What a great idea! Why do you suppose children find reading boring? Is it because of TV, Nintendo and the like? How come you stopped? I'm curious.

Given the choice, I'd pick Evil Intentions--Horrible Science. I wonder how many of the kids will choose the poetry anthology.

I stopped reading at 12 and didn't start again until I had to for my English MA. Of course now I love it...But for a while there I was just too darn busy with computers (we're talking 1980's here...).

oh yeah... I remember now why I stopped.... Spectrum 48k+ followed by Amiga 512... Yummy!

There’s a multitude of reasons this age group stop reading for pleasure
Not even counting the demands of usual school work, 5-6 afternoons a week, sporting activities 2-3 training sessions during the week, plus a day participating, and necessary social interaction. If you want them to grow up happy, healthy, and socially capable, that’s a fair whack time.

Now consider the crap we are insisting that is appropriate reading material for them. Are we really encouraging them to read stuff they have an interest in, or do we decide what is appropriate and what is not. Now I’m not suggesting that being a responsible parent is wrong, I’m the mum, I am supposed to encourage them to read the stuff I deem appropriate.

We can find appropriate reading material if we think outside of the circle. Instead of scouting the book shops, try the newsagents. I volunteered for a program to encourage a boy that they claimed to be a non reader, I flowed the predetermined program as best as I could, but my heart just went out to this kid when he was almost in tears having to read the set text to me, the poor kid was bored witless, so I asked him what he wanted to read for me.
From then secretly pretended to read the books set then spent the last of the session and a few more hours even reading his surf magazines and his motor X mags.The language was far more advanced than the crap he was offered, and he read each of the articles without faltering. Towards the end of the program we went back to the set text and read what we had to satisfy the experts. The thing is, he had been reading all along, just not what we deemed appropriate.

I also confess to pulling out a “Pokemon” book to brush him up on his phoenix, All the kids were into the Pokemon trading cards at the time. Come to think of it, he enjoyed this so much I never did get that book back. I never once saw Pokemon on the recommended reading list.

No offense against authors, its hard work pretending to be a teenager in an era that we weren’t. Perhaps we should leave the writing of teen lit to the teens. Let’s get more teens published and we will get more teens reading. Most of the available “appropriate” teen lit talks down to them, or is full of moral coaching.. ahh do they really want to be lectured in their free time.
M teen girls love poetry, but its usually pretty tacky for our taste . We are more likely to find this as a readers contribution in a teen mag than in collection selected by 30 year olds.