I had the privilege of visiting a local Montessori school and giving booktalks to their 4th-6th grade class today. It was quite fun, as I expected it would be. It's a great group of kids and our library has a good relationship with them, so we see them on a fairly regular basis. The first time I went was in April, then I saw them again when they visited the library in September. Today they had requested a selection of "new and neat" books, so this is what I brought to show them:
Fiction:
The Nixie's Song by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black (especially notable because the Spiderwick movie is due out in February)
Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf by Jennifer L. Holm
Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R.L. LaFevers
Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Leepike Ridge by N.D. Wilson
Nonfiction:
Kids Baking by Abigail Johnson Dodge
The Boys Book: How to be the Best at Everything by Dominique Enright
The Girls Book: How to be the Best at Everything by Juliana Foster
Another Book About Design: Complicated Doesn't Make it Bad by Mark Gonyea
Chock Full of Chocolate by Elizabeth MacLeod
Gifts for Kids to Make by Cheryl Owen
Ox, House, Stick: A History of Our Alphabet by Don Robb
Exploding Ants: Amazing Facts About How Animals Adapt by Joanne Settel
Poetry:
Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars by Douglas Florian
By far, the biggest hits were The Boys Book and The Girls Book. They both got passed around so that every kid could look at them (and the girls and boys both looked at each book). They were super easy to booktalk, too, because all I had to do was read them several of the instruction titles ("How to win a bet", "How to fight a crocodile", etc.). Another hit was Exploding Ants.
So, yes. Fun was had by all. I may or may not be doing more booktalks tomorrow for a group of middle school special ed kids. Again, very sweet kids, so I'm looking forward to seeing them again.
Have I mentioned lately that my job rocks??