Thing 20: Social Reading and "Book Stuff"

One of my favorite aspects of being a school librarians is talking to my students about the books that they are reading. What are they loving? What are they disliking? What would they recommend to a friend? It is my goal to develop a culture of reading here at Abraham Wing, with open discussions about books and reading happening across grade levels, and even with the faculty and staff.

Many of the tools shown here would be helpful to help me achieve this goal. The first one I looked at was OverDrive. I know that I have access to Overdrive with my public library, but have rarely used it. One thing that I like about it is the ability to download either an e-book or and audio book. This is something that I could really use in my personal life, as I love to listen to books on my long commute. I have downloaded the Libby app on my phone and hope to soon check out my first audio book (There's so many to choose from!).

Using OverDrive with my students via the Sora App is something that I would really like to start before the end of the school year. I believe it would really help some of our students to be able to have an audio version of their book to listen to while they follow along in the text. I also would like to get it up and running before the end of the school year so that my students have access to books all summer long. Our school library is not open, and while the public library is within walking distance, most do not take advantage of it. Using the Sora app would mean that my students would have access to a variety of books all summer long! The fact that the books would be free would also be a huge benefit for our students, as many cannot afford to buy new books.

In the same line as Overdrive, I also explored Epic Books! I feel this is a great tool for classroom teachers to use, as well as a good center for library time. I loved the range of books that they had, especially that they have so many popular titles. The different levels of books is impressive, and I like that you could assign specific ones to your students if you wanted to (would make a great literature circle center!).

Both of these free e-book sites will be great for our students and I hope help me to get more students excited about reading by providing them with more options and formats for reading.


Another great idea that I saw on this "Thing" was using FlipGrid with Book Club. We just started a Book Club this year, and have been discussing ways to make it more "interesting and fun" and less like work for the students. FlipGrid would be a great way to get them talking about books and listening to their club members talk about different books. I have used FlipGrid in Library before, but it did not occur to me to use it for Book Club. What a great way to handle discussion questions as well as get book reviews!