Young adults are defined by the American Library Association as youth aged 12 through 18.  Because there are no typical young adults, it is hard to purchase and promote materials geared toward one specific audience.  Just like the students I interviewed, today’s young adults are defined by heritage, environment, and individuality.  All five students I interviewed had various answers for each question.  Young adults today are interested in sports, music, academics, drama and sometimes more than one of those at a time.  It is a challenge today to find the right books to appeal to such a wide variety of interests.  One way to overcome this challenge is to listen and find out what young adults  like to read.  Observing what students are checking out and reading is another excellent way to determine what they like to read.

Young Adult Reading Preferences

I interviewed three males and two females between the ages of sixteen and seventeen. I found that most of the students I interviewed would rather read a novel than an informational book.  Some of their favorite authors were Nicholas Sparks, J.K. Rowlings, Ayn Rand, and Susanne Collins. Treasue Island, The Last Song, The End (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 13), and Anthem  were listed as some of the best books they had read. Most of the students chose Facebook as their preferred Internet reading site.  Technology, mythology, modern warfare, historical fiction, adventure, and sports were some of topics they would like to read about.  The student responses were as different as the personalities of each student.

Illustrator: Kevin Henkes

Kevin Henkes is an author-illustrator who has written about characters such as Lilly, Chester, and Chrysanthemum in his mouse books series.  He has written and illustrated picture books such as Little White Rabbit, Kitten’s First Full Moon and My Garden.  Kevin is the author of a number of novels including Olive’s Ocean and Bird Lake Moon.  He became an author-illustrator at the age of nineteen.  Kevin said that he loved drawing from an early age and that his parents and teachers told him he was good at it…that made him love drawing even more.  I look forward to learning more interesting facts about Kevin Henkes as I complete the illustrator project.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

I loved reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret so much that I had a hard time putting it down.  I felt like I was watching a silent movie as the illustrations picked up where the written words stopped. Brian Selznick throws the reader into a world of magic and dreams. This heartfelt story is thrilling to the end as Hugo finally realizes his dreams.  My daughter read this book in the fourth grade and loved it as well.  I would love to read more books by Brian Selznick.