Teens DO Read for Fun

And No, That’s Not an Oxymoron!

Ann Sciuto [email protected]

Campbell Hall Session 1-39 9:30-10:45 am

Offer Teens a Positive Print Experience in a Casual, “Oh, These Were Just Left Laying Out” Kind of Way

• Mister O • Calvin & Hobbes • History of Rock • History of Surfing • The Best of Barbie:

Four Decades of America’s Favorite Doll

• Magazines

Have Fun!

• Where’s Waldo? • Dr. Seuss • Guinness Book of World Records • Picture Books • It’s all about the photos! • Read out loud from a variety

of books. Storytime isn’t just for the little ones!

‘Who am I?’ is the basic young adult question. What people reads helps define them. Teens define themselves in many ways.

The search for identity brings on even more changes as young adults attempt to say, scream, or whisper in what they say, wear, do, and read this question of ‘Who am I?’ Patrick Jones

“Many young adults come to us out of burden and boredom, which are not the best motivators for a successful relationship.”

Patrick Jones • Negative attitudes toward reading • Low voluntary reading rates • Aliteracy (ability to read but

choosing not to)

• Motivation • Are they reading but not talking to

us about it or seeing it as of value? Closet readers?

And the biggest enemy?

Time

Fight Aliteracy!

Provide books that

– your students want to read – meet their needs & wants – have proven popular – have peer approval

Remember, if your goal is to “provide positive print experiences” and increase recreational reading,

• It doesn’t all have to be “great literature” • Good bad books are great! • •

It’s o.k. to have fun Revise ideas about buying:

– Sources – “Disposables” as well as long-term – Do judge a book by its cover – Audio books – Graphic novels – Magazines – Budget allotment

Your Attitude Counts!

• Try to read as a teen not just as an adult. • You have to enjoy it. Be honest. • Attitudes in librarians most highly ranked by YAs are: • Approachable • A respectful, nonjudgmental attitude • A knowledge of YA interests and materials • Patience & persistence • Asks questions • Listens carefully • Suggests titles & authors • Reads widely • Has many books available • A sense of humor! Patrick Jones

• Access to a school library results in more reading • Having a school librarian makes a difference in the amount

of reading a YA does

• Larger school library collections & longer hours

increase circulation

• Larger school library collections mean better results

in high-reading scores

• Libraries are a consistent and major source

of books for free reading

• Magazine reading promotes more reading • Young people’s reading choices are

influenced by their peers

So, How Does It Work?

• Read, skim, scan! A lot!

• Talk about books! A lot! • Create a “reading climate” • Take risks • Weed ruthlessly & continuously • Spend money! • Commit the time • Sell the collection • Be customer focused & listen!

• Let students know it is o.k. to not finish a

book---and give yourself the same permission.

• “If you don’t like it, bring it back!” • “A book for every reader.

A reader for every book.”

And so, on to

“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.”

Sherlock Holmes in

A Study in Scarlet

Nonfiction for Young Adults

• Narratives with the

power & drive of story

• Targets developing

personal interests

• Supports visual

learning styles

• Appealing formats • Less daunting for

reluctant readers

• Caters to current interests &

hot topics

• Stimulates patterns for

lifelong curiosity & inquiry

• Connects with adolescent

developmental needs

• Attractive to boys Mary Arnold, ALA Annual Conference 2003

Food

• From Hardtack To Home Fries: An Uncommon

History of American Cooks and Meals by Barbara Haber

• Teens Cook: How to Make What You Want to

Eat by Megan and Jill Carle

• A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove: A History

of American Women Told Through Food,

Recipes, and Remembrances by Laura Schenone

• What's Cooking: The History of American

Food by Sylvia Whitman

Fatland: How Americans became the Fattest People in the World “25% of all Americans under age nineteen are overweight or obese…. The percentage of overweight six- to eleven year-olds has nearly doubled in two decades, and for adolescents the percentage has tripled. Pediatricians are treating conditions rarely before diagnosed in young people.”

Which Might Lead to ….

And …

Decades of Beauty: The Changing Image of Women 1890s-1990s by Kate Mulvey & Melissa Richards No Body's Perfect : Stories by Teens about Body Image, Self-Acceptance, and the Search for Identity by Kimberly Kirberger

“With her characteristic wry wit and her unabashedly liberal bent, Ehrenreich brings the invisible poor out of hiding and, in the process, the world they inhabit--where civil liberties are often ignored and hard work fails to live up to its reputation as the ticket out of poverty.”

--Lesley Reed

amazon.com review

Gambling

Which Seems Like a Good Time to Mention….

The Seven Deadly Sins

Math

Local Interest

Sports

Encyclopedia Idiotica: History's Worst Decisions and the People Who Made Them

Adults are Stupid

“Bold Self Experimenters in Science & Medicine” The Darwin Awards Commemorating those individuals who ensure the long-term survival of our species by removing themselves from the gene pool in a sublimely idiotic fashion.

And Everything You Thought You Knew Is Wrong

The Encyclopedia of Popular Misconceptions: The Ultimate Debunker’s Guide to Widely Accepted Fallacies

by Ferris Johnsen

Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed

And Everything You Thought You Knew Is Wrong

Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking

and

The Tipping Point

by Malcolm Gladwell

Magazines

• The Week • Mental Floss • People • Car & Driver • Popular Science • Dance & Art

Develop a collection for browsers that says to students: “We know and appreciate your interests.”

Themed Nonfiction

Abraham Lincoln

Assassination Vacation

by Sarah Vowell

Good Brother, Bad Brother : The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth

by James Cross Giblin

Lincoln: A Photobiography

by Russell Freedman

The President Is Shot!: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

by Harold Holzer

Lincoln's Dreams

by Connie Willis (fiction)

Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President & Fueled His Greatness

by Joshua Wolf

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

Goodwin by Doris Kearns

Manhunt : The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer

by James L. Swanson

Assassin

by Anna Myers (fiction)

The Murder of Abraham Lincoln: A chronicle of 62 days in the life of the American Republic, March 4 - May 4, 1865

by Rick Geary

How about expanding the concept of

Good Brother, Bad Brother: The Story of Edwin

Booth and John Wilkes Booth?

• Compare biographies of other famous brothers, sisters, siblings,

parents and their children in pairs of students or reading circles

• The Bush family • Henry VIII and his children (and wives) • Queen Victoria and her children • Kennedy family • Roosevelt family • Walt and Roy Disney • Wright brothers • Warren Beatty and Shirley McLaine (actors) • Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson (singers) • Venus and Serena Williams (tennis) • Menendez brothers • The brothers Grimm! • And I’ve officially gotten carried away with the idea!

Narrative Nonfiction

• The Things I Carried by Tim O’Brien • The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell : An Accidental

Soldier's Account of the War in Iraq by John Crawford

• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer • Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount

Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

• Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent

Faith by Jon Krakauer

• Ice Story: Shackleton's Lost Expedition by

Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

• The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger • The Perilous Journey of the Donner Party by

Marian Calabro

• With Their Eyes: September 11

ed.

A.J. Jacobs

th : The View from

a High School at Ground Zero by Annie Thomas,

• The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to

Become the Smartest Person in the World by “Narratives with the power and drive of story”

Hidden History

• • • • • • • • • • • •

At Her Majesty's Request: An African Princess in Victorian England by Walter Dean Myers The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt The Devil's Cup: A History of the World According to Coffee by Stewart Lee Allen Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain by Michael Paterniti Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew & the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak Girls: A History of Growing Up Female in America by Penny Colman Girls: Ordinary Girls and Their Extraordinary Pursuits by Jenny McPhee Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil by John Berendt

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity,

& the Making of the OED by Simon Winchester

Tulipomania: The Story of the World's Most Coveted

Flower & the Extraordinary Passions It Aroused by Mike Dash Unsolved Mysteries of American History by Paul Aron We Were There, Too! Young People in U.S. History by Phillip Hoose

For Your Intellectuals (or call me surprised!)

• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (fiction) • Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared M.

Diamond

• Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is

Actually Making Us Smarter by Steven Johnson

• Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why: True Stories of

Miraculous Endurance and Sudden Death

by Laurence Gonzales

• Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the

Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

• Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared M. Diamond

For Your Intellectuals (or call me surprised!)

• I Believe in Water: 12 Brushes with Religion edited by Marilyn Singer • Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science

by Charles Wheelan

• Six Questions of Socrates: A Modern-Day Journey

of Discovery Through World Philosophy by Christopher Phillips

• Soul Searching: 13 Stories About Faith & Belief

edited by Lisa Rowe Fraustino

• The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big

Difference By Malcolm Gladwell

• The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21

st by Thomas Friedman Century

•

The College Board’s “101 Great Books Recommended for College-Bound Readers”

The Gross Factor!

• Man Eating Bugs: The Art

and Science of Eating

Insects by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Alusio • Rats! : The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly by Richard Conniff • Rats : Observations on

the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants

by Robert Sullivan • Toilets, Bathtubs, Sinks,

and Sewers: A History of

the Bathroom by Penny Colman

The Fun Side of Death

• Bog Mummies: Preserved in Peat

by Charlotte Wilcox

• Bury the Dead: Tombs, Corpses, Mummies,

Skeletons and Rituals by Christopher Sloan

• Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: A History of

Burial by Penny Colman

• Earthly Remains: The History and Science

of Preserved Human Bodies by Andrew Chamberlain

• When Plague Strikes: The Black Death,

Smallpox, AIDS by James Cross Giblin

Murder, Crime, & Forensic Science

•The Bone Detectives: How Forensic Anthropologists Solve Crimes

and Uncover Mysteries of the Dead by Donna M. Jackson

•Crime Scene: The Ultimate Guide to Forensic Science by Richard

Platt

•Death at the Priory: Sex, Love, and Murder in Victorian England by

James Ruddick

•Fingerprints: The Origins of Crime Detection & the Murder Case that

Launched Forensic Science by Colin Beavan

•Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case by

Chris Crowe

•Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent

Bugliosi

•In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its

Consequences by Truman Capote

Murder, Crime, & Forensic Science

• Kings & Queens of England: Murder, Mayhem, and Scandal: 1066 to the

Present Day by Brenda Ralph Lewis

• The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman and the Members of Tectonic

Theater Project

• Losing Matt Shepard: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder

by Beth Loffreda

• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: a Savannah Story by John

Berendt

• Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and

Binion's World Series of Poker by James McManus

• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach • When Objects Talk: Solving a Crime with Science

by Mark P. Friedlander, Jr. & Terry M. Phillips

Victorian Murder Graphic “Novels” written & illustrated by Rick Geary

•The Beast of

Chicago: An Account of the Life and Crimes of Herman W. Mudgett, Known to the World as H.H. Holmes

•The Borden

Tragedy: A Memoir of the Infamous Double Murder at Fall River, Mass., 1892

•Jack the Ripper: A Journal of the

Whitechapel Murders 1888-1889

•The Murder of Abraham Lincoln: A

Chronicle of 62 Days in the Life of the American Republic, March 4-May 4, 1865

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Our Most Popular Non-Fiction Titles

Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child & the Consumer Culture by Juliet B. Schor

Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas

for Millions by Ben Mezrich The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Steve Almond Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared M. Diamond The Darwin Awards Series by Wendy Northcutt

Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular

Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter by Steven Johnson

Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, A Dream

by H.G. Bissinger

The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become

the Smartest Person in the World by A.J. Jacobs Lucky by Alice Sebold A Million Little Pieces by James Frey Smashed: Story of a Drunken Childhood by Koren Zailckas Jon Krakauer (Under the Banner of Heaven; Into the Wild; Into Thin Air)

I need a good story.

I need a good book.

The kind that explodes off the shelf.

I need some good writing, Alive and exciting, To contemplate all by myself.

I Need a Good Book

by John Lithgow I need a good novel, I need a good read, I probably need two or three.

I need a good tale of love and betrayal Or perhaps an adventure at sea.

I need a good saga, I need a good yarn.

A momentous and mighty Or slight one.

But with thousands And thousands And thousands of books, I need someone To tell me The right one.

Our Most Popular Fiction Titles

• Acceleration by Graham McNamee • Anthony Horowitz’s thriller series about teen spy Alex Rider • Carol Plum-Ucci • Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen by Dyan

Sheldon

• Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons by Dan Brown • Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card • The First Part Last by Angela Johnson • Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier • Go Ask Alice • Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe by Douglas Adams • Hoot and Flush by Carl Hiaasen • Joan Bauer • The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman • Laurie Halse Anderson

Our Most Popular Fiction Titles

• Learning to Swim by Ann Warren Turner • Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel • Louise Rennison’s series about Georgia Nicolson • Maus by Art Spiegleman • Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden • No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman • On the Road by Jack Kerouac • Sarah Dessen • Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants trilogy by Ann

Brashares

• Sonya Sones • Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli • Stoner & Spaz by Ronald Koertge • Terry Trueman

Our Most Popular Fiction Titles

• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by

Mark Haddon

• The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things by

Carolyn Mackler

• The Face on the Milk Carton series by Caroline Cooney • The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold • The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky • The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot • The Red Tent by Anita Diamant • The True Meaning of Cleavage by Mariah Fredericks • The Two Sams: Ghost Stories and The Snowman’s

Children by Campbell Hall creative writing teacher Glen Hirshberg

• Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block

• • •

Fantasy & Teens

“When reality bites, readers can escape into fantasy and learn to bite back.”

Carolyn Caywood Often attracts the best and the brightest Attracts those who enjoy the process of learning YAs need an evil adversary and a fallible hero; the archetypes of legend & myth

Among Our Favorite Books, Fantasy Earns Its Own Category

• Garth Nix’s The Abhorsen Trilogy and The Keys to the Kingdom Series • Gerald Morris’ funny, exciting spins on the Arthurian legends • Terry Pratchett • J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books

(also on audio CDs)

• Philip Pullman’s His Darker Materials trilogy

(also on audio CDs & The Science of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials by Mary and John Gribbin)

• Herbie Brennan’s The Faerie Wars series • Suzanne Collins’ Gregor the Overlander series • Jonathan Stroud’s The Bartimaeus Trilogy • Charles de Lint • J.R. Tolkien • The Thursday Next novels by Jasper Fforde • Vivian Vande Velde

Celebrate Banned & Challenged Books

“Three of the 10 books on the "Ten Most Challenged Books of 2004" were cited for homosexual themes - which is the highest number in a decade. Sexual content and offensive language remain the most frequent reasons for seeking removal of books from schools and public libraries.”

www.ala.org

The books, in order of most frequently challenged, are:

• The Chocolate War for sexual content, offensive language,

religious viewpoint, being unsuited to age group and violence

• Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, for racism, offensive

language and violence

• Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture by

Michael A. Bellesiles, for inaccuracy and political viewpoint

• Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey,

for offensive language and modeling bad behavior

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky, for homosexuality, sexual content and offensive language

• What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones,

for sexual content and offensive language

www.ala.org

• In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak,

for nudity and offensive language

• King & King by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland,

for homosexuality

• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

by Maya Angelou, for racism, homosexuality, sexual content, offensive language and unsuited to age group

• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck,

for racism, offensive language and violence

• Off the list this year, but on the list for several

years past, are the Alice series of books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Go Ask Alice by Anonymous, It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

www.ala.org

“Sexual content and offensive language remain the most frequent reasons for seeking removal of books from schools and public libraries.”

•Absolutely, Positively Not by David LaRochelle •Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan •Far from Xanadu by Julie Anne Peters •Fifteen Love by Robert Corbet •Geography Club by Brent Hartinger •Kissing Kate by Lauren Myracle •One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies

by Sonya Sones

•The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Laramie Project

by Moises Kaufman

Stonewall

by David Carter

•The Queen of Everything by Deb Caletti •A Really Nice Prom Mess by Brian Sloan •What Happened to Lani Garver?

by Carol Plum-Ucci

•Rainbow Boys by

Alex Sanchez

•Rainbow High by Alex Sanchez •Rainbow Road by Alex Sanchez

Yes, We’re a College Prep School But…

•We have reluctant readers. •We have students who have difficulties with

reading comprehension.

•We have students who struggle with the

mechanics of reading.

•We have students who struggle

with reading fluency.

•We have

BUSY

students!

•And I bet you do, too!

Ideas for Reluctant Readers Verse Novels

• Mel Glenn, especially Split Image • Learning to Swim by Ann Turner • Shakespeare Bats Cleanup and

Stoner & Spaz by Ron Koertge

• Sonya Sones

Ideas for Reluctant Readers Terry Trueman

• Stuck in Neutral • Inside Out • Cruise Control

Ideas for Reluctant Readers

Ideas for Reluctant Readers visual/graphic format non-fiction

• epilectic by david b • Cartoon History of the Universe by Larry Gonick • Buddha biographies by Osamu Tezuka • Rick Geary’s series on Victorian murders • A Thousand Ships & Sacrifice by Eric Shanower

(Trojan War)

• Fagin the Jew by Will Eisner • Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima

series by Keiji Nakazawa

• Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman • Persepolis & Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi

Ideas for Reluctant Readers

Thrillers

• Acceleration by Graham McNamee • Finding Lubchenko

by Michael Simmons

• Caroline B. Cooney – Code Orange – Face on the Milk Carton series – Driver’s Ed • Alex Rider series

by Anthony Horowitz

Vampires

• Bloodline by Kate Cary • Hawksong,and Falcondance and Snakecharm

and Shattered Mirror by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

• Midnight’s Choice by Kate Thompson • Peeps by Scott Westerfeld • Sunshine by Robin McKinley • Twilight by Stephanie Meyer • Thirsty by M.T. Anderson • The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint

Better Than Chick Lit

• Sarah Dessen – Dreamland – Keeping the Moon – This Lullaby – Someone Like You – The Truth About Forever • Sonya Sones – What My Mother Doesn’t Know – Stop Pretending: What Happened

When My Big Sister Went Crazy

– One of Those Hideous Books Where the

Mother Dies

• Laurie Halse Anderson – Speak – Catalyst – Prom

Better Than Chick Lit

• Meg Kantor – Confessions of a Not It Girl – If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where is My

Prince Charming?

• Joan Bauer – Rules of the Road – Best Foot Forward – Hope was Here – Squashed • Ellen Wittlinger – Razzle – Zig Zag

Life After Death

• The Afterlife by Gary Soto • A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb • Dog Heaven by Cynthia Rylant • God Went to Beauty School

by Cynthia Rylant

• The Great Blue Yonder by Alex Shearer • The Heavenly Village by Cynthia Rylant • Restless: A Ghost's Story by Rich Wallace • The Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher • Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife

by Mary Roach (nonfiction)

• Where I Want to Be by Adele Griffin

Guilty Pleasures

• The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons by Dan Brown • The Historian by

Elizabeth Kostova

• The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason • Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón • Angus, Thongs & Full-Frontal Snogging series

by Louise Rennison

• The Life of Angelica Cookson Potts series

by Cherry Whytock

“Seniors: Read these books before you go off to the dorms!”

• anything by Kurt Vonnegut • On the Road by Jack Kerouac • Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams • Walden by Henry David Thoreau • Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

by Robert Pirsig

• Lord of the Flies by William Golding • The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe • Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage

Journey to the Heart of the American Dream

by Hunter S. Thompson

Sneaking in Some Personal Favorites (shhh!)

• Sorcery and Cecelia, or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot:

Being the Correspondence of Two Young Ladies of Quality Regarding Various Magical Scandals in London and the

Country by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

• Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome • To Say Nothing of the Dog: or, How We Found the

Bishop's Bird Stump at Last by Connie Willis

• I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith • America by E.R. Frank • The Princess Bride by William Goldman • The Neverending Story by Michael Ende • anything by Robin McKinley • Robin Hood

“Surprise”

by Beverly McLoughland

The biggest Surprise On the Library shelf Is when you suddenly Find yourself Inside a book--- (The hidden you) You wonder how The author knew.