Hi Stephanie -

Just a note of support. Yes - same. Very little nonfiction reading except ongoing high interest in sports and true crime. Sometimes I'll get kids interested in mythology, animals, paranormal subjects.

Our English teachers are driving reading in the building by requiring the kids to have a book to read in the classroom. Their standards for that are relaxed (they allow fiction, nonfic, graphics) so the kids aren't as resistant to choosing a book as they might otherwise be. Among fiction, they seem to be gravitating most to horror, sports, and romance themes.

Building our graphics collection and true crime area has been helpful. Our teachers often share with me what the kids are super interested in (the poet Rupi Kaur comes to mind) and then I try to build my collection from those recommendations. Several teachers who were leading activities for Hispanic Heritage month asked me to put together a book list which they then publicized. They also asked me to do an interview with a student on our daily video announcements where I did a rapid fire booktalk of three titles with Latinx authors/characters. After that, kids were coming into the library looking for those titles. Displaying the library collection like Barnes & Noble (lots of standing books on tabletops) has been helpful as well.

I'd love to hear what's working for others.

Janice

On Wed, Oct 12, 2022 at 11:15 AM STEPHANIE PATTERSON <spatterson@southingtonschools.org> wrote:

Hi All,

I've been asked to look into what any other high school libraries are offering/experiencing in terms of reading.

In Southington, all of the study halls that were split between the cafe and the library have been moved into the library. As you may imagine, capacity, seating, behavior are larger concerns now. Nonfiction does not move at all. Research is primarily with chromebooks and databases.

Fiction is not moving now at all. The question is if we offer something, will they read (or listen) here.

If you would be so kind to send a note back (whether a same story here/invitation for me to reach out to you directly) it will at least give me a starting point.

Many thanks,

Stephanie Patterson

Southington High School Library

"Building character with critical thinking, creativity,

collaboration and communication."

tel: 860.628.3229 at ext 11335 or ext 11377

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