Sharing the Fun of Reading for Pleasure
Convincing our students that reading for pleasure is actually a thing and something people (not just English teachers) do is probably one of the biggest goals we have as English teachers and also one of our biggest challenges. There’s a good chance we became English teachers because we love to read, because it’s our hobby. And yet so few of our students feel the same way. They are resistant to our best efforts to change their opinions, convinced, instead, that reading is torturous and to be avoided at all costs.
While there are numerous strategies for promoting reading for pleasure, we’re going for easy. Start recommending books students will enjoy. We’ve found that our high school students, especially those most resistant to the idea of reading for pleasure, often gravitate toward realistic books, ones that involve situations or circumstances they can relate to. What could be more relatable, or play more into the fears of teens everywhere, than having your deepest secrets leaked to your classmates or being the center of a town scandal?
To help promote reading for pleasure in your classroom, we’re sharing six titles about the horrors of having your secrets leaked at school. Your students will enjoy witnessing the trauma and drama while feeling grateful they’re not experiencing the embarrassment themselves.
6 YA Books to Promote Reading for Pleasure
Beckett and her family are already the focus of too much attention since her dad died of a drug overdose less than a year ago. But when Beckett discovers the abandoned body of a newborn baby in her boyfriend’s gym bag in the school locker room, things get much, much worse. The dramatic premise drew us into this book, but it was unexpectedly poignant and thought-provoking.
Beckett is a likable narrator, and her experiences highlight themes relating to grief, family, trust, friendship, addiction, and teen pregnancy. We won’t say much else here because spoilers (!), but we couldn’t put it down, and we think your students will like it, too.
Journals are often touted as an excellent means of stress relief, and Quinn uses hers to make lots of lists. Including a list of boys she’d like to kiss and a list of “Things That I Would Never Admit Out Loud.” Just the sorts of things she doesn’t want posted on Instagram. So when one of her lists shows up there, she has to take on seven of her biggest fears to prevent her blackmailer from leaking more pages (all while trying to track down the culprit).
As is often the case in good young adult fiction (and, really, in life), facing these fears helps Quinn grow more confident in her already pretty amazing self, and she’ll maybe discover love along the way. (Because isn’t that always how it happens in YA books?)
Ronson’s nonfiction book explores the nature of public shaming: what it is, why we do it, how it affects the objects of shaming. He interviews multiple people who have been subject to high-profile public shamings and analyzes our use of it as a means of social control (and his book was published in 2016, before “cancel culture” became a regular part of our vocabulary).
It’s been a while since we read it, but we still vividly remember his comparison of public Internet shamings to the use of 19th-century stockades, where the criminal was displayed publicly for everyone to see. Ronson comments that the power of the stockade to humiliate its victims was where it found its effectiveness as a form of punishment. Ronson’s book has only become more relevant with time, and it’s a great choice for AP Language teachers trying to push their students toward reading nonfiction (for pleasure, of course).
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Liv Rodinsky needs a softball scholarship in order to be able to attend college, and she’s on the right track playing for the Windsor Preparatory School team. But when she throws a punch at a player from Northland High School, she’s forced to leave her private school and attend her local public school . . . Northland.
Given her situation, the Northland coach is reluctant to let her join the softball team, and she has to prove her ability to be a part of a team by participating in a fall and winter sport. Liv finds herself playing backup quarterback for the school football team, placing her directly in the public eye (even more than she already was after her fight).
A combination of high school drama, underdog sports story, and teen romance, the novel is a light, easy read with well-developed characters and family relationships.
Students are likely familiar with the Netflix adaptations of this book (and its sequels), even if they haven’t already read the book. But the story of a girl who writes secret love letters to her crushes only to discover that someone has mailed them out? How could this not fit into our “high school embarrassment” list? Lara Jean is so relatable as she navigates the embarrassment and finds herself in a fake relationship with Peter Kavinsky.
We, and our students, enjoyed the original and the sequels (something that doesn’t always happen when it comes to young adult series!).
Andie is determined to get into one of the country’s top medical schools, and her summer pre-med internship is a crucial next step. That is, until her dad becomes involved in a public political scandal and her internship is revoked. Now Andie’s facing a summer she wasn’t expecting: stuck at home, forced to spend time with her dad, employed as a dog walker.
As the summer goes on, however, it turns out to be a valuable learning experience for Andie as she’s forced to work on a variety of relationships in her life, and she learns it’s not the end of the world when things don’t go according to plan.
What books have worked for you when promoting reading for pleasure in your classroom? Better yet, what high cringe-factor books have we missed? Reach out to us at hello@threeheads.works or on Instagram @threeheads.works.
Looking for YA books to suggest to your students or use for your own FCF activity? Check out the YA book section of our website for all our recommendations.