It’s not often I come across a post so insightful that I write another post about it. However, this morning I read a post by Elizabeth Langston, author of Whisper Falls, talking about her first author’s event with a teen book club. After the reading, she chatted with the teens about what they look for in books.
Four main things I took away from her interview:
- Teens want more than just paranormal and Twilight knockoffs. They want books about all types of relationships.
- Teens want depth and complexity in the books they read. (This warms my heart, since I spend all day teaching kids to choose books with depth and complexity.) *sigh* I’m fanning my face right now. I love teens!
- Teens look to friends first for book recommendations. After that, they rely on librarians, parents, and online places such as Goodreads. (Are you reading this, all you politicos who suggest cuts to library services? Librarians are still KEY to getting teens to read. WE NEED LIBRARIANS.)
- The cover is everything when it comes to choosing a book.
What do you think? Do you have teens in your life who’ve shared some tips about what they like to read?
If you’d like to read more, check out Elizabeth Langston’s post Be Not Afraid.
I’m a teen, and I just pick a book from the rack. I like practically everything
Btw, Twilight was pretty good, though a bit too sweet. The movies was were it went wrong. And I agree about the librairies. The one in my village just closed, Luckily I can get easily to the city, but little kids don’t have that advantage.
Sometimes the movies just don’t do justice to the books, right? Sorry to hear your library closed. I wish we still had bookmobiles for kids who live far away from the cities.
For sure, it needs to have a cool cover! I mainly went by what my teachers told me was good in H.S. because most of my friends didn’t read, lol
I look at the cover first, too! If the cover stinks I won’t even go near the book. Silly, but true.