Reluctant Readers

Jess-

Greetings. My name is Patrick Jones. I'm the author of the Y/A novel Things Change ( but I also write books for librarians serving teens. I'm currently working on a new book called Connecting Reluctant Teen Readers: Tips, Titles, Techniques, and Talking Points. I'd like to ask you a few questions to get your talking points as an author on how libraries can do a better job of reaching reluctant readers. By reluctant reader, I mean teen readers who can read but choose not to do so. Your expertise should go a long way to helping librarians reach reluctant readers.

On a personal note, I can also tell you that your books - as well as the story collection Concrete Candy by Appollo - are some of the most popular titles with the teens I work with in the correctional system here in Minneapolis.

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PATRICK: Your books have appeared on the Young Adult Library Services Association Quick Picks list which is aimed at reluctant readers? What do you think makes a good book for a reluctant reader?

JESS: Although somewhat of a stereotype, it's been my experience that youth who don't like to read are often "cool" or "tough" kids, and/or kids with more experience on the rougher side of life than many of their peers. Though most of my books so far have been set in U.S. inner cities, feature a cast of all black or mostly black characters, and deal with issues and situations these youth face in their daily lives ( "gangs, guns, drugs and violence") I don't think it matters a lot to many young readers -- readers of any color -- where the story is set, or what color the characters are, as long as the story is on the real and told in a way -- language, description, etc. -- that they can relate to.

This requires some degree of research and responsibility on the part of the author to keep current in regard to popular expressions, clothing, hair styes, etc. -- perhaps even drugs and weapons -- though doing this is a balancing act between what's cool this week and what might become out of date, or even uncool, between the time a book is accepted for publication and the time (often at least a year) that the book is actually out on bookstore or library shelves. Most people, regardless of age, don't realize the length of time that often passes while a book is in the publication process; and a year is a LONG time when one is in their teens.

This means that a Y/A author should try to choose language and expressions that he or she thinks will stay around for a while; or at least language and expressions that (hopefully) will not become so dated as to be "uncool," or even come to mean just the opposite of what they meant when they were cool.

A good example of a "safe" cool expression is the word "cool" itself, which has meant about the same thing since the 1950's. Indeed, "cool" even appears in several Sherlock Holmes tales, and was used even then to describe someone who was casual, brave, confident, self-reliant.

A certain amount of the usual four-letter-words, I believe, are also required to catch and hold a reluctant reader's attention; and this, too, becomes a balancing act for an author, because too many such words (or sometimes just one F-word or N-word) will either keep a book of of a school library, or get it banned later on... which has happened with several of my books.

I've been surprised to find that some very successful Y/A authors -- far more well-known than I, and with many... many... more published books -- don't even try to keep current in regard to their audience's interests, styles, issues and challenges. While these authors are unquestionably successful, I wonder how many of their books are chosen by reluctant readers?

I'm also reminded that the people who chose the "best" Y/A books, as well as the judges and panelists who give out YA book awards, are seldom, if ever, young themselves.

PATRICK: When you write, do you think about the potential book's appeal to non-readers? That is, do you try to write in a style that that easily communicates without long convoluted sentences of sophisticated vocabulary?

JESS: To some degree. However, I never try to "write down" for my perceived audience. I feel that, at least up to a point, if the story grabs a reader -- if the reader can relate to the story and the characters in it -- then he or she will accept the challenge of learning new words if necessary. One might say that I try to trick my readers into expanding their vocabularies -- even though they may not use more "sophisticated" language among their peers -- just as I try to trick them into reading by (hopefully) offering stories and characters they can identify with.

PATRICK: Do you ever get emails or letters from readers who say something like "I don't read a great deal, but I loved your book?" If so, do the readers indicate what made your book grab and keep their attention?

JESS: Hardly a week goes by in which I don't receive at least once such letter or email.

PATRICK: One of the hallmarks of a reluctant reader fiction title is that in hooks the readers within the first few pages. How important do you think the beginning of a book is in enticing the non-reader?

JESS: Hooking a reader during the first few pages, or even the very first sentence, of a book is certainly not a challenge faced only by a writer of stories for reluctant readers. Instead, it's a challenge faced by every author of virtually any kind of book, fiction or non-fiction, as well a challenge to every film director.

Most of Steven Spielberg's films are excellent examples of hooking an audience during the first few minutes of a movie. He has a superb talent for starting his films with such a bang that it not only grabs the audience, it also makes them wonder how he can possibly keep it up. In other words, how could the story, the action, get any better, more exciting?

Likewise, an author -- any author -- must make his or her readers want to keep reading to find out what happens next; and, just like a Spielberg film, an author who has opened their story with a bang is challenged to make each succeeding bang bigger and more spectacular than the last, building to some sort of nuclear explosion at the climax.

To me, one of the most deadly sins an author can commit is to let his or her readers down by ending a story with a fizzle compared to the bang they may have exploded at the beginning. I've found, for example, that Stephen King often fails me in this respect -- both in print as well as on screen -- building his tales toward an expected spectacular climax that (for me, at least) is all too often a damp firecracker rather than a cluster bomb. While an author may get away with this once -- enticing a reader through a book with the expectation of an exciting ending, but failing to deliver -- I don't think it likely that such a disappointed reader with choose another book by the same author. Once burned, twice careful.

PATRICK: If we're going to connect with reluctant readers,we need to understand what makes them "reluctant" to read. What do you think are the primary factors that many teens choose not to read for pleasure?

JESS: It seems funny now that back in the 1960s and 70s when I grew up, just about everyone read books... from the coolest, baddest dudes on the block to the nerdiest geek at school. I remember a gun-toting gangster type acquaintance of mine (age 14) reading aloud to me from The Hobbit one late rainy night while we were smoking Kools and drinking beer.

However, back in those days there simply weren't all the alternatives to reading as now -- vid games, web surfing, a hundred TV channels, I-pods, etc. While this society has unquestionably"dumbed down its youth (as well as its adult population) during the last few decades, it's my belief that a lot of kids don't read simply because there are so many, less intellectually-demanding alternatives.

Not only are there so many visual and electronic alternatives to reading, but many of these are merely vignettes instead of complete stories -- short, simple, pre-digested bytes that don't make much of a demand upon a viewer's attention span. MTV is one of the worst offenders in this respect, offering little more than mini-bytes of easy-to-swallow spectacular fluff... most of which are forgotten as soon as the next byte appears on the screen.

Such bytes require less of an attention span on the part of a viewer than an average-length classic cartoon. Additionally, there is almost no commitment required on the part of the viewer -- he or she already knows that what they are seeing now will be over in a minute -- and should he or she become bored, they can always change the channel.

On the other hand, reading a book requires a certain amount of commitment of both time and attention, as well as the ability to retain information -- what has happened so far in the tale.

Simply said, this society has shortened its children's attention spans to the point were reading a book has become work instead of pleasure.

PATRICK: Any other comments?

JESS: It's sadly ironic that many reluctant young readers first learn to read and enjoy books in prison... simply because there are few, if any, alternatives. In fact, being denied access to books is often used as punishment in prisons. I sometimes wonder if reading was outlawed -- as it was for black people back in the days of U.S. slavery -- or if buying a book was as cool as scoring a sixer of beer or a new rap CD, then reading might become cool for kids again.