In a recent article, PW explored ways that teachers and librarians are reaching the most reluctant readers in their classrooms and libraries. This time, we’re looking at the polar opposite: the voracious reader. PW spoke with three educators about the ways they’re helping support passionate readers to elevate them and their reading lives for the long term.
Angela Husband is a K–12 library media specialist serving the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, a substitute reference librarian for Cuyahoga County Public Libraries, and a former sixth and seventh grade teacher. Her current mission is to encourage the students in her five schools to boost their reading lists. Husband holds contests for a chance to win signed copies of beloved authors’ titles and uses social media to create excitement around reading. To be eligible, middle and high school students must read a book as well as write a comment about it on their school library’s social media page. Husband said, “I randomly choose from the pool of readers’ entries, announce the winners, and share a photo of them with their new books on our page. The kids love this!”
With fourth-grade students, Husband introduced the Book Creator app to help them share their original stories. She collaborated with their teachers to create an outline for them to use, talked about the stages of writing a book, and showed them how to choose graphics. Once the books were ready for publication, Husband prepared a special book launch with balloons and refreshments, where student authors shared their books with the rest of the school. “Kids from the other grade levels came,” Husband said, “and they were able to choose one of the printed books to take with them.” During the celebration, students also stood in line to get copies of the books signed by the fourth-grade authors. “I had one student tell me that his books were all ‘sold out,’ and that he was going to buy me a car with his book sales. It was a magical moment!”
The magic continues at holiday time when Husband holds her annual book giveaway. “Students can come into the library to take books that they don’t have to return. They’re gifts to take home to encourage them to read over break. Teachers can also choose reading materials for their classrooms,” Husband said. The books are provided by the Cleveland Kids’ Book Bank, a literacy organization of which Husband is a member. She encourages students and teachers to use the book bank throughout the year to build their classroom and home libraries.
“It’s important to reflect on how important reading is, and to remember that at one time in our country’s history, some people were denied the ability to learn to read,” Husband said. “While some students have an intrinsic love of reading, others need our help finding a book that interests them. That’s one of the best parts of what I do!”
As a K–5 school librarian at Sugar Creek Elementary in Verona, Wisc., Jaclyn Vitela helps fuel her English, Spanish, and dual-language learners’ passion for reading by inquiring about their reading interests and asking for their help. “I like to engage students and give them leadership opportunities.” Recently, she asked one of her emerging readers who is a big sports fan to help build her sports section. She gave him a budget (with oversight) and relied on his expertise to update a section that needed serious upgrading. “He had the sports knowledge I didn’t have and knows what other kids want to read,” Vitela said. The results have been inspiring. “He went from a student who was receiving reading intervention services to someone with the confidence to choose books, to stand in front of the class to talk about them, and to offer personal book recommendations, too.”
It wasn’t long before Vitela signed up other readers interested in developing the library’s hockey, baseball, football, and women in sports sections. She is also adding to the library collection by encouraging her readers to write fan fiction (e.g. Dog Man, Minecraft, etc.) and other stories. “This has made students realize that the library is theirs!” Vitela said. Writing their own stories has fostered valuable connections among students and teachers across grade and ability levels.
In addition, Vitela collaborated with the district library team for another way to reward readers while compiling end of year library statistics. “I decided to run stats on the kids who checked out and renewed the most books and shared them with my principal,” she said. “I proposed that we invite the kids who have read the most books to come on the morning announcements and share why they read so many books!” The principal agreed. Vitela was especially heartened by what one of her readers shared. “She said, ‘I didn’t always like reading but now I love it. So, if you feel the same way that I did, you just need to keep trying and give different types of books a chance.’ ” Vitela and her principal also gave out certificates to those who read the most books.
In her dual roles as librarian and board member of the Madison Reading Project, a literacy organization that gives area children and educators free books and literary resources, Vitela advocates for all readers. “I believe that every child will become a reader if they’re nurtured and have access to a library that is a welcoming space where students can feel safe and be part of a community,” she said.
Jennifer Hottinger is an eighth-grade ELA teacher at Lake Fenton School in Lake Fenton, Mich., and member of the #BookPosse ARC-sharing group, who integrates multiple strategies into her reading and writing curriculum to help encourage and reward her middle school readers.
These strategies begin with quarterly book clubs where her students choose from a list of titles with a similar theme to discuss with three or four other students. The students can read these books during their daily independent reading time and discuss them on Fridays. The conversations are followed by One Pagers: journal entries about specific areas for readers to focus on while reading, including characters, setting, and theme. “Once they finish a book,” Hottinger said, “they can do a One Pager about their books, create an advertisement, or make a Snapchat for one of the characters.”
Hottinger finds that her students get more out of these clubs and small-group discussions than when the entire class participates in a novel study. She said that kids see how books may have common themes, yet the characters make choices that lead them in very different paths. “Oftentimes, I find that kids who didn’t read a particular title may want to read it because other kids are discussing it.”
Some of their recent reads—Louder Than Hunger by John Schu, Starfish by Lisa Fipps, and Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds—have led to lively discussions on how authors use emotions in their stories. Students then apply this to their writing as they create their own memoirs. “They get to try to model their writing after the authors they are reading,” Hottinger said.
She also makes time to check in with her readers through informal reader conferences. These are valuable opportunities to speak with her students one-on-one about the books they are reading and to check on the ELA standards they are meeting. “The more voracious readers are antsy. They want to talk to someone about their books. The shy kids don’t,” Hottinger said. “But these conferences let me make sure they are able to retell a story, track characters, and stick with a book.”
She also has them give book talks “to expose kids to even more books and to spread more joy,” which is the greatest reward, according to Hollinger. “If they find joy in reading now, that’s our goal. We’re trying to help create lifelong readers who read for pure joy—even after middle school and high school when homework increases and reading for enjoyment decreases.”
