Bringing The Big Read to Kids

Santa Clara City Library, with the support of the library’s Foundation and Friends, received a NEA Big Read grant and recently wrapped up a multi-week series of programs themed around Jack London’s Call of the Wild. The book has particular significance in our community, for the opening scenes take place in our city and Jack London had many friends in the Santa Clara Valley. During the Big Read, numerous books discussions on Call of the Wild were held at the library and at other historical city sites. I hoped to include kids in the community reading celebration, but wanted to choose a more accessible, age-appropriate book.

Sheep by Valerie Hobbs seemed a perfect companion piece to Call of the Wild. Both books feature a dog protagonist taken away from a comfortable existence and forced to endure harsh circumstances. Sheep was also a recipient of a California Young Reader Medal, an annual award solely determined by California children.

I hosted a book discussion open to 3rd through 6th graders on Sheep during our school district’s spring break (which also happened to be National Library Week.) Our library owns ten copies of the book, and I was pleased that every single one was checked out in the weeks leading to the program. I started the discussion by giving each child a dog sticker, and asking them to place the sticker in a column to designate their opinion of the book. As you can see by the above picture, the kids all thought Sheep merited 3 or 4 bones.
I used the California Young Reader Medal discussion guide on Sheep as a starting point. (I am unable to link to this document, but if you’re interested in it email me at sbaier at santaclaraca dot gov.) The kids had no problem keeping the discussion going, and raised interesting questions on animal cruelty and ethics.

Just for fun, we also did a dog Mad Lib. Since our book discussion was held during National Library Week, I showed the kids the poetry book Dogku and asked them to try their hand at writing a haiku about a dog or another favorite animal.

Mary Hanel, our library’s Local History Librarian, was interviewed about our Big Read program series by the NEA. You can read that interview here.

The Big Read united our community in support of literature and literacy, and I was happy to include younger readers in the initiative.

Posted by Susan Baier, Division Manager of Youth and Extension Services, Santa Clara City (CA) Library