The shorter the hook, the better.  If you can ask the teachers to watch some high-quality 2-minute booktalks online, that would be good preparation so they don't ramble too much.  Another great exercise to keep booktalks brief is the 6-Second Summary/Elevator Pitch.  Anything longer than 2 minutes and today's kids will have zoned out.

Costumes and/or props are  possibilities, of course the more clever and representative of the book, the better.  Depending on the book, reading a couple of gripping paragraphs works.  

A song that ties in with the book is another idea.  I work with high school kids, and love "Love Potion #9" with "A Midsummer Night's Dream" or "Suspicious Minds" with "Othello."  

How about telling part of the story with emojis projected on a whiteboard/SmartBoard?

Maybe turn the presentation into a tv news program.  You can have some contemporary books as "news," "international news" (set in another country), then a "sports" feature, maybe "weather" (disaster-based thrillers?), a human interest story (SEL), etc.

Have fun with it!  The students love to see their teachers being creative.

Cathy Andronik
(Retired, Brien McMahon HS, Norwalk--currently presenting for the Bureau of Education & Researcy)


On Friday 24 May 2024 at 02:00:55 pm GMT-4, Loretta Sullivan via CASL-L <casl-l@mylist.net> wrote:


Hello everyone,

I thought I would pick your collection brain regarding fun and interesting ways to present book hooks on different books for a summer kick off reading assembly we have planned for our 5th and 6th graders.  We have a few volunteer teachers and I would like to ask if anyone has any creative ideas or fun ways to present some books?  

We thought of dressing in character or using props.  What have others done?  What is the most effective way to deliver a book hook in your opinions (for this age group).  Each teacher has a few minutes or so to present their book of choice during the assembly.

Any ideas are greatly appreciated!  Thanks so much!

Respectfully,

Loretta Sullivan
Library Media Specialist       
Bennet Academy
Manchester, CT





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