Yesterday ushered in Teen Read Week–a week comprised of luring young readers through devious means to get them to read more. Or, to put it in terms of the L.A. Times:
This is Teen Read Week, in which teenagers are encouraged to dive into books with a panoply of lures, including posters, colored pencils, bookmarks and even video games. A project of the national Young Adult Library Services Assn., which is a division of the American Library Assn., Teen Read Week faces a challenge: how to recommend works that sit well with parents that teenagers might embrace.
Since I’m a pretty avid reader, this concept intrigues me. On one hand, I doubt that the gimmicks used to lure in younger readers will make much of a difference in bringing in new young readers. On the other hand, I think it’s great to encourage teens to read by whatever methods are necessary. Reading opens up an element of your imagination that is made dormant through the consistent use of video games, TV, and the internet.
The whole thing reminds me of the movie, Hearts in Atlantis, where Anthony Hopkins’ character encourages Bobby (played by a young Anton Yelchin) to step up his reading with his newfound adult library card. (Or to get into the spirit of the week, I suppose I should mention that it’s also from the book by Stephen King with the same name.)
In this post I want to touch on a few different things. First, I’m going to give you a great reading recommendation for teens for this week. Then, I’m going to give you some realistic tips (that aren’t gimmicky) for encouraging teens to read. Finally, I’m going to talk about the things I love about books and how books have encouraged me to become a writer. Not a particularly tall order, but it’ll get the job done.
First things first: a recommendation. I didn’t have to think too hard about this because it’s one of my favorite books. I’ve read it several times throughout my life (first time was in tenth grade), and everytime I read it I find it heartfelt, sentimental, and entertaining. It’s a greatly written (yet easy to read) classic.
A Seperate Peace, by John Knowles.
Most teens and younger people will enjoy the ride on which this compelling story takes them. I won’t bore you with the details (you can look it up yourself), but just know that the story is both fun and interesting (with a deep undertone that remains prevalent throughout the story). Plus it’s short. Teens love short. An avid reader could probably read this book in one sitting. Steady readers can probably knock it out in a week.
Tips for Encouraging Young People to Read
You don’t have to get too gimmicky to inspire your kids to read. Instead of telling them why they should read, you should encourage them to figure that out on their own. No amount of nagging will ever change a person. People change through inspiration and motivation to relate new experiences to themselves.
The biggest factor in encouraging them to read is to show them that you read. How will you ever convince a child to read if you don’t read yourself? If they see you with a book in your hand, engrossed by the pages before you, it may get them to ask you questions. When they ask questions, you can begin painting a picture in their mind of why it’s enjoyable to you and how it can be enjoyable to them.
Buy them a bookstore gift card. It’s probably not wise to just outright buy them a book because it’s hit or miss as to whether they’ll actually be intrigued by the book. But if you place in their hand the power to choose their own plot, suddenly it becomes more exciting to them. Also, it’s far more appealing to read a brand new book than it is to give them a book from the library. Something about the experience of reading a new book adds a little extra flavor to the process.
Offer a reward to them for the time they spend reading. Positive reinforcement is a good way to encourage them. Take them to dinner, take them to the movies, or buy them something they’ve been hounding you for in exchange for an hour’s worth of reading each night.
Teen Read Week is about opening a doorway in a young person’s life to a vastly undertapped form of entertainment. Don’t discourage their reading for any reason–even the subject matter that they choose to read. Ask them questions about the books they read and show genuine interest in them.
Why I Love Books
Books do something that movies can’t do: they open up your imagination and appeal to your creative side. Your personal creativity is unleashed by the power of words on the page. For this reason, I enjoy reading immensely.
They also provide hours of entertainment. A movie is over in a couple of hours. A book can keep you occupied for days. Plus you can read them anywhere (unless you are driving 
). No electric or no internet connection is needed to read a good book. All that is necessary is a good pair of eyes and a desire to link up to the world of fiction that is before you.
I encourage you to get your kids involved with Teen Read Week. It’s a good excuse to get them into a source of entertainment that has been around for thousands of years. It may even inspire them become a writer.
Get them involved. Offer rewards for their studies. And carry a big ole’ bucket of patient.
October 30th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
It’s really a shame that the newest generation of kids are mostly occupied with either video games or makeup. Books are really quite wonderful – they really take you away to another world. Sometimes the world they take you to is so wonderful that I can’t stop reading the book and I find myself late into the night wondering how the day passed me by. I forget to eat and do all sorts of things one would not forget otherwise.
Your tips for how to get teenagers to read are great. I think it’s extremely important to start a love for books early on. Instead of millions of barbie dolls, it would be a great idea if parents bought millions of children books. And as they grow, interesting educational books. There are so many wonderful ones out there. Reading for school is not enough.