20,000 titles and the Hunger Games.

What Makes Us Connect With One Story and Discard Another?

What makes us connect with one story and discard another?

I’ve spent twenty years teaching. At an average of one class a year and twenty-four kids per class, that’s 480 kids. Throw in the years I’ve worked with whole schools in a specialist role, throw in a lifetime of camps and holiday programs, and you’re talking about a few thousand kids.

Yet after all this time, I’m still amazed at what grabs kids’ attention — and which books they choose to read.

Last year, I had a girl in my class who told me she hated reading. I love it when kids say this. I actually believe it’s impossible. It just means they haven’t found a story that makes them come alive. Anyway, back to our friend, the non-reader. We’ll call her Annie. Her ancestors are Polish, and her relatives went t2hrough the concentration camps. Once she discovered there were books that told these stories — books with Polish characters, and humanity pushed to the brink and forced to survive — she was away.

I couldn’t stop her reading. The kid was in a book during Reading time, Maths, Science, English. Reading, and story became all that mattered.

It's amazing what personal connection does.

For me, it was always adventure stories. I loved secret passageways, islands, hidden worlds, and kids who only had to walk out the front door before they’d trip over a mystery. I loved Morris Gleitzman, Blyton, Dahl, and so many more.

Why?

Because story was life.

And still is.

Back to our friend, the reluctant reader. In 2025, Annie jumped three times the national average in her reading level, and her parents were so excited.

“What did you do?” they asked. “How did it happen? What was the technique?”

I replied, quite truthfully, “Nothing.” I just kept offering her stories until one of them landed in her soul.

This year, I’ve had a similar child in my class, but the shift for her came with one of my books, Mashed Potato Boy. At just under 5,000 words, it seems so short to me, but it felt like a monster challenge to her.

But she finished the book.

She told me it was ridiculously silly, but also that she loved it.

She finished, and the sense of pride was barely contained by the classroom walls. I love that I got to be a part of that.

She’s now started on The Hunger Games. Thank God for Suzanne Collins!

I love that I got to be a part of her journey.

In a world where a 20,000-volume library is so inspiring for some kids, it’s terrifying for others.

Where do I begin?

What do I choose?

How do I narrow it down?

How do I get past boring front covers and a first page that feels like it’s 42.2 kilometres long?

I’m so grateful for authors, for teachers, for librarians, and for parents who read and keep reading to kids.

Keep reading,

Matt Yost