Text Messages: Recommendations for Adolescent Readers

Listen Now | iTunes Subscription | RSS Feed

Episode 3—Life's Journeys: Help along the Way
Adolescent readers may already be familiar with the important roles mentors play in their own lives and in some narratives, especially movies. Recent movies such as Surf's Up and Cars, and more classic films such as Star Wars and The Karate Kid, feature prominent adolescent-mentor relationships.

These movies can provide the starting point for your recommendation of one or more of the titles in this episode's podcast. Tap into teen and preteen readers' interest in adolescent-mentor relationships with these recommendations!

Featured Title: 47 by Walter Mosley (Little, Brown, 2005)

47 is a strange and wonderful combination of historical fiction and science fiction. A young slave known only as "47" is guided to maintain his dignity while never taking way that of another by a mysterious mentor named Tall John. Readers who enjoy this title may want to check out some of the books recommended in Text Messages Episode 2: Teen Time Travel, as well.

In the podcast, Scott recommends talking about what readers expect from historical fiction and science fiction. Download and print this ReadWriteThink Genre Characteristics resource to get that conversation started!

Additional Recommendations

• Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya (Grand Central, 1973)
• The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper Perennial, 1988)
• Zach's Lie by Roland Smith (Hyperion, 2001)
• One Shot by Susan Glick (Henry Holt, 2003)
• Akeelah and the Bee, wirtten and directed by Doug Atchison (Spelling Bee Productions, 2006)

Published May 2, 2008

About the Host

Scott Filkins, who firmly believes that reading a good book is one of life’s great joys, worked with a diverse group of teens for nine years as a high school English teacher.

Committed to finding the right books for the readers in his classes, Scott worked with his school librarian to provide engaging reading material for all his students and would frequently buy popular books for independent reading time in his classroom. He started an after school book club called Readers and Leaders to encourage reading outside the classroom. Scott also volunteers for an organization that provides free books to prisoners in the state of Illinois.