What Teens Love, Hate, and WANT in Literature: A Survey, Part 2

So, question number 2 to my wonderfully cooperative ninth-graders was…..

What was the last book that you read that you hated? What bothered you about it?

Be entertained and enlightened, writers!

Group 1 – Honors Students

• That would be Blue Eyed Bandit. The plot sounded okay, but in my opinion the writing was terrible.
• The Fault in Our Stars. It didn’t have a plot. Yes, ti was sad and and cute, but that kind of book didn’t catch my attention.
• Inherit the Wind. It seemed boring and parts of what some characters said against Darwin kind of irritated me.
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Too old.
• Of Mice and Men, because the ending was weak and made the rest of the uneventful book meaningless.
• There is no book that I completely “hate.” However, I dislike books that put down certain people or ideas.
• Of Mice and Men. I found it difficult to connect with the text because it’s from a different time period that I’m not used to.
• The Book Thief. The storyline was okay but the poetic language usually left me more confused after than before an explanation was given.
• The last book I didn’t like was A Night To Remember. The book was nonfiction, but there was no creativity put into it. I found it hard at most times to even keep my eyes open while I was reading it.
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It was drawn out with unnecessary detail. It was meant to be realistic, but it was too glorified making it sickeningly unrealistic.
• Inherit The Wind didn’t have too many attention-grabbing points.
• The Book Thief – too slow and boring.
• I haven’t hated many books, but there was one called Romeo and Juliet. It was a modern twist on the classic play. I didn’t like it because nothing ever happened. I was waiting for something, a twist, a climax, but it never came.
• Peeled, because it was so slow. There wasn’t many events that happened throughout the story.
• The Book Thief – boring, didn’t keep my attention at all.
• Of Mice and Men. It was so dark, and honestly I thought it was kind of dumb.
• 1984. It was disgusting, way too descriptive, and a terrible, terrible plot. I didn’t like the point of view either.

Group 2 

• Da Vinci Code, because it took too long to get me engaged
• Chew On This. Boring and pretty much said the same thing over and over again.
• Chew On This. It was about nasty food.
• 7 Habits. It was boring.
• I have never read a book I’ve hated.
• 7 Habits. It was very boring.
• I don’t know.I don’t understand what I read sometimes.
• Of Mice and Men. It wasn’t appealing to me.
• The Giver. It was really confusing.
• The Giver. It was very confusing.

****Any thoughts? Stay tuned for part three, where teens tell YOU what they really, really WANT you to write for them!

p.s. If you missed part 1, check it out https://easternpennpoints.wordpress.com/2014/09/20/what-teens-love-hate-and-want-in-literature-a-survey-part-1-by-lindsay-bandy/