What Kids Read #2

Today we have the second interview for What Kids Read! Enjoy!

1.) What grades/age groups do you work with?
I am a librarian at a public high school, and I work with grades 9-12.

2.) What are some of your favorite kid lit books?
It's so hard to narrow it down to just a few favorites! I love anything by John Green, and Paper Towns is my all-time favorite YA novel. I also love anything by Andrew Smith; The Marbury Lens and Stick are my favorite of his books.


3.) What genres/topics do kids seem to ask for the most?
It really varies by student, although currently sci-fi and fantasy are the most requested genres in the library. In the last year or so, more and more students are asking for contemporary fiction and romance.


4.) What book titles are the most popular right now? 
I ran the report, and right now, here are our most popular titles: The Fault in Our Stars, Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska (first three by John Green), Tsubasa (graphic novel series) by CLAMP, Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, The Maze Runner series by James Dashner, Escape from Furnace series by Alexander Gordon Smith, Divergent series by Veronica Roth, Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye, Chronicles of Nick series by Sherrilyn Kenyon, and Gone series by Michael Grant.


5.) What do kids seem to like the least or what do kids complain about when it comes to books?   
I have found that students don't like books where the plot is unclear or where they dislike the main character. Also, most students have a hard time getting through books with non-American slang (like British slang, for instance).


6.) What gets kids excited about reading? 
Kids love books with tons of action, likable characters, and funny dialogue. They also like books with edgy components, like those by Ellen Hopkins. Most students enjoy reading series and really getting to know the characters.


7.) If you've had author visits at your library/classroom what worked well and what didn't?
We had a Skype visit with a popular author a few months ago. We wrote out our questions ahead of time, and it went wonderfully well! He was engaging, and had prepared a little motivational talk about reading and writing which he presented before opening it up to questions. The kids loved it and can't wait to get their hands on all of his books! The technology didn't work perfectly, but that had more to do with our WiFi connection than anything.


8.) Are there any other thoughts about children's literature or reading you'd like to share?
Authors should never "hold back" when it comes to writing YA. For  most of the students I work with, the edgier, the better!

If you are a librarian, teacher, or educator and would like to be interviewed on the blog please email MGminded (at) gmail (dot) com and put "What Kids Read" in the subject line. And if you have questions about what kids read that you'd like answered send them to the same email address.