GRAND Magazine - January 2009 - (Page 16)

tips on teens Weekly readers By Ruth NathaN Despite the bad rep, teenagers do read— and here are their current favorites. I magiNe a slew of teeNs, say from 12 to 17, jump- ing up and down holding car wash signs just daring you to pass by. If you’re a grandparent, consider such a site pure salvation. First, they do a heck of a job. More important, we have real kids before us who don’t belong to us (nor us to them) and who are willing to talk about anything! So, just get out, and while those dogooders wash your car, attack the rest, experts all, with reasonable questions about what kind of books to buy your grand teen. Even though I’m a literacy expert and I know a lot about young adult literature, times change so fast, this is exactly what I’ve been doing: asking teens about great books. Nonfiction gets slighted in all the booklists for this age group, but at the car wash, that assessment was totally off base. Alex, a 15-year-old sophomore, just finished Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin—“about a guy who goes to Pakistan, gets caught by the Taliban, but eventually comes to love the country.” His friends “eat” political books, says he, especially about the wars in Iraq, so Jarhead by Anthony Swofford is another favorite. Consider, too, In Pharaoh’s Army (Vietnam) by Tobias Wolff, and The Face of Battle by John Keegan, a book about three historic battles (1415, 1815 and 1916). Tato, a 16-year-old junior, like her girlfriends, loves autobiographies and “couldn’t put Marley & Me down.” This is the story of the American journalist John Grogan and his family’s experiences with their uncontrollable Labrador. Loved, too, was The Glass Castle, the autobiographical story of a girl and her homeless family by Jeannette Walls. Many of the girls treasure series books, like the vampire-based fantasy-romance-horror Twilight series, by Stephanie Meyer. Bella Swan is the adventurous teen protagonist who falls in love with Edward, a vampire. Needless to say, her life turns upside down. Teens will enjoy the blogs other teens have created around this book. (Check out, for example, www.freewebs.com/ twilightserieslovers/) There are other trends the car wash kids didn’t mention, but you’ll see kids who hang around chain bookstores reading manga—thick black and white comic books from Japan. Now we’re talking graphic novel, a book in which plot and characterization are developed by both art and text. The appeal comes from teens’ earlier cartoon days, where animated manga (anime) characters filled their airwaves. Many of us are familiar with Art Spiegelman’s groundbreaking Maus: A Survivor’s Tale— a graphic novel about the Holocaust that has found its way into most school libraries! A few titles I saw in kids’ hands were Good-Bye Marianne, by Irene Watts, illustrations by Kathryn Shoemaker; Town Boy, by Lat; Watchmen (winner of the Hugo Award), by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and John Higgins; and Ethel & Ernest: A True Story, by Raymond Briggs (yes, the author of The Snowman). 16 GRAND JANUARY 2009 http://www.freewebs.com/twilightserieslovers/ http://www.freewebs.com/twilightserieslovers/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GRAND Magazine - January 2009

GRAND�Magazine - January 2009
Grand View
Contents
Isn't it Grand?
Grand Central
Tips on Teens
Grand Gestures
Toddler Town
Help! My Grandson's Being Raised Vegan!
Cover Story: Casualties
Leader of the Pack
Reunions
Together Time
Resources
Grand Finale

GRAND Magazine - January 2009