Text Messages: Recommendations for Adolescent Readers

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Episode 7 — Making Sense of Series Books in Young Adult Literature

Series books provide a particular kind of reading enjoyment for teens. But with so many popular series to choose from, readers may not know how to find quality stories amidst the great number of commercial products available. This episode offers insight into the different kinds of series books out there, followed by recommendations of truly memorable series and companion books that will hook teen readers and stand the test of time.

After listening to this episode, be sure to print out this list of recommended titles to take to the library or book seller.

Recommendations in this episode include

Series Books

• The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown and Co., 2005 - 2008)
  
• The Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse, 2005 - 2007)
  
• The Tomorrow When the War Began Series (Scholastic, 1995 - 2002) and The Ellie Chronicles (Scholastic, 2007 - 2009) by John Marsden
• The Larry Books by Janet Tashjian (Holt, 2001 - 2008)
• The Gingerbread Books by Rachel Cohn (Simon & Schuster, 2002 - 2007)
• The Weetzie Bat Books (also known as Dangerous Angels) by Francesca Lia Block (HarperCollins, 1989 - 1995)
  

Companion Books

• Hard Love and Love and Lies by Ellen Wittlinger (Simon & Schuster, 1999 and 2008)
  
• Tyrell and Kendra by Coe Booth (Scholastic, 2007 and 2008)
  
• Life as We Knew It and The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Harcourt, 2006 and 2008)
  
• Fighting Ruben Wolfe and Getting the Girl by Markus Zusak (Arthur A. Levine, 2001 and 2003)

Published September 29, 2008

About the Host

Jennifer Buehler taught English for ten years before earning a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan’s Joint Program in English and Education. As a high school teacher, she developed an 800-book classroom library designed to engage and inspire her ninth grade students as readers. Watching students select reading materials led Jennifer to expand her own reading accordingly, allowing her to match books successfully with teens’ wide-ranging tastes and interests.

As a teacher consultant with the Eastern Michigan Writing Project, Jennifer regularly led workshops on young adult literature for parents, area teachers, and students in university methods classes. Now Assistant Professor of English Education at Saint Louis University, Jennifer teaches classes on English methods and young adult literature. She is an active member of NCTE's Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN), and she served on ALAN’s first Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee.