Retiring from my school’s library after 10 years meant many things: freedom from lesson plans and the frantic pace of the school year with all its events and deadlines, freedom to write, to publish, and also to garden and bake.
It also meant solitary time with books I love. Alone time with books is great, but there is a downside…No sharing a favorite title face to face with an eager reader or finding just the right read for a less than eager one. I missed this part so very much the past 3 years.
I am back in the library a few hours a week this year (you can check out what I’m doing there HERE). Now I have the best of both worlds.
While I’m not delivering instruction in library classes anymore, I am a fellow book lover in the room sometimes when kids – and teachers- come to visit.
Over the summer, I tried to think of a way to jump start these conversations even with my limited time on campus.
Enter the whiteboard prompt.
I made a loose promise to myself that I will erase and replace these about once a week. For each one, I just write a question/invitation or a finish-the-sentence kind of prompt, then walk away. If I want to share, I don’t do that until there are comments up already.
The first prompt I wrote didn’t get any love at all. I try snap a photo to capture each one, but I missed the first one. I just wrote a question/invitation, or a finish-the-sentence kind of prompt, then walked away. I’ve made a loose promise to myself that I’ll erase and replace about once a week.
A favorite book you read recently was:
Maddi’s Fridge
The Fallout
The Queen of the Tearling
Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes
The Kane Chronicles: The Serpent’s Shadow
Book Scavenger
The Dark Tower
House of Hades
All Things Wise and Wonderful
All the Light We Cannot See
Percy Jackson
Look at this list and you won’t be surprised at the YA books that these middle school kids shared, but they are passionate consumers of other books as well, both picture book and middle grade novels. A seventh grader who shares that they just read a picture book about hunger and food insecurity? That’s a conversation that I am excited to have.
The next prompt was a book you would recommend to your teacher:
Clockwork Scarab #supergood
All Creatures Great and Small
The Golden Compass
All the Light We Cannot See
The Giver
Little Brother
Robert Heinlein (various)
I see some great MG titles here, don’t you?
The next was during a busy week, but what a fun list it produced.
My Favorite Re-read is…
Airborn
The Sandwich Swap
The Horse & His Boy
The board stayed blank for several days, and then a fascinating list came from the next prompt!
A book that blew my mind:
Godel, Escher, Bach
The Fault in Our Stars
The Kane Chronicles (The Red Pyramid)
The Golden Compass
Bone Clocks
Danny, the Champion of the World
I wasn’t sure what to write this week, but a first grader who came to the library reluctantly with an assigned group chose not to check out. Instead, he spent time with a non-circulating pop-up book. All at once, a discovery inside prompted him to ask me this question: “…Who knew that books could have such secrets within?”
Even though I’m only there for a short time each week, I feel that I am part of the conversation again. I’ve seen parents and teachers add their picks to the board.
This is what I missed: not being part of a community of readers. You’re part of my community, too. Maybe you can answer the question I posed after my first grader’s quote. What have you discovered about books lately?
Valerie,
Would your young readers like to talk about their favorite books on my podcast? I can send you permission slips and easy instructions.
Kitty Felde
Book Club for Kids
Oh, that is such a great idea! Since I only see them briefly each week, and am not actively instructing them anymore, it might be difficult to coordinate. But I can talk to their teachers and see if there is an interest. Thanks for thinking of us. We have some passionate readers at our school.
Isn’t that the truth, Annabelle? I love that kids clamor for books and tell their teachers how much they NEED to check out something from the library!
I discovered that in spite of video games and the internet, kids are still passionate about their favorite books.