Ideas For Getting Students More Involved with Reading:
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Begin a class chart listing favorite authors, and keep adding to it. Save lists to share with future
classes. Promote talk about books and authors.
Have students bring in books by favorite authors, or loan to the classroom library
Have students make yearly timelines of their favorite books, by age or gradeschool. Have them
share and discuss these timelines with other students.
Create with the students a “favorite author” area that includes books by the author and
information about the author, including the publisher’s (and perhaps the author’s) website to
log on for more information
Combine classes at your grade level to compare and discuss authors
Do occasional “author talks” along with weekly book talks to recommend books and to “sell” an
author
Consult school and public librarians for suggestions about authors to study
Have baskets of recommended books
Have blank “writing notebooks” available in which students can record quotes or reactions to
favorite books and passages.
Let Students Know How they Can Choose a New Book:
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Recommendations from friends, colleagues, and students
Book Reviews
Best-seller lists in newspapers and magazines
Award winners
Browsing at a local bookstore
Getting Students Involved with Book Recommendations:
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Have kids recommend books to one another. Making time for students to “sell” books to peers
(in weekly Critic’s Corner or Book Talks session for example) is crucial. A peer’s enthusiasm for a
book will do more to entice a student reader than anything else. Kindergarten teacher Karen
Sher does book talks once a week. Instead of bringing in an object to share, students bring in a
book.
Ask kids to share a favorite book, or part of a book, with a partner
Create a class book or bulletin board highlighting favorite books and authors
Demonstrate browsing through books and guide kids in the art of browsing (before wecan
expect students to read or write well in a genre, they need time to get familiar with how the
genre workds)
Create a “top ten” or “best-seller” classroom book lists based on what students are reading.
Model these, including the one-sentence summary for each book, on lists in the new York times
book review, usa today, or your local newspaper.
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Establish you rown classroom “book awards” ceremony including nominees and announce the
winners and runner-ups
Ask kids to give book talks or write book reviews. Book reviews can be:
o Compiled into a class book or file that becomes part of the classroom library or a
reference for next year’s students or other classes
o Displayed on a bulletin board in the classroom or school hallway
o Posted on a school or classroom website
o Used as benchmark writing samples
Teach students the purpose of and differences between book reviews and book blurbs (the
latter are written by the publisher to sell the books)
Have kids design covers and write book-jacket copy that will entice readers
Have kids write promotional book blurbs and advertisements meant to help sell a book
Promote “top-ten” picture books, even with older students
Read lots of great books aloud in class
Encourage students to keep their own list of “books I want to read”