What Are They Reading for Fun?
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compiled by Marlene Charnizon -- School Library Journal, 12/03/2008
“Fantasy, vampires, monsters, and the paranormal continue to be the order of the day in Merrimack.”
Jennifer L. Hartshorn, Merrimack Public Library, Merrimack, NH:
Teens in our southern New Hampshire town are caught up in the “Twilight” (Little, Brown) craze, and we continuously are asked for other titles on vampires. We have been recommending "Darkangel" trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce (Little, Brown) and Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy (Penguin, 2007). Erin Hunter’s “Warriors” series (HarperCollins) is also hot. With Christopher Paolini’s Brisingr (Knopf, 2008) newly out, there has been renewed interest in the other novels in the “Inheritance” trilogy. Manga is still a big draw, especially Nobuhiro Watsuki’s “Shojo Beat” and Kazune Kawahara’s High School Debut (2008, both Viz Media). Anna Godbersen’s The Luxe (2007) and Rumors (HarperCollins, 2008) and Libba Bray’s trilogy about Gemma Doyle (Delacorte) remain popular.
Melyssa Malinowski, Kenwood High School, Baltimore, MD:
Here at Kenwood, set in the middle of a suburban working-class neighborhood in northeastern Baltimore County, students are, of course, reading Meyer’s “Twilight” series (Little, Brown). While anything vampire- or werewolf-related is a huge hit, but they have other interests as well. Current favorites also include Ellen Hopkins’s novels, among them Crank (2004), Impulse (2007), and Identical (2008, all S & S), as well as Sarah Dessen’s Lock and Key (Viking, 2008) and the “Del Rio Bay Clique” series (Dafina) by Maryland author Paula Chase. Students throughout the state are reading nine books nominated for the Black-Eyed Susan Awards, and they vote for the winners. Our teens are gravitating toward Alane Ferguson’s The Christopher Killer (Viking, 2006), Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life As We Knew It (Harcourt, 2006), and Alex Flinn’s Diva (HarperTempest, 2006).
Kelly McGorray, Glenbard South High School, Glen Ellyn, IL:
Movie tie-ins are especially popular this fall, specifically Rachel Cohn and David Levithan’s Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist (Knopf, 2006) and Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” series (Little, Brown). Huge hold lists necessitated the purchase of multiple copies of Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games (Scholastic, 2008), Jenny Downham’s Before I Die (Random, 2007), and Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why (Penguin, 2007). Perennially favored fiction authors include Ellen Hopkins, John Green, and Kevin Brooks. Nonfiction also circulates consistently, and kids clamor for true stories of angsty teens such as Nic Sheff’s Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines (S & S, 2007), Koren Zailckas’s Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood (Viking, 2005), and The Notebook Girls by Julia Baskin, et al. (Warner, 2006). Manga mania has not escaped us, with Maki Murakami’s “Gravitation” (Tokyopop) pulling in new readers every week.
