The Santa Monica-based nonprofit Teen Readers Society launched this week to help create a new generation of readers, but Executive Director Judit Langh said the various programs and research-based initiatives have been in the works for more than two years.
As a mother of two former Santa Monica High School teenagers, Langh said she noticed during a prior summer vacation that her girls, who had been readers in the past and grew up with books all around them, just didn’t read at all. She said she noticed that seemed to be the case for all teenagers, even if they are curious, politically engaged students.
A former marketing professor at San Francisco State University would invite Langh into the class in 2019 to present projects as a kind of "guest mentor,” ___ said as she moved to a detail a Case Study titled, “Promoting Reading for Pleasure Among Teens.”
She said there’s a brief version of their findings on their website. In short, the finding showed teenagers don’t feel as though the prescribed literature in school is interesting.
“The other thing that’s happening in high school when you read is students have to analyze and I noticed they’re not allowed to just read and get lost in books like they were when they were children,” she said. “They have to analyze and underline, and that gets in the way of getting lost in a book and really enjoying reading.”
Langh and her fellow San Francisco State graduate students agreed that teenagers are influenced by their peers, so she and Michael Norris, who now serves as the head of marketing for TRS, partnered to create a public awareness project.
“But we realized that it seemed to fit the concept of a nonprofit better, so we went to work trying to create a program around that instead,” she said.
After a year of work, Covid-19 hit America in March.
“That made everything even more urgent because now students are not getting a great education,” she said. “They do have a lot of time on their hands though, so it really is a great time for teenagers to turn back to books and read.”
Langh said an increase in time spent reading would supplement the lack of in-class learning hours.
“There is a gap in education, especially now that schools are operating online, and I think will be the case for the next six months and possibly more,” Langh said. “We don’t know how long but we do know that there will be a gap between more affluent kids and less affluent kids, which is most likely to widen with what’s happening right now.”
The founder later admitted digital media is often the first choice of students because there are so many entertainment options available to them online.
“We are not against digital media. Instead, what we’re trying to do is use digital media, especially Instagram, to reach out to teenagers,” she said.
The campaign has been very successful so far.
“It’s basically nothing more than asking students to modify their behavior so they start spending more time with books,” Langh said, detailing how the organization uses teen ambassadors to reach out to other teenagers in an attempt to create a conversation about books.
“So instead of adults telling teenagers what they should read, we are bringing in teenagers to tell other teenagers what they might find interesting,” she said. “And it’s being organized by geographical area and subject matter because we’re trying to be very cognizant about bringing in a diverse group of people who can talk to others about subject matters that we know teens are really interested in.”
In addition to the promotion of reading books and creating these organic conversations, Langh said the Teen Readers Society also holds campaigns to help teenagers who want to read but may not have access to books.
“We definitely understand that a lot of families are struggling right now — I think, approximately, one-third of all households with a child are struggling to provide enough food,” Langh said, “so we’d like to help connect teenagers with programs and donations,” like A Blind Date with a Book.
“All people have to do to get involved is get in touch with us through Instagram or through our website, tell us who they are, what kind of books they are interested in reading or if they have a specific book in mind, we will try to partner with an independent bookstore to provide that book,” Langh said. “And last week, we launched an art contest because our studies and conversations with teachers show students are really interested in self-expression,” so the Teen Readers Society believed students would enjoy the opportunity to submit a piece of art, such as a drawing, painting or photograph, that has been inspired by a book.”
A link to the submission form can be found on the website teenreaderssociety.org/ or on their Instagram page, @TeenReadersSociety, according to Langh, who said: “These kinds of concepts will continue, and I believe the next one is going to relate to writing.”
brennon@smdp.com
