Ruby's Library

THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE PLAN

How to use the Zombie Apocalypse

to teach essential information literacy skills for survival....

BOOKTALKING: How to get teens reading

I've been "booktalking" in local schools for ten years and I've seen plenty of evidence to refute the myth that teens don't read. Selecting high impact fiction and presenting it in a lively way can jumpstart an interest in the written word; I've witnessed stubborn non-readers blossom into reading group stalwarts, got boys reading soppy love stories, and even, on one occasion, prevented some violent bullying by the power of an exciting extract.  On the "Young Adult Fiction Reviews" page I've highlighted some tried and tested fiction with suggestions for extracts, but here are my tips if you fancy a go at booktalking to Year 10 and above.

• Chose books you enjoy. It's surprisingly hard to booktalk a book you don't particularly like.
• Never attempt booktalking to a group larger than 30 and limit your session to 25 minutes, absolute maximum. They can't sit still any longer than that.
• Don't attempt more than four sessions in a day or you'll hurt your voice.
• Have water with you and make sure the room is cool, but not cold.
• Be facing a clock so you keep track of time.
• Face the students away from the door or desk if you're booktalking in a library or other open venue. They're easily distracted. Close the library to everyone else or you'll find your audience is more interested in looking at whoever tapping away on a computer or browsing the shelves, etc.
• Start with a really hard-hitting book to get their attention. I always use Melvin Burgess's Junk and it never fails to grab them.
• Follow up with other hard-hitters such as Bali Rai, Malorie Blackman or Benjamin Zephaniah.
• You need to chose books with a good "hook" that you can sell in one minute. Sex, death, drugs, violence and gore are the things to go for! 
• Aim to include up to 8 books, and try and read extracts from 5.
• Extracts should be brief (2 pages maximum) and include action or dialogue.
• I will include any swearing except the F and C words (but warn the teacher beforehand).
• End on a humorous note - Andy Griffiths and Morris Gleitzman have always done me proud.
• Don't react if you get  bad behaviour. Keep going. If students behave badly, it's up to their accompanying teacher to deal with this.
• Do allow teens to interrupt and ask questions, and ask questions yourself such as "Have you seen the film of this yet?"
• Engage in banter but keep in control.
• Allow time at the end for teens to come and browse and talk to you.
• Fashions change and books that are madly popular one year will die a death another. Keep refreshing your material and be prepared to let your favourites go.
• Not all books, no matter how good, are suitable for the booktalking approach to promotion. Don't try to flog a dead horse.

Above all, don't let negative reactions affect you. Every group reacts differently to a booktalking session and just because some might be cheeky, disruptive or appear disinterested, this does not mean that you're not affecting them. Very often the most disruptive students are the ones that come back later to borrow a book - when their friends are not around! Peer pressure, the time of day, the weather, the lesson they've just had or the food they've just eaten will determine how they react to you. Some sessions will leave you buzzing, others disheartened, but don't be deterred.

After ten years, I can confirm that booktalking works. Why not give it a go?

FREADOM

Censorship in the school library: a personal view

Can I simultaneously celebrate the freedom to read yet deny a young person the opportunity to read a book I may consider inappropriate? Where do we draw the line when deciding what to stock in our libraries? Many of us working in schools have had to address this tricky question, or even had to justify ourselves to an angry parent or teacher.

In Sarah McNicol’s survey, she found that of all librarians,

“School librarians were the most restrictive in practice, but supported the theoretical values of intellectual freedom more strongly than staff from public libraries or SLSs… it might also be hypothesised that librarians in school libraries are more isolated than those in public libraries and SLSs, so feel less able to assert their beliefs regarding intellectual freedom.”

Sarah McNicol, Attitudes towards intellectual freedom and censorship amongst school and children’s librarians, Evidence Base, Birmingham

Over the past four years intellectual freedom has for me become a key issue in the type of library service I wish to provide. In fact, I’ve become far more passionately libertarian about the whole issue.

In literary criticism, reader-response theory argues that the act of reading is active, not passive; that the reader themselves constructs the meaning of a text based upon their own experience, understanding and psychology, and that this interpretation of a text can change over time. The text itself is a catalyst for a unique individual experience rather than an end in itself, and there is no “right” way to experience a text. I feel that this is particularly true of young readers who have a very different experience of the world than adults.  They often apply different meanings and have different reactions to a text than an adult may, due to less reading and life experience and less awareness of the wider world and the complex interrelations and contexts of the “adult” world. So, should we be navigating this burgeoning awareness for them, in loco parentis so to speak? It’s a tempting and laudable aim, but I think it’s dangerous territory. It’s too easy to unconsciously impose our own viewpoints at this critical stage and to make value judgements about what students read, and by extension, about students themselves. Conversely, allowing them independence in reading is demonstrating trust and encouraging openness. If a young person is affected by what they’ve read, then it’s my role to talk to them about it, address their worries and help them put content into context.

At 14, young people are becoming adults. They are curious about the world and need a safe environment in which to vicariously experience different aspects of life. Often, reading about “stressful” things can act as catharsis, enabling them to experience and express their worries about all kinds of issues that may be affecting them. Fiction in particular is a uniquely safe forum in which they can explore the world and start to formulate their responses. Dave Pelzer may or may not have written a true story but the popularity of A Child Called It amongst young people speaks for itself. Students want to understand things that they’re worried about.

No student, having read Junk by Melvin Burgess, will think that taking drugs is a good idea – but neither will they feel “preached at” or patronised.  This book treats them as an individual, an adult, and subtly encourages them to think about the reality of drug-taking. In relation to sex, young people are far more prudish than we might imagine! If they encounter sex scenes in a novel they are more likely to skip them than an adult reader would, or simply not understand the content. And if they enjoy them – of course that’s fine, they’re young adults dealing with a growing awareness of sexuality. How many of us, as teenagers, secretly read our parents’ books, looking for naughty bits?

It‘s all about context, of course. We often cite context as a reason for stocking or not stocking a book, but forget that context is often an adult perception. Of course we want to protect our young people from some things – but the reality is that we can’t. All we can do is give them knowledge and the skills to negotiate life’s sometimes difficult path for themselves. As adults we understand the world holistically; we’re more aware of the bigger picture. For example, I can’t watch films or read books which include torture – because as a member of Amnesty International I know that these things are very real. But that’s my response, learnt from my life experience and part of my unique psychology. Other people will have a different response and if I impose my own view upon them, that is unfair and unprofessional. As much as we resist the imposition of other adults’ views on our territory (e.g. a parent complaining about a book on religious grounds), we need to recognise when it’s our issues that are too much at the forefront, too.  Even if they are well-meaning, they can still cause damage. I’ve read books that have upset me – but I don’t regret reading them. They’ve enabled me to understand the world more and they’ve become part of me as much as the books I’ve loved.