title: Connecting with Reluctant Teen Readers: Tips, Titles, and Tools
author:  Patrick Jones 
description: Well written and well researched, this practical hands-on guide to defining and wooing reluctant readers is a must-read for librarians and teachers who work with adolescents. It is divided into three parts: "Tips That Work," "Titles That Work," and "Tools That Work." Reluctant readers are identified and interviewed as to why they do not want to read, and techniques are suggested for guiding them through required reading. Books that will engage nonreaders are listed by category, such as science fiction and fantasy, graphic novels, audiobooks, biography, and changing bodies. Among the many helpful lists are "Best Forty Magazines for Reluctant Readers" and "Turnaround Titles-Fifty-Seven Varieties of Great Reading Experiences." And there is a wonderful chapter on booktalking. A 12-question reading survey will enable librarians to ask their students about their reading interests and to provide feedback when planning programs or purchasing new materials.&mdash;<I>Kathleen A. Nester, Downingtown High Ninth Grade Center, PA</I> <BR>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  _To all the readers_
  
  
  _who assumed I’d lost my teeny,_
  
  
  _tiny mind after_ Unfinished,
  
  
  _but hung in anyway, my deepest thanks._
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Acknowledgments
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Where, oh where to begin? For starters, book ten? Book _ten_? Holy Fritos,
  Batman. Even as I typed that I felt my jaw sag. Book ten? How’d that happen?
  Am I proud? Am I freaked? Am I taking a bow? Am I talking to myself, and more
  important, can I stop? Or am I just ducking away from a well-deserved smack?
  
  
  
  
  
  So, ten books! Weird. This is proof that goofing off in high school and not
  going to college were excellent decisions on my part. Who’s laughing now,
  Honor Society? Huh?
  
  
  
  
  
  Anyway, thanks for reading ’em.
  
  
  
  
  
  Thanks also to my terrific assistant, Tracy “You Don’t Scare Me” Fritze. She
  knows exactly what she’s getting into (for two years now!), yet she keeps
  coming back. It’s baffling to me.
  
  
  
  
  
  My folks, for telling strangers about my books and urging people they’ve never
  met to buy them. 