Finding your reading niche can take time and a lot of trial and error, and developing a love for reading can’t be forced.
“It can be difficult for anyone of any age, but certainly for young people to find the book that really excites them,” said Siva Ramakrishnan, director of young adult programs and services at the New York Public Library. New York (NYPL). .
Teenagers read, and more
Something as simple as having books nearby can encourage teens to pick up a book and read it. For the NYPL, which serves the communities of Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx at 89 locations, physical and electronic book circulation was estimated at 700,000 for teens alone in the 2023-24 fiscal year. This is an increase from the previous year.
Contrary to what recent discourse about adolescent and young adult literacy might suggest, “young people are visiting libraries in person in greater numbers than in previous decades,” Ramakrishnan said. But teenagers don’t always go to libraries just to check out books. Public libraries provide space for teens to access Wi-Fi, do homework, socialize and participate in programs like 3D printing.
“Libraries have become gathering places for young people,” Ramakrishnan said.
Banned books
Books often provide a welcome space for young people to reflect themselves in what they read, but when books are banned, certain groups of people can be left behind. Even though libraries have become a gathering place for adolescents outside of school hours, this still does not guarantee access to all reading materials.
In 2023, 4,240 books were banned from schools and libraries nationwide, an increase of 65% from the previous year. “The majority of these banned or challenged books are aimed at young people, and disproportionately, they are books written by or about people of color or people who identify as LGBTQ+,” Ramakrishnan said.
Book bans attack “two really essential parts of the reading ecosystem that exists for kids,” Ramakrishnan said: schools and libraries.
The American Library Association started its Banned Books Week in 1982, and it continues today. The NYPL has moved away from this annual tradition with its Protect The Freedom To Read initiative, which hosts its Banned Book Club for teens.
“Our mission is to make knowledge accessible to everyone,” Ramakrishnan said.
When options are limited, especially reading options that might open other students to a point of view that’s unfamiliar to them, “it’s harder for a young person to pick up a book and really get excited about it,” Ramakrishnan continued.
This year, the NYPL Banned Book Club for Teens is reading four titles: “Flamer” by Mike Curato, “Run: Book One” by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, “Go With the Flow” by Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann, and “ The Magic Fish” by Trung Le Nguyen. Each book also comes with a discussion guide, accessible to educators and teens nationwide, as well as online author Q&As hosted by NYPL Teen Ambassadors.
Reading is reading is reading
Developing healthy reading habits – such as confidence in navigating knowledge systems like libraries and museums, self-selection of appropriate texts, and distinguishing between fact, fiction and opinion – must be produce before long-term sustained reading can occur, Torres said. And these healthy reading habits need to be started early, between fourth and seventh grade.
According to Torres, adults responsible for facilitating the adoption of healthy reading habits among students must understand that literacy in this day and age is multimodal. Young people read a lot of things and in different ways. For example, they can read fanfiction, audiobooks, physical books, and anime subtitles.
“We have to keep in mind that their literacy goes way beyond just reading a book cover to cover,” Torres said. These multimodal reading habits should not be seen as a threat to the physical book, Torres added, “but as something that could be a companion to the physical book.”
If a student already reads anime subtitles, they might be interested in reading Light Novels, books that translate popular anime into prose and sometimes include pictures. From there, an educator can help a student extract themes or characters that interest them and recommend another book for them to read.
Very quickly, a student who may not know where to begin reading becomes connected to an entire genre and can continue reading, while continuing to engage in the other literacy modalities they are already practicing.
NoveList is a popular platform that educators and parents can use to help students find books that interest them. It provides a database of reviews and informs the reader of the tone of a book. Plus, “(NoveList) gives you all sorts of useful ways to pair a book with the next book in a reader’s journey,” Torres said.
There are also other ways to help students develop healthy reading habits and increase their reading stamina.
Librarians conduct student needs assessments, or what Torres calls a “likes and habits” interest survey. These assessments evaluate what a reader needs, from pace to complexity, Torres said. Students may also have cultural and life experiences that can inform the type of reading they might gravitate towards.
Develop reading stamina
But what about kids who don’t go to the library every day?
One way to reach students who may not be as immersed in literary spaces is to remind them that “there are many different types of reading lives that we can develop,” Torres said. There is no one type of reading and it doesn’t have to feel like reading book after book, she continued.
“It’s to our detriment and the detriment of young people that we shame them for not being able to sit down and read a 200-page novel from start to finish,” Torres said.
When students need to acquire more technical reading skills, facilitators and educators must teach them to diversify the ways in which they can delve deeper into the text.
Given that data suggests that, overall, young people are reading less, it’s important to expand the reach of literary spaces as far as possible, Ramakrishnan said. For example, the NYPL places video games next to books on mental health, cartoons or science fiction. “We want teens to feel like our library spaces belong to them,” Ramakrishnan said.
