How do we get teens to fall in love with books?

Nowadays we’re often told teenagers don’t read much; as an author that naturally concerns me. So how do we persuade reluctant young people to try reading, thus gaining the pleasure and benefits it brings?

Last year, Malorie Blackman, the bestselling children’s author and former Children’s Laureate, said that the main aim of teenage books should be to entertain their readers. Society needed to, in her words, “reposition books back as a core part of the entertainment arena.”

Mulling that over, I recalled how, when in a local park last winter, I noticed a boy walking with his parents. He looked nine or ten, and there was a look of absolute wonder and excitement on his face. That was what writing for teenagers and children was all about, I realised: cultivating a sense of wonder for the world you have created in your book and excitement about what is happening in it.

So we need to entertain teens to attract them to books, but is that all?

Teens, at a subconscious level, want to read books in which characters something like themselves make their own decisions on important matters, not just trivial ones, and improve the world and other people’s lives. For instance, teenagers in books often have to sort out the mess made by adults of the world or universe. In doing so, they feel a warm glow of superiority over we adults.

What it comes down to is empowerment. I believe the books which teenagers like make them feel that they matter, that the world would be a poorer place without them. This boosts their self-confidence in a constructive way – not like some videogames (see my blog post “Why do some adolescents risk their lives so casually?” https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/6348673-why-do-some-adolescents-risk-their-lives-so-casually) – which they often lack.

Or, looked at from a slightly different viewpoint, popular teen books start off with despair or fear but end up giving their readers hope – not necessarily a happy ending, but a chance for a better future.

That’s something we can all understand, whether adult or adolescent, can’t we?