A new trend–BookTok–has been sweeping TikTok and resurfacing a passion for reading for teens and adults alike.

BookTok is a genre of videos on the popular app TikTok in which people share things about books and reading, almost like a worldwide book club. Users comment on each other’s videos theorizing, fangirling and recommending. This trend has encouraged new and past readers to become more passionate about their books. Not only this but BookTok expands what people are willing to read by having a supportive community that recommends books outside of their comfort zone.

Meghan Geary, an English teacher who has seen an increase in reading at Woodland Regional, especially girl students, in reading due to social media. There are specific books that come to mind when thinking about BookTok–specifically by Colleen Hoover–that range from fantasy to romance.

“I have definitely noticed that young adults are very in tune with what is trending in terms of books,” Geary says.

Booktok has impacted the amount of readers but also what is being read. Popular novels on social media include A Court of Thorns and Roses, Forth Wing, and Icebreaker. A lot of books like this include relationships that are harmful and sometimes don’t have the best resolution. Books like these can influence how teens think a relationship should be, but actually ruin their sense of what love should look like.

“There are very dysfunctional relationships,” Geary said. “I think it can be challenging to a fourteen year old.”

However, the dysfunctional relationships in books don’t take away the value of reading. Reading is a habit that improves critical thinking skills, memory and expands your vocabulary–among other things–no matter the genre. The increase in teens and adults reading has given bookstores a resurgence and expanded library usage. Social media, especially BookTok, has made reading as a hobby more popular and more exciting, people now have a guaranteed place where they can talk about books that they are passionate about.

“I love seeing book culture be cool,” Geary said. “I think books and finding books that you are interested in is so important.”