Welcome To Adopt An Author

Adopt-An-Author is a free nationwide non-profit program designed to excite young adults about reading and writing through the use of best-selling thrillers, heroic non-fiction stories, motivational books and direct contact with the authors via personal appearances, classroom phone calls, e-mails, and interactive websites.

About the Program

Originated by high school teachers who began using Meg (rated #1 book for reluctant readers) to motivate their students to read, the program was organized by the book’s author, educator Steve Alten, as a way to get young adults excited about reading.

While young children receive an abundance of encouragement to read during their preschool to grade-5 years, such as the successful Reading is Fundamental program, once a student reaches middle and high school, reading is replaced by television, video games and social media. 

Enter Adopt-An-Author. Since 1999, we’ve become the most popular and successful tool for teachers to excite secondary school students to read. We’ve been endorsed by Reading Is Fundamental, Barnes & Noble, TAYSHA, the School District of the City of Philadelphia, Senator Bill Morrow (CA) and Temple University’s Hall of Fame Basketball Coach and Educator John Chaney, along with the more than 10,000 teachers representing over 80,000 students per year. As you can see from our student, teacher, and parent testimonials, our success rate is phenomenal…and we’ve only just begun. Best of all, the program is FREE, paid for by our authors and sponsors.

There’s no costs?

Not to teachers or schools. The 501 3-C program has been funded since its inception in 1999 by private donors, the Hannah Langendorf Foundation, and our founder and director, NY Times best-selling author Steve Alten (MEG, The LOCH). Our staff are all volunteers who believe in the importance of getting teens to read; many were reluctant readers themselves who read MEG in high school and became “MEGheads.” The only associated costs to the program are for the student’s book which are inexpensive paperbacks – and we’ve even arranged discounts for that as well.

Does registering commit me to anything?

Not at all. Registering simply gives you access to our website, answer keys, resources, and authors, as well as discounts on books. Ultimately, it is your decision whether to incorporate AAA into your curriculum. The majority of teachers who register AND implement the program  continue to use it year after year!

GETTING STARTED:

1. Watch the video, read the testimonials from teachers, students & parents.
2. Discuss the program with your principal, department head and other teachers.
3. Select a book. 

Which book do you recommend I select?

While Adopt-an-Author offers fiction, thrillers, non-fiction, and biographies, when it comes to getting teenagers to read, the overwhelming #1 choice is MEG by best-selling author Steve Alten.