Turn and Talk

• Tell your partners your favorite genre i.e. humor, fantasy, realistic fiction etc.
• As a team, decide on one genre in the fiction section to visit first.

Genre Stack

• Pull a title of a book that already sounds “poetic” and might work as a good title.
• Scan for titles that look expressive & use descriptive language, alliterations, repetition, synonyms, antonyms or interesting vocabulary.
• Pull a few titles more titles.
• Go to another fiction genre or the picture book section and pull a few more titles.

Experiment

• Stand at a bookshelf and experiment with the arrangement of your titles.
• Stack the spine titles so that the titles are like the lines of a poem.
• Revise by rearranging the titles until you have a stack of books that sounds like a poem. 
• Try to include:  alliteration, synonyms, antonyms.
• Challenge:  add a simile or metaphor.

Back to the Stacks

Once you begin creating your poem, you might need more books…When you return to the stacks, you might look for figurative language, specific phrases or interesting vocabulary.

Experiment

• Rearrange the spine titles so that the titles are like the lines of a poem.
• Move the books to change the order of the titles until you find the arrangement that sounds the best.

Publish

• Take a photo of your finished poem.
• Leave your book spine poem on display for other patrons to read!

I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Example stack that might inspire a poem that includes interesting words & vocabulary, alliteration and repetition:

Example Poem

Mind Games

Hold fast,

the danger box,

Things not seen,

In darkness death,

A whole nother story.

(Common Core Standards:  CCSS 4.5a, 4.5c)

2017 Sakura Medal Winners

Historical Fiction – A powerful tale of a slave girl’s triumphant journey to freedom with her family during the Civil War.

Science Fiction – The human race has fled to Mars, but this was only a temporary solution…Liam and his friend Phoebe discover some facts about time and space and realize that the human race is just one of the races trying to survive in space.

Adventure – Jennifer Nielsen (author of The False Prince) ends her Mark of the Thief trilogy with a page turner. Trouble has a way of seeking out Nicolas Calva, and it’s not likely to leave him alone any time soon.  Can he manage to keep his friends and family safe, claim his own freedom once and for all, and rescue the Empire – before the magic gets the better of him?

Adventure – Indiana Jones meets Mission Impossible (meets a squabbling family from the suburbs). This is the story of a family, lost, that finds itself in the deserts of Egypt. Ideal for anyone interested in Egyptology, archaeology and the Ancient World.

Mystery – When a toddler staying next door goes missing, it becomes apparent that Matthew was the last person to see him alive. Suddenly, Matthew finds himself at the center of a high-stakes mystery, and every one of his neighbors is a suspect.

Realistic Fiction – Obe hangs out at the creek by his house, in the last wild patch left. One day, he sees a creature that looks kind of like a large dog, or maybe a small pig. And as he watches it, he realizes it eats plastic. Only plastic. Water bottles, shopping bags… No one has ever seen a creature like this before. The animal he names Marvin Gardens soon becomes Obe’s best friend and biggest secret.

Realistic Fiction – After a tough year in which Avalon James saw her father go to prison, she and her best friend Atticus are counting on these words from Atticus’s grandfather-and on the magical possibility of “Infinity Year powers,” which supposedly kick in at age 10 and last for a year.

Animals – This lovable new series introduces a little dog with a GIANT personality!  Fenway is an excitable and endlessly energetic Jack Russell terrier. He lives in the city with Food Lady, Fetch Man, and–of course–his beloved short human and best-friend-in-the-world, Hattie.

Humor – Meet Olga, the amazing child scientist who LOVES animals (because they are super-cute)! She discovers a smelly creature in her garbage that she names after herself, and studies the eccentric Olgamus using the scientific method, the practices of Jane Goodall.

Fantasy – In a classic fantasy world, three young rabbits are on the run from the villainous Gorm tribe who have killed and enslaved their clan. Podkin, once destined to be clan leader, has always been spoiled, but now he must act bravely as he, his older sister, and baby brother flee for their lives.

Humor

Adventure

Historical Fiction

Animals

Realistic Fiction

Fantasy

Science Fiction /Thriller

Mystery

Fantastic new book donated by a student in 2L…perfect read for Women’s History Month. Thank you for the donation.

A few more must reads!