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Recommendations please - I've got one shot at this!

53 replies

SheenMcQueen · 15/03/2021 10:20

I am an avid reader as is DS
DD, not so much
Apart from books assigned by school, she has failed to finish a book in years (and I'm not convinced she even reads her English set books properly).

She is 15, bright but just not a reader. We both know that her English tests and comprehensions suffer due to a general lack of 'language' going into her head and she also accepts that too much time on her phone/social media/youtube etc has not helped with her concentration levels. She been reading a short book I bought her a few Christmas' ago for about four years. She says it's ok and she quite likes it but she can't get lost in it (Eleanor and Park).

I suggested audible to her as a way. to ease herself back into finding a love for stories and she is very skeptical. She listens to music all the time and thinks this is 'stealing' her music time. But she knows she has to do something. So she has agreed to 'try one book'.

One!
The pressure to get it right is high!

It can't be too challenging initially and she needs to be drawn in quite quickly. Nothing 'fantasy' or twee. She is a typical teen (whatever that means). She into music and skating mostly and is quite 'streetwise'.

I wondered about something with a big twist like 'We Were Liars' as I think she'd like the jolt at the end and also the element of 'angst' or 'Girl in Pieces' for the same 'angsty' vibe, but wondered if anyone had any good suggestions. If she hates it, I'm going to have to work hard to make her try again so it would be brilliant to find something that she likes.

Sorry for the essay but I thought background would be useful!

OP posts:
theproudgeek · 10/04/2021 17:38

I'd recommend, for her one book, 'One' by Sarah Crossan, although I'm not sure if its on audible. I read it and cried, then lent it to my 17 year old niece, who also cried. Its actually not as long as it looks due to how the pages are laid out. Also, its something you could read as well, if that would appeal to her. The story is told by one half of a pair of teenage, siamese, twins as they attend high school for the first time.

gollygumdrops · 16/04/2021 16:05

My nearly 15yo DD has just started reading again during lockdown.

She's re-read The Hunger Games trilogy a couple of times, an old favourite.

Other books she's recently enjoyed:
We Were Liars by E Lockahart
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

She's also just asked for:
The liberation of Max Mctrue
The invisible life of Addie LaRue
The road between
Eleanor and park
Alight
Wintergirls

So good to see her return to reading after a long break!

SparrowandNightingale · 11/05/2021 23:29

Patrick Ness - a monster calls would be my suggestion it is short and powerful. The audiobook is good.
The China's walking trilogy is great and again on audio works really well. First one is the knife of never letting go.
The audio book of The power by Naomi Alderman is superb.
Other ones my extremely picky teen enjoyed were Holes by Louis Sacher, Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt, and Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

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