The Power of Choice

Choice is a brilliant thing. But it can also be overwhelming. 

The young people we work with at Speakers for Schools are told so often that they’re at a pivotally important moment in their lives, when the decisions they make will shape their whole futures.

Opening a book, on the other hand, should be low stakes. It might challenge, excite, even change you – but the simple experience of sitting down and starting to read should feel safe. Good books for teenagers should offer them escape and respite from the stress and pressure of exams and major life choices – as well as adventure, inspiration, romance and food for thought.

Unfortunately, Ronny, the fourteen-year-old protagonist of Ashley Hickson-Lovence’s Wild East (one of our featured reads for summer 2024 ) says something that teachers and parents know a lot of their own young people might relate to: 

“can’t put my finger on it but sometimes bookshops can feel a little intimidating to me like people might think I’m not smart enough to deserve the luxury of going inside or something.” 

Ronny is not disengaged. He’s actually passionate about words – writing lyrics and searching constantly for ways to communicate effectively what he’s thinking, feeling and experiencing – importantly, partly to make sense of it himself.

So why would he not feel a bookshop was a welcoming space?

To understand Ronny properly, you’d have to read the book. 

The power of supporters

However, it’s no major spoiler to say that the role of supportive adults is crucial in providing scaffolding and encouragement as Ronny navigates the challenges and anxieties of working out who he is, and what makes him happy – as well as what he has to offer. Perhaps it’s significant that the author is a former teacher: teachers and parents are well aware of the benefits of reading, and also of the importance of choice and trusted help to find a book in developing a habit of reading for pleasure. 

Unfortunately, time, money, knowledge and confidence can present barriers to parents and teachers providing effective support and reading suggestions – in particular as regards those outside their own reading experiences and preferences.

Why we need the National Teen Book Club 

This is where the National Teen Book Club hopes to help – in signposting teachers and young people to a selection of good books for teens, available at a discount, and giving them chance to meet the authors.

We offer our book clubs online, and aim to showcase some the range of young adult literature that’s out there now and which definitely hasn’t always been. The authors (and other speakers) our young people encounter are as diverse as the books they produce. In compiling next year’s reads, we’ve enjoyed modern classic books, connected with fantastic supportive publishers including Penguin, Hachette, Little Tiger, Walker Books, Faber and Pan Macmillan and scoured BookTok, reading lists and industry newsletters for announcements and compilations of the best books for 2024. 

We don’t tell the young people joining our book clubs You Will Enjoy This Book – though we hope they enjoy the experience of reading and discussing as part of a community. We don’t dictate a preference for printed books, e-books or audiobooks; insist they read at a particular pace, or even say they have to finish. We just want them to feel welcome – including welcome to put a book down if it doesn’t connect, as long as they know that doesn’t mean they can’t or won’t pick up another. 

In the quote above, Ronny suspects people might think he doesn’t deserve the “luxury” of going into a bookshop – and that being “smart” is the key to earning that luxury, in their eyes. But books are the route, not the reward. Everyone has the right to feel included in the benefits that reading has to offer – without access to the wealth of words, ideas and new worlds that others are able to take for granted, Ronny’s perspective and aspirations would be limited in a way that isn’t fair. And we, as a society, lose out if we inadvertently exclude some young people from the conversations and communities that they could contribute to if they felt truly welcome.

The expert speakers who join our book clubs each week are all readers – and they familiarise themselves with our featured reads as well. They are always excited to share their career insights and expertise with our young people, but also to listen and learn from their thoughts on a shared reading experience. 

We may all have different tastes and responses, but books and the power of words can still bring us together – sometimes in unexpected ways. As maybe Ronnie discovers… If you’re curious, you can join us from 19^th June to find out. But don’t wait until then – our Liar’s Beach book club is starting next week, and we’re reading King of Dead Things from 24^th April. 

Written by Savitri Patel, Head of Enrichment at Speakers for Schools

Savitri heads up our National Teen Book Club, in partnership with Penguin. Our online book clubs for state schools and colleges aims to help 11-19-year-olds enjoy reading within a welcoming peer community. It introduces six books for teens over the course of a year and includes opportunities to meet a diverse range of speakers and industry experts. Find out more about National Teen Book Club.