Has the reading material for teenagers changed over the years?

I'm not sure I can answer that because I don't know many (young) people who are big into reading. I did enjoy reading when I was younger. But always being the odd one out, I never did read the kind of things that girls of my age group typically read. I was more into ghost stories and gothic tales. That kind of thing. I personally think that there's more of a shift towards sci-fi, apocalyptic type noevels. At least that seems to be what most of the people I know are into anyway.

Another bookworm here. Have been since I was a kid. If I'm honest the genres and authors whose work I used to read years ago, well that still hasn't changed! I've always been into mystery and suspense; romance; crime fiction etc. The two I've never really been into and still have no real interest in are sci-fi and fantasy which I guess puts me in the minority as I know those are huge now more than ever I reckon.

But as for those book series aimed at teens, well I was into all of them: SVH; Nancy Drew; Babysitters Club; Roommates, Sisters, and Sleepover Club. There were even two that might seem unfamiliar to British readers and that was Couples and The Boyfriend Club (quite a few clubs going on back in the day!) There are still book series read by teens today of course but not the kind that we typically read. They're far more sophisticated and edgier than what we were into.

I am like the biggest bookworm I know. I literally read everything I can get my hands on! And if I can't read, then I play audio books in my car. I do have prefered genres of course but if I hear that a book has been good then I like to give it a go. I've always been that way even when I was a kid. Like a lot of people have already mentioned, I was into a lot of the kind of books that girls of my age group would have been in to. I read tons of Sweet Valley (the final book did us dirty!) I also liked Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys. Babysitters Club and Sleepover Club were also favorites. Today of course the kind of things I read have changed as I've got older but I also feel that a lot of school age kids don't read for fun. And if you ask me about what book series are out today, well I couldn't tell ya!

I think you get people who love to read and those who don't. For those who do, they've always read what they've wanted to read. I don't really think trends have anything to do with it.

But I do agree that a lot of the series that my generation used to read and obsess about, I don't think they're so popular now.

I think as with a lot of things, reading is something that kids either liked or didn't. I'm not sure there was a way you could persuade them to do that, even if you gave them novels with the kind of storylines or genres that appealed to them. Sure they might read it for a bit, and if it was something for school then they might have to force themselves to read through it. I never had to be forced to read as it was something I enjoyed very much and I could finish a short novel in one evening. I was a nineties teen so I read a lot of the authors that Mandy mentioned as that's what everyone read back then. But I do feel that for those who enjoy reading today, the novels, subject matter, genres etc. have become a lot more sophisticated. They're now more likely to read something by John Green or Tolkien than Judy Blume.

I've always encouraged my kids to read. I think it's an essential skill for many reasons. I don't necessarily think there's been a major shift in reading trends. I think kids have always read (well the ones who enjoyed reading anyway) whatever it was that appealed to them. And if it was a genre or book that was deemed 'uncool' then no one talked about it and just read it in the privacy of their own home. My kids are very much into adventure style books, and even though my daughter is quite a girly girl, the kind of books that typically appealed to teens of my generation don't really appeal to her. I think it's all to do with individual preference.

Another book addict here! I've loved reading for as long as I could remember. I think I read all the usual stuff that kids and teens who grew up in the eighties read. But it was only as I got older that I had more of an appreciation for the classics. What I read now changes depending on my mood. My kids are more gamers than readers even though I've tried to instil in them my love for reading. But you can't force them to like something just because you do. But if they do read something it'll be the kind of story or genre that's more along the lines of The Hunger Games or something like that.

I'm with you, Mandy. I don't half love my books. I've even got me a little nook, and now autumn is on the way, you'll soon find me curled up with a blanket, a pot of tea and a good book. I've been mad about books from a very young age but I agree, I don't think kids today read the same kind of things that we read. True I suppose I can't expect them to get stuck into one of the kinds of books we were into when we were growing up but I thought there'd be a modern day equivalent of say Sweet Valley High. But there doesn't seem to be. My stepdaughter got more into reading in her mid-teens but she's more into slightly darker, edgier stuff like vampires and alternate worlds and things like that. Maybe that's what the kids are into now.