Do you ever wonder how to keep teens reading—joyfully, deeply, and on their own terms? In this conversation with Brave Writer Director of Publishing Dawn Smith, we explore practical ways to sustain a teen’s love of books: continuing read-alouds, using buddy-reading systems with sticky-note annotations, deciding when a movie should come before (or after) the book, and leveraging picture books, audiobooks, and graphic adaptations as scaffolds into harder texts. We also share a simple framework for building teen book lists—evaluating a single title, the mix across a year, and the overall “reading diet”—so families preserve joy while expanding range and rigor.

Resources:

Find Jim Trelease’s The Read-Aloud Handbook in the Brave Writer Book Shop
Check out our Boomerang and Slingshot guides for teens: https://blog.bravewriter.com/2024/05/30/2024-2025-mechanics-literature-programs/
Fall class registration is open!
Visit Julie’s Substack to find her special podcast for kids (and a lot more!)
Purchase Julie’s new book, Help! My Kid Hates Writing
Join us at the Brave Learner Home: https://bravewriter.com/brave-learner-home
Learn more about the Brave Writer Literature & Mechanics programs
Start a free trial of CTCmath.com to try the math program that’s sure to grab and keep your child’s attention
Give your child the gift of music! Sign up for a free month of private lessons with Maestro Music and let your child discover their own musical voice: www.maestromusic.online/brave
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Produced by NOVA

304. Teens and Books: A Deep Dive With Dawn Smith

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