Starting up SSR next year at our high school and I’m going to make a bulletin board of book recs. What’s the list that takes the never reading teen to “maybe this isn’t so bad”?
I find that teens who aren’t into the assigned class books are more likely to be drawn in by survival/action books. Less emotional analysis and more “doing” (at least on a surface level). For example, “Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen, “The Canyon’s Edge” by Naomi Firsht, and”Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer.
Also, the classic horror books our young years pull in all kinds of readers. “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” by Alvin Schwartz is a classic for a reason and is rarely on actual school reading lists. I feel like everyone who was a kid since this collection came out in the 80s has some connection to these stories, whether they read them directly or heard the stories retold at camp, etc.
Cutter1412 on
Misery by King was that book for me. It had helped that it wasn’t really assigned reading – the teacher just brought a couple books from the library to choose from.
AyeTheresTheCatch on
I’ve had success suggesting the Hunger Games and The Giver.
No_Performance_4465 on
You could do a books to film/tv section:
Watchmen, Fight Club, World War Z, Murder on the Orient Express, Hunger Games, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the Lord of the Rings, The Hate U Give, The Summer I Turned Pretty, Gossip Girl, Divergent
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Karen M Mcmanus books would fit on that list
I find that teens who aren’t into the assigned class books are more likely to be drawn in by survival/action books. Less emotional analysis and more “doing” (at least on a surface level). For example, “Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen, “The Canyon’s Edge” by Naomi Firsht, and”Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer.
Also, the classic horror books our young years pull in all kinds of readers. “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” by Alvin Schwartz is a classic for a reason and is rarely on actual school reading lists. I feel like everyone who was a kid since this collection came out in the 80s has some connection to these stories, whether they read them directly or heard the stories retold at camp, etc.
Misery by King was that book for me. It had helped that it wasn’t really assigned reading – the teacher just brought a couple books from the library to choose from.
I’ve had success suggesting the Hunger Games and The Giver.
You could do a books to film/tv section:
Watchmen, Fight Club, World War Z, Murder on the Orient Express, Hunger Games, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the Lord of the Rings, The Hate U Give, The Summer I Turned Pretty, Gossip Girl, Divergent