Books Under 200 Pages

If your library is anything like mine, there's always a few people for whom the length of the book, rather than the genre, plot, characters and other elements that make up the story, is the most important factor when selecting a book.  You know who I'm talking about...The fourteen-year-old boy who is soccer-obsessed, but would rather read Angela Johnson than Mal Peet.  The twelve-year-old super-sleuth who you just know would love The Mysterious Benedict Society, but she sticks to the shorter Enola Holmes mysteries.

Should you encourage them to expand their reading horizons?  Of course.  But what if you're in a pinch?  Thankfully, Angela Leeper has created a list of Books Under 200 Pages for just such occasions.  It's not an extensive list (20 titles under 200 page and 5 under 225), but it's a start.

Books by Harry Mazer and Dean Hughes work well with my 6th grade boys.  Gina McMurchy-Barber's Free as a Bird has also been quite popular with both my 7th grade girls who LOVE to read, and also those who avoid it like the plague.  What other titles under or around 200 pages do you recommend?

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Unsuitable Books for Teens

Once in a while, a book comes along that is so inappropriate in so many ways - drugs, sex, abuse, disrespect of authority, lack of consequences, vulgar language - that it just shouldn't be read by anyone under the age of 18.  And so, naturally, it is read in droves by exactly that same group of people.  This explains why in sixth grade, my friends and I were addicted to V.C. Andrews.  (Though I still can't explain why my devout Catholic mother read and owned those books AND allowed me to read her entire collection and share it with friends.  Of course, she's a librarian too and encourages people to read whatever they love, so I guess it makes some sense.)

Anyway, all this is to say that Patrick Ness has created a list of his Top 10 'Unsuitable' Books for Teenagers. While V.C. Andrews didn't make the official list, I was especially delighted to see Stephen King's The Stand, which I read in 7th grade, after watching the miniseries (Rob Lowe's return to stardom!) on TV with my family.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Reaching Reluctant Readers with the Bluford Series

I'll be honest and start this post out with an acknowledgement that I have never actually read any of the Bluford Series. From what I understand, they're a HiLo (high interest, low reading level) series designed for urban middle and high schoolers. The books depict characters in situations reflective of the urban experience - choosing between earning an honest buck or turning to dealing, staying in school or dropping out, the dangers of gang violence.

Even though I haven't read any of them myself* I can attest to knowing many urban teachers who use this series with their middle school students. And the kids LOVE these books. They can't get enough of them. The most reluctant of readers in my friend Jonathan's sixth grade special education class absolutely devours these books and anxiously awaits new titles. And Jonathan's not the only one who's experienced success with this series. Middle school librarian Sara Stevenson shares the story of her Bluford High Boys in a comic retelling about her Bluford High Book Club.

Oh, and did I mention that they cost only $1 each? Or that there's a Teacher's Guide (which sells or $15 on its own, but is also available in the boxed set, which includes all 15 titles for only $20?) Or that the publisher, Townsend Press, also publishes a collection of classics that also cost only $1 each? Now there's a gateway drug on which we should all hope to get our teens hooked.

Which leads me to ask, as I'll be starting at a middle school library in the fall...What books are your reluctant readers - suburban, urban or rural - reluctant to put down?

* I'm planning to purchase multiple box sets for the resource room I'm managing this summer and will read the series during my off/down time - pending the books are actually checked-in, which I'm sure they won't be, because the middle schoolers of Chicago will love them, and I'm not one to put myself between a teen and his/her reading.