Something you want, something you need, yadayada, what should teen read?
December 16, 2024 1:27 PM Subscribe
What book/reading material would you give a senior in high school who you are unsure of their interests?
I would like to give someone "something to read" as a present. I am not feeling particularly sentimental and I am short of ideas, bud definitely do not want to give something along the lines of "what color is your parachute?" but maybe something in a different motivational/spirtual vein? Or maybe a novel exploring this time of life? If you were giving a young person a book that you really hoped they would read, what would it be and why? Or if not a book, is there a magazine subscription, or other something else that you would gift?
I would like to give someone "something to read" as a present. I am not feeling particularly sentimental and I am short of ideas, bud definitely do not want to give something along the lines of "what color is your parachute?" but maybe something in a different motivational/spirtual vein? Or maybe a novel exploring this time of life? If you were giving a young person a book that you really hoped they would read, what would it be and why? Or if not a book, is there a magazine subscription, or other something else that you would gift?
Best answer: Anything by Vonnegut will likely be a hit.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 1:43 PM on December 16, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 1:43 PM on December 16, 2024 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Don't know their interests? Share yours!
What was YOUR favorite book when you were his age? Buy that, then write on the inside. Dear young friend, happy Christmas. This is the best book I read when I was a senior in high school. I loved the [character/ lesson/ writing/ whatever] and it had such an influence on [choices I made later]. Please don't feel any pressure to love this book as much as I did, but when you do pick it up I hope it will [give some sense of wonder/ perspective/ whatever] that it did for me and that you can take so many of these good things with you into the future. Signed, your favorite [aunt/ grown friend/ overly supportive neighbor]
posted by phunniemee at 1:48 PM on December 16, 2024 [7 favorites]
What was YOUR favorite book when you were his age? Buy that, then write on the inside. Dear young friend, happy Christmas. This is the best book I read when I was a senior in high school. I loved the [character/ lesson/ writing/ whatever] and it had such an influence on [choices I made later]. Please don't feel any pressure to love this book as much as I did, but when you do pick it up I hope it will [give some sense of wonder/ perspective/ whatever] that it did for me and that you can take so many of these good things with you into the future. Signed, your favorite [aunt/ grown friend/ overly supportive neighbor]
posted by phunniemee at 1:48 PM on December 16, 2024 [7 favorites]
Best answer: Maybe one of the books by Randall Munroe (of xkcd fame).
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:55 PM on December 16, 2024 [3 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:55 PM on December 16, 2024 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
posted by MadMadam at 3:35 PM on December 16, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by MadMadam at 3:35 PM on December 16, 2024 [1 favorite]
Wreck this Journal could also be fun. I like the original, that had prompts like again this page with coffee or poke holes in this page as opposed to some of the sequels which lean too much into self help territory.
posted by MadMadam at 3:39 PM on December 16, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by MadMadam at 3:39 PM on December 16, 2024 [1 favorite]
an indy bookshop gift certificate, a library card link, and something short and general, maybe this?
I think to choose fiction, or something narrowly focused, there'd have to more to go on.
posted by j_curiouser at 4:02 PM on December 16, 2024
I think to choose fiction, or something narrowly focused, there'd have to more to go on.
posted by j_curiouser at 4:02 PM on December 16, 2024
Best answer: siddartha
letters to a young poet
posted by j_curiouser at 4:58 PM on December 16, 2024
letters to a young poet
posted by j_curiouser at 4:58 PM on December 16, 2024
Best answer: As I recall, the books that spoke to me most powerfully then were the ones that conveyed a sense of life being full of possibilities I had not imagined.
Tropic of Cancer might be unsuitable. Perhaps On the Road ?
posted by Lemkin at 5:21 PM on December 16, 2024 [2 favorites]
Tropic of Cancer might be unsuitable. Perhaps On the Road ?
posted by Lemkin at 5:21 PM on December 16, 2024 [2 favorites]
Jane Eyre had a profound effect on me at that age.
posted by tafetta, darling! at 8:32 AM on December 17, 2024
posted by tafetta, darling! at 8:32 AM on December 17, 2024
As bluedaisy suggests, I would get them a gift card to a bookstore. Maybe you could give them a couple of book titles that you especially liked at that age? But I would not buy anyone a book without knowing what they are into. I say this as a librarian and also the mother of a high school senior.
posted by lyssabee at 9:50 AM on December 17, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by lyssabee at 9:50 AM on December 17, 2024 [1 favorite]
I just finished Dear Martin and appreciated it. It's about a teenager grappling with social injustice, especially regarding race. It's short and not preachy, though, so reading it won't feel like a chore.
(Reading a book that someone else chose for you is definitely different from picking one for yourself, but I do appreciate the occasional deviation from my usual fare.)
posted by demi-octopus at 11:39 AM on December 17, 2024
(Reading a book that someone else chose for you is definitely different from picking one for yourself, but I do appreciate the occasional deviation from my usual fare.)
posted by demi-octopus at 11:39 AM on December 17, 2024
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If not that, maybe a book about budgeting as a new adult?
posted by bluedaisy at 1:41 PM on December 16, 2024 [2 favorites]