The Commonsense Guide To Your Classroom Library

“Young people need a book flood – continuous access to a wide variety of engaging and relevant texts.” – Colby Sharp & Donalyn Miller

While classroom libraries do not aim to replace a school library, yet a vibrant classroom library is indispensable for promoting independent reading. I am taking baby steps in learning how to set up one, thanks to this masterpiece by Colby Sharp and Donalyn Miller. Interestingly, the findings in my class are exactly similar to theirs – children are drawn to familiar series such as Dog Man, their knowledge about authors is limited to popular series, they have no interest at all in reading biographies, informational texts or poetry, but most of them do have a genuine desire to read!

The work of setting up a classroom library never ends. Through read-alouds, book talks and first chapter days, one step at a time, we are building a community of readers…