What Are They Reading for Fun?
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compiled by Marlene Charnizon -- School Library Journal, 4/8/2009 10:17:00 AM
Stories of love and romance, a spate of nonfiction, and a bit of poetry.
Benjamin Russell, Belmont High School Library, NH:
Like practically every other library, we have had a lot of interest in Twilight and related titles, including both Stephenie Meyer's non-vampiric The Host (Little, Brown, 2008) and non-Meyer vampires from P.C. Cast and Charlaine Harris. But our most popular selection this semester has been Alan Moore’s antiheroic graphic novel Watchmen (DC Comics, 1995), which intrigued those who wanted a little more insight before venturing to the cinema.
In a post-Rowling world, a number of students have traded up for a more adult character with Jim Butcher’s “The Dresden Files” (Roc), and many of them have also given Mike Carey's urban warlock Felix Castor (Grand Central) a try. The supernatural also figures in Charlie Price's Dead Connection (Roaring Brook, 2006), and the creepy cover for Melvin Burgess’s Sara's Face (S & S, 2007) generated a lot of interest. Rounding out the circulation numbers for the semester, perennial favorite Sarah Dessen's Lock and Key (Viking, 2008) has been eagerly checked out, and Stephen Colbert's I Am America (And So Can You!) (Grand Central, 2007) also generated numbers, as well as active conversation.
Dylan Thomarie, Johnstown High School Library, NY:
Seven hundred teens attend our school in semirural Upstate New York. We have a strong fiction collection, and this year pleasure reading was up by 50 percent in March. Not counting anything that relates to vampires, top picks include Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins, 2008) and Ellen Hopkins’s Identical (S & S, 2008). Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely (HarperTeen, 2007), Meg Cabot’s Airhead (Scholastic, 2008), E.E. Richardson’s The Intruders (Delacorte, 2006), and Tonya Hurley’s Ghostgirl (Little, Brown, 2008) are also popular. Scot Westerfeld’s Uglies, et al (S & S, 2005) see little shelf time. Once students find a title in the “Orca Soundings” series, they keep coming back for others. A popular starting point is Sticks and Stones by Beth Goobie (Orca, 2006), in part because of its somewhat controversial front cover. Kyle Maynard’s wrestling autobiography, No Excuses: The True Story of a Congenital Amputee Who Became a Champion in Wrestling as in Life (Regnery, 2006), is also drawing readers.
Amy Pickett, Ridley High School Library, Folsom, PA:
Prom season has arrived at our suburban Philadelphia high school, and books about love and relationships are more popular than ever with our 2000-plus students. Sarah Dessen’s Lock and Key (Viking, 2008) circulates constantly. Jody Gehrman’s frothy Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty has it all (2008), along with its sequel, Triple Shot Bettys in Love (2009, both Dial). Patient readers have found Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (HarperTeen, 2008), set at an Australian boarding school, rewarding. Poetry fans identify with the raw emotion in Falling Hard: 100 Love Poems by Teenagers (Candlewick, 2008). Puppy love is also big this year, with fans of Marley and Me enjoying From Baghdad, with Love: A Marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava by Jay Kopelman and Melinda Roth (Lyons Press, 2008). For those who get a toothache from the love stuff, Rich Smith’s You Can Get Arrested for That: 2 Guys, 25 Dumb Laws, 1 Absurd American Crime Spree (Crown, 2006) practically booktalks itself–even reluctant readers clamor to check it out.
