Another discussion in the Year of the Children's Book – an initiative of the National Book Center, NDK – raised the question of novels for teenagers and what problems they address. The discussion at the Literary Club "Pen" was attended by Rada Petrova from the "Egmont" publishing house, Maria Chuncheva from the "Enthusiast" publishing house, Milena Tasheva from the "Softpress" publishing house, Anastasia Karnaukh – editor-in-chief of the "Reader" website and Alexander Krastev from the "Az Cheta" website.
The participants united around the conclusion that teenagers want to read books in whose characters they can identify. The most common topics that are present in books for teenagers are those of love, friendship, relationships with parents, death, suicide, relationships with others. According to experts, parents often find it strange that their children reach for such topics, but these books are actually a good tool for provoking debate with children.
An important emphasis in the discussion was the language spoken to teenagers from the pages of books. This language should be understandable and close to them. If the tone is edifying, then it definitely arouses distrust. Teenagers should accept the authors as people with whom they themselves would associate. “Parents are afraid of what they do not understand. They would feel much calmer if they saw their child reading a “proven” book, shared Rada Petrova from the Egmont publishing house.”
The participants in the discussion also discussed the current topic of bloggers and how decisive their role is. According to Anastasia Karnaukh, editor-in-chief of the website “Reader”, “every teenager who reads has his own mentor – a blogger. The great role of bloggers is that they attract new readers. Every teenager finds a video channel or blog that he starts following. If he does not like the book that was offered to him on the blog, he switches to another one.”
In conclusion, the experts recommended that parents read the books that their children like, but do so through the prism of teenagers.
Text: NCC
Photos: Orlin Ognyanov (NBC)
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