All Because of a Dragon

Our ultimate goal is to teach our students to become lifelong learners. This encompasses a lot, but my focus is often creating readers. In fact, my professional goal this year was to turn a class of professed non-readers into book addicts. While I've employed a specific set of strategies with those particular students, I also know that there are kids in my school that I have not yet reached. Recently, though, I got to enjoy the excitement of a student catching the reading bug and it was all because of a dragon book.

The student discovered and read books one through six in the Wings of Fire series by Tui Sutherland in rapid succession. Once he completed a book, he was here for the next and we put the following one on hold. He was engrossed. My favorite day came when he said, "I looked it up. There are two more that we don't have in the library. When are you getting them?" He was correct--books seven and eight, published in mid and late 2015, were on order due to the binding time that is needed from Bound to Stay Bound and had not yet arrived in our collection. This is one of the collection development strategies that I can't mess up: I have to keep track of series books and be sure I have the next one coming--always.

I told my new reading friend not to worry--he would be the first to know when they arrived. As soon as I opened the tote of new books when they arrived from Library Services, I pulled out Winter Turning and Escaping Peril and contacted him to be sure that he could begin reading. Again, it's vital that we make these connections with our students and know what they are looking for at any given time--you can imagine the excitement when he got his hands on those books. There was also a concern for me that the end was coming. What would happen when he finished those books?

Our book orders arrive from Library Services in large totes--it's like getting awesome, bookish birthday gifts over and over!

Holds--often I have to remember who wants which books when they arrive without being able to put holds in Follett Destiny because the books are still on order.

Recently, this student came to my desk. He held up a book and said, "You have more dragon books." It was a statement, but made with wonder. Yes, I do have more--many more. So, my job now is to work more on discovery. How can I work to be sure students who are looking for a book find it? What display techniques will help students know more about series books they might enjoy? How can I use Follett Destiny to increase students' chances of finding books on topics of interest? And, maybe even more importantly, how do I duplicate these efforts at schools where there is not a librarian available to work with students to find the next great dragon book?

The first foray into dragon books post-Wings of Fire is The Last Dragon Chronicles Series by Chris D'Lacey

I'm also recommending The Chronicles of Imaginarium Geographica by James Owen--he was an author visit we held several years ago and the books became very hot at the time 

Yes, having the right books at the right time is key--but we must also get the right book into the hands of each reader. Challenge accepted.