What Are They Reading for Fun?
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compiled by Marlene Charnizon -- School Library Journal, 03/25/2009
Mysteries, manga, fantasy, and war stories.
Nora Murphy, Los Angeles Academy Middle School, CA:
More than 2000 students attend our South Los Angeles school, and in the past few years their love of reading has really taken off. One big reason is that half of our faculty and staff read YA literature and can recommend and talk about the books they like. In high demand are Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones and City of Ashes in “The Mortal Instruments” series (S & S), Libba Bray’s A Great and Terrible Beauty (Delacorte, 2003), Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely (HarperCollins, 2007), Elaine Marie Alphin’s Counterfeit Son (Harcourt, 2000), and Sean Olin’s Killing Britney (S & S, 2005).
We have perpetual waiting lists for Stephenie Meyer’s books, Ellen Schreiber’s Vampire Kisses (HarperCollins, 2003), and Jeff Kinney’s "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series (Abrams). The kids ask for horror, suspense, romance, and “teenager” books (meaning realistic fiction addressing the angst of teen life). In nonfiction, they are choosing books about World War II, puberty and sex (surprise), relationships, and memoirs like those written by Dave Pelzer. Manga is huge, and we cannot keep Masashi Kishimoto’s “Naruto” (Viz Media), Mia Ikumi, et al’s "Tokyo Mew-Mew" (Tokyopop), and many other series on the shelves. Playaways have made a big splash, too. Popular audiobook titles include James Howe’s The Misfits, Doug Cooney’s The Beloved Dearly (both Full Cast Audio), and Stephanie S. Tolan’s Surviving the Applewhites (HarperCollins). Our students pack the library during lunch.
Marcia Kochel, Olson Middle School, Bloomington, MN:
Located in a suburb of Minneapolis, our school has 750 students. Some of the hottest books this year have been Unwind by Neal Shusterman (S & S, 2007), Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix (S & S, 2008), and Beastly by Alex Flinn (HarperCollins, 2007). Seventh- and eighth-grade girls have gravitated to Mary E. Pearson’s The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Holt, 2008), Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why (Penguin, 2007), and Nancy Werlin’s The Rules of Survival (Dial, 2006).
Many boys devour fiction about war, including Dean Hughes’s Soldier Boys (S & S, 2001), Don Wulffson’s Soldier X (Viking, 2001), and Walter Dean Myers’s Sunrise Over Fallujah (Scholastic, 2008). The most avid boy readers love fantasy and science fiction: The Alchemyst by Michael Scott (Delacorte, 2007), Epic by Conor Kostick (Viking, 2007), and Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series (Hyperion). Sixth-grade girls who are reluctant readers have discovered the “Claudia Cristina Cortez” series by Diana G. Gallagher (Stone Arch). Mystery author Michael Dahl visits annually, and seventh graders love his “Finnegan Zwake” books, beginning with The Horizontal Man (S & S). After hearing him speak they have been inspired to read Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.
