What Are They Reading for Fun?
RSSThis article originally appeared in SLJâs Extra Helping. <a href="https://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/subscribe.asp?screen=pi8">Sign up now!</a>
compiled by Marlene Charnizon -- School Library Journal, 03/02/2010
Richard Snyder, Inglewood Junior High School, Sammamish, WA:
Students in our affluent community change their reading interests as often as they do the playlists on their iPods or Zunes. Readers of Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” series (Little, Brown) and Melissa de la Cruz’s Blue Bloods (Hyperion, 2006) have moved on to Heather Brewer’s The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eighth Grade Bites (Dutton, 2007) and its later installments. Harry Potter devotees have left the wizard and his wand for aliens and their guns in Brian Michael Bendis’s Halo: Uprising (Marvel Comics) and all of the other episodes in this series. They'll also turn to Catherine Jinks’s Evil Genius (Harcourt, 2007) and S. A. Bodeen’s The Compound (Feiwel & Friends, 2008) for something different.
Fans who once craved Lauren Myracle and Anne Brashares now find the angst and drama they need in books such as Jodi Picoult’s My Sister's Keeper (Atria, 2004) and Maureen Johnson’s 13 Little Blue Envelopes (HarperCollins, 2005). More nonfiction books show up at the circulation desk these days, too, especially Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster (Villard, 1997), the “24/7” series (Watts), and Glenn Murphy’s Why Is Snot Green? (Roaring Brook, 2009).
H.H. Henderson, Heritage Middle School, Deltona, FL:
We're all about series here. Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games (2008) and Catching Fire (2009, both Scholastic) have created an insatiable hunger for reading across all grades. There are waiting lists, and we’re set to order a dozen copies of their sequel, Mockingjay, when it’s released in August. Stephenie Meyer’s "Twilight" books (Little, Brown) are still changing hands, and Harry Potter is making a comeback as the last movies are bound for theaters. Also spurring a fresh H.P. movement is the imminent opening of the theme park The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, a stone’s throw from Orlando. Likewise, Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief (Hyperion, 2005) is enjoying renewed interest now that the movie is out. “The 39 Clues” and Jeff Smith’s “Bone” series (both Scholastic) tend to be popular among the guys, while girls have been devouring Heather Brewer’s The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod books (Dutton) and L.J. Smith’s “The Vampire Diaries” (HarperTeen).
Denise Moore, O’Gorman Junior High School, Sioux Falls, SD:
In our Catholic junior high, approximately 400 students join us for just two years, seventh and eighth grades. When they arrive, they're excited about the new books available to them. Titles are recommended by friends and word spreads quickly. Sarah Dessen’s Along for the Ride (2009) and Just Listen (2006, both Viking) are very popular this year. Gary Paulsen is always a favorite author among the boys, as is Mike Lupica. Meg Cabot’s “The Princess Diaries” and “The Mediator” series (both HarperCollins) continue to be well liked. But the favorite series this year is “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” (Hyperion), enjoyed by boys and girls equally. Many students read “The Royal Diaries” series (Scholastic), wanting to finish it before their time at this school ends. Students in the last months of eighth grade begin to look at more challenging books by authors like John Grisham and Michael Crichton and classics such as The Great Gatsby and Treasure Island. Alice in Wonderland has seen renewed popularity because of the new movie. The adult nonfiction title Misty Bernall’s She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall (Plough, 1999) has a steady readership.
