My Three-Step Hack for Killer Booktalks, by Kristin Nilsen

The question of the moment appears to be ‘what can we do to help kids read more?’ That’s a tough one. In 2024, our kids are stretched in ways we never were; recreational reading plays second banana to homework, enrichment classes, club sports, tutoring sessions and, of course, the siren call of digital devices. In less privileged communities, kids have much bigger responsibilities at home and carry the same homework burden without the benefit of paid help. Gone are the days of watching Brady Bunch reruns after school and reading past your bedtime – today’s kids are tired and stressed. But even so, one thing we librarians know is that books can help. The right book in the right hands can be a lifesaver.

Our work in the world of libraries and classrooms has never been more important. Never in our history have we been asked to do so much, whether it’s guiding our kids through the maze of digital citizenship or creating space and opportunities for them to engage with the printed word. It’s hefty. And yet, I’ve never met a single library or reading professional who wasn’t wholeheartedly devoted to their calling. So let’s do this.

As the bridge between students and their books, we have to hone our skills as salespeople. Most people read books based on two things; reviews and recommendations. We can be those reviews and recommendations! And so the answer to what we can do to help overscheduled digital natives read more is a very analog one: the old-fashioned booktalk. Booktalking can be one-on-one (‘hand selling’ in bookstore parlance), a presentation to a whole classroom, or it can be on video in all the digital spaces. The goal is to get kids crawling over each other to grab the book out of your hands. And I don’t paint that picture hyperbolically; this actually happens. And when it does, it feels like a good day’s work.

But a boring booktalk will sell nothing. This is where the salesmanship comes in. And I have a formula I use to make my booktalks compelling for all the kids in the class – even the ones who tell you they don’t like to read.

My secret? I lean into the disgusting, shocking, funny, or fantastic details. Don’t worry about the plot. It’s not about the plot.

It’s also not about the themes or what the character learned. The most voracious reader will not grab a book out of your hand when you tell them it’s about “overcoming adversity and the courage we find when we’re bound by familial love.” OH HELL NO. That sells nothing. NO THEMES! Children at this age still prefer concrete thinking so stick to stories and details they can see, hear and experience. Abstract thinking will come as they read but they don’t all get there at the same time.

So how do I craft a killer sales pitch that will inspire a room full of kids to fight each other for old-fashioned books? Here’s my formula for a successful booktalk: 

STEP ONE:

If it makes sense, start with a question to involve them in your booktalk. Ask for a show of hands. “Have you ever …?” “Do you know what (blank) is?” “How would you feel if…?”

STEP TWO:

Sum up the premise of the book in one or two sentences. These are only the need-to-know details. Okay fine if you can’t do it in two sentences, just do it as succinctly as possible!

STEP THREE:

Then choose the most salacious, disgusting, shocking, funny, fascinating or twisted detail or scene of the book to share. It doesn’t have to be relevant to the plot. But it does have to grab their attention and show them the flavor of the book. Find that hook; potty humor, outrage, controversy, disgust, all of it will work to engage those kids who would rather be watching YouTube than reading a book.  

Don’t worry about spoilers. You probably don’t want to reveal the killer but you don’t have to save anything either. If the book has a hilarious scene, tell them all about it! Saying the book is “full of humor” is not enough – you must give them an example that makes them LOL right there at your feet. Trust me, they’ll be happy to experience that funny moment again when they read the book.

Not sure where to begin? Here are some examples of booktalks exactly as I would deliver them (in other words, these are in my conversational voice, not my essay voice):

MEXIKID by Pedro Martin

Raise your hand if you know what a Winnebago is. It’s an RV! And most of this story takes place in an RV. It’s a true story, a graphic novel, about a boy whose whole family – his mom and dad and all eight of his brothers and sisters –  pile into the RV to go pick up his grandfather, who lives in Mexico, and bring him back to live with them in California. It becomes the trip of a lifetime – and I was so excited to be reminded of something that I actually used to have when I was a kid! Tell me if you’ve seen one of these:

On their roadtrip to Mexico they make lots of stops and they pick up a lot of souvenirs along the way. And one of those souvenirs is a doll that you fill up with water. And when you squeeze the doll, what do you think happens? IT PEES!

What do you think this doll is called? Duh – it’s called a pee pee doll. And I loved it.

(the hook: pee pee doll)

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

Have any of you ever done origami? Have you ever made paper cranes? What do you think would happen if those paper cranes came alive? Well, I’ll tell you what happens in The Girl Who Drank the Moon – 

This is about a faraway city that believes a witch lives in their forest – and that she demands the newest baby of the year to be left for her on the edge of the forest, presumably for her to eat. This of course, is not true – but they continue to steal babies from their mothers and deposit them in the forest anyway. It’s barbaric!

And one of those mothers is so bereft, so painfully sad, that she makes thousands and thousands of paper cranes, obsessively, compulsively, she can’t stop making paper cranes – and one day, someone comes to check on her and finds her room full of these paper cranes, absolutely full! And when he dares to ask about her baby that was left in the forest, those paper cranes start to stir – they start to fly – they swirl around his head and graze his face. And what kind of injury do you get from paper????

Yes, paper cuts. These birds made out of origami paper fly at him and slice his skin with thousands and thousands of paper cuts. 

Don’t you wonder if she’ll ever get her baby back?

(the hook: paper cuts)

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos

Joey Pigza is about a boy with ADHD whose mind works differently from a lot of his classmates – mostly faster. Oftentimes more creatively. And more adventurously. And sometimes that’s great! And he’s a big hero! And sometimes that’s bad. And he gets in trouble.

Do you wanna know where the book title comes from? Joey Pigza wears a key around his neck on a string – so he can let himself into the house when he gets home from school. And he loves the feeling of the key on his tongue, that smooth metal on his tongue, and so sometimes he’ll kind of chew on it when he’s bored in school. But uh oh – one day the key goes down his throat. But guess what – remember it’s on a string around his neck! So guess what he does? He grabs the string and pulls it back up! Well, now he’s discovered a cool trick, right? So he does it again. And again. And again. 

What do you think happens when the teacher catches him? NOT GOOD. Because that’s actually so dangerous! He could’ve choked to death! But he just thought he was having a good time.

(the hook: joey pigza swallowed the key!)

Simon Sort of Says by Erin Bow

(*I have a lot of questions about how to present this book to teachers and students because of the deeply terrifying topic of school shootings. For some, exposure to information is helpful and for others it’s triggering. But this book is amazing and I think it’s worth it to figure this out and make it available to those who would benefit from it. I’m still working on it but this is what I’ve come up with so far).

Here’s a very important story. One of the most important stories of the year. But I’m not sure it’s for everybody. Let me tell you about it and you can decide for yourself. Simon Sort of Says is about a young boy who moves to a new town to escape a trauma he’s trying to hide. And he moves to a town that’s designated a National Quiet Zone – that means no internet – so no one can google him and find out about this thing that he survived. That trauma is so bad that I’m not even going to tell you what it is because some of you may NOT want to read about it. If you’re interested in this book, you can come ask me and I will tell you what the trauma is. And then you can decide for yourself if that’s something you’d like to read about.

But I don’t want you to think this is a sad book. It’s not! It’s actually really hopeful! And really funny! And part of that is because of Simon’s first friend, the first person who takes him by the arm and makes him feel included, and in the end she will help him with this trauma. Her name is Agate – like the rock!  – she is on the Autism spectrum and she is truly unique, unlike anybody Simon has ever met before. And Agate lives an amazing life on a crazy goat farm with her siblings – named Jade, Jasper, Coral and Micah – get it? They’re all rocks. And they have a dog named Todd  who can open the fridge, grab a can of beer with his mouth, take it to his dog bowl, pierce the can with his teeth, and fill his water bowl with beer. Which he promptly drinks.

So you can see that this book is not going to be a downer – it will make you think. And it will make you laugh.

(the hook: Todd, the dog who drinks beer)

Harris & Me by Gary Paulsen

Have any of you read any books by Gary Paulsen? Maybe Hatchet? Harris and Me is about Gary Paulsen’s real-life childhood; when Gary Paulsen was a child, his parents were suffering from addiction and they weren’t able to take care of him for a while. So he was sent to live with his cousin Harris out on his farm until they got better. He’s sad and worried about his parents – but the adventures he has on Harris’s farm are so funny, so hilarious, that they help him forget his troubles at home for a while. I think Henry says it best from his review of the book on GoodReads; here’s what Henry had to say about Harris and Me:

 “I wish this could have a million, zillion, jillion to infinity stars because it’s awesome!

It’s a boy book and I like that stuff. They made a motorcycle out of a clothes washer and jumped on a horse’s back from a loft and they peed on an electric fence and they jumped on a sow and almost killed it. It was super funny.”

What do you think happened when they peed on that electric fence? YES! ELECTROCUTED! No, they didn’t die. Thank God! I’m sure it hurt but, for them, that was fun.

(the hook: kid review + peeing on fence. Pee sells!)

WORLDWIDE CRUSH by Kristin Nilsen (yes, that’s me! I would be a fool to not include my own book on this list because, trust me, I have booktalked this book A LOT).

Have you ever needed to go to a concert so badly that you thought you might die if you didn’t get tickets? 

(This is when they all raise their hands and start shouting TAYLOR SWIFT!)

Sometimes it works out – and sometimes it doesn’t, right?

Millie has a first crush, a big one, on a singer named Rory Calhoun, so this concert is basically like a life or death situation for her. But she’s only a kid, she doesn’t have a credit card or a driver’s license, how is she ever gonna make this happen? Will she be successful in her quest? I’M NOT TELLING!

But it’s also worth noting that Millie has an overweight bulldog named Pringles, and her Grandma Cheryl got kicked out of a Burger King, and her little brother, Billy, wears a Darth Vader mask all day every day. And she might just trick her whole family into flying to California to go “whale watching” but what they don’t know is that this whale-watching spot is actually Rory Calhoun’s hometown! So if you haven’t figured it out already, this book is super funny. 

(the hook: Taylor Swift, Pringles, Burger King, Darth Vader and tricking your family!)

In the end, the most important part of our job could be the most antiquated; the IRL opportunity to connect a potential reader with the words that could change their life. No matter where I am on my career path – bookseller, librarian, library volunteer, or author –  this truth is the one that brings me the most joy and satisfaction. And I suspect it always will.

Kristin Nilsen is a bookseller, a youth services librarian, a school library volunteer and the author of Worldwide Crush, a middle grade novel named one of the best beach reads of 2023 by Girls’ Life Magazine. She is also the self-proclaimed Pro Crushologist for The Pop Culture Preservation Society, a weekly podcast celebrating the cultural nuggets of the Gen X childhood (hello Marcia Brady?).

You can find Kristin here:

kristinnilsenbooks.com

IG kristin.nilsen.writer

The Pop Culture Preservation Society

Filed under: Booktalking, Booktalks