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Let's discuss our Reluctant Readers

Be sure to include who you are serving, their interests, and any pertinent info.

Joy Millam, Valencia High School (Placentia, CA), Teacher Librarian

2 Years on Committee

I work with students age 14-18/Grades 9-12.
My student population is largely Hispanic (about 40%)
My students like novels in verse, urban lit (Homeboyz, Tyrell, Tupac Shakur, 50 Cent),

craft books, make up/fashion books, and mysteries (Gail Giles' books).

My students do not like historical novels at all.

Sally Leahey, McArthur Public Library (Biddeford, Maine), Assistant Director

1 Year on Committee

I have a YALSA Teen Galley Group of middle and high school avids, and I do regular booktalks at the local high school and alternative school with self-identified non-readers. The population in my area is pretty homogeneous--blue collar and white.
The kids I know, like Joy's students, like novels in verse, some urban lit (Homeboyz, Tupac Shakur, 50 Cent),

craft books, make up/fashion books, mysteries as long as they move along very quickly. From

recent committee discussions, though, I think "my" kids may be more conservative than urban

teens (more conservative than I am, even). They would really like to have more books about

vehicles (snowmobiling, ATVs, etc.), winter sports, hunting, the military, and survival.

Amy Cheney, Alameda County Library, Juvenile Hall (Oakland, CA), Director

New to Committee

I work with students age 12-18/Reading levels preschool- Adult.

My student population is primarily African American with Latino, Asian American, Samoan, and a few Caucasian youth. My students have an average 5th grade reading level and have difficulty with comprehension.

My students favorite initial books are Coldest Winter Ever, Street Pharm, Rooftop, Drama High series and Bluford series. Many of my students have not read a book for pleasure before they were incarcerated. By the time they leave a lot of them love reading - however they don't read as much when they are "on the outs" as they do in here!

They also enjoy true stores such as Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone, Jimmy Santiago Baca's A Place to Stand, Cupcake Brown's A Piece of Cake. My students are TUFF. They are relentless about demanding books that are "real" and accurately reflect the lives of African American and Latino youth that struggle with issues on the streets such as lack of positive male role models, a system that is designed to keep them in it, etc.

Erica Cuyugan, Santa Monica Public Library (Santa Monica, CA), Young Adult Librarian

New to the Committee

I work with students in grades 6-12 in a public library setting. I work with both avid readers and some reluctant readers, but am hoping to make more connections with the schools and our local community Teen Center to get more teen perspectives.

Teens in my community are Caucasian, Latino, African-American, Asian, some Persian, and some more than one ethnicity. One of our larger neighborhoods in the city is primarily Latino.

Teens ask for a variety of genres, such as mystery/adventure, romance, fantasy, and urban lit. Some of my regular teen patrons will ONLY read manga and graphic novels. We also have teens interested in the Gossip Girl-type series, supernatural/vampire books, and edgy/urban lit. fiction, such as Push by Sapphire, any of the Ellen Hopkins books, and stories about gangs and gang life, such as Always Running by Luis Rodriguez.

Di Herald, Center for Adolescent Reading (Grand Junction, CO) Guerilla Librarian

1 year on the committee this time around (I was on the committee in the late 90s and chaired it one year)
I work with teens of middle school and high school age. I book talk and run book groups at 2 tradition high schools, a middle school for kids who have been expelled because of behavioral issues (Family Tree), an alternative high school (Opportunity School), a youth correctional facility (DYC), and a youth center (The Bistro). At the traditional high schools the kids who participate have historically been avid readers but with overcrowding I now have some reluctant readers attending because it is the only way they can stay in the library for lunch period on the days we meet. The youth center group is also filled with avid readers but we do get some RRs who are hanging out there or living in the affiliated shelter. The alternative school, middle school, and correctional facility are mostly RRs.
This community is predominatly Anglo with a substantial Hispanic population and miniscule African-American and Asian populations. DYC tends to run to 50/50 Anglo and Hispanic with an occassional African-American.
Teens ask for just about everything except historical novels. At DYC some of the most popular books in the last year have included Tyrell, Skate, Chasing Tail Lights, and anything by Julie Ann Peters. They often request poetry and nonfiction as well as mysteries, adventure, and romance. I've even had requests for westerns there. Anything gang related is banned. At Opportunity School, students loved Haters, Glass, Quad, and Safe. The kids at Family Tree realy liked True Talents and graphic novels.
This is a conservative community and teens often tell me that books have inappropriate content. Like Sally's teens, mine are often more conservative than I am. Hard core street lit is not read here but books like the ones by Paul Volponi and Ellen Hopkins are popular and considered edgy.

Jenine Lillian, The Bush School Library and UW Information School (Seattle, WA), Librarian and MLIS Lecturer

1 year on QP Committee
I work with students in 4th through 12th grade and try out books on students in MS (6th through 8th) and US (9th through 12th) at The Bush School Library. I am new this school year after having moved across the country in the fall and am building a group of teens who know about QP books and "Jenine's special cart" that they can review.
I am working with 7th and 8th grade English teachers to go into the classroom and booktalk to get reviews, cover judgements, and catch RRs where they are.
This year, I plan to infiltrate the Upper School with the help of the small group of teens who spend time with me after school in the library.
My teens like all sorts of books and especially this year's offerings of Graffiti LA, Thin, Gossip Girl's Prequel, the vampire books, Avatars and their creators, and the manga/GN. It's harder to get the RRs to read novels, but we're workin' on it. (I'm ordering a ton of books before spring!)
The school I work at is diverse and ecclectic, liberal and reading interests are varied just as after school activities are. I'm finding undercurrents of censorship among the faculty and in the library and I'm using my QP work to help address that. I'm also currently immersed in a "discussion" over the validity of GN/manga and am planning to seek those out for our new nominations as well as accessible RR non-fiction and realistic fiction as well as edgy and non-trauma fiction books---that's what my teens are looking for overall.

Debbie Fisher

This is my third year on Quick Picks-- I love it!!

I work in an urban high school of about 1000 students. It's pretty hard right now- we had a round of TB and we are not performing adequately under the mandates of No Child Left Behind. As a result, out entire school faculty has to reapply for our jobs in February as the state begins to shut us down.

On the good side, I really love my job and QP is a wonderful committee for my studets, most of whom are rr's.

My populattion is primarily Latino immigrants and all live below poverty level. Most are English Language Learners and speak at least two other language, but qutie often are not literate in any. Quite a few are illegal immigrants.

Their reading interests are as diverse as their reasons for being rr's. Students enjoy

mysteries
edgier teen stories (drugs, rape, family problems, homeless teens, foster care)
visually appealing books (photos, pop=up, 3=d) probably because they don't have a lot of exposure at home

poetry
dystopia (probably because many are on the outside looking in at our society (Amond the Hidden, Maximum Ride, House of the Scorpion)
shorter books like those published by Orca and the Bluford series by Townsend Press

There's probably more that I'm not remembering right now, but that's a start. Great "meeting" everyone! Debbie

~~Jo Caisse, Deschutes Public Library (Bend, Oregon)~~ (I'm crossing this out so it can still be read!) - Marie

This is my 3rd year on the committee. I work with a couple of correctional facilities. I also work with a high school in the area. Mostly what the teens I work with are interested in books that talk about teens like themselves-issues they can relate to; also like poetry; vampire titles.

Diane P. Monnier, Library Youth Services Consultant (Montgomery County, Maryland - Soon to be dividing my year between Tucson, AZ and Evergreen Beach, Michigan)

This is my second year on the committee although I was the administrative assistant during Di Herald's chairmanship.

I retired in August 2007 from Montgomery County Public Libraries, and I currently work with teens at two area high schools as well as at libraries in Montgomery County and Prince George's County where I get feedback on nominated books. I look forward to devloping a teen group this spring in Northern Michigan through my contacts at the Presque Isle Library and in Tucson this fall. I find the teens I work with wish to see themselves in books they are wanting to read.

Marie Slim, Teacher-Librarian, Troy High School (Fullerton, CA)

I am new to the committee, replacing Jo Caisse. I was Administrative Assistant for a couple of months in early 2008.

My QP's are my ELD (ESL) students and our "neighborhood" population. Troy is a public magnet school known for its "Troy Tech - Computer Science," IB and AP program. We service neighborhood students but also test in students from over 100 different junior highs and middle schools (some kids travel 80 miles to get to school). We have been listed in Newsweek's "Top 100 Schools" for the last 5 years or more. So there is a large "smart" population (60%), many of whom are Avid Readers, but a lot don't have time to read as we work them really hard.

But the QPs do need to have their English, Earth Science and Algebra scores raised, and reading will definitely help them boost their scores. I'm using these QP books to find out what appeals to them. I know what my QP's at my previous school enjoyed (Child Called It, Anything Tupac, anything Kurt Cobain, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Bob Marley, etc., all of the Nicholas Sparks books, Lurlene McDaniel, some Walter Dean Myers, those Lois Duncan and Caroline Cooney books, graphic novels and comic books) - I bought a lot of those.

I am new to my library and its collection. I transfered there in Summer 2007 when my good buddy Marge Cargo retired. Troy is the closest school in our district to my home and kids and the freeway.

Anyway, I have 23 Library Experience students, about 18 of whom are QP's (neighborhood and ELD and SPED kids). So they are a good test subjects. Plus I am trying to lure in my ELD kids with these new QP books too. The ELD population is mostly Latino, the Neighborhood population is mostly Latino and White, and the Troy Tech population is mostly Asian (including Indian), Pacific Islander and White. We also have a small African-American population. I forgot to mention that about 10% of our population is Special Ed, and I have been adding more books for them as well. They really like the car books, railrood books, plane books - a lot of the 600's plus the 796's (sports).

Annisha Jeffries, Cleveland Public Library, Youth Services Librarian

New to Committee (Very excited!!)

I work with middle school and teen population ages 11 -18 that is primarily African American.

Many of the teens are reluctant readers, but they can be turned around if they are given the right recommendations. Books that are popular at our library are: Graphic Novels, Realistic Fiction, DIY Craft Books, series books (Gossip Girl), Nonfiction (Post Secret), Novel Verse Poetry (Crash, Boom, Love) (Bronx Masquerade)

Right now, I'm starting a book club with a 10th grade class to get feedback for QP.

Anne Rouyer, Tompkins Square Library (New York, NY) YA Librarian/ Branch Librarian

Served one year as Quicks Picks administrative asst. Now I get to actually be a committee member
I work with teens 7th - 12th grades in small branch of the New York Public Library
My teen population is ethnically diverse although the majority would be categorized as African-American and Hispanic. They are also economically diverse as I work in a once questionable neighborhood that has now gentrified.
The teens that come into the library range from non-readers to avids. Although the majority would describe themselves as reluctants or niche readers who are reluctant to branch out. I will work with the teens in my branch as well as with an 8th grade teacher who has 1 class of students that she describes as being all reluctant readers. I also plan to visit the same juvenile detention center that Jack Martin visited.

The books that tend to be popular here are, Fiction: manga, marvel & dc comics, vampire/ supernatural, urban lit, "edgy realistic" (i.e. child abuse, rape, homeless teens, foster care etc...) and some chick-lit (Gossip Girl, The Clique) most recently my Bluford books flew off the shelves. I've also recently discovered that the "Rainbow Boys" series is being passed around and peer recommended. Non-Fiction: Japenese subculture, goth culture, drawing, make-up/fashion, skateboarding, rapper biographies, graffiti art, video/virtual gaming, Post Secret books, humor, Wicca, basketball, list books (Guiness, books of weird/obscure facts).
Only my avids read historical fiction and fantasy. I've also noticed that novels in verse have fallen in popularity only Sonya Sones' books go out - this also goes for poetry.

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Who are your Reluctant Readers