Reader's Advisory

To foster the love of reading, folks have to want to explore the variety of books I've bought or kept in the collection. There are several ways I've accomplished this, besides the traditional booktalk.

Preschool
We have a row of long, low shelves with a flat surface in the picture book area, so I've always made it a point to display rows of newer purchases on top (things that aren't 'new-new'). This has been a double bonus because folks remember things they had checked out when they were on the new shelf, and I also have a chance to spotlight a few nonfiction titles that are perfect for preschool/early readers as well.

Schoolage
To get students to read some of the older books in the collection, I created a list of similar books to pique their interest. These books are then given a small label which reads "If you liked [title], then try this!". These are set out on display and the labels have been laminated so they can be reused. Here are a couple of examples:
If you liked A Series of Unfortunate Events, then try The Big House (Coman)
If you liked Judy Moody, then try The Green Magician Puzzle (Pearson)


I also have used movie and book comparisons in the schoolage section, which I've detailed in the teen area of this page.

Teenage
Our society loves watching movies, especially those based on books. But there are several books, as well as movies, that aren't based on each other, but are very similar. I've created a list that pairs books to similar movies, and each book gets a label of "If you liked [movie title], then try this!" The top row of shelves in the YA area is empty, so I put out a set of books, face out, for display purposes. Here are a couple of examples:
If you liked The Wedding Planner, then try The Bridesmaid (Abbott)
If you liked The Truman Show, then try Parent Swap (Blacker)

Something else I've used to pique interest is the sticky-note book blurb. Many times the book jacket doesn't give enough information for making a book sound intriguing, so I write little sticky-notes with a fast-paced booktalk on them, and because they are small, I have to keep it short and catchy. This also is a way to 'highlight' certain books in the collection, as not every book has a sticky-note hanging on the shelf below it.

Book Clubs

There are two book groups for students at the library, and both are similar in design. Both meet once a month for half an hour and both have an assigned book that everyone reads (and is provided by the library). Sometimes we'll compare the book to the movie(s) made, and sometimes we'll have writing exercises.


Youth Book Group

This group is for 9 to 12 year olds, and I try to pick books or take suggestions of things they wouldn't be assigned to read in school. A few we've read in the past include: The Lemonade Trick (Corbett), Be a Perfect Person In Just Three Days (Manes), Soup (Peck), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Dahl) and Dew Drop Dead (Howe).

Teen Book Club

This group is for 7th through 12th graders. Though I rely on suggestions a little more heavily for this group, I also use it as an opportunity to expose them to books they may not pick up on their own. My favorite anecdotes is when we read the first book by Tamora Pierce, which happens to have a pink cover. One of the boys in the group said he almost didn't read it for that reason, but he was so glad he did, as the story was excellent. Titles we've read in this group: So You Want to Be a Wizard (Duane), Artemis Fowl (Colfer), Twilight (Meyer), Bridge to Terabithia (Paterson) and Stotan! (Crutcher).

Otaku Gaijen

Once a month, teens gather at the library for anime club. We meet for about an hour, and that includes sharing the latest manga or graphic novels purchased (by them or by the library), showcasing drawings or sketches, making any anime- or manga-related announcements and then watching and evaluating an anime.

Generally, we watch things that haven't been marketed yet, using a couple of anime programs through video companies, but all things shown received permission. Teens had to be 13 to join, and all were logged into a listserv created to keep members up-to-date on events.

Occassionally, we'll have extra programs related to Japan or Japanese things, like a class to learn to write in Japanese or a session to play a new card game based on FullMetal Alchemist, and these teens are invited to sign up first.

Harry Potter Parties

I've created and performed several Harry Potter programs at the library, including a birthday party, a trip to Diagon Alley, potions with Professor Snape, a craft day and the two listed in detail below. Most were not limited by age, but I did provide a couple that were only for teens or only for younger school agers.

A Day at Hogwarts

Students were mailed their Hogwarts acceptance letters beforehand, and when they arrived at the library, they were sorted into one of the four houses. The day began with A History of Magic, which was a trivia challenge between all the houses. Then they divided up to go to their various classes, which included Charms, Herbology, Potions and Divination. At the end of the day, all trooped to the Great Hall for dinner.




Visiting the Burrow

We headed out to visit the Weasleys one day, and started by de-gnoming the garden outside with Ginny and Ron. Once the area was cleared of gnomes, we split into two groups. The first group practiced Quidditch with Charlie and Bill and the second group made some pranks with Fred and George. Then the two groups flip flopped. The last activity was to make a Muggle craft with Arthur, which we did as an entire group, using one of the ideas from Funky Junk by Reneé Schwarz. Finally, we all enjoyed Breakfast with Molly.