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Reluctant Readers > Ten Ways to Build a Reluctant
Reader Library
TEN WAYS TO BUILD A RELUCTANT READER LIBRARY
1. Ask young adults (YAs): What do
you think?
Incorporating teen advice lends peer credibility to selections
and should increase turnover. Form a YA advisory board to gain
input about their reading interests. If your YA advisory board
is merely embryonic, you can ask teenaged volunteers and teenaged
staff to help breathe life into your collection. Create evaluation
opportunities by “walking and talking” the YA shelves
with teens. If teens seem hesitant to weigh in, hand these coy
advisors a pack of sticky notes and a couple of publishers’
catalogs, then ask them to highlight titles that look interesting.
2. Include books that reflect pop
culture.
Teens become reading advocates when books
can enhance their social conversation: an instant messaging (IM)
discussion of the latest buzz in the entertainment world provides
an easy connection with friends. As a book selector, make time
to track teen trends. Don’t order books reflecting outdated
interests; appeal to their desire for all things new or current.
Hip Hoptionary by Alonzo Westbrook; So You Wanna
Be a Rock & Roll Star by Jacob Slichter; and Masters
of Doom by David Kushner are fun, hip titles that will keep
your teens edgy and current.
3. Select alternate formats.
Mix things up with manga; audiobooks; e-books;
zines; magazines; school newspapers; teen news media—anything
without a library binding! Clay Aiken’s Learning to
Sing is available as an e-book and as an audiobook, as is
Star Wars: The Dark Nest III: The Swarm War. In fact,
many titles are only available as e-books that can be downloaded
to electronic devices. Top priority for teens is, has been, and
always will be the coolness factor; connecting teens with information
and stories via the latest technology is guaranteed to raise their
coolness ratings.
4. Read. Read. Read.
Be the go-to gal (or guy) for good literature!
Keep on top of the titles by reading the newest and hottest books
to hit the stores. If you don’t know the content, you cannot
enthusiastically pitch a book to an already-uninterested teen.
It’s the old book-talking standard: “You can’t
sell a book that you don’t like yourself.” Read all
genres, even those that are not your usual interest, so that you
are well prepared to make a variety of recommendations for these
diverse readers. If you can’t put down a fast-paced love
story like The Man Who Ate the 747 by Ben Sherwood [an
American Library Association (ALA) Alex Award winner), you know
library patrons will get swept into the tale as well.
5. Pair movie titles and books.
Check sources such as the Yahoo! Movies
website for what’s on the burner in Hollywood. When you
find a cool movie/book tie-in, think merchandising. For example,
the buzz right now is that Batman II is in the works. “Merchandise”
your Batman collection with face-outs featuring DVDs; video games;
graphic novels; and books such as Batman Inferno, Batman
Begins, and the Batman Beyond series. Your teen
advisory committee or local high school art club may want to create
signage featuring a slogan such as Will there be a Batman II in
theaters? You decide at your library! Consider offering programming
in which multiple copies of movie-inspired books are distributed;
a few weeks later, ask readers to reconvene to watch the movie
and compare formats and presentations. Another tie-in to consider
is Eragon, which has a related movie release scheduled for this
winter. In addition, with the expected release of the third Pirates
of the Caribbean movie in Summer 2007, new books such as Pirate’s
Passage and classics such as Treasure Island would make a great
foundation for any collection that covers pirates.
6. Be their connection for addictive
series.
Introduce your hesitant readers to can’t-quit series that
keep them coming back for more. Offer girls The Princess Diaries
(available through Random House as an e-book or audiobook) and
Megan McCafferty’s Sloppy Firsts [included in the New York
Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age 2002 and designated
as one of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)
Best Books for Young Adults]. Push a guy-friendly series by Jeff
Stone or David Eddings. For nonfiction fans, try National Geographic’s
American Documents series.
7. Poetry, plays, prose, chat-style
books, short stories, essays -- give them a book that they didn’t
know counted as a book.
Variety spices up every book rack, so revive a neglected collection
by replacing low-circulating monographs with literature that breaks
up the traditional book format. Add short stories, such as Dan
Chaon’s Among the Missing (named as one of the YALSA Best
Books for Young Adults), and anthologies, such as Short Stories
by Latin American Women: The Magic and the Real and Short Shorts:
An Anthology of the Shortest Stories. Poetry 180 (edited by Billy
Collins); Cool Salsa (edited by Lori Carlson); Alice Walker’s
Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth; and The Complete
Collected Poems of Maya Angelou are poetic works friendly to shorter
attention spans. Completing the last page of an exciting book
-- of any genre -- empowers and inspires teens who otherwise have
difficulty following a story through to the end.
8. Collect new nonfiction.
Many reluctant readers will never consider reading a novel, and
therefore nonfiction is often more appealing. Nonfiction is generally
visual; thus it can help reluctant readers make the connection
between an idea and the written word. If an entire book is intimidating,
readers can browse through and read only sections that interest
them. Connecting teen hobbies to appropriate titles is aided by
the nature of nonfiction categorization. Pat Conroy’s My
Losing Season (an ALA Alex Award--winning title; T.R. Reid’s
The Chip: How Two Americans Invented the Microchip and Launched
a Revolution (an Editor's Choice for Young Adults by Booklist);
and Jon Katz’s Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet
Out of Idaho (one of the YALSA Outstanding Books for the College
Bound) are excellent titles to include in your collection. In
addition, in September 2006, look for Osprey Publishing’s
graphic-novel series covering individual wars and battles, a series
geared specifically to the YA set.
9. Rotate your collection frequently.
Teens’ interests and tastes change quickly. A newer, fresher-looking
collection is more engaging and interesting than the same thing
every day. To ensure access to new titles for rotation, buy fewer
titles but buy more frequently. Rotating books also allows you
to make the most of the space you have. Feature new books in face-forward
displays, and store older titles that circulate infrequently.
Teens’ senses will be delighted by shelves of attractive
books coupled with shiny, new face-outs. Stay current on the latest
titles by signing up for the Random House High School e-newsletter
at www.randomhouse.com/highschool/newsletter.
10. Visit publisher websites to request
exam copies.
Searching for an easy way to familiarize yourself with the latest
in teen literature? Many publishers offer educators the opportunity
to obtain discounted exam copies of titles that are being considered
for purchase. Visit www.randomhouse.com/highschool for more information
on and requirements for obtaining exam copies.
Hip
Hoptionary™: The Dictionary of Hip Hop Terminology by
Alonzo Westbrook
Star
Wars Dark Nest III: The Swarm War by Troy Denning
Masters
of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
by David Kushner
Learning
to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life by Clay Aiken and
Allison Glock
The
Man Who Ate the 747 by Ben Sherwood
Batman™
Inferno by Alex Irvine
Batman
Begins™ by Dennis O'Neil
Eragon
by Christopher Paolini
Pirate's
Passage by William Gilkerson
The
Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
Treasure
Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Sloppy
Firsts: A Novel by Megan McCafferty
The
Malloreon: Volume One, Guardians of the West King of the Murgos
Demon Lord of Karanda by David Eddings
American
Documents: The Constitution by Paul Finkelman
American
Documents: The Emancipation Proclamation by Marianne McComb
American
Documents: The Bill of Rights by Judith Lloyd Yero
American
Documents: The Declaration of Independence by Judith Lloyd
Yero
Poetry
180: A Turning Back to Poetry edited and with an Introduction
by Billy Collins
Cool
Salsa by Lori Carlson
Short
Stories by Latin American Women: The Magic and the Real by
Celia Correas Zapata
Short
Shorts: An Anthology of the Shortest Stories edited by Irving
Howe
The
Chip: How Two Americans Invented the Microchip and Launched a
Revolution by T.R. Reid
Geeks:
How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho by Jon Katz
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