we talk about selecting books.

We murder to dissect.
William Wordsworth


I can’t teach you how to do Text Selection in a blog post. It takes time and work to learn to do it well.

I can give you three principles that will help you become better at it.

Let me say two things to start.

I’m talking about choosing books for pleasure reading. I am not talking about direct reading instruction. Those are two totally different worlds.

Secondly, I’m talking about book selection. A good book is more than text. Remember why you read a book in the first place. It’s the story.

OK?, now let’s look at the three things that will help you with book selection.

Be purposeful - Understand the purpose of the book you are choosing, is it a read aloud, is it for information gathering, or is it for independent recreational/pleasure reading? Each of these requires a different approach to selection and to reading.

• Teacher read alouds
• Read aloud books work best when they are conversational. Long, complex sentences can be beautifully written, but they’re tough to read aloud and hard to listen to, especially for children. Ideally it should sound like you’re telling a story to your family. 
• If you’re reading a novel to your class, short self contained chapters are great, they give you a built in stopping place, and if it’s well written, leave you wanting more.
• In picture books, look for repetition. Great read alouds are predictable and invite participation by the audience, at least mentally reading along. Think Pete the Cat, The Old Woman Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything.
• Don’t skip the classics. They’re classic for a reason. If you want good material to practice with, use folk tales, they’re made for it.
• Beware the beautifully illustrated book as a read aloud. These books are treasures when your audience fits in your lap, but to read to a group of twentyfive, it’s just not the same. Some work, but it’s rare. And don’t be fooled by the “celebrity author”. I’m not saying they are all bad, but remember it’s the story that matters.
• If you’re reading aloud, be purposeful. If you are working in a small group, reading a book together and you want to stop and “think out loud”, that’s fine. You are teaching a skill set that you want kids to develop. It gives you opportunity to quick check how they’re doing, are they getting it? But if you’re reading aloud, perhaps during DEAR time, as entertainment: respect the narrative. Don’t stop and try to guess what’s next or study the illustrations for clues, or and this might be the worst, ask questions, bogging down the whole thing as kids mumble and stumble around. Remember the highest compliment we give books is that they are page turners, you can’t stop or put it down. When you interrupt that it’s like your students are sitting behind someone talking through the movie. Just stop it!
• Independent Student reading
• One reason that we allow students to check out five books is to allow them to create a balanced meal, if you will, when they visit the library. You can take advantage of this by encouraging, cajoling, requiring that the five books include a book that meets the standard for independent reading, and will be read. There is nothing wrong with you requiring they read a book.
• Sometimes it can be easy
• Remember we’re being purposeful here, these books are not for instruction, they’re for recreational/pleasure reading. So, if you’re expecting the student to read the book,  the student should be able to read it fluently. I’m a fan of the five finger rule, but that’s only one ingredient. Have the student read it aloud. A good choice can be read conversationally, moving at a pace that allows both comprehension and enjoyment of the story. It’s the story, remember, that matters. 
• Sometimes we complain that “they will finish that in a couple of days!” And the problem is? The library is open every day, they can visit all day, with the exception of twenty minutes in the morning, so  if they are really reading the books, let them come get another book.
• You defuse arguments and keep it pleasant by letting them use free choice for all except the one good selection you want them to read. 
• Sometimes it can be too hard
• It happens all the time. A student wants a book that makes them look like a reader (shouldn’t that tell us something?). Parents like to use their children’s reading choices as another way to keep score, you know what I mean.  Sometimes, as a kid, you just have to carry out the big book. Just be sure that it’s not the only “thing on the plate.”
• We do, occasionally, tell a student no when they want certain books. It’s usually because of content, not reading level. I might let a high first grade reader take a Vet Volunteer book, but not The Underneaths. Content matters. Is this book good for this child at this time?
• Non fiction
• By it’s nature non fiction is different, just different from how we choose and use fiction. The great thing about most non-fiction in an elementary library is that one can learn so much from the pictures, illustrations, charts and graphs. This can interest the student into wanting to know more, perhaps, reading! There’s so many ways to gather information from a nonfiction book that I suggest you not worry too much about reading level. Now, that said,  if you want the book for a research project, then that is direct instruction and all bets are off. Assign it and teach it. Be Purposeful. You know your kids, so it won’t be too hard to find books they can read well enough to gather information for a project.

Be personal When a kid asks for a book suggestion, I always ask, “what was the last thing you read you liked?” This helps me know what the kid has been reading, and just where their reading skills are, and it makes this a conversation. The student is working with me to find a book.

If the last thing they liked was a Ramona book, I’m probably not, probably not, going to suggest Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. If they just moved up to Ramona, perhaps more by Beverly Cleary is a good choice. CLICK Amber Brown is very similar but a bit more contemporary and Alvin Ho is perfect for a student at this stage.

Listen to them read a bit. We tell kids to use a page for the five finger rule as a self check, but you can tell by listening to a paragraph, sometimes a sentence, if the kid can read the book or not. Don’t be afraid to tell the child “this one is too hard right now, but with some practice, we’ll get there. Now let’s find something a little easier.” Check back with them. Ask them if they are liking it, how they’re doing reading it, how’s their pacing, would they recommend it to others? Keep the conversation going.

Be persistent It’s time to read and instead of hearing pages turning, you hear “I can’t find any books I like! I didn’t like this one, can I get another one? I don’t like to read. Can I go to the bathroom?” These are the tools children use to get out of work. Reading is curriculum, it’s not a choice. We’ll give you pretty wide latitude in what you read, but you will read.

Students need to try other things too! That’s what education is, learning things you don’t already know. We want our students to be open to new things. Reading a book you don’t like is really a pretty low-cost event when balanced against the world of possibility that it offers.
Finish what you start. Look, it’s ok to turn in a book after a chapter or two if you don’t like it. We do this, sometimes what looked like a good choice doesn’t turn out how you wanted; so you bag it and start another. But you, as a student, can’t do that with two in a row. So if you bring back Book A cause “you didn’t like it”, you’re going to keep Book B until you finish it.


Use DEAR to learn the literature
OK, there’s no shortcut to getting really good at helping kids find good books. You have to know the books, you must read them. DEAR is not only great for your students, but it’s a real opportunity for you to learn the literature. There’s a lot to be said for students seeing you read a book of your own, what you read for pleasure. But I think we gain more if they see you reading books on their level. If you’re reading their books, it helps you suggest books, helps you evaluate if they really read something when you talk with them about it, and places real value on the books we have available to them. If students see you reading Minnie and Moo and cracking up at the story (and you will), it’s value just went through the roof. What’s important to them is that you’re reading.

The good news is that you can sometimes knock out four or five picture books in one DEAR session. It will take longer to read the novels that our older students read, but your goal here is to learn the authors. Children’s authors, just like adult authors, usually write with a consistent style and subject. You don’t have to read all of the Beast Quest books to have an idea of what they are like. If you’ve read any books by Gary Schmidt or Jewell Rhodes, you’ll know who can and should be reading these authors.