Teen Reading Habits: Interview

I was assigned the task of interviewing two teens about their reading and media choices.  I had a family party this weekend and recruited two of my teen cousins to sit down with me to discuss their reading/media consumption habits, and pick their brains about their thoughts on teen literature.  Their answers were very well thought out (considering the impromptu interview; they were not given the questions beforehand), and I was surprised by some of the things that they said.

Here are some things I learned from them that you may find interesting, like me:

• Neither teen was very interested in fanfiction--reading it or writing it.  One attributed this to the fact that the (original) authors know their characters best, and therefore she had little interest in others' interpretations of them.
• Both teens preferred reading physical, paper-printed books rather than reading e-books on their iPads.  Who can resist the smell, feel, and convenience of flipping through a hard copy?  These two couldn't.
• Both admitted to judging books by their covers, and would likely not pick up a book that had a weird, outdated, or otherwise ugly cover.
• One of the teens wishes that there were more mythology-based fiction available...  This was surprising to me because I used to see tons of (children's) books based on Greek mythology coming out, around the time that the original Percy Jackson books were still being published.  I thought there were a lot, but I suppose that isn't really true--at least not anymore!
• Both teens are becoming pretty tired of love triangles popping up in teen fiction.  One teen cited these as a distraction from more important events in the overall plot, while the other has just seen too many that are just poorly executed.  I had to agree with some of their thoughts on love triangles--I like a little bit of romance in my fiction, but sometimes it just feels like authors feel obligated to include a love story when really, it isn't necessary.  The market is over-saturated, if you will.

I had a great time interviewing these two!  What helped was that both of them were really excited to talk to me about what they like to read and why.  One said she felt really important for helping me with this--I was sure to tell her that for librarians like me, who want to put forward their best effort for their teens, her voice was incredibly important and she should feel valued.

Any thoughts on your end?
Thanks for reading!

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

image from Amazon.com

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Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Little/Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009. 229p. $13.50. 978-0316013697

Growing up on the Spokane Indian reservation in Washington state has been no easy task.  In Arnold Spirit Junior's fourteen years, he has seen the harsh reality of poverty, alcoholism, and hopelessness through his friends, family, and fellow tribe members.  Life has never been easy on the rez, where depression and drug abuse run rampant, and no one is exempt from the cycle of violence.  Born with water on the brain, Junior was left with a stutter, seizures, and a general gangliness that the rest of the rez saw fit to mock him for.

On his first day of high school, Junior realizes just how hopeless everything really is on the reservation.  He throws his "new" 30-year-old textbook across the classroom, hitting his teacher, and is promptly suspended.  When the teacher shows up at his house, begging Junior to make something of his life by leaving the rez, he makes the bravest decision of his life: to go to a mostly white school in a farm town away from the home he's always known.  But which is worse: to be a stranger in a strange land, or a stranger in your home town?

Junior's brutal honesty about life on the reservation will make readers cringe and cry out in sympathy.  His determination to change his life, no matter how the rest of the world protests, is both encouraging and enlightening.  Through his explicit narrative, Alexie reveals to us that even those who are supposed to have the strongest bond with us can also be the most detrimental to our livelihood.  We do, however, stand a chance at hope when we take our futures into our own hands and plow through the opposition and keep moving forward.

Highly recommended to those readers that are unafraid of serious subject matter (racism, addiction, and violence), appreciate humorous, honest narration; and anyone who roots for the underdog.

Teen-Centered Perspectives and Approaches in the Library

Agosto, Denise. "Envisaging Young Adult Librarianship from a Teen-Centered Perspective." In Transforming Young Adult Services, edited by Anthony Bernier, 33-52. Chicago: Neal-Schuman, 2013.

Denise Agosto's views on creating a more teen-centered perspective in library services are valid and to be valued.  For example, her insistence on referring to the teens as their self-proclaimed label, teens, rather than adult-appointed terms like young adults, is important.  If you want to get on the same level as this age group, it is important to respect them by calling them what they wish to be called.  Having interacted with teens at my own library, I agree with this distinction.  You can't refer to them as children, and you can't just slap an adult label on them, either--they are their own category of human.  By paying attention to their own self-appointed labels, and using them when interacting with them, you foster more respect between yourselves.  You don't treat them like something they're not.  Carefully consider their views on their own lives.

Agosto puts a lot of emphasis on getting direct input from teens when conducting research in the field.  The same goes for the day-to-day jobs in the teen services department of the public library.  Yes, you want to get them the most popular book titles around, and you'll usually find that while looking at other library science professionals' research and booklists, but I must agree with Agosto: you need to go straight to the teens and find out what they think they need.  When you go to them directly to find out what they find important to their lives, you are using a teen-centered approach, where they themselves contribute to the cause.  The teens are the cause!

In my library, my director and the previous teen department head are always talking about how you need to give the teens a "yes" whenever you can--they're so used to getting "no, no, no."  It's true, to some extent. They're enthusiastic and they have plenty of creative ideas--but how many of those ideas get turned down by the librarian in charge?  Are they really considering the needs and desires of the teens?  They can be one and the same.  I've made it a point as a teen librarian to constantly ask the teens for their ideas on how to improve the department and give them programs and services that are simultaneously constructive and entertaining.  My latest project has been to casually interview the teens about their favorite books, and this was inspired by one of the teens.  They want to show everyone what their favorite titles are and encourage others to explore them... and discover their own favorites!  We are collecting their favorite books and creating posters with their names and recommendations to put up around the department.  This way, they get to be actively involved with their library, and have something to be proud to show off.  It's their space, and they should be able to truly make it their own.

Sometimes with programming, it's all about trial and error.  You come up with a program, you run it, and you hope that it's well received.  I have to prepare myself for the teen department's upcoming programs for the fall and winter.  By running these programs, I hope to get a concrete idea for what the teens want and need.  Asking for them to review current and past programs in the department to ascertain what it is they want more of (or less of), and what new things they would like to see, is essential--I plan on asking my teens to review what we do and give me their honest feedback so that we can truly make it all about them.  Will a pen-and-paper survey work?  Or should it be more informal?  Regardless of how you choose to do it, I strongly encourage librarians (myself included) to really reach out to their teen population.  They are your biggest and best resource!  They're the ones coming to your events and using the space.  Actively show them that their opinions matter.

Teen News: Encourage Your Daughter to Code and Change Her Life

Encourage Your Daughter To Code and Change Her Life:
Teenage girls are being encouraged by schools and organizations to take interest in computer science.

Most of us seem to be aware at this point that there is a big push to get women into typically "male" professions, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and math (otherwise known as "STEM" careers).  These "boy jobs" have remarkably low amounts of girls working them, cited in the above article as a mere 25%.  The ultimate goal is to produce more tech-ready individuals to do these jobs.  By recruiting girls to these professions, these postings can be filled, with the available applicants increasing exponentially--at least, that's the hope.  Patch goes on to introduce us to a program called Girls Who Code, whose goal is to prepare 1 million women for computer tech-based careers by 2020.

Having heard extensively about the need to bring women into technological fields of work since I was a teen, this piece grabbed my attention because it was something to which I could relate.  When I was still in high school, I was in a class that was visited by a woman who wanted to talk to the girls about entering careers in math and science.  This was something that I thought was cool, but very unlikely for me to be a part of, seeing as my math skills were very weak.  I enjoyed science, but as I progressed through high school, science classes introduced more and more math elements, which led to me shying away from courses such as advanced chemistry and physics--no thank you!  The visiting woman rounded up a few of my female classmates for a chat elsewhere, and I stayed behind.  I admired the idea of entering STEM careers, but felt that it really was not for me.  So, I watched my friends and peers go out the door to learn about engineering and mathematics while I wondered what exactly the big deal was.  I knew a little bit about coding at the time, but never considered a career like that.  A lot of girls I knew were like that--we dabbled in things "math-y" and "science-y," whether out of social obligation by our teachers and family members, or maybe out of legitimate interest, but it was still surprising to me that we were such a special group (young women), that we needed to be reached out to.  Now as an adult, I realize that that was only the beginning.  Ten years later, we are still trying to get through to young girls that these careers are possible for them, too, not just for young men.  This article showed me a more organized effort to show these girls the possibilities in life.

Teen girls are shown as powerful figures in the tech world--Reshma Saujani poignantly states that, “women Facebook more, they tweet more, they make 85 percent of all consumer purchases. We should be sitting on the other side.”  When you put it like that, who wouldn't consider involving themselves in the behind-the-scenes world of computers?  It's at the very least thought provoking.   Saujani goes on to discuss the stereotype of girls looking to "better the world," but they don't realize that they can help others by doing something such as coding.  It's a cool way to look at the world around us--girls can make a difference doing all sorts of things, including STEM work.  Their possibilities are unlimited!  This article shows youth simply bubbling with potential, and shows us just how valued they are, regardless of gender.  Youth are able to find all kinds of ways to improve the world around them.

Libraries are always offering technology classes to its patrons.  Imagine a library offering coding programs specifically for teens!  Maybe limiting them just to teen girls would be a little off-putting to some, but there are methods of outreach that could be utilized specifically to recruit more young girls.  We already have the desire, as librarians, to serve our patrons in the best way possible.  A series of programs on career options for speculating youth would be a fantastic way to expose teens, male and female alike, to the vast possibilities available to them.  The national summer reading program theme for teens this year, Spark a Reaction (and Fizz, Boom, Read for the kids), shows a conscious effort to introduce youth to the idea of science, math, and technology being important aspects of their lives.  Libraries seeking opportunities to improve the lives of their teen patrons, and provide more relevant programming, would do well to keep up the effort to include STEM themes in their lives.  Perhaps nothing too overpowering, but more casual opportunities for teens to see science in action.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

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image from Goodreads.com

Westerfeld, Scott. Uglies. Simon Pulse, 2005. 406p. $17.99. 978-1-4169--3638-1

In a highly unusual society where everyone is segregated into groups based on appearance, and sixteen year olds have a surgery that turns them beautiful, we meet those who accept and eagerly anticipate these changes, and those who reject them and try to escape.  Tally Youngblood, a not-quite-sixteen "ugly," can't wait to have her surgery and join her best friend Peris as a "pretty."  How exciting it will be to finally be beautiful and normal!  However, when she meets Shay, a fellow ugly awaiting her sixteenth birthday, she is introduced to the idea of natural beauty--the idea of people choosing not to go through with the surgery and running away.  When Shay decides to escape, Tally is recruited to find her and bring her back--or be an ugly for the rest of her life.

Scott Westerfeld's Uglies (Simon Pulse, 2005) stands out among the first of its kind in young adult literature--dystopian fiction.  Westerfeld brings the reader into this strange world with no pause for explicit explanation, instead letting the reader gradually become absorbed by the story and picking up meanings along the way.  Tally's interactions with the runaways gives a good message to teens about the way we think about our own body image and appearances: do we have to conform to what society wants if we already think we are fine?  Following Tally through self-discovery mirrors the growing up process we all must go through, and readers will appreciate being able to relate to her story.
 
A must-read for those who enjoyed series like Divergent, The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, and those who like a little rebellion in their lives.

VOYA-Style Reviews

Starting September 2014, I am going to be using VOYA review codes and styles for my book reviews.  Some entries may be more casual (and opinionated) than others.  If you're looking to decode the text at the beginning of my review posts, please see below for a translation.

VOYA’s Review Codes

Quality
5Q     Hard to imagine it being better written.
4Q     Better than most, marred by occasional lapses.
3Q     Readable, without serious defects.
2Q     Better editing or work by the author might have warranted a 3Q.
1Q     Hard to understand how it got published, except in relation to its P rating (and not even then sometimes).

Popularity
5P     Every YA (who reads) was dying to read it yesterday.
4P     Broad general or genre YA appeal.
3P     Will appeal with pushing.
2P     For the YA reader with a special interest in the subject.
1P     No teen will read unless forced to for assignments.

Grade Level Interest
M     Middle School (defined as grades 6-8).
J      Junior High (defined as grades 7-9).
S      Senior High (defined as grades 10-12).
A/YA     Adult-marketed book recommended for teens.

G     Graphic Novel Format

The VOYA Review Codes and Guidelines, as quoted above, can be found here.  Thank you to YALSA and VOYA for their style, formatting, and codes for posting YA book reviews.