Reading books for teens’ summer reading

Summer holidays are usually about enjoying days without school (for students) and no homework. However, if students don’t do anything for the whole summer, they are easily going to forget what they’ve studied. This is especially true about their language skills. To be able to save and develop various language skills, one should continue to study at least 15-30 minutes a day. So, what are some engaging ways to hold teenagers’ attention and have them practice English regularly? Reading books and, which is even more exciting, watching movies based on those books. Plus, they are free to compare the storyline with the images they see on the screen.

Here are some thought-provoking questions you can ask them to discuss:

1. Which is better: the book or the movie? Why?
2. Do you usually read the book first and then watch the movie or vice versa?
3. If the book is bad, would you watch the movie? (If the movie is bad, would you still read the book?)
4. Do you imagine possible movie characters when reading a book?  Do they always match your imagination?
5. Do you depict characters’ voices when reading? Do these voices sometimes match actors’ voices in movies?

Reading Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Everything by Nicola Yoon

The outbreak of Covid-19 has brought a lot of changes to the world, and these aren’t going to be forgotten or abandoned soon. People have massively started living their lives virtually: Zoom conference calls, Zoom parties, distance learning and so on. The slogan for this year is “don’t touch”, “stay away”. Before those words had become horrifyingly popular, a novel Everything Everything was published. It talks about a young girl who has an unusual disease that prevents her from going out, touching people and doing so many things teenagers enjoy doing. Is she going to continue living the same dull, full of taboos life when she falls in love with a boy who lives in a house across the street? Can she still have an ordinary life where one can hug, kiss, run and dance in the rain? Find out about this by reading the book and also watching the movie based on it. Of course, you can turn this into a discussion where your students decide which is better: the novel or the movie and how they are different.

By the way, the playlist of the movie is quite catchy and relatable, especially the first line of the song Running by Naughty Boy ft. Beyoncé, Arrow Benjamin which starts with “These four lonely walls have changed the way I feel”.

Reading Five Feet Apart  by Mikki Daughtry, Rachael Lippincott, and Tobias Iaconis

Five Feet Apart  by Mikki Daughtry, Rachael Lippincott, and Tobias Iaconis

Another story where a couple can’t touch each other and have to stay five feet (a meter) apart. They both suffer from cystic fibrosis and spend a considerable part of their lives in hospitals where they actually meet. This book and the movie brought awareness about this illness to the world. Many people learned about this scary diagnosis and all the struggles patients with cystic fibrosis have to go through. Yet, above all, they are individuals with captivating personalities, their own interests, minds, and opinions. They also do fall in, break up, make friends, listen to sad music when feeling down in the dumps. They are your ordinary teenagers with extraordinary lives in which they have to fight every single day. By the way, your students would be interested to know that there’s a real person behind Stella’s character who inspired the author. Clare’s YouTube channel is still there, you can go there and check some of her heart-rending and life-approving videos.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

There’s another well-known story about teenagers who are meant to die. Cancer gradually steals the lives from 17 year old teenagers who seem to be too smart and too mature for their age. Now this novel is considered to be one of «the classics of Young Adult and teenage prose”. You can check it for yourself. The well known phrase «okay?» «okay» and «let okay be our always» are now on mugs, T-shirts, pins, bags, they are everywhere. That’s how popular the story is but don’t be put off by this. Mainstream doesn’t equal something bad or trashy. The novel and the movie are both full of wisdom and belief in life.

Reading Paper Towns by John Green

Paper Towns by John Green 

John Green, the author of The Fault in Our Stars, has written quite a few stories about teenagers. One of them is Paper Towns. The slogan of the movie sounds like «Get Lost. Get Found».  It carries both direct and figurative meaning. The main heroine Margot has been lost and her friends are trying to find her, but they also seem to be finding themselves in this adventurous journey. This is a story about finding out who we are. The crisis of identity generally happens more than once through the life course, however, when you are a teenager you feel it too deeply.

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Nicola Yoon, who’s also the author of the first book in our list, has recently published a book about…teenagers. And love. And New York. And identity crises. And fathers’ and children’s issues. And immigration issues. And the choices that matter. Basically, this is all you are looking for in a summer book in one package.

If you are still not convinced, watch the trailer for this movie. People of all ages and tastes get hooked by it. If you aren’t, start with the book.

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Ha

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

If you think this list isn’t romantic enough (well, maybe) here’s a book that is going to fix that. Lara Jean, never confessed her love to any of her crushes but instead she wrote them letters. Then she put the letters into a box and hid them under her bed. One fine day she finds out her letters had somehow miraculously reached all of the addressees. This book was followed by two sequels. The first one was released on Netflix in August 2018.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The main character of the previous story was a girl. In this one, however, it is a boy. Your ordinary teenager who is faced with school problems, occasional quarrels with parents, first love issues and things that we all come across in our life.  Even though the story is quote ordinary, it isn’t boring. As a teenager reading this book you can relate to all of the little and big stories that happen to Charlie. You can understand what he’s talking about, you can understand his problems and his decisions. It’s now called The Catcher in the Rye for a new generation for a good reason. I’m almost positive  your teenage students will like the characters and the book, and if they don’t, you’ll have a great chance to train their critical thinking and debate a few things.

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

The movie based on the book was initially released on February 28, 2020 on Netflix. It’s a brand-new story about not so brand-new things. Two teenagers meet each other and fall in love. As simple as that but there are stories they have in their pasts that don’t let them move on, dark places they would never want to go back to. And bright places they discover through the course their lives take. The bright places they create and share with each other, the bright places that inspire them and help them feel more alive than ever. This movie will certainly resonate with teens who have been through depression and tough times.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

The key idea of this book as well as the movie is on the poster. «Everyone deserves a great love story, everyone deserves to feel love and to be loved». You can be sure that this last book in our list won’t leave anyone indifferent. The feelings it provokes in a reader are worth sharing and discussing. The perspective it shows is worth to be seen and recognized.

Reading books in English boosts one’s language skills enormously but it’s crucial to read something that your teenage students can relate to. Hope this list of books will grasp their interest and, of course, help them remember English even without regular classes.