I believe every child has a book that will fit them perfectly, a book they will fall in love with. It’s a book that seems like it was written just for them. Over the past nine years I learned steps I can make as a teacher to help my students find the best fit.
Know your literature
Before you can recommend a book to someone else, you need to be familiar with as many genres, authors, and award winning books yourself as possible. It’s easy—start with what you like. What books did you like as a kid? As an adult? What drew you to these stories, characters, conflict? Was the message especially meaningful to you? Reread a few of your favorites and then start to branch out. Who is your target audience? Read with this audience in mind. Try different genres, different character types, and different stories portraying the types of conflict that your students actually face. Read both the classics and new literature. By growing the number of books you know, you will create a cornucopia of books to recommend to your young readers.
There are also many places that compile great book lists. These are a good place to start creating your personal reading list. Goodreads and Shelfari are both online bookshelves with book lists based on different criteria you enter. Book award lists can also be used as a wonderful tool in finding great pieces of literature. For young readers I recommend the Caldecott Awards, Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards, and the Theodor Suess Geisel Award list, for upper elementary I recommend the Newbery Award and honored book, Coretta Scott King Book Awards, Pura Belpre Awards, and the Edgars, and for teen readers I love reading from the Michael L. Printz, and Margaret A. Edwards award lists. Readers of all ages can find books from the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award list—an especially great list for building your familiarity with nonfiction literature.
Get to know your readers
Before making the match between reader and book, you have to know your readers. There are a few ways I get to better know my readers so I can best help them find their “book fit”. On the first day of school I administer an interest survey filled with questions about reading, school life, home life, family, interests, hobbies, etc. I even ask questions about how many hours a day they watch TV, play outside, do homework, etc. I like to get a well-rounded picture of my students inside and outside of the classroom. My survey changes every year. During the first weekend after school starts, I read through these surveys and create a personalized list of three to five books for each child to have on Monday. I also take at least one book off the shelf for each student, from their personalized list, and place it on their desk. I try to write a short note explaining why I think they will like the book. Usually about 50-60% of my kids actually read this first book selection I make for them. Kids think it is neat when someone not only recommends a book for them but takes the time to take it off the shelf, and explain why they think it is a good fit.
Match books based on a variety of criteria
The first mistake I made my first year teaching was thinking the following equation always proved true: student likes football + book about football = perfect match. I remember recommending a book about horses to Annie, an avid horseback rider, then being disappointed when she returned it the next day saying she didn’t like it, but could she read The Indian in the Cupboard instead?
Next, I accidentally paired the novel My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George with Nathan, a reluctant reader, but avid nature enthusiast. I adore George’s books and had it sitting on my desk. Nathan saw the hand-drawn illustrations that looked more like nature notes than pictures and he became interested. He wanted to be a naturalist who worked in the wild with animals, and low and behold, so did Sam, the main character in the book. Once Nathan finished the book (his first book of the year, I might add) within five days, I sat down to figure out this new phenomenon. I had been trying to get him to read my book recommendations for months, yet he never enjoyed anything I started him on. He loved this novel which read more like a guide to surviving in the wild. I finally figured it out! The theme of the book was finding your own way, when you didn’t necessarily fit in with those around you. This theme fit so true for Nathan—someone who didn’t always fit in. The plot of the book was a child running away to live side-by-side with nature. Nathan dreamed of doing just that!
It dawned on me I need to match kids with books not only based on their interests, but on a theme that is true to the student’s life, or a conflict the child is currently going through, or because the student is very similar to the main character, or because the setting is so similar to that of something the student dreams about! How simple. I just needed to look deeper.
Conference and listen
I cannot overstate how important conferencing with students is, not only for you the teacher, but for your young readers. Readers want to talk, to share, and to explain how the book they are reading is reaching them. And the person they want to listen is you!
I wish I had a great record keeping system for keeping track of who I have met with, when we met, what book they are reading, etc., but I don’t. I do keep a notebook. While there are some weeks I make sure to meet with a certain list of students to talk about their books, there are other weeks where this doesn’t happen. I have become creative in finding times to meet with students. I have two separate kinds of conferences: the planned and the unplanned.
The planned conferences happen about once or twice a month. This is where the kids come to my meeting area to a kidney-shaped table and they sit one-on-one with me. They can tell me whatever the like about their current book, I ask leading questions, and I bring up specific topics we are covering in class. For example, during our biography unit we looked closely at theme. During conferences I made sure to bring up theme conversations and I could get a really close picture not only of the book they were reading, but how well they understood the concept of theme.
The unplanned conferences happen throughout my day. I always find a student to walk to lunch with and I always ask them about the book they are reading, or I tell them about the book I am reading. Other great unplanned conference times include waiting in lines. Every day in the cafeteria lunch line I book talk, during lines for the bathroom—guess what—book time! When kids walk into my room at the beginning of the day, we talk books. I also corner my kids when I see them outside of school. High school basketball game? Great time for a quick conversation. Oh, you’re grocery shopping at Walmart tonight? Let’s discuss that character you’re mad at and why. Since I always have a book on me, I always have a conversation starter when I run into a student in public. I even do this to past students!
Even though conferences are sometimes hard to fit into my teaching schedule, I try to remember their purpose—to encourage my readers, listen to my readers, and get to know my readers, their excitements and struggles.
Struggling is okay
I think one misconception students have is that their teacher likes everything he/she reads. Students think I enjoy every book I come across, and they think I expect them to like every book I give them. Show them that this is not true! I always show kids what I struggle with. If I am reading a book that I cannot get “into,” I explain my feelings. I let them see my struggle, and also see it is okay to not finish a book. This is such a freeing feeling for them. Kids should know I don’t only care about the books they like, but also the books they don’t like. When I make book recommendations I always make sure to explain that if they don’t like the book, to tell me. If that happens, we have a discussion about why this book didn’t fit. I make sure to write this down in my notes, so that I know how to make a better recommendation in the future. The more information I have, the better the “book fit”!
Emily Keifer is an ILA member and fifth-grade literacy block educator at Cowan Elementary School in Muncie, IN. She also teaches social studies curriculum and researches the role of multicultural literature in the classroom.