Booktalking

...oh come on, you mean you've never heard of a booktalk? Booktalks rock! Sharing a good booktalk is a great way to introduce someone to a new title, author, or series. But what exactly is a booktalk, and what makes one good? Check out this list, adapted from Todd McDonald's booktalk guidelines, and see how easy and fun talking books can be...


A Booktalk is:

• A dramatic introduction to a book
• A commercial for a book that highlights the most exciting parts of it
• A way of sparking the listener's interest in reading the book

Booktalks can include:

• Questions for the audience, such as: "have you ever felt like..." or "What would you do if..."
• Readings from the jacket cover, or a particularly exciting part of the book (End of chapter cliffhangers are great for this)
• Acting out a scene as one of the characters from the book

Booktalks should:

• Be appropriate for the audience... you wouldn't want to booktalk a picture book to teens
• Be interesting and exciting- using voice inflection and body language to express the emotions dealt with in the book is a great technique
• Make the listener want to find out more about the book

Having your booktalk written down can help you to organize it, but also think about how it will sound when you read it. Also, practice before you read it to an audience so that you won't be as nervous and will have a smoother delivery. Reading your booktalk in front of a mirror is a great way to practice and see how you look and sound.

Now that you know what a booktalk is, check out some of the booktalks posted here as comments. We also want to hear from you, so pick your favorite book and write a short booktalk to share with us here.

YA Book Reviews

Loved it? Hated it? Whether you couldn't stop turning pages, or couldn't wait to put it down, use this forum to speak your mind about your latest read. Post your reviews in the form of comments and let us know what you think! Be sure to include all the bibliographic info (title, author, publisher, year) for your book so others will know how to find it, or will know to stay far, far away.

Teens Talk Books Kickoff

To help celebrate Teen Read Month (a week just wasn't long enough for us), we are hosting a TTB kickoff program at the Princess Anne Area Library in Virginia Beach, VA on October 15th. The inaugural Teens Talk Books event will feature local teens and YA specialists on the PA staff talking up their favorite teen reads. The event will run from 6-8 pm, and will be for teens only (12-18 yrs). So stop on by if you are in the neighborhood, or join the discussion later on this site as we continue to add new booktalks and book reviews.