What works-Author-of-the-Month Club

Gone are the days when children had the luxury of whiling away hours at the library. Now they're generally rushed—always on their way to the next stop. So when it comes to books, many tend to ask for what's familiar. How, I wondered, could I encourage youngsters to check out the less-hyped treasures on the shelves?

The answer I came up with was "Adopt-an-Author." The premise was to create a literature-based program aimed at "tweens"—third through eighth graders. These kids participate avidly in summer reading, but during the school year, they're so overscheduled that many come to the library only for research. My idea was to feature a different author for each month of the school year. I used varied criteria for selecting the nine authors, though I must admit that an important criterion was whether we had multiple titles on our shelves. I also chose a mix of contemporary and classic authors, authors who appealed to both genders, and books in a variety of genres.

I started with the familiar, and made Avi our first featured author. Besides being well-known, he has the advantage of an expansive range of work. Some other adopted authors were Walter Dean Myers, Patricia Beatty, Eth Clifford, Andre Norton, Ellen Conford, and Lloyd Alexander.

I started talking to the kids about the program before the end of summer reading. Then I sent flyers to each school and advertised in press releases. I gave out registration packets with a list of featured authors, meeting dates and times, book review forms, and questions to consider. The children could read any book written by a featured author. And with an entire month to read, the program didn't interfere with school-required readings, homework, or other activities. I began our meetings by reading biographical information about the "adopted" author. The kids especially enjoyed hearing what authors were like at their age. Knowing that Avi had trouble writing in school and that L. Frank Baum used to have nightmares about scarecrows meant much more to them than any author awards. We went around in a circle reading reviews. I encouraged students to be honest. "I didnot like this book" was rare, but was definitely allowed. Before each session, I read and took notes on all of the adopted authors' books, so I was ready to compare notes with each student.

Our discussions were definitely livelier if two students had read the same book. But discussing different authors actually worked well, too. As each student reported on his or her books, others often chimed in with questions, wanting to know more. When the discussion was exhausted, we played some sort of game relating to that month's author. For instance, during Walter Dean Myers month, we played "What's hot—what's not!" in reference to the slang he uses in several novels. We finished up with refreshments and a token prize of the month, consisting of pencils, bookmarks, or inexpensive jewelry items. At year's end, we had a large prize drawing. The number of drawing cards kids received depended on the number of meetings attended and the number of reviews turned in.

In a survey conducted at the end of the program, one of the questions was whether students would have preferred it if everyone had read the same book. They all said "no." They liked hearing about the other books. They felt we covered more about the author. They all said they felt more positive about the author afterward. They all said they would participate again (and most did). The majority of my participants were fifth and sixth grade girls and boys, with a ratio of roughly 70 percent girls to 30 percent boys. There were about 20 children registered, and eight to 12 attended each meeting.

I think students liked the program because it let them choose which book to read while narrowing the sometimes-daunting field. Chances are you won't get huge numbers for this program, but in my view, sparking the interest of these "tweens" and keeping them in library programs when their time is in high demand counts as a definite success.