What do I read next?

Laura Holton

Suzanne Sherman

Background for Lesson

• Audience—middle school students• Time-One 45 minute class session.• Information Literacy Standard Five: The

student who is an independent learner is information literate and appreciates literature and other creative expressions of information.– Indicator One: Is a competent and self-motivated

reader.

What Do I Read Next? Database

What is it?

– List of over 100,00 titles of books.– Gives a summary of the book.– Allows you to search by title, author, genre,

or items you would want to read.

When should I use it?

• When you don’t know what to read.• When you have a favorite book and you want

to read books like it.• When you have to read a book that has won

an award.• When you want to read a story about

something in particular like about a particular place or time period but you don’t have a clue about titles or authors.

Author Search

How do I do an author search?

• Search by last name then first.

• For a broad search type just a few letters of the last name.

• Perform an author search when you want to read other books by the author.

Title Search

How do I do a title search?

• Type in the title or the series name.

• You do not have to have the exact title to do a search.

• Perform this search when you want to know about a book and the only thing you know is the title.

Custom Search

Why should I use a custom search?• Narrows your search.

• Search by – Genre– Subject– Time period– Location– Character description (age, occupation)– Character name

Help Me Find a Good Book

• Use this feature when you have a favorite title and want to read books like your favorite book.

Genre Search

Award Winners

• Award Winners

• Librarian Favorites

• Expert Picks

• Bestsellers

Who?What?When?Where?

• Similar to custom search but only asks you these four questions.

• You have to answer all four questions for it to do a search.

Helpful Tips

• At the top of the screen click the level of the book you want to read and if you want to read fiction or nonfiction.

• Select books to go to a keeper list to print out titles you want to read.

Activity

• You will help ten students find books that they can read for their outside reading assignment. Please read each scenario and use the different features of the database to find titles of books for these students.

Activity• Recommend a Good Book• Directions: Ten students need help in finding a book for Ms. Gurney’s outside

reading project. Please read their description. Use the What I Do Read Next database to recommend a good book to the students..

• Scenario One: Adam’s favorite book is Coraline. He wants to read other books that are like Coraline. What book should he read next?

• Scenario Two: Allison’s friend has told her she should read Tangerine by Edward Bloor for the project but she won’t tell her what is about. Allison wants to read a book about vampires. Should she read this book?

• Scenario Three: Elizabeth wants to read a book that has one a Newberry Medal. What should she read next?

• Scenario Four: Molly wants to read books by Lois Duncan. What should she read next?

• Scenario Five: Zachariah wants to read books in which the main character has the same name as him. What should he read next?

• Scenario Six: Ben wants to read a science fiction book that has time travel in it. What should he read next?

Questions

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”

--Dr. Seuss