The Power of Book Tasting in the Classroom

You’ve probably been in the staff or department meeting when the administrator in the room announces proudly (and unironically) that we have the “opportunity to do a book study this year.” It’s offered as an opportunity–but there’s no opting out.  We’re told it’s necessary–but its need isn’t clear.  The book will be purchased for us, but we haven’t bought into it.  What’s missing is the opportunity to choose.  If only we were offered a book tasting.

Book Tastings Are a Smorgasbord for the Soul, a Buffet for the Brain.

A book tasting is a strategy to facilitate independent reading.  In other words, it’s choice reading for students, empowering students to read a variety of literature–getting a “taste” of this and that–before deciding what they want to settle into and devour as a reader.  

The research is clear that choice, in general, in the classroom is beneficial; for example, acclaimed educator and researcher Robert Marzano contends, “Choice in the classroom has been linked to increases in student effort, task performance, and subsequent learning.”  Inherently, as both educators and people who live and breathe, we know this to be true.  Consider the book study example above:

Are we more likely to read the text if we’re given it (along with a mandate) or if we’ve selected it?  The answer’s clear.

Choice reading works the same way for students, and the research, too, proves that choice reading leads to big gains and the best outcomes.  For instance, see some of these key findings on “The Power of Reading Choice, Time, and Pleasure”: 

• “Self-selected reading is twice as powerful as teacher-selected reading in developing motivation and comprehension.”
• “The research base on student-selected reading is robust and conclusive. Students read more, understand more, and are more likely to continue reading when they have the opportunity to choose what they read.”
• “An essential aspect of becoming a real reader is knowing yourself as a reader— made possible through wide reading driven by access to abundant books and personal choice.”

That last bullet point is an important one and central to independent reading and book tastings as book tastings allow students to sample the many flavors of texts, genres, and authors available to them, refining their independent reading tastes. 

This is one of the reasons why we, as adults, get involved in book clubs–we are given the opportunity to read widely in concert with others to define, develop, and refine our reading preferences.

How, then, can we successfully implement book tastings in the classroom to facilitate choice reading and inspire independent reading in our students?  Read on for some book tasting ideas!

Setting the Table for Book Tastings

There’s no book tasting template out there that defines the one-way and only-way to host a book tasting. 

Rather, with the central tenet of a book tasting in mind (which is giving students the opportunity to “sample” a variety of texts), there are many ways to orchestrate a book tasting, so here are some book tasting ideas to try:

Genre Buffet.  Set up stations around the classroom, each representing a different literary genre (like mystery, fantasy, historical fiction). At each station, provide a selection of books from that genre for students to “taste.” They can spend a few minutes browsing each station, sampling different books, and jotting down their thoughts and impressions.  As an extension, you can give students the opportunity to come to the “dinner table” at the end to discuss their “meal” with other students, selecting what they’d like to “order” from the library to “taste” further.

Speed Dating with Books.  Arrange the classroom with desks facing each other in pairs. Place a book on each desk. Students sit facing each other and spend a few minutes “speed dating” the book on their partner’s desk—reading the blurb, flipping through pages, and discussing what they like or dislike about it. After a few minutes, they switch partners and repeat the process with a new book.  The goal here is to “date” many books, not “marry” one’s self to a text too soon.  As an extension, students could give a “final rose” to the book they’d like to spend more time with.

Book Tasting Menu.  Create a “menu” with different book options listed under categories like “appetizers” (short stories or excerpts), “main courses” (novels), and “desserts” (poetry or graphic novels). Students can choose from the menu and spend time sampling the books that interest them, writing down their thoughts and ratings.  As an extension, they can consider what would make them “full,” so they can plan their reading “diet” accordingly.

BYOB Dinner Party.  Have students BYOB–”Bring Your Own Book”–to the book tasting.  To begin the party, they can give a brief summary of their offering or a quick review of their book noting what they personally like about it.  Students can then engage with other students’ texts in the book tasting, building a community of readers who’ve read or experienced the same texts (perhaps building toward classroom book clubs as an extension activity).

Book Tasting Theme Day.  Theme the book tasting around a specific series of texts (like the Percy Jackson books and its spin-offs) and decorate the classroom (and perhaps offer for students to dress up) to match the theme.  For Percy Jackson, for example, imagine projecting the coliseum on the white board, hanging up posters of mythological monsters, and mini-gods and goddesses running around in homemade bed sheet-togas as they dive into the stories and Greek Mythology.  (Admittedly, this idea is more for the younger crowd, but that doesn’t mean the older students wouldn’t appreciate a change in scenery for a book tasting.  Imagine, for example, setting up a book tasting outside in nature as students experience tales of survival by authors like Jack London or Gary Paulsen.)

The book tasting ideas above give you a book tasting template to follow as you set the table for book tastings and independent reading.  Getting a book–almost any book–into students’ hands will ensure they never hunger for knowledge, and book tastings are a great way to fill their bellies, err, brains!