A Book and a Hug Lesson Plans

As you know, our website is full of useful resources that can be utilized in a variety of ways and contexts. Here are some of our favorite lesson plans and creative strategies that have been employed by educators to help kids get more out of A Book And A Hug!

Understanding ABookAndAHug.com—From Basic to Advanced

by Kate Stehman, School Librarian, Pennsylvania

Get Moving With A Book And A Hug’s Personality Type Quiz

by Brian Johnson., NBCT, Library/Media Specialist, Arkansas

Understanding ABookAndAHug.com—From Basic to Advanced

by Kate Stehman, School Librarian, Pennsylvania


It is hard to write individual lesson plans for this as many of us have different instructional period allocations in addition to frequency of classes. My intended audiences are third through fifth graders. These are the only grades with whom I have attempted these lessons because of my own curriculum goals for kindergarten through second grade and their typing and reading abilities.

I present these lessons in a continuous stream to allow for individuals to adjust the activities to their own time and curriculum limitations.

0. Overall Goals

Students will be able to use the book recommendation website (A Book and a Hug) in conjunction with their library’s catalog (whether online or card, school or public) to help themselves, independent of a librarian, library aide, or teacher, choose books according to their interests whether personal or academic.

  • In addition, the following specific goals are nested within these lessons:
  • becoming independent, self-empowered readers and searchers
  • becoming aware of website quality (website evaluation by teacher-led exploration of a quality website and its attributes)
  • becoming adept at database searching using keywords and search limiters, such as reading level (also understanding the concept of databases)
  • becoming versed in appropriate vocabulary and its application:
    • database
    • catalog
    • title
    • series, series title
    • keyword
    • search limiter
    • tab
    • call number
    • author, inverted name order
    • spine
    • fiction
    • nonfiction
    • collection
    • collocation
    • genre (and types of literary genres)
    • navigation bar
    • menu, drop down menu
    • interactive
    • link/hyperlink, internal and external
    • url, web address
  • becoming cognizant of quality book reviews to aid in their own writing when assigned or requested
  • becoming aware of the ability to keep multiple tabs open on a device screen to easily work between websites
1. Introduction/Anticipatory Set

I introduce the site as the creation of a public librarian, Barb Langridge, who has observed four different reading personalities that she has named The Champion, The Team Player, The Jokester, and The Investigator. Barb has created a “reader personality quiz” or assessment for individual readers to use in helping choose books meeting their reading personality(ies).

Activity

Students take the online quiz to ascertain their reading personality. I encourage them to choose only one answer, but if unable to make a choice and it’s holding them back from proceeding to the next question, that they may mark a second choice also.
When all have completed the quiz, we survey the results to see how many of each type personality is in the class. We realize that some may actually fall into two categories and in rare cases three. We also many times discover that Jokester is the category into which most students fall. I have them read the description to see it doesn’t mean, according to Barb, that they are necessarily a class of pranksters. I then have students read the description(s) that match their results. I ask them if they think the descriptions do come close to what they think of themselves. If it is a third grade class, this may be as far as we get in the initial lesson. I do stress that we will return to this lesson in our next class but that they are free to explore the site on their own until we meet again.

2. What is your reader personality?

I introduce the site as the creation of a public librarian, Barb Langridge, who has observed four different reading personalities that she has named The Champion, The Team Player, The Jokester, and The Investigator. Barb has created a “reader personality quiz” or assessment for individual readers to use in helping choose books meeting their reading personality(ies).

Activity

Students take the online quiz to ascertain their reading personality. I encourage them to choose only one answer, but if unable to make a choice and it’s holding them back from proceeding to the next question, that they may mark a second choice also.
When all have completed the quiz, we survey the results to see how many of each type personality is in the class. We realize that some may actually fall into two categories and in rare cases three. We also many times discover that Jokester is the category into which most students fall. I have them read the description to see it doesn’t mean, according to Barb, that they are necessarily a class of pranksters. I then have students read the description(s) that match their results. I ask them if they think the descriptions do come close to what they think of themselves. If it is a third grade class, this may be as far as we get in the initial lesson. I do stress that we will return to this lesson in our next class but that they are free to explore the site on their own until we meet again.

3. Exploring the Site and Introducing Databases

Now we are ready to begin exploring how this database is structured and how we can use this to our advantage in looking for “good” books to read. In addition, I have students open a second tab in their browser for the library’s OPAC. We used Destiny at the school in which I taught. I make certain students get the point of being able to have multiple tabs open and the ease this affords in toggling back and forth between the pages. If students discover books on Book and a Hug that appeal to them, they can then toggle to the OPAC page and discover if their school library has the book. For older students (This is generally a review series of lessons in fifth grade.), a third tab to their local public library can be open also to determine if the books they want are available from the public library.)

Homepage

We see the search box on the homepage of Destiny and discuss the types of search terms one could enter: keyword, author, title, subject, series. We compare that to the search set up for A Book and a Hug. What is the same, different? What keywords can be used and what does that mean for their search results? How is a keyword search different from a subject search?

Activity

Using a “help sheet” filled with book titles, author names, and subject terms to aid in spelling and to generate ideas, I have students do a search for any book title from that sheet just as an exercise. I also do a title search, pretending I am using a recommendation from a friend. (My go-to search is The One and Only Ivan.) We then use my screen and its search result to explore what is included when students do a search. Because multiple selections show up even with my typing in the exact title, it provides an opportunity to begin explaining what a keyword search is, as opposed to title or subject searches. (This is also a time when I illustrate searching Hugo (The Invention of Hugo Cabret) as a keyword in Destiny vs as a title search.)

4. Navigating the Book and a Hug Homepage

Lead students through the menu bar/navigation bar options, both at the top and sides of the pages. Review how to return to the homepage and the use of the back arrow to retrace their steps to wanted pages. While looking at the different pages, have students tell what information and how they might use that information found on each page.

“How can you use this page?”

“What is unclear or confusing to you on this page?”

Leave time (Five to seven minutes is my recommendation.) for students do their own playing and exploring of pages and links.

5. Search Limiters/Filters

In this lesson, I specifically focus on search limiters such as reading level, genre, reader personality types. Return to the school’s OPAC to determine what options for limiting their searches are there. In Destiny, one can search of Award Winners, which I especially like.

6. Lessons/Activities/Uses Beyond This Introduction
  • Read Alikes
  • Creating Resource lists of books found within Destiny using ABookandaHug’s recommendations particular to their reading personalities
  • Teacher-generated displays of books within the library from each reader personality
  • Student-generated displays of books which they have tagged as liked according to reader personality
  • Student-generated reviews created and submitted to Book & a Hug or submitted to a student school newspaper
  • Have teachers discover their own reading personality in order to connect with similar student readers, including lists of their favorite books
  • Discover that many books appeal or crossover to other personalities
  • Create Book Clubs of Reader Personalities
  • Students’ book reports can be written in A Book and a Hug
  • Keep lists of their favorites or books they want to read by creating an account and clicking on book titles they are interested in
  • Use “Read Around the World” section to discover a book about someone from another part of the world
  • Students can login and create lists of their favorite books or “to be read” lists
  • Your ideas:

Get Moving With A Book And A Hug’s Personality Type Quiz

by Brian Johnson., NBCT, Library/Media Specialist, Arkansas


I created a way to turn the Find Your Reader Personality Type (Advanced) quiz into an activity that gets kids up and moving!

There are 7 televisions in the library. Each question is posted simultaneously on all the televisions at the same. Students carry a post-it-note with them to take keep a tally on their answe4rs, and to figure out what kind of reader they are at the end of the assessment.

There are four stations around the library (A, B, C, and D). Students walk to the station that best matches their choices. For example, if they answer “D” to question #5, they move to the D location before moving on to question #6.

Once students have completed the assessment, they move to another room in the library where I have a selection of choice books that fit well with each of the four reader types. This allows students to begin investigating specific titles in the genres/classification that they seemed to best align with in the assessment. This also encourages students to participate fully in the survey instead rather than seeing a book they like at a certain station and simply “opting out” of the rest of the survey (“I already know what books I like”).

Below are some pictures so you can see my implementation in action. I hope this inspires you to get your kids more invested in the Find Your Reader Type quiz, and to start finding more books they will love!

A Book And A Hug Lesson Plans--Reader Type Quiz
A Book And A Hug Lesson Plans--Reader Type Quiz