Choice Novel Stations

I just had the most fun with one of my favorite cooperating teachers, Amy Wolk, setting up choice novel stations!  We have been collaborating on ways to get her regular-level juniors, who largely identify as non-readers, matched with the perfect book, and I think we came up with a winner with this activity.  Our idea was to have students touch as many books as possible; however, the traditional "book tasting" and "speed dating" were out because many of her students had done those activities with me in their freshman or sophomore years.  With that in mind, I set off on a Pinterest hunt for new activities to get students engaging with all types of texts.  While I initially got frustrated with finding only super short activities, I eventually landed on using those concepts in a station set-up.  Check out the ideas below!

Setting Up

To make the stations work, we created a worksheet with simple guiding questions that would help students focus on the six different tasks.  You can check out our sheet here, but the questions were really not the focus of the activity; instead, we simply wanted students to have a positive experience searching for a book and hopefully find either a title or a type of book that they were eager to read.  Since we ended up with six stations, we got to keep the groups small, generally with four students.  We made the groups in advance and tried to group friends together so that they could actively engage in the activities with students with whom they were already comfortable.  We timed each station to only last about three and a half minutes; that way, students didn't have time to lose interest before moving on, and it allowed them to have plenty of time at the end to browse through the shelves if they didn't find one from what we pulled.  Lastly, we had music playing in the background to avoid the feeling of needing to whisper in the library.  Since these students are not library regulars, I really wanted to break their preconceived notion that the library is a silent space. 

Station 1: Book Horoscopes

This station probably took the most time to set up in advance, but it turned out so beautifully once it was done!  To start, I searched for astrological sign descriptions and found some short paragraphs that summed up each sign in a fun way.  Using those descriptions, I then searched through our collection and found a fiction and nonfiction book that seemed to match the description (I'll admit that some were definitely better than others!).  To jazz up the look of the description, I used the amazing Google Explore features to add the astrological signs and then cut the descriptions into strips to lay out on the table.  I then laid out of the book recommendations to encourage students to browse not only their recommendations but the other books as well.  Students had a great time comparing their personalities to what their astrological sign predicted!  Since then, students have been grabbing the descriptions at the circulation desk as bookmarks.

Station 2: Book Fortune Tellers

This station took a lot of folding and writing but ended up being a fun break.  For the fortune tellers, I identified eight popular genres in our fiction section and found a recommendation for each genre.  After getting my student aides to help me fold the fortune tellers, I channeled my inner fortune cookie, adding in a cryptic recommendation for each genre:

• Adventure: You'll play the game, not let the game play you.  Read Ready Player One for tips.
• Sci-Fi: You will be pursued by a mysterious stranger.  Read Illuminae for tips on how to deal.
• Dystopian: All that was destined for you will change.  Read Matched to figure out your next step.
• Historical Fiction: Your path will cross with a mysterious stranger.  Read Salt to the Sea to learn more.
• Horror: You should beware those around you.  Read There's Someone Inside Your House to survive.
• Paranormal: Something from you past will return.  Read Paper Valentine for advice.
• Fantasy: You'll stand out from the crowd.  Read Red Queen to learn how to make an entrance.
• Romance: Your secrets will be revealed.  Read To All the Boys I've Loved Before for advice.

I'll say that this station had the fewest requests, BUT it was useful because it helped students think in terms of genre.  Even though these exact books weren't heavily requested, students could tell me that they were interested in horror stories while browsing after the station activities were done.

Station 3: Judging a Book by its Cover

For this station, I tried to pick some lesser-known books with really great covers.  So, for example, the book Send features the tag line "It only takes one click" with a blurred image of a boy with his head in his hands.  Students were asked to choose the book they thought looked the most interesting and NOT OPEN IT.  Instead, they could talk with their group members or write about what caught their eye from the cover or what they thought the story was about.  It was really interesting to hear the details that they picked up on when making their plot guesses, especially with the very popular This Is Where It Ends.

Station 4: Blind Date with a Book

This station was the exact opposite of the previous one.  I chose five books that either had less-than-enticing covers or were pretty well-known.  Using Goodreads, I looked up the most popular quote from each book and found the publisher's blurb from the inside jacket flap.  I wrapped each book in dark paper and taped the quote on the front and the blurb on the back.  Students had to guess which book it was based on the description and then make a decision about whether they would be interested in "getting to know" the book a little better.  It was fun to have conversations with students who "just knew" which book was wrapped up based on the quote; it was honestly even more fun when those same students were wrong about the book, which led them to get interested in a new title.

Station 5: Flipgrid Book Talks

This station was definitely the easiest set-up, since most of the work had been done prior to the lesson.  Throughout the year, students, teachers, and I add book talks to a Flipgrid topic.  These book talks are available through the library website, so we logged on to four computers and had them

sitting at several tables at the back of the library.  Students visited the tables and chose 2-3 90-second book talks to watch.  This station had a really large number of book requests, and students seemed to respond well to virtually hearing from me as well as their classmates.  If you're wondering how we set up our book talk topic on Flipgrid, click here to check it out!

Station 6: Bookmark Coloring

For this station, we kept it simple.  I found a few free downloadable bookmarks with different sayings and designs (check here and here for what I used), cut them out, and had them spread across a long table with plenty of colored pencils.  We also placed a TON of books on the same table so students could browse while they colored.  Honestly, this table probably had the most requests for books, since it allowed students to see so many options in a low-key way.

Finishing Up

Voila...a high-energy, quick-moving activity that allowed students to interact with lots and lots of books in a variety of ways!  At the conclusion of our stations, we had about 15 minutes left in our class period, so we allowed students to browse the tables again and visit other areas of the collection.  If a student was interested in a book that was part of the station activities (and there were LOTS of those), we asked them to place on sticky notes on the inside cover of the book of their choice; that way, we still got to use the books for the other class periods but had a way for students to request the titles.  Once the day was done, I had student aides help me collect all the sticky-noted books and checked out to the students indicated on the sticky note.  If there were several names for the same book, I used Classroom Screen's random name picking feature to choose who would get that book and then created a list of three similar titles to send to students who didn't get their choice; that way, those students wouldn't be back at square one when choosing a title.

I couldn't have been more pleased about the atmosphere that this activity created in the library and about the results that came from it; at the time that I'm writing, it's been about a week since we did this activity, and I've seen several students come in to return their books.  When I asked them what they didn't like about the book, several have replied, "No, I already finished that one and want another."  I've also overheard some great conversations between students about books (like this one) and have seen them engaging with the text through #booksnaps and portfolio creation.  So exciting!  

Until next time, enjoy the start of spring, and keep reading!

Love,
Your Library