Spark-ing
the Interest of
Young
Readers
Today, YA Mag sat down with bestselling author Nicholas Sparks to talk
about the second year of his project,
The Novel Learning Series!
BY OLLIE LAVELLE
YA Mag: Nicholas, thank you so much for taking
a moment to chat with us about this project. It’s
always exciting to see authors taking an interest in
the intellectual health of today’s teen readers! Tell
us more about the Novel Learning Series. Why is
this important for young adult readers?
Nicholas Sparks: As the father of five children, I know
it is a huge challenge to get teenagers to prepare for
standardized testing, particularly college entrance
exams. Your typical test prep book is only beneficial
if you use it-and many teens don’t. I think beginning
to rethink how kids prepare for these exams-by giving
them stories that they enjoy reading, and integrating
the study guides and practices tests into these storieswe are increasing the chance that test prep books will
actually be used. NLS strives to do exactly this.
YA: With today’s fast-paced world, what do you
think most keeps young readers away from more
classic, enduring works?
NS: As I mentioned, I have five kids myself so I know
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from experience that there is no one-size-fits-all
answer. Obviously there is increased competition with
new forms of media and entertainment, especially
social media, texting, mobile games-all of these forms
of entertainment are now competing for the same
24 hours of the day. That said, classic stories have
endured for a reason, and I believe they will continue
to do so. It is reassuring to see that readers continue
to come back to works of literature that I, too, read
when I was growing up.
YA: When readers finish devouring their NLS
books, what can be done year-round to foster lifelong reading?
NS: The possibility for teenagers when it comes to
picking out their next book are greater now than ever.
The young adult book market has taken off over the
last couple of decades, and so there are more teenage
protagonists flooding bookshelves than at any time in
the past. If you w ant a great book recommendation,
you only have to go online or to a book store or, of
course, the library. Your local or school librarian is still
eager to pass on a fantastic book.
All you have to do is ask.
feel for a character, the passion
quickly follows.
YA: Beyond the NLS, what are
you currently working on?
YA: Initially, the Novel Learning
Series solely featured several of
your novels. Now, you’re starting to expand! How did Mary
Shelley’s Frankenstein get mixed
in with the bunch? Any plans to
open it up to other titles?
YA: Your books grew to unprecedented fame before the
ebook revolution. What are your
thoughts on the different ways
young people read these days?
Do you feel it enhances or detracts from their comprehension
skills?
NS: A whole lot. My latest novel,
The Longest Ride, will publish on
September 17th. Two of my novels
— The Best of Me and The Longest
Ride — are being developed as
feature films, and my TV company
is producing Deliverance Creek, a
two hour pilot for Lifetime. I also
work with The Epiphany School, a
private high school my wife and I
founded in North Carolina, and I
have a charity foundation. My life
is busy, but I love and am grateful
for every minute of it.
NS: Frankenstein is, of course,
a great example of an enduring
novel. I loved that book when I was
younger, and I appreciate that it is
both accessible and, in many ways,
very different than my own novels
in genre and tone. The purpose
of the Novel Learning Series is to offer
texts that we think all
teens will like and that
are very readable, and
I think Frankenstein
does this particularly
well because it occupies such a prominent
place in the popular
imagination.
YA: In school, students are often pushed
through the curriculum
titles, flatly dissecting
text in an effort to pass tests and
move on to the next chapter.
How might classrooms change or
expand the standard approach,
to keep an analytical mind while
sparking a passion for story and
character?
NS: One technique I’ve seen work
well is finding the ways in which
stories speak to our own personal
experiences. How can teenagers
relate to the experiences of the
characters in the novels they read?
This, I think, is a huge leap towards
empathetic reading-and once you
NS: I am happy to see readers embrace stories-my own and others’in all formats. The Wall Street
Journal recently ran an article
about readers who listen to novels
YA: Nicholas, it has
been a pleasure
chatting with you
and picking your
brain. Before we
go, we have one last
question. Nowadays,
what new YA titles
would you recommend from your fellow
authors?
partially on audiotape, then jump
to the text version, then go back
to the audio, and so on. My only
reaction to that was, “How cool is
this?”
YA: As an author, when you embark on a new project, do you
write with a specific audience or
demographic in mind?
NS: Actually, my audience is remarkably diverse in both background and age, so it would be
hard to sit down and think-this has
to be just right for x demographic.
NS: The book I am telling everyone to read was
published, actually, as a novel for
middle grade readers, but it is in
fact the perfect story for all ages:
Wonder, by R.J. Palacio. It’s a remarkable story, one that seems to
enrich both the mind and the soul.
YA: Thank you very much, Nicholas! And again, from YA Mag,
congratulations on the continued
success of the Novel Learning Series! We look forward to seeing
it in the book bags of teenagers
for years to come!
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