Finding your reading niche can take time and a lot of trial and error, and cultivating a love of reading can’t be forced.
“It can be difficult for anyone at any age, but definitely for young people to find that book that they’re really excited about,” said Siva Ramakrishnandirector of Young Adult Programs and Services at the New York Public Library (NYPL).
Teenagers also read a lot more
Something as simple as being close to books can encourage teenagers to pick up a book and read. For NYPL, which serves communities in Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx at 89 locations, physical and e-book circulation was estimated at 700,000 for teenagers alone in the 2023-24 fiscal year. This is an increase over the previous year.
Contrary to what the recent teenager and young adult literacy discourse may suggest that “young people are visiting libraries in greater numbers than decades ago,” Ramakrishnan said. But teenagers don’t always go to libraries just to check out books. Public libraries provide a 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.
Forbidden books
Books often provide a welcome space for young people to see themselves reflected in what they read, but when books are banned, some groups of people can be left behind. While libraries have become an extracurricular gathering place for teenagers, this still does not guarantee access to all reading materials.
In 2023 4240 books are banned from schools and libraries across the country — a 65% increase over the previous year. “The majority of these banned or challenged books are aimed at young people, and disproportionately those are books that are written by or about people of color or people who identify as LGBTQ+,” Ramakrishnan said.
Book bans attack “two really critical components of the reading ecosystem that exists for kids,” Ramakrishnan said — schools and libraries.
The American Library Association started theirs Banned Books Week in 1982 and continues today. NYPL capitalizes on this annual tradition with its year-round training Protect the freedom to read initiative that houses their Banned Book Club for Teens.
“Our mission is to make knowledge accessible to all,” Ramakrishnan said.
When options are limited, especially reading options that can open other students up to a perspective they’re unfamiliar with, “it makes it harder for a young person to pick up a book and get really excited about it,” he continued. Ramakrishnan.
This year, the New York Teen Banned Book Club is reading four titles: “Flamer” by Mike Curato, “Performance: Book One” by John Lewis and Andrew Ayden, “Go with the flow” by Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann and “The magic fish” by Trung Le Nguyen. Each book is also paired with a discussion guide that is available to educators and teens across the country, as well as online author questions and answers which are led by teenage NYPL ambassadors.
Reading is reading is reading
The development of healthy reading habits — such as confidence in navigating knowledge systems such as libraries and museums, independently selecting appropriate texts, and distinguishing fact from fiction and opinion — must occur before long-term sustainable reading can occur, he said. Torres. And these healthy reading habits should occur early, between fourth and seventh grade.
According to Torres, adults who are responsible for facilitating healthy reading habits in students need to understand that literacy is multimodal today. Young people read many things in many different ways. For example, they can read fan fiction, audiobooksphysical books and anime subtitles.
“We have to keep in mind that their literacy involves much more than just reading a book cover to cover,” Torres said. These multimodal reading habits shouldn’t be seen as a threat to the physical book, Torres added, “but something that can be a companion to the physical book.”
If a student already reads anime subtitles, they may be interested in reading light novels—books that translate popular anime into prose and sometimes include images. From there, the teacher can help the student pull out the themes or characters they gravitate toward and recommend another book to read.
Pretty soon, a student who might not have known where to start reading has an entire genre to connect with and can continue reading while continuing to engage in the other literacy modalities they’ve already practiced.
One popular platform that educators and parents can use to help students find books within their interests is NoveListwhich provides a database of reviews and informs the reader about the tone of the book. Plus, “(NoveList) gives you all kinds of useful ways to pair a book with the next book in the reader’s journey,” Torres said.
There are other ways to help students develop healthy reading habits toward greater reading endurance.
Librarians conduct student needs assessments, or what Torres calls a “Tastes and Habits” interest survey. Those ratings assess what the reader needs, from pacing to complexity, Torres said. Students may also have cultural and life experiences that may inform the type of reading they might gravitate toward.
Developing reading endurance
But what about the kids who aren’t in 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 kinds 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 a disservice to us and a disservice to … young people that we shame them into not being able to sit down and read a 200-page novel cover to cover,” Torres said.
When students need to acquire skills in more technical reading, facilitators and trainers need to teach students to diversify the ways in which they can delve deeply into the text.
Since the data suggest that, in general, young people read lessit’s important to expand the reach of literary spaces as far as they can go, Ramakrishnan said. For example, the NYPL places video games next to mental health books, anime, or science fiction. “We want teenagers to feel like our library spaces are theirs,” Ramakrishnan said.
