) Resources:
- Your school librarian. A great school librarian is the best resource ever. If you home school, or don’t have the best library, you can try Teen Librarian Toolbox, a website for teen librarians (that is, librarians for teens, not the other way around!) or My Best Friends are Books, curated by the Amazing Zac from Christchurch City Library.
- Goodreads, a social media site for readers. There are a lot of Young Adult (YA) pages, where readers can hang out with their peers.
- #bookstagram on instagram, twitter or tumblr. Just pop it into the search bar and you’ll come up with a range of sites. Because many are curated by people under 25 you’ll generally find a whole bunch of book ideas and connect with a lot of passionate readers.
- Bookblogs. I’m planning on doing a post on my favourite book bloggers later, but if you check out bookbub’s blog that’s a good start. Just pop “teen” into the search function on the right, and you’ll find a whole heap of suggestions.
- Poetry is a rich resource. Check out Slam Poetry on Youtube (also check out the comments on this link – teens are fabulous supporters of one another.)
The Importance of Books
I follow @westerosreader on instagram. In one post he said he never was a great reader, until his Aunt leant him the Maze Runner and … well, now he’s hooked! He now has over 16K followers and a great fan base.
So never, never, stop encouraging kids to read; the right book at the right time can change a teen’s life.
Do you have any recommendations for resources? How did you get hooked on reading? Any other hashtags or book sites you’d like to share?
