Teens DO Read for Fun

1. Teens DO Read for Fun And No, That’s Not an Oxymoron! Ann Sciuto sciutoa@campbellhall.org Campbell Hall Session 1-39 9:30-10:45 am

2. Offer Teens aPositive Print Experiencein a Casual, “Oh, These Were Just Left Laying Out” Kind of Way • Mister O • Calvin & Hobbes • History of Rock • History of Surfing • The Best of Barbie: Four Decades of America’s Favorite Doll • Magazines

3. Have Fun! • Where’s Waldo? • Dr. Seuss • Guinness Book of World Records • Picture Books • It’s all about the photos! • Read out loud from a variety of books. Storytime isn’t just for the little ones!

4. ‘Who am I?’ is the basic young adult question. What people reads helps define them. Teens define themselves in many ways. The search for identity brings on even more changes as young adults attempt to say, scream, or whisper in what they say, wear, do, and read this question of ‘Who am I?’ Patrick Jones

5. “Many young adults come to us out of burden and boredom, which are not the best motivators for a successful relationship.”Patrick Jones • Negative attitudes toward reading • Low voluntary reading rates • Aliteracy (ability to read but choosing not to) • Motivation • Are they reading but not talking to us about it or seeing it as of value? Closet readers?

6. And the biggest enemy? Time

7. Fight Aliteracy! Provide books that • your students want to read • meet their needs & wants • have proven popular • have peer approval

8. Remember, if your goal is to “provide positive print experiences” and increase recreational reading, • It doesn’t all have to be “great literature” • Good bad books are great! • It’s o.k. to have fun • Revise ideas about buying: • Sources • “Disposables” as well as long-term • Do judge a book by its cover • Audio books • Graphic novels • Magazines • Budget allotment

9. Your Attitude Counts! • Try to read as a teen not just as an adult. • You have to enjoy it. Be honest. • Attitudes in librarians most highly ranked by YAs are: • Approachable • A respectful, nonjudgmental attitude • A knowledge of YA interests and materials • Patience & persistence • Asks questions • Listens carefully • Suggests titles & authors • Reads widely • Has many books available • A sense of humor! Patrick Jones

10. Access to a school library results in more reading Having a school librarian makes a difference in the amount of reading a YA does Larger school library collections & longer hours increase circulation Larger school library collections mean better results in high-reading scores Libraries are a consistent and major source of books for free reading Magazine reading promotes more reading Young people’s reading choices are influenced by their peers

11. So, How Does It Work? • Read, skim, scan!A lot! • Talk about books! A lot! • Create a “reading climate” • Take risks • Weed ruthlessly & continuously • Spend money! • Commit the time • Sell the collection • Be customer focused & listen!

12. Let students know it is o.k. to not finish a book---and give yourself the same permission. “If you don’t like it, bring it back!” “A book for every reader. A reader for every book.”

13. And so, on to The Books!

14. “Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.”Sherlock Holmes in A Study in Scarlet

15. Narratives with the power & drive of story Targets developing personal interests Supports visual learning styles Appealing formats Less daunting for reluctant readers Caters to current interests & hot topics Stimulates patterns for lifelong curiosity & inquiry Connects with adolescent developmental needs Attractive to boys Nonfiction for Young Adults Mary Arnold, ALA Annual Conference 2003

16. Food

17. From Hardtack To Home Fries: An Uncommon History of American Cooks and Meals by Barbara Haber Teens Cook: How to Make What You Want to Eat byMegan and Jill Carle A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove: A History of American Women Told Through Food, Recipes, and Remembrances by Laura Schenone What's Cooking: The History of American Food by Sylvia Whitman

18. Fatland: How Americans became the Fattest People in the World “25% of all Americans under age nineteen are overweight or obese…. The percentage of overweight six- to eleven-year-olds has nearly doubled in two decades, and for adolescents the percentage has tripled. Pediatricians are treating conditions rarely before diagnosed in young people.”

20. Which Might Lead to ….

21. And … Decades of Beauty: The Changing Image of Women 1890s-1990s by Kate Mulvey & Melissa Richards No Body's Perfect : Stories by Teens about Body Image, Self-Acceptance, and the Search for Identity by Kimberly Kirberger

22. “With her characteristic wry wit and her unabashedly liberal bent, Ehrenreich brings the invisible poor out of hiding and, in the process, the world they inhabit--where civil liberties are often ignored and hard work fails to live up to its reputation as the ticket out of poverty.” --Lesley Reed amazon.com review

23. Gambling

24. Which Seems Like a Good Time to Mention…. The Seven Deadly Sins

25. Math

26. Local Interest

28. Sports

29. Adults are Stupid “Bold Self-Experimenters in Science & Medicine” Encyclopedia Idiotica: History's Worst Decisions and the People Who Made Them The Darwin Awards Commemorating those individuals who ensure the long-term survival of our species by removing themselves from the gene pool in a sublimely idiotic fashion.

30. And Everything You Thought You Knew Is Wrong The Encyclopedia of Popular Misconceptions: The Ultimate Debunker’s Guide to Widely Accepted Fallaciesby Ferris Johnsen Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed

31. And Everything You Thought You Knew Is Wrong Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinkingand The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

32. Magazines • The Week • Mental Floss • People • Car & Driver • Popular Science • Dance & Art Develop a collection for browsers that says to students: “We know and appreciate your interests.”

33. Themed Nonfiction Assassination Vacationby Sarah Vowell Good Brother, Bad Brother : The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Boothby James Cross Giblin Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman The President Is Shot!: The Assassination of Abraham Lincolnby Harold Holzer Lincoln's Dreamsby Connie Willis (fiction) Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President & Fueled His Greatness by Joshua Wolf Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin Manhunt : The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson Assassin by Anna Myers (fiction) The Murder of Abraham Lincoln: A chronicle of 62 days in the life of the American Republic, March 4 - May 4, 1865 by Rick Geary Abraham Lincoln

34. How about expanding the concept of Good Brother, Bad Brother: The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth? • Compare biographies of other famous brothers, sisters, siblings, parents and their children in pairs of students or reading circles • The Bush family • Henry VIII and his children (and wives) • Queen Victoria and her children • Kennedy family • Roosevelt family • Walt and Roy Disney • Wright brothers • Warren Beatty and Shirley McLaine (actors) • Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson (singers) • Venus and Serena Williams (tennis) • Menendez brothers • The brothers Grimm! • And I’ve officially gotten carried away with the idea!

35. Narrative Nonfiction “Narratives with the power and drive of story” • The Things I Carried by Tim O’Brien • The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell : An Accidental Soldier's Account of the War in Iraq by John Crawford • Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer • Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer • Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer • Ice Story: Shackleton's Lost Expedition by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel • The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger • The Perilous Journey of the Donner Party by Marian Calabro • With Their Eyes: September 11th : The View from a High School at Ground Zero by Annie Thomas, ed. • The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A.J. Jacobs

36. Hidden History • At Her Majesty's Request: An African Princess in Victorian England by Walter Dean Myers • The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt • The Devil's Cup: A History of the World According to Coffee by Stewart Lee Allen • Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain by Michael Paterniti • Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew & the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak • Girls: A History of Growing Up Female in America by Penny Colman • Girls: Ordinary Girls and Their Extraordinary Pursuits by Jenny McPhee • Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil by John Berendt • The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, & the Making of the OED by Simon Winchester • Tulipomania: The Story of the World's Most Coveted Flower & the Extraordinary Passions It Aroused by Mike Dash • Unsolved Mysteries of American History by Paul Aron • We Were There, Too! Young People in U.S. History by Phillip Hoose

38. For Your Intellectuals (or call me surprised!) • Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (fiction) • Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared M. Diamond • Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter by Steven Johnson • Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why: True Stories of Miraculous Endurance and Sudden Death by Laurence Gonzales • Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner • Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared M. Diamond

39. For Your Intellectuals (or call me surprised!) • I Believe in Water: 12 Brushes with Religion edited by Marilyn Singer • Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science by Charles Wheelan • Six Questions of Socrates: A Modern-Day Journey of Discovery Through World Philosophy by Christopher Phillips • Soul Searching: 13 Stories About Faith & Belief edited by Lisa Rowe Fraustino • The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference By Malcolm Gladwell • The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas Friedman • The College Board’s “101 Great Books Recommended for College-Bound Readers”

40. The Gross Factor!

41. Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insectsby Peter Menzel and Faith D'Alusio Rats! : The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly by Richard Conniff Rats : Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants byRobert Sullivan Toilets, Bathtubs, Sinks, and Sewers: A History of the Bathroomby Penny Colman

43. The Fun Side of Death • Bog Mummies: Preserved in Peat by Charlotte Wilcox • Bury the Dead: Tombs, Corpses, Mummies, Skeletons and Rituals by Christopher Sloan • Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: A History of Burial by Penny Colman • Earthly Remains: The History and Science of Preserved Human Bodies by Andrew Chamberlain • When Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, AIDS by James Cross Giblin

44. Murder, Crime, & Forensic Science • The Bone Detectives: How Forensic Anthropologists Solve Crimes and Uncover Mysteries of the Dead by Donna M. Jackson • Crime Scene: The Ultimate Guide to Forensic Science by Richard Platt • Death at the Priory: Sex, Love, and Murder in Victorian England by James Ruddick • Fingerprints: The Origins of Crime Detection & the Murder Case that Launched Forensic Science by Colin Beavan • Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case by Chris Crowe • Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi • In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences by Truman Capote

45. Murder, Crime, & Forensic Science • Kings & Queens of England: Murder, Mayhem, and Scandal: 1066 to the Present Day by Brenda Ralph Lewis • The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman and the Members of Tectonic Theater Project • Losing Matt Shepard: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder by Beth Loffreda • Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: a Savannah Story by John Berendt • Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion's World Series of Poker by James McManus • Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach • When Objects Talk: Solving a Crime with Science by Mark P. Friedlander, Jr. & Terry M. Phillips

46. Victorian Murder Graphic “Novels” written & illustrated by Rick Geary • The Beast of Chicago: An Account of the Life and Crimes of Herman W. Mudgett, Known to the World as H.H. Holmes • The Borden Tragedy: A Memoir of the Infamous Double Murder at Fall River, Mass., 1892 • Jack the Ripper: A Journal of the Whitechapel Murders 1888-1889 • The Murder of Abraham Lincoln: A Chronicle of 62 Days in the Life of the American Republic, March 4-May 4, 1865

47. Our Most Popular Non-Fiction Titles • Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell • Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child & the Consumer Culture by Juliet B. Schor • Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich • The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon • Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Steve Almond • Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared M. Diamond • The Darwin Awards Series by Wendy Northcutt • Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter by Steven Johnson • Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, A Dreamby H.G. Bissinger • The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A.J. Jacobs • Lucky by Alice Sebold • A Million Little Pieces by James Frey • Smashed: Story of a Drunken Childhood by Koren Zailckas • Jon Krakauer (Under the Banner of Heaven; Into the Wild; Into Thin Air)

48. I Need a Good Bookby John Lithgow I need a good story. I need a good book. The kind that explodes off the shelf. I need some good writing, Alive and exciting, To contemplate all by myself. I need a good novel, I need a good read, I probably need two or three. I need a good tale of love and betrayal Or perhaps an adventure at sea. I need a good saga, I need a good yarn. A momentous and mighty Or slight one. But with thousands And thousands And thousands of books, I need someone To tell me The right one.

49. Our Most Popular Fiction Titles • Acceleration by Graham McNamee • Anthony Horowitz’s thriller series about teen spy Alex Rider • Carol Plum-Ucci • Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen by Dyan Sheldon • Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons by Dan Brown • Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card • The First Part Last by Angela Johnson • Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier • Go Ask Alice • Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe by Douglas Adams • Hoot and Flush by Carl Hiaasen • Joan Bauer • The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman • Laurie Halse Anderson

50. Our Most Popular Fiction Titles • Learning to Swim by Ann Warren Turner • Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel • Louise Rennison’s series about Georgia Nicolson • Maus by Art Spiegleman • Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden • No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman • On the Road by Jack Kerouac • Sarah Dessen • Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants trilogy by Ann Brashares • Sonya Sones • Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli • Stoner & Spaz by Ronald Koertge • Terry Trueman