Book Talk

A Book Talk is a short presentation about a book with the goal of convincing others to read it. It is not a formal book review, more of a sales pitch. It should be fun and exciting to share ideas of why the reader loves this book. Teach your students to do book talks by modeling the practice and the thinking behind what you say. This should include practice and time to think about their idea. Partner book talks help students to practice giving feedback and make it collaborative.

Procedure

Book talks can be part of a unit, or can be something that exists as its own entity in your classroom, depending upon how you are positioning the use of reading of books. In general, teachers find greatest benefit and products from students when each student can choose their own book. Many teachers use book talks to encourage reading for pleasure.
Let students know early on that they will be sharing about a book that they are currently reading, or may be about to read. Allow enough time for students to read the books.
Share with students the format of a book talk. This can be up to the teacher, depending upon what you want from the students. You can see one structure below. For more advanced students, a teacher might consider something like an Ignite Talk as a platform for sharing their reading.
Presentations can be as formal or informal as you prefer. Generally, talks are not meant to be very long, (3 - 5 min) and should be shorter for younger students. If you have a longer period of time for presentations (10 min), then you will have to determine a schedule for presentations, which can often include students signing up for slots over the course of a week.

Resources and Examples

Pikes Peak Library District page on Book talks

Teacher Mr. Rigney talks about Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

A student-led book talk about Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes. (Note how she takes on the character of Wemberly to sell the book. This student takes on the persona of Percy Jackson for her book talk.)

2 Sets of Instructions for Students as examples:

HOW TO GIVE A BOOKTALK

[ OPENING ]

Hook your audience!

Read a quote from the book, ask a question of your audience,

introduce the main character, vividly set the scene,

or do a combination of a few of these techniques.

Make sure to also give the title and author of the book.

[ SUMMARY ]

In a paragraph or two, summarize the plot of the book.

Be sure that your summary introduces the main character, identifies

the problem, and leads us toward the solution--

without giving away the ending!

[ IMPRESSION ]

Share your opinion!

How did you feel about the book?

What did you think of the author?

Would you recommend it to others?

What would you rate it?

[ CLOSING ]

Entice your audience!

Ask a rhetorical question, read a quote from the book, use a

cliffhanger, or do a combination of these techniques.

Remember, your book talk should flow nicely, like a commercial.

Here are some parameters that will maximize the book talk format:

§ Don’t give away the ending (the exception may be for a series or book of short stories where incorporating the ending to one story might excite readers about reading more from that author).

§ Similarly, show the book, title, and author at the end of the book talk. Don’t lead with it! That’ll keep the audience engaged and wondering, Have I heard of this book?

§ Start with a hook that will get the audience’s attention. This can be verbal, like reading a portion of the story (perhaps a cliffhanger), or nonverbal, like reenacting a major fight scene.

§ End with a hook. Leave the audience wanting to know more by creating a cliff-hanger, like authors do at the end of a chapter, and ending with it. A book talk is successful when the audience has questions.

§ A book talk should be short. Aim for between one and five minutes, depending on your audience.

§ No two book talks should sound the same! Bring your own personality and voice to the book talk and encourage students to do the same.

§ Choose a book that has a strong theme that will be of interest to your class. In middle and high school, books about love, humor, magic, friendship, and problems they deal with every day (breakups, family, school, etc.) are likely to resonate.

§ Prepare for a book talk while you read by taking notes and placing sticky notes at cliff-hangers, quotes, scenes that surprise you, and parts that you connect with.

§ Think about craft: What does the author do to keep you engaged?

§ Like any good presentation, don’t memorize it but do have your major points in mind.

§ Engage your audience—ask questions, take a poll, have them guess what will happen next. The author kept you on the edge of your seat, get your students on the edge of theirs.

§ Practice, practice, practice! (Teacher bonus: Unlike your students, who take your class only once, you can perfect a book talk and give it year after year.)

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