Our First Book Tasting Event

Our First Book Tasting Event

I have been seeing many teacher librarians talk about book tasting activities on social media. I have decided to try this out with our Secondary school students. Just a month ago before going on Christmas holidays we attempted our first book tasting event and it was a great success, here is the story.

We have taken into consideration the younger group to run this project because they have focus and interest in reading.  I have discussed this idea with the Language teacher of MYP 1,2 A & B  and explained the whole plan.  She found it very interesting and agreed to run this in her class.

Planning

The whole purpose of this plan is to reach out to students and teacher in their classrooms with different gender and new collection of books. This time we have taken Graphic novels for book tasting.  These are the same old stories but in an illustration and picture form. On this day we used 8 tables in the classroom to set it up with a restaurant theme.  Tablecloths and flowers were kept on the table to give a look of a restaurant.  Students were given a “book pass” while entering the class. The “Book Pass” form required students to list the Title/ Author, list their comments, list the genre, and provide a rating. This form also served as their exit ticket for class. Students were given instructions and expectations for that day.  They were told that the books want to travel with you.  The event went on very well with most of the students checking out two books to carry home.

We have recorded the feedback from Ms Mistry, MYP 1,2 Language teacher about this event, here is what she has to say.

Cafe

The students of MYP 1 & 2 were introduced to the book cafe. The classroom setup was arranged such that it looked like a coffee shop. The ambience was different and the students were very happy to participate in this activity.

Normally students are encouraged to visit the library and choose books that they would like to read.

In the last week of December, the librarian decided to bring the books to the class. The students were introduced to graphic novels. Almost every student chose two books for the holidays. While in class the students read one graphic novel and wrote a review, they also expressed whether it was suitable for the class to read.

Overall, it was a great experience for the students and an innovative way to encourage good reading habits.

We are happy that nowadays with students being reluctant to read and visit the library to check out books, this is one way we can bring books to the students and inspire them read.

Sunita Malekar

Secondary Media Center