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Last month Common Sense Media came out with research detailing somber news; current American teenagers are reading far less than teenagers from previous decades. Although the reasons for such a decline are not completely clear, the study does point to advancements in technology as playing a substantial role. Lacking data to present a comprehensive trend on teenagers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 reading habits worldwide, one can still venture a guess that as access to technology continues to expand, so too will distractions from reading on a global scale. We ALTs may be lucky enough to be past our teenage years, but the majority is only separated by a few years and regardless of age, we are all deeply affected by changes in technology \u00e2\u20ac\u201c especially when it comes to advancements like Candy Crush. Furthermore, many will go on to one day raise children \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who inevitably become teenagers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c of their own. To personally defy this trend while simultaneously becoming a model for generational slackers, here are five books to read this month.<\/p>\n
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by Haruki Murakami<\/span><\/p>\n What are you doing Sunday, June 8th<\/sup>? If the answer is not, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Going to the next Hyogo AJET Book Club,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d you have wrongly prioritized your weekend schedule. The Book Club offers insightful discussions on text with fellow ALTs and if the club was not reason enough to read the book, 1Q84 <\/i>is by one of Japan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most popular authors and Hyogo native, Haruki Murakami. The story follows two characters on separate, yet connected paths, Aomame and Tengo, the former struggling to maintain her sense of reality and the latter falling deeper and deeper into the world of a seventeen year-old girl. 1Q84<\/i> is written like a trail of breadcrumbs, where the reader is continuously drawn into Murakami\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world, always feeling compelled to follow regardless of the dangers that may lie ahead.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n by John Green<\/p>\n While those in other parts of the world will be flocking to theaters this month to watch this teary-eyed love story, we in Japan will be left waiting for the best version to illegally appear online. However as we all know, the print version is always better than anything Hollywood attempts to reproduce. So while you are waiting, pick up a copy of A Fault in Our Stars<\/i> and follow Hazel, a terminally-ill cancer patient, through her dark times that are made brighter with the introduction of a boy named Augustus. Sure to be filled with laughs and an unreasonable number of tears, make sure you have learned and mastered \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e3\u0192\u2020\u00e3\u201a\u00a3\u00e3\u0192\u0192\u00e3\u201a\u00b7\u00e3\u0192\u00a5\u00e3\u0081\u008f\u00e3\u0081\u00a0\u00e3\u0081\u2022\u00e3\u0081\u201e\u00e2\u20ac\u009d beforehand.<\/p>\nA Fault in Our Stars<\/i> <\/span><\/h5>\n