My Reading Map is Ready and Some Great Reading Maps for Popular Children's Series

After I published this article with former intern, now librarian in Adult Services in Naperville, Christi clearly laying out how to create an effective reading map, I promised to complete my own map.

That day has come, as I just added my reading map for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter to the Browsers' Corner's growing collection of original reading maps.

I am unveiling the map today because tonight also happens to be the class where I talk to the students about creating their own reading map.  This is one of their options for a midterm or final.  I keep an archive of the better examples of student reading maps here.

One of the best things about teaching RA is that when the students graduate they become my colleagues, taking what they learned and applying it to their specific work situations.

One former student and new librarian, Laura, has been actively exploring how to use reading maps in a Youth Services setting. One of the issues Laura encountered while making reading maps for the St Charles (IL) Public Library is how to make them fun, interactive, and educational. One of her solutions was to connect her topics to the educational resources, especially the rich databases, available to library card holders.  The results are maps that entice the kids to explore and enjoy, but also provide important bibliographic instruction.  These maps show the kids how to do more research using library resources, and to not just rely on a google search.

Here are Laura's maps for the Percy Jackson series and the 39 Clues series.  Check them out to see what I mean.

And in just a few weeks, I will be back with more reading maps from this semester's students.