Passionate Readers Book Study: A Participant's Review

During the month of July 2020, fifteen school librarians from around the state participated in a book study facilitated by the SD State Library. The book? Passionate Readers: The Art of Reaching Engaging Every Child by Pernille Ripp.

Laura Kelly, the Children & Youth Services Coordinator at the SD State Library, enrolled in the course and she kindly wrote about her experience.

...from Laura Kelly

I have worked at the South Dakota State Library (SDSL) for the past two years. I serve 110 public libraries in South Dakota which include combination school/public libraries.  I help librarians provide literacy programs for children, teens, and adults. One way I am able to serve others is by actively participating in continuing education as a learner.

I started my career in education teaching reading as a Title I teacher in North Dakota and then I transferred into an elementary school librarian teaching position. I taught for a total of ten years and then transitioned into the public library world via the SD State Library. My family and I now live in Pierre, SD.

I'd like to share with you all my top three favorite things from the course:

Goal setting activity to motivate and engage participants

Participating in the book study helped me focus on my goals for reading the book and interacting with my fellow classmates. During the beginning of the class, I was assigned the task of listing three goals. I chose to focus my first goal on my immediate expectations for completing the book. My second goal was focused on taking notes and making sure to digest the information as it was presented to me. For my third goal, I thought about the future and how I wanted to apply the information I learned. This activity allowed me to organize my time and resources to make the most out of the book study. 

Additional resources offered to supplement the book

The resources were endless from Ripp. Not only were there excellent support materials and downloadable, but her educational blog was also a treasure trove of thoughts and ideas.  Ripp also has Passionate Readers Book Club on Facebook. The course also provided me a podcast episode to listen to that focused on the book and its concepts.

During the book study, we dove into a little reading theory and received several website references to expose us to diverse books - something Ripp is so passionate about. The course also provided us with short videos from Edutopia about motivation, equity, and independent reading, and student choice.

Zoom meetups to share thoughts and ideas for implementation

Two Zoom meetups were scheduled: the first towards the middle of the month-long class and the other was well-positioned during the last week. Readers were able to interact in real-time sharing thoughts about the content of the book and the coursework. During these meetups, I was able to talk about sections of the book that I highlighted and get feedback from others. 

This virtual time together established connections that helped us engage with each other via email too. We shared what books we were currently reading, new resources we discovered, and our thoughts on the information presented. I now have some new email friends!

As I finish up, I encourage you to join the next book study or read the book on your own. Believe me, it will be well worth your time! 

I leave you will my favorite quote from the book...

“Creating learning communities where students are passionate about reading requires many things- a great classroom library, time to read, choice, and also the courage to break some of the rules that surround traditional reading instruction.”  -Pernille Ripp