Since pandemic we've had a lot more teens (or teens' parents on their behalf) filling out our online forms to request book suggestions/bundles and it's been so interesting to see how teens describe what they're looking for. A thread:

1) LOTTA teens asking for "realistic books like The Hunger Games and the Maze Runner"
2) Lotta teens saying "I love the Hunger Games, looking for books with NO ROMANCE"
3) Way more teens asking for dragon books than there are YA dragon books

4) A lot of high schoolers still listing Wimpy Kid and/or Smile when asked for their fav books
5) Huge demand for tween spy books
6) Huge demand for humorous tween books
7) Kids looking for LGBTQ books will usually say something like "I liked Love Simon bc of the issues in it"

8) If someone could write a graphic novel series about dragons who are spies, that would really circ, babey
9) Once again I am asking for a YA novel (series preferably) about HOCKEY that isn't a romance but just a contemp sports story but about hockey PLS

10) Knowing how to describe what kind of books you like is definitely a learned skill that I don't think is necessarily taught in schools, & without doing an IRL RA interview it can be hard to crack these weird little nuggets of information! When in doubt I give em AKATA WITCH

11) Since this thread is going around I should add that our teens will rarely specifically ASK for "diverse books" but we're always looking for them bc like, imagine giving a kid a bundle of books by all straight white cis writers, no thank you!!

12) Also a lot of people are really focused on the "no romance" part and yes I do get a lot of requests for that BUT they do often say "I love Hunger Games, no romance"--what teens mean when they say "NO romance" sometimes maybe means "romance B-plot not A-plot"

13) Also sometimes I see grumbles like "Hunger Games and Twilight are old, teens are over it" but in my experience new teens keep finding and enjoying them--I think the movies help keep them alive for a new generation? IDK but we still replace those worn out copies often!

14) Also I just want to get this tweet included in the thread bc I am seeing some people QT this as if I'm speaking for ALL teens which I'm not! Just the ones in my community who fill out our online forms which is not a statistically significant sample! https://twitter.com/renatasnacks/status/1357357251296657410?s=20

15) Since you’re here check out my SoundCloud (that’s what I call my cat when he’s purring), also @diversebooks @melanin_ya @YA_Pride !