I'm ruthless.
We went through each book in her classroom library one at a time. If the cover was torn, soiled, stained, or just dated-looking, we removed the book from her library. By the time we were finished, we had boxed up at least two boxes of 'unwanted' books and dramatically reduced the number of books in her library.
Some might argue that the information inside the books is still good. And while I would agree, when the books don't have 'curb appeal', students are unlikely to pick up the book to read it. No matter how much we try to convince the students that the story is great, if the cover isn't appealing, they aren't going to pick up the book to begin with.
Once we were done weeding, my colleague was left with quite a few less books, but the ones she does have are appealing to students.
We can now work towards curating an appealing, diverse collection that represents the students and their interests.
Below are my suggestions of books she should be sure to stock in her library. I've narrowed it to 10, knowing that funds are an issue. There are many, many more titles I could suggest, but we shall start here.
Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson
The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett
The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Confessions of an Imaginary Friend by Michelle Cuevas
Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Flying Lessons and Other Stories edited by Ellen Oh
Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Artists, Writers, Thinkers, Dreamers by James Gulliver Hancock
Strange, Unusual, Gross & Cool Animals by Animal Planet
Two Truths and a Lie by Ammi-Joan Paquette
