What were they reading today and 70 years ago?
Image by Mystic Art Design from Pixabay
The pages of the classics are enjoying a rebirth.
One of the top books teens have been reading this year is One of Us Lying (2017), part of a book series by Karen M. McManus, focused on mystery and suspense that has been turned into a very popular mini-series.
Other titles that people have been picking up in 2021 include the fantasy book, Six of Crows (2015) by Leigh Bardugo, and the historical favorite The Book Thief (2005) by Markus Zusak (see https://the-armijo-signal.com/?p=26448).
Books don’t have to be new to be appealing to a young adult audience. They just have to be engaging. Some trending coming-of-age books reviewed recently by teens on TikTok include The Outsiders (1967) by S.E. Hinton, They Both Die at the End (2017) by Adam Silvera, Speak (1999) by Laurie Halse Anderson, We Were Liars (2014) by E. Lockhart, The Fault in Our Stars (2012) by John Green, and The Hate U Give (2017) by Angie Thomas (see https://the-armijo-signal.com/?p=26520). Many of these have book have been adapted into movies or series, creating a way for teens to see more about what they read and compare the creativity of the author and the filmmaker.
Things were a lot different in the 1950’s. The books that impacted the decade were The Grass is Singing (1950) by Doris Lessing, The Old Man and The Sea (1952) by Ernest Hemingway, The Price of Salt (1952) by Patricia Highsmith, The Invisible Man (1897) by H.G. Wells and The Borrowers (1952) by Mary Norton. Several of those books are still read in schools and for pleasure today.
One book read by teens then and now is The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J.D. Salinger, a book with angst and alienation that can be interpreted as the loss of innocence, a theme we can relate to today. This book was one of many published in the 1950s that was later banned.
Some other books that are still popular today, possible because they had also been banned in some areas at some time, include Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) by James Baldwin, Fahrenheit 451 (1953) by Ray Bradbury, and The Lord of the Rings (in 1954) by J.R.R. Tolkien, a book series that was adapted into a successful film series in the early 2000’s.
Even though there are so many genres out there, some of the most popular genres for teens or young adults this year were coming-of-age, fantasy and classics. Now people read what teens read in the 50’s as classics. Reading is still a popular pastime and should still be encouraged as a healthy hobby.
