Getting the Book Ambassador Club off the Ground

Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” —Emilie Buchwald

Many of us who grew up loving to read had wonderful books in our homes. We had parents who read to us at bedtime and relented when we begged for “just one more.” I was one of those lucky kids. My mother was a librarian, and my sister and I have loved reading since we were old enough to ask for a book. For us it was a treat to get new books at Christmas or find a treasure on the shelves of our school or public library.

WHAT'S LOST WHEN BOOKS ARE MISSING

Without the early exposure to the joys of reading, I am sure my life would be very different. It is not just the experience of being an educator that I would have missed. I would have missed experiencing cultures through the eyes of characters, which has enabled me to have empathy for people. I would have missed being able to make informed political decisions because reading has helped me understand the many sides of issues. And I would have missed developing a deeper understanding of current events, because I have read about the past.

It concerns me that so many of my middle school students haven't experienced a parent reading to them. They have missed out on fairytales or hearing how Billy finally gets the last worm down. They don't know what happens when Lucy and her siblings step through the wardrobe. They don't understand references to folktales or characters or quotes from books. What else are they missing?

ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGE

In my school library I see many middle school students who struggle to find a desirable library book because the titles most appropriate to their reading levels are “too babyish,” but if they check out a title that they deem peer acceptable, the reading level is too difficult. Our school faces the challenge of eliminating this deficiency, and it is not a small task. First, I want to raise the reading level of my middle school students. Second, I hope to introduce these students to any literary references they may have missed. Finally, I want to try to prevent so many students coming to our middle school with these same deficits that could be eliminated before they reach our level.

GOALS FOR BOOK AMBASSADORS

The idea for a Book Ambassador Club is not a completely original one. I often joke that the best lesson plans are found in the copier. The seed for the idea for this club was planted by my daughter's preschool. To encourage the parents of the preschoolers to read more with their children, they gave each preschooler a bag containing a variety of books each week. We had all week to read the books as many times as we wanted (sometimes over and over and over) and then returned it to get a new bag with different books the following week. As a busy working mom I enjoyed having this option.

My daughter was very excited to examine the contents of the bag each week. Having access to brand new titles was a little like Christmas. This bag was especially helpful when our Saturdays sometimes got too busy for a trip to the public library. This was part one of the inspiration.

Part two began one day when a student who was browsing the shelves of my middle school library said to me, “I'm checking out the baby books for my sister,” and that got me thinking. Was he really checking them out for his sister? Was he covering because these were books he wanted to read himself? Either way, I didn't care as long as someone, somewhere was reading.

It was from these two experiences that the idea for Book Ambassadors was born. I want my middle school students, many of whom already care for younger siblings, to check out Book Ambassador bags of materials to take home and read to their brothers and sisters.

I hope to accomplish two goals. The first is that the younger students will experience the joy and love that being read to brings while also building their literacy. The second is that the middle school students will be improving their vocabulary and fluency as they read the books aloud. I expect that both the reader and the listener will grow intellectually from being exposed to and becoming familiar with stories both traditional and modern.

GETTING STARTED

The club is still in its infancy. I have written grants through Target and Donorschoose.org to purchase the bags and childrenߣs books. I plan to share reading activities in the library during the fall Open House to kick-start the program. Throughout the year I am planning activities to maintain the momentum. I will have a picture frame of selfies of middle schoolers reading to their younger siblings.

I am preparing to do a Christmas activity in which the middle schoolers will decorate pillow cases that will encourage younger siblings to read at bed time. I know that once we get a group of middle schoolers engaged in being book ambassadors, they will have a million ideas about how to promote the program and motivate the participants.

AND SUCCESS WILL LOOK LIKE . . .

A successful Book Ambassador Club will allow me to expand on Emilie Buchwald's statement that “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents” by adding “or in the company of their reading siblings.”