Nancy Pearl & Reader's Advisory

I had the pleasure on Monday, June 8th to hear Nancy Pearl speak. It was great. The topic was reader’s advisory, a session at the Institute for School and Public Librarians at Bradley. Key points I learned from Nancy—

• Reader’s Advisory is not about recommending books but suggesting books.
• Give readers three books, one just like or close to the one they just read, one that is similar or pretty close to what they just read and one that is a stretch for them such as non-fiction on a topic or setting of the book just read.
• There are four doorways to enjoy fictions books: story, characters, setting and language.
• Asking the reader “Why they liked the book” gives you an idea of which doorway appeals to them.

“I could not put the book down,” they were attracted to the story.

“The main character was so quirky I loved them,” then they are attracted to characters.

“I felt as if I was there,” setting is key to their enjoyment of books.

“This book had such beautiful descriptions,” then they like the language.

I now have a deeper understanding of why I love certain books and I have some new books and authors to read. I can’t wait to begin.