#road2reading Challenge - Being Intentional - 5.09.17

All journeys have a starting place.

This is a weekly place to find books and tools 

that you may use with readers at the start of their reading journey.

Join in the conversation at #road2reading.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the rush we are in to get our transitional readers into middle grade novels.  You can read the post here.  

There are so many fantastic books that are perfect for this reader - they provide chapters with a structure that supports these readers.  By giving them a book ladder - going from picture book to a transitional chapter book to middle grade - you'll see smooth growth and a reader who is ready for middle grade books.  In my blog post, I mentioned many series that are hooking my transitional chapter book readers.  Many of us are familiar with transitional chapter books like The Magic Tree House series or Junie B. Jones.  Those are fantastic series and appeal to many readers, but don't let that be the extent of your collection.

There are more transitional chapter books being published than ever before, however, they aren't always publicized as much as their middle grade counterparts.  Perhaps, you haven't heard of some of the series I mentioned.  Maybe you've had the same experiences as Elisabeth Ellington.  Here's her comment from my blog post that day:

"The interesting thing about this list to me is how few of these books are also in public libraries. I have cards at 3, and I just checked all these series. Only Piper, Dory, and Princess are in my libraries. And that makes me think about how our classroom and public libraries are not being very intentional about providing the books that transitional boy readers need to hook them on reading and keep them hooked."

If these books are being published, why aren't we able to find them in our public libraries?  Why are they not at our local bookstores?  Can you get them into your classroom library?

I think the key word is being intentional.  We have a responsibility as teachers or librarians to know the range of readers we service.  We need to make sure we have books for all of the readers we see.

Think of your own classroom library.  Think of the library you work in.  Think of the readers you service.  Ask yourself these questions, are you being intentional with the books you have?

• do you have books for all the readers that enter into your library?
• do you have books that allow for a variety of interests of your readers?
• how are you making sure readers know about these books, are excited to read them?
• how do you promote them?  Are you promoting transitional chapter books like you promote middle grade novels?
• are the books interesting to you - would you want to read them?
• if you purchase or order books, how do you find transitional chapter books?

When we're intentional with our book choices, we'll all be growing readers.

Be sure to check out Alyson's post today about a fantastic series.

We'd love to hear about the books you're reading with growing readers.  Link up with us here!