We had our fall Scholastic Book Fair in the library all last week, so I didn't get to do any read-alouds.
The upside is that I got to spend an entire week booktalking with students, parents, and teachers, as they looked for books to purchase and checked out at the registers.
These are the books I saw flying off the carts and tables last week:
- The Book With No Pictures, by B.J. Novak. I can't keep this book on my shelves at school, and now several children have hardbound copies of their own from the book fair! This must be read aloud to be enjoyed to the fullest.
- Ghosts, by Raina Telgemeier. This graphic novel from the author of Smile portrays the life of a family dealing with the chronic illness of a child. Telgemeier is receiving kudos for the way she handles death in this story. Dozens of copies were sold last week.
- The Princess and the Pony by Kate Beaton--our read-aloud two weeks ago--was happily snatched up by several kindergarteners. Yes, the parents knew the word "fart" was used twice in the book!
- Dog Man, by Dav Pilkey. We sold out of the first and second stack of these! A favorite among boys...who I am guessing are also fans of Captain Underpants.
- Wonder, Auggie and Me, and 365 Day of Wonder--all by R.J. Palacio, and all big sellers. Wonder was our school district-wide community read a couple of years ago, and it is heartening to know it is still impacting young readers today.
We had a terrific turnout at our book fair--thank you to our learning community for supporting our library with your purchases and volunteer hours!
The Book With No Pictures is awesome! I shared that one with our new Children's librarian who is going to read it soon for storytime. The Raina Telgemeier Ghosts looks good as well. It's on my TBR. I am following a lot of educator blogs as well because they give me great ideas to read and purchases to make for my public library. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteBill, I so appreciate your visits to my blog! And you've inspired me to check in with my local public library at the end of summer to ask about their most-often circulated children's books as well, to inform my fall spending.
DeleteI'm managing the scholastic book fair this fall for our new TL. I'm not sure what to do about all the negative press around Raina's new book.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen much negative press, Cheriee, except for the few I've read on Goodreads. Could you point me in the direction of those reviews?
DeleteI loved The Princess and the Pony - so heartfelt and hilarious.
ReplyDeleteI am having so much fun reading it, and what a great story to use to teach character change!
DeleteI only bought one copy of Ghosts. It will wear out soon enough that I'm not too worried. I love Pilkey, but Dog Man bothered me a bit. Basically, the dog AND the policeman died! Just as glad that I'm not doing book fair this year!
ReplyDeleteMy students are already asking for it in the library, so I'll be buying another copy, I think. I haven't had a chance to read Dog Man yet...but it doesn't sound much different than the Bionic Man premise, back in the day.
DeleteThanks, Chris, fun to hear about a good book fair, and that Wonder is still a favorite!
ReplyDeleteI am blessed to work at a campus of readers, Linda. Love watching the students get excited about owning new books!
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