Friday, April 27, 2012

My World Book Night Experience.

I've been meaning to write about my experience being a Giver for World Book Night on Monday, but time has gotten away from me this week. But, I can't let any more time pass without telling you all about it.

I picked up my copies of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak the first day I could. My local Barnes and Noble was a pick-up location, and I was slightly disappointed to see that they only had 6 or 7 Givers total. I'm hoping that next year we can have more in our general area.

When I originally applied to be a Giver, I had planned on e-mailing some of the teachers I have worked with in the last two years to give them copies, but since I have a temporary position, I decided to give out my copies to my students. I also sent a couple of copies off to other teacher friends for their classroom libraries. I also gave our school's librarian three copies of the book (the day after I gave them to her, she came to tell me that the school's copy was returned heavily damaged-so it all worked out!).

I brought the remaining copies in to school and gave a little background about the book to each of my classes. I also showed them my signed copy and talked a little bit about my experience meeting Zusak back in 2007. In a couple classes I had minimal interest, but in others, it seemed as if every kid wanted a copy.

I ended up collecting names, then pulled names at random to give away copies. My only negative feeling about giving them out in school was that I couldn't give every student a copy of a book. But, my students were amazing. A few offered to lend their copies to others when they were finished. It was so sweet of them.

All of them were grateful. There were many "thank yous" and hugging of books to chests. After class, one student came up to me and said, "this is the very first book I've owned. Will you sign it for me?" I was touched, so I did.

The next day, almost all of the students who had gotten a book the day before brought them to class. After their quiz, it was nice to see them reading the book. One student told me that their parent started reading it the night before and had to finish it first. :)

In all, it was a great experience to give my students some books. They were so thankful and so excited about reading something that I loved so much. Again, the only downside to the whole experience was not having enough for everyone. But, I was touched by the generousity of my kids as they shared and talked about the book with their peers.

I will definitely do this whole thing again. There was something just so wonderful about talking books with my kids and seeing their eyes light up.

Who else participated? What book did you pass out?

Or, if you didn't participate, if you could pass out any book, what would it be and why? I'm curious!

19 comments:

  1. I didn't participate in World Book Night but if I did I would have given out copies of The Shadow of the Wind. It has everything: great setting(Barcelona), layered characters, beautiful writing and most importantly the story is so freaking great.

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    1. I've picked that one up a few times in the bookstore, but I always set it back down. I'll have to remember to keep it next time!

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  2. I've never participated before. In fact, before this year, I heard very little about it. This was the first year I've seen any posts on the experience of giving. And strangly enough, all five posts I've seen, the givers were ALL giving out this particular book. I think I would have to see the list of what I could give out beforehand, because i know for instance I wouldn't have been comfortable giving out this book, since I'm one of the few who found it gimicky and dull. :/

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    1. There were 30 different books, and givers were allowed to list their top three. If you look on the World Book Night website you'll see the list, if you're interested. I agree, I wouldn't want to pass out a book unless I really liked it. Strangely, my top three choices were all YA -- and a huge number of people wanted The Hunger Games. It was my third choice, but I didn't mind not getting it.

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  3. I participated this year, and it was a great experience. I am the director of the public library in a small town, and decided to give them away a the grocery store (everyone goes to the store) and one lady said "This is a first in a grocery store!" Everyone was nice and a lot were excited about getting a free book. I gave away The Glass Castle, and my coworker gave away Friday Night Lights, which she took to places were men worked, and she said they were excited to get the books as well. So we will definitely do it again next year!

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    1. I wish I'd thought of the grocery store! Next year I think I might try a hospital. But I'd have to be careful about my book selection -- I chose The Book Thief also, and as much as I love it, I think I'd be nervous about passing it out at a hospital, because it is wonderful but sad.

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  4. Beautiful story -- especially the student who had never owned a book. Hm. I think I would give away copies of The Christmas Carol -- because it isn't so long it's overwhelming, but it is pure magic and joy. :) Of course, World Book Night would need to happen in December for me. :P

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  5. I know we talked about this already, but it was such a fantastic experience. I'm trying to convince friends and family to sign up for next year because so many have expressed interest.

    So glad you're seeing the positive effects with your students.

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  6. There were only six Givers at my Distribution point as well. Hopefully now the word is out and next year will be even bigger.
    I distributed THE NAMESAKE by Jhumpa Lahiri. I gave away a few copies at the office and planned to hand out the rest at my gym but nobody was interested there; the next day I brought my remaining copies to an area hospital to distribute to patients and they were extremely grateful.

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  7. I might have teared up a tiny bit reading about the kid who wanted you to sign it because it was their first book owned.

    Allie, you do so much for literacy and even if your position is temporary, I think you should hold your head up high.

    What a cool experience!

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  8. I didn't sign up this year because I wasn't sure where I'd be living when WBN actually came around. Hopefully next year I'll be more settled! There were some really good books on this year's list, but I probably would have gone with "The Poisonwood Bible" or "A Prayer for Owen Meany." They're two of my all time favorites.

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  9. I did The Book Thief also and passed some out at a couple of different Starbucks, but I did run into quite a few readers -- I didn't want to tell them they couldn't have the books if they were bookworms like me! I did have some people who said they would pass them on to friends or coworkers who were nonreaders, so I feel it had the necessary end result. I also passed out several at my teen time at the library to the kids who don't read much.

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  10. I didn't get to participate this year, but if I had I can't imagine giving out a book other than The Book Thief. There's no one I would hesitate to recommend that too. Ender's Game might be another good one. Sounds like you had an amazing experience!

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  11. I really wish I had participated, since it seems like everyone had such an amazing time doing it! Unfortunately, I didn't have a good idea of where to give them out, but maybe next time I'll just give them out on the subway. Ha.

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  12. It sounds like you had an amazing experience, Allie. I personally have a tendency to forget that not every household has a huge stockpile of books like mine does. My students over the years have reminded me of this over and over again -- as well as how the power of a good story can really touch people. Good for you for spreading the love!

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  13. I think World Book Night is a fabulous idea. Wish I could have participated.

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  14. Thank you for sharing your experience! I'm sure it's something that your students will always remember. I didn't participate this year but I've already signed up to be a giver next year. Mostly it's the anxiety of going up to unknown people (like at the mall), but I think it'll be worth it.

    Book Thief. Beautiful book to be giving away.

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  15. I had not heard of WBN until this year. What an awesome event! Next year I hope to participate as a giver and hope the book selections are as great as this year's were.

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  16. Oh that's so neat to hear about your students' excitement over the books! I'm glad you had a good time and such a wonderful response.

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