Shy 12 year old who is not a big reader (boy)
Harry Potter
Brewer, Heather. The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eighth Grade Bites. Penguin Group/ Dutton, $16.95 ISBN13: 978-0-5254-7-8119.
Velez, Ivan. Dead High Yearbook. 2007.
Death Note
Rot But & Bottom Gas
Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of the Planet Earth, 73rd Edition
Classics...
I would recommend Hemingway to reluctant readers. Hemingway novels are short, especially Old Man and the Sea, and the sentences are short. I would also suggest Grimm's Fairy tales and tall tales, and mythology. Short tales are very satisfying to read, and before they know it they will have read a very long book.
Shy 12 year old who is not a big reader (girl)
Gothic and Lolita
Class Pictures
Higher Power of Lucky
Dramacon
Tears for Water By Alicia Keys
Classic: I would recommend the same classics for a boy or a girl, but I would particularly recommend Jane Austin to the girls. I did not like Jane Austin, but I know a lot of girls that loved her writing. For a reluctant reader, I would try to find it in large print as long as the large print did not say large print on the spine! I would also recommend films adapted from classic literature. Later, she might want to come back to the book.
14 year old avid reader (boy)
American Born Chinese
Someday this pain will be useful to you.
A long way ago memories of a boy soldier
Bad boy Walter Dean Myers
Grace After Midnight (Depending of the individual.)
I decided on these books after reading Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You, and reading the reviews for the others on Yalsa, School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly.
(girl)
The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean,
How to make books
Twilight
Grace After Midnight (Depending of the individual.)
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
Boys and Girls older teens...
Okay maybe this is a little old school, but I love John Updike. He has so many books and collections of short stories that are about the transition periods in life.
For the 17 18 set, I would recommend John Barth, Beat Literature, and any classics they didn't have to read for school. Dostoevsky anything, the Awakening, Howard's End, any thing by Oscar Wilde. If it is not assigned for school all people in the world should read, listen to or watch the move of all Shakespeare plays, or better yet, keep a list of Shakespeare plays that are currently running in the NYC area for kids and parents to refer to.
If this doesn't seem like suitable for the teen in question, perhaps
The Rose the Grew from Concrete Tupac
Poetry by such authors as Robert Lowell, John Ashbery.For reluctant readers I would recommend pertaining to their hobbies. Cookbooks, craft books, college prep materials, magazines and other might be among some of the books I would recommend.
1 comment:
You know, I still haven't read The White Darkness. I'd love to hear what you think of it.
I could never get into Hemingway when I was a kid, but I totally hear you on the length thing...that's definitely a major plus for teens who are forced to read the classics. I really loved Forster and Hardy when I was a teen. Tess of the Durbervilles was just so damn miserable and awesome.
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