Books are made for information, and stories, whether it’s fake or not, or completely made-up stories. Maybe it’s a report on new things or an opinion piece. I did a few interviews about newly released books and some opinions on books. I interviewed the Librarian at WRHS, Debbie Livingston, and the English teacher Collin Ferraro. They both agreed on one thing, books are amazing.

Let’s get started with the Q&A, then we will get into Popular YA (Young Adult) Books on our online website, as well as looking at popular YA books on TikTok.

Interview #1- Livingston
Q1: Favorite book genre and why?
A: Realistic Fiction or Young Adult Literature. Because readers can experience difficult issues and learn from them. My favorite realistic fiction author is John Green. He won the 2006 Printz Award for his novel, Looking For Alaska, and has been the #1 NY Times Best Seller several times.

Q2: How many books do you see being checked out daily?
A: It ranges from 150 on booktalk days, and varies to 300 depending on days/assignments.

Q3: Favorite books?
A: All books by Marcus Zusak, known for his book The Book Thief, became an international seller. In Historical Fiction, Marie Benedict, classics, and John Steinbeck.

Q4: Popular books you see checked out a lot?
A: Graphic novels, Snitch & Street Pharm by Allison Van Diepen, a lot of realistic fiction, lots of books with gangs, drugs, fantasy, and dragons. A lot of requests they’ve gotten is Bird Box, Ready Player 1, and The Hate U Give.

Q5: What books have been restocked lately?
A: A lot of the LGBTQ genre (labeled with a rainbow sticker), Love, Simon / Simon and the Homosapiens, Becky Albertalli, Young Adult’s retelling of the D.C Series books, and Hawthorne Legacy Trilogy.

Q6: What genres/books have you seen being checked out less?
A: Science Fiction, The Maze Runner, Divergent Series, a lot of Post Apocalyptic decline in Science Fiction as well as vampires.
She claims that vampire books have not been so popular since the Twilight Saga. She also says that Horror / Humor books are rare to find. Students tend to enjoy both comedy and horror aspect.

Q7: All-time favorite book?
A: The Education of Littletree, first published in 1976.

Q8: Is it available in the library?
A: Yes, as in her office.

Q9: Favorite authors?
A: Jane Austen and David Foster Wallace.

Q10: What books do you want to read that you haven’t already?
A: A lot of books – but John Greene’s ‘Anthropocene’, Non-Fiction, Amor Towles, author of ‘Lincoln Highway’.

Q11: In your opinion, what is a stupid/weird book?
A: 50 Shades of Grey. We cannot purchase a book for the library if it’s morally questionable. If someone requests a book like that, we will redirect student to a public library to find said book.

Q12: How many books are checked out daily?
A: Day of this interview, 11 books checked out by 12:00 p.m. on a non-book talk. During August, 778 books were checked out, during September 259 books were checked out so far (Sept 9/9).

Q13: Books turning into movies?
A: Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron, Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, The Upper World by Femi Fadugba, What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera, Let Me Hear A Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson, With The Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo, and They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera.

For some more insight, here are some more popular YA books from TikTok that are in the Library, The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera, We Were Liars by E. Lockheart, Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, The Sun is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon, Crave by Tracy Wolff, Caraval by Stephanie Garber, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han, and Legendborn by Tracy Deonn.

Collin Ferraro, an English teacher here at WRHS, also gave an interview about his favorite books.

Q1: Favorite genre?
A: Dystopia, because it reveals something about society and what we can change. The TV show, Black Mirror, the title is very adequate because dystopia is a black mirror. A dark reflection of our society right now.
Q2: All-time favorite book?
A: The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Because his journey as a person is so intriguing. The book is very topical and explorable. The second book is probably The Myth of Sisyphus by French philosopher Albert Camu, because the main topic of his writing is Absurdism, which is basically, “Life has no meaning,” which lets you create your own meaning about what is important right now rather in the future.
Q3: Available in the library?
A: The probability is high, they’re pretty popular. If they’re not there they are available in his room.
Q4: Favorite book right now?
A: American Psycho, because the killers’ minds are really interesting, and how different their minds are from our minds and regular peoples’ minds, it’s inherently interesting and fascinating.
Q5: What books do you want to read that you haven’t already?
A: African American fiction books, books by Toni Morrison.
Q6: In your opinion, what is a stupid/weird book?
A: In experience as an English teacher, Shakespeare, not saying it’s bad, it’s just hard to teach and understand. Wording is way too hard & old. 50 Shades of Grey is also overrated and stupid.
Q7: What books do you recommend?
A: Anything not written by “dead white guys”, no books considered “classics” but particular authors is Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, American poet Amiri Baraka, and popular American writer Jason Reynolds.

A majority of books that are mentioned in this article are available in the WRHS Library. Just ask at the front desk