My 15 year old daughter read a lot for fun when she was younger but is having trouble finding a book that holds her interest now. We’ll be going on a week long vacation and she’s hoping to find a book to read that she will enjoy and help her relax.
In the past she’s enjoyed biography/autobiography’s, self help and educational books. She doesn’t like anything scary and has decided she doesn’t like fiction.
She has a very good work ethic, and gets excellent grades. She loves science and wants to be a doctor. She’s deleted all her social media and wants to get back into reading!
by jardin204
17 Comments
Planet of Viruses by Carl Zimmer- short, nonfiction about viruses
Sediments of Time by Maeve Leakey- memoir by female Paleoanthropologist about her life and work in East Africa, also provides insight into what we know about human evolution and how we figured it out.
The Caracter of the Rain by Amélie Nothomb maybe
Everything is Tuberculosis is a very readable book by John Green — he wrote The Fault in Our Stars but also writes really good nonfiction.
Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke is pseudo-self-help but extremely well grounded in the actual research.
Also going to throw out Presence by Amy Cuddy (or watch her Ted Talk). It’s generally relevant to everyone, but with some of the differences with how women vs men are treated in a variety of contexts and the fact that she specifically addresses some of the challenges unique to women in “professional environments”, I think it might have bonus value to someone growing into a young woman.
The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming is written for a young adult audience. I read it as an older adult and found it quite gripping!
Into thin air
Would she enjoy something about ecology and conservation?
Recently I really enjoyed Robert Macfarlane’s books *Underland: A Deep Time Journey* and *Is a River Alive? Underland* is about the underworld, both literally- catacombs and underground facilities and mining, but also mythical underworlds. *Is a River Alive?* is about rivers, the systems they feed, and the people that are working to preserve them.
The now classic *Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants* by Robin Wall Kimmerer is also great, and talks about the intersections of Native traditions and wisdom and scientific knowledge. There’s also an illustrated YA version by Kimmerer and Monique Grant Smith, though I haven’t read it. I do think that the original is accessible enough for a smart teen.
River of Doubt – Teddy Roosevelt’s journey with his son Kermit’s very perilous trip down the Amazon. Candice Millard. Absolutely riveting!
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot
A Walk in the Woods if the kid likes hiking – plus there are lots of good descriptions of the ecosystems they go through. Also the same author has A Short History of Nearly Everything and The Body which are science based.
Codebreaker by Isaacson – about making the Covid vaccine so science/medicine and biography. If your kid likes history too, the same author did a good biography on Ben Franklin (also some science there as Ben liked to do experiments).
Maybe a book about the place your vacationing would be good – some local history.
Well, I it is a little scary but all true and real life science!
Jenny Lawson’s Let’s Pretend This Never Happened is a very funny biography.
At 15 I enjoyed books that felt like grown ups were finally telling the truth—so I loved Lies My Teacher Told Me and Reviving Ophelia, though those are older choices, now.
The author Bill Bryson might be up her alley. I recommend Body and A Short History of Nearly Everything by him.
Tracy Kidder has two great books about real life doctors who have done amazing things:
Mountains Beyond Mountains
Rough Sleepers
Permission to Feel is incredible and compliments her interests
Something about Jane Goodall? 🦍
The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict about Hedy Lamarr? 📽️
The Book Thief is fiction but based on history – maybe? 📚
Would poetry interest her – doctors need to be well-rounded, don’t you think? 🩺
Maybe some classics – they could be seen as more educational if she sees them from a different perspective – such as viewing Wuthering Heights from a modern perspective (feminism), or reading Frankenstein and researching the facts about scientific and medical discoveries during the life of the author? 🖋️
Just a few ideas that might help her choose something she may not have thought about yet. 😊😊 And good for her!!!!! She’s making the less popular choice right now, but she’s also sounding more mature than the typical 15 year old and has clear goals. 😊😊
Maybe something by Mary Roach? Stiff and Spook would be my go-tos. Maybe Bonk if you’re comfortable with her reading really detailed but clinical sexy stuff