How to Give a Booktalk

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How to Give a Booktalk

• Instructor
• Michael Cart
• mrmcart_at_sbcglobal.net
• An Infopeople Workshop
• Winter 2006

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This Workshop Is Brought to You by the Infopeople
Project
Infopeople is a federally-funded grant project
supported by the California State Library. It
provides a wide variety of training to California
libraries. Infopeople workshops are offered
around the state and are open registration on a
first-come, first-served basis. For a complete
list of workshops, and for other information
about the project, go to the Infopeople website
at infopeople.org.
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Introductions

• Name
• Library
• Position
• Have you done booktalks previously?

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Workshop Overview

• Defining booktalking
• Booktalking skills
• Practicing booktalking
• Fiction
• Nonfiction
• Nontraditional
• Presentation tools and resources

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Defining Booktalking

• What it is
• Structured enthusiasm for a book
• A mini-mystery with a cliffhanger ending
• What it isnt
• A review or critique
• A memorized excerpt from a book

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Types of Booktalks

• Formal (written and memorized)
• Impromptu
• Shelftalks (doing it in the stacks)
• Read-alikes
• Fiction
• Nonfiction

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Potential Audiences

• Students
• in library
• in classroom
• Adults
• Senior Adults
• Multigenerational from nine to 90
• Clubs and organizations
• - book discussion groups
• - service clubs

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• Why do booktalks?
• What experiencesgood or bad
• have you had of booktalking?

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Share Your Booktalk on The Curious Incident of
the Dog in the Night-Timewith a partner
Exercise 1
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Booktalking Dos

• Know your audience
• Include a variety of titles
• READ the books!
• Take notes
• Outline your talk

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Planning the Talk

• Start with a grabber
• Include a narrative arc
• End with a cliff-hanger
• Borrow shamelessly from
• reviews
• dust jackets
• colleagues

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How long should a booktalk be?
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Finding BooktalkingResources

• Bibliography
• Webliography

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Selecting Appropriate Titles

• Are you booktalking fiction or nonfiction?
• Who is your audience?
• Is your program thematic?
• Are there curriculum connections?

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Venues and Formats

• Where will you booktalk?
• The library
• A classroom
• In the community
• Formats
• Bare bones
• Bells whistles
• Interactive

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Booktalk Techniques

• Pace yourself
• Dont rush
• Pause for dramatic effect ( laughs!)
• Props? If you must . . .
• Use visuals
• Take advantage of technology
• Practice, practice, practice

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Using Props and Visuals

• Use props sparingly
• And only when appropriate
• Be sure the audience can see visuals
• Transparencies
• PowerPoint slides

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Booktalking Issues to Consider

• About the author?
• Writing word for word?
• Reading from the book?
• Audience participation?
• How many books?
• How long, o Lord?

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Techniques for Reading Aloud

• When to read aloud
• Be prepared
• Dont rush
• Dont mumble
• Enjoy yourself
• But dont ham it up!

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Booktalk Donts

• Booktalk books you havent read
• Include books you dislike
• Read your booktalks
• Give away the ending
• Mumble
• Let them smell your fear
• Bore your audience (less is more)

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Exercise 2

• Revise Your Booktalk Using the Booktalk Planning
  Template

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At the Booktalk

• Bring a handout
• Have the books available
• Prepare a few extras . . .

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Nonfiction Trends

• Narrative style
• High visual content
• Graphic novels
• Novels in verse

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Exercise 3

• Use Your Booktalk Template
• to Plan a 60-second
• Nonfiction Booktalk

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Booktalking Nonfiction

• High interest subjects
• Biography
• Autobiography/memoirs
• History
• Adventure
• Pop culture
• The ew-gross! factor

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Nonfiction Techniques

• Virtually same as fiction
• Make curriculum connections
• Dont forget the visual
• Use pictures as a hook

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Take Advantage of Technology

• Audiobooks
• Websites
• Author sites
• Publisher sites
• Movie tie-ins

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Doing a Podcast

• What are podcasts?
• Booktalking vs. talking about books
• The Infopeople experience

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• How can booktalks be used in library programming?

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Exercise 4

• Fill in a
• Planning for Using Booktalks in Library
  Programming
• Template

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Summary and Review

• Final thoughts

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In a time of drastic change, it is the learners
who inherit the future. The learned find
themselves equipped to live in a world that no
longer exists. -Eric Hoffer quoted in Vanguard
Management (Quoted by Warren Bennis in On
Becoming a Leader. Reading, MA
Addison-Wesley, 1989