Teen Tips & Tricks | Nineteenth House Books

Tips & Tricks to (Re)Engage Your Teen with Reading

Why can't I get my teen to read?

From the interviews with the students at the end of the first study cycle in 2024, there are 3 main obstacles between most teens and reading:

Don't know what to read/don't know how to find something that interests them (they don't have full "agency" or "access")
Don't have time
Don't see it as 'social' and they'd rather being doing whatever their friends are doing, e.g. sport, social media

The more intensive data collection in the second study cycle in 2025 uncovered 2 deeper, more alarming and foundational barrier between the most disengaged teens and reading:

They cannot identify their own interests
Their concentration and memory is so underdeveloped, they simply cannot understand a long story.

This appears to be caused not only by a lack of reading, but a lack of engagement with stories in general, including movies and TV. Constantly relying on short form media and an algorithm, rather than seeking specific entertainment based on their own ideas and interests, is reducing their opportunities to develop a sense of their own personality, likes & dislikes. Significantly, they are getting very little practice at remembering story information over time, whether it's a 2-hour movie or a 250-page book. (See this page for a fuller explanation.)

The good news: Working on the first 3 obstacles will still help fix the 2 deeper issues. More reading will improve their concentration and memory, and more reading will also help them test a variety of stories and help them form a better understanding of what they like.

To turn their reading attitude around, we as adults need to help them overcome these obstacles by teaching them the skills they need, carving out reading time for them, and convincing them that books can be a source of enjoyable socialising (i.e. through discussion & sharing).

As their adult, this might seem impossible, especially if your teen has never been a big reader in the first place. However, below are some tips & tricks you can try.

Please note: This will require commitment & effort from you as well as your teen. If you don't see the value in investing time in your teen's reading, then why should your teen?

Please also note: The following advice is informed by my research, my professional experience, and my personal experience as a parent. The formal, peer-reviewed, academic (and therefore more reliably citable) version will be published in my PhD thesis.

Steps to Reconnect your Teen with Reading

1) Find out what kind of story/genre your teen currently enjoys.

Their tastes have likely changed from primary/intermediate, but they may not actually yet be able to describe or identify what they are interested in now, especially if they no longer watch TV or film very much. Teens who rely on the social media feed for their primary entertainment aren't being exposed to "stories" that are more than a minute or so long.

Without the self-knowledge or the key words they need, it is very difficult to find the few books among the thousands in the library (or millions online) that they will enjoy. Even just deciding on the genre / subgenre they're currently most interested in will help narrow it down.

2) Sit down & show them how you find books.

Do you look for book blogs? Check recommended lists on your local library website? BookTok or Bookstagram? Bestseller lists?

It might feel a little awkward at first, but sitting down with your teen and going onto the local bookshop / library website and talking them through your process will help your teen feel less overwhelmed, and more likely to stick with it than retreat into the mindless "For You" feed on their phone.

For example:

Show them the library website, and how to search for genre, or how to access your preferred genre list. Talk about why you like that genre, scroll through the list of results, and point out which ones catch your eye, and why. Read the blurb(s) together, and you give your opinion on whether you're interested or not, and why. Maybe you then look up a review of the book online.

Thousands of librarians and booksellers and authors worldwide are desperate to get books into your teen's hands; they are active on social media and online promoting every genre for every market. There will be a book / niche genre for your teen. It may take some time, and possibly a few misses before you get a hit. Don't give up, and don't take "I dunno" for an answer!

Once you find a couple of likely candidates, help your teen acquire copies. This might be through the local public library, buying it online, downloading Libby the library app, signing up for Audible, or taking them to the bookshop. (Don't just do it for them; involve them in the process. These are all relevant life skills!)

3) Consider audiobooks.

These are great for ALL reading abilities, not just students with weaker literacy or reading obstacles. Listening to a book allows us to multi-task, which can help even the busiest teens squeeze some books into their schedules (e.g. when commuting between commitments). In my study, students with more advanced reading abilities enjoyed audiobooks because it was more 'relaxing', and it reminded them of being read to as younger children, which they found especially pleasant.

Look for award-winning audio titles in your teen's preferred genre, as audiobooks can be a bit tricky to get into, and if you get a 'meh' narrator it can give a false impression of the audiobook experience. The lengths are also much easier to see. Also, bear in mind that it is very easy to adjust narration speed to make it slower / faster (and the technology these days means adjusted playback no longer sounds like a chipmunk or drunk giant!).

Consider choosing one together, then you can play it in the car during your work/school/after school activities commute. It will be a good opportunity to bond, too, and then you have something to talk about and share opinions beyond "how was school?" In fact, group audiobook listening was one of the key breakthroughs in my research; some of the most reluctant readers really enjoyed sharing audiobooks with friends, sharing their "live" reactions in real time as funny or shocking events occurred in the story.

You can also get your teen to listen to a book while doing something mundane and physical, e.g. chores.

NOTE: If you are particularly concerned about your teen's literacy, or they have known reading obstacles like dyslexia, then I highly recommend getting your teen to listen and read along with the written text (either print or ebook). It is really important, however, that you help your teen figure out how to adjust the narration speed to match their eye-reading speed. Keep tweaking until it matches as closely as possible. The student voice and observation data from the study suggests that this will be far more comfortable and enjoyable for them - which is, after all, the goal.

4) Consider negotiating a competition or rewards system for your teen's reading.

Do you want to increase your own reading? Challenge your teen to beat your page count by the end of the term!

If your teen isn't motivated by competition, or doesn't believe they have a decent chance of 'winning', then consider rewarding them for the time they do read. This will depend on your household's values, time, and finances, of course, and will be most effective if you negotiate the terms with your teen. Cash is frequently a strong motivator, but there are other approaches you can use, too. For example, earning screen time in return for reading, such as 2 minutes of gaming for every 1 minute of reading a challenging book.

If your teen already has pretty open access to screens and tech, this may still be a useful approach, even if they're a high school senior. Are you and/or your teen happy with their most recent academic results? If not, it might be time for a family meeting to negotiate and set some goals, and set some restrictions on screens until those goals are met. Perhaps the phone is handed over as soon as Teen gets home, and they can have it back once they've done 1 hour of homework. Or (if they don't have homework), after they've read a book for half an hour. And so on. You will need to figure out what works best for your family, and the ultimate motivation/goal needs to fit with your teen's own aspirations.

Note: I don't recommend counting reading effort by number of pages, because then they are motivated to read as fast as possible, and then it's questionable how much they're actually taking in. A set time is fairer and clearer.

5) Negotiate & STICK TO screen-free time at home (and include yourself!)

There is plenty in the media at the moment about how much screen time our teens are getting, once you account for BYOD learning at school, too, so I won't discuss the evidence here. It's up to you and your family values to figure out what is your best balance; but if you ensure your teen has specific days/times/spaces (e.g. family zones) which are designated screen-free, then a book may become more appealing because other, easier forms of entertainment are no longer available.

A really easy and logical screen-free time is immediately before bed. Putting away the phone should also help your teen sleep better, and what better way to wind down for sleep than opening a book or pushing 'play' on an audiobook, and getting cosy?

Again, this will work best if you negotiate this with your teen, and make sure it is always framed with your teen's best interests at heart. All teens want to sleep better, and do well at school, and have a healthy brain, and they know that too much screen time is bad for them. (Phone addiction is not their fault; they need your help to set boundaries and develop self-management skills.)

If you come at it from the positive, 'this is helping you grow healthy and smart and strong', rather than a punishment, 'you're addicted to your phone so I'm confiscating it' kind of way, this should avoid most objections from the start.

Ultimately, you are the adult, and it's up to you to figure out how you want your relationship with your teen to grow and develop over the years to come. What are your non-negotiables, and why? How can you work with your teen for everyone's benefit?

Once you've established your shared goals and boundaries, make sure they're written down and accessible to everyone. (Our family Device Treaty is printed out, signed by everyone, and taped to the inside of our pantry door.) Doing so in advance avoids arguments later, and can always be re-negotiated as your family grows and develops.

Happy reading!

Want more help? Would you like a targeted workshop or PD for a group? Jessica does all kinds of presentations, from students to teachers, from librarians to parents. Visit this page for more info.