You can get your students excited about reading with book talks. Igniting a passion to read is sometimes daunting. A book talk is a great way to engage students and encourage them to try new books recommended by their peers. If you’re looking to spruce up your usual essays and book reports, or just need an activity that will get students excited about reading, check out this post of suggestions to get started.
What’s a Book Talk?
A book talk is a short conversation students have about their reading. Think of an infomercial or sales pitch. A TikTok, if you really want to keep up with the kids. Don’t think of it as a formal presentation. In fact, I think it’s better to have students think of it as an informal conversation.
Why Use a Book Talk?
Book talks are a great way for students to give better book recommendations as well as ignite a passion for reading. The whole vibe of a book talk is to sell what you’re reading. This requires students to read for detail. You can’t sell a product you know nothing about!
When to Use a Book Talk?
A book talk can be used anytime! I think it works best for independent reading opportunities. If you offer choice reading time in your classroom, a book talk is a great concluding activity. It gives students the opportunity to talk about their book and gives other students ideas for future reads.
Even if you don’t use choice reading in your classroom, you can use a book talk. Do you have students in groups reading different novels? Use a book talk gallery walk so everyone can get a taste of what the other books were about. Did you just finish a behemoth novel as a class? Consider a modified book talk that students will present to use as a study guide or in lieu of an essay or book report. You could even assign specific chapters to students and have them book talk the content just from that section.
How to Set Up a Book Talk
Start with a template like this one. Remember a book talk is short and simple – there’s only so much information that can be crammed into the time constraint of a book talk. You can help your students by focusing on one literary element like characterization or let them pick what is most important to know about their book.
Practice summary skills so students can ace the book talk. This activity is great for summary skills, so set your students up for success by reminding them how to summarize information and consolidate notes.
Give students time to read and take notes. I encourage students to take notes as they read, which is why the template is important. I also encourage them to think about what works best for the notetaking. For example, some students want to stop and write what they find interesting on notepaper right away. Others may just want to stick a post-it in the page so they know where to go back to and then continue reading for the day.
Give students ample time to create and set up their book talk. Using their template, students need time to create their book talk. Remind them to keep it short, so they may need to practice and time themselves. A book talk is like sales talk, so students also need to engage their audience. This is a really great assignment to let personalities shine!
Switch it up by making a few adjustments to the book talk assignment. A fun spin during the Valentine season is to set up a speed-date session, where students will present their book talk one-on-one. You can give students cards to mark their favorite book date to get ideas on what to read next. Or set up a gallery walk for students to tour and get the “spiel”. Challenge students to find a book that fits a theme. Offer a silly prize to the best showman when it comes to audience engagement. Book talks are easily adjusted, so don’t be afraid to play around with this assignment.
Book Talk Examples
Sometimes we really need to see what a good book talk is. Here are a few that I thought were great examples, but you can find many more on YouTube.
If you want her example of a bad book talk, check out this video.
Colby Sharp shares his book talk on The Unteachables by Gordon Korman
If you’re looking for an actual student giving a book talk, try this one.
Great Books to Talk
Where do you even start with book talks? You can always have students start with what they know are favorites. You can also give students your personal suggestions based on what you know about their interests. If you’re really stuck, check out the best books to add to your ELA curriculum or classroom library.
Do you use book talks in your secondary classroom? Do you find it helps engage your students and give them helpful suggestions on new reads? Share your favorite tips, suggestions, and examples here in the comments or on Facebook and Instagram. I would love to hear from you!
Happy teaching!
