Quick Picks for Reluctant Teen Readers

High-Interest Books for Teens Who Don't Like to Read

Jun 23, 2009

Teachers encourage regular reading, but reluctant teens may balk at the thought of diving into a book. Enticing reluctant readers requires high interest, relevant books.

Reading delivers both educational and social benefits to teen readers. The educational benefits are obvious: vocabulary building, inspiring creativity, increased reading comprehension but the social benefits, although subtle, are just as important.

Through reading teens learn to cope with real-life problems by experiencing the same problems through the lives of the characters. They can see how others deal (or don't deal) with real world issues in a nonthreatening way through other people's lives.

Here are a few books recommended by the Young Adult Library Services Association which are sure to please teens who think they don't like to read:

Who says graphic novels can't showcase great writing? This engaging comic-book-style novel is sure to tempt even reluctant readers with it's quirky characters and offbeat storyline. Dave is a total wuss as a bloodsucker, preferring to steal his nutrition from a blood bank rather than kill innocent people. His life as a penniless clerk at a 24-hour convenience store, who is bullied by the alpha-type vampire surfer dude Wes, trashes the romantic notion that the mortals have of the vampire lifestyle. Throw in Dave's romantic interest Rosa, a Latino Goth, and you've got enough entertainment for a whole day of beach reading.

Franzini's book is heralded as “the true story of youth culture in America” and is a collection of true confessions of one hundred American youths in their own words. The diverse teens represent every culture and background, and their stories are candid and poignant; this is Generation X unplugged.

Once reserved for bikers and military men, tattooing is now a full-blown cross-culture phenomenon. More than 40 million Americans have chosen to permanently mark their bodies, and each tattoo has a unique story. Permanence is a collection of photographic tattoo portraits complete with the subject's own stories (written in their own handwriting). They are young and old, male and female, from all cultural backgrounds. From Hell's Angels to soccer moms, they're all here in this intriguing diary of indelible ink.

No Choirboy: Murder, Violence and Tennagers on Death Row by Susan Kulkin (Hnery Holt and Co. 2008)

In this daring and candid expose, Susan Kulkin takes readers inside America's prisons and allows teens on death row tell their stories in their own words. In their own uncensored words, they talk about their lives before and after prison, and their feelings about being sentenced to death.

Everywhere women look they are flooded with images of thin, flawless, photo-retouched bodies which represent the feminine ideal. Nancy Redd has turned the beauty industry on its head with her groundbreaking book. Packed with useful and relevant information, how-tos, and relate-able personal anecdotes (as well as hundreds of un-retouched photographs) this book celebrates women of all body types and is a must read for every girl who has a body.

Shows like Most Haunted, Ghost Hunter and Afterlife average over 6 million viewers. This rise in public interest led to this collection of images investigated by the Society of Paranormal Research. This book features photos of mediums producing ectoplasm as well as both historical and modern hauntings, each complete with its own unique description of circumstances. Intriguing for believers and skeptics alike.

The copyright of the article Quick Picks for Reluctant Teen Readers in Teen Fiction is owned by Francine Morrissette. Permission to republish Quick Picks for Reluctant Teen Readers in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.