As school librarians, we actively work to help students find books that will help them build a lifelong joy of reading and that provide insight into, and information about, our world. Collection development is always on our minds as we scroll through "best of" lists and check out what our PLN is recommending. We can't seem to help ourselves when a reader's advisory moment appears, even if it is as your family is ordering sandwiches to-go from a nearby sub shop (true story). We learn the curriculum for the various grade levels and subject areas in our schools, so that we can curate and provide access to print and online resources for students to learn their required content. But how often are our students involved in creating the content they learn from?

Content Creation: Inspiring Connection

One of the best ways I have found to engage students in the writing (and inquiry) process is to provide them with an authentic audience to interact with at the completion of their projects. You can find a variety of research on the importance of providing students with real-life connections to the content they are learning in class. From my own experience, if I (and/or the classroom teacher) are the only people to view students' final products, they will put in effort to get a good grade, but providing them with an authentic audience inspires a greater level of investment and creativity.

Secondary Approaches

In this month's lessons, secondary students have an opportunity to not only create books for younger audiences but to share them with those audiences as well. Each of these lessons can be adapted to fit a variety of grade levels and content areas, including upper elementary students.

Our first lesson this month, "Picture Books as Final Product in Inquiry," is based on one of my favorite projects for secondary students: working with them to create picture books on an informational topic for an elementary audience. The original project began when I was an English teacher and my freshmen students were researching heroic figures. After a few years, I thought it might be fun to flip our audience after students completed the traditional five-paragraph essay. Students transformed the information they had gathered and written about academically into a picture book for either a primary- or intermediate-elementary audience. Students looked at examples of biographical picture books to explore the stylistic and structural options available to them before crafting their own. When the books were completed, we took a bus to a nearby elementary school and the students took turns reading their books to small groups of students. A few even chose to leave their books behind, and they were barcoded and entered into the library collection.

Several years later, as the school librarian at a different school, I worked frequently with our astronomy teacher frequently to design lessons. When the teacher and I were brainstorming alternate ways for students to share their learning, I told her about the picture books my previous students had made. She loved the idea, and we were off and running. In this instance, students did not write an academic paper first. Their entire goal was focused on translating information they were learning in astronomy to an elementary audience. Students had the opportunity to create traditional informational texts or to craft stories that were also informative. I was so impressed with their creativity, especially by those who crafted their own stories to fit the content. I used my (then) preschool-aged kiddo as a reviewer for their books, and we read them all together. I shared comments with each of the groups, which helped them revise their rough drafts before we walked to the elementary school in our neighborhood to share their books.

Focus on Essential Skills and Knowledge

Book creation can stretch beyond a way to share informational topics or as an end product for inquiry that still focuses on essential skills and knowledge. For our second lesson this month, "Board Books for Babies," students use what they know and have learned about developmental needs for young children to craft board books for a pre-school audience. This lesson could easily be used with a class on parenting, child development, or with a class for future educators. Just as with the picture books, students examine a wide variety of board book options to identify various elements. Then, students craft their board book with a specific kid in mind—their own, one they know, or themselves as a child—using what they've learned about developmental needs. You can use blank board books and sticker paper to make the physical books, which can then be given to the specific child or shared with a local preschool.

At the same time, by transforming the skills and content from their classes into this particular format, they are connecting deeply to that learning. As teachers, we know that one of the best ways to connect to and remember information is to explain it to someone else. The added benefit of students interacting with a specific audience is that it provides an element of authenticity that will hopefully spark even more connection and creativity. Another benefit is the meaningful and uplifting relationship building between elementary and secondary students that will leave them feeling empowered and cared for by their peers.

Additional Resources from School Library Connection

Tales for the Youngest Readers: The Rise (and Fall?) of Board Books by Melanie A. Kimball, PhD, School Library Connection, November 2017.

This might be an interesting article to share with your students before they create their board books. It covers the history of board books, the diversity and representation in board books, and how publishers/parents select what to purchase.

Picture Book Biographies Enrich Science Studies by Christina Dorr, PhD, School Library Monthly, 31, no. 2, November 2014.

This article explores how picture books can help students in middle school learn science concepts. For the lessons above, our audiences have been predominantly elementary school, but this article helps show that high school authors can also connect their learning to middle schoolers.

Speaking to Their Hearts: Using Picture Books in the History Classroom by Molly Blake Pearson, Library Media Connection, 24, no. 3, November 2005.

This article discusses how picture books can help bring history to life. The lessons this month connect to heroic figure biographies and science content, and social studies would be a great content area to explore through picture book creation as well.