Online Teen Forum Review

The Book & Reader forums is a place designed for users of all ages to discuss books. Within the forums of this website there is one forum described as being intended for children and young adult books. This forum seems to receive a limited amount of traffic. A search using the forum’s search feature revealed that since the beginning of the year there have been 33 posts. While some of these posts were written by adults, I also a detected several that appeared to have been written by teens. The forum does not require members to post their age; however, in older posts I noted that several teens mentioned their age. Posters are only able to be identified by as much information as they are willing to share, so it is difficult to determine exactly who is posting at times.

Teens Interacting

Much of the interaction in this forum is by individuals, presumably teens, asking for book recommendations. Other users or staff members of the site give their opinion on what book would best fit the request that the user has made. Occasionally a user will offer their opinion in the form of a book review, although it is informal and still often takes the form of a recommendation. Perhaps the best example is a post from November of last year concerning The Faults in Our Stars. In the post, the author comments on how much she enjoys the writing of John Green and how she feels “…like I connected with the characters and became very emotionally attached to the characters in the books”(bookwormlife, 2013). The conversation develops between this author and another as they discuss the book. As I found individuals that were apparently teens I checked their posting record and was surprised to find that they frequently posted in other forums. Oft...

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... and share their personal opinions and feelings about the books they love and hate with a wider audience than has ever been possible. Despite lacking the polish of a professional review, the ability for teens to create relationships and conversationally discuss books is a powerful form of interacting with literature.

Works Cited

bookwormlife. (2013, November 18). John Green: The Faults in Our Stars [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from http://www.bookandreader.com/threads/john-green-the-faults-in-our-stars.26305/ bookwormlife. (2014, January 11). John Green: The Faults in Our Stars [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from http://www.bookandreader.com/threads/john-green-the-faults-in-our-stars.26305/ evie. (2004, September 16). E.B. White: Charlotte’s Web [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from http://www.bookandreader.com/threads/e-b-white-charlottes-web.3493/