Anyone got a teen who reads?

My children's secondary band on and on about reading being the key to success. They quote statistics on the people who get the best grades being the biggest readers etc. They have to carry a reading book every day, they have flash reading sessions during the day. It's a big thing.

They get set a book over the summer to read and do an assignment on.

I have one who reads a lot, will happily read. Another who like to read but is slower and has to be nagged into it but really gets into each book.

We have always had reason g before bed though, right from babies. No electronics after a certain time and then reading only.
Youngest is happier with her kindle than books, oldest prefers books.

A lot of teens are getting into non-fiction now eg Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race, Natives (Akala), The Five (Hallie Rubenhold, about the victims of Jack the Ripper) - that might be another way in if she's just not feeling it with novels. Alternatively, a lot of screenplays are worth reading.

At her age, I switched abruptly from Little Women/ Ballet Shoes/ Agatha Christie to things like The Silence of the Lambs and so on. Maybe she's just bored of YA books - it might be worth turning a blind eye to more extreme/gripping stuff. Reading is reading.

I'm an avid reader and an English teacher and even I have recently had a two-year dry spell where I wasn't reading. Audiobooks were the way back in for me. Sometimes there's just too much going on to have the headspace for it.

I'm not really up with recent authors but my 13 year old has enjoyed Stephen Fry's Mythos, James Herriott, Hitchhiker's, Terry Pratchett, Good Omens, Alexander McCall Smith recently. We are both reading Robert Galbraith (JKRowling) at the moment.

My advice is stop worrying about what she is reading, as you've already said, and refocus on what you are reading. Enthuse about books you are currently reading, read books that bring up challenging ideas such as Freakonomics and talk about them at the dinner table, ask her to recommend books to you and take those suggestions & her opinions seriously. You should be able to find some authors you both like at this age.

I think my husband's enthusiasm for reading has gone a long way in keeping our children reading for pleasure past primary age.

I would try a few of these things:
Audiobooks/Audible

Adult fiction - easy reads. Try Jenny Colgan-Cupcake Cafe, Sophie Kinsella-Shopaholic series or Undomestic Godess

Graphic Novels - you can get adult ones too such as Handmaiden’s Tale (too advanced/inappropriate for 14 but that sort of thing). Would suggest the library maybe for Graphic novels in case she doesn’t like them.

You’ve just reminded me if you’re a member of the library you can download books free to lots of devices using Borrowbox . It brilliant!

You can also download lots of magazines for adults and children.

The great thing about audio books is that you can listen to them whilst doing art / craft activities, and the benefits are still there of becoming more familiar with literature, broadening language. With audio books it is also more likely that you will tolerate a different from usual genre so can be really good for broadening interests too.

At the moment many libraries are offering a click and collect service, and depending on how well stocked your local libraries are, they may have YA books on cd, if you don’t want to jump at the audible subscription.

I answered this thread a while ago and it’s just occurred to me that I haven’t read a book for a month. Pre-Lockdown I read at least one, maybe two a week, I’m pretty voracious, usually.

I’ve lost my mojo, can’t concentrate. So I’ve followed my own advice, just got Audible and downloaded a book, went for a walk and I’m four chapters in!

It's the internet that does it. DD has made an effort over lockdown - has listened to several Jane Austen books on audio. Read a couple of actual books, but is a slow reader. I'd go with audio.

Do you go into bookshops so she can pick up a book and browse? I find that if we go into Waterstones or WH Smiths and just spend a bit of time browsing, my kids nearly always walk away with something. There's something about being able to touch and smell the book that can bring you back to enjoying a book I have found, esp for younger ones.

If she likes bedroom redecoration, could you look at some interior design books? The theory behind it about lighting and colours and spacing etc? Or textile books and textile history books? V&A patterns? Liberty's textile history? Something that's reading but informative and a big step up. Sometimes teens like to be all knowledgeable about a certain thing if you can find the thing that piques their interest.

Left of field question - but what is her eye sight like? I remember I stopped reading for two years during my A-levels (bad timing!) I needed glasses but I didn't pick up on it and no one else did. I was finding reading increasingly hard work and put it down to boring text books putting me off in general. As soon as I got glasses I was an avid reader again. Just a thought.

I think forcing her would just ruin books for her as then she would see reading as something she has to do rather than something she wants to. I also think that even if she is good at picking her books, maybe she has not found the right one yet. My DD hadn't been reading as much as she used to but when she found the right one she was rooted on her seat and finished it in one day. So I think it's just about patience, reading will always be a leisurely activity for my DD and myself and I think it will be for your daughter.

Also you said she read the hunger games when she was 11 well I would recommend;

The selection_ Its about 35 girls competing for a chance of a lifetime; marriage with the prince. Although it sounds highly sexist the main protagonist is anything but a timid, dumb girl I need of the male leads help.

The Girl Who Dared to think_ Twenty-year-old Liana Castell must be careful what she thinks. Her life is defined by the number on her wristband... a rating out of ten awarded based on her usefulness and loyalty to the Tower, and monitored by a device in her skull. A device that reports forbidden thoughts.

Does she have a certain topic that she enjoys? I have always been an on and off reader- I go weeks without picking on up and then read 10 books in 2 weeks. I love history (particularly WWII) and spy books/political thrillers and, for me, those stories are even more entertaining than television or social media. Don't force her into anything, but perhaps you and your husband could read a book about the general topic in which she is interested, discuss it, and encourage her to read indirectly.

Which Philip Pullman is it? Because while I really enjoy some of his books, I found the Book of Dust a real slog! So if it's that one, I can sympathise with her not enjoying it.

I don't know what to suggest really, but when I did my GCSEs and was a bit worried, rather than anything new that I'd have to concentrate on I comfort read Dick King Smith, Ballet Shoes, Hortible Histories etc — I had younger siblings, so they were all still on the bookcase. It was a nice break from studying To Kill a Mockingbird, The Crucible, Macbeth and Oliver Twist in English! Thoroughly miserable set of books.

The only other thing I can think of is maybe something that's written as a diary? Each entry is nice and short, so it's very easy to read "just one more".

DD is an avid reader, but she does wax and wane with it and has had periods where she just doesn't read. She's also doing her GCSEs and English lit has not helped at all, nothing like spending your time picking apart Orwell and Shakespeare (both of which she hates) to put you off and she finds she doesn't have a lot of time to read for fun.

My DD, currently Yr11, is an avid reader. When younger she read Jacqueline Wilson-esque type stuff alongside ‘classics- Anna Karenina in Yr8.
Having said that, reading for pleasure tailed off in Yr10 when GCSE work ramped up alongside an ever increasing social life, both in the virtual and in the ‘real’ world!
When Yr11 came to its sudden end, she started reading for pleasure again.
The transition from Yr10 to Yr11 can be an anxious time as mocks and the exams proper are ‘just around the corner’
DD spent some of last summer organising her Yr10 subject files, making sure end of topic notes were written up etc which helped towards mock revision.
Perhaps once your DD feels ‘on top of’ the work done to date she will pick up a book again?
If not, it may be next summer like my DD.

no point in me forcing them as it should be a pleasurable activity. They have their whole lives ahead of them to come to books and if they don't it's only their loss.
I'd leave her be

This ^

I too thought the comment about GCSEs was worth picking up on. She seems young to be worrying about that - particularly as she seems to be doing well at school - so I would want to talk about where that thought has come from, and what is worrying her.

I can't really advise on how to encourage them to read as all my 3 did, and still do love having their noses in a book. One of them has always enjoyed audio books, so that might be worth a try with your dd ?

@cakeisalwaystheanswer I don’t think it’s snobbiness that gives importance to reading. Reading a wide range of books gives the reader more than just entertainment.
There’s been lots of research that shows it improves literacy, thinking skills, concentration, empathy plus it might be good for reducing stress.
You don’t get that from reading memes or snapchat.
But each to their own. I don’t think you can force kids to read if they really don’t want to but it’s worth trying.