by Tina Pepito

Created on: August 21, 2007

Unfortunately, most teenagers don't read regularly because there are far too many options available to occupy their time. Let's face it, there is tv, dvd's, video games, the Internet, ipods, music videos, myspace, cellphones, the mall, part time jobs, going out to the movies, and even sports. Unless the book is entertaining or able to capture their attention early on they seem to lose interest quickly. How many times have students had to read a book in school and write a report about what they read? The thought of having to read the book is a dreadful one. It is equally as hard having to write about it or to speak about it in front of their classmates.

When my children were small I used to buy them books and read to them on a regular basis. As they got a little older, and were in grade school, we would take trips to the library where they would choose their own books and bring them home to read. They enjoyed browsing the many different types of books and being able to make their own selections. Once they entered high school their motivation to read, other than mandatory books assigned at school, slowly started to diminish.

However, don't lose faith. When my son was a teenager he started to read and collect comic books. One year for Christmas my husband and I bought him the Spiderman hardback book which told the whole story of Spiderman, his family, how he got his super powers, and the details of all of his arch enemies and how they came about.
We would also play games of Scrabble and Upwords which prompted competition between him and his sisters and encouraged him to read the dictionary to find high scoring words to use on the board game. After graduating from high school he joined the Navy and became very health conscious. He started working out and watching what he ate which led to reading men's fitness magazines. To this day, at age 28, he has remained competitive and reads many different types of books quite often.

As for my daughters, when they were teenagers, I would get them a subscription to a magazine of their choice such as Seventeen Magazine, Teen Vogue, or YM. I also bought them crossword puzzle books or books with brain teasers because I knew that if it was fun and held their attention long enough there was a good chance that they would want to continue reading and increasing their brain power. Reading, whether it be from a book, newspaper article, magazine, or comic book, is reading nonetheless.

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