Hooking Kids on Books: How School Libraries Help Students Discover a Passion for Reading
Belleville 3rd grader Sammy Knudson has found a passion for the books in her school library. Knudson has been checking out cookbooks for about a year now, taking them home and, to the delight of her family and school librarian, making some pretty fantastic treats!
“Sammy really enjoys being creative and making new things. She also loves baking, so these cookbooks are a natural fit. The recipes she picks out challenge her to read and follow directions, work on her fraction skills, and practice her patience with usually a tasty reward. We really appreciate Mr. Kramer for helping students to find books in the library that fit their interests and make them excited to return next week for something else to read,” says her mom, Melissa Knudson.
“Sometimes she brings one for me to sample!” says Belleville Elementary School Librarian, Tony Kramer.
Kramer has been ordering new cookbooks, as there is a lot of consistent interest in them at “checkout time” in the elementary library, and this underscores the power of school libraries in helping support ongoing literacy efforts for their students.
“Few things bring people together like food, be it working in the kitchen or sitting at the table. I love when students take an interest in anything culinary. The pride one feels when creating a dish and sharing it with friends and family is a feeling that sometimes gets lost in our fast-food culture, so the cook in me is really happy to be promoting that. When I see trends in popular reading materials, I’ll often look for cookbooks with that theme and capitalize on the interest that’s already there. Pokemon cookbooks are always popular, and I’ve recently ordered Minecraft, Disney, and Harry Potter cookbooks that I’m sure will be checked out upon arrival!” notes Kramer.
While not all students are born with a natural love for books, finding an entry point for each student to discover the power of literature to serve their needs and interests is an important step in helping all students become lifelong learners. In Sammy’s case, she discovered she loves to bake through selecting a library book of her choice. Finding enjoyment in reading these cookbooks is just one example of how a student like Sammy is using free-choice reading to her advantage by finding needed resources in her school library’s collection.
This is the purpose of a school library – the collection is made by selecting books that mirror its learning community; and in this case, it means it reflects the wants and desires of its students. With Sammy’s influence, it means Mr. Kramer will be looking for the next best cookbooks when he uses Common School Funds to choose titles for his next book order!
At the middle and high school level, the school library and media center is used to also support the interests of students as they choose titles for independent reading time in their ELA classrooms and at home. Students are often encouraged to think about what they like to “do” in their free-time if they are struggling to find a book that might appeal to them, consider authors they have liked before, or even think of movies they enjoy as a way to enlist library support in finding a title that will “hook” them. A recent push to begin to “genrefy” (i.e. shelving books of the same genre together for easy access) the middle and high school’s library collection hopes to offer easier access into the collection of fiction books as students have short passing periods, lunch-time, or just time before and after school to select a book.
“Adopting more of a bookstore arrangement in our library and media center will hopefully help teens in browsing for titles that will easily pique their interests. I’ve been working to make this shift with a lot of research and practical thought as to how best to make it happen for my students. It’s an exciting project to be working on this fall!” says Belleville Middle and High School Librarian Marie Perry.
In the end, finding a passion for reading is often just an extension of knowing what we like. If we want students to choose a book over a device, it has to be enjoyable, so making our collections reflect the students we serve is crucial in making reading a part of our students’ daily lives. So if it’s a cookbook, a book that wraps in a favorite sport, or a novel that is similar to a favorite movie for our students, it matters not if it makes a difference in literacy efforts in Belleville’s schools!
