Monday, August 18, 2014

The Brainstorm Plus: How book demands vary through the years

Bookish Stuff

The new school year is well underway now. And I find it interesting how students' interests can vary so much by class. Last year's 6th graders could care less about the Series of Unfortunate Events, but this year's 6th graders cleaned them out in no time. Last year's 6th graders wanted anything and everything Percy Jackson, this year's 6th graders are slowly warming to them. Last year's 6th graders wouldn't touch historical fiction with a ten foot pole. This year's 6th graders are cleaning out whole shelves at a time. I also have a new student in Secondary this year who is tearing through the Black Stallion series I had been wondering about getting rid of because of lack of interest for the past couple years. Of course, certain sections seem to be popular regardless of the change in students (the Garfield shelf is almost all checked out and the graphic novels have been severely decimated, as have most of the fairy tale-related middle grade books).

I really enjoyed this guest blog on the Nerdy Book Club by author/illustrator Elizabeth O. Dulemba about the creative mind of an artist/illustrator.