Teenagers read for leisure and education

     In the youth lounge on the second floor of the L.E. Phillips Memorial Library, Kyle Ingold haunts the stacks searching for his favorite books. His not quite chin length locks of curly red hair obscure his vision, and he seems oblivious to the several other teens in the lounge.  His focus is on the shelves in front of him and it does not waiver until he has found what he is after.

Kyle, according to statistics and local experts, is one of many teenagers who have similar tastes in books and live with parental expectations of daily reading despite low literacy levels in his age group.

 Fans of fantasy

         “For the most part they all stick to the same section that they all tend to like,” said Meredith Bomber, a senior book seller at Waldenbooks.

          That section is fantasy. According to an on-line poll conducted in 2003 by the Young Adult Library Services Association, half of the top 10 selling books were fantasy titles including the number one choice which was “A Wizard Alone: Young Wizards Book 6,” by Diane Duane.

          Although not on the YALSA top 10, Bomber said, Harry Potter books are popular as well.

            Bomber said she sees about 30 to 50 young teens in Waldenbooks depending on the day of the week.

         “A lot them come in (to Waldenbooks) while their parents are at other stores to look at books,” she said.

       She said the number of young teens she sees in stores is about the same as the past few years or a little higher than before.

      Other than fantasy books, Bomber said, young teen girls are into books about girls their age, which feature such themes as cool girls vs. the normal girls. “Gossip Girl” books by Cecily von Ziegesar are also popular, as are the “Princess Diaries” books by Meg Cabot.

      Kyle said he enjoys fantasy books such as “Eldest” by Christopher Paolini and “Flame” by Hilari Bell, but his real interests lie in genre that originated overseas.

Visit this Web site to view a list of the YALSA's book picks.

To find out more information about Manga books, visit this Web site.

To find Manga and other books, search the catalog at L.E. Phillips Memorial Library.

Photo By: Chris Henson

Teenagers are below the national average for reading, but some teenagers, like Kyle Ingold, are picking up stacks of books for recreation and education.

Continued on Page 2

Back to Main