A guest post from Emily Morrow of This is Teen, an initiative that connects teens with their favorite Scholastic authors and books, building a community of readers.
As a member of Scholastic’s This is Teen team, I love to read young adult books every week of the year, but Teen Read Week is a week that is especially near and dear to my heart.
Teen Read Week was created by the Young Adult Library Services Association to encourage teens to be regular readers and library users.
At Scholastic, we know it’s not only teens who read YA books. And we also know that teens don’t only read YA books. But no matter the genre, content, or subject matter, we think it is vitally important that teens read. Period.
Being a teenager is hard. You’re growing in a thousand different directions, you have to start making important decisions, and you just have SO. MANY. EMOTIONS. But the fabulous thing about reading (and this goes for adults, too), is it gives you an escape. YA books are my escape of choice because no matter what time, world, or city they’re set in, they perfectly capture what it means and what it feels like to be growing up.
When I was in high school, getting lost in a book meant that for an hour or so, I could forget to worry about whether or not that guy in biology liked me (he did), if my hair looked bad (it definitely did), or if I should go to the big Saturday night party (I didn’t, probably because I was reading). And that is just so cool.
The theme of this year’s Teen Read Week is “Seek the Unknown @ your library,” which is incredibly appropriate. Simply put, books are the best way to travel!
Check out This is Teen’s Pinterest board for some of our favorite YA books that explore the unknown! Our list includes:
- Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce
- The Boy on the Bridge by Natalie Standiford
- A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty
- Endangered by Eliot Schrefer
- Inhuman by Kat Falls
- The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
- The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
If you love YA books too, don’t forget to follow This is Teen on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest!
