What is a book tasting? In this case, it’s a chance for a group of people (about 12 homeschooled kids from about third through sixth grade) to meet a group of books. They get a chance to browse, then get officially introduced via a book trailer, jacket copy, a brief read-aloud, or a book talk. Then they get to examine the books again, and vote for their top five to be the choice for their first book club meeting. Some spreadsheet-ing occurs, and then the winner is announced, and many books are checked out.
I planned this event with one of the homeschooling parents. I modeled the “menu” of books on past MCBA lists, which is how we ended up with 24 titles to “taste” today. It’s so hard to limit the list once the ideas start flowing – some of the kids in the group had suggestions as well – but 15-20 titles would have been sufficient, still allowing for various genres and formats without being overwhelming. (Although I don’t think the kids were overwhelmed, and those who had suggested titles were pleased to see them!)
Kids browsed the books while everyone trickled in. Once everyone arrived, we did introductions (name, pronouns, favorite baked good) and considered the question, “How do you choose a book to read?” Kids mentioned the cover, the back or jacket copy, and the “first page test.” Perfect!
To introduce the books, I found some book trailers (links below) so I didn’t have to talk for forty minutes straight, and so kids could hear directly from some of the authors. (I also found one playlist – thank you, Lisa Graff! – which we listened to as people arrived, and an “AWWWW”-worthy photo of M.T. Anderson’s dog.) I wondered if the quality or format of the presentation for each book would sway the votes one way or another – would the top-choice books be the ones with the glossiest production value? – but my guess is this only happened in one case (Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library).
In the end, Gary Paulsen’s classic Hatchet won, with Lemoncello close behind, and Another Kind and The 500 Million Dollar Heist tied for third. I used an English major version of ranked choice voting, assigning 5 points to each person’s first-choice book, 4 points for second choice, 3 for third, and so on. The most votes (not points) any title got was five, and kids cheered or at least accepted the outcome (especially since other titles might be future discussion choices, and they could check out any book they wanted from the table today).
Book trailer, articles, photos, and playlists:
- A playlist for 1993 from Rewind by Lisa Graff
- Lauren Tarshis speaking about her I Survived series
- Publisher’s book trailer for The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer Holm
- Sharon Draper speaking about family history and Stella By Starlight
- Jasmine Warga speaking about Other Words for Home and the importance of kids seeing themselves reflected in books
- Kyle Lukoff reading from Too Bright to See
- A book trailer for We’re Not From Here by Geoff Rodkey from the Hawaii State Public Library System about
- Disney Books trailer for The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase) by Rick Riordan (we felt that this one didn’t do a great job, actually)
- Nathan Hale’s The Mighty Bite
- Movie trailer for Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library
- Betsy Bird’s review of Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith
- M.T. Anderson’s Elf Dog (photo on guest post on Betsy Bird’s blog)
- Photos and facts about the Isabella Stewart Gardner Heist from Mental Floss, relevant to The 500 Million Dollar Heist by Tom Sullivan
- Legends of Lotus Island: The Guardian Test wasn’t on our final list for today, but will be on the menu when we choose the next batch of books, and there are not one but TWO excellent trailers for the series, one animated and one with author Christina Soontornvat.
We’ll reconvene in about six weeks to discuss the book, and I’ll be looking for a companion picture book for some of the group’s younger siblings to discuss. Maybe something about forests or general outdoorsy-ness, rather than a survival story. What picture book pairs well with Hatchet?
Well, I may not 
All of these books, in their own way, are about ability. Perception and communication also emerge as themes.
Song in the City is a little bit longer, but the illustrations are super bright – featuring that warm yellow from the cover – the text rhymes, and there are a lot of sound effects. This was definitely the book that the adults in the room loved best. We all paused in the middle to close or cover our eyes, as Emmalene helps Grandma Jean do in the book, to focus on what we could hear.
I would love I Can See Just Fine based on its title alone, but the execution is just perfect. A little girl named Paige has trouble seeing the board at school, reading her sheet music, and even identifying animals (she picks up a skunk and calls it a kitty). She is not excited to go to the eye doctor, or when they tell her she needs glasses, but when she stands in front of the huge array of frames to choose from on the wall, you can just feel her wonder and awe. She tries on lots of frames and chooses the right ones for her. I showed the group my own glasses, identifying the different parts (frames and lenses). I also shared with the group that the eye doctor is my favorite one to go to – they never give shots!
We wrapped up with Mel Fell, which is about confidence and ability in a different way: a baby kingfisher’s first flight/dive. The orientation of this book is unique (in the photo above, the spine is actually on top), and there’s a fun rotation required part of the way through the story. We see community members – other residents of Mel’s tree – attempt to help, but ultimately, Mel was right about their readiness to fly!
(overlap with GN)
Re-reads: Unknown; I don’t have a good way to keep track. The kiddo listened to all five Mysterious Benedict Society books for what felt like months, and we re-read all of the Dealing with Dragons books by Patricia C. Wrede. I re-read a chunk of Greenglass House by Kate Milford, as I always do toward the end of December, and I certainly revisited favorite picture books at home and at library storytimes. And, after reading Simon Sort of Says in March and refusing to shut up about it since, I re-read it as an audiobook this month and it’s still stunningly good.
Jenny Arch 