Thing 44: Social Reading & Book Stuff

This thing might be my favorite so far because it comes back to what I think our number one job as librarians is, and that is to foster a love of reading in our students. We can teach coding, run makerspaces, and teach research skills, but the basis for all of that and more is reading. Students learn to read in the classroom, but they learn to love to read in the library.

I really enjoyed the Scholastic article "It Takes a Reader To Grow a Reader: When Adults Don't Read, Kids Lose." The author's views on how adult reading habits influence children are the same as my own. If children see the adults in their life reading, they are more likely to become lifelong readers. It isn't enough for us to teach our children how to read; we have to show them that reading is fun. I think the two best ways to do that are to give them books they're interested in and let them know that we read for fun, too.

I work to make sure I do this in my own library. I am lucky that my school does not do AR or any similar programs which require students to check out books "on their level." When my students come into the library they pick books solely based on their interests. They may have to get a book on a certain subject for a class project, but I don't count those toward their checkout totals, so that they can then get books based on interest alone. I am also lucky to work with teachers who support their students' interests and encourage them to pick books and learn about what they want to read and learn about.

I also try to read what they read. Personally, I enjoy reading YA realistic fiction and fantasy best, but I read a lot of middle grade fiction as well because that is what my students read. Often, my 5th and 6th graders will come to the library and want me to recommend a book to them and they are much more likely to check a recommended book out if I have read it and enjoyed it.

Another important thing to do with children, in my opinion, is to talk to them about what they're reading and what I am reading. When my students read a book I've read, we talk about it. Even if it's just a two minute conversation during checkout, they love to know what I thought of a certain book and I love to know what they thought of it. If it's a book I haven't read yet, I ask them to tell me whether it's worth reading or not.

My students all know that I love Harry Potter and when they read one of the books, they eagerly tell me all about it and ask questions about who my favorite characters are, what my opinion of Snape is, and whether Cursed Child is part of the series or not (it's not!).

I really liked the infographic included in the Scholastic article. I plan on printing it out and putting a copy in the library and the teacher's lounge.

Switching gears, I am very interested in Open eBooks. It seems like a great resource and I'll have to look into it further. I wish there was a single code for a whole school rather than individual codes for individual students. My students have a hard enough time remembering their ID numbers and password they use to log onto Chromebooks.

And, lastly, Goodreads. I love Goodreads. I've been using it for years and it's a great way to organize all the books I've read and want to read. As far as how it helps me in the library, I like how it lets you scan book covers and barcodes. When I go to the public library I'll go to the children's section and scan books I think would be good to add to my own collection. Then, when I do my ordering, I just pull up the Goodreads shelf I stick them on and add them to my order.