Leading Readers: A Personal and
Professional Quest
Cathy Belben, Librarian, Burlington-Edison High School
from WLMA Medium, Spring 2002
Of the many leadership roles we fulfill as a library media specialists, perhaps none is as satisfying as connecting people with books they love. We’ve all been there: a student greets us at the door Monday morning, clinging to a copy of Chris Crutcher’s Whale Talk or a tattered paperback edition of The Bean Trees gushing, “This is SO good. All my friends want to read it now.” What a welcome relief from “I HATE reading. Do you have any really short books?”
As satisfying as sharing book with students, connecting adults with great reading material is even more rewarding at times. Leading them to sources of laughter, tears, and insight provides new opportunities for us as readers and library media specialists. Finding creative ways to meet that challenge—and not bore our friends and colleagues with fifteen-minute-long synopses of our latest favorite—can be fun and rewarding.
I recognize that in both my personal and professional life, my behavior and attitudes shape how people view librarians, and I take that responsibility to heart. I want my actions to offer a powerful antidote to the stereotypical bun-wearing, shushing librarians people feared in middle school. I want them to see me as a resource for information and especially for recommendations about how to enhance their lives with literature. I recognize that when teachers know that my library is a great place to find good books to read for pleasure, they will pass that information on to students, through their behavior and by what they say. I know that when my friends see me as a repository of great ideas about what to buy on their next trip to Elliott Bay Books, I’ve made headway in my goal to eradicate stereotypes about librarians and spread the news about books that deserve attention and admiration.
I strive to keep my staff and friends informed about books that might appeal to them. Some of these ideas might work for you:
| each week, I send a short book review to every teacher in the district, and I’ve created a Book of the Week distribution list that includes my friends, too. Every week, without fail, I have several requests for recommended material, and I respond immediately by sending the books via in-district mail. |
| I also make house calls to my friends. It’s pretty fun to provide a doorstep delivery to people in my neighborhood or on the fire department in Bellingham where my husband works. (I only lend those folks my personal books and save the library copies for my staff and students). |
| I send out a yearly “Best Books” list with my Christmas card, highlighting my favorite reads from the past year. One friend wrote to tell me that she brings it to her book club’s first meeting every year, and this year another friend—a firefighter who works with my husband and claims he only reads a book a year—called to tell me that he’d taken my list to the bookstore with him and asked the salesperson to load him up with almost every title on the list! |
Besides weekly emails to my friends and colleagues, I also organize a staff reading group each semester. It’s by far the most successful teacher-as-reader experience I’ve been involved in. Each semester, I select 4-5 books, write summaries, and send them out to the district staff, along with a schedule of meeting dates. The response has been positive, with teachers from every grade level participating. First grade teacher Lynda Gonzalez, who has participated in all 5 of the sessions I’ve organized so far, says, “I joined because I thought it would be a great way to meet other teachers. Plus, I always wanted to join a book club but never had the time. It is nice that it fits into our day so well.” She adds that one of the major benefits of participating is that “I can sometimes get a whole new perspective on a book because another person with a different background has read it. Jennifer Bradbury, a high school English teacher who has also participated in all 5 semesters, adds that, “the book group has established a wider circle of people with whom to have great conversations about real issues and great books…it’s great to have a discussion about what someone is reading rather than, say, our mutual disgust with an in-service provider.”
The books we discuss vary according to theme or genre; one semester we read adult fiction, the next we read southern fiction, this fall we read young adult fiction, and this spring we are reading non-fiction. I put together a packet for each participant prior to each meeting that contains a brief article about the author and a set of discussion questions (I either write the questions myself or use the “readers’ guides” provided by publishers.)
Although I sometimes select books I’ve read before, I usually go to the bookstore and choose 4-5 books that look compelling and research their reviews. Then I either make the selections myself or have participants vote from a list of possibilities. I try to do the following when I pick books:
· Select books available in paperback so members can afford to buy copies.
· Avoid “pop” fiction.
· Select authors from a variety of cultural backgrounds.
· Choose books that have generated some controversy in the reviewing world (i.e. been equally loved and hated).
· Choose books that will be useful in my high school library collection.
As stated previously, each semester we focus on a different genre. This fall we read four young adult novels: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson; Crazy Jack by Donna Jo Napoli; The Cure by Sonia Levitin; and 145th Street: Stories by Walter Dean Myers. This spring we are reading five non-fiction books: Honky by Dalton Conley; Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich; Leap by Terry Tempest Williams; The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson; and Augusta, Gone by Martha Tod Dudman. Participants have been appreciative of the range; although they don’t always like the choices, everyone seems to learn from what we read. Gonzales says, “One time we read a book that I did not like, but by the time book group was over, I had changed my mind. It’s wonderful to hear someone else’s ‘take’ on a book. I can sometimes get a whole new perspective on a book because another person with a different background has read it.”
Next year, I plan to organize each semester according to a theme. Some possibilities include:
· re-told fairy tales
· examining homosexuality in literature for teens
· bibliotherapy: helping teens with literature
· revisiting the classics: matching old gems with new favorites.
Any school district in Washington can become a clock hour provider. The guidelines are established in the WAC (see WAC 180-85-045 for a definition of “approved in-service education agency—definition” and following WACs for more details). If your district has not already established itself as a clock hour provider, encourage them to do so and to set up a system whereby staff members can organize classes and offer them to the co-workers. This is a great way to promote your programs and educate others in the process. If your district, like mine, chooses not to charge participants, you’ll have an excellent way to encourage teachers to participate.
Unfortunately, I am not compensated financially for my time, but I am able to take “comp time,” and I believe it’s reasonable to volunteer for a cause that I’m this passionate about—I would be meeting once a month to talk about books with a group of people, anyway!
Although we are technically a class, the book discussion group functions much as a regular book club might. Participants sign in and fill out a few forms in order to get clock hours, we dispense with any formal assignments and conduct our sessions casually. Members do have the option to write and share book reviews and lessons with other members, and we frequently discuss ways to use and share the books with our students.
We start each discussion with a set of fairly generic set of questions about books, and then move on to the more involved, text-specific discussion questions later. Some of the generic questions we talk about:
· Overall, did you like the book? Why or why not?
· How does this book compare with others you’ve read?
· What is the one most significant idea or impression you took from this book?
· Would you recommend this book to anyone else? If so, who? If not, why?
Our best discussions have resulted from books that we disagreed on. Last year, we read Jane Hamilton’s novel, Disobedience, about a teenager who discovers his mother’s affair by reading her email. We also had an energetic discussion about Augusta, Gone, the memoir of a mother whose teenage daughter becomes extremely defiant and incorrigible. With a mix of parents and non-parents in the group (all with very definite ideas about how teens should be raised and disciplined), we had a lively session analyzing the author’s behavior and that of her daughter.
A staff discussion group offers library media specialists an opportunity to lead: to lead readers to great material; to lead peers in literary discussion and analysis; to lead their district in its development as a culture of thoughtful, engaged thinkers.
Participants have an opportunity to interact with colleagues in a congenial setting and share discussions they might not otherwise have. Says Lynda Gonzales, “It is nice to see other teachers in a relaxed atmosphere.” Asked if she would participate again and recommend the book discussion group to other teachers, Jennifer Bradbury says. “Absolutely!”
Cathy Belben is librarian at Burlington-Edison High School in Burlington, Washington, and door-to-door Library Lady in her hometown of Bellingham.
She can
be reached at cbelben@be.wednet.edu